Morning, Sidepodders, happy Monday! Shall we go over the important things? We saw The Pointy Finger, but the emotional thank-yous were replaced with Vettel's version of the Crazy Frog. According to Adam Hay-Nicholls, it's a Red Bull in-joke. Oh, you meant news we didn't foresee?
There was action at the front of the pack! A faulty KERS unit prevented Vettel from running away and having a holiday. In my opinion, today showed that Vettel's success isn't only because of Adrian Newey's genius. For about the last third of the race, Hamilton had a good view of Vettel's rear wing; Red Bull's darling held him off, despite repeated attacks.
a brilliant race from Vettel. Stayed cool despite dodgy KERS, no errors, held off Hamilton. Sublime.
willbuxton
The pair of them together were going so fast that everyone after fourth place was classified as "+ 1 lap"!
The Mercedes drivers battled it out properly for once. Do Schumi fans out there feel that their predictions of him being back on the pace “next weekend” were justified now? Either way, Britney enjoyed the fight.
Heidfeld was awesome. He started at the back of the grid and fought his way up to seventh. The BBC commentators all thought Hamilton was the man of the race, but I vote for Nicklaus. After all, his beard is cooler than Hamilton's.
We are all sad for Heikki. He defied all expectations and qualified fifteenth, but his race ended in heartbreak.
“@shaaim786: @H_Kovalainen heikki how did u crash ? Cos there were no replays on ur crash” braked too late, off line to marbles, my mistake
Christine has written a fantastic race highlights post.
Colin Kolles has said he'll complain in Monaco if the teams running the off-throttle blown diffuser – all faster than Hispania – haven't changed their set-up. Is Kolles trying to make his team less popular, or just grab a bit of air time? Perhaps he has a high frequency of the 2R and 7R alleles.
I should explain that. Luke Matthews published a paper on a gene that influences risk-taking and seeking new challenges – the DRD4 gene. The 2R and 7R alleles make people more adventurous, while the 4R allele is likely to cause more moderate behaviour. I asked Dr Matthews if there was a high occurrence of the 2R and 7R alleles in racing drivers, since they're risk-takers. He said it was a reasonable hypothesis, but thus far the other work on the gene had focussed on bankers. Any geneticists out there willing to talk drivers into playing the cheek-swab game?
Speaking of genes, shall we move on to mutations in space? The Endeavour took baby squid up to the space station. No, not as pets. They're there to test whether the “good bacteria” in our digestive systems “turn bad” in space – NASA don't want space making astronauts sick. This follows on from a study on salmonella that was sent into space and came back more deadly. It turns out that Health & Safety isn't all silly rules about step-ladders!
Finally, thirty-two photos that someone thought you should have seen before the rapture that was scheduled for Saturday. All I'll say is this – there's one of a firefighter giving oxygen to a kitten.
See you in the comments!
Squid in space sounds like a horror film waiting to happen. Great daily Brij :)
Have you seen these recent posts on sidepodcast.com?
- Daily: 23rd May 2011
- Spain 2011 - Team standings
- Spain 2011 - Driver standings
- Spain 2011 - Race result
- Spain 2011 - Race highlights
Really interesting daily post
I had no idea they had squid up there. I knew they were taking a load of spiders with them.
I love those photos.
I wish they had started screening bankers genes 4 or 5 years ago.
Panda!
and the baby horse and the dolphin with the penguin and the lettuce eating hippos
#sidepodspace
I missed Sunday's spacewalk due to getting to sleep very late on Saturday and the race on Sunday. For the first time since a tool bag floated away a year or two ago something was lost overboard during a spacewalk. This time they were removing covers to access one of the rotary joints that allows the solar panels to track the sun. Each cover has a few bolts that hold it in place. Well one of those bolts floated off today when the astronaut didn't notice it was loose. That's another piece of space debris for someone to track.
Ping: http://sidepodcast.com/post/f1-debrief-i-guess-you-cant-fault-his-enthusiasm
Now to bed.
That is fast editing
Good night
Hello everyone.
I just watched the Spanish Grand Prix.
Something has been bothering me everythime I watch a race this year. Sorry about the rant, but I got to get this off my chest.
DRS, KERS, and the tires are only patches to cover a bigger problems: excessive and stupidly implimented regulations on the part of the FIA. Steven Roy is right... we need to take a wreaking ball to the who thing and start from scratch.
I am not trying to sound contrarian or be a "Debbie downer," but I am not enjoying the racing this year. To behonest I feel that it is a bit NASCAR-ish.
All of this is masking the fact that this year is going to be boring in the area that matters the most: the drivers championship. Vettel running away with it and no-one seems to care.
All the DRS', KERS', and disenigrating tires in the world are not going to change that fact.That's what I find a bit sad. We went from having championships decided by one point (2007,2008) with two teams duking it out till the end to what we have now - a boring championship with a 'entertaining' facade.
I've had my peace.
I think the point most people are making is that Red Bull and Vettel would've been running away with this championship no matter what the rules were. We were long overdue a runaway championship. And for these people, if they're going to get a boring championship, they'd want to be entertained along the way, rather than a repeat of 2002 or 2004, where the title AND the racing was boring if you weren't a Schumi fan.
There was supposed to be a wrecking ball for 2013, but the teams decided not to go through with it. I'm guessing it was be due to cost. Whatever the reason, the sport is afraid to pull the trigger and feels they can just fix whatever is wrong now.
FWIW, today didn't seem anywhere near as NASCAR-y as Turkey. There weren't that many passes for position - and most of the overtaking was done by the Red Bulls in DRS-free zones. The main disappointing factor was there being way too many tyre stops. 2, maybe 3, a race is fine, not 4.
I've always wanted tyres that, in the right hands, can complete an entire race, but not in all cases (as it was in the late 80s and early 90s). Thing is, cars are so similar now that going on a significantly different tyre strategy is rare. If someone can make a set of tyres last all race, everyone else will figure out how to do the same, then you can kiss pitstops goodbye. The teams are just too good for it now. Then all we'll end up with... is a procession.
@Journeyer
I take that point about 2002 and 2004 being boring.
Personally, I wish that usage of DRS, KERS, and tires weren't regulated. If Williams can get another 25 horsepower out of KERS, so be it. If Sauber can get their tires to last throughout a whole race, so be it. If one car can go through Eau Rouge with DRS and one without, so be it.
We need to get some differential performances in the cars that we lost when they holmolograted engines.
We need to unshakle the engineers as much as we need to unshakle the drivers.
I agree on this one, especially with DRS. That said, again, the way F1 has always worked, any advantage is temporary. Everyone will copy it within 3-6 races, and before we know it, speeds are out of control. I honestly think that these very tight regs are one reason why we've done very well safety-wise in F1. They avoid the speeds going too high.
All that said, we got the tightest championships ever (2007, 2008) with homologated engines.
... and I destroy my own argument, ;)
Why was the 2007 and 2008 championship so close then? Was regulation stability or was it something else:?
Fewer teams with bigger budgets? Well sorted tire formula? Pit stops?
:D
I'm not totally sure, either, but I reckon it's a combination of rules stability and driver inexperience. (i.e. no single driver in that two-year period really dominated any given month of GP racing. there were races of dominance, but no similar dominance over extended periods of time)
Mooorning :D
I would agree with KERS and tyres. But not in case of DRS. That would be too dangerous and probably would not make much sense anyway as it would give more less same advantage to everybody negating any advantage and only increase the speeds to dangerous levels in dangerous places ...
Not to continue the Debbie Downer-ness:
Dr. Wolfgang Ulrich of Audi had some interesting things to say in comparing LeMans to F1:
(Audi Motorsports head Wolfgang) Ullrich is adamant that Le Mans endurance racing is a better testbed than Formula One will ever be.
'Let me show you how – at Le Mans, one of our cars will cover 325 miles more than an F1 car will cover in an entire season, our average speed including pits stops will be 20mph higher than an F1 car and we will use 42% less fuel.
'You cannot argue with those figures.'
was it long overdue? we had Jenson quite recently...
Only won it at the last race.
Or was it one before last?
Is this not because of the tracks. F1 spend forever heavy braking, heavy acceleration. It's not designed for fuel economy.
it looked like it may be runaway but he stopped winning quite early. it was not that runaway ... he was lucky that Red Bull was getting quicker and quicker but without the reliability ...
it is very difficult to compare 2 totally different types of racing. it like comparing 4x400m relay with 1500m in track and field ...
That is exactly what I was thinking.
It smells a bit. I can see the R&D value in LeMans being more than F1, but I think its a vapid argument since F1 has never really been about technological automotive development.
I was suprised to see him say that because he and Audi are usually more reserved than that about other series.
Have you seen these recent posts on sidepodcast.com?
- F1 Debrief - I guess you can't fault his enthusiasm
- Daily: 23rd May 2011
- Spain 2011 - Team standings
- Spain 2011 - Driver standings
- Spain 2011 - Race result
But we could be in the same boat this time round...
You could run a 24 hour race on a big oval like Daytona or Talladega and beat all those figures, it wouldnt make it a better testbed
Bernie used Joe's "There is more fuel used in the tour de france than f1" factbyte yesterday http://adamcooperf1.com/2011/05/22/ecclestone-confirms-2013-engine-equivalency-talks/
Christine's favorite footballer might be heading this way
http://gulfnews.com/sport/football/forlan-closer-to-deal-with-al-wasl-1.811544
Hey everyone
So..... how is everyone today?
not good, just found out someone hacked into my office network issuing orders at will, not much fun I must say ...
Oh man, that sucks. I just cannot understand why people do that.
#SmilesEarnTheMiles
I must admit, I feel really bad this morning for Ho-Pin Tung. I only realised earlier, his pace would have made the Indy 500 easily.
Sometimes, it's just not meant to be.
:(
What happened?
His car let go Saturday and he was knocked out momentarily and left with a concussion. Concussion = no seat time. He may have even got in on Pole Day
I want to believe it is just for fun and that nothing more sinister is involved
His loss is Marco Andretti's gain.
That's a shame. Pippa Mann qualified though!
Yeah
32nd !!
:)
I find it interesting that for the first time in years, people have been made to work it to qualify and I think it's shown who has the real edge here.
Still, she's in. And she was having big setup problems. For a last minute deal she's done awesome!
Marco looked like he was going to freak out when Lloyd bumped him. No Hunter-Reay or Conway in the field - some quality drivers not racing this year.
It's not like Milka Duno being bumped anymore
Absolutely
I'd love to know why Andretti-Autosport struggle to qualify at Indy every year though
Because they're not Green anymore ;)
It's a shame I didn't get to see it. It sounds as thrilling as the relegation battle in the football yesterday!
I wonder what Kim Green is doing now (apart from race promotion)?
Those last 30 minutes were the so insanely tense
The FIA may ban DRS being used in the tunnel
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/91665
With monaco being special i dont see why they dont make the whole track a drs zone with the tunnel being the 'off' bit
Hmmm... I don't see what's so different about the tunnel, compared to turn 8 in Turkey for example
Me neither. Why are the drivers reacting like this? If they don't like it, don't use it?
Finally did this after Bump Day last night --> 2011 Spanish Grand Prix (Rd 5, May 22nd)
http://theformulaoneandmotorsportsarchive.wordpress.com/2011/05/22/2011-spanish-grand-prix-rd-5-may-22nd/
exactly
Concrete walls to bounce you back onto the racing line. The corner is also a lot more blind as there is no gap betwen the apex and the barrier/wall
I agree with that. If you don't have the guts to use it, dont!
There has to be some element of risk here though?
I guess.
Another issiue is because its covered the track will be cooler, so you will loose grip there, i guess DRS would compound it
That could happen on the start / finish straight at Melbourne, as so nearly demonstrated by Sutil.
It can happen anywhere and I don't see Monaco as a great stand-out in that regard
If drivers / engineers don't take that into account when setting up the car, then something is very wrong
If a driver doesn't use it, some other driver will. And if that goes wrong, he could easily take out the non-DRS-using driver.
Such is racing.
These are supposed to clever guys - they ought to know where the limit is (then again)
Morning all. Sorry I didn't hang around last night, I'm a little bit ahead of you guys and passed out from exhaustion before the post went live :(
Thank you. Squid in space = snakes on a plane?
Now spiders in space, to me, sounds like a horror film waiting to happen ;)
It would have made our world a very different place if they'd started screening bankers for 2R and 7R alleles years ago. Alas, the risk-takers were revered for their adventurous spirit.
I don't suppose they have a jar with extra bolts on board?
I'm with you on KERS and DRS. However, the geek in me likes the strategy battles. DRS, when other cars are on track, should be limited to avoid incidents like Webber on Kovalainen in Valencia last year.
Ugh. Hackers and virus-writers are the scum of the earth! (Except the students who hacked the Rhodes journalism department's annoying headline announcer to say "Om nom nom. I can has cheeseburger? Nom nom nom nom nom. Kitteh has cheeseburger." on repeat.
Yay! I'm always happy when girl-racers do well :) I live in hope that one will kick butt in F1 someday.
A corner too dark for drivers to see properly until their pupils dilate sufficiently at the very end - why wouldn't they want DRS in there?
Indeed. And when you see videos of Bruno Senna driving up and down Eau Rouge with one hand while filming it with an iPhone, you wonder what all the fuss is about!
:D
The problem with DRS is its a compromise, they wont set the car up to deal with it as it would compromise them in the race, so they will adjust for it, but not componsate.
I wouldnt mind seeing it used in the race, purely because the chicane is the best place to pass
no Olympics news today. So impatient.
hehe.. http://twitter.com/#!/OfficialMGP/statuses/72587785856487424
#Points #Rankings
Ping: http://sidepodcast.com/post/on-tour-with-virgin-or-how-to-terrify-jerome-dambrosio
in celebration of its 5th birthday the Nike+ GPS app is free in iTunes at the moment.
I have downloaded it even though I never intend to run with my iPad, I just love Nike+ that much :D
Great spot, i have it too now, no intention to run outside though, its currently 34C!
34C is torturous! In my student days, I would skip everything and shower once an hour when it got that warm. The only way to deal with heat
a wise decision.
All the runners I know are very anti-treadmill because its not as "real" but to be honest if I could run without having to find a good temperature/amount of daylight and be able to watch telly while I do it, I'd be all over it.
Unfortunatly, 34C is going to seem like winter in a few weeks when it hits the mid 40s...
Fortunatly, Everywhere is Air conditioned so i will only have to deal with it at the beach :)
34 is a lovely perfect day in my book, just not run weather :)
Humidity is at 43%, a little higher than i would like, but its a reasonable day :)
Last weekend was terrible!
Being Irish, 34C is simply torture
I'm from Zimbabwe - where it regularly exceeds that - and I can't handle those sorts of temperatures!
I should have treadmill ran last winter - I'm still suffering from not doing it!
Does the Nike+ app allow for intervals?
:D
I come from a city where the average yearly high is 14 degrees but I'm clearly not built for that even if its in my blood :D
I assume so, it just measures distance and speed.
Yeah but in Runkeeper I can set intervals and it tells me when each starts and stops...
Hmm, that's a bit chilly. I rather fancy an even temp range of 15-25, I just haven't found anywhere that fits.
In Denmark, when you have five consecutive days with a higher average than 10 celsius you are officially in summer!
ah I have no idea then. I only use the Nike+ sportsband at the moment so I don't get audio cues.
I do a bit in my gym, not a huge amount, i much prefer pounding up and down in the pool,
Far less excuses to quit for me in there :)
Each to their own I suppose. I really enjoy cycling to and from work, even if the weather is bad.
Oh, that's chilly. I would think twice before moving there
It can get to high 20's in summer, but low 20's are more common.
average of 10 celsius means you are officially in winter here :-)
I'd go so far as to say that the DRS and KERS, especially the DRS, are exaggerating the extent to which Vettel's running away with it; between those two counterbalancing forces, the only way the leader of a race can be caught is if someone breaks away with them.
I don't think it's a coincidence that Spain was the most interesting race of the season for me, because it was the one where the overtaking meant the most. It was also the one where DRS and KERS were the least important factors of the five races we've had so far.
To be honest, I thought it was the dullest race so far. I'm not a fan of the DRS / KERS era, but never in a million years did Hamilton ever look like passing Vettel - it was simply no contest.
...and I still think Ferrari need their heads checked for bringing Alonso in on lap 20.
*Puts hand up*
I really don't care!
I'm just going to enjoy the races and twists and turns of the development race this year.
If the championship gets a shake up over the next few races, great. If it doesnt then so be it. Plenty of other interesting battles and stories though the field
Sadly, it wouldn't have helped. If the stewards aren't going to enforce the regulations we have and the regulations are going to be written in a way that frustrates their consistent enforcement, then whatever the rulebook says is going to be a weapon against racing instead of a lubricant of it (which is what it should be). Anyhow, DRS and KERS were staying whichever version of the regulations was used and they're causing the bulk of the damage to the racing, not lack of ground effect and large engines.
But it was the best Spanish GP for a long time, I don't think the slow final corners helped matters.
I agree. Last year had the closest championship in years and yet the races were generally really boring.
More sad news for the cycling world
http://road.cc/content/news/36118-team-movistars-xavier-tondo-killed-freak-domestic-accident
At least he got in the vicinity and at least some action happened in the midfield that meant something (even if the camera director did contrive to miss 95% of it).
I hate that bloody chicane - that final section used to be mega
...and I still think Ferrari need their heads checked for bringing Alonso in on lap 20.
Agreed! Mark did not need covering - now more than ever, strategy is a function of what you can do, not what others are doing. Ferrari are as reactive as ever despite their staff changes.
Barcelona really is one of those tracks where the circuit design really is at fault - nothing races well there.
I also think it put them on a tyre strategy that helped lose them a podium.
Yet despite such obvious flaws, it produced a race with more meaningful overtaking than the four circuits that preceded it this year. That is impressive.
A podium was never on the cards if both Red Bulls and McLarens finish, the Ferrari simply isn't fast enough when the fuel comes down. Also they were awful on the harder tyre, which was itself rubbish.
I don't think so. The only overtaking we saw was purely because of massive tyre differences.
Yet they put themselves on a strategy that saw them on the harder tyre for much longer than necessary
It's really not a fun track in any sense of the word is it? I hate that chicane at the end of the track.
Have we not had this discussion before?
I dont think the overtakes were any more meaningfull than a driver needing to be at least 1.5 secs per lap quicker.
Its better than the old days, but not great.
Putting the DRS into the hairpin would probably have helped, i think they need to make some changes to the 1st or last corners if they want to keep it infront of the big grandstands
After every race I think
;)
Yeah - it's the only thing boring about F1 this year in my book ;)
they didn't have any more softs that would have lasted the distances needed. Alonso getting into first into the first corner flattered the Ferrari and he's said himself 5th was probably the maximum achievable result.
Agreed
Or maybe reinstate the old corner
;)
Quite possibly, though they were doomed the moment they needlessly wasted a set of softs in Q1. (Massa had to do it, but Fernando definitely did not).
it put them on strategy that helped them to loose a podium but there is something fundamentally wrong if a car that leads on lap 20 and is no more than a second a lap slower (on pure pace) than Red Bull finishes a lap down ... add to it the now quiet Q3 (or even Q2, Lotus considered silly for even running KOV ...) ... not healthy I say
But Alonso was still doing very competitive laps. He could have stayed out for an extra 5 laps and changed his race
just buldoze the chicane :-) the corner is still there
I hate ever corner, I dont mind the loop after F1's turn 9 on the national circuit, but i am not a fan of those corners in any game i have played
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Catalunya.svg
I don't think so. The only overtaking we saw was purely because of massive tyre differences.
Which is better than the first four races, where the only overtaking was not only because of DRS, but because the favour would be returned within 2 laps. That meant nearly all the overtaking was completely meaningless until Spain.
agreed
anyone have any idea how much their banned wing may have gained them?
Have we not had this discussion before?
And the "Spain-is-boring" discussion happens every 12 months. This is really a combination of the two...
a tenth, maybe two. you have to wonder if it affected their setup.
maybe - also don't forget, both red bull and mclaren also had upgrades, possibly exaggerating the gap somewhat
There is something fundamentally wrong if a driver who brings "6 tenths" with home advantage (worth a second per lap according to Mansell) finishes that far down ;)
Very likely. The large gaps between the Ferrari's performance on low and high fuel loads suggests it's very sensitive, so it would be quite reasonable to think a small set-up change enabled by a different component could have made a large difference.
considering how poor massa was yesterday, who knows - maybe mansell was right
;)
Alonso was asked about that by the BBC, he said the home crowd was worth a tenth. ;)
no idea but even without that wing Alonso did very good quali run. I do agree with EJ that Pirelli got it wrong this time but that is not the only issue. I find it wrong that drivers who mess up qualifying (Barrichello) or do not take part at all (Heidfeld) or run only a little (Force India, Schumacher) reducing the value per dollar/euro for paying spectators benefit from it in the race ... wrong
Qualifying tyres, then?
the tyre allocation needs to be looked at, they are using the rules that worked for the Bridgestones.
Would having a separate qualifying and race allocation work? Perhaps allow 2 sets of each tyre plus whatever set a driver sets the fastest lap on in qualifying for the race, and then have a set of hard (for "sighter" laps) and 3 sets of soft (1 per session, each unlocked at the start of said session) for qualifying?
other things could help - grid penalty for those who do not run in Q2, Q3, pit lane start for those like Heidfeld in Spain ... something that would penalize the drivers for not running when they should run ... this quali format was supposed to assure that there is enough action on track. it worked until this year. yes, the grid positions are a bit less importnat now but also because those who chose not to run benefit from it in the race. that benefit should be taken away
How long before a midfield runner (Force India, Williams, Toro Rosso) feigns a mechanical problem, so that they can have a full compliment of fresh tyres for a race?
Well, exaggerate as opposed to feign....
Or conveniently beaches it on the out-lap of a session.
Good boy Pastor, good boy.
Well they all copy what works for others (f duct , blown diffuser) Then FIA comes and says enough. I hope FIA comes sooner in this case and plugs this hole before it gets out of hand.
This hole could prove very difficult to plug unless the FIA can be persuaded Pirelli can be persuaded to carry a lot more tyres around the world despite its "green" policy :(
Have you seen these recent posts on sidepodcast.com?
- On tour with Virgin, or how to terrify Jérôme D'Ambrosio
- F1 Debrief - I guess you can't fault his enthusiasm
- Daily: 23rd May 2011
- Spain 2011 - Team standings
- Spain 2011 - Driver standings
They could just only give teams one set of each tire type for all FP sessions, and allow them to use used tyres from the previous race weekend
And I thought we had seen the last of the crazy frog.
sadly, no
So now we have much more exciting racing but not so enjoyable qualy. Well at least that is the right way round! As mentioned by others hopefully there is a fix for qualy such as a mimium number of runs required through qualy
yay Roger is on early enough for me to not have to stay up alll night to watch #tennis
Bump Day highlights courtesy of indycar.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mP2MdFuwbek&feature=youtu.be
Paddock Life is up http://plus.autosport.com/free/feature/3527/behind-the-scenes-at-barcelona/
Including bonus picture with Joe in it :P
Greetings folks.
Quick travel plan/itinerary question:
In the Lake District, is Keswick a nice to place to be and easy enough to get to? I found an inn I want to stay at, but if it's too crazy to get too, I'll choose somewhere else.
*to get to
Ehhhhh....?
Brussels must be really, really desperate for air traffic...
Saving the pennies i guess.
A few years back it was cheaper to fly to the uk via bankok from Dubai, lots of people went on an international wild goose chase for a cheeper flight!
Gah - the guy across from me in work is tapping his thumb to the radio. I can confirm that he cannot keep time with anything
I'm guessing it's penny-saving. Remember, Joe also flew London-Sao Paolo via Abu Dhabi. :D
*cough cough cough* Dubai *Cough*
Thaaaaaaaaaaank You! ;)
:D
To be fair, Joe was also trying to make sure as much of the flight was on an airline he liked as possible.
"Any geneticists out there willing to talk drivers into playing the cheek-swab game?"
Not sure I want to take the risk of Schumacher being cloned
They tried that already. The clone is currently in DTM wasting time.
it's okay, but a bit separated from the lake district
:D
that's because of the frog gene they had to snip in to fill in the gaps, Spielberg will refine the process eventually
Ok. What is more central?
It's hard because by definition it's all very rural. How are you hoping to get around? Bus?
ambleside and surrounding area is good
windermere and hawkshead
pooley bridge tends to be a bit less full of tourists
I guess so. I'd only do day trips and then stay in the same place.
Ambleside is a good suggestion then. It's geographically central and big enough to have buses go to it.
i'd say windermere/ambelside somewhere along that bus route then as they're reasonably connected, expect to pay a bit more though for the towns themselves
Thanks Mav and Alison :)
Ping: http://sidepodcast.com/post/spain-2011-rate-the-race
I'm a little tired, so here's a Monday music interlude
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IlHgbOWj4o
:)
Ping: Barcelona Tyre Strategy http://www.vivaf1.com/blog/?p=6766
Christine, are you around? I'm just wondering if I'm doing tomorrow's daily :)
I am around! I have another new volunteer for tomorrow, hopefully the opposite to your fortnightly, if that's okay.
Yep that is fine. I just wanted to check :)
Sorry it's so late, here's my race review PING - http://gridwalktalk.wordpress.com/2011/05/23/spanish-grand-prix-2011-the-unlikely-fiesta/
I can't even post my Doctor Who review as my hosting is down. have they been talking to media temple?
Good daily Bridget! :)
Booo. Who are you with?
FreeHosting. It's only a free one but it does everything I need it to do (for an affordable price :P) but it is a bit annoying when every two or three weeks it seems to go down for a day.
Afternoon peeps
Now this is a blown exhaust :)
http://instagr.am/p/EoAXX/
Hiya sir. Love that photo :)
Captured this morning just outside the car park :)
Instagram needs to make it to Android, it's a killer app
When do you start your new job Lukeh?
2 weeks today! Very exciting. Last day with Iceland on Friday :)
Woo hoo
Stock up the freezer at home :D
I will miss the 10% discount off their many £1 products. That 10p will be missed.
Good luck!
Am playing a new game that's recently come out called LA Noire, and it's basically a detective thriller where you're the detective and whatnot, think I mentioned it in the daily last week. Anyways, one of the case suspects for the mission I'm on now is surnamed Maldonado, perhaps I will finally find out what crimes are behind Williams' poor 2011 so far
Hello all.
Would very much recommend the Kermode & Mayo Film Review podcast this week http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/kermode. Apart from the usual brilliance that is the two of them, it includes Asif Kapadia the director of Senna and a very interesting review from Dr K from a different perspective as he is not a sport fan at all.
:D
Heya Janna. will give that a listen :)
Saw a video of Mark on the BBC website the other day talking about the film and for someone who seems quite unimpressed with the sport he did seem very blown away, and mentioned another motorsport film about the Isle of Man races that was recommended too but the name slips my mind.
There's one called TT3D I think.
Evening
That's the one. He said that was similarly excellent viewing even for the non motorsport fans amongst us
Heheh, I guess Renault's tweeter is heading to Monaco with 5Live.
- HRT asleep at the toll booth, another scalp for @5LiveF1 Jas, this man should be snapped up by a team
- We would but we already have rather an abundance of drivers. Even our Comms Manager has driven an F1 car
:D
Have you seen these recent posts on sidepodcast.com?
- Spain 2011 - Rate the race
- On tour with Virgin, or how to terrify Jérôme D'Ambrosio
- F1 Debrief - I guess you can't fault his enthusiasm
- Daily: 23rd May 2011
- Spain 2011 - Team standings
Hi Janna
Whilst I really want to avoid any more opinion of the film before I see it, I cannot wait to hear the review of Pirates 4 :D
#Rant-tastic
I can see me spending an inordinate amount of time at the cinema for the Tuesday evenings of this summer (Tuesday being cheap day at the local cinema).
Hi Pat
Evening all
Hello Steven
Good evening, Steven!
Tweets of the week ping: http://sidepodcast.com/post/tweets-of-the-week-avoiding-volcanoes-with-road-trips
Have I missed anything exciting today?
The F1 trucks are having a race from Barcelona to Monaco. Mercedes and Renault are duking it out for the lead.
That is how F1 should be
I think the Renault tweeter won, they overtook Ferrari and some GP2 teams
It's like proper old school F1
Hispania was allegedly asleep at the toll booth but Mercedes overtook Renault near Aix-en-Provence.
Rumours that Ferrari may protest are greatly overblown
Hi guys...
Just back from Barce and although my heart was in Charlotte I made the most of it...
Glad to see a few sidepodders were watching Kimi...
Hi Lady Snowcat
Good atmosphere there?
He did really well. All the trucks had massive oversteer and a lot of the top guys spun including the winner who was Kimi's team owner.
Kimi is supposedly doing the Nationwide race at Charlotte this weekend
:D
Excellent... although the numbers of "bums on seats" was less than in the past....
Huge gaps in the main grandstand but a resurgence in the "corporate" crowd...
Was it fun?
Yes, he kept me up until 4am.. entertaining though
I was soo pleased with/for him...
Just looking to see if he'll be doing something in the States when I can get out there....
I honestly never thought I'd go to a NASCAR race.... but then I had no plans to go rallying either!....
It sure was... I saw a lot of my old chums and made a few new ones too...
Glad that he had a lot of support.... albeit from afar...
He is like your personal travel agent.
I would guess if all goes well next week he will look to do a few more races that don't clash with his rallying commitments. I wouldn't be surprised if he did the whole championship next season
I was amazed at how much coverage he got. So many media people even learned a few words of Finnish so they could say hello
I think it's because he is a global (as opposed to US) star which isn't true of many drivers in the race ....
I also hear that he didn't respond particularly to the Finnish comments and one journalist said that whilst he was a fantastic driver he needed media training!?!....
You have got to smile....
Brilliant!!....
And so true as I have been to countries I wouldn't have ever thought to go to just because he is racing/rallying there....
I also have a ton of friends because of the travel too....
It's been totally terrific...
I only saw one live and he totally blanked the Finnish comment. Not even a smile.
Now there is a surprise....
Let's just hope I can watch his next race....
If he does do the next Nationwide race it should be @ 2:30pm eastern/7:30pm UK on Saturday
http://nationwide.nascar.com/nationwide-series/races/2011/schedule
Confirmed moments ago by @Jeff_Gluck
Kimi Raikkonen to make Nationwide Series debut at Charlotte. He's driving Joe Nemechek's No. 87 car, which is locked in (19th in OP).
(er, ten minutes worth of moments)
Kyle Busch said last week he had a Nationwide car in his shop for Kimi if he wanted to race it. The speculation I saw said the car came from Nemechek
Word on the street on Twitter (should that be 'word on the tweet'?) is that Andretti Autosport are buying AJ Foyt's #41 entry for Ryan Hunter-Reay, which leaves Bruno Junqeira out of a drive... the same thing happened to Bruno last year.
Ping: http://www.f1minute.com/news/fia-set-to-ban-drs-use-in-the-tunnel-at-monaco
Love word on the tweet. Shame you can't patent phrases.
Shame for Junqueira. A whole month of build up and he gets pulled from the race again
Excellent...
It now makes complete sense that he had his debut in trucks at Charlotte when observers said he was a little mad to start there...
He has a few weeks in between rallies (next rally is mid July in Greece) and the plan was to move into cars on the same track if possible...
Trying something a bit different on my summer portrait blog - PING http://summerportrait.wordpress.com/2011/05/23/step-by-step-the-bay-church/
What is it with being named Bruno and having your drive taken away for reasons other than lack of talent?
Saw Bruno Senna at Barce...
A really very nice guy who does the PR bit effortlessly well for Renault...
agreed!
#bff
Ooh, "saw" as in "to actually speak to"? That's most exciting.
He is a PR machine! He's also far more relaxed in front of the camera than diLicious, bless his Brazilian heart.
Are you talking of D'Ambrosio by any chance?...
Very blue eyes and Virgin are very pleased with him...
No, I was talking about Bruno being the PR mainstay, and di Grassi being the one who's awkward in front of the camera. The man always sounds like he's reciting lines, rather than just talking. I will concede the exception to this - when he and Bruno do clips together and Bruno does most of the talking.
But driving is more important unless you are looking for a permanent PR person... as a reserve driver...
Both are good drivers IMHO. However, neither of them have race seats and Renault are apparently reluctant to let Bruno drive anything other than demo runs :( I wish they would, so he could be in Christine's Rankings!
Noises "off" regarding replacing Nick but Bruno not supposed to be in the frame.... although Nick's result on Sunday may help him stick in there...
We'll see...
@ Lady Snowcat
I'm actually rather annoyed with Renault (aside from the Lotus-Lotus fight-picking). Before Kubica's crash, they said "if anything happens to one of our drivers, Bruno is in the seat." Then the crash happened and they hired Heidfeld (not that I begrudge his seat - I dig him as a driver). Now they're wanting to replace Heidfeld and they're still not putting Bruno in the car?!
I think if it had been for one or two races they would have put Bruno in the car but not for the full season
Call me old-fashioned, but a promise is a promise. We're 0.25 of the way through the season now, so surely (if they do replace Nick) Bruno could do it? Which other experienced drivers are left without a seat - Pedro de la Rosa? Gary Paffet? If they chose Nick over Bruno for experience reasons, it'd be grossly unfair to replace Nick with a GP2 kid!
I don't remember there original promise but I assume they never intended to put Bruno in for the whole season.
I would be surprised if they replaced Heidfeld but if they do Bruno has to be favourite. I would have thought if they were even considering a driver change Bruno and anyone else being considered would be running Friday mornings
True dat! I don't think anyone anticipated Kubica would have such a terrible crash.
We can only live in hope! I'd love to see Bruno in on Friday mornings, even if they're not planning to replace Heidfeld.
Don't hold your breath...
Bruno's no Hulk...
Good debut daily, Bridget.
I am working on some blog things and will catch up with the Debrief and stuff later. :)
I agree with that. Unfortunately we will never know how good Bruno could be. He has loads of talent but you can't make up for losing a decade from a racing career
Thank you!
I still think he deserves a fair shot in a decent car. If he makes a mess, then replace him, but Renault should at least give him a chance. (Yes, I'm very biased towards Brazilian drivers and have a particular soft-spot for geeks with crazy hair.)
I think if it gets near the end of the season and there is no sign of Kubica coming back they would be crazy not to give Bruno a few races to see what he has and to get another opinion on the car. If they give him the last three races they need to give him 4 or 5 Friday mornings for it to be sensible
They did make noises today to the tune of "Robert won't be back this year," so I assume the seat is open until 2012. Considering that one of the reasons Bruno joined the team was to learn how a high-end team works and get a handle on the testing thing, it would be a bit mean not to let him test. Of course, if they upgrade him to a full race seat at the end of the season - especially for Interlagos - that would be awesome.
With the type of injuries Kubica has I would be amazed if he ever raced F1 again. I know they can do wonders now and F1 drivers have incredible powers of recovery but I just can't see it happening.
It would be interesting to see what Bruno could do with a half decent car
I agree. I looked through my anatomy textbook and he's got a whole lot of work to do if he wants to be back in F1 - that is, if it all heals and he gets 100% nerve function back. Also, a year out of the car will slow his response times. I'll withhold my final judgement until later, but I remain sceptical.
Indeed. As Will Buxton (who is rather biased towards Bruno) pointed out last year, he improved the pace of the car quite significantly over the season, despite there being no upgrades.
Not really here but just wanted to pass on that I think this sucks.
@BJunqueira: I will not race in the #Indy500
I guess RHR got the car then
Waiting to see if he gets Bruno's car or if Foyt withdraws and lets the 34th car in, which is RHR.
Not that it ultimately matters
Ping - http://toomuchracing.com/2011/05/23/tmr-game-2011-week-18/
Slightly earlier than usual this week with only one set of results to do, and I'll be out tomorrow evening..