This week as the off-season comes to a close, it's the final Thursday Thoughts for awhile. Unusually we have a question in front of us that both Christine and I can answer, but in different ways. So this is my take.
Maverick has put bloggers in the spotlight by simply asking, why do you blog?
This is a bit of a tricky subject to approach, because originally Sidepodcast was about audio and about video. The written word was, and still to a degree is, a secondary consideration. Two scenarios have driven the direction of site in a more textual direction - it is expensive to create two-way conversation using other media, and when time is of the essence, text delivery is faster and more convenient.
The latter is especially true when working on projects on a part-time basis.
Mr. C and Me
I only write blog posts for Sidepodcast and very occasionally for F1 Minute. You might consider me the lesser productive half of the team. I can't remember how I ended up getting roped into writing (I swear I only agreed to a speaking part), so a trip back into the archives is in order.
59 words made up my first post back in 2007, and it wasn't F1 related. A further month passed before I had a go at Ferrari. Following the archive trail through '08 and '09 it's easy to conclude that I primarily blog to promote things.
Catching right up to date, I can see that my text output has increased as more things have needed selling or explaining. My typing speed has not.
I'm confident that if project Sidepodcast ended tomorrow, my writing would cease along with it. There just isn't a burning desire within me to type anything.
All for F1
A year or so ago, we had a problem with people suggesting that we were F1 journalists, or reporters, or some such thing that we weren't comfortable with. For me, Sidepodcast was never a stepping stone into the Formula 1 circus, it wasn't a way to showcase any skills to the wider world, it was simply a vehicle with which Christine and I could work together. To that end it's work incredibly well, despite all the writing I've had to do.
This final Thursday Thoughts question closes the 2009-2010 off-season for me, and I've appreciated reading every question and all the posts that have spilled forth from them. I may not give so much back as some, but I love being a part of the F1 community.
For the final Thursday Thoughts, Maverick has posed a question not directly related to F1, but an interesting one. Mr C and I are both answering, so make sure you also read his answer here. The question itself: why do you blog?
It's a tough one for me. I've been blogging for so long and in so many different ways that I often forget why I do it, aside from just enjoying the process. I love to blog. I like writing, I like forming an idea into something a bit bigger, I like sharing things with other people. I love getting comments, but that is a bonus.
Once, a long time ago, an Aunt of mine stumbled across my personal blog, and when talking to me about it, said it was just like a scrapbook she used to keep. She said it was exactly what she would have done if the technology had been around when she was a kid. That's mostly how I see my blog. One giant scrapbook - a way of highlighting and saving awesome things, taking part in and recording conversations with fabulous folks. Looking back through the archives can be a pleasure or a pain, but is always a fascinating thing to do.
I have quite a lot of archives to look through, with many, many blogs to my name. Currently, I have these blogs ongoing:
Other blogs I have started and stopped: Daily Tennis Blog, Daily F1 Blog, Daily Hollyoaks Blog, The BBC Blog.
It might be an addiction.
In terms of Sidepodcast, I feel as though the blog is for something that won't work very well in audio, and is for things that need sharing and archiving. We've often bemoaned the fact that audio isn't the easiest thing to look back on, and producing transcripts is very important, if time consuming. When something needs bookmarking in a more tangible form, a blog entry might be it.
F1 is one of the hardest subjects I've tackled, and even though I've learnt enormous amounts since I first started the Daily F1 Blog, I still feel clueless 99% of the time. Writing, and discussing the subject with our lovely community helps me keep on learning.
Welcome to the last Thursday Thoughts for the time being. We've been answering and posing questions for the off-season, and it's been an amazing ride, covering vast subjects from best team principals, to the economics of local governments. The best thing about Thursday Thoughts, though, has been the excellent participation amongst bloggers - from the volunteers to host the question each week - to everyone putting fingers to keyboard to come up with some answers.
This final question comes from Maverick of Viva F1, who thought it would be fitting for the last one. Rather than something specific to F1, we want to look at blogging. Maverick's question:
Which blog article or articles have you written that you were most pleased with writing and why?
The topic came out of a conversation about the reasons for blogging, why you do it and what you get out of it. These are also up for discussion, if you want to focus on the whys and wherefores, rather than specific posts.
We'll post our answer here later today, and if you take up the question, please link to your posts here as well.
That just leaves me time to thank everyone who's hosted a question:
We could never have come up with such a diverse range of conversations by ourselves, and I can't wait for the winter to come round so we can do it all again.
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.
This week, Dan Brunell has taken the lead for Thursday Thoughts, posing a rather tricky question over on his Racing Eagles blog. This week, we are tackling economics, and whilst I work with numbers, I still spent some time scratching my head on this one. The question, then:
Is government finance of Formula One events, teams, and personal a good thing for the common good of that area? What is the line between regional economic investment and the wholesale fleecing of the public?
Immediately, I think of Silverstone. Damon Hill is constantly bemoaning the lack of support the BRDC gets when it comes to running the Grand Prix for Britain. Even when Donington took over, they were allowed to fail spectacularly without even a blink from the government. The question over whether taxpayers should fund Formula One really falls back to a more general one of whether we should fund sport at all. If we're helping to pay for one, there's no reason not to pay for another, even if it is a rather expensive one. With the Olympics dominating headlines at the moment, this is really a timely question.
The thing about Silverstone is, it does help the local economy. I'd never even heard of the place until I became a fan of F1, let alone been anywhere near it. At the track itself, Porsche have invested in an incredible car and human performance facility, there is a science and technology park, with the Silverstone Innovation Centre. Plus nearby teams, such as Force India, are creating work for hundreds of people.
When Canada lost their race, their economy suffered enough for the government to turn to hotel owners to make up the difference. A tax levied on hotel occupancy, and presumably on restaurants and fans themselves.
So, you could certainly make an argument that F1 is beneficial to sport, and to the local economy. The problem arises, as it so often does, with one Mr Bernie Ecclestone. Damon Hill is miserable because Bernie is charging enormous amounts for the race and leaving little for development. If the government poured money into the circuit, it's conceivable that Bernie would increase his fees, and there would still be little room for development. I'm not in favour of the taxpayer money heading straight for Bernie's pockets any more than it has to.
Thus, I conclude, in my roundabout way, that Damon Hill is going to have to stay miserable for now. I want the government to support all kinds of sports, but Formula One doesn't have the right attitude to make that a feasible option right now.
For this week's Thursday Thoughts, Adie of F1 Tailpipe has offered us a fabulous question:
What can F1 do to enhance the experience of fans in attendance at the circuit? Does the ‘exclusivity’ of the sport add to the mystique of F1 in general, or has F1 set itself too far apart from your Average Joe?
For me, the question falls into two distinct parts. I don't mind if F1 is exclusive, and some of the real contact with teams and drivers is reserved for corporate parties and the very rich. However, this can only be the case, if the money generated from such things makes the experience cheaper for everyone else. Feel free to keep drivers on the inside of the circuit, and close off the bridge, but only if I get cheaper ticket prices.
If the money from such corporate exclusivity is simply going into Bernie's pocket, then I'm not interested.
Credit: sidepodcast.com
Keeping Formula 1 apart from the fans who love it
Of course, I also argue that drivers should do the mandatory signing sessions and it's excellent when they make appearances at their team merchandise stands. However, the lack of direct contact is part of what makes F1 so appealing. Even catching a tiny glimpse of your favourite driver is ten times more exciting if you know you're not going to bump into him round every single corner.
This leads nicely onto the second part of my answer. There's something about the elite nature of Formula 1 that keeps it so interesting. If I wanted to see cars up close on a regular basis on a cheap ticket, I could just visit my local circuit and watch some club racing. That's not the point. The point is these machines are special, these drivers are the best (well, some of them), and it is, in a way, a fantasy.
I want events like the Goodwood Festival of Speed to remain something very special. Our overriding impression when we went for the first time was that being so close to the cars in the paddock area was an amazing experience and something we would remember forever. To reduce the barriers at a race would reduce that feeling to a simple 'oh, there are those cars again.'
That's not to say that F1 does everything right, not by a long shot, but I do believe that the exclusivity of F1 is what keeps us all wanting more.
Although it is technically not Thursday anymore, we like to stretch the limits in our very own Sidepodtime timezone. Thus, here is a guest post from Lorenzo, answering Journeyer's initial question, with his ideal team line up.
My ideal team? When considering this question, I have opted to look at drivers that are alive and active, but maybe haven’t sat in an F1 car for many years. For the purpose of the exercise I will assume that the drivers would be at the same level as the day they left F1 (which is highly unlikely), but I suppose it is my team and before the season starts I am able to take such liberties with my decisions.
Ok, so my first choice would be the French Sicilian with the fiery temperament, who on his day gave both Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost more than a few headaches. I will always remember Jean Alesi's heroic efforts in the Tyrrell in 1990 passing, being passed and re-passing Senna many times on the notoriously difficult to overtake Phoenix Street Circuit. In fact he was a major reason as to why I fell in love with F1 in the first place, his talent was never questioned but his passion more than often led him to make the wrong decisions. Probably the move that effectively prevented him from becoming more than just a mere footnote, was inspired by his passion for Ferrari, when with his infinite wisdom he managed to wrangle himself out of an already signed contract with Williams for 1991 and ended up in his dream drive for Ferrari, alongside Alain Prost instead. Now we all know how that ended up, the Patrick Head/Adrian Newey Williams was the dominant force of the 90’s whilst Ferrari’s glory and form faded season upon season, until 1997 effectively. Still, Frank Williams was “donated” a Ferrari F1 car for his kindness in letting Alesi out of his signed multi-year contract and to this day I believe he still has the car in his Museum, but Alesi remains only a single time winner in the record books. What if, hey?
Number 2? Jacques Villeneuve. Who could ever forget his debut in the Williams in 1996, not I! Standing trackside you could see his unwavering commitment shining through in the body language of the FW18. Leading most of the race until he ran a little wide onto the grass outside of the first corner at Albert Park, shaking loose an oil line in the car, which resulted in the teams instructing him to pull over and let his more experienced team mate Damon Hill past for the win. Still his intentions were clear and Damon was served early notice. Also his relentless stalking and chase of Michael Schumacher in the Championship decider of Jerez 1997, followed by his scything pass down the inside from so far back that the German had no idea he was even coming. The audacity of Villeneuve in only his second season in F1, who in this one moment exposed what was both brilliant and flawed about Schumacher...his inability to accept defeat at almost any cost. My heart sank when in one fell swoop Villeneuve had confirmed for the world that Adelaide 1994 was no accident.
Test/Reserve? Kimi Raikkonen. His talent cannot be questioned, although we are all aware of his commitment issues and dare I say laziness over a season? I have a feeling that he would be horrible at developing the car for me and he would definitely hate the thought of me plonking him in the simulator for hour after endless hour, but I think I could tell when he has that glint in his eye and needs to be in the car. I might even arrange a special sponsor outing where we send Jean Alesi motocross riding on the weekend before Spa (no harm intended of course!) just so that I could slot Kimi in for his customary Belgium win, and then let him party for the rest of the year.
A final thought, sure Alesi, Villeneuve & Raikkonen mightn’t be a conventional choice for an ideal team but I have a secondary element to my choices. Jean owns a winery, Kimi loves a tipple and Jacques can sort of hold a tune. So when/if team Lorenzo F1 fail dismally, the year end Christmas party will be one to savour. Jean will supply the wine for Kimi to drink whilst Jacques provides the entertainment. I can’t lose!
Journeyer asked the question this week, and it's fallen to me to answer it on behalf of Sidepodcast. The question revolves around a dream F1 team, which drivers would be the ideal choice to make the best team, assuming money is unlimited, and everyone is available.
Well.
Hands up who thinks I'm going to say Franck?
Actually, I've been giving it some serious thought, and although a good looking, rather speedy French driver would be an asset to the team, I'm not going to go with Mr Montagny. He has unfinished work to do in Le Mans, and I'd rather he concentrated on that for now.
My wish list is actually quite a simple one - I only want drivers in my team who are on Twitter, and use it a lot. The added communication, the contact with the fans, the feeling of inclusion in events is something that is extremely valuable to a team. Just ask Mr C how he feels about Claire Williams after watching her Twitter feed all week.
So, drivers that tweet on a regular basis are few and far between at the moment, although it seems to be a growing trend, which is good. I've had a good look through our new Twitter page and decided that the drivers who have tweeted the most get my spare race seats.
Barrichello has been microblogging an awful lot and racked up a whopping 18,000 tweets, which is more than I can even comprehend. I'm slightly concerned that he'll be so busy on his mobile phone that he won't actually get any work done, but if it works for Williams, it works for me. Next up is Lucas di Grassi, which means I do get a delicious driver in my team, even if it's not Franck. He has just broken the 1,000 tweet mark which means he has a way to go to match Rubens but is still ahead of the rest.
Oddly, the next most prolific driver is Jenson Button, which lands him directly in my test seat. That means the defending World Champion can't actually keep his hands on his title, unless something happens to either of my main drivers. That's entirely possible, of course, they might get repetitive strain injury in their thumbs, so perhaps Button would get the call up sooner than he might think.
That's my team - three excellent drivers, with three fabulous Twitter accounts. We'll be called Team140, and due to cost-cutting measures, we have to restrict the number of employees to 140. Everyone else in the team will have to tweet too, and together, we could take over the micro-blogging world.
Following on from Journeyer's Thursday Thoughts question this morning, Nathan has already examined the potential candidates in great detail, and come up with his ideal team, which we will share with you now.
Intriguing. I'm trying - very hard - to keep personal bias out of this, and I think I can.
It's almost too difficult in some ways, the idea of having an unlimited budget can warp things somewhat, like football "dream teams", the most successful teams don't necessarily have a star-studded lineup.
My immediate answer to the question was quite simple - the two best drivers in F1 right now, Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton. However, anyone who had the privilege of seeing the 2007 season will know this didn't play out too well, despite the obvious talents of both. The rivalry was complicated by the political wrangling between the FIA president at the time, Max Mosley, and the McLaren/Ferrari teams, concerning the leaked Ferrari papers which found their way into the McLaren team. It's often difficult to decipher who was to blame and why, and relationships between Alonso and Hamilton fans are still fractious, if slightly more amiable, given that both drivers seem to acknowledge and respect each other's abilities.
Yet the idea of pairing these two behemoths of F1 together is still extremely tempting - Hamilton's raw pace and ballsy attitude combined with his considerable marketability makes him an exciting prospect for every team and fan alike. Meanwhile Alonso's consistent brilliance and ferocity often makes him a force of nature during races, being able to come up with the right strategy calls or delivering a series of perfect laps makes him a very desirable driver to have in any garage, and you get the feeling every team owner on the grid would give their right arm to have him.
So who are the other contenders, realistically? I'll say this now - Schumacher would not be my choice, if I was a team principal. He brings too much baggage with him in terms of his past, and although he would bring considerable experience and a fantastic attitude, he's not one for the future, either.
How about the others then? Massa has proven himself capable of incredible pace at the right times, yet you get the overhanging feeling there are still mistakes within his driving that are liable to surface at any point. For this reason I'm leaving him out, but he would still be a great choice overall. Jenson Button, perhaps? Well, despite being last year's WDC (and yes, he did deserve it), personally I feel a lack of total conviction, perhaps this is just the way he presents himself, but I don't feel the same raw, instinctive desire to win that I do from Schumacher, Alonso, Hamilton or even Vettel.
I think there are only two choices left. Of course, it would be nice to have Kimi Raikkonen back in the fold, as a motivated KR of 2005 would no doubt be a contender for a seat. So here we have Vettel and Robert Kubica. Kubica may surprise many, and given that he has only won the single race - somewhat fortunately - he is perhaps the weakest of all the contenders so far. Yet I have a feeling about Kubica. A very special feeling, the same that I feel and see in Alonso, in Hamilton, and in Schumacher. He has the talent, and the pace, no doubt about it, but one questions his ability to drive "around" a bad car, as he struggled considerably in 2009, until he put a fantastic drive in at Interlagos, which impressed many. I don't feel he would be ready in my "dream team" lineup, and he's unlikely to accept a 3rd driver role! But I would definitely be keeping an eye on him for the long term.
So - one person left to look at, Sebastian Vettel. Perhaps along with Hamilton, Massa and Raikkonen, one of the quickest drivers around in terms of raw pace. And he's still incredibly young, he's shown great maturity over the past couple of seasons. Yet he makes mistakes, and that cost him his WDC last year. I also question his ability to "make things happen", take a look at 2009 in Turkey, when he had to overtake Button to make his strategy work, his inability to make it happen cost him badly. Of course, it is difficult to overtake in F1, but you get the sense that one of MSC, LH and FA would have made it happen, no matter what. In fact, the previous year, when Hamilton had to do the same, he managed to overtake Felipe Massa to make his strategy work.
So, after what seems like an eternity pondering these things, I feel I've come full circle. Who are really the best drivers in F1 now? Well, of course people have different opinions, but I genuinely believe that Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton occupy the top 2 seats of the table, and if I was a team principal, I would be doing everything within my power to get them. I don't think there would be particular problems between them, provided they solved any on the track. Consistent, fast and marketable. What more can a team owner wish for?
As for my reserve driver, my knowledge of the young drivers in the lower formulae is not great, so I'm going to have to plump for a current F1 driver, and for this task, it's between Rubens Barrichello and Jaime Alguesuari. Barrichello has shown he has pace, the ability to set a car up, and the most experience of any F1 driver ever. Yet he showed in 2009 he still makes mistakes, some of which are reckless and can prove costly.
You may do a double-take at the mention of Jaime. So why have I mentioned him? Hmm. Well, last year, at the age of 19, he showed a lot of promise, in my opinion. Yes, he crashed the car an awful lot. Yes, he did not make full use of the car he was given. But still, during the practice sessions on the radio, we could clearly hear him talking eloquently and articulately to his engineers, explaining calmly and maturely. He took his first "year" easily, just making sure he got used to the car and the team. Consider also that he had absolutely no F1 testing, a ludicrous situation when you think about it, and had only just been in his first season of the World Series by Renault. With some clarity and and objectivity, you can make a case for him to be a very solid long term prospect, and I consider him so. In my team, I would be willing to give him several years worth of development in other series', and hope that testing regulations are loosened slightly to allow him access to more experience. This is the only way his career will work out in the real world, if STR stick with him for several years, to let him blossom.
We've covered an enormous amount of topics in our Thursday Thoughts series, and we've got more to come before the season ends. If you want to pose a question, please sign up on the wiki, but for now, I'll hand over to our lead blogger, Journeyer.
Although I don't have my own personal blog, I've loved the concept of Thursday Thoughts. And I'm honored to ask the question for this week.
We've talked a lot in the comments about who deserves a drive in Formula One, and who doesn't. With so many new seats and new drivers flying around, perhaps it's time we put ourselves in the team owners' shoes.
So my question for all of you is:
If you were a team boss with 3 vacant seats (2 race seats and 1 test seat), who would you hire?
To make it a bit easier, let's make a few assumptions. Assume that there are no financial restrictions and that all the drivers are free agents. In other words, you have an unlimited budget and can hire anyone of your choice.
However, while there may be no formal restrictions, you may want to ask yourselves some of these questions: Will they get along? Do they have compatible driving styles? Are they both quick enough to win races? Do they have sufficient experience and/or potential?
The possibilities are endless. And just to get things started, here's mine:
Race Seats:
Michael Schumacher - Really, was there any doubt? Based on the tests this week, he's still got the speed and the motivation. And his skills in technical feedback wouldn't go amiss, either. The tricky bit here is looking for a driver who would get along well with Michael, but be competitive enough as well.
Sebastian Vettel - It was a coinflip for me between him and Felipe Massa, but I think Vettel is the better long-term choice. Michael won't be around forever, and I'd need someone who can lead the team even after he's retired. He has potential by the bucketload, and he's come a very long way in just over 2 years.
Test Seat: Marcus Ericsson - This young Swede is about to enter his first full season of GP2 after a good run in F3, but in his GP2 Asia debut last year, he did pretty well. He also held his own when he did the Young Drivers Test late last year alongside Mike Conway at Mercedes GP. I'm giving him the test seat because I think he has the potential to perform well at the highest level - and because no one else has given him an F1 seat (Not to mention I wanted to make an unorthodox pick). If he's good enough and I stay loyal to him and give him a good enough car, I'm hoping he stays loyal to me too.
So there's my personal line-up. I'd love to hear your line-up! Blog about it and plug it here. No blog? No problem - post your thoughts in the comments, or even better, send a guest post to Christine. Speak out and make yourself heard.
