Hello all. Have you recovered from the finale of the championship season yet? Ready for the off-season? Good, because after the craziness that was end of the season, we haven't even had a chance to rest yet.
Testing Times...
That's because even though most of the F1 personnel are heading home, the teams have stayed behind in Abu Dhabi for Young Driver testing... which started yesterday and the Sidepodcast community has all the info you need to see who's hot and who has a big wallet...
Firstly, check out the drivers on show these couple of days, from A-M and N-Z. Then check out the results from Day 1 from Sidepodcast and Leigh's site, then finally head over to the breakout thread for info and commentary on the action...
The News and Stuff
But there has been a big announcement today! One which many people have been expecting since 2006, and it's got everyone talking and waiting in anticipation for the big event next summer...
...That's right, a Summer 2011 release has been announced for Cars 2 and an HD trailer has been released on YouTube. Oh, and some famous guy is getting married or something ;)
In Hispania Moda news... no, the team hasn't gone bankrupt (yet). But Toyota announced today that they have terminated their partnership with the team, which involved HRT modifying the Stillborn TF110 car. Apparently the reason was due to lack of money. Really? Should we even be surprised? I checked around some of the F1 blogs, with RichardsF1 having a great conspiracy theory, ScarbsF1 looking at the options HRT have, and finally Adam Cooper wonders if they have any options at all.
Personally I can't see how they are going to make the grid next year with such limited resources - remember they have to modify the 2010 car to adapt to a Williams gearbox and no double diffuser. So things aren't looking good for them right now!
Some Red Bull stuff now: DC "the Red Bull apologist" reckons everything is sweet and lovely between BFF's Vettel and Webber, while Adam Hay-Nicholls reckons the team has lost its' mojo lately. The bosses has been talking a load of Mateschitz about the team too - even trying to suggest that Vettel's actions in Hungary were to help the team. Yeah right. That's like the flukey shot that goes in that you "meant to hit like that". Sure ;)
Who would have thought when we chuckled at this video how things would turn out, eh?
From the comments...
Speaking of fun and games... look what happened to Nico Rosberg's passport! And check out Sebastian Vettel's attempt to recreate the F1-2010 cover. Come on guys, this is getting silly now ;)
Here's a few more funny videos for you:
Jon Waldock linked to a video via Facebook where Brian Blessed talks about being the voice of Sat Nav. ONCE MORE UNTO THE BREACH, DEAR PASSENGERS!
Bassano linked to a funny parody of the Masterchef 2010 final - Mmm... gotta love those dishes!
Lukeh linked to a clip from Craig Ferguson of the Late Late Late Late Show where he talks about his love for the scary Daleks, and their apparent flaws...
...and Lukeh also took a pic of a supermarket freezer for his mum, which I am linking to because it has the most awesome sounding dessert I have ever seen: STRAWBERRY TRIFLE CHEESCAKE!!! That's like Trifle... and Cheescake, COMBINED!!!
Couple of blog posts for you now. Alex has made a great mashup of Mr.C, Joe Saward and Christine explaining the Lotus Renault Renault Lotus Lotus situation. There, it's all clear to me now ;)
Missing the Factbyte Factbox? Never fear, Christine has blogged that there are non-F1 events planned for the FBFB treatment in future! w00t!
We have our 50th writer at Sidepodcast! And I can tell you it's a cracker of a post written by Neil Denham about his experience watching the Brazilian Grand Prix at the Williams factory. It's well worth a read and if you haven't written a guest post yet, why not? It's easy and it's great fun ;)
Steven found an article about 'Moon Tyres' which don't need air. Pirelli should look into these!
Dan Brunell wrote his F1 2010 season review and he's not a happy chappy!
Lukeh's 2010 F1 TOATA awards are coming... but while you wait, check out the 2009 edition :)
Finally Mr. C has been playing with a new bit.ly feature that looks interesting: bundles. But can you bundle bundles? Recursion is the awesomeness!
So that's all from me. Have fun, enjoy the testing, and see you in the comments!