My calendar tells me that it is Neil Denham's birthday today, so happy birthday to Neil. I hope you're celebrating it appropriately - cake and presents. Here at Sidepodcast Towers, it is the calm before the storm. Or maybe the storm before the storm. We are scurrying around making sure everything is ready for the season to begin. We're getting there. Anyway, here are some links for you:
I was a little bit told off yesterday for not featuring the Mexico rally in either of my daily posts so far. The rally has been going on since Friday, and I'm now giving it a well-deserved shout out. Kimi has been struggling, I think, although I must admit I've not been following it as well as I should. I know Mr C is rooting for Kimi as he has him in his Fantasy Racers team.
Meanwhile, if you are gearing up for the season ahead then it's worthwhile reading Jake Humphrey's post. He is super excited for the racing to get going, although he seems to be a bit at odds with himself. Sometimes he's saying he misses F1 so much, and in the next sentence saying it's five minutes since he was in Abu Dhabi. Well, Jake, it will be five minutes and you'll be in Bahrain. Woo!
Finally, I didn't mention this yesterday, as there's no way I would have remembered such a thing, but it was the anniversary of the creation of Brawn GP. Lou has written a fabulous post about the event and why we should recognise it, and I am just sorry I missed out on putting this in the correct daily!
Anyway, that will do it for now. We're back to our regular size daily for today. I will see you in the comments.
Hi there. I'm a bit late writing today's daily post as I spent all of last night fixing my mother-in-law's power shower. It was in turns fun and a bit stressful, and I ended up quite damp, but the astonishing discovery is that I really quite like doing DIY. However, it is time to concentrate on Formula 1 related stuff, and here is some:
There's been a bit of a shuffle around at Campos as Colin Kolles - formerly of Force India - has become team principal, alongside new investor José Ramón Carabante. We have a breakout thread on the topic, and it's fair to say the news hasn't come as an enormous surprise, but it's good to see the team have some investment, and they may gain some momentum as we get closer to the season.
Webber was on top for the third day in Jerez this week, after finally a day with plenty of dry running. I haven't managed to do F1 Minute yet (see shower related issues above), but the sixty second catchup will be along as soon as possible. For the second day in a row there were four red flags, one of which was caused by the pace sitter Webber. Oops. Most of the attention was on Lotus vs Virgin Racing again, though, and it looks like Lotus are winning the pre-season battle.
Finally, and actually this is not F1 related, but Lady Snowcat has written us an excellent guest post reliving her recent trip to Sweden to watch Kimi rallying. The post includes some excellent descriptions of what it was like to be a spectator at the event, and I feel cold just reading about it!
That's all for now. Let us know what you're up to this weekend, and I will see you in the comments.
Lady Snowcat recently spent some time in the freezing depths of Sweden to watch Kimi Räikkönen get his rally career off to a good start. Here, she tells us about what it's like supporting your man in such a chilly environment.
Credit: GEPA pictures/ Citroen
Kimi Räikkönen and Kaj Lindstroem blast through snowy Karlstad.
Have you ever stood in the dark, in a forest, far from home, very early in the morning, with frost forming on your hair because it’s minus 23°C, all for the sight of a guy driving a car exceptionally fast? If you have I’ll bet you will end up asking yourself if you are totally mad.
Of course the answer to that question is obvious. You are quite certainly off your head, albeit that there seem to be quite a few people infected with the same malady, as in this icy place you are most certainly not alone. There is a burbling under-current of discussion which, for once, does not allow my usual pastime of listening in, as English does not predominate.
With a number of small fires pocketing the dark gradually coming to life as the pink tinge of the sky then turns to a gentle blue, you can see more people picking their way through the soft, deep snow hiding the rather tricky terrain under foot. You only have to smile to begin a conversation in English and to get a welcome around one of the small fires. This happens just before your toes fall off with frost-bite and allows you to imagine taking your top layer of gloves off in order to get a photo as the Iceman hurries by.
Then you hear a growling in the distance and the thwack of helicopter blades and anticipation rises. All at once a car arrives - it’s Mikka; then another and it’s Seb; followed by Jari-Matte - each leaping over the ridge with a roar, squirming across the track as they brake for a corner and douse you in snow as they pass so, so close to you they take your breath with them as they go. Some more than others!
Once a certain cool Finn goes by it’s time to move on, perhaps to another stage, perhaps to the Service area, perhaps for a snack from one of the trestle tables set up with refreshments (no burger vans or even ice creams! in sight here).
The Service area in the middle of the very bleak Hagfors airfield doesn’t have the charm of the F1 paddock, with, of course, one exception. The exception is very important to my visit so all is okay with the world. When you aren’t amongst the trees, as on a stage, even a minor breeze freezes your bones. The cars are under rather flimsy canvas awnings with no sides and you have to feel sorry for the mechanics struggling to do enough work in 15, 30 or a generous 45 minutes, to make the gradually worn looking vehicles fit for another battering.
The tyres look like a Goth's dream with 384 studs in each. Being run over here would result in rather severe acupuncture so I resist throwing myself in front of anyone’s car!
Sweden is totally beautiful with its snow like very smooth icing on the great expanses of frozen lakes, pretty little houses, acres of trees and the blue sky to set it all off. And rally cars! You trip over them everywhere, including getting overtaken on the open road as they move from stage to stage. As they come past I am cricking my neck trying to establish if it’s number 8. Please let it be number 8.
It’s always clear when Kimi is expected as a crowd forms and from a distance it appears to boil with enthusiasm as some jump up and down and others brace themselves to take a snatched photo. He rarely leaves his car at the beginning or end of a stage but travels a short way along the road and, when out of sight or a distance from the fans, jumps out to remove his helmet and check the tyres. In fact a lot of drivers follow this process, particularly if, like Dani Sordo you need to prune the car of foliage and the stripped tape bordering the stages.
I could go on for hours but expect you are all bored by my enthusiasm. I do have to say that seeing them on the road from 5.30am to 8.40pm with only short breaks for service stops has given me a huge respect for the guys who do this. Also there is something rather real about rallying which makes the F1 crowd seem almost, but not quite, effete by comparison. Perhaps real men go rallying.
Although it is technically not Thursday anymore, we like to stretch the limits in our very own Sidepodtime timezone. Thus, here is a guest post from Lorenzo, answering Journeyer's initial question, with his ideal team line up.
My ideal team? When considering this question, I have opted to look at drivers that are alive and active, but maybe haven’t sat in an F1 car for many years. For the purpose of the exercise I will assume that the drivers would be at the same level as the day they left F1 (which is highly unlikely), but I suppose it is my team and before the season starts I am able to take such liberties with my decisions.
Ok, so my first choice would be the French Sicilian with the fiery temperament, who on his day gave both Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost more than a few headaches. I will always remember Jean Alesi's heroic efforts in the Tyrrell in 1990 passing, being passed and re-passing Senna many times on the notoriously difficult to overtake Phoenix Street Circuit. In fact he was a major reason as to why I fell in love with F1 in the first place, his talent was never questioned but his passion more than often led him to make the wrong decisions. Probably the move that effectively prevented him from becoming more than just a mere footnote, was inspired by his passion for Ferrari, when with his infinite wisdom he managed to wrangle himself out of an already signed contract with Williams for 1991 and ended up in his dream drive for Ferrari, alongside Alain Prost instead. Now we all know how that ended up, the Patrick Head/Adrian Newey Williams was the dominant force of the 90’s whilst Ferrari’s glory and form faded season upon season, until 1997 effectively. Still, Frank Williams was “donated” a Ferrari F1 car for his kindness in letting Alesi out of his signed multi-year contract and to this day I believe he still has the car in his Museum, but Alesi remains only a single time winner in the record books. What if, hey?
Number 2? Jacques Villeneuve. Who could ever forget his debut in the Williams in 1996, not I! Standing trackside you could see his unwavering commitment shining through in the body language of the FW18. Leading most of the race until he ran a little wide onto the grass outside of the first corner at Albert Park, shaking loose an oil line in the car, which resulted in the teams instructing him to pull over and let his more experienced team mate Damon Hill past for the win. Still his intentions were clear and Damon was served early notice. Also his relentless stalking and chase of Michael Schumacher in the Championship decider of Jerez 1997, followed by his scything pass down the inside from so far back that the German had no idea he was even coming. The audacity of Villeneuve in only his second season in F1, who in this one moment exposed what was both brilliant and flawed about Schumacher...his inability to accept defeat at almost any cost. My heart sank when in one fell swoop Villeneuve had confirmed for the world that Adelaide 1994 was no accident.
Test/Reserve? Kimi Raikkonen. His talent cannot be questioned, although we are all aware of his commitment issues and dare I say laziness over a season? I have a feeling that he would be horrible at developing the car for me and he would definitely hate the thought of me plonking him in the simulator for hour after endless hour, but I think I could tell when he has that glint in his eye and needs to be in the car. I might even arrange a special sponsor outing where we send Jean Alesi motocross riding on the weekend before Spa (no harm intended of course!) just so that I could slot Kimi in for his customary Belgium win, and then let him party for the rest of the year.
A final thought, sure Alesi, Villeneuve & Raikkonen mightn’t be a conventional choice for an ideal team but I have a secondary element to my choices. Jean owns a winery, Kimi loves a tipple and Jacques can sort of hold a tune. So when/if team Lorenzo F1 fail dismally, the year end Christmas party will be one to savour. Jean will supply the wine for Kimi to drink whilst Jacques provides the entertainment. I can’t lose!
The last day of January already! An entire month of 2010 has passed us by and we are staring down the barrel of February. We've also got two launches today, and some testing to preview. It's going to be a busy one! Meanwhile, Mr C and I are starting to feel better (thanks for covering yesterday, Mr C), so we're starting to catch up on some of the things we had planned this weekend. Here's some of the stuff we're talking about:
Despite forgetting that it was even on, we ended up being very interested in the Arctic Rally, and particularly how well Kimi Raikkonen got on. We covered the topic originally in an introductory thread, and summed up his performance over the two days in another post. I also spent a while collecting the best of the best pictures for an F1 Big Picture special.
I also wrote a post about Autosport's recent decision to provide the magazine as a digital subscription alongside the paper version. This is great news for us and means we can actually subscribe finally, and it's also good to see how many other magazines are starting to look at online solutions.
Pat W is keeping busy and participating in the 24 Hour Blogathon over on The Furious Wedge. Alongside the 24 Hours at Daytona, Pat and Allen plus a host of others will providing updates and entries as often as they can. I don't know how they're going to manage to stay awake, but good luck to all!
That's all for now. We may be recording another show this weekend, depending on our energy levels, but unfortunately it will be another non-live one, so the edited version will be along as soon as possible. I will see you in the comments.
Kimi Räikkönen bounced back during the second day of the Arctic Lapland Rally to come within 0.8s per km of his more experienced team mate Dani Sordo. Day one, saw the Finn lose 30 minutes of running after he came off worst in an argument with a tree.
Credit: Tony Welam/ Red Bull
A smiling Kimi Räikkönen enjoys his time in ice and snow of Lapland. Far away from the world of F1 livery launches.
Räikkönen, and co-driver Kaj Lindström escaped unhurt from Friday's incident, but couldn't make up lost time before the end of the event on Saturday. The pair eventually finished in 58th position, but Kimi declared himself happy with how things had gone for them:
"We put a few more kilometres under our belt, which was vital to help us continue learning the C4 WRC. As well as being pleased by our performances I was also pleased by the way we were able to work with the team."
The Arctic Rally offered Kimi his first competitive outing in the C4 WRC and his Citroën team treated the event as test session in preparation for Rally Sweden, the first round of the 2010 World Rally Championship which begins next month.
If you are interested in seeing more from Lapland, Christine has compiled a gorgeous collection of large photographs in her F1 Big Picture - Kimi Special while the following video offers some insight into how much fun the Finn had in the snow.
All Posts in The Series: 2010 Arctic Lapland Rally
Today is Saturday, the penultimate day of January and the start of the weekend. Most importantly this means we can sleep. Both halves of Sidepodcast are officially under the weather today, and the lovely Christine is suffering the most.
Despite us working at less than full capacity on Friday, there were plenty of events to discuss both inside and outside of the F1 scene.
Kimi got his full time rallying career off the ground on Friday, and we're committing to covering his progress this year, starting with a dedicated Arctic Rally thread. It's a new and confusing category of motor sport for us to fathom, and Räikkönen appears to have much to learn too.
Yesterday's Friday Fun topic got everybody reminiscing on classic Formula 1 launch parties in year's gone by. I'll happily go on record and say things certainly seemed more exciting back in my day.
The McLaren team threw back the covers on their 2010 challenger the MP4-25 less than 24 hours ago, but an early leak of press images via Dank on Twitter took the edge off the silver machine's unveiling. That said, the rest of the event in Newbury went off without a hitch, with the live stream offering far more useful coverage than Ferrari's pathetic efforts the previous day.
If you haven't already, please take a look at Adie's write-up from a day inside Vodafone HQ. It's commendable that McLaren took the initiative to open doors and recognise bloggers efforts to break into mainstream F1 journalism. Although it has been noted that the team from Woking happily opened someone else's factory doors, rather than their own.
As a final word on launches, I recommend reading Joe's thoughts on viewing from the comfort of one's armchair. With zero hope of an exclusive, why would professional journalists travel from far and wide to experience the same thing as those watching at home (or even less if you factor in the leaked photographs)? There's plenty more to be discussed on this subject, do watch for more posts later today.
Apologies to anyone waiting on F1 Minute or F1 Big Picture, I may be trusted to handle a stand-in daily post, but my talents only stretch so far (plus I charge by the hour, don't ya know?). Here's wishing Christine a speedy recovery.
The Arctic Lapland Rally begins today Friday, and that's of particular interest to F1 fans, as a certain Mr. Kimi Räikkönen will be tackling the icy roads in his first rally outing since exiting the Formula 1 scene. Kimi will be driving a C4 WRC for the Citroen Junior team.
Credit: Vesa Koivunen/Red Bull
Kimi Räikkönen finds some air testing for the Arctic Lapland Rally.
Kimi's co-driver for the event will be Kaj Lindström, with whom he took part in last year's Arctic Rally. During that outing the pair finished in 13th place, although their car of choice was a Fiat Grande Punto S2000. Kimi's brother will be at the wheel of the little Punto this year, while the star attraction moves up to the WRC class chassis. Dani Sordo will drive the second car and should provide a useful benchmark with which to compare our Finnish hero.
Speaking prior to the event, Kimi said:
"This rally is a very good opportunity for me to work with the team in competitive conditions and continue my learning curve with the car."
Those in the know, suggest Räikkönen's best hope will come in the super special tonight. He finished 4th there last year.
Keep an eye on Live Timing for up to the minute information. While an overview of the Arctic Rally can be found on the official site.
All Posts in The Series: 2010 Arctic Lapland Rally
Hello and welcome to another episode of the F1 Advent Calendar 2009. This extended mini series takes a look at the 2009 season, in bite size stories, revealed each day behind the doors of advent. Today we are on to Day Twenty - Rise and Fall.
You'll never believe it, but the Belgian Grand Prix weekend started out a bit wet. There was some rain during the first Free Practice session, and it was Trulli in the Toyota who managed to post the fastest time. Things dried up ahead of FP2, which allowed a bit of normality to resume and Hamilton secured the top spot. The sensible times didn't last for much longer, as Friday turned into Saturday, and it was BMW fastest in the morning practice session. Heidfeld led the way, with Toyota up there again in second.
Throughout the sessions, Force India had shown good pace, and they weren't to be discounted when it came to qualifying. Fisichella was fastest in Q1, with regular names dropping out - Grosjean, Buemi, Alguersuari. In the second session, Toyota was fastest, and we really began to raise our eyebrows. What were all these unusually fast cars doing at the top of the times? Button, Alonso and both McLarens were all knocked out in the second session, meaning it was going to be a very interesting top ten shoot out.
The Red Bull boys could only manage 8th and 9th position, with Vettel ahead, whilst Raikkonen qualified 6th. Barrichello was 4th but it was Fisichella, Trulli and Heidfeld who took the top three positions, and turned up at the qualifying press conference moments later. This was Force India's first ever pole position, and Fisichella's first since 2006, when he was driving for Renault.
Come Sunday, and it was still dry as the race began. Barrichello made a terrible start, practically stalling on the grid, and falling way down the order. It was not to be a good day for the Brawn drivers, as on the first lap, Button was involved in a collision with Grosjean. The Renault ran into the back of Button, spinning them both off track and out of the race. Hamilton saw this happening and lifted off, which caused Alguersuari to run into the back of the McLaren. Both of them were out of the race as well. There were a few choice words said afterwards regarding rookie races and the lack of testing available this season.
The safety car came out, and Raikkonen found himself up in second position, with Fisichella still ahead. Once the Safety Car pulled off, it was so easy for Kimi in the KERS assisted Ferrari to get past the Force India, and he was off into the lead.
At his first pit stop, Mark Webber was released rather aggressively by his Red Bull team, and unfortunately, he was headed straight for Nick Heidfeld. Webber was granted a drive through penalty, and this time, couldn't turn it around to take a win, the penalty pushed him far down the order.
Trulli and Alonso both retired from the race, whilst Vettel suddenly found some speed and began chasing Raikkonen and Fisichella up front. There weren't enough laps remaining to do anything about it, but managed to finish on the podium, with Raikkonen taking his first win since Spain 2008, and Ferrari's first of the year. Fisichella was second, scoring Force India's first ever points - quite a way to make your mark on the championship table.
There were six retirees altogether, and of course, Luca Badoer finished last. Were Ferrari's eyes opened by Fisichella's performance during this weekend? It was just three days later that he was signed up to take Badoer's place.
That's all for this episode of our F1 Advent Calendar 2009. I hope you're enjoying the shows, as we head into the final stretch. Tomorrow we'll be looking at Day Twenty-One.
Hello and welcome along to the F1 Advent Calendar 2009 - an extended mini-series from Sidepodcast where we open up a new door each day of advent to find a key story from the 2009 season. Yesterday was all about politics, so let’s hope for some racing action this time, on Day Nine - The First Time.
With the future of Formula 1 back on an even keel for now, attention turned back to the racing. The British Grand Prix had been a sombre affair overshadowed by the politics, so it was down to the German race at the Nurburgring to pick things up again. Vettel had won the race at Silverstone, and the Brawn dominance was beginning to look a little shaky, although their championship leads were still very much in tact.
Qualifying was a wet affair, and played right into the hands of Red Bull. Webber and Vettel made it a very strong 1-2 until last minute laps from the Brawn boys split them up. Webber retained his pole position, followed by Barrichello and Button, with Vettel winding up fourth. Notably, Sutil managed to qualify up in 7th, which was the highest Force India grid position since it’s inception.
The race was dry, and got underway with a collision between Webber and Barrichello. The pair of them got off the line essentially together, and whilst Barrichello kept it in a straight line, Webber moved across and bumped into the Brawn. Still before the first corner, Hamilton came flying past both of them, but Webber’s front wing nicked the McLaren’s rear right tyre. Hamilton overshot the first corner, ran wide, and then limped back to the pits with a puncture. He returned to the track one lap down and finished in 18th, which was last with two retirees behind him.
Barrichello didn’t seem to have been too affected by the incident with Webber initially as he took the lead. Webber received a drive through penalty for that first corner incident, so had to make an extra stop, but despite that he kept the pace up and his strategy saw him continuing to fight at the top. Barrichello, though, was beginning to slow, and holding everyone up. Ross Brawn was on the radio telling him he was going too slowly and if he couldn’t overtake, he needed to let Button have a go.
Sutil, having started seventh, had made his way up to second place, but after coming out the pits for his first stop, found a fast moving Raikkonen coming up behind him. The Ferrari had to take avoiding action and went round the outside at the next corner, but it wasn’t quite wide enough, and the pair collided. Sutil was knocked down to finish in 15th, whilst Kimi later retired with engine troubles.
Finally, it was Webber who crossed the line first. Despite losing places at the start, bouncing off a couple of cars here and there, and receiving a drive through penalty, he had fought hard and worked his way back to the top to take his debut victory. He was joined on the podium by teammate Vettel and Felipe Massa. After the race, team boss Christian Horner paid tribute to the Australian: “I think lying in a hospital bed in Tasmania in November, he could never have dreamed about today... The comeback that he has had has been remarkable - and it is testimony to his determination and commitment that he has got himself back, he has got himself fit and he is driving better than ever.”
That is all for this episode of our F1 Advent Calendar. We have peeked behind nine doors so far and tomorrow we’ll start again with Day Ten.
