Sidepodcast

Live: Bahrain 2010 - Free Practice 2

Even if Free Practice 1 was a low-yielding round in terms of laps, there was still plenty of interesting things to chat about. You can relive the session via the brand new Factbyte Factbox highlights, and get ready for FP2.

Weather Update

Things took a turn for the scorching during FP1. The track temperature started around 30 degrees and shot up to 40 degrees by the end of the session. The air temperature remained around the 30 degree mark, so it's fair to say it's pretty hot out there.

One to Watch

Mr C was hilariously wrong about Webber, phew! I'd keep an eye on Michael Schumacher for this session as he appears to be slightly behind Rosberg at the moment. Pit lane suggests he was in a bad mood, and the car was bottoming out severely, so he's got some work to do.

Predictions Please

We didn't see anyone properly crash, the large run offs help that - will there be any accidents this afternoon? Will Sutil be able to retain his P1 position? Will Chandhok actually make it out of the garage? Let us know what you think!

Circuit Guide

Bahrain Circuit Map

Don't forget that comments automatically update on this post, there is no need to refresh the page this year. You can also follow up-to-the-minute session updates via Sidepodcast's Factbyte Factbox

Bahrain 2010 - Free Practice 1 Results

The first session of Free Practice is done and dusted, then, and we have a Force India at the top - although fuel weights have to be taken into account. The new teams had varying degrees of success but the moment of the session was seeing Senna and Hispania make their F1 debut.

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.

Force India Reveal VJM03 Online

The Force India F1 Team officially unveiled their 2010 challenger during an online-only launch on Tuesday. The team's website carried details of the new car which takes many design cues from last year's chassis.

Credit: Force India

The VJM03 debuted with minor revisions to the livery and a different nose, but what is hiding at the rear?

The rear of the car though, is of key importance to the team. Design director Mark Smith noted that the car was very much an evolution of last years chassis, but also that "the double diffuser is a key development aspect of the car", and the team had gone into the 2010 season much wiser as a result of lessons learned in 2009. Smith also pointed out changes to refuelling regulations heavily impacted the design of the car.

"The removal of refuelling from races increases the amount of fuel needed to be stored in the cars – almost twice the amount we ran in 2009. There is a compromise now: either make the car much longer or wider, or, as we have done, a combination of both. This of course has influenced the mechanical design solutions and also the aerodynamics, specifically with respects to the diffuser and bodywork."

Last year the car handled well on the low downforce tracks, but struggled elsewhere. The VJM03 has been designed to be an efficient car under all conditions.

Credit: Force India

Staring down the nose of the VJM03. It would appear a lot of work has gone into the front wing detailing.

Like all drivers, Adrian Sutil is looking forward to competing this season, and he sounds very pleased with how things within the team have been progressing.

"It's the first time we have been completely on schedule so I feel this will be the first season when I can show from the beginning to the end what is possible with the car and what I can do. Of course we will have updates and performance packages from this point on but I hope we will be strong from the first practice session rather than compromising at the start."

Others might argue the team are still effectively behind those who ran at the first test of the year.

Credit: Force India

A look at the 2010 Force India chassis and livery from the side.

Finally, Tonio Liuzzi remains realistic, as this will be the first time he starts a full season with the team.

"My objective is to be as strong and consistent as possible and give good feedback to the team to help them improve. For sure scoring points as many times as I can is going to be the key and you never know, perhaps we can get something more as well if everything comes together."

In addition to providing static images, the official Force India YouTube channel uploaded the following video to accompany the launch of the car. Sutil, Liuzzi and recently confirmed Friday test driver Paul di Resta all feature.

The car will begin its first track test on Wednesday, at the second official F1 test of the year. Tonio will handle driver duties for the first two days before handling over to Sutil for days three and four. Paul di Resta won't take to the cockpit until 17 February.

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?

Daily: 11th January 2010

How can it possibly be Monday again? Not only is it Monday, but it is a double driver birthday, with both Nakajima and Sutil celebrating the anniversary of their births. Kazuki turned 25, whilst Sutil hits 27 - hurtling towards 30, but don't tell him that! Meanwhile, here are some of the things we're talking about:

• Apparently, the organisers at Bahrain are hoping they might regain some of the F1 testing that they have lost to Europe. They appear to be hoping for bad weather conditions in Spain to give them a shot at hosting the teams as they evaluate their new cars. Have they forgotten the last test session they hosted though? Talk about bad weather!
• Over on VivaF1, Maverick has a post about what he's expecting from the cars this year, in terms of aerodynamics and sneaky diffuser designs. It's an interesting post, but all I can think is the cars can't possibly be as ugly as they were this year... can they?
• The official F1 site are running a multi-part series of posts, reviewing the season through the news that was breaking during each month. They've just posted July to September, which was a particularly difficult time of the season for pretty much everyone, I reckon. Still, it's a good way to review the season, with one more part still to come.

That's all for now, let us know how your Monday goes, and as ever, I'll see you in the comments.

F1 Advent Calendar 2009 - Day Twenty-Four

• Length: 3:41 
• Size: 3.4 MB 
• File: advent24.mp3 
• Transcript: advent24.pdf 
• Torrent: advent24.torrent 

Hello and welcome to the penultimate episode of our F1 Advent Calendar 2009. We have been peering behind a door on each day of advent, and discovering the story of a key moment from the year. It’s Christmas Eve, which means it must be time for Day Twenty-Four - Fight or Flight.

The Brazilian Grand Prix had barely got underway before there were drivers colliding with each other. Kovalainen and Vettel had a bit of a tangle, and a couple of corners later, Trulli and Sutil had a coming together. My goodness, that was the start of something. Trulli was attempting to overtake the Force India, but managed to tap the rear of the car, both cars spun off, one each side of the track. Sutil's car went flying into the grass before returning to the circuit into the path of Fernando Alonso, who was duly knocked out of the race. The three drivers exited their cars, and Trulli immediately ran over to Sutil, gesturing wildly.

The safety car was deployed, while the stricken Force India, Toyota and Renault cars were recovered. All three drivers got a ride back to the pit lane, and with Trulli still visibly fuming, their race had come to an end. In the post-race quotes, Jarno said: "I am extremely frustrated by what happened today because I had a very good chance to challenge for the podium... I think there was enough space for both of us to get around the corner." Adrian was having none of it though and in the Force India press release, he said: "Trulli was there on the outside trying to go round. It was a really stupid maneouvre as there was no space and I couldn't see him at all."

Afterward, the stewards investigated the incident, and although there was no action taken on the crash itself, they fined Trulli for his post-race behaviour. He was reprimanded and had to hand over $10,000 as the stewards found his arguments with Sutil to be unsporting. If only they knew what was to come!

The Italian would not let the matter go. During a later interview, he said of the Force India driver's manouevres: "To happen once is a racing accident – we might have a touch or we might bang wheels. But when someone does it deliberately at that speed, this is crazy. It is unacceptable." Sutil kept his head down, defending himself where necessary but otherwise not rising to the Italian's bait.

When the circus turned up to the next race in Abu Dhabi, the FIA wasted no time in arranging Thursday's press conference with Trulli, Sutil and Alonso present, plus Adrian’s nemesis Raikkonen for good measure. When the questions came from the floor, it wasn't long before the incident in Brazil was brought up. Trulli said they were going to discuss what happened in the drivers' briefing, but Sutil didn't think there was anything to be discussed. In response, the Italian said he had photographic evidence of the incident, which he then pulled from his pocket to show to Sutil. "I don’t know if you’re blind but they clearly show you that my front wing is next to your front wing..." to which Sutil responded:"...it was not my problem, it was his problem. I don’t know why he’s freaking out like that, to be honest." The pair continued to argue to the point where Alonso said to Raikkonen: "Shall we go?"

Alan Baldwin was next to ask a question, and he tried to continue the conversation, presumably for the amusement of everyone. However it wasn't to go on much longer, Trulli confirmed: "Just so long as we all know the rules." While Sutil pointed out: "I know the rules." That was how the matter was left in public, and as far as I know, it wasn't brought up again. I would imagine Sutil is not top of Trulli's Christmas Card list though.

That's all for this penultimate episode of our F1 Advent Calendar 2009. Just one more show to go, and that is the big one - Christmas Day. I know you’ll be busy but please remember to listen to our final advent episode - Day Twenty-Five.

Friday Fun - F1 Christmas Parties

As we are heading into the Christmas Party season, it's time to start planning your F1 themed party. Imagine you were hosting a party for various teams, drivers, engineers, management etc. How would that party go? Here are some things to think about:

Who would you invite?
What music would you play?
Would you be handing out the mistletoe?
Would there be any party games?
What food and drink would you serve?
Would it end up in a drunken brawl with Trulli and Sutil fighting, or would it be a nice peaceful event with an after dinner speech by Murray Walker?

The possibilities are endless, and I want to know what would happen at your F1 Christmas Party.

Force India Confirm Liuzzi and Sutil for 2010

Force India have announced their line up for next season, continuing with the two drivers who finished the 2009 season for them - Adrian Sutil and Tonio Liuzzi.

Regarding the announcement, team boss Vijay Mallya said:

"We are very pleased to retain the services of both Adrian and Tonio for another season. We have always maintained that consistency is key at this stage in the team's development and for the first time in many years we will have the continuity of not only the same drivers, but also the same engine and senior management. With this stability now in place I truly believe we have an excellent platform to build on and move forward on our strong 2009 performance. I am sure we have one of the most dynamic line-ups on the grid and I hope this will stand us in good stead in what we all hope will be a transitional year for the team."

Sutil is confident that the team are heading in the right direction and is looking forward to next year:

Next season I want to be in the points on a regular basis, maybe even challenging for the podium, and the team has exactly the same goals.

While Liuzzi is keen to pick up from where the team left off in 2009 and show everybody what he feels they can do:

It was always my goal to be back racing in 2010 and I’ve finally achieved it. I feel the five races I did in 2009 were a bit of a warm-up; get back racing, learn the car, get the feeling back. Now I’ve done that I feel ready to really push next season.

Not a surprise, I'm sure, but it's good to get more 2010 seats confirmed for our wiki page. The team also added that an announcement regarding the third driver will be made following next weeks young driver test.

Daily: 20th October 2009

Roll on Tuesday then, and it appears that yesterday I missed the opportunity to wish Heikki Kovalainen a happy birthday. I must say a belated Happy Birthday, then, and also a #sorryAmy. Meanwhile, here's what we're talking about:

• Williams have confirmed Cosworth engines, which is pretty much what we were expecting. The only real engine question mark now is how good they will be. They must be somewhat good for Frank to return to them, mustn't they?
• Button has revealed that he actually spent his celebratory evening alone in his hotel room, just grinning to himself. I can totally understand that! I imagine that he had completely lost his voice by that time anyway.
• Trulli still maintains that Sutil was in the wrong in their Brazil incident. Despite the fact he has been fined over his conduct once getting out of the car, Trulli doesn't seem to be in a hurry to settle the argument yet.

That'll do for now, I think. I notice in the comments, people have been busy compiling a list of 100 Reasons why Button is a Great WDC. Go and add yours now, and I'll see you in the comments.