Sidepodcast

Force India "Win a Lot of Races" in the Simulator

Credit: Force India

Adrian Sutil surveys the Bahrain scenery ahead of the season opening Grand Prix.

Just in time for the start of the season, Force India have released a new 33 minute audio podcast. The format has changed significantly from last year, and there is a new feed to subscribe to. In the first episode, drivers Adrian Sutil and Tonio Liuzzi talk about the upcoming season, while Friday man Paul di Resta discusses testing.

The newly promoted Mark Smith, who recently replaced outgoing Technical Director James Key, offers insight into what the team have planned for the first race of the year. Updates include an aerodynamic package tested during the last two days in Barcelona, focusing on front and rear wing improvements plus changes to the diffuser. Smith says the team consider themselves to be in a mid-grid position and are looking to move forward.

The most enlightening section of the show comprises of an interview with Team Manager, Andy Stevenson. Talk turns to regulation changes including the reduction in available tyres and the banning of refuelling. Andy raises a number of important points relating to pit stops, including:

• He doesn't think we'll see any sub two-second pits stops at the start of the season
• His team have rehearsed pit stops over 1,500 times during the winter
• Drivers absolutely must hit their pit marks this year, there is no time to adjust wheel gun positioning
• The stopping tolerance drivers are working to is a 5mm margin of error.

Stevenson also noted that teams will only have a few seconds to make strategy calls this year. In the past it was possible to predict to the nearest lap when someone might stop, but in 2010 they'll have no idea. He's also confident they've done their homework when it comes to strategy.

"We are running race simulations daily with [our engineers], and throwing scenarios at them and seeing where we come out. The nice thing to say is we win a lot of races in the simulator."

The podcast wraps up with a chat with the left rear wheel gunner, Chris King. He'll be one of 12 people changing the tyres at a race, and while he's "happy with his wheel" he notes the extra pressure on the role this year. Worryingly he quotes a three to four second turnaround at this point in time.

You can listen to the full show here and either subscribe in iTunes or directly to the feed. We noted after the release of the recent Lotus podcast, that audio output from teams is likely to increase this season and it's good to see Force India are still committed to their podcast.

Thursday Thoughts - A Branson Pickle

This week, Jackie has posed the question over on Viva F1, and it's a great one:

“Do you think that Richard Branson regrets his decision to buy Manor instead of sticking with Brawn GP?”

The question comes from the fact that Virgin Racing are having a really tough time in testing at the moment and things stopped going well the moment the car hit the track. At first glance, you'd have to think that Mr Branson is scratching his head and wondering what he's got himself into.

Credit: Virgin Racing

Virgin Racing test in Jerez

I'm not sure that he would regret his decision though. If he had invested more in the Brawn project, he may have got a little more exposure on the car and made a few more headlines. It's not as though he wasn't always hanging around the garage anyway, though, and he was certainly quoted a few times on what a fantastic team he was involved with. I can't believe he feels like he missed out during 2009. He perhaps could have made some more money with the team, if the Mercedes deal had still come to fruition and he'd had more of a stake in Brawn. I don't suppose he really needs more money though, or that is top of his agenda.

What he has got with Virgin Racing, né Manor, is the opportunity to build from scratch. Instead of piggy-backing on what was the most successful one year operation we've seen in a long time, he can make his mark on Formula One on his own terms.

At the moment, those terms don't seem to be going very well, but the battle between Virgin and Lotus is making headlines regardless, and it's fair to say that Virgin Racing are becoming a household name... in our household anyway. It's a bit early to tell whether the car will let down the dream or not. Clearly they are having pre-season issues, but at least they have a car and that already puts them one step ahead of some of the other new teams.

Branson may be a bit concerned about the early year reliability niggles, and he may be wishing for simpler times when Ross Brawn had all the headaches, but if they can keep going in the style they have begun, I think Formula One will be good for Virgin, and Virgin will be good for Formula One.

A New Team With a New Podcast, Lotus F1 Gets Syndicated

Credit: Lotus F1 Racing

Kovalainen dressed for 2010.

The battle for the new teams of Formula 1 to win the hearts and minds of race fans is beginning to hot up. In the past fortnight both Virgin Racing and Lotus F1 Racing launched their 2010 cars and respective liveries, and now we all have a lot more information with which to decide who, if anyone, deserves our support.

In the red and black corner we have Virgin, who managed to stuff up their launch before experiencing a disastrous week in their first ever competitive F1 test. Not a great start by anyone's standards. Conversely, working in their favour is the fabulous driver pairing of Timo Glock and Lucas di Grassi, two men with the looks to sway even the most hesitant of fans.

In the opposing yellow and green corner, you'll find Lotus F1 Racing, a team who only launched on Friday, but managed to do so successfully and without suffering unplanned media leaks. They are leaning heavily on the historical Lotus brand, in a move that's already splitting opinions amongst the F1 community. Lotus may also struggle in the charisma department, with Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen lacking the magnetism of the leather clad Virgins.

I can see Christine being easily swayed by camp di Grassi (the collective, I'm not insinuating anything), and I will admit to enjoying their post-launch video featuring David Croft, but Lotus may just have swung it for me with the debut of a new podcast to coincide with the new car.

A new podcast by the way, that happens to be anchored by none other than top microphone man, Ted Kravitz.

Weighing in at a touch over 29 minutes, and featuring interviews with Trulli, Kovalainen and chief geek Mike Gascoyne, the podcast ticks all the right boxes. It's free to syndicate, so if you're an iTunes addict you can subscribe in-store and sync to your iPod/iPhone, otherwise the RSS feed can be found here.

The initial release went out yesterday with an audio glitch that's thankfully been fixed now, but I still have one complaint remaining - the official Lotus homepage doesn't appear to have a home for the show. I can only find an announcement in the news section, which seem like a major oversight when you just redesigned your website, like, yesterday.

The show has been pulled together by USP Content, who have previously been involved in F1 podcasts for Williams, Force India and Renault. The company are also behind the BBC's F1 radio coverage and accompanying podcast, fronted by the aforementioned David Croft. As a quick disclaimer, I should add that USP Content have in the past supplied Sidepodcast with more baseball caps than any one person can physically wear (although I have tried). Unfortunately they've yet to supply us with our own Ted Kravitz.

I'm over the moon (or should that be on top of it?) at the sight of a new official F1 podcast. For a while it looked like teams were cutting back in this area, but with Bradley Lord returning to Renault and Lotus dipping their toes into the water I'm hoping that audio output from teams is only set to increase this season.

I cannot for the life of me see how Virgin Racing can respond to the challenge Lotus have laid down, but even Tiny Timo and Tweeting Lucas can't sway me away from a syndicated Ted. Virgin boss Richard Branson may have one eye on Lotus' Tony Fernandes wearing his stewardess uniform come the end of this year, but on this basis Tony is off to a flying start.

A His and Hers Video Special

It took Virgin a while to get information about their new car up and out on the internet, despite the fact they were hoping to do an online launch and include everybody all at once. There's no need to go over how very badly they failed at launching in style, I can highly recommend the latest F1 Debrief show for such things.

What I would like to do is highlight two videos released by the team that show the things they can do right.

Firstly, they roped in David Croft to present this intro video, which makes Mr C a very happy bunny, as you might imagine. I'm not sure why this video isn't on the official Virgin Racing account, but we had enough of that during the Virgin Twitter debacle, so let's just sit back and enjoy.

The team took the car for a shakedown at Silverstone, in the pouring rain, and produced a video whilst they were there. This is the kind of thing I want to see from teams. Great editing, up close and personal with the drivers (even presenting in the rain!), and some insight into what it's like being there.

Clearly they're not giving too much away just yet, and if you want more detailed information about the shakedown, Scott found a great video with more raw car footage in. For now, though, I'm going to go and rewatch Lucas having a cup of tea. Delicious.

USF1 Launches High Definition Assault on Formula 1

It's been a long time coming, but the first team to design and build its own F1 car in the USA since the 60's, is finally beginning to show some of the potential we were promised over sixth months ago.

The USF1 team, backed in part by YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley, have for the past fortnight been publishing short video clips detailing behind the scenes footage of an F1 project coming to life. This morning two further clips were published, and a third is expected soon.

Notably, all of the videos thus far have been filmed and released in high definition format, and considering how long fans have been requesting HD footage, USF1 should be congratulated for being the first team to make the leap. While it could be argued Toyota made a similar jump last year, their feature only amounted to a one-off production, and they've since quit the sport anyway.

If you haven't already watched the new videos, they're embedded below. Hitting Play followed by the HD button, will allow you to see them in all their 720p (if not somewhat interlaced) widescreen goodness.

Dan Gurney on USF1

The first clip appropriately features an interview with Dan Gurney. His Eagle chassis was the last F1 car to be designed and built in the States and here you'll catch him reminiscing as well as looking forward to what USF1 can offer.

Bob Varsha Walk and Talk - Part 1

The second video is slightly more concerning. It's part one of a two parter and Speed TV's Bob Varsha takes hold of the microphone before setting off to interview some members of staff. The team have rightly come in for some stick recently - from most quarters - for failing to prove they really are getting on with the business of building racing cars, and this video won't help matters. The factory appears almost completely deserted before Bob manages to find the world's most introverted American and a Brit to converse with. Formula 1 factories just don't look like this.

Bob Varsha Walk and Talk - Part 2

In the second part of Bob's walk around the factory we get to see a more active office. Of interest, discussion turns to the merits of CFD versus wind tunnel development, and the engineers at USF1 seem confident that computational fluid dynamics is more than good enough to develop a brand new F1 chassis.

Regardless of content, we should say well done to USF1 for at least pushing F1 broadcasting boundaries in the right direction, however small a step it might be. With any luck, other teams might be taking notes.

Eric's in Enstone

Credit: Drew Gibson/LAT/Renault

Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss?

Renault announced today that Eric Boullier will be taking over the team principal role, allowing temporary stand-in Bob Bell to return to his design department. I was hoping that Bob Bell might be able to stay on as boss, mostly because he has an awesome name, and also because I like how he handled the ever-so-slightly embarrassing situation when Grosjean imitated Piquet at Singapore.

Nevertheless, the announcement of a new team boss is not a surprise, as Boullier appears to come as a package deal with the new investors, having also been the CEO at Gravity Sport Management, which is also involved with Genii Capital. It's unclear at the moment whether Boullier will be leaving his role at Gravity, or any of his other interests. Eric also manages Ho Pin Tung and Jérôme D'Ambrosio, and we criticised Flavio for being a manager and a team boss at the same time. Will Eric do the same? He has already made the effort to dispel any concerns that Kubica's teammate will get a helping hand from him:

"The second driver will have to be able to score points and challenge Robert Kubica. So in fact, it might be a Gravity driver or not, but I can guarantee that it will be even more difficult for a Gravity driver to be selected as they really will have to prove their worth to be chosen as Renault’s second driver."

The timing of the announcement is also not particularly out of the blue. No matter what verdict came from the French courts today, the Renault team wanted to distract from the bad headlines of last year with something fresh and new. Particularly now that Flavio has been unbanned, the announcement sends a signal that he is not about to rejoin the team.

So, who is the Eric man, and what can he do for Renault? A quick perusal of the web gives us some more of his history. His LinkedIn profile shows that he has only been at Gravity for a few months, whilst before that he was Technical Director at DAMS for almost seven years. He certainly has staying power. He's also been involved with Team France for A1 GP, who have never finished lower than fourth in the championship. He seems to have the credentials as well.

I am fond of younger team principals, as it always seems to bring some enthusiasm and fun to the sport. I've spoken many times about Christian Horner and how he brightened up the paddock when he first arrived. He and Eric are the same age, so perhaps it is Mr Boullier's turn to do the same. He's on Twitter for a start. Well, one tweet is more than Flavio ever did.

Comparisons to Flavio are actually quite tricky, because Eric comes from the engineering side of things. He is a team principal that comes from the Ross Brawn school of thought, rather than a hands off Flavio approach. How that will see him fare remains to be seen, of course. Although he has only had one day in the public eye so far, Eric has given a good first impression. Asked to describe his approach in three words, he said:

Humility, rigorous and openness. For me, the racing is the most important thing above all.

That's what we like to hear. Let's see if he can live up to his own words.

We're Not Going on a Summer Holiday

Peter Windsor recently spoke of how US F1 were keeping silent as they didn't want to get involved in the vast array of politics surrounding the sport. Bernie's concern over the lack of headlines coming from the team was unfounded, as Windsor claimed:

"We’re all in the entertainment business we call F1 and there seemed little or no point in adding to the situation from the perspective of a new team."

Fast forward just a couple of weeks, and Windsor is diving right on in to the way the sport is set up. The summer shutdown appears to be an issue of contention with the boss of US F1, as it isn't particularly convenient for them and is ultimately unnecessary. Windsor says:

"...remember the August F1 shutdown that was introduced for the first time in 2009? Well, it's happening again in 2010. Understand that most of Europe closes for August and you kind of understand the decision. Unless you're American, that is.

As in Australia, August for Americans is just another working month in which some people maybe take a week or two away. There's no nationwide shutdown, as such – not of the type that regularly afflicts massive F1 teams like Ferrari."

I understand his point, but he also complains about how little the European factories get done over the Christmas break as well. Everyone is allowed a holiday at some point, aren't they?

The real question lies with whether it's fair for the shutdown to coincide with the European shutdown, when not all the teams are in Europe. If it is to be a compulsory shutdown, do they all have to take it at the same time? Last year, the teams were keen to retain the summer break so their employees could have some time off and recharge their batteries after months of travelling to races.

The addition of the factory shutdown came about as an answer to the restriction on wind tunnel usage plus the obligatory cost cutting measures. In the recesses of my not-very-good memory, I recall some teams not being fond of the idea at all. Whilst the race staff could take a break, that didn't necessarily mean the design and factory staff needed to as well.

Nevertheless, Windsor's problem is not that the break exists, but that it is so focused on one continent. Formula 1 is supposedly meant to be global, but definitely rotates around the European industry and audiences. There are a lot of teams based in the UK and nearby, though, so would it be fair to them to move it again?

Windsor will most likely be up against it, though. When the possibility emerged that the 2009 summer break might go missing, there was outrage throughout the paddock. Ron Dennis was particularly vocal about the extra costs involved in rotating staff due to exhaustion and even Bernie got involved in rallying for the break to remain. Now that there's no testing, it only makes sense for the shutdown to occur in the break.

It looks as though Peter is aware of the challenge he faces:

"I was impressed to hear the McLaren guys say that it was a waste of time and that most of their staff had found it all very frustrating, but sadly these were lone voices: the majority of the teams, led by Red Bull, it seemed to me, are firmly committed to the summer shutdown. And so shut down we will."

I don't know the answer to any of these questions, so I am throwing it open to you. Should the factory shutdown remain compulsory? Is it right that it fits in so well with the UK industry, and perhaps alienates other countries? What are your thoughts?

The final point I want to leave on this is from Steven Roy when the topic was brought up earlier:

I just find it odd that Windsor is complaining about something that doesn't happen for 8 months. Surely he has more immediate concerns and more important stuff to put out to the press.

Another good point.

Existing Solely to Race?

2009 was a busy year for the Williams F1 team, almost as busy off track as it was on. The start of the season saw Williams caught in the middle of a "diffuser row". In May the team managed to get themselves expelled from the Formula One Teams Association, for a full four months and to close the year off, they dropped both drivers and their engine partner.

It seems no F1 season is complete without a "Williams are Struggling to Survive" headline to round the year off, and given all that has happened, plus the fact Royal Bank of Scotland announced it would end its partnership with the team after 2010, the story almost writes itself.

Except this year is different. The past 12 months have seen no less than three well-heeled manufacturer teams exit the sport, whilst the boys and girls from Oxford remain steadfast and strong. New smaller teams are entering the sport (or at least they're trying) and they likely have less money to throw around than anyone. In the meantime Williams appears to be siding with both the sport's commercial rights holder CVC and the sport's governing body the FIA. I don't believe anyone from the headquarters in Grove ever sent out a press release confirming the re-admittance to FOTA, while the decision to select independent Cosworth power over a Toyota engine won't have hurt their cause in any way.

It has been pointed out several times this year, that Williams are a team who solely exist to race. In fact the team's own facts and stats page quotes this very mantra and they're rightly proud of it. They don't have tins of energy drink to shift, neither do they have a range of high-performance vehicles to promote. They race in Formula One and that is pretty much all they do.

Admittedly there was the small matter of designing an F2 car for the FIA's (them again) pet feeder series project but everything else is essentially Formula One related. Or is it?

I get the impression Sir Frank may have taken a longing look over at the success of the McLaren Group. An F1 team that expanded its horizons to include catering, marketing, technology, and who recently spun out the automotive arm to launch their own range of elite road cars. McLaren once solely existed to race too.

Williams Hybrid Power, the recently rebranded energy storage technology company looks for all the world like it has ambitions beyond Formula One. Let's be honest, if you looked at the backwards way KERS was implemented in the sport, you'd have to have bigger aspirations than that. A couple of weeks back Williams also announced a deal with Qatar Science and Technology Park, and this project has plans to extend current research even further. I believe if you look closely the press release mentions "road cars" too.

At some point the FIA may decide that F1 needs a standardised KERS system, and it would be quite handy if there were a team out there with readymade flywheel system (arguably the more ecologically sound solution), who also had experience with a Cosworth engine. Additionally, it's worth keeping in mind that McLaren's exclusive standard engine control unit deal expires at the end of 2010. Given the success of the system, it makes sense that the SECU concept be retained beyond 2010, but one wonders if a new tender will be put out to interested parties? Integration with a standard KERS system might reduce costs considerably.

Clearly all of the above is nothing more than pure speculation, but it's worth keeping in mind that next year Williams likely won't be the only team existing solely to race. There will be smaller and more needy teams present too. Is it time for Williams to step up and break out beyond Formula 1? I think the F2 project went too well to waste that amount of talent on Formula One.

Vote in the Red Bull Racing Fan Awards 2009

Dank snuck a quick plug into the comments this evening relating to a new competition Red Bull Racing are running. It seems like a fun idea, there are prizes on offer, so we figured we'd give it a proper plug too.

It's that time of year when awards are all the rage and team RBR are no different. The guys and girls from Milton Keynes are asking for your votes in a variety of weird and wonderful categories, the full details of which can be found on the official site.

Questions aren't of the usual multiple choice variety and it took me a while to settle on some answers. Who was the bad boy of 2009? Don't tell us though, save it for Red Bull and fill in the entry form which can be found here.

It should only take a few minutes, and in return you'll be entered into a prize draw with the chance of winning a sackful of Red Bull Racing merchandise. The deadline for voting is midday (GMT) on Monday, December 7th. That feels like ages away, but you may as well get it out of the way and vote now, right?

Also, whilst perusing the official web site, I noticed the team are promoting a Wings for Life charity auction, which features original work from Luke at Motorsport In Print. Once you've filled in your Fan Awards voting form, why not hop on over to the auction site and have a look around.

Here We Go Again

This summer break has yet to be the peaceful few weeks off we desired, and now the FIA have thrown another interesting piece of news into the melting pot.

Following BMWs failure to meet the deadline to sign the Concorde Agreement, the FIA have opened up the selection process for new teams to fill the empty space in the paddock. AUTOSPORT reports that Max Mosley wrote to the seven reserve teams to let them know a place had become available.

I understand the need to do this, although it seems really close to the deadline, and quite harsh on BMW. They only just missed it, and are working really hard to try and find a solution to their withdrawal. Well, it seems as though Peter Sauber is, anyway. He is the only one making noises from the Hinwil camp, and it's not looking good for them. If the entry goes to one of the reserve teams, which it is likely to do, they may already have an infrastructure in place for producing their F1 car, leaving one massive factory in the middle of Switzerland with very little purpose.

Meanwhile, who would take up this final place for 2010? I wonder if the seven teams in reserve are still happy about joining the sport, what with the legal concerns over Mosley allegedly stipulating Cosworth as a partner. That being the case, it seems odd that the FIA would want to open this can of worms again, as they haven't sorted out the complaints from the last selection process yet. Perhaps they intend to choose a team without a Cosworth engine at the helm, which would essentially exonerate them from these claims. Except, manufacturers are only supposed to supply a couple of teams, and Cosworth have three signed up already. Which other manufacturers are ready to supply an engine?

This opens up many questions, and yet another deadline (not yet known). Will the team formerly known as BMW be ready in time to submit an application? Would they be selected above the others? Who else is still realistically in the running and what engine will they use?