Mr Consistent himself, Mark Webber schedules some much sought after simulator time prior to the Italian Grand Prix, in order to impart upon us a single flying lap around the magnificent Autodromo Nazionale Monza.
Monza is the high-speed destination for the 14th round of the 2010 World Championship and F1's last outing in Europe before the final flyaway races brings the season to a close.
Webber makes sure to remind us engine power is key around this track, and Red Bull principal Christian Horner has stated Monza might just be the team's weakest circuit when such a premium is placed on straight line speed.
Playing up to his national stereotype, don't miss some classic barbecue references halfway around this lap (he may have filmed this on an empty stomach). The man loves the smell of Italian cooking in the morning. Bonza!
Hello and welcome to Thursday, it is so very nearly the weekend and there is F1 action at Monza along with rallying for Kimi to keep us entertained.
The winner of last year’s Italian Grand Prix at Monza was Rubens Barrichello, who this weekend will be starting his 301st grand prix (lets hope it goes better than the 300th).
F1 News
- Yesterday the WMSC got together in Paris and the result of which is that Ferrari will not receive any further punishment for the team orders incident at the German Grand Prix, there is a post here with all the bits of information and a poll.
- Also the 2011 provisional calendar was released with 20 races from March all the way through to the end of November, it is going to be a long old season.
- The final bit of news is that there won't be a13th team on the grid next season after it was decided that none of the applicants met the FIA's requirements
Non-F1 News
- Google announced Google Instant where by when you start typing in the search box, your search results will start to appear. Mashable has a post up about what predictions you can expect for each letter of the alphabet.
- A lot of things are becoming touch screens these days as technology has advanced, it will be interesting to see where it goes over the next few year. Well a Swedish design firm has produced a rather good video on what they think the technology will be like.
Sidepodcast
That is it for this daily post and I'm going to take this oppurunity to offer writing the Thursday daily post to someone else. I've enjoyed writing them over the past several months but my free time is decreasing again so it is best to hand over now. So I don't end on a sad point, I hope you all have a good day and I shall see you in the comments.
Hello. I'm back writing the Wednesday Daily after a long absence due to holidays and the Spa Grand Prix. In fact, it was exactly a week ago that I returned from that epic trip, and I miss everyone I shared the experience with. You were awesome, guys!
Anyway, I found some F1 links for you:
- Everyone's favourite mad Japanese Driver, Kamui Kobayashi, has signed with Sauber for 2011, with no word on who his team mate will be. I suppose it's fair - he's done decently with an OK car. But what of Pedalo, though?
- Lotus are closing in on a Renault deal, primarily because the Xtrac gearboxes and transmissions designed to work with the Cosworth Engine have simply not been reliable enough. I wouldn't mind seeing a Lotus-Renault again!
- Everyone's favourite circuit designer, Hermann Tilke, has given an interview with AUTOSPORT (behind the Paywall). He reckons it's not his fault, honest! Although, considering the budgets of some of these new circuits I find it hard to believe his hands were THAT tied up...
- Martin Whitmarsh has told F1 to get it's act together, or there will be threats of another split. Yay, as if we need to go through all of that again :(
- Of course Joe has been busy writing, with today's posts of note being one about a lack of a 13th team...
- ...but more importantly, today is the day where Ferrari have to appear before the World Motorsport Council to see if further punishment will be dealt out for the team orders debacle at the German Grand Prix. I hope they do get severely punished, but sadly in the past the FIA have not been so keen to pounce on the boys in red for various reasons. Expect to see a fine or the points from that race taken away (the equivalent of the wet bus ticket) I reckon...
- Lukeh should have an excellent guest post about his KangarooTV experience at the Belgian Grand Prix coming up soon, which he has kindly allowed me to contribute to. Look forward to it, it's a cracking read!
Finally, I would just like to mention that as we prepare for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, it was this week 40 years ago that Jochen Rindt was killed at the circuit and became the first (and so far, only) posthumous world champion. I don't know much about him but I have found him to be a fascinating character, who has been largely forgotten in all except the unusual manner in which he became world champion.
To give you an insight into a driver who was destined for greatness, check out Tony Dodgins' article on AUTOSPORT (paywall) or catch the series by MotorSport Magazine called "Jochen Rindt - by his rivals" which was written by Anthony Rowlinson, now the executive editor of The Red Bulletin Magazine.
That's all from me. Enjoy your Wednesday and don't forget to unpack those tools and warm up those engines ready for what will be an exciting F1 weekend at Monza - I am sure of it!
Welcome to Thursday, yep I know again. For the Apple fans amongst us yesterday saw the release of a new range of iPod’s, noticeable Mr C and myself were most excited over the iPod Touch finally getting a camera. After an racing action last weekend at Spa Francorchamps there is no F1 action this weekend, no rallying for Kimi but possibly racing for Franck.
The man at the centre of most discussion right now is Sebastian Vettel and his incident packed race last weekend taking out Jenson Button and destroying Liuzzi's front wing. According to the poll carried out before Spa, of the 96 who took part only 8 thought Vettel will be champion this year.
F1 News
Non-F1 News
- RG has written a rather brilliant post on Tottenham’s signing of Van Der Vaart, I mention this despite being a fan of their rivals Arsenal.
- Ever had a song stuck in your head? I know I have, well there is now a website to help you out (please be aware the song starts straight away). All you need to do is load the site a random song will play, the idea being it will cause you to forget whatever is your head.
Sidepodcast News
- Those who made the journey to Spa last weekend weren’t content with just seeing the action, they commented nearly everything, provided us with many pictures, Lukeh’s pictures can be found here along with a review here. I'm sure there will be many guest posts in the future but in the mean time there is a sidepodchat of their adventures for us all to enjoy.
That sums it up for this daily I hope you all have a good day, remember to tell us in the comments what your up to and of course I shall see you in them.
Today is a daily with a difference, as regular writer James is unwell and Christine managed to forget to cover. Predictably this won't be the most punctual of posts, although I do have a genuinely good excuse for once. I've just finished editing the latest Aside with Joe podcast (intro overdubs at 4am are always fun), and it's sounding brilliant. Expect it to be available for download around midday today.
F1 free practice gets underway in Turkey tomorrow, but in the meantime here are some stories to pass the time.
- The big news of the morning, says that Herman Tilke will be designing the Austin F1 track in the USA. God help us all. Admittedly this was always the likely option, but Adam Cooper did some digging and unearthed the facts. His whole post is insightful and worth reading.
- Sebastian, put together a fine post in response to the Austin news, tackling the subject of Tilke's dreadful reputation amongst F1 fans head on. Go read now (and don't forget to comment).
- Away from Austin, Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen have been confirmed as attendees at the Classic Team Lotus Festival in Snetterton, June 20. The T127 will also make an appearance, before bizarrely, the F1 transporter does a lap. Sold!
That pretty much covers everything worth knowing so far today. I'm patiently awaiting the arrival of a non-specific tablet device, which likely to change my life forever (or which might at least offer a new means of following Formula 1).
In all probability, the thing won't arrive on time or in one piece, much like Amy's Monza tickets, which are right now closer to me than they are to either Italy or Australia. Happy Thursday.
It is Friday at last, and we have reached the end of another week - almost ready to go headlong into the weekend. There's no racing this time round, but I'm sure we can find plenty to keep us amused. To get us off to a good start, here are some of the things we're talking about:
- Lukeh pointed out the first in the latest series from F1.com, in which Vettel answers some probing questions. We're curious what happened in testing to get Seb so worked up, but it doesn't look like he'll be telling us any time soon.
- Jim wrote us an excellent guest post discussing his first lap around the Hockenheimring. It's a good insight into how it feels to drive where the professionals have been before and still return to today.
- Manipe has asked the question: how much overtaking do you want in F1? It's a topic we've touched upon many times, and particularly when there are dull races in our recent memories. There were some moves in Bahrain, but was it enough? And how far to the other extreme could we go? Don't make me mention Mr C watching NASCAR again.
- Also a quick note, as spotted by RG, the future of the Italian GP seems to be on a much more secure footing than we've seen in a long while. Monza should be on the calendar until 2016!
That'll do it for now, I reckon. Just time for a quick happy birthday to Pat, who I think is off in sunny Spain at the moment. Happy birthday! Let us know what you have planned today and this weekend, and as ever, I'll see you in the comments.
Joe returns for more F1 conversation - covering topics such as racing at Monza, the chase for the title, new championship entrants, resurrected events and plenty more.
The next calendar stop is a night race, so we find out what it's like to publish magazines in the morning, enjoy breakfast in the afternoon and watch cars in the evening.
As ever, all of this and so much more in this episode of An Aside With Joe.
Linkage
We are back with another live debrief after a week off film watching. We've just witnessed a good Italian Grand Prix - no rain this year - so it's time to talk about all the news we've missed, and all the action from the race itself.
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We'll be live at 7pm UK Time, so I hope you can join us in the comments. We're having all kinds of issues today, technology hates us, so if it all goes wrong we can only apologise and ask you to bear with us. We're doing our best! I'll see you in the comments.
The front two drivers on the grid are good friends and quite light. KERS will play a part but strategy will decide the outcome today.
Weather Update
It looks as though Monza will escape the rain this weekend, as the forecasts now show showers for tomorrow and sunshine today. Given how mixed up things are anyway, this is probably a good thing.
One to Watch
Barrichello is the heaviest man of the top ten, and the Brawn cars are looking strong this weekend. Will they be able to regain some of their lost form?
Predictions Please
Will Sutil still be second going into the first corner? Will anyone lose a fight with the high kerbs during the race? Who will be on the podium? Will the rain hold off?
We've reached the final European race of the season, which means it's potentially the last Parade Lap of the year, barring one or two specials depending on how the championship pans out. That being the case, our host Alex has upped the ante and taken the Parade Lap into the garage.
If you are in the live comments, you'll see his live stream in the Factbyte Factbox, whilst ours is displayed below.
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We'll be underway at about 11:10am UK Time, and we need your race predictions, your Giggles'll Fix It requests, and of course, let us know what you're eating during the GP.
In addition, last race we assigned commenters with drivers they had to support for the next couple of hours, and it was great fun, so we're doing it again. The first twenty commenters will find themselves with a driver to support. Good luck!
