It's the final Friday Fun for this off-season, and we've had some great ideas over the course of the series. From planning parties to writing job descriptions, we've covered every aspect of F1, but now it's time to turn our attention to the racing about to start.
In the comments, Maverick noticed that there has been very little advertising from the BBC for this season. Last year there were trailers every five minutes, and you couldn't escape the build up. Now, even Chris Moyles isn't talking about it.
So, our last Friday Fun outing for now asks:
How would you promote F1? Who would you use to sell the sport to non-fans? What slogans can you come up with?
As ever, the crazier the idea, the better, but serious suggestions are welcome to. I like the idea of coming up with a slogan for the sport, and for the year ahead.
Thanks to everyone who has helped with Friday Fun so far, all the great ideas we've had, and all who have taken part. Now, get your thinking caps on!
The official F1 website has a new piece discussing the upcoming movie about our favourite motorsport. From the article:
Production is underway of the definitive feature documentary on Formula One racing. Scheduled for cinema release in spring 2011, the new film will tell the story of the golden Grand Prix age and will include interviews with the sport’s leading personalities, drivers, designers and engineers.
There's no word on who will be in the film, though, so the question is:
If you were casting a film about F1 past or present, who would you give the leading roles to?
It could be as easy as casting Justin Timberlake to play a driver, and Bruce Willis to play a Ron Dennis type figure, or you could give it a bit more thought than that. You always come up with great things, so please, let us know!
For this week's Thursday Thoughts, Adie of F1 Tailpipe has offered us a fabulous question:
What can F1 do to enhance the experience of fans in attendance at the circuit? Does the ‘exclusivity’ of the sport add to the mystique of F1 in general, or has F1 set itself too far apart from your Average Joe?
For me, the question falls into two distinct parts. I don't mind if F1 is exclusive, and some of the real contact with teams and drivers is reserved for corporate parties and the very rich. However, this can only be the case, if the money generated from such things makes the experience cheaper for everyone else. Feel free to keep drivers on the inside of the circuit, and close off the bridge, but only if I get cheaper ticket prices.
If the money from such corporate exclusivity is simply going into Bernie's pocket, then I'm not interested.
Credit: sidepodcast.com
Keeping Formula 1 apart from the fans who love it
Of course, I also argue that drivers should do the mandatory signing sessions and it's excellent when they make appearances at their team merchandise stands. However, the lack of direct contact is part of what makes F1 so appealing. Even catching a tiny glimpse of your favourite driver is ten times more exciting if you know you're not going to bump into him round every single corner.
This leads nicely onto the second part of my answer. There's something about the elite nature of Formula 1 that keeps it so interesting. If I wanted to see cars up close on a regular basis on a cheap ticket, I could just visit my local circuit and watch some club racing. That's not the point. The point is these machines are special, these drivers are the best (well, some of them), and it is, in a way, a fantasy.
I want events like the Goodwood Festival of Speed to remain something very special. Our overriding impression when we went for the first time was that being so close to the cars in the paddock area was an amazing experience and something we would remember forever. To reduce the barriers at a race would reduce that feeling to a simple 'oh, there are those cars again.'
That's not to say that F1 does everything right, not by a long shot, but I do believe that the exclusivity of F1 is what keeps us all wanting more.
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.
On last weeks F1 Debrief show, we discussed the 2010 launches we've seen so far and scored them out of 10. We will do the same for the remaining launches as well, but the idea has already grown into something else.
After listening to our judgements, Jon suggested that we continue to evaluate things after each race this year and keep track of the scores. It would appear that rankings are a very popular thing to embark upon for the 2010 season, so I thought about it for a while and came up with this idea...
Today I'd like to introduce you to Christine's Rankings - The most in-depth and accurate global driver ranking system ever produced. Probably.
It seems you can lay claim to anything on the internet these days, so I shall be doing just that. I'll be focusing on the drivers taking part in the 2010 season, and will score them after each race based on my own special algorithms and technical formulae. I will also be sharing some of my findings along the way, in an effort to be open and transparent about why some drivers will move up and some will move down.
The best way to explain the rankings is simply to make a start:
Position
Driver
Score
Additional Notes
1
Lucas di Grassi
5
Because he is di licious.
2
Fernando Alonso
4
The reason testing was so popular.
3
Felipe Massa
4
Wherever Massa is found there is likely to be a Rob close behind.
4
Timo Glock
3.5
Because if he was any lower RG would shout at me.
5
Rubens Barrichello
3
Because he's not afraid to tell it how it is about his former team-mate.
6
Nico Rosberg
2
I feel sorry for him and I never thought I would.
7
Michael Schumacher
-5
Because... you know.
8
Jaime Alguersuari
N/A
9
Sebastien Buemi
N/A
10
Jenson Button
N/A
11
Lewis Hamilton
N/A
12
Nico Hulkenberg
N/A
13
Kamui Kobayashi
N/A
14
Heikki Kovalainen
N/A
15
Robert Kubica
N/A
16
Tonio Liuzzi
N/A
17
Jose Maria Lopez
N/A
18
Vitaly Petrov
N/A
19
Pedro de la Rosa
N/A
20
Bruno Senna
N/A
21
Adrian Sutil
N/A
22
Jarno Trulli
N/A
23
Sebastian Vettel
N/A
24
Mark Webber
N/A
As you can see, a lot of the drivers have yet to be scored, because it's still early in the season and we have yet to catch sight of some of them.
Each and every person who takes an F1 car to the track during a Grand Prix weekend this year is up for scrutiny. Marks will be awarded for important matters such as fashion sense, facial hair, looks, and attitude. Bonus points can be gained by friendliness to others, cuteness, and having a sense of humour under pressure.
Clearly I'm going to need help keeping track of such things throughout the year, and if you think I've overlooked a key area of analysis please let me know.
Hello and welcome to Sidepodcast's F1 Advent Calendar 2009. This extended mini series is bringing you the highlights of the 2009 season - peering behind a door for each day of advent for another key moment. We're on to Day Twenty-Two - Injury Time.
With just three races left to go, there were still three drivers in contention for the title. Button maintained his lead in front, but Barrichello was closing up and Vettel mathematically still had a chance, albeit very small.
The Japanese Grand Prix weekend started out wet, and the Friday practice sessions were pretty quiet. The notable absentee was Timo Glock, who was taking a day of rest to try and recover from a fever he was suffering from. In his place was GP2 and Toyota test driver Kamui Kobayashi. He finished 19th in FP1 but improved to 12th in the second session.
On Saturday, Glock was back behind the wheel, finishing 14th in the morning practice. Webber crashed heavily towards the end of the session, trashing his car so badly, he couldn't take part in qualifying. Buemi crashed at exactly the same place during qualifying 1, but his mechanics worked super hard to get the car fixed, and the Toro Rosso, which for the first time this season finally had good pace,made it through to the second session.
With Q2 underway, Alguersuari also crashed at the Degner Curve - that's three cars at the same corner now - and he was out of qualifying. Moments later, Glock crashed head on into the barriers at the final corner. His Toyota was buried deep into the barrier, and qualifying was halted while the marshals and medics attended the scene. It took them a long time to get him out of the car, and he was flown to hospital by helicopter, complaining of back pains. He also had a wound on his leg. Worryingly, Glock was taken to the wrong hospital - they weren’t expecting any incoming patients from the circuit, and the helicopter had to take off again soon after. Thankfully it wasn’t too serious an injury, but that reflected very badly on the circuit.
Qualifying continued, with Buemi crashing once again, scraping his way down the barrier of the long straight, leaving debris all over the track. His mechanics deemed that he'd gone a step too far this time, and his car couldn't be repaired. Kovalainen made it four drivers to crash at the Degner Curve, his session over as well. Finally, we learnt that Vettel was on pole.
Glock's leg was strapped and he was released from hospital but he was not cleared to race. He turned up in the paddock anyway to watch from the garage. Toyota requested that Kobayashi be allowed to fill in but the FIA declined, as to participate in a Grand Prix, a driver has to have taken part in at least one session on Saturday.
Vettel won the race, thus keeping himself in contention for the championship. Just.
Although initially, his main injury seemed to be the leg, Glock was ruled unfit to race in Brazil as well. Subsequent tests had revealed a cracked vertebrae that meant he needed more time to recover. This time, Kobayashi participated in all the sessions and got to have a go in the race. He finished 9th and proved himself to be pretty racy and a just little reckless as he went about it.
Abu Dhabi proved to be a similar story for Timo, although the excuses for keeping Kobayashi in the car grew slightly flimsier. Toyota suggested they had conflicted medical opinions on Glock's condition, so for his own safety, they weren't going to let him race. This time, Kobayashi finished sixth picking up some points and again putting on a pretty good show.
Just days later, Toyota pulled out of Formula 1, leaving both Glock and Kobayashi without a seat. Glock subsequently signed up for Manor Grand Prix, now called Virgin Racing. Hopefully, they will let him drive.
That's all for this episode of our F1 Advent Calendar 2009. I hope you will join me again tomorrow, when we open the door for Day Twenty-Three.
Hi there, you've tuned in to the F1 Advent Calendar 2009 - brought to you by Sidepodcast. We are peering behind a new door for each day of advent, revealing a key moment from the 2009 season. It's time for today's story from Day Twenty-One - Crossing the Line.
Thankfully, by the time this year's Singapore Grand Prix rolled around, the trouble surrounding last year's race had been dealt with. There were still reverberations around the paddock, and Renault were busy unpicking the stickers of their rapidly departing sponsors, but it was a chance to get back to the racing.
The Brawn boys were back on form, topping the timesheets in Free Practice 1. Everyone held a collective breath when Romain Grosjean spun his Renault in exactly the same way as Piquet did in exactly the same place as Piquet did. Silence on the Renault radio. It seemed to break a little bit of the tension though, and things were a little more relaxed after the irony had died down.
On Saturday morning, Hamilton was fastest, with Vettel and Rosberg in second and third respectively, and then it was on to qualifying. Rosberg resumed his pace, posting the fastest time in Q1. Q2 was a similar story, with Rosberg up top, whilst Button struggled and couldn't make it through. Barrichello, Webber and Vettel all proceeded to Q3. Hamilton was the fastest man taking the vital pole position, with Vettel lining up beside him on the grid. Rosberg qualified third and Webber fourth.
This was Williams’ best chance for a good finishing position. The car may have had pace early in the year, and Rosberg topped many a Friday practice session but he could never seem to convert it into a podium finish.
On to the night race, and Rosberg made an excellent start. He was on the clean side of the grid and overtook Vettel to slot in behind leader Hamilton. Sadly, during the first round of pit stops, Rosberg made a crucial error as he exited the revised Singapore pitlane. He may have been going too fast, or couldn't turn in time on the dusty surface, but the German flew across the painted pitlane exit line on his way out. He caught the car and straightened up but by then it was too late.
It wasn't just a stray wheel over either, it was as if the line didn't even exist. It appeared to be a silly mistake, and Rosberg was duly punished with a drive through penalty, one that effectively ruined what had been his best performance of the season.
Later, Sutil tried a move on Alguersuari, but spun and ended up facing the wrong way. In trying to correct himself, he lunged the Force India forward, into Heidfeld, ending the BMW drivers reign of consecutive finishes. Sutil's behaviour was considered dangerous and he was later fined $20,000. This wasn't the last time he'd be in the middle of a controversial accident, either.
The subsquent Safety Car delayed Rosberg's drive through penalty, but once he had taken it, he found himself out of the points, down in 11th place. Hamilton secured his second win of the year, joined on the podium by Glock and Alonso - perhaps going some way to mend the damage the Piquet drama had done to Renault's reputation.
Rosberg’s pit exit mishap meant he missed out on a golden opportunity to show his team what he could do, although that pretty much sums up his whoel year. There were many points finishes for Nico, and only one retirement but the best he could manage was two fourth places. Despite the lack of standout results, Rosberg has been picked up by the former Brawn team Mercedes GP for the 2010 season, and no matter who his teammate is, he’s really going to have to do better than he did in 2009.
That's all for this episode, thank you for listening, and I hope you will join me tomorrow when we open the door for Day Twenty-Two.
Welcome to another episode of our extended mini series, the F1 Advent Calendar 2009. Each day, we're running through a key moment from the 2009 season, as found behind the door of our F1 advent calendar. Today, we're on to Day Fourteen - Not Quite Banned.
The fallout from the Hungarian Grand Prix continued for a long time afterwards. The qualifying timing incident was cleared up pretty quickly, and attention focused on Massa’scondition. He began to improve, much quicker than anticipated, although it seemed as though it would still be quite a long road to recovery. With all that going on, what we really needed was a little bit more controversy.
Yesterday, we ran through what happened on Sunday in Hungaryitself, and touched upon the loose wheel that flew off Fernando Alonso's Renault, after not being secured properly during a pit stop. It could have been a pretty dangerous incident, there were spectators, marshals and other cars around at the time, but thankfully, the errant wheel avoided contact with anything other than the barrier.
Alonso finished his lap on three wheels, pitted for a new one, but retired later with an unrelated problem. Afterwards, the team were called to the stewards. Now, things flying around the track was a very sensitive subject at the time, with Massa's welfare praying heavily on people's minds, and the tragic death of Henry Surtees just a week earlier being caused by a stray wheel. It was not a surprise then, when the stewards gave Renault a one-race ban - they would not be allowed to participate in the European Grand Prix.
The reasoning behind the ban was that the car was released from the pitlane without a wheel-nut retaining device, so the team must have known it wasn't safe. They didn't make the driver aware, try and stop him, or recall him, and allowed Alonso to continue in a dangerous car.
With the European Grand Prix at Valencia, one of Alonso's home races, the timing of the ban couldn't have been more harmful for the team. Renault immediately appealed the penalty, and even the organisers of the Valencia race got involved, arguing: "It would be a shame if he missed the race and we are confident that he will be able to race, although we know it will be hard especially considering the other accidents that took place over the weekend. What happened is serious, but we hope it doesn't hurt the European Grand Prix or the fans."
Thankfully for them, the traditional Formula 1 summer break came next, which meant the FIA could schedule an appeal hearing before the race itself. This came on the 17th August, where Renault's lawyer, Ali Malek, defended the team: "Was there a conscious wrongdoing from Renault? There was none what-so-ever. The only persons who knew were the two mechanics. Nobody on the pitwall knew there was a problem and the driver did not know either. "There was a series of unfortunate events but no conscious wrongdoing."
The FIA examined all the arguments, and decided that the best course of action was to overturn the penalty, meaning Renault could race in Valencia after all. Instead, they were given a $50,000 fine, with the FIA stating there was not enough proof that the team released Alonso knowingly, and they had also received four letters of support from rival teams - with two of them admitting they were changing their own pit stop procedures in the wake of what had happened.
For a short while, at least, Renault had the support of their fellow racers.
That is all for this episode of our advent calendar. I think we may be moving on from Hungary in tomorrow's show, but you'll have to join me then to find out, as we open the advent door for Day Fifteen.
Hello, this is our F1 Advent Calendar 2009 and we are right in the middle of it. This extended mini-series takes a look behind a different door every day of advent to remember another key moment from the 2009 season. We’re on to Day Thirteen - Back on Form.
We’ve been looking at the Hungarian race weekend in quite a lot of detail so far - qualifying was quite a key moment in the year, with Massa’s accident and a major live timing fail. Now, we’re actually going to look at the Grand Prix itself.
Alonso was on pole for the race, with Vettel and Webber behind him, and the Renault driver managed to retain his lead through the first corner. It was Raikkonen who made the best start though, flying past cars from seventh on the grid to move up towards the front. Vettel fell backwards a couple of places, and Kimi found himself squeezed between Hamilton and Webber.
The Finn gave up that fight, dropped back a little, and found himself touching wheels with Vettel. It was a incident somewhat similar to the penalty given to Webber at the German Grand Pix, but Kimi was not investigated until after the race, and then no was penalty given.
Alonso pulled away at the front of the field, whilst at the back, Sutil retired after just one lap. Hamilton was hustling Webber for second place, and on lap five, he made best use of his KERS device to get past the Red Bull. It's fair to say that KERS wasn't having the reception that was anticipated in Formula 1. The device left fans in the dark, and although on-screen graphics were brought in to try and help matters, they weren't always on screen, and therefore it wasn't always clear when it was being used. However, the cars that had KERS fitted could sometimes gain the advantage, and Hamilton used to to perfection to pass Webber. He then started to hunt down Alonso.
Lewis was gaining on the Spaniard, but the Renault car was experiencing difficulties. The early race pace had damaged the tyres, and a fuel pump problem was causing concern on the pit wall. Fernando came in for his first pit stop on lap 12, and although most of the stop was good, there was trouble in the tyre department. The front right wheel had been incorrectly attached, and the wheel spinner was clearly wobbling around as the car exited the pitlane. The loose part fell off after a couple of corners, followed by the entire wheel just a few turns later. The wheel bounced down the track, thankfully missing any major targets. It came to a stop by the barrier.
Alonso continued round the track very slowly on three wheels, and the mechanics fitted him up with a spare and sent him on his way again. He retired later, though, as the fuel pump problem returned.
Hamilton was promoted to the lead, whilst Raikkonen was getting into trouble again. This time, Red Bull released Webber from his stop into the path of an oncoming Ferrari, and the pair narrowly avoided contact. Hamilton continued to romp away at the front, as Vettel retired and left Raikkonen as his nearest competitor - some ten seconds down the road.
The defending champion took his first win of the year, and it was also a first for KERS. McLaren and Ferrari made it a KERS 1-2, which, although not proving the device was useful, at least proved that it wasn't detrimental to achieving those vital victories.
That's all for this Advent episode. I hope you're enjoying the series, thank you for reliving the 2009 season along with me. I will be back tomorrow to open the next window on our calendar - Day Fourteen.
This is the Sidepodcast F1 Advent Calendar 2009, welcome. We’re running an extended mini-series for each day of advent, taking a closer look at the story of 2009, one short show at a time. We’ve reached double figures now as we peer behind the door of Day Ten - So Long, Farewell.
In the last episode, we discussed the German Grand Prix, which debut winner Mark Webber took by storm - heading up a Red Bull 1-2. In their sister team, things were quite different and much less jubilant. Buemi did the best he could, finishing 16th, which was ahead of Trulli and Hamilton, although only one place up from where he started. Bourdais, though, finished last, retiring on Lap 18 with a hydraulics problem.
Of course, this mechanical failure was not his fault, but when he returned to the garages, stopping by the pitwall, the consolatory hugs he gave his engineers were tinged with a sadness more than just frustration about the retirement. These were goodbye hugs.
There was no mention of anything out of the ordinary in the post-race press quotes, but just four days after the race Toro Rosso confirmed that they were parting company with the Frenchman. Team boss Franz Tost said: “In Sebastien’s second year with us, the partnership has not met our expectations and therefore we have decided to replace him as from the next round of the world championship, the Hungarian Grand Prix.”
Up to that point, Bourdais had retired from three races, finished eighth in two, and finished 10th, 11th, 13th and 18th. It’s not a great record, but Buemi wasn’t exactly doing much better. He had a 7th and 8th finished, and just two retirements instead, with the other results down in the late teens.
It wasn’t completely unexpected, then, when Bourdais came out and said Toro Rosso’s decision was a complete surprise to him. He said: “I am very disappointed and shocked by the decision taken by STR of not allowing me to drive for the team until the end of the current season. I consider that, in doing so, Scuderia Toro Rosso has breached its contractual duties towards me; also I believe that nothing in my behaviour would legitimate a decision of the team to terminate the contract.”
He got his lawyers involved, and Toro Rosso decided to settle, with the rumoured deal to be his salary plus damages of just over $2 million.
Bourdais moved on to race in the Superleague Formula, winning a couple of races for the Sevilla FC team. His plans for next year are as yet unknown. Meanwhile, Toro Rosso brought in Jaime Alguersuari, but if they were expecting great things from the Spaniard, they were sorely disappointed. Of the eight races left, Alguersuari retired from five and finished 14th, 15th and 16th in the others.
It could be argued that Bourdais would have achieved results similar to that, but the team were clearly ready to move on, and they were willing to pay over the odds to make that happen.
That’s all for this episode of our F1 Advent Calendar 2009. Thank you for listening and I hope you’ll be back tomorrow when we look behind the door of Day Eleven.
