It's Friday and at long last the 2010 Season is underway. In just a few short hours we will be up again, ready to watch Free Practice 1 and from then on, it's all about the racing. Well, hopefully. There's lots of good stuff and many threads to come today, so keep your eyes peeled so you don't miss a thing.
Jake has written another great blog post, this time talking about time spent with some of the drivers ahead of the weekend's action. I particularly find the Schumacher/Rosberg stuff fascinating because we've seen visual evidence of their distaste for each other now, and... it's scary stuff!
It's the last day to change your Fantasy Racers teams and whilst there will be a reminder post along later, I thought it was worth mentioning now. Particularly as I want to give a shout out for Pat's fabulous post about the different prediction and fantasy F1 games that are available at the moment. I had no idea there were so many!
All that stuff about McLaren's rear wing is coming to a head now the teams have gathered together, and there is plenty of discussion about the silver car's extra hole. Scarbs has the detail (for Mr C), whilst Autosport put it into English (for me). Ahh, controversy. Is it November yet?
In self-promotion news, Mr C wrote a great introduction to the Force India podcast which makes a triumphant return for 2010. More audio from teams is greatly appreciated. The man also posted a breakout regarding Renault's new sponsor, and he actually managed to create a picture with no red in it. Woohoo!
That'll do it for now. I know you're excited already, so instead, why not tell me how and where you are watching Free Practice, if you are. I'll see you in the comments.
Tuesday has arrived and before I do anything, I must point you towards yesterday's F1 Debrief. The show itself is marvellous, of course, but in the show notes there are some rather excellent outtakes - if such a thing exists. Actually, I might just post them again now anyway. Mr C and I could do with the embarrassment.
Now, on to other topics:
Adam Hay-Nicholls has an unusual post on his Metro F1 blog - spending some time with Tamara Ecclestone. She has some rather forthright views on Jenson Button, but if she's anything like her dad, I don't suppose she worries about what she says.
I mentioned yesterday that Mr C had spent some time watching NASCAR, and it looks as though that sport has just as much politics as F1. There was an incident involving Carl Edwards that he admits he caused on purpose, to try and knock his opponent out the way - revenge, if you will, for an early incident. Leigh has some thoughts on the concept of on track payback, and suffice it to say, it's not a good idea!
Today is the last day for the Joe Saward competition, where we are offering you the chance to win a signed copy of his book The Grand Prix Saboteurs. We've had tons of entries, but there's still time to get yours in, and you never know, luck might be on your side.
Finally, a quick plug to the TOTAL 2010 Grand Prix Travel Guide. It's clearly a marketing ploy, but has plenty of useful information in there including: "Where to stay in Korea? Where to get a drink in Bahrain?" The things you need to know.
That should do it for now. I hope your week is going smoothly, and as ever, I will see you in the comments.
Friday has reached us at last, and I know I'm not the only one who is glad Thursday is over. From the very beginning when I thought it was still February, everything that could go wrong seemed to go wrong. But never mind, we're on to another (hopefully better) day and here are some things we're talking about:
The very badly named HRT team dominated headlines yesterday as they launched a new car and confirmed another driver. With a full line up now of Senna and Chandhok, they're gearing up for the season to begin and team principal Colin Kolles is still suggesting they could be the most successful of the new teams. I'm not sure about that, they haven't had a minute out on track.
It looks as though we might be getting another of those pre-season controversies, with Red Bull "asking the question" about the McLaren's rear wing. This brings back so many bad memories of the diffuser issues before the 2009 season got underway, and through the first few races. Let's hope they can sort this out before it gets anywhere near overshadowing the action.
Renault will be running some Lada branding on their car this year, as the manufacturer get on board sponsoring both the team and Vitaly Petrov. Presumably they don't mind the horrible red mirrors, then. The name looks good on the car, although I can't decide if that's just because it's nice to see sponsorship rather than empty chassis'.
That's all for now, let us know what you've got planned for the weekend, and I will see you in the comments.
In this second preview edition of F1 Digest we take a look through the entry list, focusing on the teams and their new cars. How have they performed in testing? What features are on the new machines? Who has a strong lineup? All that and more will get you ready for the season to come.
The Teams
From the non-existant teams such as US F1 and Campos to those who are determined to challenge for another championship - Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes. In some teams, the drivers overshadow the cars, but we spend plenty of time discussing front wings, sidepods and shark fin engine covers.
There are new liveries to discuss, and how the teams managed their launches, plus the relationship between teammates - those who have new faces to get to know, and those who are continuing with their fellow driver from 2009.
We also take a quick look at the battle between Virgin Racing and Lotus, from testing, reliability issues, air stewardess outfits and launches. Everything is going to be different this year, and it's going to be great.
Today is Pedro de la Rosa's birthday, and the Spaniard is turning 39. Hopefully he won't be celebrating too hard and will instead be preparing for the upcoming test in Barcelona. It kicks off on Thursday, so he has a couple of days to eat cake, I suppose. Meanwhile, here are a couple of the things we're talking about:
Ahead of Joe's meetup in London on Friday, we've got a competition for you! We're giving away a signed copy of The Grand Prix Saboteurs, and there's just a simple question (and a little luck) standing between you and it. You've got a couple of weeks to enter as well, but do it now before you forget!
F1 Big Picture was updated yesterday with a couple of great photos. I am particularly partial to this one, as I do like the shadows, plus it's good to see Alonso and Webber side by side. Let's hope we can get some overtaking action in the races as well as in testing.
Kubica has been talking about the Renault and it looks like he's hoping they have some upgrades before the racing gets underway in Bahrain. He's also keen to point out that there won't be a number on in his team, which I find odd because a) who cares? and b) he then goes on to admit that Petrov hasn't driven in F1 so he would still be learning. Bless teams and drivers always keen to show there's no favouritism.
That should do it for now. Let us know how your week is going, and I will see you in the comments.
Eventually even Eric's* ears are extremely entertained. Evidently Eric enumerated every element of an excellent experience, excluding engineering, and Giggles Radio empirically excelled - even exceeding electrolysis.
Welcome to Giggles Radio Episode E. Each episode our host Alex Andronov examines his experimental musical experience by playing around two hours of songs themed around a letter. This week the letter is E.
*Eric Boullier from Renault of course.
Playlist
Backstreet Boys - Everybody (Backstreet's Back)
Martha & the Muffins - Echo Beach
The Beatles - Eight Days A Week
Little Boots - Earthquake
Weezer - El Scorcho
Franz Ferdinand - Eleanor Put Your Boots On
MGMT - Electric Feel
Athlete - El Salvador
U2 - Elevation
EMF - Unbelievable
Traveling Wilburys - End Of The Line
Paul Weller - English Rose
Jam, The - The Eton Rifles
The Buzzcocks - Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've)?
The Bangles - Eternal Flame
Kylie Minogue & Jason Donovan - Especially for You
Keane - Everybody's Changing
Morcheeba - Everybody Loves A Loser
Tears For Fears - Everybody Wants To Rule The World
Kaiser Chiefs - Everyday I Love You Less And Less
Sheryl Crow - Everyday Is A Winding Road
Morrissey - Everyday Is Like Sunday
Charles Wright & The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band - Express Yourself
Madonna - Express Yourself
Survivor - Eye of the Tiger
No Doubt - End It On This
The Blues Brothers - Everybody Needs Somebody To Love
We have been asking for your stories of racing events that you've attended. Yesterday, Lady Snowcat described her freezing visit to Sweden to watch Kimi, and today Lewis talks about two separate Silverstone events and tries to compare the two.
Credit: cmonville (creative commons)
The Peugeot 908 flies around Silverstone during the Autosport 1000km in 2008.
Silverstone. The quintessential British racing circuit. Greasy fast food, Maggots and Becketts, plagues of souvenir stands and die hard British racing fans. Having been there twice, I've felt the buzz of the field going past many times. But surely my visits can't have been any different?
I first went to Silverstone in 2008, on a typically autumnal day. I was going to watch Le Mans Series, the final race of the season, the title decider. I was going as a guest of Peugeot, and as I sat in Luffield B with a Peugeot flag and cap in my hands, the field went past at an amazing pace. The atmosphere was electric, it felt as though a lightning bolt had passed through all of our bodies. It was a feeling I won't forget.
After a while, we went for a walk. There were lines and lines of souvenir stands. Magazines, caps, flags, books, programmes. It would have taken days to visit everything. The Le Mans organisers really knew what the spectators wanted.
The paddock was open that day, a chance for fans to see what was behind the pit lane. Across the infamous bridge, we walked past motorhomes, cafés and team personnel. I felt like a VIP, even though it was public. Every two minutes, you got a complimentary car sticker, or a free flag. They catered for everything. There was even an opportunity to buy used tyres from Dunlop or Michelin. Autosport (who were the title sponsors of the event) were also fantastic. I bought their magazine, then got laden with three free books. A truly awesome day.
I came back in 2009, to watch the World Series by Renault formula. My expectations were high. Brendon Hartley (a driver that I can't wait to see in F1) was driving, and I felt the same buzz as before as I stood at Becketts, watching the twenty-strong field fly past. I was lucky enough to stand at Bridge corner and see Fernando Alonso drive past in his Renault.
It was only when we started to go walkies that it failed to live up to my impressions. The only souvenir stands were official Renault stands, and the prices were outrageous. £7.50 for a fridge magnet?! The only free thing I got was a badly made flag, and the only attractions were the 'official ING funfair' and Renault's heritage. The paddock was non-existent, only for a few manic drivers driving crates of tyres around. You couldn't buy those. Renault disappointed me. They should've done a lot better. The pressure from 'Crash-gate' perhaps? All of the souvenir stands were gone, there were none of the cheerful helpers that pointed the way to confused fans. Even all of the mobile cafés were gone (I didn't want an official ING sandwich, I just wanted a normal one).
Overall, you could see the effort each set of organisers put in to the event. I don't think I'll be going to anything for Renault any time soon. Le Mans Series? Yes.
Whilst Mr C and I have settled for discussing the launches briefly in the podcast, and scoring them out of 10, new guest writer KerbRider has taken a more detailed look at the teams we've seen so far.
2010 has promised to be a great year for F1 since Sebby V took the chequered flag in Abu Dhabi. The off season has now ensured this will be the case.
A lot of people have gotten excited over the game of musical chairs the drivers like to play every few years. Some even more so because a certain driver, I like to call Voldemort, decided he wanted to play again.
Although all these changes have been great to see, and have whet my appetite for what is promising to be a great season, the real excitement for me is launch season.
I love the smell of Duco in the morning!
The reason I love launch season is because I'm a 'details' man. I will study photos of the new cars for hours on end to see their subtleties and nuances, and speculate as to why they did this, or that, and then formulate how I think a particular design philosophy might work.
Different strokes for different folk I guess.
I'll start with the fundamentals of design philosophy, and I'll thank Mr Codling for his insightful article in this months F1 Racing. Cant wait to get the book.
The way I see it, the fundamental concept of designing a quick car is to have the air under the car moving a lot quicker than the air on top. This is basic aeronautics. What an F1 designer must try to achieve is to have four separate airflows to make a car work effectively. Underneath, above, and the two sides of the car.
The idea is to keep these "chunks" of air as independent of each other as possible. So in other words, we don’t want air flowing from the side of the car bleeding into the air flowing over or under the car. As there are four big black squares on a car, the philosophy is to minimise this "bleeding" as much as possible.
It all about compromise.
So on to the cars that have been launched to date.
Ferrari
Ferrari seem to have a simple and sleek design. Quite an attractive car I think, and it hurts me to say that. Love the lighter red colour, and the white wings are bearable for sponsorship purposes. Not a bad deal for Ferrari to get Alonso basically for free, when Santander are obviously footing the bill for him. So can we now class Fernando as a pay driver!
Average height for the nose. Not as high as others and about even with Mercedes. The all important front wing is clearly not as detailed as Mclaren, Red Bull and Sauber, but maybe it doesn’t need to be because the rest of the car deflects the air where needed. Fat, and weighty sidepods are well streamlined, and have the bulk purely for side impact crash testing. A feature most cars have this season.
Where I think Ferrari have excelled is the rear end. Although they haven't chosen to go the "sharkfin" path, there is so much free space at the back for clear airflow over the rear wing. Of course the "sharkfin" is subject to crosswind buffeting that can affect pitch and yaw mid-corner, and more importantly, under braking. What might let them down is the lack of cover over the rear suspension. This may cause turbulent air affecting the air that exits above the diffuser.
McLaren
For one, I am glad McLaren kept their silver and red livery. Its effective, sexy, and unique. Even if the Mercedes has tried to replicate without copying.
McLaren have boldly copied the splitter/divider underneath the nose that Williams had last year but strangely decided to opt against this year.
If we look at a front on view on the MP4-25, it is clear that this device will divide the air to flow more cleanly through the suspension arms and steering column, and swiftly into the sidepods. It will have the effect of forcing more air faster into the sidepods, which explains in a fashion as to why they are so small compared to other teams.
"The front wing is, in layman's terms, off its face!"
The front wing is, in layman's terms, off its face! Incredibly detailed, and obviously Mclarens' philosophy this year was to not be caught out by last year's mistakes. They learned a lot last year as a design team. Although they seemingly have "borrowed" ideas from RBR and Brawn, they have made them uniquely Mclaren. The Sharkfin is high, and long, and a bit fatter at the bottom. This is to accommodate the exhaust exits that, again unique to Mclaren, exit horizontally, rather than vertically like the rest of the grid. It will be interesting to see what benefit this has. The MP4-25 is vastly different in appearance to anything else this year which means that this year Mclaren will go either one of two ways - that is poor, or win the lot.
Mercedes
My overall view is that I'm largely unimpressed by Mercedes. I was expecting big changes in this year's car. The Mercedes livery is average, and hopefully will be updated next year.
They have gone with a higher nose than the Brawn, and the design remains largely unchanged. Of course as Ross alluded to last year, the nose has the air channelling veins. This seems to be a large talking point, although I think its effectiveness is overrated. I can only assume the concept was born out of a need to direct airflow away from the drivers helmet, which is a rather large obstacle.
The most noticeable change is the air box. Low and broad with a splitter. There is a semi-sharkfin, and I expected tighter packaging at the rear considering they have had a year with the engine and drive train. All this being said, I still believe they will be a top four team.
Sauber
This one gets me excited. BMW obviously did a lot of work before the withdrawal. A great looking front wing that should be successful in diverting airflow around the front wheels and into the rear sculpted body work. A high nose to increase the amount of air flowing underneath the car, and unique sidepods that have the idea of moulding airflow back inward toward the rear wing.
A large and bulky sharkfin as per Mclaren, but inspiringly sculpted sidepods and tight rear packaging. All in the name of rear stability and front end grip. I believe the Sauber should have great traction with the low sitting rear, and as F1 is mainly made up of slow to medium speed corners, this will be a great advantage over the course of 19 races. I think they will be the surprise of the year. Kubica left too early. Which leads me to...
Renault
U-G-L-Y they aint got no alibi, its ugly!! For a team that pulled out as late as they did officially, I think they must have pulled out mentally beforehand as this year's car will be the joke of 2010. My heart sinks for Kubica, it really does. Ugly cars rarely do well in F1, and I don’t think this year will be any exception.
Of course I'm saying this under the impression that this is the car that will actually race.
It looks quite uninspiring, and a bit too bulky at the sides. Like a driver, the car needs to be fit, and trim the fat. It looks shorter than the rest, as does the RBR at first glance. Go Renault engine efficiency!!
"I expect design changes early on in the year"
The rear wing is left of field, and might suit their own philosophy, but I expect design changes early on in the year, if not before Bahrain. The front wing endplates are also a tad bland, and are the least detailed of the already established teams.
Let's not expect much unfortunately.
Williams
I always hold high hopes for Williams. Shouldn't everyone? Real racers, battlers and sadly of late, the perennial underachievers. This all stems from their brief encounter with a walrus, and they have never recovered fully from that.
I'm a bit befuddled as to why they went with a clean sheet, as last year's car was quite decent, and an evolution of that may have pushed them up the grid. I hope it works for them, but as strange as it sounds, the car seem too clean to be a top performer.
It seems as of late, to find real performance and aero gains, a car needs to look messy. But I guess the 2009 Brawn put that to rest too. Nose is high, which in the past meant high centre of gravity, but with the double diffuser malarkey, this is necessary to maximise air flow underneath the car. I suspect that with this year's cars most performance will be found from the floor, and suspension geometry.
Interesting to note the Williams front wing sits backward from the mounting pillars, whereas the other teams have their mounting pillars attached closer to the front of the front wing main plane. There are some interesting components on the end fences that look successful in dispersing airflow around the tyres.
Toro Rosso
Nothing to see here folks! Keep moving. Seriously, not much change from last years RBR. Not expecting great feats from the driver pairing, although Buemi has some potential. I expect them to be toughing it out with Williams and or Renault at best, Virgin and Lotus at worst.
Virgin Racing
There will be some bad headlines printed about this team this year. My impressions of the car are that it might surprise. Well packaged at the rear, and sidepods of a Mclaren nature. The real sticking point will be suspension geometry and heating the tyres in unison. The front wing looks large, and dual channel end plates look as though they will get the desired result there. Except for one fine point. Sure the CFD would have calculated big downforce levels, but as our friend Mr Saward mentioned in a podcast last year, how will it go in turbulent air? There are no intricate details that suggest it will cope well in traffic, and there is a massive space behind the front wing that has no details to direct air straight toward the floor splitter and onward and downward toward the diffuser.
The car itself looks fantastic. I love the livery, the addition of the Yorkshire rose is just brilliant. I'm Australian, and it means nothing to me, but it’s a beautiful design. For me it harks back to the first Jordan in '91. Clean and unpretentious (even though it is a Branson baby). I think they will score points for sure, but not more than 10 unless they get lucky in the wet.
Red Bull
The one we were all waiting for. The thread for the launch was full of negative comments which surprised me. Sure it looks like last year's car, but they were the quickest last year, so the only thing they had to concentrate on was the rear end because they missed the double diffuser boat. Additionally if RBR can get Total to incorporate into blue, why did Renault insist on that hideous red?
"The rear end is even more tightly packaged than last year"
Firstly the front wing. Equal in development man hours of the Mclaren I would imagine, and running in turbulence was an issue for them last year until they introduced the stepped top wing. The nose is almost round once we get past the yellow tip, and the airflow channels on top are more pronounced and sharper at the front than other teams who have copied the idea. The rear end is even more tightly packaged than last year and it looks low thanks to the pull rod suspension geometry. This will assist with traction out of the slower corners, as last year, the RBR was an oversteer car compared to the understeering Brawn.
The sharkfin has now been filled in underneath the rear wing, and comprises the rear wing support post. It should be quick, but will it be the quickest?
Force India
With the Mclaren association, I am expecting big things from this team this year. The front wing is nicely detailed and there is plenty of space under the high nose to get lots of under the car and into that diffuser. High chunky sidepods like the Ferrari, and the rear packaging looks too high. First impressions are that it has a higher centre of gravity than the others as the exhaust exits sit high in the bodywork.
No change in livery, which is fine by me. Its effective, if not attractive. I'm also expecting over the course of the season for Liuzzi to beat Sutil resoundingly.
It really is all up in the air this year, and anyone who thinks they know who will win at this stage is kidding themselves. There will be some good guesses only in prediction land, and I for one am predicting a Lewis WDC and a Red Bull WCC.
For the first time in 2010, Joe joins us from France to cover all of the latest goings on in the world of F1. Topics of conversation include, bad liveries and naked cars, the fast and the furious, and troublesome pronunciation.
We cover what USF1 got right, why Renault F1 made a fine choice, and what in the world Stefan GP are up to. Joe also announces plans for a long awaited real life meet-up, talks long term research and what we might look forward to in forthcoming GP+ articles.
All of this and more, in a February edition of An Aside With Joe.
This week we talk about goodbye videos, terrible lighting, spy photography, digital subscriptions, tweeting, Fantasy Racing and British accents.
Intro
It was incredibly busy this week with a grand total of five launches, and with more to come plus testing, there's plenty to discuss.
Good Week / Bad Week
Good week for Toyota leaving us with a fantastic video to sum up their time in the sport, and also for US F1 who finally got around to confirming their first driver... by proxy. Bad week for the F1 Calendar though, as Abu Dhabi want to keep their grip on the season finale, and for Kimi Raikkonen who smashed into a tree during his first rally of the year.
News and Views
We cover all the launches we've experienced so far, starting with Mercedes. Bad lighting, a wonky live stream and no actual new car didn't really get us off to a good start. Ferrari were next with an even worse stream, but a new car, and a tweaked livery. McLaren showed them all how it was done, though, with a stream that worked, a fascinating insight into how the team is going to work, a new car and bloggers in attendance. We listen to a voicemail from Adie who was present at the launch.
Sauber and Renault launched on the eve of the first pre-season test in Valencia, and whilst the BMW-Sauber was bereft of sponsors and a bit bland on the livery front, Renault took the opposite tack and turned up with a new bumble bee paint job.
We assessed each livery and assigned a score out of 10 for each one, for easy comparison:
Team Launch
Christine's Score
Mr C's Score
Mercedes
3
4
Ferrari
6
4
Williams
0
6
McLaren
8
6
Sauber
2
4
Renault
2
4
We also quickly mention the fantastic news about the Autosport magazine going digital, plus some Ted News and a particular Twitter update.
Feedback
Lukeh kicks off the feedback section with a Tremayne about the constant regulation changes. Then we discuss the new Fantasy Racers league, my pronunciation, some jokes, Monaco Baby, accents and mankinis, testing and the Sidepodcast calendar.
Housekeeping
We finish with a quick mention of our brand new Twitter page, as linked below.
