Oh my goodness. I finally have the opportunity to do a post for the World Cup posts within Sidepodcast - awesome! I myself am a football fan but the great thing about the World Cup is that you learn so much you didn't know before, like this stat - did you know that the Jinglgjonljelly ball being used for the World Cup is round? It's causing many arguments because it's a ball doing ball-esque things. Fabio Capello called it the 'worst ball he has ever seen' - take that Jellybanana Ball! He hasn't played with my old year 10 team I did in school, clearly. I for one am outraged it is a ball being a ball. Rugby never has this problem. Anyways, I digress, there is another big World Cup day to concentrate on.

Just One More Thing...

Before I go into the main World Cup stuff for today, I thought it would be nice to let you know a bit more about being a Welsh football fan watching the World Cup. You see, Wales have a startling history with the World Cup. Oh yes. We first qualified for our first World Cup back in 1958, back when the world was always black and white and a young fellow called Elvis was storming the charts. Didn't qualify for a World Cup did you, Elvis? Bet he could though.

In 1958 Wales actually had a good team with one of the finest British players to grace the soils of football in John Charles. For me, Charles was the greatest Welsh player there ever was and I'm glad he got the chance to compete in the tournament whereas the likes of Ian Rush, Ryan Giggs, Neville Southall and other Welsh legends didn't. We did alright though in 1958 - got through to the Quarter Finals actually! Stop laughing back there. The problem is, we played the likes of Pele and Garrincha, a team made of Brazilian legends who beat us unfortunate Welsh 1-0.

...aaand that's where our World Cup history ends. As we have not qualified since. Not even close, I'm afraid. See, we're a funny old country Wales. Every few years in Rugby we do amazingly, and then we do ok, then amazing and so on. But in football, we seem to be consistently rubbish. The good thing about being a Welsh football fan is that we embrace our awfulness, and a victory is much celebrated but a loss is expectedly the outcome. I do hope we can qualify again one day, when cars fill the sky and we're all drinking invisible orange juice whilst having Greggs delivered to our homes. But that is Wales, and this is a World Cup about a bajillion miles away, so let's get back to South Africa.

Yesterday, All My Shots Seemed So Far Away...

...unless your name is Diego Forlan of course.

The first of yesterday's games saw a generic 1-0 win for Chile as they beat the mighty, uh, Honduras. That was a bit of a boring game for me, not too bad but it was another World Cup game that was a typically generic game and a bit scrappy. Like getting a piece of toast but spreading butter too hard and breaking the bread - you can't go back now, but you should enjoy what you have to put up with.

The second of yesterday's games is so far the shock of the tournament without a doubt. Switzerland 1-0 Spain. Yes, that was not a typo, I am not silly, Switzerland beat current European champions Spain. Oh the madness, oh the shame of it all! Oh how I love football when this happens. Former Man City striker Gelson Fernandes got the winner for Spain in a pretty good game that came to life in the second half once Switzerland had scored. Spain attacked and attacked, bringing on Fernando Torres and Jesus Navas, but it was not to be. The dire performance from Gerard 'I used to play for Manchester United's bench' Pique and Carlos 'I ran over Lukeh's foot 6 years ago in my car' Puyol in central defence was paramount for Spain's loss personally. C'est la vie, as B*witched once said.

Finally, we had Uruguay and South Africa fight it out under the floodlights that can only be described as Diego Forlan vs South Africa because he was the man that led to the 3-0 thrashing for Uruguay. He was simply outstanding for Uruguay and scored two of the team's three goals. Several years ago Forlan left Man Utd ridiculed by many because he didn't seem good enough - then went onto be one of Europe's most prolific strikers. Yesterday proved why, and I'm delighted that he's showing how good he is.

And Now, Onto Today's Games

Finally we get to today's matches. I'm sorry if this has been a bit long winded but there's just so much I wanted to get packed into today's World Cup post and stuff to discuss with you guys! Nevertheless, here are the three games that make up today's schedule that I hope you shall be tuning into:

• Argentina vs South Korea - 12:30 BST - ITV
• Greece vs Nigeria - 15:00 BST - BBC
• France vs Mexico - 19:30 BST - BBC

Three pretty good games there if you ask me! Not that you did, but I thought I'd answer anyway because it seemed right in this kind of thing. All three games have me wondering the possibilties and stuff to watch out for in them...

• Can Messi, Higuain, Tevez and co. get many past a resiliant South Korean team or will the mighty Park Ji Sung lead his merry men of Korea into a shocking win?
• Will Greece make up for a disappointing opening loss for the tournament or will Nigeria make up for their loss to Argentina?
• Will France actually bother turning up tonight after a seriously rubbish opening game or will Mexico come out and get their first win of the tournament?

Make sure you tune in guys, because sadly I won't be able to join you today. I'll be there in spirit! I'm thinking Argentina 1-1 South Korea, Greece 1-2 Nigeria, France 2-2 Mexico but we shall see! Wales would beat them all anyways. We don't need to qualify for a World Cup to prove we're the best team in the world anyways.

Ahem.

I'll leave you with this.

For as long as I can remember, I've been visiting petrol stations. It's not the kind of thing I do for entertainment of course, but the practicalities of life ensure regular fuel stops keep me moving.

I haven't only been frequenting the petroleum establishments since I learnt to drive either. As a small person in a booster seat in the back of the car, I vividly recall travelling on long journeys and repeatedly stopping at garages to refuel the car.

Cars need fuel and garages provide that fuel. These are not alien concepts that require much explanation to the modern man, woman or child. You may not have noticed in years gone by, but during your average F1 broadcast, be it practice, qualifying or the race, commentators rarely spent too much time explaining why a car needed to stop fuel. The fundamentals of the internal combustion engine are well enough known, that even the most condescending of reporters could remain quiet on this subject.

Contrast this then, to tyres.

They Call it Chunking

I don't remember the last time I had to change the tyres on my car. I suspect it was around the time a man suggested to me, a roadworthiness certificate would not be forthcoming without the purchase of replacement rubber.

For the life of me, I don't recall ever having to decide before heading out on a journey, whether to choose wet weather or dry weather tyres. I don't remember a new set of boots giving me any extra pace, neither can I relate in any way to problems of chunking nor graining.

These phrases appear to have been entirely made up by the motor sport fraternity.

Which probably explains why commentators spend so much time obsessing over such details during races. Everything about racing rubber is contrived solely within motor sport and bears no relation to any experience in the real world. Only racing drivers, and those people who think they are racing drivers, have any fundamental understanding of why the expensive, black, round things bear any relevance to anything happening on track.

Let Me Bore You Silly

For better or for worse, this year Formula 1 has opted to eschew the straightforward concept of mid-race refuelling stops, yet retain mid-race tyre stops. To me this is the exact opposite of what should have been done. F1 needs to be more accessible, not less so and this move has played right into the hands of the elitist snobs who like to think they know more than the common fan. There are probably only a few thousand people in the whole world who properly understand race tyre technology and every one of those people are likely already working in the industry.

I can't for the life of me see why tyres are so important to racing and why one driver can't be assigned a single set to last the weekend? I've been driving on four tyres for at least 9 months, which by my reckoning makes me a smoother driver than even Jenson Button. Pass me the drivers title now.

F1 is facing a tyre crisis, one that I would suggest is entirely of its own making. There may not be any tyres to go around next year, yet in 2010, the sports seems intent on making them the focus of the show.

I understood refuelling, I liked what it brought to races in the past. No-one ever needed to explain to me what a fuel hose did, and when cars came it to pit at least you could see the drivers when they stopped for a period of time. It used to be possible to spot a problem unfolding, whereas now a stop is over in the blink of an eye.

Where's the entertainment in that?

On the eve of the first F1 practice session of the year, the Renault F1 Team have announced a major sponsorship deal with technology company Hewlett-Packard. The new agreement means the R30 cars will run with significant HP branding adorning the bodywork.

The team will also obtain access to HP technology in order to further develop simulation technologies on the back of HP High Performance Computing servers. Additionally HP will help the team to reduce its carbon footprint, by implementing 'greener' data centres, and utilising low-energy-consumption workstations.

Renault F1 Team Chairman, Gérard Lopez commented:

"F1 has a proven ability to boost brand awareness around the world, and we are proud that Renault F1 Team will be HP's partner of choice in achieving this goal."

A rather optimistic HP representative noted the company intended to offer the best technology to support Renault F1 in their quest for victory.

Hewlett-Packard have long been using Formula One as means of promoting technological development, running a major branding campaign on the Williams teams cars from 2002 to 2005.

It has been weeks coming but finally US F1 have stopped operations and admitted they are not going to make it onto the grid in 2010. Although there is no direct quote from the team, there have been several tweets from the inside, and Autosport has the story:

AUTOSPORT understands that shortly before lunchtime, production manager Dave Skog informed those staff who had remained at the team during its recent troubles that they were being laid off.

Updated: Futher to the original story, Autosport have posted more information, this time from team boss, Ken Anderson.

Ken has pointed out that the team still have hopes for a 2011 entry to the grid and confirmed that operations have been put on hold at the factory.

"We are waiting for a reply from the FIA and are working with them. In the mean time, there is nothing for the employees to do, so we have told them to stop working on the current car until we have a decision."

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.

The second round of 2010 F1 testing gets underway today, this time at the Circuito de Jerez located in the city of Jerez de la Frontera, Spain. Red Bull will likely be the star attraction, unveiling their RB6 chassis to the media for the first time, before action gets underway.

Update: The Williams team today launched an official live timing page for up to the minute test information. This includes driver position, gap, best time, most recent time for both the Williams car and for the rest of the field. See the team's website for more detail.

Virgin Racing will be the first "new team" to turn a wheel at a test, when Timo Glock sizes the VR-01 up against the competition. Force India will also be on track, running the VJM03 that was revealed to the world, yesterday.

Tyres will be of specific interest to teams and drivers as the aggressive layout of this circuit will stress rear tyres to a greater extent than last week. Additionally the weather will like play a key part as rain is expected to fall in the region at some point before the end of the test.

On track action begins at 9am CET (8am GMT).

Circuit Information

• Track length: 4.428km
• Corners: 13
• Lap record: 1:23.135 (Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Williams, 1997)

Circuito de Jerez is located to the South of Spain, close to border of Portugal.

Drivers and Teams Attending

The following teams and drivers are confirmed for testing on Wednesday

Useful Links

• Official Circuit Homepage
• Williams Live Timing (official timing updates)
• Autosport Live
• F1 Today
• Motor 21
• The F1.com

F1 People Who Are Tweeting from Jerez

Twitter has become the medium for accessing up to the minute testing insight. We recommend keeping an eye on James Allen's Twitter service, as well as the following accounts.

• The Fifth Driver - Vodafone McLaren Mercedes
• Red Bull F1 Spy - Red Bull Racing
• Toro Rosso Spy - Scuderia Toro Rosso
• Mercedes GP Petronas - Mercedes GP
• Inside Ferrari - Ferrari
• Racecar Engineering - Racecar Engineering
• Edd Straw - Autosport
• Jon Noble - Autosport

Don't forget you can also subscribe to Twitter lists containing tweets from F1 Teams, F1 Drivers and the F1 Media.

As ever, keep a close eye on the comments throughout the day, and don't forget real-time commenting to save refreshing this page.

Any semblance of an off-season is well and truly gone now, as we duck under the 50 day season start countdown, and prepare ourselves for upcoming team launches and testing. This week sees no less than five F1 teams unveil the designs they will race around the world this year.

As usual Sidepodcast will be covering all the announcements as they happen and there will be a dedicated thread per team, appearing in advance of each launch. During events we'll post photographs, video and embedded streaming (if teams allow it), before wrapping up what we've learnt at the end of the day.

Additionally we'll be tracking conversations on Twitter and as ever, please keep your insights, thoughts and observations coming in the comments. This year promises to offer the most connected and interactive experience Formula 1 has ever seen.

The first launch kicks off on Monday, with Mercedes being the first to break cover for their "team launch". The Sidepodcast Calendar lists all of the currently announced dates, but here's a quick reminder of what we're looking forward to.

Of note, there are rumours suggesting Mercedes may run their car for the first time on 1 February in Valencia, along with Williams. The calendar is continually updated with new information as it's available.

To ensure you don't miss out on any launch coverage this year, make sure you subscribe to the Sidepodcast Feed.

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.

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?

F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone is teaming up with Genii Capital to bid for the motor company, Saab Automobile AB. The partnership was announced Thursday evening and sees Ecclestone join recent Renault F1 investors Genii Capital in going head-to-head against one time F1 team owners, Spyker Cars.

The American company General Motors currently owns the failing Saab brand and are looking to offload the entire operation. Dutch car manufacturer Spyker had expressed an interest and made several offers to GM. Yesterday the company revised their offer and Victor Muller, CEO of Spyker Cars said in a statement:

"We have continued a constructive dialogue with GM over the acquisition of Saab. We believe the Saab brand has lots of potential and would be keen to close a deal as quickly as possible."

The Luxembourg-based private investment firm Genii Capital put in a last minute offer on Thursday and stated:

"Genii Capital has decided that given an adequate and short timeframe for finalizing its offer, it will aggressively work towards a successful closing of the transaction with all the relevant stakeholders of the company."

In December last year Genii bought a large stake in the Renault F1 team, securing its position for the 2010 championship. Although it came to light yesterday that Genii might be interested in Saab, news that Ecclestone is involved has come as something of a surprise.

As yet it is unclear what involvement Bernie will play in the partnership, or what the long term ramifications on Formula 1 and the Renault team might be.

Flavio Briatore won his court case against the FIA on Tuesday. The former boss of the Renault F1 Team had a lifetime ban imposed by motorsport's governing body last September, but today that was overturned by a French court. Citing "irregularities" in the FIA's decision, the court awarded Briatore 15,000 euros in compensation.

In addition, Pat Symonds has also had his ban lifted, while he receives 5,000 euros in compensation. This result means both men are able to return to F1 will immediate effect, although the FIA have said it may launch an appeal.

Briatore has always denied claims of race-fixing and began his legal case in October last year.

The news comes the same day that the Renault F1 Team announced that Eric Boullier will be their new team principal for the 2010 season. Presumably the timing of the announcement isn't coincidental. Boullier's previous experience saw him work in both GP2 and A1GP, while recently he took up the position of CEO of Gravity Sport Management, a company associated with Renault F1 stakeholders Genii Capital.

Updated: As expected the FIA have issued a formal statement, of note it points out that:

The Court’s decision is not enforceable until the FIA’s appeal options have been exhausted. Until then, the World Motor Sport Council’s decision continues to apply.

In addition, the FIA intends to consider appropriate actions to ensure that no persons who would engage, or who have engaged, in such dangerous activities or acts of intentional cheating will be allowed to participate in Formula One in the future.

This news may serve to dampen Flavio Briatore's mood. Earlier this evening Briatore said he was happy and believed justice had been done.

"I would like to express my great joy with the decision handed down by the Paris Tribunal de Grande Instance

"The decision handed down today restores to me the dignity and freedom that certain people had arbitrarily attempted to deprive me of."

As yet there has been no word from Symonds.