It has been weeks coming but finally US F1 have stopped operations and admitted they are not going to make it onto the grid in 2010. Although there is no direct quote from the team, there have been several tweets from the inside, and Autosport has the story:
AUTOSPORT understands that shortly before lunchtime, production manager Dave Skog informed those staff who had remained at the team during its recent troubles that they were being laid off.
Updated: Futher to the original story, Autosport have posted more information, this time from team boss, Ken Anderson.
Ken has pointed out that the team still have hopes for a 2011 entry to the grid and confirmed that operations have been put on hold at the factory.
"We are waiting for a reply from the FIA and are working with them. In the mean time, there is nothing for the employees to do, so we have told them to stop working on the current car until we have a decision."
According to the Sidepodcommunity, anyway. A few days ago, we put up a poll to question whether this was the best off season, based on how our total comment count was rocketing upwards. The results are in and a whopping 98 of 119 people believe that this was, indeed, a great off season.
Was this the best off season ever?
Yes 82% (98 votes)
No 18% (21 votes)
Total voters: 119
The majority of opinion actually seems to be along the lines of - it was a good winter with plenty to discuss, but actually it was quite painful. What with the Honda saga dragging on endlessly, and the FIA's propensity to screw around with the regulations, it certainly hasn't been the easiest few months.
Also, as an update to the original post, Mr C informs me that we did, in fact, go on a Sidepodtour. It wasn't the one we had in mind, but we visited Autosport, checked out a KERS talk (or two, in his case), visited the odd F1 factory, and managed to catch up with Mark Webber at Silverstone. I suppose that makes the winter an unmitigated success.
Perhaps we should start counting down to the next off-season now?
This article was originally written for BellaOnline, but is republished here for posterity.
McLaren have never been one to shy away from the glamour of Formula 1. There motorhome has recently been one of the biggest in the paddock. A few years ago, they launched the new car with a night-time display in Valencia, fireworks included.
Most F1 teams have a factory tucked away behind hedges to hide the uniform feel of the buildings. McLaren decided that their new Technology Centre would be a piece of stunning architecture, built to work with the landscape instead of blight it.
Ron Dennis had a strong idea of what he wanted, and teamed up with architect Norman Foster to make his vision come to life. Building work began in 1999 and the employees started work in 2003. The Centre was opened by Queen Elizabeth, with a lot of media coverage.
The concept of the building is a circle, with half making up the factory, and half a man made lake of water. The two are in the shape of Ying and Yang, and look stunning from the air. The lake isn't just for show, however, it is pumped through heat exchangers to cool the building and specifically the wind tunnel. The tunnel itself is at one end of the building, and is used for testing aerdynamics - currently of the Formula 1 car, although that will be less prominent as the new regulations reduce wind tunnel testing allowances. However, McLaren build all their cars at the factory, and not just the Formula 1 machines.
The lake attached to the building is just one of five bodies of water. The other four are ecology lakes and designed to encourage and conserve nature. Inside the building, many of the walls are made of glass, there is a lot of light and working areas are very spacious. Facilities include a restaurant, coffee bar, swimming pool and gym. There's also a visitor centre, although that is not part of the main building.
In all of the video footage and photographs shown off the Technology Centre, the building is always spotless and gleaming. I would hate to be the cleaner there, but then again, to work every day in such a beautiful spot might make up for it. You can find out more information about the centre, plus a video tour of the building, on the official McLaren site.
Thankfully there are no nasty "Mark Webber breaks leg" stories floating around today, and with the revelation that "me" slept until 4pm, it's probably a good thing. Clearly at the Red Bull factory he didn't quite get enough Red Bull. Nevertheless, here's what's being discussed in the comments at the moment.
Talking of Red Bull, the pictures are now up on Sidepodcast's Flickr. I am very jealous, but it sounds like a good day was had by all.
How important was John Craven? Is he more reliable than Wikipedia?
Do you buy things at Autosport International? What kind of stuff have you come home with and when is the best time to buy? If Sidepodcast had a stand at the show, what could we put on it?
Felipe Leite let us know about Massa's karting event called Stars Challenge. Taking part are di Grassi, M Schumacher, Barrichello, Liuzzi plus Burti and Zonta. Who is your money on for the win?
We'll be broadcasting live later today as another Debrief and Sidepodpanel get underway. Until then though, please feel free to discuss the above topics and anything else that catches your fancy. I'll see you in the comments.
We're heading into another weekend now, where F1 headlines tends to tail off. Last week we were confronted with the news that Webber was in hospital, so if that's the kind of off-season topics we have in store, I'd rather keep playing I Spy! However, here's what else we're talking about.
Steven Roy believes that Honda's choice is between Senna and Barrichello, and that di Grassi has no chance. Boo. Who's your money on? Also they are apparently dropping the Earth Dreams livery, so what do you think their next paint job will look like?
The man, Dank and Ian from Racing Bulls got to go to the Red Bull factory. We're all sincerely jealous and want to hear about it on Sunday. Come up with some great questions and we can pump him for information.
Jon raised two very important questions: Why is it that Jack Bauer and James Bond never die? And why do spies never have to fill up with fuel?
Don't forget to let us know if you're attending Autosport International and what day you're going to be there. That's if you want to catch up with us, of course. We won't take offence if you don't!
Sidepodspace I Spy is currently with Andy Taylor and the letter S.
You can also tell us if you're doing anything exciting this weekend, because we're very nosy like that. You don't have to stick to the topics I've written above, share anything on your minds. I'll see you in the comments.
This afternoon, thanks to a kind offer from Ian at Racing Bulls, I managed to tag along to a very lovely tour of the Red Bull F1 factory near Milton Keynes.
Myself and ten other fans, including Dan from The Red Bullog, all had what can only be described as an amazing day. I'm gutted that Christine couldn't be there, especially as she missed out on a second bite of Mark Webber at The Stag.
The team offered us a candid insight into the workings of their factory. We were allowed to take photographs (mostly) and I even came home with an RBR branded hat - suitable for all manner of killer podpanel questions.
There's way too much to talk about in a single post, but thankfully that's why we have a podcast. I have much to discuss this Sunday, and maybe we can twist Dan or Ian's arm to join us live too?
A Formula 1 car is different to a regular road car. I mean, you know that already, because they make a lot more noise, they go a lot faster, and they look a lot different. But there’s more to it than that. There is an enormous amount of technology that goes into just getting an F1 car started, let alone maintaining it throughout a race.
The most important thing about a Formula 1 car is the aerodynamics. Hundreds of people make a living back at the factory, designing and testing new bits and pieces of the car to make it smoother through the air and thus faster on the track. What you basically need the F1 car to be is low to the ground, with as little disruption to the air flow as possible. Of course, at the high speeds the cars go, precautions need to be in place to stop the cars taking off, and that’s where the wings come in. Whereas aeroplane wings help get things skybound, F1 wings are designed to push the car into the ground.
The extra tenths that a good aero design can bring you will only be useful if you have the engine package in the car to go with it. With 7 gears, the engine and the car can get up to a top speed of 210mph, they produce about 800 brake horse power and can rev to 19,000rpm.
To control this much power, the drivers need some top technology at their fingertips. The steering wheel is small but holds an enormous amount of control, and is one of the most expensive items to be found on the car. Coming in at about $40,000, the wheel doesn’t just steer. It has paddle shift gear selection, can apply the pit lane speed limiter, contains an LCD screen with lap times, position and speed information displays, and lets the driver contact his crew with the radio. That’s why the steering wheel is the first thing a driver will grab for when he flies off the track.
A team has two drivers and each has their own car. The teams bring various spare parts with them to each race, front and back wings, replacement body parts, spare noses, and a spare engine. But if a car is beyond repair, then look no further than the T car – a spare for use in emergencies only.
All this equipment costs buckets and buckets of money. The majority of teams are backed by road car manufacturers, which means new technologies can be passed in either direction. The paddle shift gears was an F1 invention – and is now available as standard on some top range sports cars. It’s all supplemented by sponsors, and they are who really dictate what colours the cars are going to be. You can understand why Ferrari and Vodafone made such a great partnership, with their main brand colours both being red. With sponsor names scrawled across the bodywork, and all the nooks and crannies, angles and wings, F1 cars aren’t your normal kind of beauty. But they hold a certain fascination about them that will only grow the more you watch.
We’ve looked at all the good stuff about Formula 1, the next instalment will be about the rules.
