Oops. This is the latest a Daily post has gone up. I'm still sulking that Franck didn't win, but hopefully I'll have cheered up by the time we get podcasting. So let's take a look at what's happening in F1 instead:
- Mosley has hit back at FOTA, despite having to give in to their demands to not change the points system. Regarding the furore over budget caps, he reckons their response was weak, as he has been discussing with the teams. This is just the start, isn't it?
- Meanwhile, Brawn GP have played down their chances of success, saying there is still a lot of work to do. He said that the testing work was all about reliability and trying to understand the car, so racing will be an entirely different thing.
- I missed this news during the week, but Goodwood Festival of Speed was officially launched, and the theme this year is "True Grit – Epic Feats of Endurance." I wonder if that means any Le Mans 24 Hours drivers might make an appearance.
That's it for today. As mentioned above, a live thread for the show should be along later today, and there's much podcasting goodness to come. Until then, I'll see you in the comments.
Bernie Ecclestone and DC were on BBC Radio 5 Live's Sportsweek programme today. You can download it as a podcast...
Right... Just listened to it.
Here are some highlights:
1. Bernie is adamant that the budget cap and 'Winner takes all' rules will be in place for 2010 as they will be part of the rules presented to entrants.
2. Bernie was asked that if we had another 2004 would it not make a mockery of the sport? He replied that it wouldn't as people would still be trying to race to win even when the championship was decided. He also added that Lewis finished second in a couple of races last year when he could have gone for the win - and the new system would allow for that.
2. Bernie said that he didn't know who was for or against "Winner takes all" but he added that even if he did, he wouldn't say.
3. Bernie wants a 26-car grid and seemed to have some knowledge of new teams waiting in the wings as a engine supplier was having to make extra orders for 2010.
4. Bernie was asked about Lewis Hamilton's chances of retaining the title. He didn't think testing was a good indication of pace and seemed to think McLaren were on top of the problems and his parting shot was that "Winner takes all" would favour Hamilton this year :-)
5. DC was asked what he thought of "Winner takes all". He said that as a driver it didn't change much and his only concern as a pundit would be how to explain it to the fans. He sat on the fence a little bit but was concerned that it would be difficult to explain if the champion didn't score the most points. He used the premiership as an example of a sport that continues even if the champion is decided before the end of a season.
6. DC used the Jerez test where everyone turned up as a direct comparison of Pace. He seemed to think the Brawn pace was kosher and they were quite fast, Mclaren would struggle and Ferrari were consistently fast.
7. The journalist in the studio (Owen Slot) was asked what he thought (the host Garry Richardson thinks it's nonsense) and he replied that you could ask whoever you want, but Bernie runs F1 as an autocracy so it didn't matter. He did add that an early champion would kill off the season.
It's interesting how Bernie responded to the questions. He is starting to sound a little deluded in interviews - when Garry Richardson asked him about an early end to the championship, he was adamant people would still tune in and the drivers would still race to win. I am not sure this would be the case.
DC was also interesting. He definitely had his pundit hat on as he was sitting on the fence a lot. I get the feeling that 'DC the driver' would have wanted to kick four shades of Gonda out of the idea - I hope the BBC don't muzzle him too much now!
Finally the journalist in the studio was very cynical but I thought he made some good points. We all want to see the championship decided at the end as it benefits everyone - and what surprises me is that Bernie can't seem to see that?
Well, they'd race for the win for the points it would give them for the Constructors. But since the Champion has already been declared, the number of wins for the rest would be pretty much useless except for its value in points.
What part of "deliberations with the teams" does he not understand?
He doesn't have to deliberate with them. When the teams are presented with a 2010 entry form, it'll have the new rules on it. Bernie will then just tell the teams it's his way or the highway.
If FOTA stay united, there's no way he can do that. He can't afford to lose 10 teams, including Ferrari.
Full page artical in The Mail on Sunday, saying that Ferrari and Renault are to lodge complaints with FIA over Brawn GP, Toyota and Williams rear diffusers. I thought that was all done with a couple of weeks ago.
Bugger. Can I repost my summary of the 5Live interview there?
We should be able to move it across. Give us a few minutes.
Uh-oh... Ferrari are complainants? I wouldn't have been too worried if it were just Renault, but now...
Many thanks. If you guys get a chance, it's worth listening to the interview :-)
Will try and do so. Should also be on the right thread now :)
FIA say that the diffuser is legal, however if someone questions that legality at Melbourne then it's down to the stewards on the day, and we know what FIA stewards are like, don't we.....
But there's Article 5 - for this kind of rule to pass, it has to go through the Sporting Working Group first, who are composed from representatives of the different teams. Therefore, deliberation will indeed be needed.
If Ferrari are complaining then (a) their diffuser is rubbish and (b) the diffusers being complained about will be banned :-(
Yup, and we've even had occasions where the FIA appealed AGAINST the stewards, so who knows how this will end up...
My guess - it will end up like the flexible floors. Clarifications will be issued - probably post-Malaysia (since it's a back-to-back), and the teams will have to modify by Bahrain.
(a) I don't think their diffuser is rubbish - they're in the top 2 or 3 on pace right now. It's just that... well, they'd probably be well ahead of the pack if it weren't for Brawn. I guess they don't like getting beaten by a guy that they fired, running someone else's engines because they decided not to provide their own.
(b) Yup, that's my fear, and probably everyone else's too. This will be FOTA's first big test of unity.
I don't think Ferrari's diffuser is rubbish either - it was a figure of speech to express that Ferrari complain to the stewards when they see another team do something innovative that they can't catch up to quickly ;-)
Hey J-damper, are you going to be on the panel tonight?
J-damper, what a name. :P 9 PM, right? Hmmm... If I wake up for it, sure. It would be 5 AM my time. We'll see... :)
9PM GMT. Debrief prior at 7PM...
Yup, 5 AM alright. Probably won't make it to the Debrief, I'll try to make it to the Panel, though. Waking up at 5 AM should be manageable... :)
I have to that on workdays :-(
Awww... I'm at the office by 5 AM GMT - I work on a somewhat European timezone. The wonders of outsourcing, indeed.
I suspected you did something like that if you are available for the panels on a Monday morning ;-)
Heh. Yup - must explain why I don't mind working European timezones at all. For a country that's in love with American culture, I have more... European leanings.
Ah of course - you're in the Philippines right? Are there still a lot of American troops over there?
Yep, in the Philippines. American troops - well, technically, they're not based here anymore - the Pinatubo explosion of 1991 destroyed their bases. But we have a Visiting Forces Agreement with them, so there's always a number of soldiers here at any given time for war games and jungle training. All in the name of aid and debt relief.
I remember Pinatubo - wow, what an eruption :-(
In NZ the Americans have a base in Christchurch, but it's mostly as a pitstop for Antarctica operations. A very low-key prescence. There are some NATO bases in Denmark but I don't think there are many Americans (troops).
Yup - it ruined crops in a hundred-mile radius. It pretty much ended our self-reliance when it came to rice.
Most of the US troops are somewhere in Mindanao - it's rumored that they're helping out fight the Muslim insurgents in the South.
What would totally destory everything in FIA is if in the same year that Bernie brings out his stupid medal system the same 17 drivers (or how many races their actually are that season) have identical records, bar say, the two Ferrari drivers and Hamilton, who are all goose-egged.
Bernie would have fits. The 3 most popular drivers fail to score anything, and there is nothing to judge from the other 17 drivers as they ewach would have one win for gold each; one 2nd for silver; one 3rd for bronze; one 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th.....
How can you possibly choose a champion under a mess like that?
And to those who think that this idea would never work, I can not figure out who would have won the drivers championship in 1982 under Bernie's winner take all system as Pironi, Waston, Prost, Lauda and Arnoux all won twice that year.
Heck, we can not even use Christine's bias towards French drivers because both Prost and Arnoux are French, and got the same number of Podiums (4) and Poles (5)!
Thankfully, the championship was decided on points by Rosberg, who only won once that year.
Mr C, Christine, I'm on Skype now and I've added you up. You can reach me there for tonight's panel - assuming I'm around, of course. :)
Excellent, thanks Journeyer :)
You're welcome. :)
Awesome!!!
There are only 12 franchise slots. I guess that means they are tearing up that stupid rule
Yep, looks like it, indeed. :)
So why did we get the 10-8-6 system with the reduced gap between first and second place. Maybe he has gone senile.
To ensure we don't get runaway championships... ;)
and bloomin' heck hasn't it worked?
Let's see...
2003 - Yes
2004 - No; Ferrari ran away with it anyway
2005 - Yes, but then I don't think it would've been any closer under the old system. Bernie's system would've helped Kimi a lot that year.
2006 - Yes
2007 - Yes
2008 - Yes
I do believe there is a clause in the Sporting Regs that says "if all wins/2nd etc places are equal, then the FIA chooses the most suitable winner" or something like that
lol
There is a rule which someone quoted here las week that gives the FIA the right to create a system to decide the champion after the season is over.
Im just having a look at the sporting regs, they havent changed it, it still says wins win the championship
Bernie wants a 26 car grid?
Didn't he say we could afford to lose a team or two?
"6.1 The Formula One World Championship driver's title will be awarded to the driver who has been classified first in the greatest number of races, all official results from the Championship season being taken into account. Points will be awarded to all drivers in accordance with Article 6.4 below and, in the event that two or more drivers win an equal number of races, the driver with the greatest number of points will be awarded the driver’s title.
Points will be used to establish the remaining overall Championship standings."
Afternon btw. :D
ha!
A lot of written regs are out of date. In one of Alianora's blog posts listing changes to regs she found a section saying that the overall widt of the car would be reduced by 200mm for this season. That change actually happened in 1998.
Under what grounds although, when there are 17 indential results? 1 win, 1 2nd, 1 3rd, 1 4th, 1 5th......1 17th place for 17 drivers and 3 drivers who are goosed egged ( O points)
Your right, they will pick a goose-egged Ferrari driver. Proability Massa....
"7.2 If two or more constructors or drivers finish the season with the same number of points, the higher place in the Championship (in either case) shall be awarded to :
a) the holder of the greatest number of first places,
b) if the number of first places is the same, the holder of the greatest number of second places,
c) if the number of second places is the same, the holder of the greatest number of third places and so on until a winner emerges.
d) if this procedure fails to produce a result, the FIA will nominate the winner according to such criteria
as it thinks fit.""
thats the rule we were talking about, pure genius on the part of the FIA i think
Cars have arrived.... are these just the ones on Bernie's Plane or all of them?
Via tweet from f1_fans on Twitter:
F1 cars arriving at Albert Park - youtube clip from Sports Tonight http://is.gd/ooFT (via @amyfulton)
I love how all you can see is the wheels
Not genius on the part of the FIA, Once Bernie came up with the medal idea, they had to address the problem of who won the 1982 championship under Bernie's rules, didn't they? Not surprized the the criteria that the FIA used to determine the winner was the shade of red of the car....
I have a feeling the cars that we see will be very different from those in testing...
Probably
Race them as they are. Formula Box.
Autocourse that year decided not to give a driver the #1 status in their top 10 rankings because of all that happened...
The new cars look really boxy when you see them close up like that.
looks like bmw and ferrari.
:D
I definitely heard him right ... he said that more teams are wanting to enter and he wants 26 cars. What he doesn't want is a return of pre-qualifying...
Fairly sure Max has made similar noises lately, I think it was in his press release on the day of the FIA announcement.
I think Max said he did want it, not sure why though, he goes on about saving costs and you get a team flying out for loads of cost and no point
Found this on Autosport from Bernie
"I want to see pre-qualifying again. I want 26 people on the grid, of which 16 are competitive."
Max and Bernie disagreeing? Who'da thunk it??? ;-)
Hold on... I'll listen again then. BRB.
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/73762
Question.... If Vettel is Der Seb and Bourdais is Le Seb what wousl Buemi be??
Das Boot?
I have no doubt you heard him right. It is typical of his inability to think strategically.
I amde a similar comment to this on Joe Saward's blog so apologies to anyone who read it before.
The way Bernie and his boy Max run F1 is like a driver reacting to a car in a tail slide. They constantly over-correct and stick the tail out in the opposite direction. This applies to every aspect of their incompetence.
Points system
9-6-4 was changed to 10-6-4 to create more difference between first and second
10-6-4 was changed to 10-8-6 to create less difference bteween first and second
10-8-6 changed to wins only.
Type of teams
First they aggressively recruit manufacturers and drive out privateers
Now they are trying t recruit privateers and give them a built in advantage against the manufacturers
Technical regs
Grooved tyres introduced because more aero grip in relation to mechanical grip will give us more overtaking.
Slick tyres and reduced aero introduced because more mechanical grip in relation to aero will give us better racing.
There are plenty of other examples but what these show is that Bernie and Max haven't a clue where they are going. All they are doing is hanging on while the tail gets further and further out of line. There is only one possible conclusion that occurs when a driver corrects and over-corrects a tail slide. BANG, CRASH, WALLOP.
OK... here is a quick and dirty transcript:
GR: With the budget cap [in 2010] How many teams do you think you can accomodate on the grid? More maybe?
BE: Yeah I'm hoping we can get 26 cars. That's how it used to be, 26 cars.
GR: Sure. So who's sort of waiting in the wings to sort of join...
BE: ...Quite a few, I think one of the engine manufacturers have got 4 ... orders already. The problem's going to be... the thing that concerns me a little bit, is that it disturbs things a bit - there'll be pre-qualifying.
I took that to mean he would not be keen on Pre-qualifying... Would you guys think that too or have I put 2 and 2 together and made 5?
The other Seb? or is that Loeb?
Basically your examples show a lack of proper thought and process when changes are made ... Not only are there too many changes but we keep seeing seismic shifts rather than minor corrections. :-(
I would take that to mean that too...maybe he just can't make his own mind up...
It is like I have said for years. The people who run F1 don't know anything about driving
Mr. Potato. Head.
:D
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/73840
This is a much better summary of Mr. Ecclestone's interview earlier...
Heres a question...why do the teams not get any input into the rules that get bought in?!
Because we wouldn't want sensible change, now would we?
toucheé
its the opposite of Barack Obama...."the fia...change you can't believe in"
sidepodshoutout on radiolemans:
thanks to gavin for that one. we'll likely play it on this evenings show too :)
There's only one, Gavin Brown!!!
Afternoon all btw.
wooooot!!! :D
Cheers guys :-)
RG - how was footy? The Spurs did allright yesterday eh?
Not to bad, not to bad. Always fun to beat Chelski ;)
Didn't have a match today, it was meant to Wednesday but now next Wednesday.
heh, nicely done.
Round 2 of the NASA mission cup
http://mission-madness.nasa.gov/mm/bracket.html
But you can't vote till tomorrow. How stupid is that? Is Max running NASA?
Can you only vote for one mission or one in each head to head?
I don't know how often you cn vote or how many missions. I have decided to vote for a different mission in each round. Started off with Apollo 11 the first moon landing. This round I am going for Apollo 8 which was the first to orbit the moon and was responsible for the Earth rise picture.
Of course if NASA had been sensible enough to include Apollo 15 I would have voted for it all the way through.
Good choices, all three of them.
Talking of voting, the Best Looking Driver Poll is now closed.
http://www.sidepodcast.com/2009/03/22/and-the-best-looking-f1-driver-in-2009-is/
Well I'd vote for his wife being best looking F1 WAG...
Dinner time now. See you for the debrief and panel ;-)
Good news! One may be getting a sidepodcast mug soon. Insert the inevitable 'about time' comments right about now.
Jenson’s girl: Jessica Michibata ? ? ?
Should be hearts, worked in preview
Evening all.
Is there a sidepodcast shop then?
There's been one for quite a while I think
BBC Red Button schedule for this week looks like thus:
Friday 27th March 2009
1.25-3.05 - 302 - Formula One: Practice One
5.25-7.05 - 302 - Formula One: Practice Two
Saturday 28th March 2009
2.55-4.05 - 302 - Formula One: Practice Three
4.05-5.00 - 302 - Formula One News
5.00-7.15 - 302 - Formula One: Qualifying
7.15-9.30 - 302 - Formula One: Qualifying
Sunday 29th March 2009
4.00-6.00 - 301 - Formula One (Quali Rerun)
6.00-9.00 - 301 - Formula One (Audio and video options)
6.00-10.00 - 302 - Formula One (Rolling Highlights)
9.00-10.00 - 301 - Formula One (Forum analysis)
10.00-15.00 - 301 - Formula One (Rolling Highlights)
14.00-15.00 - 302 - Moto GP (Official test)
15.00-19.00 - 301 - Formula One (Rolling Highlights)
19.00-22.00 - 301 - Formula One (Rolling Highlights)
Looks like onboard cameras will be certain for qualifying. Wonder what 'Formula One News' will be like as well?
There is but we do not promote it because we set it up ages ago (when we had about 4 listeners) and it features all the old logos and everything.
Yay we get to see FP3 <3
Ah, okay, No doubt I'll hear about it when it's all updated :)
Is it only on the Red Button? Is it on proper tv too? My freeview plays up at the most inconvienient times.
I'm sure it'll be live on BBC1 too, well the race and quali anyway
Looks like I'll have to re-think sleep on Saturday then.
Strangely enough, It's kinda annoying this weekend has been moved to a later time. It means I can't watch FP2, probably not FP1, and am gonna miss Murray's forum thingy.
I didn't mind getting up early for just this one race. It made the season opener a little more special. At least we don't have to do it all the time...
Qualifying, the race and a couple of re-runs on BBC1. The rest on the red button and online.
The site says every single on track session will be available on the red button or online http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/7755219.stm I don't see the tv mentioned though,
Saturday 28th March
Qualifying - 5:00 - 7:15 - BBC One
Qualifying Re-run - 13:00 - 14:15 - BBC One
Sunday 29th March
Race - 6:00 - 9:00 - BBC One
Race Re-run - 13:00 - 15:00 - BBC One
Highlights - 19:00 - 20:00 - BBC Three
Is the Highlights the same as the ones before? or a proper show? It seems awefully early for a track highlights show
The one on BBC3 is probably a proper show. Not sure what the rolling highlights on the red button will be?
Sky Box office's rolling highlights are the entrie broadcast shown again, and these oens are 3 hours like the actual main broadcast, so I'm assuming it'll be the live show rolling over and over
On the times I get bored during Sky Sports football matches, they have that on the interactive button, just generally good points from the match to that point. Probably of incidents or overtaking etc
But it's even on during the race?
Say you miss the start as you sleep in, basically you turn that on and it will show you the big stuff you have missed.
Hmm, true. I guess we'll find out next weekend what they are :P
Is not Buemi Swiss? And is not Italian Spoken in major parts of of that country? Why not "il Seb"?
Of course, if he stinks we can call him "Das Seb", in the sence that he is gutless.... :P ...
Swiss German, French & Italian are all spoken
The Italian part is fairly small but he is from the French speaking part.
The French gender modifier was taken by Bourdais and they do not have one for neutral genders. German does (Das) but we do not yet know whether or not not it will be fitting.
Sorry, pick of a bad lot. All the other puppeis where taken so Buemi gets the runt of the litter. if he is good then "il Seb", if he stinks "Das Seb"... Makes sence to me.