Oh hello again friends. It would appear that Friday has come round once more so I should really introduce today's daily despite the knowledge we are entering the final F1 weekend of the season! Boo! Although I am secretly pleased, because I feel like I could do with a break from F1 and the off-season is a lot of fun here. Nevertheless, make sure you read the always reliable Race Information thread to get to grips with the times for the Abu Dhabi GP, and once you've done that, make sure you read some of my links for today!
Paddock News
A Dhabi Match Like No Other - Joe has been spending his time studying the battle for the World Championship which comes to a dramatic end this weekend and the participants involved. There's been a huge amount of discussion here on Sidepodcast about the power struggle of drivers at red Bull and I think this weekend should be very interesting as to how things play out. As I said on the recent F1 Debrief, my heart wants Webber to win it but my mind thinks Alonso will pip him to the title.
Marushing To The Bank - It would seem that the Virgin Racing team are starting their evolution as a F1 team out of their new opening stages with a new title sponsor in Marussia. This is nothing new - there was much confusion before the season if their name was going to be Marussia Virgin Racing - but the team simply had the Russian brand as a sponsor. Now it would seem their intentions are evolving, with other reports suggesting Marussia's president eventually wants to make it a Russian F1 team. Maybe they will be called Sputnik F1. A man can hope.
Lotus Are Bringing Sexy Back, Again - I thought this came as a nice little surprise, as Lotus (Team Fernandes Lotus, not Team Team Lotus. The Team in f1 Lotus. Not the not Lotus team not in f1 now but with Renault next year Lotus.....not?) announed their intention to switch their livery in 2011 and beyond to the classic John Player Special livery that so famously became a part of their history with Senna, Fittipaldi and more. It's a lovely livery and it's also intriguing I found how a livery sponsoring a cigarette brand has evolved into an iconic design.
Saying Goodbye to Holly - Whilst the previous example is a lovely surprise, this one is not to much. During his interview with Ted Kravitz yesterday Sebastian Vettel said he needed to say his goodbyes to Holly, which turned out to be the unexpected news that Ms Samos was sadly leaving the BBCF1 5 Live team for pastures new. We bumped into her a few times at Goodwood Festival of Speed and she's a lovely, lovely woman who's always cheerful so it's such a shame but I speak for everyone when we wish her the best of luck away from F1 following this weekend.
There Is No Heading I Could Use To Describe This - Hahahahahahahahaha. Aww. Hehehe.
Elsewhere...
A Day at the Races - Nick has begun a mini-series here on Sidepodcast in which he reports back to us his various trips to the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi for the F1 weekend beginning with his trip down the pitlane and a press conference with a certain Scuderia duo. There's some fantastic photos in there from Nick as he recaps his day so make sure you go check that out then come back later today for today's installment of Day 2 at Abu Dhabi!
Telling The Tale of Photos And Beyond - Despite being the dreaded Thursday, yesterday was clearly a very productive day blogging-wise for Lou as we got two blog posts recapping his life so far as university and the projects involved. The first is an interesting explainantion and showcase of her first three opening mini-projects including her photography submitted for these pieces and it's worth reading that alone but you can't just finish there, there's more! Soon after this Lou's productivity published a blog post including the awesome Pierre and her project entitled Mission Impossible?. I know first hand how mjuch of an effort she went into creating these pieces for uni and it's well worth a read in both entries just to see what she has been up to over the past few months.
Never Forget Those Who Should be Remembered - Every so often I seem to read a beautifully written blog entry from wherever on a certain subject and RG has put together a wonderful piece on goalkeeper Robert Enke who's death was marked by it's first year anniversary earlier in the week. Enke was a highly admired talent in german football and his death came as a huge, huge shock to football fans as well as being very sad news and I could give RG no justice in justifying how well done his piece is on Enke's life and career, so make sure it gets the attention it deserves and we have a wonderful blog post remembering a good man.
I've Always Liked Turkey. Yummy food, good circuit. - I couldn't ignore this post from Turkey Machine, just because I love how simply lovely it is. TM gave what can surely be described as a hug in words to everyone who frequents Sidepodcast with this lovely guest post and it just makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside how lovely the community is here.
And For Something Slightly Different
Call for Help: It's a Duty.... 2 - This is ridiculous. Quite ridiculous. Even if you're not a big gamer, you will surely know of the Call of Duty series of games. it has very much become quite a pop culture phenomenom in terms of it's popularity, and the newest game in the series was released this past Tuesday to become the most popular entertainment release in absolutely any format of all time, with 5.6 million sales in the first day alone in the US and UK. 5.6 million!!! Absolutely ridiculous. I'm not a big fan of the Call of Duty games, although I love my games I find them mindless boredom simulators, but that is just staggering.
This Week's Daily Listen - I've only taken much notice to this band within the past 2 or 3 weeks since Lou introduced me to them but I'm falling for this album the more I listen to it. The band in question for this week's daily listen whilst I wrote this daily are Mumford & Sons with their album Sigh No More. It's a recent release from earlier in 2010 and such a joyful listen I reckon, and any band who can consecutively pull off good music with a banjo deserves my attention and yours too! They're a very unique sound and I very much do think it's worth checking them out if you haven't yet.
So that's that for another week it would seem. I know our lovely hosts here at Sidepodcast have lots planned to keep us all amused over the off-season so please don't simply disappear once the F1 is done, but instead become involved and say hello in the comments! You won't regret it I promise. In fact, I'll see you there!