Sidepodcast

Everybody Needs an #F1HappyPlace

Regardless of where you sit in the ongoing refuelling debate, it's fair to say that F1 is going through a tough time right now. Even if you think the Bahrain Grand Prix was fabulous, the general consensus seems to be F1 can offer more, and for it to be undergoing this backlash already is worrying. They normally wait until at least the summer before screwing everything up.

Anyway, I thought it was time to bring out the #f1happyplace, a hashtag used on Twitter to collect good thoughts and feelings about the sport. We needed this in 2009, when the politics overtook the racing. We need it in 2010 because... there wasn't any racing.

Here are some of the #f1happyplace entries I've seen flying by on Twitter:

• @SauberRG: Ahh, #f1happyplace Bahrain GP 2008, Qualifying.
• @lukehmuse: #f1happyplace A year ago... that sunday morning in Melbourne, 29th March... Jenson and Rubens on the top 2 steps of the podium <3
• @RubberGoat: My #f1happyplace is making pretty graphs for my blog 'Making Up The Numbers': http://bit.ly/JBKsY
• @Lou_uk: #f1happyplace When Schumacher went marching grumpily into Toyota pits coz he just saw the red +thought it was his Ferrari garage. Ha!!!
• @andonida: #f1happyplace Standing in the rain at Monza watching Sebastian Vettel take victory for Toro Rosso :)
• @Markenzeichen: #f1happyplace Rubens's win in Valencia last year. I've got it on my iPod, for down days. :)
• @kateatthemotel: An #f1happyplace: Germany 2009, and Mark Webber's first victory - that cathartic, joyful pit radio extract is still so wonderful to hear.
• @Chrislee12: #f1happyplace Vettel winning at Silverstone
• @jpancoast: My #f1happyplace is the @sidepodcast comment section.
• @lookingspiffy: #f1happyplace 2 days after Massa's crash, I read the 3rd paragraph down in this forum post & shed quite a few tears: http://bit.ly/au51oO
• @lacanta: My #f1happyplace: The week either side of 2009's August Bank Holiday (clue: the reasons are mostly Fisichella-related)
• @enjard: #f1happyplace 2007, Fuji. Absolute bliss.
• @TheFable: My #f1happyplace is Lewis winning in Hungary last year.
• @robynmelbourne: #f1happyplace Webber's maiden pole/win in Germany last year. Epic drive that had me too excited to sleep after.
• @TommyB89: #f1happyplace The whole weekend of Spa 2009 :D
• @VioletPingu: my #f1happyplace was when Lewis got his first win of his career in Canada '07
• @mrschristine: #f1happyplace Sitting on the track at Silverstone 07, after an incredible weekend. http://bit.ly/ci85az
• @glhunt31: #f1happyplace Watching Damon Hill win at Silverstone in 94 from the grandstand opposite the pits (showing my age...).
• @stephfarnsworth: #f1happyplace seeing Massa win the title (well I thought he did for a few seconds!)
• @RocketRedhead: #f1happyplace Jenson's first podium in Malaysia 2004, in fact the whole season was really exciting!
• @euis_t: #f1happyplace Looking for public spots around Marina Bay street circuit to watch FP1 in 2009. The sound, the smell, the sights = LOVE
• @Booooothman: #f1happyplace Brawn GP's 1-2 in Oz last year; that sort of stuff is only shown in Disney films.
• @thedementor: #f1happyplace being able to sneak away and watch the drivers parade. thanks to my vantage spot i could watch the procession twice. Happy <3
• @anngilmour: My #f1happyplace - watching Nick Heidfeld's overtaking moves in a rain-soaked Spa 08 for 2nd place. And Bourdais crying over it.
• @jpgdesign: #f1happyplace Monza 2006, Monaco 2007
• @adamclarke501: #f1happyplace Brawn taking the 1-2 at the Oz GP
• @toxicfusion: #f1happyplace Japan 2005 - Alonso overtakes Schumacher through 130R
• @S_Rogers: #f1happyplace There's absolutely nothing like hearing all the engines at once, live and in person.
• @FerrariNumber27: #f1happyplace San Marino 2005. Alonso states his intentions...
• @allaboutf1: #f1happyplace the last few corners of Brazil 2008 - agony turning to ectasy
• @motorsport_bts: My #f1happyplace - San Marino '05 - my friend got me a painting done of Alonso & Schumi battling that now hangs proudly on my wall =)
• @4chords: #f1happyplace Button winning in Monaco in 2009, then proceeding to do the 'front straight of honour' after parking in the wrong place!
• @chrisward77: #f1happyplace Last lap of Brazil 2008 and Mansell vs Senna at Monaco in 92
• @thedanshires: #f1happyplace 2003 British Grand Prix
• @dapperdansc: My #f1happyplace - taking my seat at Spoon's exit at Suzuka in '06 and cheering for Super Aguri with a quarter-million fans.
• @F1Weekender: #f1happyplace Button crossing the line in Brazil '09 to win the WDC. Followed since F3 days, was a very special moment. Enough said!!!
• @Twiger: #f1happyplace The Yas Marina Circuit
• @Claudia_Writes: #f1happyplace October 13, 1996. Getting up ridiculously early in the morning to watch Damon Hill win the title.
• @SportTradesTalk: #f1happyplace Johnny Herbert winning the 1999 European GP (i cried when he won the race) and the last lap of the 2008 season. Go Lewis!"
• @IngrydLamas: my #f1happyplace is back to 2000, German GP, Barrichello's first victory. Think there's no need to say why... Beautiful win tough
• @fumi905: #f1happyplace My apartment near the uni, 9th Oct 2005, and 27th to 31st 2009, around of me!
• @trippruding: Tie for my #f1happyplace 1)2001 USGP (1st and only live F1 experience), 2) 2007 Brazil GP (most exciting ending I have ever seen)
• @neil_in_france: My #f1happyplace has to be Damon overtaking Scumi at Hungary in the Arrows in '97 even thought ITV were on an adbreak at the time GRRRRRRRR!
• @Half_way_there: #f1happyplace Alonso going around the outside of Schumacher in the 130R at Japan 2005
• @felipe_leite: #f1happyplace Piquet vs Senna, Hungary '86 - my first F1 memory. I was 6 years old then.

I'll keep this updated as I see them, and we can forever use it as a reference and more importantly, a refuge. If you're not on Twitter, please feel free to leave your happy place in the comments.

We're About to Get Jealous

On this week's debrief episode, I gave a quick shout out to Alex Snell who has just embarked on the dream. He is going to every single Grand Prix this year, travelling to each country, and following the F1 circus as it meanders about the globe.

The man himself introduces the prospect on his travel blog:

I'm an ordinary guy who happens to be a big F1 fan. This year though, I won't be watching the Grand Prix from the well-worn comfort of my lazy-boy. Nope, I'll be at the circuit. In fact I'll be at all of the circuits, for every race, for every session, and for every lap.

You're envious already, aren't you?

Alex is documenting his travels via Twitter, and using the travel blog site Get Jealous, where you can find photos, journal entries and a map. From the entry prior to the race:

It's now the morning of the race and I'm typing this as the Asia GP2 cars scream past. Had a good start to the day, on the advice of one of the official photographers we plonked ourselves infront of the entrance by the stage, why? Because this the entrance all the teams use, we managed to see the Ferrari engineers, the guys from lotus, virgin, and RedBull - so pretty cool.

I've also managed to add the autographs of both virgin drivers, so that's 4 down and 20 to go for the full set!

Di Grassi's autograph? Yea, I am pretty jealous by now.

As I type this, Alex has just landed in Melbourne. One race down, 18 more to go. I'll be following along, will you?

No Refuelling Equals Zero Entertainment

Ever since the FIA unveiled plans to ban refuelling from Formula One back in December 2008, we at Sidepodcast have been dreading the day such plans came to fruition. Today was that day and the result was as bad as we'd been expecting.

Massa being refuelled in the pitlane at the Spanish GP in 2008, otherwise known as the only place to pass in Barcelona.

Make no bones about it, the decision to remove one of the key variables in F1 racing was about money. No doubt those who agreed to the change, will claim that the goal was to improve racing but the truth is, in an era of heavy cost cutting, teams could no longer accept the freight costs for transporting heavy fuel rigs around the world. Neither could Formula One Management be persuaded to shoulder logistics costs, and thus the rigs were deemed inappropriate for the sport.

The change in regulations leaves the sport with a big problem. We know that the speed of modern F1 cars on todays racing circuits makes overtaking difficult, and we know that the aerodynamics of modern chassis contribute to the problem making it almost impossible for cars to pass on track. Attempts to rectify both of this issues has failed spectacularly in recent times, leaving us with dull tracks and fugly cars.

Given the understanding that cars cannot pass on track, and that there is no easy or cheap solution to the problem, why in the world would anyone advocate the removal of the sole variable that might allow for some change of order in the field? You'd have to be completely out of your mind, and yet that is exactly what the teams, the sports rights holder and the governing body all agreed to do. Utter madness.

Formula One provided an awful show this afternoon. There really was nothing to recommend from an entire afternoon of "action". Yes, it was the first race of the year and after a four month hiatus, any racing beats no racing, but can anyone honestly say that the removal of refuelling made for a better race?

I will concede that changes to the Bahrain circuit didn't help matters, and again those in charge agreeing to such changes have an awful lot to answer for. However, I maintain that if the sport still had refuelling, there may have still been a slim chance that the finishing order on Sunday offered some marked differences from the qualifying order on Saturday. As it was, we had the single failure on the lead car to spice up a desperately dull afternoon. Welcome to the new spectacle folks, following people is what we do now.

To further the point, today's post race BBC forum was all about the desperate situation the sports finds itself in, with McLaren's CEO Martin Whitmarsh suggesting what might be needed now is two mandatory pit stops per race. As if that is somehow going to be the magic bullet to solve all of F1's overtaking problems.

Truth be told somebody made a huge mistake and the sooner they own up to the fact and fix what is broken the better. I'm all for banning refuelling once it has been proven cars can pass on every track on the calendar, but I would much rather passing happened during the pitstops than it not happening at all.

F1 racing in 2010 finds itself in a desperate situation after race number one.

The Stewarding Process, Now With Added Drivers

Credit: Williams F1

Alain Prost and Damon Hill, pose with a sponsor at Kyalami, '93. The FIA is putting it's trust in these men.

For the 2010 season, the FIA are introducing an F1 driver to each stewarding panel, in an attempt to make their judgements fairer, and to provide a little insight into what was happening during each incident. We've previously discussed this idea at great lengths, pondering whether it's right to allow drivers in. Their added experience can only be useful, but might they be a little impartial to their former teams? It's an unknown at the moment, but what we do know is who will be taking those positions for the next few races.

Alain Prost

Prost is at the helm in Bahrain this weekend, taking the reigns as the first former driver to participate in the stewarding process under this new ruling. The Frenchman was last seen driving in the sport in 1993 for Williams. He's also driven for McLaren, Renault and Ferrari - and had a held a bitter rivalry with Ayrton Senna along the way. Prost has four world championships under his belt.

Prost went on to start his own F1 team which lasted just five seasons.

Heinz-Harald Frentzen

Frentzen hails from Germany, and was last behind the wheel of an F1 car in 2003. He's since been competing in DTM. He's driven with Sauber, Williams, Jordan and Arrows, but never managed to grab that elusive championship. He won three Grands Prix, though, the last being in 1999. He was disqualified only once during his F1 career - for leaving the pit lane under a red light.

Alex Wurz

Wurz has never been far from our consciousness, last seen racing in China 2007. He attempted to launch his own F1 team for the 2010 season but the application was not successful. He's driven for Williams, McLaren and Benetton, but made more of an impact as a good development and test driver than a sparkling racer. He has no championships or wins to his name, but is known for speaking his mind, and as a comentator on his home TV networks in Austria, he'll be good at calling things as he sees them.

Wurz has on occasion been trusted at the wheel of the FIA medical car.

Johnny Herbert

Herbert has driven for quite a few teams during his 12 years in the sport, with the last Jaguar Racing in 2000. He's also been involved with Stewart, Sauber, Benetton, Ligier, Lotus and Tyrrell. Herbert never won the championship but stood on the top step of the podium three times, and picked up 98 points during his F1 career. Since leaving the sport, he has participated in Le Mans and BTCC, and advised Jordan and Midland before they became Spyker.

Damon Hill

Since leaving F1, Hill has kept himself extremely busy heading up the BRDC and managing their exploits at Silverstone and in keeping the British GP alive. The former champion won 22 races and one title in his eight years - driving for Jordan and Williams amongst others. Damon is a media friendly figure, but isn't afraid to share his frustrations, making waves and headlines in equal measures. Hill has been confirmed as a steward for two races.

What do you think of these driver choices? Will they make sensible decisions? Who else should be added to the list, and more importantly, who should not?

Is 2010 the Year the F1 Testing Died?

I wrote earlier this week about my desire to attend pre-season testing this year, partly as a way of seeing some F1 action, and partly as a way to prove to Mr C that track testing is still relevant and interesting. Four days later and things could be going better.

Credit: Force India F1

Adrian Sutil tests the Force India in 2009

We narrowed the choices down to the sole Valencia test, and the price and the location were pretty appealing. We already knew that Red Bull weren't going to be attending the circuit for the first test of the year, and that was a sticking point. It was almost acceptable to miss out on seeing the new Red Bull, despite it likely setting the 2010 aero standard. US F1 are almost certain to remain in the States for their first test, and new team Virgin Racing have also confirmed they would delay their first taste of track time until a later Jerez test.

This is all understandable, and no one could put money on the new teams being ready in time for the beginning of February, although they are going to have to get a wriggle on because the start of the season is not far behind. Roll on the next news announcements, and cue both Sauber and Force India stating they are not planning on attending the Valencia test either. For what reason?

It seems as though on track testing is just no longer as valuable to teams as days spent in the factory, hours spent in the wind tunnel, and computing minutes spent on CFD analysis. Christian Horner proves this point for at least one of the absentee teams: "It's to optimise the time in the wind tunnel as much as possible."

From the real life experience of track time, the future now seems to be sitting behind a wall of screens. As big enthusiasts for shunning the real world, I don't suppose I can fault the logic behind these decisions. The real question, though, is what are they doing? The regulation changes for the 2009 season were so massive that I would have forgiven teams for turning round and saying: "Hold up, we need a year out for this." But the majority were raring to go as soon as the track time was presented to them. 12 months later, and you can't coax them out onto the tarmac.

Is it an attempt at keeping secrets? Surely teams are aware by now that it is almost an impossible task. Or perhaps they have learnt from the double diffuser debacle that there is the possibility of springing a surprise.

Perhaps it is simply that the track at Valencia is not particularly useful and they would rather wait until Barcelona - they can certainly reuse data collected at Circuit de Catalunya during the season, whereas maybe the Ricardo Tomo track is less useful to them. What would happen if Bahrain got their way and became one of the pre-season preferred testing tracks instead? Would the teams be more or less keen to head out there and stock up on some numbers?

We've seen a distinct lack of interest in testing recently, but does that mean fans are missing out? I know when we attended Silverstone for mid-season testing in 2008 it was full of excited fans, a really good day out, and although different to a GP atmosphere, it's certainly something you'd want to experience. Now it's all pre-season, more clinical, and less teams are bothered. It seems like everyone from fans to drivers to mechanics are missing out.

That being said, it wouldn't surprise me if the trend for testing is over. With cost cutting the first bullet point on everyone's agenda at the moment, extra track time, flights, cargo, fuel and tyres can't be an appealing option. If the fans aren't bothered about going, the teams would prefer to stay in the warmth of the factory, then perhaps testing really is dead. Could we get by without it altogether?

Either way, I'm going to have to admit that Mr C might be right. It looks like we're just going to have to settle for a regular old holiday. Where's the nearest wind tunnel?

Are Trade Shows Still Relevant?

For the first time in six years neither Christine nor I will be attending Autosport International at the NEC, Birmingham today. We began attending the event before Sidepodcast existed, but this year we're keeping our money in our wallets and staying put.

Credit: Sidepodcast

DTM drivers talk motor sport at Autosport International 2009

Twelve months ago we reported from the event how much of a disappointment the trip had been, and little has changed in the intervening period to convince us this year might be different.

Part of the problem is the venue. The NEC has always managed to provide the worst event lighting ever experienced, casting as it does an awful orange glow across photographs that might be taken. Additionally, due to its location the National Exhibition Centre may change punters what it chooses for car parking, on top of the entry ticket price (£31 per person, per day this year by the way).

Zero Emissions

Another venue related issue is the environmental cost of travelling to such an event. I couldn't find any mention of it, so I'm assuming that the organisers Haymarket haven't considered making the event carbon neutral, including accounting for those travelling to Birmingham from far and wide. The FIA are attempting the same thing for every Grand Prix on the calendar, so you can't argue it's not a relevant concept to motor sport. Maybe they think it's someone else's problem.

Cost and the environment aren't the only problems though, I'm beginning to question the relevance of attending trade shows in the age of instant media. Autosport International, like many shows of this nature, tries to appeal to two audiences. Those in the trade and also the general public - in this case, motor sport fans. I can see a certain appeal for fans queuing up for autographs of your racing hero (although predictably a large number are ebay bound), but for the life of me I can't fathom the appeal for traders.

Do companies still hold back product announcements until a conveniently scheduled show happens to pass through town, and if so, why? We live in a real-time world where information can be pinged around the globe in an instant, why would a company want to make a product release at a time that doesn't suit them? Especially if lots of people in the same field intend on doing exactly the same thing. How many small announcements will get lost during the next four days, because Jenson Button said something that stole the headlines?

Travel Trouble

The logic of it all doesn't make any sense to me any more. The UK is currently experiencing some pretty awful weather, travelling is hazardous unless absolutely necessary, yet because of Autosport for many it is very necessary.

Isn't there a more modern, more eco-friendly solution to promoting motor sport than this?

Trade shows seem to be something who's days must soon be numbered. Right now, I can browse the whole Demon Tweeks catalogue from the comfort of my couch. I know what's in stock and I don't have to fight to get attention from the person behind the counter. Why in the world do I need to drive to Birmingham to do the same thing?