Jamie Alguersuari, who made his F1 debut at the Hungarian Grand Prix in 2009, will start his first full season in March.
Scuderia Toro Rosso announced on Friday that the services of Jaime Alguersuari will be retained for the 2010 F1 season. The signing reduces the number of remaining seats on the grid to just four.
The confirmation came via the team's official website, ending months of speculation about this year's line-up.
Speaking of the signing, Team Principal Franz Tost emphasised the importance of the Red Bull Young Driver Programme on Jaime's career:
"Considering that he made his debut only halfway through 2009, at the Hungarian Grand Prix, with no prior testing, he did a good job, making steady progress throughout the second half of the year, with a mature approach considering he is still only 19 years old.
"This season, he will again face a steep learning curve, as all the circuits in the first part of the season will be new to him. Jaime's appointment also confirms our commitment to bringing on graduates of the Red Bull Junior Team young driver programme."
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.
Somewhere between the time we started Sidepodcast and present day, we manage to attract some fantastically creative individuals to the community here, and those people never cease to come up with endless amounts of brilliant ideas and together solve all sorts of unimaginably complicated problems. Those same people also ask a lot of questions.
Credit: Sidepodcast
Christine... on the Internet
Last week Christine and I, under the guise of F1 Minute, launched a short video trial, investigating into how the current F1 Minute audio podcast might translate to the small screen. It's a challenging problem to solve, because video production typically takes considerably more effort than audio production and Christine already manages to fill every waking hour with audio work. How in the world can an order of magnitude more work be squeezed into that same timeframe too?
The simple answer is, it can't.
This didn't come as a massive surprise, given we attempted to bring F1 Minute video to life at the beginning of 2008 before the real world got the better of us. Last week's trial almost slipped through our fingers too, had mother nature not kindly intervened and given us a couple of snow days to catch up with ourselves. We're ambitious, but ultimately held to account by the same invisible force as everyone else.
In a typically Sidepodcast fashion, we made and launched our video trial without any preconceptions or expectations. The shows could've been a worldwide smash hit, or they could've vanished without a trace. We were only really interested in figuring out how long each one took to make, assuming it was possible at all.
Then questions came from the smart people and we couldn't answer them. We didn't know how long we were planning to make them for. We didn't know when they would be available. We didn't even have a logo prepared should someone wish to plug the show.
You'd never guess we'd been doing this for three years already.
Now though, we are slightly smarter after the fact. We know roughly where we are, what we can do, and where we might be going... sort of. We know that making a daily 60 second video on the subject of F1 is possible, and that given the right finances they can be made mostly by one person on a part time basis. We also know we have most of the right equipment, but that a laptop really isn't the correct machine for the job.
Clearly we now know the initial run of shows would only last for five days although we probably assumed it would be more. We also know that there are other options to explore and that we're not done experimenting yet.
As discussed on the F1 Minute blog HD video is a priority, so to is optimising a tardy workflow. It's been requested that Christine feature more throughout each show, and while we originally filmed just the top and tail of the programme, a better model would likely look similar to F1 Rewind from days of yore (except in shorter form).
Looking around for the competition, only Autosport's autoplaying video channel appears to offer anything of a similar nature, and you'll need a magnifying glass to see that. GP Update have the occasional stab at video production, and Eurosport appear to occasionally put some F1 news content online. There really isn't anyone else out there doing something along these lines, and that's the main reason we wanted to have a go.
At it's current level the series isn't sustainable without an income. How we find an income stream for it is a problem for another day, in the meantime we have more to do and more to learn. Expect more F1 Minute video before the season begins.
If you had any thoughts, ideas, suggestions and questions this past week, now is a good time to throw them out there.
F1 Minute is a weekday audio show hosted by Christine, which covers all the Formula 1 news in a handy 60 second round-up. The show has been running for more than two years in its current format, and as an experiment we're now looking into how this might translate to video.
Although the content will ultimately be hosted on the F1 Minute website, we're including this concept show on Sidepodcast in order solicit a wider variety of feedback. Please do get it touch and let us know if you like the idea, or if there are things that need improving.
In this episode, Christine takes a look at Kubica's plans for 2010 as well as the new look Jenson Button. This show was originally published as Kubica Set to Stay at Renault on F1 Minute.
Mercedes GP confirmed on Wednesday morning that Michael Schumacher will return to the Formula One grid in 2010. The seven-times Formula One world champion has signed a deal to drive for the team from Brackley after three years in retirement.
German newspaper Bild.de claimed last night that the driver had inked a deal with this year's world championship winning team, but the news was not made official until this morning. There had been concerns regarding Schumacher's fitness, but doctors have given his neck the all clear and Michael has said:
100% there are no issues with my neck. It's had the time to heal completely.
I am convinced that together we will be involved in the fight for the Formula 1 World Championship next year and I am already looking forward to getting back onto the race track.
Team Principal, Ross Brawn added:
I am delighted that we can confirm today that Michael will make his much-anticipated return to Formula One next year and drive for our Mercedes GP Petronas team. As seven-time World Champion, Michael’s outstanding record in Formula One speaks for itself and I am looking forward to working with him again. With the completion of our driver line-up, I believe that we now have the most exciting partnership in Formula One with Michael and Nico, who provide the perfect mix of talent, experience, speed and youth.
Updated: In a live interview with BBC's Jake Humphrey, the former world champion said he cannot wait for 1 February and his first run in the Mercedes.
However, his former teammate at Ferrari, Rubens Barrichello fired a subtle warning shot via Twitter:
The team needed me last year and needs Schumi now. I hope for a great fight, but a clean one as well.
On his own official website, Michael suggested that the comeback plan was initiated during the weekend of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in November, when Ross Brawn asked him if he could imagine returning to F1.
