Sidepodcast

Fantasy Racers - Panda Racing 2010

Fantasy Racers was a mixed experience in 2009. The rule changes were of a similar magnitude to those in Formula 1 itself, and some of us adapted well, whilst others of us did not. Kathi led the way almost from the very start, and put on a really impressive show to make the Sidepodcast League the top scoring league of the competition for the second year in a row. She also completely outclassed the rest of us in the field, meaning we simply have to try harder in 2010.

Preparing to defend our Fantasy Racing title again. Click to join.

There are a couple of changes to the Fantasy Racers rules again this year, and we're also tweaking the way we play as well. Starting with the competition, though, you can now choose between two strategies, as detailed on the site:

Strategy 1 allows you to make unlimited changes during the course of the year, with a 40.0m starting budget.

Strategy 2 does not allow you to change your drivers, but has a starting budget of 45.0m. You may only remove a driver that is sacked / injured / unable to compete.

As a particularly lazy person, I have selected Strategy 2, although I have yet to choose my drivers. You are welcome to choose either option, and the selection you make will show up against your team in the league.

With the added complexity this gives the competition, we've realised it's going to be almost impossible to cover it in a sensible amount of time on the podcasts, so generally speaking, Fantasy Racing is now a blog-only thing. That doesn't mean we're not encouraging you to sign up and join in though, because we want you all to go ahead and do that now.

Sign up is free, just head on over to FantasyRacers.com, pick a team name, your strategy and your drivers - if you're thinking that far ahead already. I believe at the moment you can change your mind on the strategy front, but that will most likely be locked down at some point before the season begins.

We've created a league for everyone to join, although we want it to be less Sidepod-centric this year. Thus, we have named it Panda Racing 2010. To join the league you can simply click here, or search for Panda Racing. There's no password this year, so you can just sign right up and get choosing. Once you've done that, come back and let us know your team name and what your strategy is.

Fantasy Racers Reminder - Germany

It's been weeks and weeks since I looked at Fantasy Racers. During the last race, we were unexpectedly at the track on Friday and missed the cut off for swapping the team. Now, I am right back on form though, and have chosen for the upcoming German Grand Prix.

Firstly, I decided to give Massa a second chance, mostly because Rob is ace. If it's going to be wet this weekend then I'm going to be very misguided, but Lewis was having problems with his KERS, and right now I trust the Ferrari more than the McLaren. LewHam had to go, and Felipe Baby got the nod. Next, I knew I was happy with Vettel and Button, and remembered that a while back I wanted to purchase Alonso but couldn't quite afford him. I decided to ditch Trulli and grab the Spaniard whilst I could. I don't really have thoughts on Rosberg either way, so I left him in.

The prices are correct at the time of writing. I have 0.7 million left to spend, which won't get me much, and the total value of my team is 52.2. This means although JB's value went down slightly, Der Seb's improvement has more than counteracted any lasting effects.

To change your own teams, head on over to Fantasy Racers - you've got until 5pm BST (4pm GMT, 12pm EST). Let us know who you go with and why, and if you're not joined up yet, all you need to know is here. Good luck everyone!

Fantasy Racers Reminder - Spain

I'm going to be brutally honest this week and say that my normal plan of watching Free Practice and making my decisions didn't go to plan. I could only check in on the FP action occasionally, so I wasn't really aware of who was doing well and who wasn't. This is a pain as the European season has shaken things up again, and we're not really sure who's going to do well.

That being the case, I'm overly cautious going into the Spanish Grand Prix and have only made one change. I got fed up of Rosberg fooling me into thinking he was going to do well so I've taken him out and replaced him with Buemi. This may be a hasty decision, but I felt like taking a risk. The rest of my line up remains the same.

The prices are correct at the time of writing. I have no money left over this week (and I still think we should get bonus points for that rather than for having a million or two at the end of the selection process. My team value is 54.1.

Don't forget, the deadline for last minute changes to your team is 5pm BST (4pm GMT, 12pm EST). You can still sign up for a team if you haven't already, and join the Sidepodcast league - all the information you need is here. Once you've made your mind up, let us know who you're going for and what strategy you're employing.

Qualifying Strategy - Last Minute Laps

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

There are many elements that affect where a driver qualifies on the Saturday of a Grand Prix weekend. The speed of his car, whether the driver has everything setup to his liking, and in the final session, how much fuel is in the car.

Outside of the car, though, there are still strategic decisions to be made that can make all the difference to a drivers performance during qualifying.

The three sessions of qualifying get shorter as they get more important, so the window of opportunity to squeeze in a fast lap is smaller the nearer you get to the top ten. During the first session, there are twenty minutes to choose when to set a lap time. Most drivers will head out of the garage to get at least one time on the board. For those cars that are on the pace, this will usually be enough to guarantee them a place in the next round, but the chances are they will set another lap nearer the end of the session.

The plus side to waiting towards the end of the session, is that the more cars that have been out on track, the more rubber is down on the circuit and the faster the lap times will be. However, if you wait until the dying moments of the session to post your only time of the day, you are running the risk of making a mistake and being knocked out.

The other problem occurs with traffic. It's all very well waiting until the last few minutes to put in your flying lap, but if every other driver is doing the same thing, then it gets pretty crowded out on track. Although a driver will try his best not to get in the way of another, for fear of penalty, it does happen, and the more traffic that is out there, the more chance of a lap being ruined. As each session passes by, there are less cars out on track, and therefore less traffic, but of course, there are less minutes to get your lap completed in.

Patterns we are starting to see in F1 include Force India heading out early in any sessions they are in (they usually don't make it out of Q1), whilst BMW will always wait as long as possible before leaving the garages. They quite often bypass the banker laps, as well, which is taking quite a risk.

Next time you sit down and watch qualifying, take a look at who comes out when and see if you can spot any patterns.

Fantasy Racers Reminder - Malaysia

It's not too late to sign up to the Sidepodcast league. Last year, many teams joined mid-way through the season, and plenty of them still managed to beat me. If you want to do so, head on over to Fantasy Racers to set up your team, and you can find joining details for the league here.

Of course, this time round, I'm taking it much more seriously and choosing my driver lineup properly, so you will have a harder time beating me. At the moment, I'm top of the league!! Alright, it's only after one race, and yes, 13 other people got the exact same score as me and I'm only first because I was the earliest top team to sign up to the league. Whatever. I'm still top, and that's all that matters.

So, let me run through what I've done for this weekend in Malaysia. Last week, my lineup was Sutil, Button, Webber, Rosberg, Barrichello and Glock.

Initially, I wanted to get rid of Webber, because let's be honest, he is just too unlucky. I swapped him out for Jarno Trulli, thinking I would like to have a Toyota driver in there. However, I forgot that I already had Glock, so I decided to stick with the Italian and drop the German. Having seen slightly improved performance from the Ferrari boys, I wanted one of those, and decided on Raikkonen rather than Massa. Thinking about it now, that probably wasn't such a great idea as his KERS device clearly isn't stable, and he may be a little on edge now that he's had a cockpit full of smoke. Anyway, I plumped for Kimi, sacrificing Sutil so that I could afford the Finn.

I was left with 1.6m to spend, and an overal team total of 49 - which isn't a bad profit in just a week. However, I know this is all about the Brawn drivers, and I need them to continue doing well.

Don't forget to create your team, if you haven't already, and update your team if you've got one set up. The deadline is 5pm UK time (which is GMT+1 at the moment). Let us know who you're choosing, or if you're staying with the same lineup as before. Strategies are even more important now the driver prices are changing, so I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Qualifying Strategy - Fuel Loads

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

Formula 1 is all about a driver going as fast as he possibly can, with the equipment supplied to him by his team. However, on a race weekend, strategy plays an important part as well. One big element of strategy falls on the Saturday, if a driver gets into the third session of qualifying.

Anyone getting through to the top ten then has to complete the third session with the fuel load they will start the race with. This becomes the ultimate strategy choice.

If you go into qualifying with a light fuel load, you will (hopefully) be super quick and start far up the grid, maybe even from pole position. On race day, assuming you can keep your position, you will be able to scamper away at the front, and pull out a good lead for your first pit stop. However, this pit stop will come a lot earlier than the other drivers, and they will benefit from more rubber on the track as the conditions improve.

The other option is to fuel heavier in qualifying. You will most likely not get pole position, and will qualify somewhere down in the top ten. However, as the race goes on, the drivers in front of you will pit and fall behind, leaving you at the front. You will, by that time, be light, on good tyres and a good track. The possibility is there to put in a couple of fantastic laps, and pull out enough of a lead to jump your nearest rival when you come out of the pit lane.

Of course, none of this is taking into account any unexpected overtaking, weather conditions, or safety car conditions, and it’s these variables that make races so exciting. However, on paper, this is the choice that drivers are faced with each race weekend. Some drivers prefer one strategy over another, sometimes one is a better strategy at a particular circuit. Whether a team gives their top scoring driver the choice, or if they are given the better strategy automatically is a closely guarded secret, but it can often make the difference in a race.

There are people that don’t like this added element of qualifying, as you can’t tell who is purely the fastest driver on the day. It does mix things up a bit, though, and we can often see a starting grid we weren’t expecting.

Where Tyres Fear to Tread

Of all the elements that go into a successful race campaign – driver, pit crew, engineers, aerodynamics, engines – the tyres are way up there with the most important. If your tyres aren’t working, you’re not going to get anywhere. We’ve seen drivers struggle because they stayed out too long, or because they’re suffering some serious graining, or even chunking.

However, if the car is hooked up and the tyres are working well, you can speed to an easy victory. As one of the most important components of a race strategy, it therefore follows that they are key to spicing up the action. Or so Bridgestone think.

At the moment, Bridgestone bring two compounds to each race, adjacent selections from the super-soft, soft, medium and hard tyres. This is only true of dry tyres, by the way, and that's all we're discussing here. A wet race demands enough strategy issues of it's own that we won't get into here.

Selecting two neighbouring compounds means the difference isn't all that startling, and although we can just about tell the difference between a soft, single lap tyre compared to a hard, go longer tyre, it's nothing to write home about. It doesn't make the drivers rethink their strategies too much, in fact we've only had one major decision based on tyres this year (Hamilton in Turkey).

Now, Bridgestone are suggesting that for 2009, they might try selecting compounds two steps apart. So, for instance, they might turn up to Monaco with super-softs and medium tyres. This apparently, like I said earlier, is the key to spicing up the action.

Let’s all issue a collective groan right now.

There are four different parts to this story.

The End of the Last Great Tyre War

Since Michelin departed from the sport, there has been less mention of the word Bridgestone. Previously, it was always Bridgestone this, and Michelin that, and it was fascinating to watch the pair go at it on a race weekend. Now, as a single supplier series, how often does the name actually get mentioned? We talk about tyres incessantly, but does it really matter who makes them? Not much. Ever desperate to get a mention, perhaps this is their way of reaching the headlines.

Slicks

Next year, teams will be using slick tyres. For me, this is enough of a change to need at least a year before making any more adjustments. I’ve never seen slicks in action, and I want to know what all the fuss is about. If you go around changing other bits and pieces as well, it means I can’t get the whole story. The first thing they teach you in science class? Change one thing at a time.

Tyre warmers

Bridgestone lost the argument regarding the tyre warmers ban, and they’re probably still smarting from that. Changing compounds is the only thing they really have control over, and it’s no wonder they want to exert that power.

Strategy

Bridgestone themselves admit that if they take it too far, then all strategy variances will disappear. If the difference between compounds is too wide, there will be one clear way to win the race, and all the teams will choose that path. You’ll see pit stops at the same time, and similar lap times, and it would actually have an adverse effect on the action. There’s a fine line, which must be difficult for Bridgestone to balance on, and adjusting this is not going to be easy.

It's Just an Idea

The last one is the most important, because the proposed claims are most likely going to end up one of those things that is tried out, doesn’t work, and is then retracted. I can only hope that it remains a proposal. Of all the things wrong with F1 right now, are tyres really a priority?

F1 Digest - Turkey Qualifying

• Length: 10:55 
• Size: 10.1 MB 
• File: digest19.mp3 
• Transcript: digest19.pdf 
• Torrent: digest19.torrent 

With the weather conditions changeable, it was bound to be an unpredictable qualifying session. Find out what happened in today's F1 Digest.

Free Practice 3

A mixed up session with Webber and Coulthard dominating and the Ferrari boys struggling somewhat.

Qualifying

A couple of shock early exits, and Kovalainen beats his teammate to join Massa on the front row.

Conclusions

Some insights into team practice, with two bad tyre choices, a rant from Bourdais, and one half of Williams not getting his fair share.