F1 Debrief - Longer is better, and pointy is good - All about the recent launches, with our scores for effort, plus testing in Valencia
Published by Christine
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 Räikkönen 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.
Outtakes
- Download episode132outtake.mp3
As we analysed the launches, and paid particular attention to the look and colour of each new car, Mr C couldn't quite decide how he felt about a particular one. Was it lying, or some kind of complete confusion?
Linkage
- Toyota's Farewell Video
- Sidepodcast: F1 2010 Launch Coverage
- Who Are You Anyway: Going ga-ga for a poker face
- F1 Tailpipe: Thoughts on the Day with McLaren
- BlogF1: Renault's Livery Development: 2002-2009
- Sidepodcast: Autosport Magazine to Add Digital Option
- Claire Williams on Twitter
- Formula 1 NYC
- Sidepodcast: Panda Racing 2010
- Sidepodcast Twitter Page
- Sidepodcast Calendar Page
