Sidepodcast

Bahrain 2010 - Free Practice 2 Highlights

Free Practice 2 was a bit busier than the first session of the day, and we even saw a spin, and one car out of the running completely, albeit after the timer hit zero. The full results are available, but here's what happened step by step.

F1 Digest 2010 - Bahrain Preview

• Length: 11:05 
• Size: 10.2 MB 
• File: digest149.mp3 
• Transcript: digest149.pdf 
• Torrent: digest149.torrent 

The Formula One season finally gets underway with Bahrain replacing Australia at the start. We've got all the information you need to know from weather to driver quotes and my own predictions.

Vital Statistics

• Date: 14th March
• Circuit: Bahrain International
• Length: 6.3km
• Laps: 49

Preview

In the first digest preview of 2010, we solicit opinions on the Bahrain circuit, recap what happened in 2009, and run through what each of the teams is hoping for from the weekend. Notably, Lotus aren't feeling that positive, whilst McLaren and Ferrari are both confident they can do well.

A Sunny Saturday Afternoon in Jerez

New guest writer Brawn2bwild was at the Jerez test yesterday, and on her way home, noticed our call for your stories of F1 events. In this excellent post, she shares her experience of the brand new 2010 cars, close up and first hand.

The hills are alive with the sound of music – or in this case F1 testing – which is music to my ears at least! Although I've been a stalwart fan for more than half my life time, I'm finding this year's off-season harder than usual. For me, 2009 was quite simply fantastic. Having supported the Brackley based team since their inception in '97, as well as JB since his Williams days, I feel that last season was my reward for the years of derision and torment I experienced through the dark (and boring) days of the Ferrari/Schumacher era. Now though the '09 season is sadly over and although Bahrain is in only 21 days it still seems far too far away.

Fortunately I live in the south of Spain at the moment. I chose to live in Seville, not for it’s wonderful culture, great night life or beautiful architecture (though it certainly has all of these) but for it’s proximity to Jerez Circuito de Velocidad.

As I approach the turn off from the motorway I can already see that there is a stream of cars going into the car parks and the police are out directing traffic. I'm beginning to hear snatches of engine noise over my taxi driver’s radio and the sun is (finally) shining - I've definitely made the right choice in coming down here today. As I walk up to the entrance gate with a legion of others, the noise of the cars bounces off the hills and the crowd cheers – Alonso must be on track.

Credit: Brawn2bwild

Based on the angle of his helmet, I reckon he's looking at the crowds in this one.

The Spanish have a reputation for being somewhat laidback and prone to procrastination, especially here in Andalucía. They are not known for their punctuality or customer service either, but if there’s one thing the Spanish do, it’s motorsport! Despite the high volume of Tifosi and other fans, the traffic is flowing, there are no long queues at the ticket booth or gates and gaining entry is a piece of cake. I am a little surprised by how many people are here today as historically Spanish petrol-heads have tended to be of the 2-wheeled variety more than the 4. This is not surprising when, as is the case in Italy, mopeds, scooters and bikes are the preferred mode of transport. But unlike their Latin cousins they don’t have Ferrari.

Now though, on this sunny Saturday afternoon, the car parks are full and there are people everywhere. Even though this is only a test session there is a good atmosphere with packed stands and men, women and children of all ages standing up to wave and cheer for their hero in his brand new shiny red (and sadly white) beast. As I walk up to the nearest fence for a view of the track Alonso obligingly slows down to avoid the Ayrton Senna chicane and instead takes the Alex Criville corner and drives sedately past one of the packed stands, much to the appreciation of the crowd. Standing here I am struck by how varied the crowd is, unlike my previous experiences of motor racing it seems to be roughly 50/50 men and women with all ages and walks of life represented. Next to me some young boys press their faces to the fence for a closer look and a young child is lifted onto his father’s shoulders to enable him to see over the tyre wall.

Credit: Brawn2bwild

The back half of the car doesn't look so bumpy from the side.

I can see now why I've been told that Jerez is a great circuit, from my initial stand point alone, I can see that it has some significant changes in elevation, although it doesn’t look to be as much as Spa. The track itself nestles amongst some small but steep hills, giving many possible view points to the adventurous spectator. Right now there is evidence everywhere of the uncharacteristically wet weather we’ve been having lately, with pools of water and a fair amount of mud lying around. In places the concrete paths connecting different stands have been completely covered over by deep mud slides. But this does not put off the intrepid Alonso fan in his pursuit of the perfect vantage point. Everywhere I look I can see people scrambling over steep muddy embankments in an effort to get to the other side of the track. There are old men with walking sticks and even a guy on crutches battling through the mud.

I also decide to go for a walk about in an attempt to find some interesting camera angles, I realise I don’t even mind messing up my favourite trainers to do so either. I start to climb up and around the track in an anti-clockwise direction and soon wish I had better stamina or was in some way related to Sir Edmund Hillary! It takes a while but I manage to clamber over near to the "Dry Sack Curva" without twisting my ankle or dropping my camera, and find a nice big rock to sit on. It’s pretty hot now the sun is baking down as it should be for this part of the world and my rock is nice and warm. It gives me a great elevated view down onto the turn but over the fence and heads of those in front of me. Unfortunately though there’s not much going on at the moment - only Trulli's Lotus out on track - so I decide to take advantage of the quiet spell and change location again, this time finding a half empty stand quite low down and close to the track at the Angel Nieto and Peluqui corners. I spend quite a bit of time here playing with the settings on my camera and end up taking what I think will turn out to be my favourite photograph of the day. It’s of Jenson going round the corner all slightly out of focus except his front left suspension. I take a lot of photos from here and get to see all of today’s drivers and cars except Glock's Virgin which has not been seen since just after I arrived around midday.

Credit: Brawn2bwild

The Renault is amazingly bright to the naked eye, it's hard to explain just how strange it looks based on photos alone.

The only downside to being here and not in front of a computer screen is that despite the size of the crowd, there are no screens or timing boards up and without an internet capable phone, I've no idea of the times the drivers are getting. I do notice that Lotus and Sauber seem to be putting a lot of laps in while, sadly for the crowds, Alonso’s Ferrari hasn’t been seen much at all since I first got here. Happily for me though, I get some good shots of the Red Bull, Williams and McLaren. I'm excited to see JB putting a lot of laps in but manage to restrain myself from cheering him – I stand out enough here as it is. It turns out he’s been top of the time sheets for much of the day.

Eventually I summon up the energy to return across the wet, sticky mud of the landslide back towards the entrance. I've managed to walk approximately half of the circuit and I've taken photos from 7 different places along the way. I've also met some cool and interesting characters too. There are a few Brits dotted about here and there and the odd German too, I saw a cute little girl in a McLaren race suit and an incredibly old man in a wheelchair halfway up a hill with his Ferrari hat on, a big flag attached to his chair and a huge grin on his face.

Right now though the clouds are starting to come back over and I fear it might rain again (more than likely as I've not brought my umbrella) so it may be time for me to think about how I'm going to get home. I can get a train from Jerez station, only problem is the track is out in the countryside and there’s no bus route out here or taxi rank. I could call a taxi but it’s gonna cost me an arm and a leg as I’d be paying for both directions. What I really need is to hitch a lift. (This is where being a blonde woman in Spain finally pays off) So I head out to the car parks, where there is still a steady stream of people coming and going from the track, and I strike up a conversation with a friendly looking guy walking out with a couple of kids. I'm in luck as he’s going my way and it turns out the children go to a school that I used to teach at. It works out well; his kids get 20 minutes of private English practice while he takes a short detour into the town of Jerez and drops me near the station – result!

As I write this now from the comfort of the train I realise how exhausted I am as with any race track spectators cover a lot of distance to get about. My feet hurt and my shoulders ache from carrying my camera bag but I've done a helluva lot of walking/hiking today! All in all though I'm very happy. I saw some beautiful cars and some eye-watering ones (boy is that Renault bright!). I met some nice people and watched some of my favourite drivers. In some ways it’s helped with my F1 withdrawal problems but I'm also more excited than ever now for the 2010 season. Bahrain can’t come soon enough!

Approaching the Start Line

We're known for being a cynical lot here at Sidepodcast, so it's down to guest writer Lukeh to provide us with his view of the upcoming season, with a well needed reminder that things are looking up.

Credit: Glenn Dunbar/LAT Photographic

Rubens surveys the scene from the Williams garage.

It’s nearly upon us once again. The worldwide travelling circus of merry men known as the collective of Formula 1 once again begins taking our attention in just a few weeks and there can’t be any denial, surely, that 2010 is going to be a huge year. Excitement isn’t anywhere near the feeling that the start of the season conjures up inside me. Everyone will have their own reasons why they’re looking forward to the new season – perhaps the return of Schumacher is the fuel to your fire, or the fact that the grid this year is jam-packed full of world champions, and also possibly Jacques Villeneuve. Maybe the new teams and their friendly feud, namely Lotus and Virgin, are adding that extra dimension of rivalry that makes the sport even spicier. It could even be just Formula 1 returning after a long winter that gets that excitement flowing! Whatever the reason, with testing already underway and most of the cars unveiled, F1 is returning very soon. For me, I have my own reason why I’m really looking forward to the 2010 season though.

Predictably, if you know me, the thought of Rubens Barrichello being at Williams is a hugely happy thought. This is a pretty odd statement considering if you asked me in October I would have said quite the opposite. As times change though so can feelings and as time has moved on since his Brawn departure, the closer we’ve gotten to the new season, the more I’ve been anticipating his first race in Frank Williams’ greatest venture. We all know of the success of 2009 for the Brazilian – it was a huge year for his career and I think, as a driver, it gave a more deserved view towards the man. It would be hard to deny that times have been frustrating over the years for Rubens. Upon his arrival into the sport, he soon lost the driver he looked up to, and more importantly his friend, in Ayrton Senna. Whilst he took the chance to prove himself at Jordan and Stewart, his move to Ferrari provided far less than he deserved. Many knew that Barrichello had the ability but, when you’re stuck under Michael Schumacher’s rule at Ferrari, favouritism is going to be a big issue. Rubens had to prove himself.

The Ferrari debacle, however, has one good side to it. Whilst he found the victories and performances when needed, Rubens never got the attention that Michael did and whilst it’s arguable if he’s a better driver or not (7 world championships don’t happen just on luck), Rubens had to prove himself at Ferrari. He had to prove himself as a newbie in the Jordan, he had to prove himself in Jackie Stewart’s lineup for Stewart Racing, he had to prove that moving from Ferrari to Honda was a move worth making, and he had to prove that the faith Ross Brawn had instilled in him in 2009 was worth paying off for. Rubens Barrichello is a driver that maybe doesn’t have the necessary assets to be a world champion, but he’s a passionate driver. He wants to race. In 2010 he will be proving once again, at the age of 37 and after 288 Grand Prix, why he still has the ability to be in Formula 1 and be just as good as any world champion alongside him, as well as joining a team that he has so long desired to be a part of because of his hero’s past. Now he has it, and it’s time once again to prove why the move to Williams after leaving Brawn was a decision worth making.

There are a few admissions from my own point of view though regarding a few issues. When it seemed that the Team-Formerly-Known-As-Honda were indeed going to make it to the grid, I did not expect Rubens to be part of the team that went on to be Brawn GP. Whilst Barrichello had experience, it seemed that the sponsorship and name of Bruno Senna would prevail as Jenson Button’s teammate. Ross Brawn went for experience, and my dream team of Button and Barrichello carried on for another year. What a year it was. Furthermore, in the previous decade Williams became very much a team that faded into anonymity for me as a fan. They attracted drivers with no huge star power and saw the performance of the car fade in comparison to decades before it. The initial announcement of Barrichello’s move to Williams was met with a great deal of dismay from myself. As I previously stated though, as time goes on feelings can change and studying this team in greater detail, I can admit I was very much wrong to ignore them.

So this is mostly for me why I’m looking so much towards the upcoming season. Sure, the car won’t be what Brawn was in 2009, but it’s another new chapter in the story of a grand prix driver who drives with a smile on his face. Schumacher's return is huge for the sport, and it’ll be interesting to see how he performs at Mercedes. The introduction of such teams as Lotus, with their striking livery, and Virgin add new layers of unexpectedness to the grid. The titanic partnerships, like Hamilton and Button or Alonso and Massa, are going to be worth keeping an eye on. As I say, for me this new chapter in Rubens’ career is one I greet with much excitement and anticipation. We all have reasons for why we want the sport to return, but as the excitement gradually builds up and as the length to the first race shortens, the feeling of knowing that first race weekend is just around the corner is one that typed words can’t describe. It’s nearly here.

As a Formula 1 fan, I say to you all - let us not enter this new season with the typical pessimism of a Ferrari tweet but of a mood that shouts out optimism and sanguinity for the sport we all love so much. Let us be assured that no matter what may happen, that we should enjoy the sport for what happens on that track with a grid full of passionate racers. Yes, the sport finds ways to annoy us from time to time, and yes, there are changes to things far too often, but in a few weeks time we will find ourselves waking up at silly o’clock, perhaps with a beverage in hand or a duvet hugging us close in the early hours, with our eyes grabbed to the souls that make up the world of Formula 1, with those fortnightly Sunday afternoons seeming a mile apart because we want each race to hurry up. A new era has begun under Jean Todt’s presidency, and a new decade of Formula 1 soon begins with that. Formula 1 is coming back, and I for one am beaming with excitement.

Are you ready?

Daily: 20th February 2010

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.

Daily: 18th February 2010

Although it was raining in Jerez yesterday, it was intermittent and that meant we saw a good bit of running, even if it wasn't representative of anything. Virgin Racing are still struggling, and they are who I am keeping my eye on today. I hope you'll join me in the dedicated testing thread to do the same (or similar for whichever team you're interested in). Elsewhere:

• We're also keeping an eye out for any US F1 related news, as the rumour mill is really hotting up that there are bad vibes coming from Peter Windsor and the team. There is nothing concrete, and it's all speculation at the moment, but this is a similar feeling to the one's that happened before Honda and before Toyota.
• In better news, KerbRider gave us some more thoughts on the upcoming season in another great guest post - this time focusing on the relationships between the drivers in the four teams we'll all be watching closely. There are some interesting thoughts in there, and it's well worth a read. The inter-team relationships are going to be super important this year, I think.
• We were curious why Lotus ran Fauzy on their first day of testing, particularly as Heikki was at Jerez, tweeting away from the garage. Apparently, the car lacked some power steering though, so perhaps Heikki didn't want to bother when the car wasn't going to be setup right? Either way, the new team did really well, certainly won the battle of the new boys in terms of first day of testing!
• Dan Brunell has published this week's Thursday Thoughts question and it's a tough one. Head on over to his site for more detail, and leave a comment or blog your response before the end of today. Don't forget to plug like crazy if you take part.

That should do it for now. Let us know what you're up to, and how you're coping with horrible Thursday, and I will see you in the comments.

F1 Debrief - I Hate Them All

• Length: 47:38 
• Size: 43.8 MB 
• File: debrief134.mp3 
• Transcript: Coming soon 
• Torrent: debrief134.torrent 

Coming up this week we discuss moonlighting, licensing issues, ideal tracks, self sponsorship, Virgin’s woes, and F1 fiction.

Intro

It's Valentine's Day and what are we doing? Making a podcast, obviously!

Good Week / Bad Week

A good week for Stefan GP because they still have the belief they will get onto the grid at some point in the first four races. Also a good week for Ron Dennis who was inducted into the Motorsport Magazine Hall of Fame. A bad week for Heikki Kovalainen who had to take a second job for Finnish TV during the Lotus launch, and for team bosses as Bernie Ecclestone would like to license them.

News and Views

Before we talk about the launches, there's a quick update on Silverstone who confirmed they would be running the new MotoGP layout for the race. Damon Hill is not impressed.

Three teams unveiled their new cars this week, with Force India the first to do so. Their online launch was barely a launch with just a few photos making an appearance. The car and livery look exactly the same as last year. Red Bull also have a similar car to last year, and also to Toro Rosso, but you can tell the (magic) hand of Adrian Newey has been on the case. Their launch was marginally better, as the car was at Jerez already.

Finally, Lotus showed them all how it was done with a real life London launch, and the green/yellow livery caused no end of debate. They also have a podcast starring none other than Ted Kravitz (and some Lotus people...).

Here's the updated table of our launch scores:

We move on to testing talk, but really it was not as exciting as last week due to the weather. Virgin Racing had a terrible time, Michael Schumacher prefers to eat at Ferrari, and they like to run out of fuel on purpose.

Feedback

I'm keen on starting a Mailbag show, but for now, two voicemails kick off the Feedback section. RG is not at all impressed with this year's liveries, whilst Adie had a minor breakdown when the doohickey malfunctioned.

Luis tells us how Formula 1 is in Portugal, Myles credits Ted, Sandy confirms he will photograph the marmots for me, Alberto talks F1 and music, and Steve points out McLaren's latest initiative for bloggers and fans. Also, happy birthday to Zoe.

Housekeeping

The wiki is in a state of disrepair at the moment but I'm working on it. Also I have started writing some fiction, in which you can vote on the outcome.

Outtakes

Not really an outtake, but something you wouldn't expect Mr C to say:

Now to the good stuff:

Linkage

• Sidepodcast: All Up in the Air (KerbRider guest post)
• Sidepodcast: F1 2010 Launch Coverage
• Lotus Podcast (iTunes link)
• CNET Mailbag
• F1 Wolf: 2010 F1 Drivers Helmets
• Air Wolf One - F1
• Claire Williams on Twitter
• McLaren Fan Blog: Help Design the New McLaren Hoody
• Sidepodcast Wiki
• Ten Step Stories

Daily: 13th February 2010

The weekend is here, but there is no respite from the F1 action, as testing continues for a fourth day at Jerez. Well, I say it continues, but so far we have seen most of the running hampered by the weather. I can't imagine today will be much different, but we will keep our eyes peeled. Elsewhere, here are some of the things we're talking about:

• Lotus launched their new car yesterday in London, and it has caused quite a vast array of opinions regarding the livery, the look of the car, and the general feel of bringing back an old name into the sport. Have your say in the breakout thread, catch up with the details on F1 Minute, and get a closer look over at F1 Big Picture.
• If you're at a loose end over the weekend, why not have a read of the latest part of my story? Life in the Fast Lane is a ten part piece of fiction, in which you get to control the direction of the story at the end of each part. We're onto the third section now, and you get to make a strategy call for the driver in question.
• Just as a heads up, I am currently in the middle of reorganising the wiki, which basically entails moving the pages about a lot, merging information so we don't have half empty pages, and deleting a couple of unnecessary pages as well. It was getting in a bit of a mess, and I've made it a lot worse, but I have a plan. You can keep on using it normally, but just be aware you might find things aren't where you left them.

That should do it for now. Giggles has confirmed there won't be a radio show this week, so no live streaming over the weekend, but I will see you in the comments.

Daily: 12th February 2010

It's a super busy day today, as testing continues in Jerez, Lotus are due to launch in London, Kimi gets some rallying action, and... well, it's Friday! It's been a subdued test so far with weather, and little running from Virgin Racing, but perhaps things will perk up today. Elsewhere:

• Talking of rallying, we got some Fantasy WRC scores from the special stage yesterday, and it looks as though Mr C is last in the league. Haha! I shouldn't laugh really, as I didn't even know we'd set up a league, but at least I'm not last. If you're keen to get involved, please sign up - don't worry, we don't have a clue what we're doing either.
• Scott has been working at the Classic Team Lotus factory for a while now, and has seen some exciting people come and go. Yesterday, he posted a picture of himself with Kovalainen, which is just fabulous. What is up with Kovi's hair though?
• Lukeh has started a new feature on his F1 blog, in which he poses a topic, discusses whether it is a good idea or not and then asks for your opinion - Yay or Nay. The first one is about Silverstone's new layout - what do you think?

That should keep us going for a bit. I have a feeling we'll have a few threads up during the day, so I will see you in the comments.

Daily: 8th January 2010

It was Hamilton's birthday yesterday and I missed it! I am not very good at keeping up with these important days and things, am I? Anyway, Happy Birthday to LewHam, hope he celebrated with his new friend Jenson Button. Anyway, thankfully there wasn't an enormous amount of Flav news yesterday, so we could concentrate on other things.

• Lotus have been talking up their chances for the new season, with Mike Gascoyne confident they can beat Force India and Toro Rosso - running midfield. They're already ahead of schedule, about a week further up than where they should have been. They appear to be one of the furthest ahead teams, although Sauber have confirmed their launch, so it's a race to be ready.
• Autosport is talking about the double diffusers and the potential that they will be banned going forward. I kinda thought this would always be the case because it was obvious that's not how the regulations were intended to be interpreted, but it was a clever way to do so. It would make sense for the FIA to tighten up on it, wouldn't it?
• Some of the top names in British Motorsport (although I have only heard of one of them) are doing the London Marathon this year to raise money for charity. It's a BRDC thing, and if you're feeling generous you can donate here. I think it's quite crazy to run more than a few paces, but it's for a good cause, so I'll let them off.

That'll do it for now. It's Friday at last, so we are just hours away from the weekend. Yay for that, and yay for seeing you in the comments.