Sidepodcast

The Best of Sidepodcast 2009, and a Big Thank You

During 2009, Sidepodcast managed to publish 1,319 posts on this website. That's more content in the past 12 months than we managed in the previous two years of blogging combined. A considerable amount of that content came from over 20 guest writers who contributed their thoughts and ideas and to whom we will be eternally grateful.

To celebrate such a fantastic year, and because we're feeling more than a little nostalgic on this eve of '10, we've pulled together some of our favourite topics from 2009.

Thank You for the Memories

• An Audience With Mark Webber - January started well, meeting and greeting Mark Webber
• Always Look at the Bigger Picture - The big idea for '09
• Design and Share Your Fantasy Race Tracks - Anyone can do better than Tilke, right?
• Websites You Can Trust - F1 journalism comes under the microscope
• Episode 93 - KERS For 5 Year Olds - Everything you needed to know about KERS
• Character Cup - 2009 Winner, Fernando Alonso - He's quite the character
• McLaren Testing at Kemble - We knew they were in trouble from this point on
• When Did You Lose Interest? - An historical look at F1 supporters
• 2009 Australia Predictions Montage - How did you fare?
• A View of Sepang - Journeyer's visit to the Malaysian GP
• Heard It on the Radio - Christine talks to BBC national radio
• There's an Official Formula 1 iPhone App, and It Rocks! - F1 coverage changed for the better
• Winning Isn't Everything - Lou gets a cog too
• Circuit Cup - 2009 Winner, Spa - The best track by miles
• Print Is Dead - Our take on the future of media
• A Live Tour of Albert Park - Amy goes live from a deserted park in Australia
• We Heart Lukeh - Lukeh provided us laughs aplenty in 2009
• Sidepodfilmclub - Talladega Nights - The inaugural filmclub evening
• Will.i.am Wheelman - Possibly our best headline of the year
• 2009 Championship Contender - Jenson Button - A look at the man before he became the man
• Sidepodradio Gives You Wings for Life - Red Bull Racing liked the cupcakes
• Happy Birthday Daily Thread - One year on and still going strong
• When Giggles Met Murray and Stirling - He only went and messed up his tie
• Things I Learnt From Watching Franck - Everybody does it better than Formula 1
• Formula 1 2009 (Wii) Review - Finally a proper F1 game hits the shelves
• The Illustrated 2009 F1 Season Review - Currently the highest rated post on Sidepodcast
• Live: After Eight - The last live show of the year and a festive one at that
• F1 Advent Calendar 2009 - Roundup - The F1 season, all wrapped up

We've shared some fantastic experiences this past year and we're promised many more in 2010.

Thank You for the Music

As this is the one time of year when Christine allows me to give thanks, and running the risk of missing someone important, Sidepodcast would like to share the love. The two of us would like to extend a huge thank you to all guest writers, to everyone who's helped transcribe a show, especially Amy for leading the effort, and to every person who pledged a donation this year. Much appreciation goes out to anyone who took time to pick up the phone, send an email, or leave a comment, especially if you did so for the first time.

Thank you to the participants of Sidepodradio, to those who tuned in and anyone who gave so much to charity that day. A special note of gratitude to Steven Roy for volunteering anyone and everyone who dared show an interest and to RG for the initial inspiration. A huge Sidepodthanks goes to the bestest host of the parade lap, Alex (Giggles) Andronov, without whom there would have been no pre-race shows this year, and to Katherine and Hyde Park for opening their doors to us.

Major kudos to Lisa McCormick and to Rob Smedley for both being especially lovely. The same goes to the 5Live team for providing such fabulous coverage that saved the season. To Danny from Fantasy Racers, and to anyone who's plugged, promoted or shared the Sidepodcast word, we also say cheers.

I would like to extend a personal thank you to everybody who offered their support back in the summer of discontent and encouraged us to continue, we quite literally would not be here today without you. A hat tip must also go towards Racecar Engineering and F1 Racing for featuring our McLaren photographs and to Stuart C for providing an education in journalism at no charge.

A special mention goes out to Joe Saward, a man who has given so much to Formula 1 for so many years and who this year, extended a generous hand in our direction.

Finally I give a huge hug to Ms Christine Blachford, for producing what are by far the best F1 podcasts on the internet and also for putting up with her co-host for another year.

Lord knows I hope we haven't missed anyone from that list, but just in case, Sidepodcast raises a virtual glass to everyone - may Formula 1 be good to you in 2010.

F1 Advent Calendar 2009 - Day Thirteen

• Length: 3:19 
• Size: 3.8 MB 
• File: advent13.mp3 
• Transcript: advent13.pdf 
• Torrent: advent13.torrent 

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.

F1 Advent Calendar 2009 - Day Five

• Length: 3:27 
• Size: 4.0 MB 
• File: advent5.mp3 
• Transcript: advent5.pdf 
• Torrent: advent5.torrent 

Welcome to the Sidepodcast F1 Advent Calendar 2009, where we are running through all the important moments of 2009 - in an extended mini series. Each day we’re opening the advent window on another key topics from the year gone by. Now it’s time to find out what story is behind Day Five - Rain Stops Play.

Following Brawn’s incredible start to the season and a 1-2 debut win, it was time to move on to the Malaysian Grand Prix. Bernie Ecclestone shifted the start time of the race, to appeal to the European audience - starting at 5pm local time.

All three Free Practice sessions were dry and went without major incident - apart from the bit where Kimi Raikkonen had to pull to a stop in the pitlane and jump out of his car quickly, as a KERS malfunction saw the cockpit fill with smoke. Button was on fine form once again, and took his second consecutive pole position, with Trulli lining up on the grid beside him.

The race begin and Button lost his lead at the start, allowing Rosberg, Trulli and Alonso all to get ahead of him, although he did make the places back thanks to some overtaking and some strategy work in the pits. Talk of rain started to emerge, and Raikkonen took the plunge and gambled on a set of wet tyres. It was much too early for that kind of thing.

It wasn’t until Lap 19 that it really started to rain, and wet tyres were put on right down the order. Timo Glock remained on intermediates, and whilst the others struggled with tyre wear thanks to little standing water, the Toyota driver moved his way up the field to third. Many drivers took his cue and pitted for intermediates, but then the rain really began to fall and the pack switched back to wets.

Then it was chaos. It was almost impossible to see who was where, what tyres they were on and whether they were even pointing in the right direction. On lap 33, the race was red flagged, and the drivers came to a halt on the grid waiting for further information. After waiting, and waiting, and waiting a little bit more, the time limit expired and the race was over with less than half distance completed.

That meant half points for the top eight drivers, and on countback that gave Button his second consecutive win - and another in unconventional circumstances. He followed a safety car home for the Australian Grand Prix and he won the Malaysian race stopped on the grid. I’m sure he didn’t mind either way, though.

This was only the fifth time in Formula 1’s history that a race has been stopped midway and half points have been awarded, and I don’t mind telling you that filling in the championship tables for the rest of the season was a complete pain.

Post-race, the drivers felt like the right decision had been made to halt the race, even if they would have preferred to be getting the laps in. Hamilton said: “It was impossible to drive out there, it was very, very dangerous. It’s the most dangerous conditions I have ever raced in.” And Button added: “It was way too wet out there and the decision to call it off was correct. I would obviously love to have the 10 points but this is the best we could have done and realistically it was the right thing to do.”

Bernie Ecclestone faced criticism for the change in start time, but defended his position strongly, saying he cannot control the weather.
That’s all for this episode of the F1 Advent Calendar 2009. Please join me tomorrow when we’ll open another door of our calendar for another season snippet.

Predictions Revisited

Towards the end of last year, we asked you for your predictions about the season ahead, posing a few probing questions and welcoming any other Nostradamus-like thoughts about the upcoming year.

Now we have lived through the 2009 season, and would all most likely admit it was a bit of a surprise, it's time to look back at how very, very wrong we were.

Don't worry, I'll start with my own very poor predictions. I gave the Australian win to Vettel, clearly discounting any form of resurgence from the team formerly known as Honda. Then I figured, in my infinite wisdom, that Robert Kubica would be a shoe-in for the driver's title.

Hmm. Moving on.

Driver Changes

We asked the question - will any contracts be torn up and ripped apart before the end of the year? Bassano instantly said:

Yes - Piquet Jr

He could not have been more right, although perhaps the circumstances could not have been predicted. Or could they? Alianora added some thoughts:

Piquet Jr will crack under the pressure of looking for a new employer and we won't see him in F1 in 2010 as a result.

Quickly followed up with:

A driver will get sacked for doing something really, really dumb.

Alenyaa had thoughts about Fisichella's future:

Most likely to lose seat during the season: Fisichella

Technically true, I suppose, but only because he was given the "promotion" of moving up to Ferrari. He's happy with a test driver role for 2010, but there were erroneous rumours he could return to Force India, so it seems the relationship is still good, at least.

Dom didn't think there would be much in the way of driver movement at all:

No, I think this is the last season before a big driver market shake up in 2010.

Both right and not. We saw many, many team movements this year, both due to hirings and firings, plus injuries and reserve drivers. Next year we're seeing a big mix up though, so Dom was at least half right.

Winners and Losers

We asked whether KERS would have the desired impact and increase the racing spectacle. Dank didn't think so:

No. Racing will still be very close and overtaking won't be vastly improved.

Spot on! Despite no massive improvement in overtaking, there were some predictions about potential good drives. RG said:

Surprises of the year, Force India grabbing points at a wet GP and Abu Dhabi being a good race.

Let's ignore the Abu Dhabi bit for now! Steven wasn't expecting great things from the team though:

The other disappointment will be Force India who will not improve much despite the McLaren involvement. Expect big changes in that team this time next year.

With the benefit of hindsight, we can see that Force India made vast improvements towards the end of the year and have signed on their drivers for 2010 as a sign of consistency.

Changing the subject to new winners, Lou predicted there would be at least 2 rookies taking the top step of the podium, whilst Le Wombat du BOL (who is now known as the FOFA Chairman) said:

Heidfeld simply MUST win, he’ll do “irvine” and break his duck because Melbourne is the right place for it.

Nick didn't quite manage the win, but did pick up plenty of points in his pursuit. Trulli also put his all into the season but Dank wasn't so sure it would be enough:

Toyota will announce they will be leaving F1 at the end of the season. Also marking the end of Jarno's career.

Sadly, he was right about the end of Toyota, and maybe even Trulli, although nothing has been made official yet. Aitch also added:

I think we could lose 1 maybe even 2 teams by years end.

Again, sadly true.

Circuits and Races

Aitch didn't stop at spelling out the end of several team futures, but the calendar was about to take a hit as well:

We will lose more races this year. Last year for the British GP and German GP maybe even the Chinese GP .

The British GP saga is still ongoing, so it seems very few people did have faith in Donington. Meanwhile, the brand new track on the 2009 calendar Abu Dhabi, came in for some varying predictions - not least RG's as mentioned above. Lou said:

Valencia will be slightly more colourful, but no more exciting.
Fans will not like the Abu Dhabi GP as the finale to the season.

And finally, Felipe Leite had the season all planned out before it had even begun:

The championship will be decided at Brazil (Abu Dhabi will hold the last race of the year).

I think this is what we all hoped, and it came to pass.

These are just a selected few of the fantastic predictions we had last year, I highly recommend taking a look through what was said last year. Hindsight is fabulous, isn't it?

Towards the end of the year, we'll be asking you for your 2010 seasons, and we can repeat this cringeworthy process at the end of next year as well!

Existing Solely to Race?

2009 was a busy year for the Williams F1 team, almost as busy off track as it was on. The start of the season saw Williams caught in the middle of a "diffuser row". In May the team managed to get themselves expelled from the Formula One Teams Association, for a full four months and to close the year off, they dropped both drivers and their engine partner.

It seems no F1 season is complete without a "Williams are Struggling to Survive" headline to round the year off, and given all that has happened, plus the fact Royal Bank of Scotland announced it would end its partnership with the team after 2010, the story almost writes itself.

Except this year is different. The past 12 months have seen no less than three well-heeled manufacturer teams exit the sport, whilst the boys and girls from Oxford remain steadfast and strong. New smaller teams are entering the sport (or at least they're trying) and they likely have less money to throw around than anyone. In the meantime Williams appears to be siding with both the sport's commercial rights holder CVC and the sport's governing body the FIA. I don't believe anyone from the headquarters in Grove ever sent out a press release confirming the re-admittance to FOTA, while the decision to select independent Cosworth power over a Toyota engine won't have hurt their cause in any way.

It has been pointed out several times this year, that Williams are a team who solely exist to race. In fact the team's own facts and stats page quotes this very mantra and they're rightly proud of it. They don't have tins of energy drink to shift, neither do they have a range of high-performance vehicles to promote. They race in Formula One and that is pretty much all they do.

Admittedly there was the small matter of designing an F2 car for the FIA's (them again) pet feeder series project but everything else is essentially Formula One related. Or is it?

I get the impression Sir Frank may have taken a longing look over at the success of the McLaren Group. An F1 team that expanded its horizons to include catering, marketing, technology, and who recently spun out the automotive arm to launch their own range of elite road cars. McLaren once solely existed to race too.

Williams Hybrid Power, the recently rebranded energy storage technology company looks for all the world like it has ambitions beyond Formula One. Let's be honest, if you looked at the backwards way KERS was implemented in the sport, you'd have to have bigger aspirations than that. A couple of weeks back Williams also announced a deal with Qatar Science and Technology Park, and this project has plans to extend current research even further. I believe if you look closely the press release mentions "road cars" too.

At some point the FIA may decide that F1 needs a standardised KERS system, and it would be quite handy if there were a team out there with readymade flywheel system (arguably the more ecologically sound solution), who also had experience with a Cosworth engine. Additionally, it's worth keeping in mind that McLaren's exclusive standard engine control unit deal expires at the end of 2010. Given the success of the system, it makes sense that the SECU concept be retained beyond 2010, but one wonders if a new tender will be put out to interested parties? Integration with a standard KERS system might reduce costs considerably.

Clearly all of the above is nothing more than pure speculation, but it's worth keeping in mind that next year Williams likely won't be the only team existing solely to race. There will be smaller and more needy teams present too. Is it time for Williams to step up and break out beyond Formula 1? I think the F2 project went too well to waste that amount of talent on Formula One.

Italy 2009 - Schedule

We saw it all in Belgium, but now it's time to move on to Monza. Fisichella has made his step up, we've got yet another new driver taking a seat this year, plus this circuit should see some KERS action. It's well worth tuning in.

We've got two schedules for you today, the first is the BBC's guide to what is online, on TV and on radio. We'll be online, as ever, and threads will open in a timely manner. The second table is our much more flexible Sidepodschedule, giving you a rough guide to which podcasts are coming out when.

TV Schedule

We're all about Radio 5live, have you made the switch yet?

Podcast Schedule

Here are rough estimates of when the shows will be released over the coming few days:

We'll be around for every session in the live comments, and I hope you can join us when you can. Either way, enjoy the race!

Daily: 27th August 2009

It is Mark Webber's birthday today, and he was born in 1976 which makes him 33 years young. Webber will be spending his day preparing for the upcoming race in Spa, so will he get cake? We can only hope so. Meanwhile, here's what we're talking about at the moment:

• Glock has admitted he's slightly concerned about the possibility of Toyota pulling out - but only in so much as he's having to extend his search for a potential race drive. It looks like his number one choice is with the Japanese team, though, so he'll have his fingers crossed the budget gets signed off.
• The vast improvements in the McLaren car have left the team feeling a lot more confident about next season, as they know they'll be starting from at least a half-decent base. It doesn't really matter though, the speed in which this team have turned things around means they could start with a kart and still be racing for wins by the end of the year!
• Renault have joined in the KERS resurgance, floating the possibility of running the device in Monza. Supposedly, it would suit the circuit better than it would here at Spa, and if Red Bull are going to bring it back, Renault probably don't want to be missing out.

That'll do it for now. You're free to discuss whatever you want in the comments, you don't have to stick to anything I've mentioned above. You don't even have to stick to F1! I'll see you there!

Daily: 24th August 2009

With Valencia out of the way, we will already be turning our attention to the next race at Spa. I thought we had got all the back-to-back goings on at the beginning of the season, but apparently it is not so. Here are some of the things we are talking about right now:

• Barrichello will no doubt be celebrating his win - the first since 2004 - in style. I love that the paddock was full of good thoughts for Rubens, and no one could have anything bad to say about our race winner. Equally, our comments were full of love for the Brazilian, and long-time fan Lukeh blogged about his own happiness alongside Rubens'.
• Red Bull are reportedly thinking about KERS, although Christian Horner was quite cagey about it yesterday. They may or may not be planning to implement it in the next couple of races, but it does mean that the technology is back in the headlines again, and maybe even back in favour.
• Although Domenicali is saying all the things that Badoer would want to hear right now, in that they don't plan to chuck him out of the car just yet, they haven't ruled out a replacement after Spa. Luca previously said he would be in the seat until Massa returned but after his woeful performance this weekend, that doesn't seem likely at all. Who will they draft in to replace him?

That'll do it for now. We are/were up into the early hours watching Franck drive in the IRL race at Sonoma, so today will probably be a tough Monday. Either way, I'll see you in the comments.

Daily: 23rd August 2009

You may know this as the day of the European Grand Prix at Valencia. Here at Sidepodcast Towers, this is known as Franck Day! The Frenchman will be lining up 8th on the grid at Sonoma tonight. There is no way I'm going to be able to stay up to watch him, but I will try my very best. Meanwhile, here's what we're talking about until then:

• Badoer is still struggling, and still insisting that he's seeing this weekend as a test session. Surely that is the wrong way to approach things, or is that just his stock excuse? He does seem way off the pace, but perhaps he will be able to pick things up when the racing gets going.
• Red Bull have started to look at the possibility of running KERS towards the end of the season. It's clear that the device isn't prohibitive in any way, now that Hamilton has won a race and taken pole position here in Valencia. This will be a decisive moment for the championship though, won't it?
• We have discovered a view of Valencia that is worth looking at in yesterday's F1 Big Picture, but the track really is an eyesore, isn't it? It's impossible to tell the corners apart. What can they do to solve this?

That'll do for now. It's going to be a big day, so make sure you're tuned in for the Parade Lap, the race, the Debrief, and Live Commenting Franck. I will see you in the comments.

Daily: 26th July 2009

Of course today all our thoughts are with Massa, and we're hoping for more good news updates from the hospital. However, it is still race day and we should still enjoy what we can of the Hungarian Grand Prix. Here's what we're talking about at the moment:

• Alguersuari did pretty well, no? The engine failure scuppered him a bit, but even he says the aim of the weekend is simply to finish the race. I guess the big question now is whether Bourdais would have done well with the new car updates.
• The McLarens didn't manage to keep up their Free Practice pace, but they didn't do so badly either. Both qualified in the top ten, and with the added benefit of KERS (are they the only ones using it now?) they could make some progress today.
• The other major question is what the weather will be like. So far we have seen really hot conditions, and also some cooler and more windy conditions as well. The temperatures will make all the difference in the race, so I can't wait to see how that will pan out too.

That's all for now. If you're watching the race, please join us in the live comments, and let us know how you're watching. If not, you can tune in to the digest later to get a full recap of the action. I'll see you in the comments.