Sidepodcast

F1 Debrief - Puffle Piffle Poffle Puffin F1

• Length: 52:12 
• Size: 48.0 MB 
• File: debrief136.mp3 
• Transcript: Coming soon 
• Torrent: debrief136.torrent 

Coming up this week, we discuss team members departing, really dodgy names, Hamilton opening up, an evening with Joe, and those dangerous new teams.

Intro

This time next week the first race of the season will already be over! It's pretty exciting. Before that though, lots of news to get through plus some Fantasy Racers roll calls.

Good Week / Bad Week

It's been a good week for the Korean GP as they reckon they are on schedule, and for Renault who have managed to find a little bit of sponsorship in the form of Lada. It's been a bad week for Force India though, who haven't quite worked out how to use bit.ly yet, and for Willy Rampf who is leaving BMW Sauber.

News and Views

We discuss a few conclusions from testing, although nothing particularly groundbreaking. The fastest drivers, and those that completed the most distance. We contemplate some Ferrari developments and Red Bull stickers. We also wonder whether anything will come of the McLaren aero complaints.

The topic of US F1 can't be avoided any longer, if only because this may be the last time we get to talk about them. Anderson and Windsor appear to be to blame for the sinking of the ship, and with no Stefan GP either, we're looking at a slightly smaller grid. We discuss Campos' new change of name and image, although we don't particularly like it, and we briefly look at Hamilton's new openness now he's out from his father's management.

Feedback

Loads of feedback including: Jonathan sends me a picture of a marmot, Steven wants to know what LOST podcasts we listen to, Toastboy bets on Jenson, Iain looks into his crystal ball, Lisa's spotted a problem with Zencast, John has a Zune, Andy is being volunteered to get involved, Pete says a quick hello, and Simon is travelling the world.

Housekeeping

Bassano leads us in to a brief discussion about the excellent evening out with Joe, plus we plug the competition. All of Sidepodcast is now live so you never have to refresh again. We do a quick reminder about the show notes, plug a couple of fantasy F1 type things, and say goodbye until next week.

Outtakes

Those Fantasy Racers Roll Call sections were a little bit tricky. We knew there would be outtakes galore, but we didn't know there would be six minutes worth! Here they are in two parts.

Part 1:

Part 2:

Linkage

• ScarbsF1's blog
• Viva F1: Testing
• NY Times: Testing Ends in Jerez, as Bigger Tests Continue for US F1
• Who Are You, Anyway? : Calling Planet Anderson...
• F1 Pulse: Bernie Always Has an Agenda When he Speaks
• The (not so) fast lane: Most Hair-Raising Season Ever?
• Marmot photo from Jonathan
• Media. Future. Change. : A Conversation with Leo and Mr C
• Sidepodcast: Win a Signed Copy of The Grand Prix Saboteurs
• Fantasy Formula One

Daily: 28th February 2010

Yesterday was definitely a day of rest in Sidepodcast Towers, but having said that Mr C just keeps on coding. I was busy trying not to fall asleep all day, whilst some new commenting updates were in the works. I'll leave him to tell you more when the updates go live, but keep your eyes peeled. Meanwhile, here are some of the things we're talking about:

• The reason I'm so tired is thanks to the most excellent evening out in London, listening to Joe talking. So far we've heard all good things from the people who went, and I'm hoping we'll have some blog posts and photos to share with you soon. Lou has been posting a couple on her Twitpic account, though, including ones of me looking ever so thoughtful as I kept the comments updated. Turkey Machine has also written a quick post about his evening.
• I caught up with a couple of days of testing news yesterday, and posted two F1 Minute episodes. The first talks of Glock at Virgin - he's enjoying being the number one - and the second is about Schumi's predictions - he's changed his mind. I love the idea that Michael might have suddenly realised he said something he shouldn't have.
• Whilst we're on the subject of testing, I hope you're keeping an eye on Gavin's summaries after each day, as well as the updates over on Viva F1. Maverick and Gavin both use lots of pretty graphs, and now we're at Barcelona and conclusions can be drawn from what we're seeing out on track, it's worth looking deeper at the statistics. We'll be asking for your predictions soon enough!

That's all for now. Let us know how your weekend is going and what you're up to, and I will see you in the comments.

Live: Barcelona Testing - Day Three (February 2010)

The third day in Barcelona gets underway and Williams will be coming off the back of good headlines yesterday, thanks to Hülkenberg. Rain is expected to mix up proceedings at the circuit, when teams desperately need a clear day of running on this penultimate pre-season test of 2010.

Up and down the pitlane, plenty of race simulation work was covered yesterday, and that's likely to continue into the weekend. Will anyone run some light and fast qualifying simulations?

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

Circuit Information

• Track length: 4.655km
• Corners: 16
• Lap record: 1:21.670 (Kimi Räikkönen, Ferrari, 2008)

You'll find Circuit de Catalunya located in the North East corner of Spain.

Drivers and Teams Attending

The following teams and drivers are confirmed for testing on Wednesday

Useful Links

• Official Circuit Homepage
• Autosport Live
• F1 Today

Daily: 27th February 2010

I am writing this from a table at the side of the Evening with Joe event, and have been covering it all evening. It's been a fabulous evening and you can catch up with all the comments and photos over on the dedicated thread. We'll be working on some highlights over the weekend, as well, hopefully. Meanwhile, here are some of the other things we're talking about:

• The first part of my F1 Digest Season Preview went up yesterday, too late to meet the daily. It features a run through the entire grid - 24 drivers that we know of - with some stats and a paragraph or two for each. There will be three more preview podcasts over the next few days, so you can now start saying the season really is here.
• Hulkenberg was fastest in testing yesterday, which is very interesting if you consider their Cosworth engine. It appeared as though the engine was going to be behind everyone else over the winter, but perhaps that isn't the case. Naturally, testing isn't reliable evidence, but it's certainly better than I was expecting. Now, Virgin on the other hand... still struggling.
• I didn't get to say Happy Birthday to Janna yesterday because I was saving it for the guest post she wrote for us. Now that is published, belated birthday wishes for Janna, and thank you very much for the push for donations. We appreciate it.

That should do it for now. I can't speak for Mr C but I am going to be completely shattered today, so I will see you in the comments... but not until later.

Daily: 26th February 2010

Webber was fastest in testing yesterday, and if that is the first meaninful testing time we've seen so far, then it's looking like a good start for Red Bull. There will be another dedicated testing thread along for day two in Barcelona, and I'm intrigued to see who will be fast on the second outing. Meanwhile, here are some things we're talking about:

• Talking of Webber, it appears the Australian has gone and got himself a presence on Twitter. The name @aussiegrit is already causing some confusion. I've seen people think it says 'girl' or mistake it for not having an 'r'. Perhaps MarkWebber was already taken? Still, good to see him on their, and as one of the more outspoken members of the paddock, there may some real gems to come.
• Meanwhile, di Grassi was being pretty useless out on track in Barcelona, although the team were quick to say they had been trying an experimental setup so it wasn't his fault. He crashed into the wall and wrecked the car, meaning the team had to sit out the rest of the day, and are hoping to be ready to go again tomorrow. What else can go wrong for Virgin?
• Mr Stefanovic still thinks he's in with a shot of getting a grid slot, but he says time really is tight now. Apparently to be ready for Bahrain they need to be packed by next Wednesday, and he's sure they'll have something sorted by then. Really? I suppose this can only coincide with the fact that the employees at US F1 have so little to do without a car that they really are going to make a toaster. I don't know about you but I would buy that toaster.

That should do it for now. We're out in London today, but will be keeping an eye on the site and hopefully feeding back as much as we can. I'll see you in the comments.

Live: Barcelona Testing - Day One (February 2010)

Today, F1 teams will finally get to test their 2010 cars on a modern Formula 1 circuit, as the pre-season testing calendar draws to a close. This is the week that matters the most, and this is the track that will sort the men from the boys.

Circuit de Catalunya will host the fifth race of the season, and weather permitting, it will also offer teams and drivers their best chance at preparing for the opening round in Bahrain. 11 teams are scheduled to attend these final four days in Spain, many are behind schedule, all have plenty of work to do.

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

Circuit Information

• Track length: 4.655km
• Corners: 16
• Lap record: 1:21.670 (Kimi Räikkönen, Ferrari, 2008)

You'll find Circuit de Catalunya located in the North East corner of Spain.

Drivers and Teams Attending

The following teams and drivers are confirmed for testing on Wednesday

Useful Links

• Official Circuit Homepage
• Autosport Live
• F1 Today

Daily: 25th February 2010

We have reached Thursday, and for once, I am determined that it won't be a bad day. For a start I'm not at work today, so that helps. Also, testing in Barcelona gets underway today, so that is also going to make it awesome. Watch out for a dedicated thread appearing later on this morning. Elsewhere:

• The second part in Jackie's Safety First blog series appeared yesterday, this time taking a closer look at Driver Aids, and more particularly accelerometers. It's a great read, as is the first in the series about safety at circuits, so make sure you check them both out if you haven't already.
• Not really F1 related at all but I wrote a quick piece on I Heart Franck yesterday regarding Peugeot and their plans for the year. It looks like we'll be live commenting at least one Franck race in 2010, and the real challenge will be to see how much of the 24 hours I can stay awake for this time round.
• It's that time again, time to promote the latest part of Life in the Fast Lane. We're drawing the story to a close now, just two more sections to come and one more vote after this one. Things are getting serious and the decisions are getting more important! If you haven't already, head on over and get your vote in to direct the path of Part 9. (Which, by the way, will be late as it is due on Friday, and we'll be concentrating on Joe that day.) Also a quick shout out to Lindsay Rumbold who in turn gave my story a quick shout out as well. She has a motorsport book due for release soon-ish, so keep an eye out for it.

That should do it for now. Hopefully I won't forget Baby Panda Thursday this week, so it might be a better day for everyone. See you in the comments!

Daily: 22nd February 2010

Another week is ready to get going, although it seems like all the fun stuff is towards the end of it. We've got testing in Barcelona plus a meetup with Joe, but that doesn't kick off until Thursday and Friday. I'm sure we can keep ourselves amused until then, though, and here are some of the things we've been up to:

• It was guest post central this weekend, as we had four posts over the course of three days. I've mentioned some of them already in previous daily threads, but in case you missed them, here's the full run down of the guest posts we had. It started with Lady Snowcat's In Search of the Iceman, then on to Lewis with Silverstone vs. Silverstone. Lukeh got us feeling optimistic with Approaching the Start Line and finally Brawn2bwild spent A Sunny Saturday Afternoon in Jerez. If you've got a story you want to share, please get writing and forward it to christine@sidepodcast.com.
• If you're looking for more to read, Jackie has a great selection of posts to peruse in her Something for the Weekend roundup. I love reading the roundups in case there is something I have missed, which there usually is. Definitely worth checking out.
• SpeedTV's Adam Cooper has written an interesting post about the possibility of a return to F1 by Jacques Villeneuve, although it really is more about the likelihood of Stefan GP making the grid. I can't believe there are so many team changes this close to the season beginning, but it's certainly giving the journalists something to do!

That should do it for now. There'll be an F1 Debrief podcast along at some point this evening, and until then, I will see you in the comments.

F1 2010 Testing Preview

With several F1 teams having launched their new cars, and a few more about to get their big unveiling, it's about time we saw some track action. This week, pre-season testing gets underway in Valencia and there are more dates scattered throughout the month.

Although testing can never be relied upon to give a good indication of who's fast and who isn't, we'll be studying each test to see if we can spot anything important. It wasn't lost on us that McLaren struggled last year, whilst Brawn's pre-season pace wasn't a mirage and lasted them the entire first half of the year.

Here on Sidepodcast, we intend to focus on testing in more detail than we ever have before, and in a similar fashion to last year's Young Driver Event. There will be a post for each day of testing, to note any major design developments, link to any tweets and pictures, and examine the times at the end of the day. I don't know about you, but I'm really looking forward to it!

Here, then, are the tests we're expecting pre-season, and you can see them in situ on the Sidepodcast Calendar.

There will also be some US F1 testing, although we're not sure exactly when or where, and it's not clear how much information will be coming out of that either. We'll be keeping the calendar up to date, as soon as we know.

It looks as though the first test will be a somewhat muted affair, with many of the new teams, plus Red Bull preferring to sit out and wait for Jerez. We'll try and keep each post updated with who is there and who is in the car, and if you spot anything, then let us know in the comments.

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

Ready to Test the Water

Suddenly today, out of nowhere, I felt like I wanted to go to the pre-season testing in Spain. It's been a while since we saw an F1 car in action, and we're not heading to Autosport this month to tide us over. So, we were discussing the upcoming testing action, and I started pondering whether we might go, if only to convince Mr C that testing isn't a waste of time. The most important thing is that it is in the immediate future. There are ongoing plans for trips to many different races this year, but they all seem so far away. Testing is just next month, so deliciously close.

Credit: Paul Gilham/Getty Images

Red Bull ready to skip first test

It's also a lot cheaper than visiting a GP. Somewhere in the realm of 30 Euros for a three day ticket, although getting there and staying there are another matter. I can't quite work out the websites for Jerez and Catalunya, though. Jerez has testing on the calendar, but no apparent place for ticketing, whilst the Barcelona circuit doesn't seem at all sure there is testing about to happen at all.

That leaves Valencia, who have a much more user friendly site, with ticket prices and everything. The problem with a potential visit to Ricardo Tomo is that there is at least one launch the night before - and we've been making plans and looking forward to covering launches from the comfort of our own desks. There's also the possibility that Red Bull are skipping the first pre-season test of the year, and I think I'd want to see all the teams if I had the chance.

None of these are big problems, of course, I just wanted to share my thought process as I navigated the various possibilities. Sidepodcast traditionally leaves everything to the last minute, so we'll not be making any decisions yet. What about you? Is testing even an interesting proposition, or would you rather save your coppers for the real thing?