Saturday has dawned, bright and sunny. Well, maybe. I haven't seen the weather yet, but let us know what it's doing in your neck of the woods! There's testing ahead of us next week in Jerez but it's not looking good weather wise, so we need to brush up on our forecasting skills. Meanwhile, here are some of the things we're talking about:
Some comments yesterday picked up on pictures posted in the latest edition of Racecar Engineering, that have been featured on a US F1 fan blog. They give a fascinating insight into what goes on inside the car, despite the fact that it looks like the driver's leg is broken in a really uncomfortable way. It's nice to see technical drawings that don't scare people like me away.
We did a bit of a catch up on F1 Big Picture yesterday, and posted this cute little picture of Nick Heidfeld. With his new job at Mercedes, it was about time we featured a Nick pic, and I have to say, seeing the poor guy in a big field all by himself makes me feel compassion for him. Bless Nick.
Sadly, it seems that the Only One Timo Glock blog curated by RG has had to shut its doors. This is bad news, of course, but no one can say that RG doesn't have his priorities in the right place. He still has the Northern Waffler blog to, er, waffle on, and as ever, our doors are always open to any guest posts about Mr Glock or otherwise. Keep it up, RG.
That should do it for now. Let us know what you're up to with your weekend and as ever, I will see you in the comments.
Friday is here at last and we can start talking about the upcoming weekend. It's been a hectic week, and testing gets underway again next week, so we need a chance to rest! But, there's still Friday to get through, and to help us along, here are some of the things we're talking about:
We've been talking about our calendar a lot recently, and although we've made it as easy as possible to subscribe to it, we're still uncovering all the options. Kathi spent some time working out how to get the calendar working with Mozilla Thunderbird/Sunbird, and wrote an excellent wiki page of instructions. If you have any other tips to add, please get them in there, or else follow Kathi's great words.
Journeyer's Thursday Thoughts question created a great response in the comments, and we had a guest post from Nathan running quite objectively through the options. My team was a bit less conventional, but that probably goes without saying.
We have finally found out what Nick Heidfeld has planned for the upcoming season, and although being a test driver for the Schumacher team can't be what he was hoping for, it's good that he's still on the grid in some capacity. Have your say over on the breakout thread.
That'll do for now. Let us know what you're up to today and over the next couple of days as well, and I will see you in the comments.
Mercedes GP today confirmed Nick Heidfeld will be the team's test/reserve driver for the 2010 season. Heidfeld replaces Anthony Davidson who filled the role for Brawn GP last year.
Nick drove for BMW Sauber last year, but has found himself without a competitive drive in 2010 despite the emergence of three new teams to the field.
Speaking of the change in role, Nick said:
"Whilst I would of course have preferred a seat as an active driver, I am really proud to be part of the new Silver Arrows team. I have seen how committed everyone at the team is and I feel the same. I will be doing my very best to support Michael and Nico this year."
Norbert Haug, Vice President Mercedes-Benz Motorsport added:
"We have known each other for many years and Nick was supported by our junior drivers programme from 1997. During his 10 years in Formula One, circumstances often made it difficult for him to achieve his breakthrough. However Nick is extremely capable, he will be an asset to our team and he will show this."
With Michael Schumacher yet to compete in a full Grand Prix weekend since 2006 and question marks remaining over recent injuries, the move by Mercedes to bring in a known quantity such as Heidfeld seems like sensible one.
Mid-way through the week already, and we have reached the twentieth day of this brand new year. It's Will Wright's birthday today and I'm only telling you that because he created The Sims, and The Sims is brilliant. Now, moving on to more Formula 1 related things, here are some of the items we're currently talking about:
The BBC Olympics blog has an interesting post about how the GB cycling team relates to the McLaren Technology Centre. It's one of those: "F1 is useful to other technologies, honest" type posts, but it makes for good reading if you have a spare five minutes.
We were intrigued by the news about Pedro de la Rosa yesterday, particularly his signing over the anticipated Heidfeld announcement. We talked about it in the breakout thread, there's a Pedalo shaped F1 Big Picture, and RG has written about the news, coming to the conclusion that it's not all bad.
The official F1 site have a history piece up about Mercedes, and how they fit into the bigger motorsport picture. There's nothing new in there, but it's a great recap of how they've got where they are - which is basically taking over the grid. This piece reminded me of the mini series episode I did on the Safety Car and Medical Car, both powered by Mercedes.
Anyway, that should keep you going for now. As I said, we're mid-way through the week, so it's all downhill from here. I'll see you in the comments.
We are halfway through the week and there is snow in the UK causing traffic chaos all around. That's why we recommending staying indoors! There is plenty going on in F1 for now to keep you occupied. Here are some of the things we're talking about:
Flavio has managed to overturn his ban, although the FIA aren't at all happy about the ruling and are considering their options. We had a breakout thread with the news, and I also wrote a post about Renault's timely announcement of their new team principal. Share your thoughts in both threads!
There's been a lot of discussion about Heidfeld and where he might fit in the 2010 grid. The man himself is acutely aware that the seats are being snapped up from under him, but says he is prepared for the unexpected. After the last few years in F1, so are we all!
Dank has an interesting post encouraging you to invest some time in watching a series other than F1, and see how you get on with it. He makes some good arguments and it's worthwhile giving it a shot. I am not yet convinced though.
That's all for now, keep us updated on how your week is going, and as ever, I will be round and about to see you in the comments.
This is the F1 Advent Calendar 2009, brought to you by Sidepodcast. We are working our way through the 2009 season by means of peeking through a door for each day of advent, and recounting a key moment from the year. Yesterday we were looking at politics, and it's not quite time to get back to the racing yet. Here's Day Sixteen - Goodbye From Us.
At the end of July, BMW quit Formula 1. It was eerily similar to the way Honda had quit, in that rumours began a couple of days beforehand, and then it was confirmed by the team and the parent manufacturer. The BMW board held a press conference, with Mario Theissen present, and Dr. Norbert Reithofer used a lot of long words: "Premium will increasingly be defined in terms of sustainability and environmental compatibility. This is an area in which we want to remain in the lead. In line with our Strategy Number ONE, we are continually reviewing all projects and initiatives to check them for future viability and sustainability. Our Formula 1 campaign is thus less a key promoter for us."
Or... we haven't really been getting the results we want. BMW, the team, always had a plan, and had been sticking to it pretty well. They wanted to get points, then the next year they wanted to get a win, then the next year they wanted to win a championship. Ah. When things didn't go to plan, they weren't amused. Kubica has frequently admitted how impatient he got with the team when following their one win, they were happy to check that to-do off their list, and focus on the next year. Never mind the job in hand.
Anyway, having confirmed their intention to leave at the end of the year, BMW continued to race the rest of the season. Heidfeld kept on racking up the points, and Kubica kept on complaining about the car. Mario Theissen said they were looking at offers from interested buyers for the team, and in September, they announced they had been bought by the mysterious Qadbak Investments. To look into detail at the strange and unreliable nature of these investors would be a whole other mini series in itself, but suffice it to say, no one, bar Theissen, was really convinced.
Mario was confident they would be on the grid in 2010, despite the fact the team had declined to sign the Concorde Agreement in the summer, and that all the grid slots were filled, including the three new ones. He signed up Ferrari to supply them with engines. Kubica, though, was ready to move on, confirming his move to Renault for next year before the season was over. Nevertheless, the team wound up the rest of the season in continued unspectacular fashion.
In the middle of November, it became clear that the Qadbak deal was not going to happen. There were a few days of concern, but on November 27th there was good news. Original owner Peter Sauber was prepared to buy back the team from BMW, on the condition that they had a grid slot for 2010. It was clear that the announcement was a big relief for Sauber, who had been concerned about the future of the team, and had tried to come to a deal with BMW beforehand. With the team back under his control, he said: "Our staff here are highly competent and motivated, and I look forward to taking on this new challenge together with them. I would like to thank BMW for four shared years that have in the main been very successful."
With the post-season news that Toyota were leaving the sport, Sauber were granted that oh-so-important 13th grid slot, meaning they will still be around next year.
That's all for this episode. Thank you for listening to our F1 Advent Calendar 2009, and I hope you'll join me tomorrow to look through the door of Day Seventeen.
It's a brand new month, and we are looking at a brand new circuit for the final race of the year. Abu Dhabi has looked stunning but so far the action has left quite a lot to be desired. Meanwhile, there is plenty to talk about as the season draws to a close:
Yesterday, Mr C finally got round to writing his post about the recent site updates, which he was supposed to do when he released them mid-week. Still, it's worth having a quick read if you want to know what we're trying to achieve and why it has taken us so long to get round to it. Don't forget to leave your thoughts and feedback at any time, we are always open to ideas.
Campos META confirmed the speculation that they have signed up Bruno Senna for 2010. They seem very impressed with the young driver, who has risen through the motorsport ranks very quickly. I haven't watched him in any lower formulae but have heard concerns that he may not be ready. What do you guys think? There's a breakout thread waiting for your comments.
Another thread we opened up yesterday was to discuss the lighting situation in Abu Dhabi. It seems to work very well, but it is so vastly different to Singapore that it has made me pause for thought. In one of my digest shows, I also picked up that Heidfeld did say it was brighter in Singapore, but that here it hasn't been a problem so far.
That'll do it for now. Don't forget that there is an extra special super duper two hour Parade Lap season finale extravaganza starting at 10am Sidepodtime today. In fact, here's a trailer for it, as created by host Alex:
We'll be waiting for you and I will see you in the comments.
The countdown is on to the big Sidepodradio event tomorrow and I don't know about you but it is all go at Sidepodcast Towers, scurrying around trying to get things completed in time. Meanwhile, here are some of the things we're talking about:
Bassano has set up a wiki page for next year's Spa Grand Prix meetup. We had the conversation yesterday that people vary in their ability to plan that far ahead - however, if it is your thing to get organised as early as possible, then this page is for you. Let us know if you're intending on joining us at Spa, and your preferred options in terms of travel and accommodation.
The latest Aside with Joe show was posted yesterday, in the early hours of the morning. A great catchup of all things in the paddock, with refreshingly little talk about Renault and all that nonsense. Also, if you haven't signed up for GP+, it's not too late, and it's a bargain.
Finally, in F1 news, Nick Heidfeld participated in a karting event in Switzerland getting to know some of the members of his fan club. How cool is that? Karting is good, and getting to meet your fan club idol is also very good. Perhaps Quick Nick has another career waiting for him if he can't find a seat other than BMW?
That's all for today, let us know what you're doing with your Saturday, whilst we are putting the finishing touches to the Sidepodradio extravaganza. I'll see you in the comments.
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.
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.
