Free Practice 2 is complete and we still have yet to see Chandhok out on track. Rosberg put Mercedes on top, with Schumacher in third, and Hamilton splitting the pair of them.
Fantasy Racers is back and this time it's blog-only! We're not going to be talking about it in the show as the rule changes make it just that little bit too wordy for a short podcast section. However, it's taking pride of place on the blog and this is where you come in. I have selected Strategy 2, which is the option to not change your drivers but have a higher starting budget. Therefore, I will run out of things to say about my team very quickly. I want you to tell me about your team, who you're choosing and why. Email your thoughts to christine@sidepodcast.com and I will publish them in the next reminder thread.
For now, though, we have a league this year called Panda Racing 2010. You can get more information on joining up on this post, and please do! We'd love to have you. My team is called Chief Operating Panda, for obvious reasons. As mentioned above, I'm sticking with the same drivers throughout so my choice was important. I've gone with:
Fernando Alonso
Lewis Hamilton
Sebastian Vettel
Lucas di Grassi
I think I've got a good mix of championship potential and deliciousness. Who are you going for?
I had a message from Simon, part of which we read out in the latest debrief and part of it I saved for this post, as it related to his Fantasy Racers. Here are his thoughts:
I went for the 45m version, as my internet access is sporadic at best and therefore may not be able to change this during the season. My team is: Kamui, Lewis, The Hulk, Rubens, Kubica.
My reasons: I thought Kamui's performances in the last two races in 2009 were outstanding, the most exciting F1 debut since Lewis. Following the yawnfest that was the arrival of Buemi, Bourdais, Speed etc. etc. it was great to see a young driver with almost no F1 testing drive that well. I am delighted that he secured a drive following the demise of Toyota - so he was a must, my first name on the list.
Then Lewis, because it would be churlish to not have the man who will win the world championship in your fantasy team. Next Nico. I have been very impressed with his performances during pre-season testing and I also have a hunch, or is it just a hope (I miss the good old days of Hill etc.), that Williams will be competitive this year.
This left me with 17m to spend. So I had two choices: get one more top driver (would have been Vettel - I couldn't bring myself to pick someone in a red car!) and then have 5m left - not enough to get another, so wasted money, or get two 'best of the rest ' drivers. Rubens, for the Williams reason mentioned above, and because Rubens came to F1 around the same time I did and I have always liked him. Kubica, because well, I definitely think he fits into the category. Not the best but not the worst.
Fab stuff from Simon. Don't forget you can send me your team decisions: christine@sidepodcast.com. I also want to point you in the direction of Lukeh's blog post about his team Amazini Barresistancello. That one is definitely worth a read.
Also, don't forget to take part in the SofaF1 championship this year, as Alex has worked hard on creating a very interactive page for selections. F1 Wolf has a great predictions game going, and check out Pat's post for other worthy games.
Sunday marks the final day of F1 pre-season testing in 2010. In a two weeks time the cars will be lining up for the first race of the year, so today offers the very last opportunity for teams and drivers to get some testing milage in.
Yesterday's action was punctuated by red flags and rain showers, it's hard to get a decent long run in with 11 teams on track, some of whom have been more reliable than others. Here's hoping for reliable cars, fine weather and plenty of Sunday running.
On track action begins at 9am CET (8am GMT).
Circuit Information
Track length: 4.655km
Corners: 16
Lap record: 1:21.670 (Kimi Räikkönen, Ferrari, 2008)
You'll find Circuit de Catalunya located in the North East corner of Spain.
Drivers and Teams Attending
The following teams and drivers are confirmed for testing on Wednesday
It's day two in Barcelona as F1 teams make the most of some decent weather and get down to work. Only a few drivers carry over their work today as Schumacher, Hamilton and Vettel all grab the hot seats.
Lucas di Grassi managed to complete just 31 laps on Thursday before throwing his Virgin car into the barriers on Thursday, but it was Mark Webber who grabbed the headlines as the RB6 managed to stretch it's legs in the Spanish sunshine. Look out for more from them today.
Of note, Ross Brawn has stated that Mercedes' definitive diffuser won't be fitted to the car until Bahrain, which means they're running around Barcelona learning about tyres and not a lot else.
On track action begins at 9am CET (8am GMT).
Circuit Information
Track length: 4.655km
Corners: 16
Lap record: 1:21.670 (Kimi Räikkönen, Ferrari, 2008)
You'll find Circuit de Catalunya located in the North East corner of Spain.
Drivers and Teams Attending
The following teams and drivers are confirmed for testing on Wednesday
F1 Digest is back with your guide to everything you need to know for the 2010 season. In four preview shows, we'll look at teams, the calendar and the regulations, but we're starting with the expanded grid for this season - the drivers.
Class of 2010
It's all change for the upcoming season as the defending champion joins a new team with the champion before that, a popular former champion leaves the sport, and a controversial seven times world champion returns.
Further down the entry list, we have new teams galore, some with familiar faces, some introducing new (and delicious) faces. We even have two drivers who don't have teammates as yet, and are still uncertain as to whether they'll make the grid.
Finally, there are those who are remaining in place - a bit of consistency for both their teams, and for us as viewers. It's going to be a fascinating year from a driver perspective, and I can't wait.
Fresh from delving into the new cars and their technical prowess, KerbRider is back to cast his eye over another - just as important - element of a successful team.
I want to attempt a psycho analysis of this years major driver pairings. The ones we will all be watching.
Ferrari
This for me will be one of the most intense and exciting battles of the year, and years to come. Alonso and Massa have a history. Remember the Nurburgring in 2007?
There was some rather close racing which eventually ended up in some argy bargy on and off the track.
Fernando was much quicker and trying to get past Felipe on a drying track. They had a moment at turn 5 with some banging of wheels, and the post race weigh in, and press conference, was a lot of fun to watch.
We have two Latino temperaments in the most emotionally charged outfit in the pit lane. Expect the sky at Maranello to rain fire. Gazetta de la Sport shares would be a great investment this year, as their readership will quadruple.
Fernando is a quiet genius in my eyes, and easily the best driver out there.
Fernando is a quiet genius in my eyes, and easily the best driver out there. Although the return of Voldemort will certainly make that more arguable. Lewis still has plenty of room to grow, as brilliant as he is already.
Felipe has been very impressive the past two years, and has grown enormously as a competitor with the benefit of Voldemort as a mentor. Unsurprisingly enough, this didn’t occur until the 7 time WC retired.
We should expect to see plenty of fireworks between FA and FM coming into the last half of the year. They will be media savvy and play it all down until it is obvious their despise for one another cannot be played down anymore.
Both are fiercely competitive and Massa will be territorial as Alonso will be intruding on Massa's home. Fernando wont get the measure of Massa consistently until probably 2011 as the first year with a new team is usually testing the waters. This was evident with Fernando's stint at McLaren. Besides, Massa won't allow Alonso to get the best of him.
Last year's accident is in the past, and I don’t think it will affect his overall approach to a race weekend. He certainly wont be frightened of driving the car, and he wont be slower as a result of the accident. Neither will win the title.
McLaren
McLaren have utilised the press superbly with the fact they have the two reigning WCs in their cars. It makes me wonder if that was a major factor in them hiring Button in the first place.
Lets make no mistake though, Button is quick. Well duh! I hear you say, and rightly so. But let me retort and say that there are still some question marks over Button's ability. Mainly due to the fact that he was not able to optimise his performances relative to Rubens in the latter half of 2009.
He may have been playing it safe, he may not have been as comfortable in the car as he was in the first 7 races of the year. Either way, it tarnished his championship victory.
Jenson is on the record as saying he moved to McLaren to prove he can race against the best, and there is no reason to not believe that, as he would be well aware of his reputation in the F1 community due to his tail off in performance post Turkey.
I think as people, Lewis and Jenson will get along as team mates more than friends. The reason being is that there is a slight age gap, which subsequently makes both have differing interests outside of F1.
Overall, I don’t think the team dynamic will ruffle too many feathers as both are gentlemen, but again fiercely competitive. The anger will be on track, rather than in the garage.
I expect Lewis to win the year for several reasons. One being is that Lewis is ultimately quicker in an ill handling car, and copes when the car doesn’t suit him better than Jenson does. 2009 proves that resoundingly. And with heavy cars and low(ish) grip tyres, this should fit into Lewis's domain more than Jensons.
Also Lewis will qualify consistently better, and create his own luck whereas Jenson will require the luck to fall upon him. Another reason is that Lewis is part of the McLaren furniture, and Jenson was in the right place at the right time. Again!
Red Bull
Sebby V in his third full year of F1 will push hard for the championship. I'd expect him to be top 3 at minimum. Where does that leave Mark? He surprised a bit last year with how close he pushed Sebastian. Especially once the circus got back to Europe, and the leg was healing better.
If it wasn’t for a string of 5 unlucky races for Mark from Valencia to Singapore, the end result might have been quite different. A mistake from the pit crew in Spa cost him a podium. The car was not suited to both Monza and Valencia. Vettel only scored 1 point from these two races. In Singapore he had brake fade, which was probably his own causing, and Japan he made a critical mistake in practice which cost him a Q3 run. He set the fastest lap.
Sebastian created his own bad luck last year which cost him a chance to win the championship
Sebastian created his own bad luck last year which I think cost him a chance to win the championship in Abu Dhabi. He lost 6 points in Australia, which I saw up close and personal. That led to a bad qualifying position in Malaysia. He made a big error of judgement in Monaco with tyres, which he will have no doubt learned from for this year.
This pairing will be the one to watch for purely sporting reasons I think. RBR will stick to their equal opportunity philosophy until the last minute, as will McLaren. Ferrari will have no choice.
Sebastian is driven to win. He has a genuine need to win like Schumacher does. It bodes well for a future champion. Whereas Mark, has more of a point to prove. He is as determined as anyone out there, and his fitness is unquestionable. Tony Purnell once commented that he was amazed that Ferrari were not looking to Mark to replace Schumacher once he retired. A big rap, I believe.
Sebastian may be more prone to errors than Mark, but Mark, as is his nature, will be more prone to catching bad luck. So again I expect a close battle between the two, but ultimately, Sebastian should end up on top in what again will be the car of the year.
Mercedes
Voldemort V Rosberg. This will be interesting to see how this dynamic reacts to the media bewilderment. Will it be a master and apprentice situation like Schumacher and Massa? Or will Schumacher do what he always has done, and hide his telemetry from his internal rival. I, for one, hope he doesn’t. I, for one, hope Ross doesn’t allow it.
His testing point of view alone should see Mercedes develop a strong car. It remains to be seen whether it will be up the pecking order in Bahrain.
Make no mistake, Schuey will be quick, and the pressure is really on Nico now to deliver. I hope he does, because I think he has matured well under Williams and last year he had some impressive races. Singapore was one until he blew it exiting the pit lane.
I'm predicting Schumacher to win this battle, but I cant wait to be proven wrong. This could ruin Nico's career. I don’t think either way it will propel him to superstardom. He lacks the charisma and personality. Fernando, Lewis and Sebby V have it all in spades. Nico has the Finnish persona that Kimi carries so well.
The questions at this point pre-season will be, if Nico beats Schumacher, will he fulfil the three year term at Mercedes. If Schumacher beats Nico, will he go the way of Heidfeld as an also ran that never reached a peak anyone noticed?
This is the team that will define careers. Schumacher could go the way of Alan Jones as a former world champion that never got back in the game, or he could launch an even greater legend in f1 folklore. I doubt he will go the way of Alan Jones.
Nico could be made to be a great number 2, or the man who beat the statistically greatest driver F1 will ever see, and create his own legend.
F1 testing continued to disappoint yesterday, as the Spanish weather interfered with running again. Toro Rosso finished the day on top while Virgin Racing turned only 8 laps before the close of play.
On track action begins at 9am CET (8am GMT).
Circuit Information
Track length: 4.428km
Corners: 13
Lap record: 1:23.135 (Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Williams, 1997)
You'll find Circuito de Jerez located in South of Spain.
Drivers and Teams Attending
The following teams and drivers are confirmed for testing on Wednesday
Following on from Journeyer's Thursday Thoughts question this morning, Nathan has already examined the potential candidates in great detail, and come up with his ideal team, which we will share with you now.
Intriguing. I'm trying - very hard - to keep personal bias out of this, and I think I can.
It's almost too difficult in some ways, the idea of having an unlimited budget can warp things somewhat, like football "dream teams", the most successful teams don't necessarily have a star-studded lineup.
My immediate answer to the question was quite simple - the two best drivers in F1 right now, Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton. However, anyone who had the privilege of seeing the 2007 season will know this didn't play out too well, despite the obvious talents of both. The rivalry was complicated by the political wrangling between the FIA president at the time, Max Mosley, and the McLaren/Ferrari teams, concerning the leaked Ferrari papers which found their way into the McLaren team. It's often difficult to decipher who was to blame and why, and relationships between Alonso and Hamilton fans are still fractious, if slightly more amiable, given that both drivers seem to acknowledge and respect each other's abilities.
Yet the idea of pairing these two behemoths of F1 together is still extremely tempting - Hamilton's raw pace and ballsy attitude combined with his considerable marketability makes him an exciting prospect for every team and fan alike. Meanwhile Alonso's consistent brilliance and ferocity often makes him a force of nature during races, being able to come up with the right strategy calls or delivering a series of perfect laps makes him a very desirable driver to have in any garage, and you get the feeling every team owner on the grid would give their right arm to have him.
So who are the other contenders, realistically? I'll say this now - Schumacher would not be my choice, if I was a team principal. He brings too much baggage with him in terms of his past, and although he would bring considerable experience and a fantastic attitude, he's not one for the future, either.
How about the others then? Massa has proven himself capable of incredible pace at the right times, yet you get the overhanging feeling there are still mistakes within his driving that are liable to surface at any point. For this reason I'm leaving him out, but he would still be a great choice overall. Jenson Button, perhaps? Well, despite being last year's WDC (and yes, he did deserve it), personally I feel a lack of total conviction, perhaps this is just the way he presents himself, but I don't feel the same raw, instinctive desire to win that I do from Schumacher, Alonso, Hamilton or even Vettel.
I think there are only two choices left. Of course, it would be nice to have Kimi Raikkonen back in the fold, as a motivated KR of 2005 would no doubt be a contender for a seat. So here we have Vettel and Robert Kubica. Kubica may surprise many, and given that he has only won the single race - somewhat fortunately - he is perhaps the weakest of all the contenders so far. Yet I have a feeling about Kubica. A very special feeling, the same that I feel and see in Alonso, in Hamilton, and in Schumacher. He has the talent, and the pace, no doubt about it, but one questions his ability to drive "around" a bad car, as he struggled considerably in 2009, until he put a fantastic drive in at Interlagos, which impressed many. I don't feel he would be ready in my "dream team" lineup, and he's unlikely to accept a 3rd driver role! But I would definitely be keeping an eye on him for the long term.
So - one person left to look at, Sebastian Vettel. Perhaps along with Hamilton, Massa and Raikkonen, one of the quickest drivers around in terms of raw pace. And he's still incredibly young, he's shown great maturity over the past couple of seasons. Yet he makes mistakes, and that cost him his WDC last year. I also question his ability to "make things happen", take a look at 2009 in Turkey, when he had to overtake Button to make his strategy work, his inability to make it happen cost him badly. Of course, it is difficult to overtake in F1, but you get the sense that one of MSC, LH and FA would have made it happen, no matter what. In fact, the previous year, when Hamilton had to do the same, he managed to overtake Felipe Massa to make his strategy work.
So, after what seems like an eternity pondering these things, I feel I've come full circle. Who are really the best drivers in F1 now? Well, of course people have different opinions, but I genuinely believe that Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton occupy the top 2 seats of the table, and if I was a team principal, I would be doing everything within my power to get them. I don't think there would be particular problems between them, provided they solved any on the track. Consistent, fast and marketable. What more can a team owner wish for?
As for my reserve driver, my knowledge of the young drivers in the lower formulae is not great, so I'm going to have to plump for a current F1 driver, and for this task, it's between Rubens Barrichello and Jaime Alguesuari. Barrichello has shown he has pace, the ability to set a car up, and the most experience of any F1 driver ever. Yet he showed in 2009 he still makes mistakes, some of which are reckless and can prove costly.
You may do a double-take at the mention of Jaime. So why have I mentioned him? Hmm. Well, last year, at the age of 19, he showed a lot of promise, in my opinion. Yes, he crashed the car an awful lot. Yes, he did not make full use of the car he was given. But still, during the practice sessions on the radio, we could clearly hear him talking eloquently and articulately to his engineers, explaining calmly and maturely. He took his first "year" easily, just making sure he got used to the car and the team. Consider also that he had absolutely no F1 testing, a ludicrous situation when you think about it, and had only just been in his first season of the World Series by Renault. With some clarity and and objectivity, you can make a case for him to be a very solid long term prospect, and I consider him so. In my team, I would be willing to give him several years worth of development in other series', and hope that testing regulations are loosened slightly to allow him access to more experience. This is the only way his career will work out in the real world, if STR stick with him for several years, to let him blossom.
Following a frenetic first day of testing in Spain, Formula 1 teams continue to test at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Cheste, Valencia today. Monday brought all forms of excitement from the unveiling of the STR5 to the return of Michael Schumacher in a modern F1 cockpit. Additionally, Mercedes GP finally allowed fans and the media to see this years W01 chassis, while Robert Kubica began his new life as a Renault driver.
Lewis Hamilton arrives today to relieve Gary Paffett of his test driving duties, while Kamui Kobayashi will settle into the C29. Is it possible that Tuesday could be even more chaotic?
On track action begins at 10am CET (9am GMT).
Circuit Information
Track length: 4.051km
Corners: 14
Lap record (unofficial): 1:08.544 (Anthony Davidson, Honda, 2006)
The Circuit Ricardo Tormo circuit is located to the East of Spain, not far from Valencia.
Drivers and Teams Attending
We are expecting to see the following drivers and teams in action today:
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.
