Coming up this week, we discuss bridges, aerodynamics, Twitter, videos, testing, surveys, domains, previews, jokes and rankings.
Intro
Back to back shows! We're getting the new year off to a good start.
Good Week / Bad Week
It's been a good week for Toro Rosso who now have a full line up for 2010, and for Button, who is getting a bridge named after him. It's been a bad week for Alan Donnelly, who isn't involved in F1 anymore, and for Lotus, as Trulli thinks they have less potential than Toyota. Oh dear.
News and Views
We start with the new stuff for the upcoming season, including Sauber's new driver. We were sure it was going to be Heidfeld, but Pedro de la Rosa gets the nod. We briefly discuss Williams' plans for a brand new design, plus some great tweeting from them, and we cover the Barcelona test for Rossi and Massa.
The Castrol Driver Rankings are back for another week, with some interesting feedback after the last show. We read through some of the comments received, in the interest of balance, and then also take a look at the F1 Racing Fan Survey that will open soon.
Feedback
Two great voicemails this week - Mark has an idea to improve racing just using some paint, whilst Cody has a request for a refresher course.
A few fabulous emails too - Rolando has some domains and ponders what he should do with them, Marc stuns us with some serious maths, and Michael Parker has a request for some jokes.
Marc's maths:
According to Wiki, the largest 747 holds about 243,000 litres. An F1 car, during race, goes about 1.3 km per litre. Silverstone is 5.1 kms. It takes nearly 4 litres to lap Silverstone. The GP has 60 laps. So 240 litres per car, multiplied by 20 cars, equals about 4,800 litres, multiplied by practices, qualifiers, etc, let's say multiplied by 3, that's about 14,400 litres of fuel to race Silverstone. Let's round it 15,000 litres. There are about 20 races, so 300,000 litres to race an entire season.
That's more than the largest 747 holds; about 243,000 litres.
Housekeeping
There's plenty of launches and testing action coming soon, and we are keeping on top of it all with our brand new Google Calendar.
We have reached Friday once again, and according to my super duper calendar, Massa is getting behind the wheel of the F2008 with GP2 tyres on, so look out for some pictures of him getting some Barcelona track time. Meanwhile, here are some of the things we're talking about:
James Allen has written about the Schumacher number business, which is pretty much old news by now, but I thought it was worth linking to. Lukeh's first comment on that item sums up the whole thing!
Whilst Williams team principal Sam Michael has been half complimenting his new driver lineup, Rubens himself is fired up for the year ahead. He's been visiting the factory, learning everyone's name, and says he is still massively hungry for success. This is good news for the team, now they just have to provide a decent car.
Pedro de la Rosa has been speaking out about any criticism's against him. Whilst he won't come out and say he's going to be brilliant this year (he's modest like that), he has said that he expects to surprise people and he's hoping that testing will get him up to speed. He's glad there's plenty of it.
That should do it for now, let us know what you've got planned for the weekend. Gavin's going skiing! I'll see you in the comments.
A constant discussion within the Sidepodcommunity is the validity of news, and how best to check sources. Here, RG shows how easy it is to make a mistake, even if it is a deliberate one.
Twitter can highlight both the best and the worst of F1 on the internet.
I could fool you. I could fool the whole world if I wanted to. It would only take a little bit of effort and time, and possibly a bit of luck, to do it. The funny thing would be that hardly anyone would question it; they would believe every single word that had been written down in front of them.
In 2009, Twitter took off big time. It does indeed feel like the majority of the world is on it. There are, admittedly, some very good uses for using the service, especially if you are a fan of Formula 1 (which I suspect you are, considering you are on this site). Follow the right people, and you are given the latest information within seconds of it being released to the media. Instead of having to wait for an article to appear on Autosport, it is out on Twitter and can be discussed even before the first update on that page is out on the internet.
But that is only if you manage to follow the right people.
Peter Sauber. In my own mind a simple legend, of course, I am totally biased. He is, of course, the owner of the returning Sauber team. Now, I don’t wish any offence onto the great man, but can you really see him being the type who uses Twitter? No, I can’t see it either. Perhaps his son, Alex Sauber might be the type (now in charge of the team’s marketing activites).
So I do indeed wonder why a certain Formula 1 “news” agency opted to pick up on the fact that Peter Sauber, on an unverified twitter account, said the following:
“second driver to be announced next week. The team is ready to work. happy new year.”
This was posted on the 30th December 2009. Sauber has only just confirmed Pedro de la Rosa this week.
Amazingly, when a certain “news” company picked it up, it spread round the internet quicker than Usain Bolt down 100m. It didn’t take long for a reliable account, in the form of Jonathan Noble, of Autosport, to make a quick check with the real Peter Sauber, to prove it was a simple fake account.
To fool the world, though. It does sound like a bit of a challenge, doesn’t it? You would think it may require me to be on the television. Or indeed, turn into a taxi driver and spot Cristiano Ronaldo walking out of White Hart Lane (fans of the BBC live text of transfer deadline day will know what I am talking about).
In fact, all it needs is a half decent connection to the internet, a Twitter account and the ability to use hashtags. When Tom G suggested in the comments that we should lead a certain “news” company up the garden path, the following tweet, on my own Twitter account, followed:
“I've heard from some sources that Campos Meta will announce Vitaly Petrov as their new driver. Bringing in 7million euros to the team #f1”
I can confirm that I have no sources inside the F1 paddock. I will also happily say that seven million Euros was plucked from the air. I don’t know however if Vitaly Petrov will go to Campos Meta 1 or not. That will have to be seen in the future. What I love about my rumour, is that it is perfectly possible, but the way to spread a good rumour is the use of a hashtag. Some F1 fans that use Twitter do indeed follow the #f1 hashtag to possibly catch up on the news.
Originally, I was disappointed at the end of the Sunday evening, that only five non-Sidepodcast people had retweeted that message. I was indeed sure that more had read it. I’ll take this time to apologise to the people who believed that message, yes, I did lead you all up a one way street. Block me if you like.
I did think all was lost, but that was until Tom (once again) came across a link on a Spanish speaking website. Although the use of Google Translator was required, it did appear that the main structure of my tweet was involved. Seven million Euros is indeed mentioned, with a company called Megafon, which is a Russian mobile phone operator.
Easy. Too easy. I could do it again if I wanted to as well, I bet some people won’t read this article properly, so won’t realise that when I say:
Ralf Schumacher is going to USF1.
That I am totally lying. It won’t happen but a select bunch of people don’t read the whole story. That is the important thing, the whole story.
My tweet could have easily been caught out; it was on my own account, in the middle of me discussing the West Ham v Arsenal game on at that time. Odd timing for a breaking news story. I have clearly no previous history of correctly breaking Formula 1 stories and I never backed it up with anything.
Check the sources, how important is that. I’m stating the obvious but probably 90% of Formula 1 fans on the internet don’t know about the best and worst places. Sidepodcast sorted that out a year ago, a page which is still relevant today. Sadly, the “news” sources which produce the most incorrect stories still seem to end up everywhere I go. Be it something like the BBC Sport website, a forum or even in general chat with friends. (When football isn’t the main discussion)
So if you are reading an article with a three letter abbreviation or a certain German newspaper near it, it is more than likely to be incorrect. If you see something on Twitter, not by an inside source, or a journalist, again, it is likely to be incorrect.
The internet. Used by bunch of liars. Me included.
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.
Never looking backwards. Pedro de la Rosa requests a wing mirror adjustment.
Spanish driver Pedro de la Rosa was confirmed on Tuesday as the second driver for BMW Sauber. He will partner Kamui Kobayashi at the Swiss team.
The 38-year-old driver, who has previously managed 71 Grand Prix starts, will make a return to full-time competitive Formula 1 action after spending seven years as McLaren's test driver.
Team Principal Peter Sauber, who today completed his 2010 team lineup, said of the signing:
"Pedro has spent many years working for a top team at the highest technical level
"We as a team stand to gain from his experience, and the same goes for young Kamui. The combination of a seasoned racer and an up-and-coming young driver has repeatedly proved a very fruitful one. I don’t expect either of them to disappoint in 2010."
During his tenure as a McLaren test driver, de la Rosa stood in as a reserve driver for a number of races. In 2005, he finished fifth in Bahrain, the circuit that will open this year's race calendar. Speaking about his new position, Pedro said:
"I’m really excited about the season with Peter Sauber’s team, which has been a solid fixture in Formula One ever since 1993."
Pedro's team mate Kamui Kobayashi was confirmed at the team last month.
Today is apparently the Independence Day of Bahrain, which has less to do with Will Smith defending the planet from aliens and more to do with the kingdom standing on it's own two feet. Very good stuff. Now, onto Formula 1 news. As we were saying in the comments yesterday, December has never been so busy in F1, so we'd best make the most of it.
Yesterday saw some late night gaming, as the F1 2009 game appeared on the iPod Touch and iPhone. Mr C initially posted some thoughts, and then we got a review from our game expert Lukeh. The lack of racing against other cars is a bit off putting for me, although I don't know why because I always lose.
Yesterday, Manor finally confirmed they were going to be called Virgin Racing, and signed up di licious to race alongside Timo Glock. That's a pretty good lineup for a new team, and they even have a brilliant video on their new site that is definitely worth a watch.
The good news is that Campos have confirmed they are still in talks with Hedgehog de la Rosa. I am very keen for the Spaniard to get a drive if only because he has some of the best nicknames in the paddock. If he did get the seat, he would be teammates with Senna, and if you want a reminder of who else has a confirmed seat for next year - check out the wiki page.
That's all for now. Let us know how your week is going and as always, I will see you in and around the comments.
Testing continues today, so we should have more in the way of times and pictures to share with each other, just like yesterday. Other things that are on our minds at the moment:
It seems almost certain now that Rubens will get to return to the paddock this year. I think perhaps I am not too fussed for his driving skills, but it certainly would have been a shame for him to disappear without the pomp and circumstance that Coulthard had.
Pedalo (yes, him again) says he's happy with the progress Bridgestone are making on the 2010 tyres. Of course, it's ridiculously early to start thinking about things like that, but with the tyre warmers ban and lack of testing, apparently forward thinking is the way to go.
Alonso posted the most laps yesterday, completing over 150, and ended up third on the timesheets. So, Piquet, okay it was a bit wet previously, but what happened?
Apparently, some ticket prices for the Bahrain GP have been lowered, although the main grandstands have gone up. If you're after a holiday, albeit a hot and dusty one, some seats are available for 70 Dinars. Who knows what the exchange rate will be like in April?
Anyway, I'd better be off, I've a mini series to prepare for. It should begin tonight, all being well, so keep your eyes peeled for the show. Until then, I'll see you in the comments.
If there was a drought of Formula 1 news before, then the flood gates have well and truly opened today. Autosport International kicked off for the press, and we've heard from a few paddock people already. It's not just limited to Birmingham, though, there's news coming in from all over the world.
Dave Richards is apparently not buying Honda now, having hinted that the cost-cutting improvements won't begin to show until 2010, and he's not interested in Formula 1 when it is this expensive. Nick Fry says there are still plenty of people in the running - 12 in fact. Where did they all come from, and who are they?
Motorsport Aragon - a new track in Spain - is hoping to get on the F1 testing roster. It seems as though there will be more test tracks than racing events soon. The question is, with two Spanish races on the calendar, and Valencia a very poor one, is Aragon hoping to be a replacement?
Pedro de la Rosa, known as Pedalo round these parts, believes he's still got a chance at an F1 drive. He's fallen into the testing trap at McLaren, but holds out hope (and is sure that) one day he will return to the grid. Really, Pedalo? Really?
As ever, I'll end today's Daily post with a request. Please vote for us in the 2008 Weblog Awards. We're up for two categories, so that's just two clicks, and then I'll let you get on with your day.
Thank you in advance for your clicks, and I'll see you in the comments.
It was the final day of testing today which saw some lopsided Ferrari cars, some Renault braces and Vettel on top once again. That was good stuff. Now we get to sit back and try and analyse everything we saw. It's going to be particularly difficult because everyone was running different strategies and we don't have any idea who was actually fast. Nevertheless, we will do our best.
Formula 1 related discussions:
Bourdais seems to be pretty annoyed about the way his test went, he's now saying that it's going to come down to the money in the end.
Sutil says he's not feeling threatened by Pedro de la Rosa, which is hardly a surprise because he finished last for the second day in a row.
The Red Bulletin looks like it's on the way out. Boo.
Also, how can we get Bernie on Sidepodquiz?
Non-Formula 1 related discussions:
There's a new commenting feature available. Use it carefully, it's brand new and still in the alpha stage.
We'd still quite like your nomination votes. It's still the nominations, people, imagine how much fun we'll have once it gets going.
Naturally, there is no reason to feel limited by what I have listed here. We want to hear what you've got to say about anything F1 and about the world in general. Get talking, and I'll see you in the comments.
The second day of testing seemed to be much quieter in terms of us all jumping on the pictures and times as they became available. However, it's all still interesting information to be poured over, so hopefully day three will give us more of the same. There's plenty of discussion going in the comments about various topics both related to F1 and not so much, and here's a quick run down of some of those things:
Regarding that testing and those drivers
How did Pedro de la Rosa get on in the Force India? Not great, but why was he there and will they be shipping him off to the back markers?
Ferrari unveiled some significant KERS work, so have they been playing down their achievements in this field so far?
The BMW boys believe the 2009 wings are as ugly as we think, so the question is, who in F1 does actually like them?
Outside the Formula 1 world:
There's Sidepodcast's Xmas party to be discussed, a Sidepodparty, if you will.
We're still covering the space station, apparently there's a sonic screwdriver on the loose
