Sidepodcast

Daily: 19th March 2010

It is Friday at last, and we have reached the end of another week - almost ready to go headlong into the weekend. There's no racing this time round, but I'm sure we can find plenty to keep us amused. To get us off to a good start, here are some of the things we're talking about:

• Lukeh pointed out the first in the latest series from F1.com, in which Vettel answers some probing questions. We're curious what happened in testing to get Seb so worked up, but it doesn't look like he'll be telling us any time soon.
• Jim wrote us an excellent guest post discussing his first lap around the Hockenheimring. It's a good insight into how it feels to drive where the professionals have been before and still return to today.
• Manipe has asked the question: how much overtaking do you want in F1? It's a topic we've touched upon many times, and particularly when there are dull races in our recent memories. There were some moves in Bahrain, but was it enough? And how far to the other extreme could we go? Don't make me mention Mr C watching NASCAR again.
• Also a quick note, as spotted by RG, the future of the Italian GP seems to be on a much more secure footing than we've seen in a long while. Monza should be on the calendar until 2016!

That'll do it for now, I reckon. Just time for a quick happy birthday to Pat, who I think is off in sunny Spain at the moment. Happy birthday! Let us know what you have planned today and this weekend, and as ever, I'll see you in the comments.

Daily: 14th September 2009

With the race weekend out the way, we are now starting to realise that Sidepodradio is only week away. Argh! In the true spirit of Sidepodcast, we will bury our heads in the sand, and reminisce about the weekend that was:

• Barrichello took his second win of the year, then. You can hear about the brief details in yesterday's F1 Minute, catch up with the live show replay, or wait for F1 Digest later today. We spoil you with options, we really do!
• Whilst we're on a plugging trip, you really must check out the Parade Lap if you weren't able to join us live. Alex made a special effort as it is the last one for a while, and there's an added bonus of church bells and a special surprise right at the end.
• Yesterday, Scott wrote a post about Fisichella's move to Ferrari - and whether it really was a dream or turning into a bit of a nightmare. Some interesting thoughts in there, why not add your own?

That'll do it for now. I'll be spending my Monday evening editing several shows, what will you be doing? Let us know, and I'll see you in the comments.

Ferrari F2009 Unveiled in Mugello

Formula 1 is all about being one step ahead of the competition, and in the battle to be first to launch, Ferrari have come out on top. The F2009, otherwise known as the F60, made it's first official public appearance this morning, and is due out on track later today.

The launch itself has already had it's fair share of troubles, with a last minute switch to Mugello, rather than the freezing Fiorano. Now Ferrari have thrown themselves into the lion's den, with our first look at the 2009 spec chassis.

So what do we make of it? At first glance, it looks rather like the F2008, although Technical Director Aldo Costa is adament that the design came from a clean sheet of paper, rather than an evolution of last season's machinery. The rear wing is as hideous as predicted, but Ferrari have managed to sculpt the wide front wing to at least look a little less boxy.

What you can't see from the pictures is that the launched car has KERS fitted, or so they tell us. The device is fitted to the engine, which means we'll see how Massa handles the new technology out on track today. The team are still quite tight-lipped about whether their KERS device is ready for a full race weekend, but launching with it is a good start, at least.

The drivers are both very impressed with their new machinery, although they are obliged to say that, of course. Raikkonen admits 2008 was not the year he was hoping for, but has shoved that to the back of his mind. The past is the past, and he's concentrating on the battle for '09. Massa is feeling confident, and ready to fight for a new championship. He lists numerous teams as Ferrari's competition, but still rates McLaren as their biggest rival. Of the car itself, he is perhaps a little too complementary.

"I'm quite surprised because I expected a big car like it was 10 years go. But the car is very, very small, very compact, the rear end especially. It looks pretty nice, it looks pretty good and hopefully it will be as quick as it looks."

Pretty nice? Really? Let us know whether you agree with Massa in the comments. Does the car look better or worse than you expected, and can you put up with that rear wing for an entire year? Also, take a look at the comparison images Flibster has uploaded to drop.io, which gives a better impression of how the car has evolved since last year.

The FOTA Sign Articles of Association

This article was originally written for BellaOnline, but is republished here for posterity.

Before the Italian Grand Prix, the members of the FOTA came together to sort out who they are and what they plan to do. The FOTA (Formula One Teams Association) came together earlier in the year as a response to Max Mosley’s request for the teams to come up with regulations for the future of the sport. In Monza, the group gathered together and signed off their Articles of Association.

They issued a statement that confirmed the overall aim of the association is to work with both the FIA and the Commercial Rights Holder (FOM) to reduce costs, increase revenue, and add entertainment value to the sport.

Having agreed on what the group is going to do, they then decided on who will lead the association in its new direction. Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo was appointed as the first official chairman of the FOTA. This wasn’t a surprise as the initial meeting regarding the group was held at Ferrari headquarters, and it seemed to make sense for Montezemolo to take the reins. Toyota president John Howett was given the role of vice-chairman.

To aid in future decision making, and coming up with the new regulations as required by the FIA, there were three separate sections of the group created.

Sporting Working Group – headed up by Martin Whitmarsh, current CEO of McLaren, to concentrate on the sporting regulations, enhance the spectacle of Formula 1, and keep F1 as the pinnacle of motorsport.

Technical Working Group – with Ross Brawn at the helm, current team principal of Honda, to create the technical regulations of the future, including development of KERS and greener initiatives.

Commercial Working Group – current Renault boss Flavio Briatore leads this section, to work closely with Bernie Ecclestone to increase revenues, and the share given to the teams.

Now that the group is organised and ready to go, I can’t wait to hear what they actually come up with. We’ve seen lots of Working Groups in the past, most recently one set up specifically to increase overtaking. They don’t always come up with anything, but a guaranteed working group with official members, and articles to adhere to, may have more incentive to find a result. At the moment, it appears working on the regulations with Mosley is at the top of everyone’s agenda, with KERS being the most prominent technology to be introduced next year.

The FOTA have certainly signed up an impressive line up, so hopefully they will be able to come up with some improvements that benefit the fans as well as the teams.

Raikkonen Re-Signs for 2010

This article was originally written for BellaOnline, but is republished here for posterity.

There have been plenty of rumours regarding who will be driving for which teams next year, and a lot of it seems to rest on where Fernando Alonso will decide to be. He has a few options open to him, and is currently yet to make announcement.

One less option, now, however, is Ferrari. Over the course of the Italian Grand Prix weekend, the team announced that they had extended Raikkonen’s contract until the end of 2010. We knew that he would be there next year, but it’s now confirmed that he’ll be partnered with Massa until the end of that season.

Raikkonen has himself been very quiet on the subject of his future, and rumours were beginning to surface that he might be considering retirement. His performance towards the end of this year has appeared lack-lustre, and although mathematically still possible, the 2008 drivers title is almost certainly out of his reach. Having achieved so much already, rumours were heard that he might just call it a day and step aside to let someone else have a go.

However, Raikkonen has been swift to deny these rumours, in fact going so far as to say that they were completely unsubstantiated, and just came from the press, never from anything he said. With this year’s championship drawing to a close, and the Finn so far behind his team mate Massa, it looks like he may be asked to act as a second. This isn’t something he’s had to do in the past, and although it’s not particularly visible, Ferrari may now start to favour Massa in terms of tyre choices, optimum strategies, and all out performance enhancements. Teams usually deny this up to the very last minute, but when it gets down to the wire, as it is between Hamilton and Massa, it makes sense for a team to favour their championship hopeful.

Whether Raikkonen will be positive about this and help Massa, we have yet to see. So far the pair seem to have been practicing very individual races, and very rarely with each other. Either way, whatever the team have decided, it’s obviously to Raikkonen’s satisfaction, otherwise he wouldn’t have re-signed. Personally, I’m glad he did, as he seems to fit with Ferrari very well, seems much happier there than he did with McLaren, and has results pouring in. This all makes for some great championship racing.

Vettel Becomes a Record Breaker

This article was originally written for BellaOnline, but is republished here for posterity.

Not content with being the youngest driver to score a pole position, Sebastian Vettel went on to break the record for the youngest Grand Prix winner as well.

Both titles were held by Fernando Alonso previously, but now Vettel has snatched the record by winning aged 21 years and 73 days. Alonso was one of the first to congratulate Vettel as soon as he was out of the car at the end of the race, and the pair embraced.

Vettel also holds the records for being the youngest driver to lead a race for at least one lap, the youngest to score a point, and youngest podium finisher. However, he has admitted that scoring records isn’t really important. The win is an amazing feat, obviously, but it’s all about the future for him. This makes a lot of sense, as if you’re scoring records for being the youngest at something, you’ve got plenty of racing ahead of you. The German driver also holds the record for being the quickest to get a penalty, as he was caught speeding in the pitlane just nine seconds after leaving the garage, and fined $1,000. It’s understandable that he’d want to forget that particular record.

The Toro Rosso driver won his first race in damp conditions at Monza this weekend, beating his team mate and both drivers from their sister team Red Bull. He is being promoted to Red Bull next season, as Formula 1 veteran David Coulthard retires, and he will test for them this month at Jerez. Rumours are rife that he may actually be brought up to replace Coulthard sooner than the end of the season, but with only a few races remaining, this does seem unlikely.

Vettel began his F1 career with BMW, becoming third driver as Robert Kubica was called up to the team. When Kubica was injured in 2007, Vettel got his first taste of racing in F1, and that is when he scored his first point – the youngest to do so. BMW allowed the youngster to move to Toro Rosso when Scott Speed departed later in the year.

As a German driving for an Italian team, Vettel has instantly been compared to Michael Schumacher. His team principal Gerhard Berger has said that he’s sure the young driver will go on to win championships in the future, and soon. For his part, Vettel has said he doesn’t want to be compared to the seven times world champion. He knows the win is unlikely to be repeated this year, and perhaps even next, and is just counting it as a good start to his career.

F1 2008, Round 14 - Italy

This article was originally written for BellaOnline, but is republished here for posterity.

After only one week, Formula 1 returned to action at Monza, Italy. The controversies at Spa were still fresh in everyone's mind, but it was time to return to racing and get on with the job at hand. Unusually, for Monza, the weather was not playing along, and rain was the talk of the entire weekend.

Friday Free Practice was a complete washout with monsoon style rain that even started flooding the commentary boxes, and the pit garages. Mechanics were reduced to bailing out the water from around the cars with a broom. Saturday didn't appear to be much better, but drivers had to take to the track for qualifying, no matter how limited their running had been.

Hamilton and Raikkonen were two big names to fall at the qualifying hurdle, as Hamilton and his engineers made the wrong tyre decision and couldn't get out of Q2. The Ferrari was one place in front of the McLaren, although Kimi's problems were less obvious.

At the front, Toro Rosso driver Sebastian Vettel made the most of his opportunity to shine and scored his first ever pole position. It wasn't a fluke, however, as team mate Bourdais was pushed from third to fourth on the grid at the very last minute.

Race day was just as wet as the previous days, and the race had to start under a safety car. It only circulated for two laps though, and then returned to the pit lane, leaving the action to continue. Unfortunately, Bourdais had stalled on the grid, been pushed into the pit lane, and joined the back of the pack one lap down. Vettel meanwhile was stretching out a comfortable lead at the front.

Hamilton began to storm his way through the field, as the track began to dry, and at one point he had hauled himself up to second place. He was on a one stop strategy, but unfortunately, his pit stop window was at the wrong time, and he changed to extreme wet tyres, just before everyone else began putting on intermediate wet tyres. After a few laps, it was clear he had to return to the pits, which pushed him down the order once more.

There were plenty of good overtaking manoeuvres, although it did appear that the chicane cutting penalty of last week was fresh in everyone's mind, as we saw lots of drivers handing places back to each other. In the end, though, it was all good, clean racing, and the result couldn't have been better. Vettel led from start to finish (minus his visits to the pit stop, of course), and he was joined on the podium by Kovalainen and Kubica. A refreshing change to the usual podium line-up, and Vettel becomes the youngest Formula 1 race winner.

Celebrate Good Times - Come On!

Into our fourth podcast of the day and we're still going strong. This is F1 Debrief, otherwise known as Sidepodcast Weekly, otherwise known as the Sunday Show, otherwise known as... no, I think that's it actually.

We'll be discussing the race we've just witnessed in Italy, but there'll be all the other good stuff as well, such as Good Week / Bad Week, News and Views, and of course, your feedback.

However, the feedback side of things is an ongoing process, and more than ever, we want to hear from you. The Live Commenting is available by clicking the triangle in the corner, and if you're feeling up to it, we want calls via Skype. We'll give out all the details in the show.

We speculated we'd be ready at 9pm, but in true Sidepodcast style, things are ever so slightly behind schedule, so let's say 9:15pm UK time. What's fifteen minutes between friends, eh?

F1 Digest - Italy GP

• Length: 11:26 
• Size: 10.5 MB 
• File: digest56.mp3 
• Transcript: digest56.pdf 
• Torrent: digest56.torrent 

The wet, wet weekend continued into the race, and made things fascinating when it came to tyre strategy. Hamilton could have pulled off a master stroke, but Vettel kept his head.

The Race

Starting behind the safety car could have been a bad omen, but thankfully it wasn't. It was all about grip, tyres, and who was brave in the lack of visibility. Overtaking was plentiful, most of it down to the one guy.

Conclusions

All decide it was a tough day, which, given the conditions, is hardly surprising. Alonso feels they surpassed their expectations, as does one half of Toro Rosso, but others, such as Williams could have done with a better day.

Live Commenting: Italy - The Race

Everything that has gone before comes down to this moment, race day. All we can talk about is the chances of Vettel managing to keep his lead for the distance, and what the weather is going to be like. One of them directly affects the other.

Let's look at the weather first. It appears to be raining, or if it's not raining right now, it just has been and probably is about to. Will the drivers have to start on intermediate or extreme wet tyres? Will they run out of tyres? The questions begin to pile up. Can Massa hold his own in the wet weather and prove that he does know how to drive in the rain? Will there be any major chicane cutting incidents on a circuit that is full of that type of corner.

Secondly, let's talk about Vettel. It would be incredible for the Toro Rosso driver to become the youngest pole sitter and the youngest race winner in the same weekend. He's worked hard all season and this could be his chance to shine before he moves up to the big team. If he decides that a Red Bull move is the right way to go, of course, having completely outshone his destined team this weekend.

Drivers always say that being in the mid-field is dangerous because there are so many drivers scrapping for positions, that there's bound to be a collision or two. What will happen with the midfield drivers now they are at the front of the pack? And can Lewis and Kimi fight their way through the field. So many questions, and only one race can answer them all. I can't wait.

Here are few links that might be useful:

• Official live timing
• ITV video feed (UK)
• Radio 5Live

More available on the F1 on the Internet page.

Please let us know where you are, how you're watching, and what your predictions are, and don't forget to make full use of the Live Commenting Live... Thing.