Selection box - Goodbyes in front and behind the mic - Some heartfelt thoughts plus a new podcast on the block
Published by Christine
Although there's a championship up for grabs and things will very much go down to the wire, there's still a huge feeling of Formula One winding down and getting ready for a winter hibernation. Some drivers are looking to their next move for 2015, others are waiting to hear if they're going to get a seat. Teams are starting to debate the rules and regulations for next year, and of course we still don't really know how many of them will be appearing on the grid. It's not just the teams, either, the media are also making changes.
I found this a fascinating post from Will Buxton, who is quitting his role as lead commentator for GP2 and GP3 at the end of the year to focus on his F1 work. It covers some of his previous experiences that I hadn't realised, but also looks at the similarities between what the drivers do out on track and what the media do behind the scenes.
Just as every GP2 and GP3 driver hopes that his or her exploits in the championships will lead to a full-time ride in F1, so my commentary in the feeder series led to my being picked up as a Formula 1 pit reporter, first for SPEED in the USA and now with NBCSN. My work in America has increased over the years to the point where I feel I am no longer able to divide my time effectively between three championships.
Talking of F1 in the US, there's nothing I like more than an on the ground report from one of the races, and this one is stacked full of pictures, thoughts on the track positioning and layout, plus the overall response to the event itself.
The cars flood out of the pitlane for FP1 and the lack of entries is immediately apparent. F1 misses Caterham and Marussia. What the future holds for these teams remains finely held in the balance but 18 cars is not enough to make a track of this size look anything other than sparsely populated. It’s sad and one can only hope that the powers-that-be grasp the impact of this sorry state of affairs and put in place a framework which permits a 24 car grid once again.
A new entrant in the podcasting game, Bored Bernie gets behind the microphone to ponder some of the current Formula One news and events, including what's going on at Sauber, plus some predictions for Brazil (see if he was right!)
Marcus Ericsson has signed with Sauber, the same as two other people, so they will have a three car team next year. Or maybe not, because Sutil is not on the team but he still thinks so himself. We'll see how that pans out. That's all good for Marcus Ericsson unless the team folds before the season starts and all the money is lost in the wind before entering the wind tunnel.
The Sky Sports F1 team did nothing but talk about three car teams over the course of the Brazilian GP weekend. Nothing. Although three-car teams are a topic of conversation, they're only a small part of what is a vastly bigger picture. Joe Saward has taken a stab at teasing out the salient points and gathering them together, in a post with a title that makes me sad.
Back in September Adam Parr, the former boss of the Williams F1 team, tweeted that Formula 1 was on the verge of change and that “this is the last year of F1 as we know it. In 2015 eight teams will contest the championship, with several teams entering three cars”. Parr is a man with a grudge, but he’s also well-connected and so the suggestion needed to be taken (vaguely) seriously.
Finally, to brighten things up again, as mentioned in Bored Bernie's first episode, it's been a while since Pastor Maldonado has crashed. Actually, at the time of writing it was 55 days ago. There's a way to know exactly how long, down to the very second, by visiting the next link. One of those single purpose websites that does what it says on the tin. And hey, way to go Pastor! Nearly two months without a crash!
Nope. The world is safe for another day. He last crashed 55 days, 1 hours, 15 minutes and 44 seconds ago.
