Sidepodcast

Daily: 17th March 2010

It's Wednesday and that means we are about halfway through the week already. I had to break open the F1 Happy Place yesterday, but the good news is that it mostly worked, and I do feel a bit happier about F1. It's still rubbish, but at least there are good times to remember! Anyway, here are some other things we're talking about:

• I missed this when it was posted, because it was hectic busy at Sidepodcast Towers, but I love this idea from RG, comparing the new teams in a championship all of their very own. The premise is simple - the drivers in the new teams get points based on the order they finish, no matter where they are in the overall result itself. Interesting idea and I'm curious to see what will happen at the next race.
• I don't quite understand why Button is having to defend himself already. Fair enough, Lewis got on the podium but it wasn't exactly looking likely to begin with and the word lucky springs to mind. If his confidence was seriously dented after just one race, then he would be in for a really long season.
• Bernie Ecclestone has jumped to the defense of F1, saying we shouldn't jump to conclusions, submit to knee-jerk reactions, and make any rash changes. He thinks that teams will get the hang of racing under these new regulations and maybe just some tweaks to the tyre rules would help. Ahh, all about the tyres as per usual!
• Also, just a quick note: Sofa F1 Championship 2010 - Round 1. This is not a good start for me. Well done to Alison though!

It's St Patrick's Day today, and I believe there is meant to be a Sidepodmeetup in our capital city today, although I don't know if it's still on. Sadly, we can't be there, but we will be in the comments, as always.

Bahrain 2010 - Team Standings

Ferrari had the best possible start to their championship campaign, whilst Red Bull could have got a lot, lot more. Both McLaren and Mercedes finished ahead of them.

Bahrain 2010 - Driver Standings

The first race of the year means the finishing order is exactly equal to the championship order, and it's the best possible start for Alonso and Massa.

Friday Fun - Where Would You Award Points?

With the possibility revealed this week that there could be an extra point awarded for qualifying on pole position, we began to wonder what else you could award points for. Nick had a couple of ideas:

If they are giving a point for fastest lap to the driver, then why not one to the team with the fastest pitstop?

Although i think the whole thing is very mickey mouse.

What next?
Point for the most dramatic gesture on the pit wall?
Point for the biggest tyre lock up?
Point for the most sideways moment?
Point for the biggest crash?
Point for the cleanest car at the end of the race?

These are some good ideas, but I reckon there are more out there. What do you think points should be awarded for?

F1 Analytics 2009 (Part 1) - Points Tables

The news just keeps on coming regarding next year's season, but here at Sidepodcast Towers, we are just about ready to start reviewing the season. Last year, we took a detailed look at the year through some statistics and graphs, and it seems like a good time to repeat the process for 2009. We're starting with a quick look at the championship points, and how the season progressed.

Teams

In 2008, we had three teams that pulled away an early lead and fought until the bitter end. This time round, there was one team obviously out in front already - that would be Brawn - whilst it took a few races for the number two team to be established. Even when Red Bull made their own dominance felt, they were still nowhere near catching the leaders.

Further down, the battle between Ferrari and McLaren is a great one to view in this way, as their interchanging positions are visible early on, and the tight battle towards the end is also really clear.

The teams towards the back have much straighter lines, and it seems as though there is a pattern of scoring a point or two and being stuck on that score until the next points haul. There's no chance of regular points scoring when you are that far back. The only team who seemed to make a break for it towards the end where Williams and Renault, whilst Toro Rosso clearly had a very poor season.

Drivers

This graph tells a few more of the stories we saw over the year, particularly with Jenson Button's blue line flying high over everyone else. I think Barrichello's points haul is very interesting, as it's clear that he was always ready to challenge Button, but had a bit of a dip around Germany and Hungary, and then again towards the end of the season when Vettel had a resurgence.

Further down the order, the Ferrari story is fascinating, as Raikkonen's orange-ish line is basically obscured by all the other drivers until Europe, when he begins to rise up and perform better again. Meanwhile, Massa was making good, steady progress until his accident in Hungary.

Contrast the Ferrari story with McLaren, and it's an amazing jump for Hamilton who spent about five races without picking up a point, and then made a giant leap in Hungary, to then improve up to finish fifth in the championship at the end of the year.

Compared to last year's graph, the championship seems to have been a lot more spread out. Whereas 2008 seemed to have specific clumps of competition, with several drivers battling each other down the order, there seems to be more spread in 2009. It's also more mixed up (if you remove Button's dominance), so that is the positive side of it.

The points were there for the taking, and it could have been any team ready to step up and grab them. However, the flip side of that is a lack of close competition, with the points spread out throughout the field. This is a simplistic view of things, obviously, as in real life, we had the four way battle for the title, and the Hamilton/Raikkonen type fights as well.

That's what immediately strikes me when I look at these graphs, but I'd love to hear what you think about the visual representation of the season as a whole. If you're finding it hard to see, the statistics are all available here, and there are links to all the data I collate during the year on the Season page. More stats and graphs soon!

Abu Dhabi 2009 - Team Standings

Brawn led the way throughout the year but Red Bull really improved towards the end. Ferrari couldn't grab back third position from McLaren as the season drew to a close.

Abu Dhabi 2009 - Driver Standings

The Abu Dhabi GP didn't have any effect on the winner of the driver's title, but there were plenty of other battles to be fought - here's how the year ended up.

2009 Championship Contender - Rubens Barrichello

Of our three remaining drivers fighting for the title, Rubens is the one who you really think: "It's about time." He's been in the sport for 16 years and been on the podium almost 70 times, but as yet, the championship has never been his. Could 2009 be the year that changes all that?

It seemed only natural that Barrichello retained his seat beside Button in the new Brawn team. Their partnership worked well in the years previous to the takeover, and despite being at the back of the grid, improvements were being made all the time. Rubens is dogged by rumours of his imminent retirement but out on track, none of that matters.

The Brawn car is one of the most reliable of the field at the moment, and Barrichello has only suffered one retirement so far - in Turkey with a gearbox issue. Other than that, he has finished every race in the points bar one, which puts him on the consistent side of things. Two wins, but a lot of points later, and Rubens is in the title fight.

Generally speaking, no one would be unhappy if Barrichello won the championship this year. He's the nicest guy in the paddock and when he wins, you can tell that even those who just missed out are genuinely happy for him. He's not afraid to show his emotions, and even that 'blah blah blah' blip was sorted out in a reasonable fashion, with everyone able to move on amicably.

With 71 points, he sits in second place in the championship at the moment. He's 14 points behind Button, and with just two races left to go, it's going to be tricky to get the maximum out of each race weekend. Rubens has been more consistent than Button, but he needs JB to have two poor weekends to be able to make the leap. All the while, he needs to keep an eye behind him, as Vettel has had a last-minute spur and is now only two points away from second place. It won't be easy, but it's still entirely possible.

Rubens has seen it all, and his experience speaks volumes. We know that he has had opportunities robbed from him due to his secondary role at Ferrari, but perhaps it is time for the Brazilian to step up, and show that he's not a number two driver anymore.

2009 Championship Contender - Sebastian Vettel

It's been a season long battle between Red Bull and Brawn GP, but now that we are down to the final three drivers fighting for the title, there is only room for one RBR driver. At the start of the season, this would have been an easy prediction to make, with Webber still recovering from off-season leg injuries. However, it hasn't been a straight foward fight for Vettel, and he's still got a lot of work to do.

The pressure has been on for Vettel since the very start of his season. Faced with such a positive review from Toro Rosso, heralded as the next multi-world champion by many, and shouldering all the testing responsibility himself, Seb has been treading unchartered territory in 2009. He's handled it well, continuing to maintain his upbeat attitude and only letting the occasional inter-team challenge get him down. The team clearly have a lot of faith in him, and have signed him up until 2011.

Results-wise, it wasn't exactly a great start to the year, but Vettel was soon fulfilling his promise. In China, he took his first win of the year, his first win for Red Bull, and more importantly, their maiden victory. Webber stood beside him on the podium. This must have boosted Seb's confidence again, and definitely took the edge off notching up two non-scoring finishes in the first two races.

It hasn't been a very consistent season for Vettel, but he does seem to have made the most of it. He has scored two other victories, in Britain and at the last race in Japan. He's been on the podium a further four times, and when he hasn't retired from a race, he's been mostly in the points. Of the three retirements, only one could be attributed to driver error.

For the next two races, then, he's in a good position to dent the gap between himself and the Brawns. He is already close behind Barrichello, although Button is much further ahead with a 16 point lead over Vettel. He needs two brilliant weekends to make it work, but that is not out of the question. He'll have the momentum of a win behind him, but it all depends on the car. The engine is the weak point of Red Bull this year, and Vettel will miss out on some important Friday running at the next two weekends. It hasn't harmed him too much yet this year, but at the brand new Abu Dhabi, practice could be crucial.

In terms of championship material, I personally think Vettel is a bit young to start driving the number one car. Almost everyone is sure that he will win titles, and a few of them, but would it be too much too soon? Plus, there is the fact that if Vettel can overturn his points deficit and take the championship this year, the pressure would really be on for 2010.

An Aside with Joe - Some People Like to Write a Lot

• Length: 55:07 
• Size: 51.2 MB 
• File: aside13.mp3 
• Transcript: aside13.pdf 
• Torrent: aside13.torrent 

Joe joins us for some blogging and commenting conversation, as well as dissecting the finer points of traveling, writing and the enigma that is Leo Sayer.

We also take plenty of questions from the comments, covering driver prospects, NASCAR prospects, and what did and did not go down in Suzuka last weekend.

As ever, all of this and so much more in this episode of An Aside With Joe.

Linkage

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