Sidepodcast

10 Reasons F1 in Australia Won't Suck

Credit: BMW AG

Our long time mission at Sidepodcast is to be all about the positives, but just recently that has been hard to do. We had to bring back the F1 Happy Place to keep our heads above water after Bahrain, but thankfully it did the trick, and our faith is restored. It's time to look forward to the Australian Grand Prix, and we are sure it's going to be a good one. Here are a few reasons why.

Claire vs Liam

Claire Williams, part of the Williams F1 communications team, will be heading to Melbourne on Sunday. Claire couldn't make it to Bahrain, her boss Liam was dispatched instead. He did a good job, definitely on par with the other teams, and we spotted some 20+ mobile snaps from his direction over the course of the weekend.

We know from experience though, that Claire would have managed to post that many images per hour, so we're looking forward to seeing what comes out of Australia instead. She's heading out on Sunday, so follow Claire now if you're not doing so already.

A Redesign Required

On Friday, the FIA announced it had tightened up on the diffuser regulations (second year in a row the diffuser has been the talking point of the start of the season). McLaren and Mercedes will have to adjust the rear of their car, and Autosport speculates Renault and Force India will also take a closer look at their design.

It's likely not going to make a major difference at the head of the field, but Melbourne is far enough away that this will cause a few late nights amongst top teams. Especially if spare parts are in short supply.

Our Field Reporters

We have plenty of people on the ground this year. Amy, Paul and Alex (and hopefully Jeremy) are all set to visit Albert Park next weekend. Amy has gone so far as to buy a new phone so she can Twitpic her way through the event, and is offering to meet other Sidepodcast racegoers for breakfast each day.

It'll be just like last year, when the only Twitter access we had at the track came from Amy. Ah, good times.

An Evening with Joe

Joe is set to host his second "Evening with..." meetup. If it's anything like the first one, which we covered in great detail then everyone attending will have the best day ever.

The venue looks amazing as well - Amy went and had a good look round. Who wouldn't want to spend the evening after the race, discussing F1 with Joe, by the beach?

When Ted Talks

Mr C pointed out earlier this week that Ted Kravitz's latest blog post for the BBC actually shed a lot of light on the story of the Bahrain Grand Prix. Armed with this new knowledge, we'll be watching the Ferrari cars closely, as they got lucky with Vettel's reliability problems last race.

It seems that the Ferrari engines thirst for fuel means each driver is only able to attack right at the end of the race, when fuel loads are more equal. Qualifying well is vital for the Italian team, and anything other than a front row lockout means we should be in for a fantastic last lap showdown.

Credit: Toyota Motorsports GmbH

The New Teams

Lotus won the battle of the new teams in the first round, no question about it. I can't wait to see what happens in round two, as for me, the goings on at the back of the grid are much more interesting than what's happening at the front. Richard Branson has issued a challenge to his team - in the belief they can be fighting for the championship in a couple of years. Should he not be starting with finishing a race before he starts dreaming of titles?

Sauber too think they have a lot make up for in Australia, after their pre-season pace failed to materialise once in a competitive racing environment.

Safety in Numbers

The possibility of a safety car is much higher when you get to somewhere like Albert Park. There's usually quite a lot of chaos in Melbourne, and a safety car is a normal occurrence. We have seen at least two safety cars in the last two Australian Grand Prix, and that's what we're hoping for next weekend. One safety car, particularly if it's early on, will allow teams to pit for their mandatory stop and get it over with. If a safety car appears later on in the race, it should bunch up the field, offering drivers a sniff at a place or two.

Multiple safety cars could be even better. I just know Albert Park can deliver.

Champaaaagne Challenge

Bob Constanduros didn't get to call his usual champagne chant in Bahrain, due to the mandated rose water replacement. It's been too long since we've heard Bob's battle cry, and it's about time we heard it again. A shout of "It's the rosewater and pomegranate" simply does not a good podium ceremony make.

Only Bob can do it justice, although we did our very best to try and match him. Listen out during Sunday's podium ceremony and see how long the expert can last.

Return of the Ant

Last week we celebrated the unexpectedly great commentary from Jacques Villeneuve, but that doesn't stop us eagerly anticipating the return of Anthony Davidson to the 5live comms box. His team qualified on pole position for the 12 Hours of Sebring today, and we're following his progress right now. Here's hoping he does really well and turns up to Australia in a great mood.

If you thought Bahrain television commentary was a sedate affair, try out the duo of Croftie and Ant next weekend, and see if it transforms the way you follow F1.

That Most Important Question of All

Will Chandhok make it past the first lap?

Those are some of the reasons that we're looking forward to F1 racing next weekend, what are yours?

No Refuelling Equals Zero Entertainment

Ever since the FIA unveiled plans to ban refuelling from Formula One back in December 2008, we at Sidepodcast have been dreading the day such plans came to fruition. Today was that day and the result was as bad as we'd been expecting.

Massa being refuelled in the pitlane at the Spanish GP in 2008, otherwise known as the only place to pass in Barcelona.

Make no bones about it, the decision to remove one of the key variables in F1 racing was about money. No doubt those who agreed to the change, will claim that the goal was to improve racing but the truth is, in an era of heavy cost cutting, teams could no longer accept the freight costs for transporting heavy fuel rigs around the world. Neither could Formula One Management be persuaded to shoulder logistics costs, and thus the rigs were deemed inappropriate for the sport.

The change in regulations leaves the sport with a big problem. We know that the speed of modern F1 cars on todays racing circuits makes overtaking difficult, and we know that the aerodynamics of modern chassis contribute to the problem making it almost impossible for cars to pass on track. Attempts to rectify both of this issues has failed spectacularly in recent times, leaving us with dull tracks and fugly cars.

Given the understanding that cars cannot pass on track, and that there is no easy or cheap solution to the problem, why in the world would anyone advocate the removal of the sole variable that might allow for some change of order in the field? You'd have to be completely out of your mind, and yet that is exactly what the teams, the sports rights holder and the governing body all agreed to do. Utter madness.

Formula One provided an awful show this afternoon. There really was nothing to recommend from an entire afternoon of "action". Yes, it was the first race of the year and after a four month hiatus, any racing beats no racing, but can anyone honestly say that the removal of refuelling made for a better race?

I will concede that changes to the Bahrain circuit didn't help matters, and again those in charge agreeing to such changes have an awful lot to answer for. However, I maintain that if the sport still had refuelling, there may have still been a slim chance that the finishing order on Sunday offered some marked differences from the qualifying order on Saturday. As it was, we had the single failure on the lead car to spice up a desperately dull afternoon. Welcome to the new spectacle folks, following people is what we do now.

To further the point, today's post race BBC forum was all about the desperate situation the sports finds itself in, with McLaren's CEO Martin Whitmarsh suggesting what might be needed now is two mandatory pit stops per race. As if that is somehow going to be the magic bullet to solve all of F1's overtaking problems.

Truth be told somebody made a huge mistake and the sooner they own up to the fact and fix what is broken the better. I'm all for banning refuelling once it has been proven cars can pass on every track on the calendar, but I would much rather passing happened during the pitstops than it not happening at all.

F1 racing in 2010 finds itself in a desperate situation after race number one.

Daily: 14th March 2010

It's Sunday at last and we are about to embark on our first Grand Prix of 2010. It's pretty exciting, and not just because the Factbyte Factbox will be making it's race debut. It was an exciting if hectic experience covering qualifying, so let's see what we can achieve over a full race distance! Anyway, here are some other things we're talking about:

• With extra teams on the grid, it looks as though the FIA have had to change parc ferme quite considerably. Adam Cooper has a good insight into the F1 spy cameras that are now overlooking the cars. We thought maybe it was a little bit Big Brother.
• Will Buxton has some thoughts on the new section of the track, particularly pointing out that: "Quite apart from the fact that there simply isn’t enough track length between corners to allow anyone to have a decent stab at a passing move, the track width is so slim that you can barely fit two cars side by side." Bahrain Fail?
• As a sort of final word on the McLaren vent, Scarbs F1 has a great explanation of how it works. I was still a bit confused but as it happens, it doesn't seem to be as important now that the McLarens didn't qualify that far up the grid anyway.

That's all for now. I hope everyone enjoys the race, and as always, I'll see you in the comments.

The Stewarding Process, Now With Added Drivers

Credit: Williams F1

Alain Prost and Damon Hill, pose with a sponsor at Kyalami, '93. The FIA is putting it's trust in these men.

For the 2010 season, the FIA are introducing an F1 driver to each stewarding panel, in an attempt to make their judgements fairer, and to provide a little insight into what was happening during each incident. We've previously discussed this idea at great lengths, pondering whether it's right to allow drivers in. Their added experience can only be useful, but might they be a little impartial to their former teams? It's an unknown at the moment, but what we do know is who will be taking those positions for the next few races.

Alain Prost

Prost is at the helm in Bahrain this weekend, taking the reigns as the first former driver to participate in the stewarding process under this new ruling. The Frenchman was last seen driving in the sport in 1993 for Williams. He's also driven for McLaren, Renault and Ferrari - and had a held a bitter rivalry with Ayrton Senna along the way. Prost has four world championships under his belt.

Prost went on to start his own F1 team which lasted just five seasons.

Heinz-Harald Frentzen

Frentzen hails from Germany, and was last behind the wheel of an F1 car in 2003. He's since been competing in DTM. He's driven with Sauber, Williams, Jordan and Arrows, but never managed to grab that elusive championship. He won three Grands Prix, though, the last being in 1999. He was disqualified only once during his F1 career - for leaving the pit lane under a red light.

Alex Wurz

Wurz has never been far from our consciousness, last seen racing in China 2007. He attempted to launch his own F1 team for the 2010 season but the application was not successful. He's driven for Williams, McLaren and Benetton, but made more of an impact as a good development and test driver than a sparkling racer. He has no championships or wins to his name, but is known for speaking his mind, and as a comentator on his home TV networks in Austria, he'll be good at calling things as he sees them.

Wurz has on occasion been trusted at the wheel of the FIA medical car.

Johnny Herbert

Herbert has driven for quite a few teams during his 12 years in the sport, with the last Jaguar Racing in 2000. He's also been involved with Stewart, Sauber, Benetton, Ligier, Lotus and Tyrrell. Herbert never won the championship but stood on the top step of the podium three times, and picked up 98 points during his F1 career. Since leaving the sport, he has participated in Le Mans and BTCC, and advised Jordan and Midland before they became Spyker.

Damon Hill

Since leaving F1, Hill has kept himself extremely busy heading up the BRDC and managing their exploits at Silverstone and in keeping the British GP alive. The former champion won 22 races and one title in his eight years - driving for Jordan and Williams amongst others. Damon is a media friendly figure, but isn't afraid to share his frustrations, making waves and headlines in equal measures. Hill has been confirmed as a steward for two races.

What do you think of these driver choices? Will they make sensible decisions? Who else should be added to the list, and more importantly, who should not?

Only 12 Teams Named on Official FIA Entry List

The official FIA Formula 1 entry list was released on Wednesday and it featured only 12 teams. Team US F1 did not appear on the list, neither has Stefan GP been added.

The FIA also confirmed that it was not possible to replace USF1 so close to the start of the new season, but they will be looking into what can be done in 2011.

The USF1 Team have indicated that they will not be in a position to participate in the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship. Having considered the various options, the FIA confirms that it is not possible for a replacement team to be entered for the Championship at this late stage.

In the coming days the FIA will announce details of a new selection process to identify candidates to fill any vacancies existing at the start of the 2011 season.

The recently renamed Campos Meta outfit, HRT F1 Team (or Hispania Racing) do appear on the list, but with only one named driver, Bruno Senna. The constructor is named HRT Cosworth.

Note: The USF1 Team have indicated that they will not be in a position to participate in 2010.

F1 Digest 2010 Season Preview - The Calendar

• Length: 16:35 
• Size: 15.2 MB 
• File: digest147.mp3 
• Transcript: digest147.pdf 
• Torrent: digest147.torrent 

This third episode of the 2010 Season Preview takes a closer look at the calendar, whisking you on a whirlwind tour around the globe to find out which circuits are going to present a challenge, and which we could live without.

The Calendar

We begin in Bahrain, which is a change from last year's season opener in Australia. Will the dusty circuit be able to provide a chaotic start to the year or will it be less than enthusiastic? Canada is back on the calendar this year, a supremely popular decision by Bernie, and we also have a brand new circuit to ogle in Korea.

Another change sees the European race move up the calendar quite a lot, whilst Abu Dhabi remains the season finale - clearly they learnt nothing from 2009.

Daily: 2nd March 2010

We have reached Tuesday and I am busy dreaming up the final part of Life in the Fast Lane. Keep your eyes peeled throughout the day for the big finale. The voting closed last night, and I was once again surprised! I won't spoil it for you. Let's talk about more F1 related things:

• With the start of the season not far off, it's time to start thinking about Fantasy Racers again. We've had a couple of questions about our Panda Racing league, and all the information can be found on this post. Otherwise, head on over to Gavin's blog where he has a fabulous introduction to the 2010 Fantasy Racers season.
• Steven Roy has written a great guest post over on Viva F1 about how the FIA goes about making it's selection for new teams. It's a hot topic at the moment, with the apparent imminent failure of US F1 and the struggles for Campos. Check out Steven's view on the subject, and add your thoughts in the comments - there are some excellent opinions in there too.
• I found myself missing testing today, it was nice to be able to check in with the action every now and again without having pressure to keep up with everything. Having said that, I'm looking forward to seeing who is legitimately fast or not. On the subject of conclusions and predictions, F1 Punter is back with a roundup of testing but from the viewpoint of bets and odds. I always find Punter's posts fascinating, even though I can never get my head round betting.

That's all for now, l hope your week is going well so far. Let us know what you're up to and I will see you in the comments.

Daily: 11th February 2010

Thursdays aren't usually the best, and with the prospect of some wet testing sessions ahead, perhaps it will be one of those days! However, we'll try and stay positive, and talk about some fun things instead.

• We've been talking about the genius behind F1Photos.org for a while now, but it really is time to check out his Flickr account, if you haven't already. There are some superb photos there, uploaded directly from the circuit. Just try and ignore the Renault ones, as they just highlight how hideous the livery is.
• After much consternation over the past few days regarding the possibility of teams skipping races, and perhaps choosing where they don't bother turning up, the FIA have spoken out to try and clear things up. They point out missing races is against the agreement the teams have signed up to. Phew!
• Joe has confirmed that there will be An Evening With... event in Melbourne, as requested on the blog over the past few weeks. Tickets are available now, and if you are going to be in Melbourne for the race, you know you want to go.
• Adie has taken up the Thursday Thoughts baton this week with a really good question. I'll be giving it some thought and posting an answer later today, and I hope you'll do the same. If you have a blog, get publishing, if not, you know you can send us a guest post at any time. Also, don't forget to sign up to lead the way on one of the last few weeks of Thursday Thoughts.

That should do it for now. Let us know how your week is going, and I'll see you in the comments.

FIA Will Launch Briatore Appeal

Formula 1's governing body the FIA, has announced its intention to appeal against a French court's decision last week to overturn Flavio Briatore's lifetime ban from motor sport.

A statement today from the FIA read:

The President of the FIA has consulted the FIA Senate and the FIA’s lawyers about the decision of the Tribunal de Grande Instance de Paris of 5 January.

It was unanimously agreed that an appeal would be prepared.

Additionally the FIA considers that the decision of 21 September 2009 remains in full effect, although they accept that, pending the outcome of the FIA's appeal, superlicences will continue to be issued to drivers who are still looked after by Flavio Briatore.

The FIA statement ends by pointing out that it intends to "take whatever measures are necessary to ensure the continuing integrity and safety of the sport".

Eric's in Enstone

Credit: Drew Gibson/LAT/Renault

Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss?

Renault announced today that Eric Boullier will be taking over the team principal role, allowing temporary stand-in Bob Bell to return to his design department. I was hoping that Bob Bell might be able to stay on as boss, mostly because he has an awesome name, and also because I like how he handled the ever-so-slightly embarrassing situation when Grosjean imitated Piquet at Singapore.

Nevertheless, the announcement of a new team boss is not a surprise, as Boullier appears to come as a package deal with the new investors, having also been the CEO at Gravity Sport Management, which is also involved with Genii Capital. It's unclear at the moment whether Boullier will be leaving his role at Gravity, or any of his other interests. Eric also manages Ho Pin Tung and Jérôme D'Ambrosio, and we criticised Flavio for being a manager and a team boss at the same time. Will Eric do the same? He has already made the effort to dispel any concerns that Kubica's teammate will get a helping hand from him:

"The second driver will have to be able to score points and challenge Robert Kubica. So in fact, it might be a Gravity driver or not, but I can guarantee that it will be even more difficult for a Gravity driver to be selected as they really will have to prove their worth to be chosen as Renault’s second driver."

The timing of the announcement is also not particularly out of the blue. No matter what verdict came from the French courts today, the Renault team wanted to distract from the bad headlines of last year with something fresh and new. Particularly now that Flavio has been unbanned, the announcement sends a signal that he is not about to rejoin the team.

So, who is the Eric man, and what can he do for Renault? A quick perusal of the web gives us some more of his history. His LinkedIn profile shows that he has only been at Gravity for a few months, whilst before that he was Technical Director at DAMS for almost seven years. He certainly has staying power. He's also been involved with Team France for A1 GP, who have never finished lower than fourth in the championship. He seems to have the credentials as well.

I am fond of younger team principals, as it always seems to bring some enthusiasm and fun to the sport. I've spoken many times about Christian Horner and how he brightened up the paddock when he first arrived. He and Eric are the same age, so perhaps it is Mr Boullier's turn to do the same. He's on Twitter for a start. Well, one tweet is more than Flavio ever did.

Comparisons to Flavio are actually quite tricky, because Eric comes from the engineering side of things. He is a team principal that comes from the Ross Brawn school of thought, rather than a hands off Flavio approach. How that will see him fare remains to be seen, of course. Although he has only had one day in the public eye so far, Eric has given a good first impression. Asked to describe his approach in three words, he said:

Humility, rigorous and openness. For me, the racing is the most important thing above all.

That's what we like to hear. Let's see if he can live up to his own words.