In the first of what we hope might become a regular feature, the F1 community meet for a ten minute roundtable discussion covering Lotus Racing's statement of intent.
Lotus announced on Wednesday it had recruited design director Mark Smith from rivals Force India. Two further members of the Force India team, Lewis Butler and Marianne Hinson will also be jumping ship, along with Mark. Up for discussion is where the move leaves Vijay Mallya's team and how long it might take Lotus to reap the benefits.
The recruitments come on the back of news that Force India F1 are seeking damages, after it claims Lotus benefited from the use of the Force India team's intellectual property. We discuss the timing and the relation of the two pieces of news, and how Jenson Button might just save the day. Maybe.
The conversation need not end after the show is over. Please let us know what you make of the personnel changes in the comments below. Did you disagree with anything that was said and if so why?
Finally, why not have your say in the Sidepodchat poll.
Poll: Will Force India struggle following the loss of key staff members?
No way, Mallya always has a plan 34% (18 votes)
It'll be fine, McLaren to the rescue 36% (19 votes)
Game over, it was fun while it lasted 30% (16 votes)
Eventually even Eric's* ears are extremely entertained. Evidently Eric enumerated every element of an excellent experience, excluding engineering, and Giggles Radio empirically excelled - even exceeding electrolysis.
Welcome to Giggles Radio Episode E. Each episode our host Alex Andronov examines his experimental musical experience by playing around two hours of songs themed around a letter. This week the letter is E.
*Eric Boullier from Renault of course.
Playlist
Backstreet Boys - Everybody (Backstreet's Back)
Martha & the Muffins - Echo Beach
The Beatles - Eight Days A Week
Little Boots - Earthquake
Weezer - El Scorcho
Franz Ferdinand - Eleanor Put Your Boots On
MGMT - Electric Feel
Athlete - El Salvador
U2 - Elevation
EMF - Unbelievable
Traveling Wilburys - End Of The Line
Paul Weller - English Rose
Jam, The - The Eton Rifles
The Buzzcocks - Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've)?
The Bangles - Eternal Flame
Kylie Minogue & Jason Donovan - Especially for You
Keane - Everybody's Changing
Morcheeba - Everybody Loves A Loser
Tears For Fears - Everybody Wants To Rule The World
Kaiser Chiefs - Everyday I Love You Less And Less
Sheryl Crow - Everyday Is A Winding Road
Morrissey - Everyday Is Like Sunday
Charles Wright & The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band - Express Yourself
Madonna - Express Yourself
Survivor - Eye of the Tiger
No Doubt - End It On This
The Blues Brothers - Everybody Needs Somebody To Love
We've had a complaint about the noise. Not the volume you understand, just the occasional noise in the daily threads.
Essentially a couple of people have mentioned that F1 discussion is in danger of being railroaded by chat about pandas, gadgets and food. Now we love conversation on all of those topics and more, so we wouldn't want to do anything to discourage such talk. However, we ought to enable those who come to Sidepodcast for the Formula One discussion to be able to do so too.
Something planned for the mythical SPC 3.0 redesign, which right now is rivaling Brigadoon and the unicorn in terms of visibility, was the idea of providing "breakout" threads of discussion when important news occurs. Essentially these threads will be a way of categorising conversation so that talk of Fisichella heading to Ferrari goes in one place, while chat about Piquet spinning in Singapore goes in another.
Conceptually speaking, breakout threads are extensions of the daily conversation, and not posts in their own right. You won't gain much insight from the post content beyond whatever facts are available, and that may simply be a tweet from a driver. The discussion will be where it's at.
Due to feedback received, we'd like to roll this out as soon as possible. Which means things might look a little odd in the existing design. You may just have to trust us that it'll all be okay in the end. Sidepodcast daily threads introduced back in November, offered a brilliant way to enable general F1 discussion as well as plenty of off-topic fun. Hopefully this new idea will take it to the next level.
Behind the scenes, we're also working on a new authentication system that will allow those who sign up to moderate and move comments as required. In theory we can also allow those same people to create new conversation categories as and when required.
That's for the future though and this is now. Christine has started us off with a thread for Force India discussion and we'll move existing comments over there now. Please let us know what you think of the plan and also yell in the daily thread if breaking news should be spun off into it's own category. As ever we'll learn and tweek on the run.
Fine, we promise not to do a bunk today. We'll stay indoors where it's safe and nothing ever happens.
If you missed the events of yesterday, you'll be needing to look at this photograph. Hand on heart, Rob Smedley is every bit as fantastic in person as he appears on the TV/Radio and Sidepodcast loves him to pieces.
In terms of what's happening elsewhere in F1, what do we have to consider?
Rachel found a video interview with Bernie, where he claims he doesn't want F1 to leave Silverstone. Yup read that sentence again and then watch the video. Finally, pinch yourself to make sure you didn't dream the whole thing.
Dan's been keeping abreast of Joe's latest postings and recommends we all check out this fine article. I'm going to read it right now and you should do the same. Go right ahead, we'll meet back here in five.
F1 Wolf has also posted about his day in the Paddock Club sipping champagne and driving in an F1 simulator (hopefully not in that order). The man returns to Silverstone later today.
In Sidepodland, we've had a spate of de-lurking in the comments these past few days, and we welcome all newbies with open arms. If you're still yet to join in the fun, now would be a really good time to step up and say "hi". We'll be around all of Saturday, live commenting our way through Free Practice and Qualifying. Try it once and you'll wonder how you ever enjoyed racing without it.
The other half of Sidepodcast has now been taken out by whatever made me unwell last weekend, so the daily post once again falls on my watch. Luckily I am useful enough to be able to type, unfortunately covering the day's F1 news with brevity and panache isn't my thing, so the F1 Minute podcast is having a bit of a rest right now.
To keep everyone ticking over, here's a couple of thoughts to start the day:
FOTA are meeting in London this morning to chat about the recent descisions Max threw up (almost literally) last week. Budget caps will no doubt be top of the agenda. The question is, will one day be enough time to figure out the best course of action?
Most of the KERS enabled teams all appear to be pulling the device from their chassis prior to the Spanish GP. Circuit de Catalunya contains many sweeping curves and finding the correct balance is essential, but people must be questioning the validity of such R&D expenditure when the things aren't even doing a full season.
The sidebar on the Sidepodcast homepage had a little refresh yesterday, it's now possible to listen to shows and adjust the volume at the same time. Revolutionary, I know. It is a stop-gap solution though, and hopefully a more feature rich and elegant alternative will be available soon.
The comments on the daily thread were excellent yesterday, do keep your thoughts coming and do yell if anything interesting is happening in your world during the next 24 (ish) hours.
Having enjoyed a bit of well-deserved sleep ahead of the Bahrain weekend, Joe joins us to discuss all the latest goings on in the paddock.
Following requests and suggestions from the comments, we talk about the chances of new teams entering the sport in 2010, just how far Bernie is willing to take his "global" expansion, and how long Piquet will last at Renault.
This plus much more in the Bahrain edition of An Aside with Joe.
I've been doing this job for all of two days, and already I'm setting new records for daily publishing lateness.
I've had a scout around for Formula 1 news this afternoon, and there isn't any. None at all. Which makes me mighty glad I'm not a news agency promising to deliver between 10 and 20 original F1 stories a day. If I'd have been dumb enough to suggest that, I might be forced to make something up.
Thankfully, there is plenty going on in the community today to keep us occupied.
The Sidepodaddiction page has scaled new heights, reaching Stage 7.6 which handily covers "denial". I'll likely never make it beyond Stage 6, but if you haven't done so already please do confess your Sidepodhabit to all on the wiki.
Apparently James Allen didn't get the memo about us appreciating his writing much more than his talking. Yesterday he published an audio slideshow of such pompous arrogance you wonder if he has any real friends, to advise and to guide?
An early weather report from The Red Bullog has next weekend's Chinese Grand Prix down as a cold by dry affair. Might we finally get to see the relative pace of all the cars, or will Tuesday's FIA ICA hearing muddy those waters yet further?
That pretty much cover's Formula 1's day of no news. Do let us know what you're up to in the comments, and yell if you spot any made up Sunday news. There's bound to be some when you've got to fill those quotas.
It's been a while, but in the absence of one half of Sidepodcast, it falls to me to provide the daily post this fine Saturday morning.
There hasn't been a huge amount happening in the F1 world, and after the first batch of flyaway races, this can only be a good thing. Trivia to be aware of today includes:
Autosport had a chat with Charlie Whiting and he revealed more information about what happened during the steward enquires in Melbourne and Sepang. It's a worthwhile read, albeit subscription only.
In yet more Autosport news, or should that be AUTOSPORT news (upper-case is all the rage these days), Peter Windsor is thinking about Cosworth power, while Philippe Gurdjian is thinking about faffing around with Grand Prix start times - that can only end well!
Outside of the Formula 1 bubble, Me and Page 22 continues to take on a life of its own, while someone in the comments (rumoured to be Steven), has started Sidepodreligion. The mind truly boggles.
That pretty much wraps up the past 24 hours, what will the next bring? On Zero Downforce, Scott has just compiled a Super Season Grid based on times from the first two races, while Christine is lord knows where, holidaying on a boat.
Long time paneller, first time host, Gavin takes the helm today to guide us through such topics as sports cars, swapping careers, and what could possibly make F1 more annoying. There are laughs aplenty in this show, which introduces a couple of new voices to the panel, as well.
Don't forget that the wiki is the place to be if you want to sign up for future episodes of Sidepodpanel - either as a guest or as a host. It's easy to do, all you need is access to Skype. There are a few more shows to be recorded for this series, so check your diaries for an upcoming Sunday.
We made it through the weekend with flying colours. Well maybe not flying colours, but it is Monday and this week we're likely going to hit some kind of podcast producing record. Watch out for the return of Sidpodpanel, the penultimate F1 Debrief before racing begins in anger, and the chat we had with Joe on Sunday. Christine has more season preview F1 Digest episodes in the works, and that's before we do the whole live thing again next Sunday.
Enough about us though, here's the things we're keeping an eye on today:
More testing in Jerez from McLaren, Brawn GP, Renault and Williams. We were concerned yesterday that McLaren may have wasted their Sunday, but it seems a day of rest is all part of the grand plan. Whether that's a winning plan, is still anyone's guess.
According to Autosport, Bernie's spoken to the Guardian and said F1 teams are taking more personnel to races than last year. This is opposite of the cost-cutting Max is trying to achieve, so is Bernie winding the man up, or highlighting the fact Formula 1 teams aren't trying hard enough?
Admittedly things are pretty quiet beyond those stories, however there are a couple of blog posts worth highlighting. Ollie has a feature on Alex Zanardi, F1 Wolf ranks the teams while Alex notes that McLaren might be listening.
It's all good stuff, and if there are other posts we've missed, let us know in the comments.
