Sidepodcast

Pity the F1 Fool

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.

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.

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Daily: 29th December 2009

It is Allan McNish's birthday today, and as it is drawing nearer to January, he must be getting prepared for the Autosport International show. Just like DC, we have seen him up in Birmingham pretty much every year that we have been. Although we still haven't decided if we'll go this year. Anyway, here are some of the things we're talking about:

• All the talk is of US F1 at the moment, as they came out and said their silence over recent weeks has been on purpose and hasn't necessarily been because they haven't nothing to say. The problem is now they are talking, there are also rumours about Ralf Schumacher coming back as well. Oh dear.
• Abu Dhabi organisers have confirmed that there will be no changes to the pit lane exit, despite the fact there were plenty of concerns during the 2009 race. Granted, nothing untoward happened, but that didn't settle any fears over the dangerous tunnel element to the exit. They say all changes there will be minor, and they aren't worried about it.
• Jean Todt is bringing old friends in to the FIA now, with the news that Gilles Simon, an ex-engine guy for the red team, has been brought in to advise on future technology and greener initiatives. The FIA are still trying to recover from the KERS debacle, so fresh blood may be what's needed.

That should do it for now, let us know what you're up to, and as ever, I will see you in the comments.

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The Hot Seat

As a guest of the Williams F1 Grand Prix Collection tour, there's a chance to sit in an actual Formula 1 car towards the end. Tucked away in the corner of the trophy room is Ralf Schumacher's car from 2000, I believe - feel free to correct me on that one.

I wasn't at all sure about having a sit in the car, partly because being anywhere Ralf has been isn't particularly enticing, and partly because it was the centre of attention. Nevertheless, I couldn't pass up the opportunity.

Getting into the car is easy. The very nice Williams man tells you to hold yourself on your arms, tuck your feet in, and slide all the way down. Simple. Once inside, I was amazed. I'd expected it to be really claustrophobic, but it was actually quite nice, although definitely a snug fit. I wouldn't go so far as to say comfortable though. Granted, I never had a fitting, but the seat is all knobbly and there's a tendency to elbow oneself in the ribs when holding on to a steering wheel. I can't believe this is conducive to concentration when whizzing about at high speeds.

The other thing that surprised me was the visibility. I wasn't as low as I thought I would be. Again, no seat fitting will make this experiment quite unscientific, but I could touch the pedals so I can't have been too far out. I thought it was going to be just a glimpse of the horizon, but I could actually see quite a long way. I imagine the added restrictions of a helmet have a huge impact on visibility, but it certainly wasn't as bad as I was expecting.

The only problematic moment was trying to climb out of the car. The natural instinct upon standing up is to lift your knees and then haul upwards. Not in here. You have to slip out of the seat far enough for your knees to be able to bend. It had me quite confused for a while, and I was worried I'd be stuck in an F1 car forever. Thankfully, the very nice Williams man was on hand to explain how I was doing it all wrong and just had to get my limbs under control.

All in all, it was great to have a glimpse into Ralf's drivers office. I know it was nothing like what he would go through on an average race weekend, but I reckon being jostled about for two hours in one of those things is worth a trophy or two. Have you ever sat in an F1 car? How did you find it?

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When You Try Your Best, But You Don't Succeed

One of my favourite stories for a long time comes courtesy of Mr Ralf Schumacher. No surprises there, he is usually good for a laugh.

He tested for Force India this week, and let's be honest, he made a bit of a hash of it. He had mechanical problems (admittedly not his fault), he crashed and almost hit a tyre wall (probably his fault) and ended up at the bottom of the time sheets.

So, what do you do if you are going for a job and you have a really bad interview? Or if you want something quite a lot but realise you've ruined any chance you ever had? You pretend that you never wanted it in the first place, of course.

"I don't think I will be driving for Force India. I want to achieve something and I don't think I can do that with Force India. I am going home now and we will see."

Bless his heart. We understand Ralf, we really do.

There were a few complaints here at Sidepodcast Towers about there being a picture of Ralf on the site, so in the interest of being fair and unbiased, here's another Force India tester.

Order is restored once more.

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F1 People - Michael Schumacher

Hello, and welcome to the fourth instalment of F1 People, a series from Sidepodcast bringing you a biography of the important names in Formula 1. Today, it’s Michael Schumacher’s turn.

Michael Schumacher was born January 3rd 1969 in Germany. At an early age, his father modified a pedal kart to include an engine, and at the age of six he had won his first karting club championship, despite being the youngest member.

His parents took on extra jobs at the karting circuit to be able to afford their son’s hobby, but when the expenses got to much, Schumacher found investment from several businesses. In Germany, you have to be 14 to get a karting licence, so a 12 year old Schumacher obtained his from Luxemburg instead. A few years later he was legal in Germany, and winning karting championships easily.

He left school in 1987 to work as a mechanic, and graduated to single seater racing the next year. Of course he was brilliant at it, and spotted by Willi Weber’s Formula 3 team. Weber financed him for a couple of years, and was rewarded when Schumacher won in 1990. His next move would usually have been to progress to Formula 3000, but Schumacher decided to join the junior Mercedes team in the World Sportscar Championship. He did take part in one Formula 3000 race, in 1991 and won it. He won several races in the Sportscar Championship. People were beginning to sit up and take notice.

Schumacher’s Formula 1 debut came with the Jordan-Ford team in 1991, as a one off replacement driver. Mercedes paid Eddie Jordan to let Schumacher drive, and Jordan immediately signed him up, because he showed promise. He qualified brilliantly, but retired from the race. Despite the potential deal, and subsequent court injunctions by Jordan, Schumacher was snatched up by Bennetton for the rest of the season.

His first podium came in 1992, at the Mexican Grand Prix, and his first victory was the same year in Belgium.

1994 was Schumacher’s year and despite the death of Ayrton Senna at Imola, Schumacher proved himself to be a worthy, if controversial, rival. He won six out of the first seven races, but endured a three race ban for ignoring a black flag, and completed the title race by pushing Damon Hill off the road. He retained his title the next year, and then switched allegiance to the Ferrari team. He continued to fight to clear up his damaged reputation, only to lose it again with a similar “run off the road” incident with Villeneuve.

A heavy accident early on in 1999, resulted in a broken leg for Schumacher that sidelined him for much of the season, but he returned to championship winning form in 2000. Thus began the Ferrari dominance, and the record breaking that continued until 2004. Most driver titles. Longest reign as champion. Most wins. Most pole positions. Most podiums. The list is endless.

In 2005, the pairing of Fernando Alonso and Renault brought Schumacher and Ferrari’s winning streak to an end. Schumacher’s only win that year came at the tarnished US GP, when only six of the twenty cars took part. 2006 was better, but Alonso took the championship again. The controversial moments were back, with a parking incident at Monaco and some conveniently placed penalties for other teams.

Schumacher confirmed his retirement at the Italian Grand Prix post-race press conference. There had been much speculation and continued to be so for his next move, but Ferrari retained his services as an advisor on the pit wall for some races in the 2007 season.

Schumacher has received many awards for his achievements, most notably the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year. He has won twice, and been nominated four times – another record he holds.

Michael lives in Switzerland with his wife Corinna and children Gina-Maria and Mick. His younger brother Ralf is also a racing driver, although much less successful in Formula 1. That is hardly surprising though, when the fans and the statistics proclaim Schumacher to be the greatest driver in the world.

Thank you for listening to F1 People, and don’t forget to join me tomorrow for another famous face.

Theme music: Natives of the New Dawn, People.

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Ralf Schumacher Confirms Toyota Departure

This article was originally written for BellaOnline, but is republished here for posterity.

There have been rumours flying around for most of the latter half of the season, but now it is confirmed that Ralf Schumacher is going to leave Toyota. 2007 has been a dismal season for him, with only 5 points to his name so far. He joined Toyota in 2005 and has never really had much success with them, and this year he has been repeatedly outpaced by his team mate Jarno Trulli.

Toyota have always looked like they should be successful, they are a major car manufacturer, they have the budget and the team behind them to make a winning car. But their drivers have been left frustrated at the lack of pace, and Ralf has enjoyed only three podiums in the three years he has been with them.

Although keeping quiet about his future plans, Schumacher came clean about his decision to leave via his website, saying that he wants a new challenge. Despite being one of the highest paid drivers on the grid (a lot of people have speculated why, given the lack of success), Ralf reveals that he is not concerned about the money, but he wants to concentrate on helping to develop a car that will be successful.

Toyota have released a statement that has the usual well wishes and good feeling towards Ralf, but ultimately says that it doesn’t affect the team too much. They have been looking around for potential drivers for 2008 anyway, and will therefore just need to cross Ralf off their list. Trulli is confirmed for 2008, so there is a seat at Toyota going spare, and rumours are rife as to who it might be.

As with many of the driver signings for the next year, a lot of it seems to depend on what Alonso decides to do. If he stays at McLaren then it will be the usual drivers to choose from, although BMW tester Timo Glock has been mentioned in speculation. If Alonso moves on from McLaren, then it throws the whole drivers market wide open. Renault also appear to be waiting for a decision from the defending world champion, but their car is unlikely to entice the Spaniard back to his former team. If they can buck up their 2008 car, then it could be like going back in time to 2006!

Either way, Ralf Schumacher will not be at Toyota. He intends to wait until after the season ends before making any announcement about his future.

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Saturday @ Goodwood FOS 2007

Saturday dawned, and we felt a lot more prepared than the previous day. The Sidepodcast crew had a plan. We left home earlier, went through absolutely no traffic and got to park closer to the gate. Excellent stuff.

This time, the first thing we came across was the supercars. Mercedes, Aston Martin and Porsche were all represented well, but come on, this is the one you want:

So many people are in love with this car - and who can blame them? It's absolutely sublime. We watched the Bugatti take to the track, and cross the start line. You couldn't hear it - it was so smooth and silent.

When we saw it again at the top of the hill, the driver/owner rounded the corner and slowed right down. He knew that everyone wanted to take pictures. We all knew we wanted to ogle it.

Having seen the Toyota centrepiece yesterday, we figured it was about time we took some pictures of it. "me" set up his video camera and I started snapping away. It wasn't until we had been staring at it for about ten minutes, that "me" realised you could walk right underneath.

Cue more geekiness. There was talk of boards and trays and all kinds of things. I was more interested in how they got them up there. Following the theme of Toyota, we went straight to their stand. I say stand, it was more like half a building. We had already spotted that they advertised when the drivers were going to be there, but on Friday it was two people that I'd never heard of and can't actually remember. Saturday was the day of Ralf Schumacher.

The Toyota pit stand had an entire car in, so that they could do the pit stop challenge. We saw this at Autosport earlier this year, and it's genius. A team of three people take to each wheel, and they're shown what to do with the wheel guns. The clock is set. The man with the mike shouts "Go!" and the people struggle. Mostly it's embarrassing. They struggle to get the wheel off, they struggle to lift the wheel out the way, they struggle to put the other wheel back on. Of course, you know I would be able to do it so much better, but there's only two of us. That's such a shame!!

Actually, some of the people were very good. Interestingly, it was always the front left wheel that won. We were there for half an hour, waiting for Ralf, and I think the front left only lost out once. Is the front left easier to change than any others? Interesting.

Anyway...

Eventually, the man with the mike had finished saying: "Ralf will be here in twenty minutes. Ralf will be here in fifteen minutes. Ralf will be here in thirty minutes time. Ralf will be here in ten minutes. Ralf will be here... oh... here he is!" And Mr R Schumacher arrived. Along with six other people. Some rally people, some motorbike people. I honestly don't know who they were. Franck Montagny was there as well, so it's fair to say that I only had eyes for him. Although, in some ways, I could blame Ralf for that, because he chose to do his autographs over the other side of the stand. If he had chosen our side, my newest crush could... actually... no... that wouldn't happen.

Ralf didn't stay very long - a man with places to go and cars to drive. He was escorted from the Toyota stand towards the track. I sent "me" running after him because stalking people is what we do best. I was left looking after the stuff, because someone has to keep a hold of the tripod and the bottled water.

When he returned, with only a couple of decent pictures, I demanded answers. Apparently he'd got stuck between a Toyota and a McLaren (a rock and a hard place, if you ask me), and picture taking had been a bit difficult when everyone was glaring at him for ruining their photo opportunities.

To shake the memory from his mind, he decided it was time to go up in a helicopter. Uh, what????

We're all about getting good footage for Sidepodcast TV, and apparently this makes good television.

He wanted to capture me screaming in fear. I can't say that I obliged, but I definitely did not enjoy it. I don't like to fly. Still, it's worth doing, because for a reasonable price you get a ten minute flight above the grounds of Goodwood. Could almost be a one in a lifetime experience. Unless he convinces me to do it again next year.

We then decided to go to the top paddock. I was almost tempted to get back in the helicopter and ask him to drop us off at the top, because it meant climbing that hill again. We did it though, and bumped into Ollie along the way. We chatted briefly, until we started brandishing the video camera, and he ran off down the hill. Didn't even have time to give him a business card.

Do you know what our reward was for making it to the top of the hill?

Rain.

Serious rain.

It took about 0.5 seconds for the sun to disappear and big, fat drops of rain to fall. It took almost the same amount for everyone's umbrella's to go up and waterproof mac's to come out. Brilliant stuff - almost like military operation.

Motorbikes came up. Chris Pfeiffer on his stunt bike could not do any stunts because the hill was not just wet, but oily and slippery as well. He still came up the hill though, and managed a couple of mild tricks, but nothing like we know he is capable of. The bikes I was really interested though, was the Organic Milk Bike Race. I'll be honest, I don't know much about the history of this event, but apparently it's something that used to happen, and they brought it back to celebrate Goodwood's organic produce. Jenson Button and Mark Webber, plus a couple of other motorsport folks took to the hill, accompanied by professional cyclists.

It was wet and it was difficult to see who was who.

Hang on a minute, no. That's Mutley. The bicycle race was not as interesting as I'd thought it would be. The lack of television screens at the top of the hill meant we didn't know what had happened throughout the race. By the time they got to the top, they were puffed out and cycling slowly. It was wet and cold and we couldn't see properly. They circled round and faced away from us to do their interviews with paddock reporter Bruce Jones. Then they retired to the vans to go back down the hill. I was not that impressed with their lack of autograph skills. Considering the grudge I held against Martin Brundle for ignoring fans, I suppose I have to give that lot the same treatment. Even if it is Jenson.

So, what was Mutley doing there? Some kind of Wacky Races thing for the kids. I only really know of Mutley. But I did think it was funny when they all had to leap out of their weird cars and run into the tent. Very surreal moment watching Penelope Pitstop and Dick Dastardly huddling together out of the elements.

After we, and the entire cast of Wacky Races, dried off a little, it was time for the F1 cars to come up the hill. We hurried down to a different position to capture some pictures like this.

I think I'm gonna have to be honest and tell you that I missed pretty much every shot of the cars going up the hill. So I had to get them on the way down instead. I'd blame the camera, but you won't believe me.

After that, there was just time to enjoy the world's most expensive fish and chips (£11 for 2 portions - let me know if you've ever paid more), and check the programme. Spyker were supposedly going to be represented in the F1 class, but there was not a single sign of anything orange. Except the marshals.

Sloped off home to dry out our trainers and recharge our batteries.

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