Sidepodcast

Your Thoughts on This Year's Circuits

With an extra couple of races on the calendar this year, Mr C and I are rethinking the way we watch and discuss Formula 1. Free Practice has to take a back seat as there are only so many hours in the day, and we don't intend to free up all 19 Fridays through the year.

Less Conversation, More Action

A lack of Friday information means F1 Digest has to change, but hopefully it will be for the better. The first noticeable difference will be the reduction in show numbers. For the past two years, there have been four "digest" shows during a race weekend, but in 2010 we'll release only three. Free practice information will be bundled into a better qualifying show on Saturday.

The running order for F1 Digest will now look as follows:

• Thursday - Race preview in audio
• Saturday - Free practice and qualifying round-up
• Sunday - Race round-up

If you need more detail, all of this information can be found in our brand new 2010 F1 Calendar. Please subscribe to keep up-to-date.

Living for the Weekend

The weekend preview show will remain, but there is one addition to the show that I want to introduce, and that's your cue to get involved. As an introduction to the race, I want to get your thoughts on the circuits. Whether you love or hate them, favourite sections, thoughts on the atmosphere, and any other notes you'd like to make. If you've ever been to a race, first hand information is also a bonus.

I'm looking for opinions via text here, no need to pick up the phone for this one. The emphasis should be on concise thoughts, short sentences and catchy snippets, but I want to hear what you think about every circuit on the calendar (although Korea might pose a challenge).

I will read them out, mix them up and make the preview podcasts a great start to the weekend. I've set up a wiki page for the purposes - multiple entries per circuit are actively encouraged! There are a few examples on there already, so it just takes a moment of thought to add your own. You can also leave them in the comments here, or fill in the contact form below.

After submitting your ideas, all you need do is stay tuned and listen out in the first show of the year - the Bahrain Preview!

If you have any other opinions about F1 Digest, things you would like to see included, or anything that would make the coverage better for you, please let us know in the comments.

Daily: 16th November 2009

We had quite a relaxing weekend at Sidepodcast HQ, and I hope yours was of a similar nature. We are into a brand new week now, with Monday dawning probably quite dark and maybe even a little bit stormy. Here are some of the things we're talking about:

• Mr C went a bit mad blogging yesterday, talking about the coverage that FOM provide compared to other motorsport series', plus a glimpse at that excellent 3D stuff we saw during the Abu Dhabi GP. He also wrote about those oh-so-unsuccessful overtaking regulations again, with a special mention to a special someone in the title.
• In Formula 1 news, Alonso was spotted with his new Ferrari chums again, with some photographic evidence of he and Alonso getting on together. How will they fare as teammates this year? Will they be rivals? Or will they be best friends? And more importantly, how much interaction with Rob will Alonso have, because I am jealous!
• After we talked recently about Notus not worried about signing a Malaysian driver for their team, it now looks as though we might find out who they've got on board very soon. Tony Fernandes has said they have one driver signed already, so with just one more to come, it might be soon. Then again it might not! You never can tell.

That's all for now. Let's hope Monday runs pretty smoothly for everyone, especially as we need to forget about Friday 13th! As per usual, I will see you in the comments.

Things I Learnt From Watching Franck

Given that we're done with all that pesky weekend racing action for a while, I'm playing catch-up on a couple of things that should've been covered months ago.

Something that has been bugging me since August, is just what a raw deal Formula 1 fans get in terms of official information offered during a race.

In the latter half of this season, thanks largely to a rather expensive iPhone application, we do at least now know where all the cars are on track. Prior to that only Renault could be bothered to tell us what they were up to. Bernie, as ever, spent 2009 providing us with his ever fallible Live Timing system, which managed to go one better in the summer, going down for everyone at the track too.

You could argue that both Renault's and Bernie's solutions are provided free of charge, and this season, UK residents were able to watch all of the weekends sessions online.

I really should be grateful for what little I have, shouldn't I? Yes, I know some people have to put up with much worse coverage and maybe we just don't need more information?

In truth, my three months of continued disappointment with the F1 experience are born from watching a single IRL race back in August. As those with good memories will recall, many of us tuned in to watch Franck Montagny's auspicious debut in America's premiere open-wheeled series. A quick scan through the conversation shows one of the things that simply floored us during the race, was IndyCar Race Control.

This online dashboard is a feast of insight for any race fan. In addition to the main camera feed, you can choose to track onboard shots from three cars (two more than F1 offers), you also get a familiar live leader board, but when it comes to driver detail, it feels like you've entered another world. Pick a couple of guys or girls you're interested in following and you'll get direct feedback on the following details:

• Head-to-head competition view
• Interactive steering wheel position
• Gear paddle selection and current gear
• Car speed and current RPM
• Throttle and brake usage
• Driver radio
• Commentary updates

Forget what was happening in the race, I could've played with the thing all night. I managed to squeeze data from six drivers onto my screen along with Live Commenting. Renault F1 do provide similar information for their cars but with the IRL you get all this data for every runner to contrast and compare. Truly staggering and open and free for anyone to use.

At present, Formula One has nothing that comes remotely close to a solution such as this. A combination of two websites and a mobile phone could see you get a little closer, but who's going to bother setting that up five times a weekend?

You could argue that I'm being unfair on Bernie here, IRL could be the exception right? Yes it could, but we also took it upon ourselves to watch and comment on the Bathurst 1000 in October, and would you believe the organisers of that event do a better job too?

Again, completely free of charge. Live timing, a car tracker and live audio/video all to be found in a centralised dashboard for anyone who cares to keep up with such things.

Formula One has fallen woefully behind its counterparts in recent times. I'm led to believe NASCAR is another step above what both IRL and V8 Supercars are able to offer fans, which must put our sport somewhere near the bottom of the pile. Just to ram the point home, I'll bring up the subject of 2CV racing. Yep we watched and commented on an endurance race featuring a collection of 4-speed Citroëns, and their Live Timing system was on par with the kind of thing you'll find on F1.com. Are you listening Bernie?

Will anyone wake up and make changes for 2010? FOTA has long promised to improve the experience for those fans watching at home. To a point they appear to have addressed some deficiencies in our television coverage, and I'll cover some of those in a later post, but are they aware of how big a mountain F1 has to climb when it comes to areas such as race control?

I think telemetry can only serve to enhance the viewing experience, it should be made available to those you are interested in such things. Maybe it's not everyone's number one priority, but I challenge anyone to try IRL's Race Control for one race and not wish something similar was available in F1.

Abu Dhabi 2009 - Schedule

It's the last race of the year, then, and we are heading to the brand new Yas Marina Circuit. Thoughts of the upcoming track seem mixed, and now is the moment of truth.

Here are your final two schedules for 2009, with the first indicating when the BBC broadcasting will begun, which in turn dictates when the live commenting threads will appear. The second table is our podcast schedule, which is slightly more flexible.

TV Schedule

It is an evening race in Abu Dhabi which equates to a regularly scheduled race here in the UK (all times GMT).

Podcast Schedule

Here are rough estimates of when the shows will be released over the coming few days:

We'll be around for every session in the live comments, and I hope you can join us when you can. Either way, enjoy the race!

Daily: 18th October 2009

Yesterday was something to behold, wasn't it? For those of us watching qualifying, we had quite a long time to wait to get to the results. For those who didn't, the highlights will sum it all up for you in a much more sensible amount of time! Here are some of the things we're talking about:

• F1 Wolf had some troubles with his site earlier today, but is back up and running now with his rundown of all that went on in qualifying. Probably best to read as many posts as you can about qualifying to try and make sense of it all!
• Ollie has written about the BBC and their coverage of the extended session yesterday. We've had some choice words to say about the BBC recently, but they did seem to cope with the uncertainty really well.
• In the self-promotion department, we have got the new season page working over in the playground. It lacks something in the looks department, but is fully automatic, so everything should update as the site does. Yay for not having to manually enter things anymore!

That'll do for now, I reckon. I'm hoping that today there will be less hanging around and waiting for the action to begin, but who knows!

Brazil 2009 - Schedule

After a brief respite from the racing action, we now head into the final two races of the season - with the championship battle getting more interesting every minute.

There are two schedules for the upcoming weekend in Brazil. The TV schedule details when the BBC start covering the sessions, and thus when the live commenting thread will go live. The second is our podcast schedule, but you will have to bear with us as we are still trying to locate cables from our move.

TV Schedule

It is quite a change from the early mornings in Japan to the afternoon sessions of Brazil.

Podcast Schedule

Here are rough estimates of when the shows will be released over the coming few days:

We'll be around for every session in the live comments, and I hope you can join us when you can. Either way, enjoy the race!

Japan 2009 - Schedule

We have barely recovered from the night action in Singapore, before it is time to head on over to Japan for some back-to-back racing.

We've got two schedules for you this weekend, with the first being a guide to the BBC coverage, and therefore indicates when each live commenting thread will go live. The second is our much looser podcast schedule, particularly this week as we are moving house.

TV Schedule

We're all about Radio 5live, have you made the switch yet?

Podcast Schedule

Here are rough estimates of when the shows will be released over the coming few days:

We'll be around for every session in the live comments, and I hope you can join us when you can. Either way, enjoy the race!

Singapore 2009 - Schedule

Formula 1 gets back in action in Singapore this weekend, heading towards the second ever night race. Hopefully, with Renault's hearing out the way, the racing won't be overshadowed by any off-track drama.

Here are your schedules for the weekend. The first is a quick guide to what the BBC are planning - when their shows begin and when our live threads open relative to them. The second table is our podcast schedule, but I wouldn't pay too much attention to it, we're quite flexible.

TV Schedule

We're all about Radio 5live, have you made the switch yet?

Podcast Schedule

Here are rough estimates of when the shows will be released over the coming few days:

We'll be around for every session in the live comments, and I hope you can join us when you can. Either way, enjoy the race!

Belgium 2009 - Schedule

In his infinite wisdom, Bernie deprives off of F1 for four weeks and then gives us back to back racing before we've had a chance to catch our breath. It's impossible to be mad, though, when we're approaching one of the most popular destinations on the calendar - Spa.

The BBC have their schedule set out from the very start of the season, so the first table below tells you when they'll be on. Meanwhile, the second table is our Sidepodcast schedule and is slightly more flexible.

TV Schedule

As ever, it's the BBC online streaming and radio 5live for us, let us know how you are tuning in.

Podcast Schedule

Here are rough estimates of when the shows will be released over the coming few days:

We'll be around for every session in the live comments, and I hope you can join us when you can. Either way, enjoy the race!

Europe 2009 - Schedule

Following what was supposed to be a quiet summer break that was really quite a storm in a teacup, we're now faced with the snooze-fest that is Valencia. Perhaps it is unfair to judge the race after only one outing, but the sheer dominance of concrete means the weekend will be gray, if not dull.

Here's the timings for the upcoming weekend, with both the BBC plans, and our own attempt at a podcast schedule.

TV Schedule

As ever, it's the BBC online streaming and radio 5live for us, let us know how you are tuning in.

Podcast Schedule

Here are rough estimates of when the shows will be released over the coming few days:

Join us for live commenting each and every session if you can, and above all else, have a great weekend.