F1 Debrief - Surprise, Surprise

Coming up on this episode, we discuss the epic rain in Suzuka, who we’d put in the HRT car, Renault’s future, and the main man from Coldplay.

Intro

Things go a little bit Cilla Black when we start a surprise podcast. We're nowhere near back to full strength, but who can resist podcasting when there is so much to talk about?

Good Week / Bad Week

It has been a good week for Sato who manages to get out of an IndyCar and keeps out of the wall as well. A bad week for Jenson Button who suffered a case of mistaken identity. It's been a good week for F1 fans as teams and drivers acknowledged that it's not an easy life, and of course, a bad week for Force India who won't be getting damages from some Spyker sponsors.

News and Views

We take a good look at the Team Lotus vs Group Lotus situation, with an explanation of the situation and where we think it will go from here. We also discuss the team potentially using Renault engines in 2011, and the yellow team's own headlines - including a false start with Kimi Raikkonen and the disappearance of Bob Bell.

The Race

With the Japanese Grand Prix this weekend, we discuss why McLaren seem to be getting it all wrong, and why you need an energy drink to make it in F1 a the moment. We also deconstruct the concept of blue flags, and ponder which of the many drivers at HRT is doing a good job.

Feedback

A quick question from Fabio regarding what to do with his qualification and where to go to help with driver performance.

Housekeeping

There's been a lot of innovation on the site over the past six months but two important things get a shoutout in this podcast. Firstly, the Factbyte Factbox is a great way to consume qualifying and race sessions, either as supplementary information, or as a catchup after the event. Secondly, if you are live commenting your way through an F1 session, the Sidepodcast Dashboard is a great tool to see as much information at once as possible.