That was it then! Not exactly the season ending cliffhanger that we all wanted, but I suppose it was a nice relaxing way to round off the year. Now the off-season begins in earnest and I can't tell you all the stuff we have planned to keep you entertained. It'll be great. What I can tell you though, is some of the things we're talking about:
- Mr Jake Humphrey of the good ol' Beeb has written up his post-race blog with some alternative awards to hand out having spent his first year presenting the F1 show. The Favourite F1 Location award is an interesting read.
- James has been dreaming up some numbers for us, and posted some random facts about the 2009 season. Some of the "most poles" and "most laps completed" ones are fascinating, and James says there are more stats and facts to come. Yay!
- Gavin has completed his usual driver consistency analysis, with a bit of commentary on the race itself as well. I do love a post that begins by saying the race was dull so here are some pictures to liven it up! Sums up the weekend, I think.
That should do it for now. Don't forget that the deadline for the Top Gear competition is tonight, if you haven't already entered. I will see you in the comments.
EJ needs to stop saying "Let's Nail him"
He sounds like a Mafioso. an Irish Mafioso. :D
What i'm about to say is incredibly geeky....but....
Anyone else notice that the person in the driving seat of the 2 seater wears KERS, but the passenger dosent
KERS?
I meant HANS
:D Hmmm. I never noticed that before.
I have a lot planned for the off-season too. Lots and lots of blog posts.
uh, that was in reply to the original post
Fantasy Racers should really know it's Sidepodcast Towers rather than Sidepod Towers, shouldn't they?
http://www.fantasyracers.com/
Tssk tssk...
I told you, im such a geek
Hehehehe. :D To be fair, I think the C's call it Sidepodcast Towers. ;)
awwwww. that's really sweet :)
Oh, that IS what you meant! hehe
Go back to sleep, Journeyer :P
Not until I see the uploaded video from Lukeh. :P besides, I might watch The Amazing Race in a bit.
Normally I go to bed after they show Battlestar Galactica here. But I have the day off tomorrow! :D
I wish it was breakfast time. I want muffins.
before I go - the F1 season for the teams end on a weird note:
from f1scoop.
i see a new video awaiting processing on the drop.
finally... something went wrong :)
mmmmmmmmmm. now i do too.
If you want muffinsnow have muffins now
At least you know how to make them
I'd prefer it to be an hour earlier so I can put some music on and kick back for a while after prepping some more blog stuff for a future feature, but I can't.. must go to bed, see you!
I don't have any. It's Sunday night. I can't go buy any.
eric mentioned this in the race thread yesterday, but i didn't get chance to look properly until now:
worth a watch if you have 3 mins to spare. exclusion boxes are especially interesting.
I watched that earlier. Really interesting.
Windsor has Jim Clark on his wall. He just went up in my estimation.
Just so Journeyer knows, montage is available :) I am not here
and the lead aerodynamicist has a macbook pro with 30 inch cinema display. I have those tools - now to get a degree in engineering... :P
Wait until Christine wakes up to this...
Good Morning Everyone
Good morning, Lewis. You may wanna check out the big news for today...
What is it? I can't scroll down/up on this thing (darn iPhone).
Bridgestone will leave F1 after 2010; they won't renew their contract which expires at the end of next season.
woah! What a bombshell to throw on F1. And it's only Day 1 of the off season!
My thoughts exactly. Silverstone better get their deal sorted quick; Bernie gets distracted pretty quickly.
Morning all :D
Morning, Gavin. Seen the news?
morning gavin
wooHoo. tyre wars again?
Evening all
Yeah, something about Bridgestone leaving. I am a bit surprised TBH.
Bridgestone did very well to keep this under wraps and not have this leak to the press.
Morning. Bloody hell about Bridgestone!!
It'll put Williams in the shade, Lukeh. ;)
All good points, but I tend to zone these out for the most part. Bridgestone usually don't get in the sports news or anything, unless they did something bad.
Hehe cheers. I must admit it was tough to write about the race itself, considering that very little happened and I wasn't really paying much attention to it... :)
In that case, sorry gavin but i am not reading it
Did you enjoy the race?
Fine. I do hope you have fun continuing to insist that was a good race yesterday ;)
Any race a Mclaren retires for stupid reasons is bad
Loved it... top 5 of the year.
I think everyone is being ridiculously harsh
Was Lewis' retirement yesterday his first mechanically-induced DNF? Am surprised it took that long...
The oil / fuel companies do help the teams, but I bet the money is more important. And at the same time the computing power provided by the companies could similarly be seen as important in the world of CFD etc
Not sure, I didnt see him in the first half of the year ;-)
Oh, except for that Australia thing
Frank will now call it all off and decide Rubens can stay at Brawn
Well putting your bias aside for a moment I would say that it was not a particularly great race, but it least it had some action at the end.
With every other race this season we have known that the result was at least important. In this case it really wasn't which wasn't really the tracks fault but it did distract.
I think it will do better next year not being the season finale.
Nick's given me a great idea:
Here's an interesting question - what are your top 5 races of 2009? Mine are:
1. Australia
2. Brazil
3. Germany
4. Monaco
5. Malaysia
:P That'll be the miracle of the century. :D
something else to look forawrd too... Sheikh Mohammed, the ruler of Dubai was at the track yesterday... I wonder if he might have changed his mind about a race...
Apparently it will be... Because the championship didnt come down to the final race it will be the last event next year too
Shhhhhhh :P
Perhaps the announcement will actually be that Barrichello is to be the tyre supplier for Williams. or that Frank's new driver will be young of his one young sons. Or perhaps Robert Kubica has changed his mind, changed his names to Rubens, and wll sign him instead
Hmmm. Isn't there a track a Dubai already?
But I'm not sure if we need 3 Middle Eastern races, though, to be honest. Not enough people around...
Why do I have this sneaky feeling that the title will go down to the last race next year - and back to Brazil? :D
Based on Bahrains races this far, and now Abu dhabi, 2 is more than enough me thinks. Of course, that means nothing to Mr Moneybags.
Rubens Kubica? :P Not sure Renault would forgive him... :D
Neiether would I. How dare he steal the name of awesomeness. ;)
1. Brazil
2. Hungary
3. Australia
4. Abu Dhabi
5. Belgium
If they limit europe to 3 events + monaco... its the nearest place for fans to fly and watch :P
Even if it meant Barrichello stayed at Brawn?
Yes. He can be Rubens 2 if t means Rubens can stay at Brawn. A sequel never lives up to it's predecessor though ;)
:D
2 questions have to be addressed...
1) Why do all of the new circuits seem to be about style over substance?
2) How are you supposed to overtake on a track where there is sand off line?
Lukeh, thanks for uploading the end-of-season montage, BTW. It was awesome. :D
No problemo. A HQ version is also available on my youtube channel :)
They seem to manage it in Bahrain, though, so it's not impossible.
Moneyyyyyyyyyy.
Who cares? Monnneeyyyyyyyy
I didn't know Bernie lurked about here. He seems to be around here as often as God. :P
Great questions. '
I think the whole Tilke experement has failed. has he made one great track?
It's all about chasing the money. We know Bernie does not care is the race is rubbish, or if nobody turns up to watch
Use different tyres? if porsches can have 10 overtakes a lap there is no reason f1 can't Its a silly excuse.
F1 is not a one-make series with severe restrictions. You can't compare them
He has made one great load of awful tracks, if that helps?
I think hed doing an ok job. You cant build great circuits any more H&S stop it, its only a matter of time before they close down the old ones too i am afraid...
GP2 cars did manage to overtake ... F1 made the cars looks ugly and still no overtaking (or not any more than last year) . I do wonder if the refueling ban will make the things better or worse ...
Must be helping somebody
My point is you cant blame the tracks, if other series overtake on said track, its either the f1 drivers are wimps or the cars are designed to stop overtaking
worse. much worse
If it makes you all feel better, my bank balance is doing wonderfully right now. I even bought a boat for my boat last week.
:D
better, i think. with tyre-only stops next year, i wonder if bridgestone deciding to leave will have any impact. ;)
have you ever talked to God, Bernie? I'm not sure he's too pleased with ya. :P
I don't think that overtaking is some luxury restricted to one make series only. everybody in F1 seems to know why cars can't get close to each other, yet the rules still allow to build cars that are hard to overtake. I wonder how much $$$ did that OWG burn en route to no results at all ...
BBC: Ten to Tackle: F1 2009
I wonder how much the double deck diffusers made to it?
As they have improved over the year the overtaking has decreased. I don't think you can follow them.
I talked to Max yesterday
Erm... I know he's a dominant kind of guy, but he's not exactly who I had in mind... :P
a lot I would say, a lot of turbulence ...
Part of the problem there was that some teams went off an made a double diffuser.
Overtaking is hard in F1 because they are the ultimate of motor rading enginereing. Just putting steal brakes on the things would make a huge difference, as would reducing the downforce of the wings. Not sure either of those are a good idea though
Q9 FTW! :D
haha!
Poor Rob on the last Q
Hehehe. :D
And you think F1 has it tough?
NASCAR no-bump rule frustrates fans, drivers
To quote Tony Stewart:
Yankies 8-5 am I watching this live?
I suppose I'd better run off to uni. Will be doing a lot of coding today though so it means I can keep an eye on Ruben updates.
See you all soon!
That's not even this morning's game...
I hate replays
When do you get this morning's game, then? It was pretty good.
Hard to say at this stage. They seem to be playing at random times
Hmm. A replay at midnight, them presumably live at 6am
6 AM Australian time? That doesn't make sense. First pitch is 8 AM EST, which with DST now in place, should be 11 AM Eastern Australia time.
* 8 PM EST
Its annoying. the program guide doesn't say what they are playing. I suspect none is live, they are just replaying games
I stopped watching NASCAR after the COT came out. The races are just so boring these days!
the teams did not go off. the team exploited a loophole that shouldn't have been there ... they built legal cars, who can blame for that ?
Makes F1 look positively action-packed at times. It doesn't help their cause that the races take even longer there than here...
Morning all.
bonjour
Morning Christine.
Well they used to be OK if you could find an hour of highlights - loads of tactics and they really showed the drivers properly. But the tight racing is gone and it's just processional. And you can see the drivers don't enjoy it anymore.
Hello :)
I'm going to guess that Mr C will want a breakout thread for the tyres news... There were quite a few comments this morning...
I don't really mind either way...
You are so already there...
Yup. Trying to decide if I want to move the comments or leave it for Mr C.
and I'm back. hello again!
It's way too complicated. I leave it for him.
hes the numbers man. comments have numbers. makes sense to me.
Cars have 4 tyres. Makes sense.
Hi Lukeh.
Does anyone know when Williams are expected to confirm the drivers?
Hello All.
Now that the season is over, I've bought one of these lovely 50 inch Samsung Plasma TVs. It is less than 3cm thick.
I am proud to say that I paid below wholesale cost. It arrives Thursday (hopefully)
http://www.samsung.com/au/consumer/detail/detail.do?group=television&type=television&subtype=plasmatv&model_cd=PS50B850Y1FXXY
That is really quite large!
A friend has a 50'' TV and it really is quite mahoooooooosive... lucky you!
ooh thin.
Have prepped Williams post for potential announcements.
D'oh. http://www.sidepodcast.com/2009/11/02/williams-set-to-announce-2010-drivers/
I make a rubbish pinger.
It's really too big. I'll have to move house.
About $1200 cheaper than the 46 inch LED Backlit LCD though and apparently, it will be better for watching motor racing on.
Now we have to find an entertainment unit to put it on.
wall mount!
It is for a Plasma isn't it?
You could always get the giant box thats in the Tate Modern right now to put it on. Saw it on wednesday and it is what it says - a giant box. It was oddly fascinating...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulsimpson1976/4018925027/in/photostream/
I like that idea, but I still need something to put the other bits and pieces on. We have a long lounge room and may have to put it across the room instead of against the wall where the current one is. Excited!!!!!
Oooh, it's very... boxy.
not big enough really :P
It's fun but terrifying to walk about in!
Hmm...
Use an IKEA TV cabinet? I have one and it's quite nice :)
Ooh BTW - the MEGA IKEA store opens in Odense this week - and I am really excited!!!
that reminds me to visit the new Apple Store in Cardiff this week...
you've got to go see one of these things Gav. I'm sure after you stopped selling them, you never wanted to go into a retail shop ever again, but this is worth it :-)
I have the perfect wall for my TV but my landlord won't let me put it up there. It would save me sooo much room. I need to purchase property so I can do whatever I want to the walls.
I took a Thames river boat ride and the commentator said something about the Tate Modern:
"It's full of modern art displays like a wall covered in graffiti. But you don't need to go to the Tate to see that - just come round my area!"
We say that almost every day. Of course in our case it is for sound proofing and not TV purposes, but still!
Maybe you need to eat more eggs?
I saw one a week last Friday ago as we had a marketplace at work ;)
go retro and blu-tack egg boxes to the walls? :D
Someone needs to invent soundproofing with the tv in it!
That would be quite a lot of eggs.
In Denmark, even if you rent a house you can do whatever you want to it, as long as you put filler in the holes and paint the walls when you leave. I was shocked! We have drilled big holes and everything!
#sameperson
I have this one in white. I heart it but its far too big for the space I have.
if only i was still at my old job, we went through 50 egg trays with 30 eggs in each every day.
Eggcellent.
We could do a Blue Peter style appeal and collect egg boxes I suppose. Have a chicken shaped totaliser and stuff.
Thats a lot o'eggs!
my favourite job was cracking them. Easiest job in the place, but oh so time consuming. Made me look busy when I really wasn't :D
Bakery?
here
:)
I'm willing to shell out for a few egg boxes. I really love egg puns. They crack me up.
"New pod technology" sounds very exciting.
I am so glad I left that job about a month into the new pod technology. Its horrible. I'd rather have sidepod than hospitalkitchenpod :D
I could never work in a hospital. Those places freak me out!
Let's be honest, you love ALL puns. And we end up eggsasperated by them.
Do you think they have a touch version of the pod, or is that dangerous because of the heating temperature?
:) It's a serious affliction, in many ways it's no yolk.
heheh so many people say that! They've never phased me because I have been lots since I was a baby, and my mum has worked in one since I was 10. Plus I used to get by with spending about $10 a week on groceries right through uni because I ate all my meals there. Even on my days off :D
Badumtssssssssh!
Oh for clucks' sake!
:)
Now I have shame.
:(
You can call us anything, Danny, we don't mind :)
righteo, anything.
He may have called us a few different things this year ;)
Call them Siseposcasts next year!
Very true!!
Oh yes, that should really have read: You can call us anything, Danny, except Sideposcast. We don't like that :)
Red Bull will be running with Renault engines next season.
#blameCommentators
Hmm, interesting.
better the devil you know than the one you don't know.
Side... Side... Side... Pos Cast.
I cant remember which one it was who took like 3 attempts and still got it wrong
#sorrychristine
Joe on the future of Mercedes-Benz and McLaren
http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2009/11/02/mercedes-benz-and-mclaren/
seems there was a reason for Ron to be there.
For some crazy reason, I wanted to be a doctor.
A few weeks of clinical placements in my first year of uni and I worked out that it was not the career for me.
#shouldhavebeenalawyer
the doctors used to really annoy me. They got free meals and would pretty much take one of everything, and then washing the dishes at the end of the night they would never eat everything. I slaved over a hot stove for how long! (I was not a cook so the answer is not long at all)
It is hard to weed out the less arrogant ones. But I do understand the personality you have to develop to survive in that environment
my favourite ones were the ones over 40, they were all so friendly to everyone. The ones who were 30 or younger, ie, quite recent graduates, all seemed to talk down to people who weren't doctors.
Fuel consumption being the key factor in their decision. The fact Red Bull receive the engine units for free and enjoy the sponsorship deal from Total probably helped as well.
You slaved over a (probably not very hot) crate of eggs though.
My question is... If we need to wait that long for a decision about Mercedes... Do we need to wait that long for a decision on Kimi and Jenson?
Kimi is saying he'll decide in the next two weeks. But he's been saying that for the last three races.
I often slaved over a very hot dishwasher. That thing cost $270,000. I'd rather buy a house than a dishwasher if I had that kind of money.
I cannot wait two weeks. Vamos Kimi!
Lukeh, it's official (at least in Finland) http://www.mtv3.fi/urheilu/f1/uutiset.shtml/arkistot/f1/2009/11/988050
F1 replay is on my tv. I am not watching it.
Nick will disown you now!
To quote Mr Loaf, I would do anything for Finns (but I won't do that)
Now there's a great song to discuss (in the fashion of the Richard Marx song :D )
Anyone play BATracer?
Seems Ferrari aren't big fans!
http://batracer.com/
Oh dear...
So Ferrari have effectively killed off the game? Boo!
Wow, that kills almost everything on there.
Unbelievably petty really. It's not like it was doing any harm was it? Reminds me of the legal heavies from Red Bull who were on my case earlier on this year. Eejits.
Unless Ferrari become the "un-named Team"
One has to wonder what they think of mods for racing games then. It will be interesting to see what happens here...
I hope Luca badoer wasn't playing it and doing really well at it...
Scuderia Cavallo Rampante?
:)
Something that's been perplexing me recently is Pedro de la Rosa. I'm interested to know why he is held in high esteem and seems likely to find a race seat for next season (either at Campos or Virgin/Manor)?
He doesn't have any recent race experience and his career has been mediocre at best. Has his reputation come about from the ok races for McLaren when Montoya was out or am I missing something?
I was looking through last night's show thread for podcast titles and guesses and spotted a comment from I think it was James suggesting we needed a wiki page for the next Sidepodradio event.
So... I accidentally made one.
http://wiki.sidepodcast.com/page/Sidepodradio+2
Morning :D I'm loving my lie-in
Woah! Suddenly the text non doohickey has become very big. Like those supersized leaflets they give blind people.
Oh I see what's happened, it's expanded to fill my widescreen.
I was joking ;)
I know. But apparently Sidepodcast is gonna be around for the next 20 years and there's bound to be another Sidepodradio in that time.
This is my new favourite twitter
http://twitter.com/big_ben_clock
Ooooooh. That's better than the bridge one.
I wonder if there will ever be sidepodmarriages and sidepodbabies. Apparently thats what happens on internet communities.
Oh my gosh that's awesome!
Isn't it just!
There was a merceddes-brawn advert in this months f1 racing though?
I heard total were going to be there next year on firday, sort of sussed the engine deal was coming too..
Morning
Is no-one else having this large text issue? It wasn't there when I first opened the page. Now it gives me a fright every time I look back at it. Is there some way for me to manually change it in my browser that I could have done by accident?
Morning all.
Must confess to a state of ennui regarding yesterday's GP. Feeling rather yuk, I imbibed a potent Lemsip Max Strength-honey-bourbon cocktail and went back to bed, then ended up watching the whole shebang on fast forward.
Zoe and I have both commented here. We knew each other well before Sidepodcast though.
ctrl + -?
Ironicaly yesterdays newspaper had a special supplement on finland...
NB its probably not ironic
that does not count!
Nick,
I've just had a thought.
Instead of not reading my blog post, why not leave a comment there telling me how wrong I was and why you enjoyed the race so much?
Mr C and I got married last year. I guess that doesn't count either?
I get the impression you did not meet in the comments.
Am sure it will happen one day!
Any suspects so far? :-)
Don't be so mean! I think it's the best you're going to get. There's a bit of a woman shortage for it to be a real issue :P
Also thankyou. That appears to be what I did with the keyboard. My eyes are healed.
have you refreshed, the new doohicky and homepage sometimes dont load right for me... very large unformatted text with lots of spaces and no colour?
I somehow manage to do it all the time with my trackpad on my new laptop and it drives me barmy because I can't even work out how I'm doing it.
hehe, you're not going to trick me into reading it! ;)
Ah, busted.
Yeah I really have no idea. Those keys are very far apart.
Am sure there is someway we can spin this.
I have had people who don't even watch Formula 1 talking to me today about how rubbish the race was.
I think if you are really determined to avoid bad reviews, you might have to not talk to anyone ever again.
Hah how's your head?
I just think it would have been nice for you to put your side of the story across instead of flatly refusing to read a blog that's against your point of view ,)
I generally think all Melbourne races are brilliant, but you take bias to a whole new level! :D
Is that a pirate wink?
It is quite staggering
ARRR! 'Tis me laddie!!! :D
This happens when you have an English keyboard on one PC and a Danish one on another!
Are you an english or danish pirate then?
Woah what do the Danes move around? All those funny accent keys?
Im not saying its the best race ever, i just think people are being unfair, there were far worse races this season, the biggest problem was the lack of championship context. (also a lot of people upset that britain will lose its gp)
Perhaps the rules of the championship need to be changed so the later races of the year are worth more points than the earlier races to keep the excitement going untill the end of the year?
I think the fact that britain is about to loose its GP has had a larger impact than anyone will admit.
Yes, and some basic ones too (mostly shift keys)
:P
If people can claim we have good races at silverstone and monaco i dont feel any shame in doing it ;)
There is nothing wrong with the championship setup. I can't understand why anyone would see the need to change the championship format
I don't think the british GP has anything to do with it. It was just a rubbish race.
Head is good... guts are bad.
I am eating way to many club sandwiches!
Deary me.
Maybe, but i havent even opened GP+ yet.
http://www.sidepodcast.com/2009/11/01/daily-1st-november-2009/#comment-574513
It wasnt the worst racce we've ever had, but it wasnt the best. There were some good bits, like the Button Webber thing at the end and a little bits of inbetween
BUSTED
I agree, but it was still one of the worst races this year alongside Singapore and Valencia.
hehe At the time it clearly was the best race ever!
And you were clearly alcohomoholiced
While you were pished? I can understand that.
I would also say Monaco fits in with the worst races because, even though jenson winning was great, a seriously boring Monaco race
Have just realised I've mentioned 3 street circuits concerning bad races this year...
In what ways were barcelona, monaco, silverstone and turkey better?
#notforlousconsumption
alot of Jensons wins were boring races
haha yes yes you did
Street races are only really good to get crashing. This year most people seemed to break down rather than crash out. The engine rules have made people very timid, I can't imagine there ever being this many explosions again either. Very odd.
My name is Jeremy, and I enjoyed the last GP.
Every time someone came out of the pits, I was watching intently for any sign of a mistake.
I kept waiting for Lewis to start putting in the quick laps that would get him the gap to retain the lead after his first pitstop.
I conveniently let myself believe that some of the one stoppers could finish higher than they did.
I wondered if there was any chance that Vettel's engine might not make it to the finish.
Would Jenson manage to get past Mark?
Any number of other possible scenarios.
Yes, I have a good imagination.
F1 is about suspense - what might happen as well as what does happen.
monaco was crap this year. I remember being astounded at how many times Lou watched it :D
I might watch the highlights now. I haven't seen any of it. Was there pretty pictures to see?
you just wait until you get down under and use our keyboards that have the # in the proper place ;)
There have only been one or two good races this year. But that doesn't mean Abu Dhabi wasn't bad. It was terrible but it wasn't the only one.
I am more than happy to give it another chance, and like Mr C said in the show yesterday, next year it has the added bonus of not being the last race on the calendar.
lies!!!
except I don't think thats true anymore.
Then we'll have to pray the championship goes down to the wire.
Bernie's not very good at picking his battles.
Sadly we've had a lot of bad races to compare it with this year. the standard appears to have fallen and even with that, the race at Abu dhabi really disappointed me.
from what i have heard it could well be.
I dont mind people saying it wasnt a great, legendary race, but it wasnt terrible, and it wasnt the worst of the year.
I can't wait to see Kimi and Heikki get to Abu Dhabi level on points. It'll be so good!
No, it was terrible. Along with many others.
:)
A wander through Joe's notebook
Kovalainen to Lotus - Not Toyota then? And does that mean no Asian drivers for Lotus?
Villeneuve to USF1 - Hmmm. No comment.
Red Bull-Renault - Well, it was the only outcome possible for both parties, wasn't it? Renault needed a customer, Red Bull needed an engine
Button to Brawn? - The question mark worries me slightly, but Joe's previous Merc article plus the lack of seats mean this has to happen... surely?
The other items are well expected (Rubens and Nico H, Glock to Renault).
I think the fact that it is in your backyard has a larger impact that you're willing to admit ;)
But you watched it in a pub full of rowdy excited locals. It's totally not the same. I can't stand football but I watched the match when Liverpool won the champions league in my local and you get totally gripped by the atmosphere. You can't help but enjoy it.
anyways, off for lunch and mroe lectures. See you later! Least there's no Barrichello-expectancy on my mind now :)
perhaps, but people seem overly willing to slam it.
Take suzuka and singapore, both bad races, but they never recived this level of criticism
ooooh baby do you know what thats worth? oooh
heavenhell is a place on earthAHAHAHAHAHAHA! :D :D
The first year of any track is bound to have that effect. They built it up to be the biggest event of the year, and it... wasn't.
Thats true, but people had made there mind up before it happened
I hated Suzuka a lot more! That was the worst weekend of my life. You're right though, other people really did not agree.
so had you ;)
Really? I hadn't. I wanted something good. I was looking forward to the Hamilton/Vettel battle.
Thats true, perhaps the hype did get a bit much but that doesnt mean its the worst ever.
FACT
See I enjoyed suzuka, I thought it was a good race but that's just my opinion. Doesn't make it any less or more right than what you think.
Singapore was just tiresome though I agree.
Wait, I enjoyed parts of Suzuka. I half take that back. ;)
I am not here.
I believe it was the worst race of the year. The other problem it had was coming off the back of Brazil, which was arguably the best race of the year.
I think you should tell me what to do with my day off. It's been that long that I don't remember what I like to do.
A lot of people were saying they couldnt be bothered, and saying it was another boring tilkedrome and the race would be rubbish.
Then they told themselves they were right. The pitstops were great, kobyashi charging was great,and jenson and mark sliding all over the place in there battle was great too, i enjoyed it
#mfc Orange reveals UK date for iPhone
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8337601.stm
I definitely learnt the trick to enjoying Singapore is being there. Seeing as how its two weeks after Monza next year I'm trying to work out if I can time my flights to come home from Heathrow via Singapore ;)
I like to transcribe on my days off. #notnormal
Just hide in Joe Saward's suitcase.
Me too..
If anything the reason that I was disapointed was that I wanted it to be much more awesome than it was.
I thought Valencia was going to be awesome... but it wasn't
Then I thought Singapore was going to be awesome... and last year lots of people got very confused and lots of random happened but it wasn't really good racing and then this year it turned out to be Valencia in the dark.
Then I thought Abu Dhabi was going to be... well twice bitten three times shy... I was hopeful for Abu Dhabi... But it seemed to be Valencia in the dark but they kept changing the colour of the green building.
Singapore and Abu Dhabi compete with monaco now for style over substance. And I can live with one race like that per year... if it's Monaco.
Go to Paris?
Oh beggar! I forgot it's not even a proper day off. I have to go and do a staff meeting tonight. I guess that's Paris out :(
Paper mache?
:D
Buy a TV? Maybe not...
Eat a really nice meal, then go and see a movie or watch a comedy DVD. Report back here.
I just checked the prices, no way I can afford to be paying that at the moment :(
How did I know that was coming?
take pics ;)
You have problems. Severe papier mache related issues. I'm not sure how best to solve this.
I have a fever.... and the only cure is
more cowbellpaper mache project pics ;)I have bought gt psp.
PSP was in aus ;)
I'm concerned that could just cause things to spiral out of control.
qik stream?
I am not surprised they have been making lots of positive comments and anyway the Renault is marginally more fuel efficient so the rumours go and Ferrari is the thirstiest.
NO!
Just read BBCF1, news that we knew already. Rubens and Hulkenberg to Williams next year
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8337807.stm
Spoil Sport!
I think tomorrow I shall celebrate being paid double time and a half by buying a fan. I am seriously still melting. Where is Giggles with his thunderstorms?
What will this fan have to do? follow you around cheering and shouting "go amy!"? ;)
Unless Mercedes or Mobil comes with generous sponsorship Brawn cannot afford more than 8 million and Jenson wants 10 million. So you could employ another driver for 4 million or less. Rubens gave up waiting so went to Williams.
Why don't you have a go yourself?
yeah, just call me Alonso.
If Mercedes are indeed coming in, the money will not be a problem. Merc will want him there at the very least because he will be driving Car Number 1.
I dont think the hotel would like that! plus the only papers i have are important!
I have to scoot. Lots of meetings today including a possible one about the very future of my course. Fun times
I'm sure you can find some newspaper. Are you too precious about ripping up stories about the GP :P
they took it when they cleared the room...
I have a card from my stepsisters... its no my birthday or christmas though, i think they are trying to confuse me!
Agreed. We were promised the Jetsons and we got Hungary :(
Historically that has always been the case.
Hahahahahahaha that flypast...... Hardly the red arrows is it? :D
Barrichello has stated that his contract with Williams was signed at the Belgian Grand Prix, and that McLaren came sniffing around but it was too late.
Whats wrong with hungary? it has been a good race for this year and last...
ooh I would have LOVED that.
I'm sure it's easily done.....
So has Barrichello undersold himself by signing before he had real success this season?
hehe!
!!!!!!!!!!!
http://www.dyson.com.au/fans/
Stop it Nick!
It has been... not great (or in AD's leauge ;) ) But it isnt as bad as its reputation...
You obviously are very confused if you think this is glamourous.
http://drop.io/sidepodcast/asset/glamourous-jpg
http://drop.io/sidepodcast/asset/camel-jpg
Deary you...
nothing wrong with Hungary last year. Nothing at all.
Deary me.
I'm not off to a chuckle brothers audition.
:D
Hungary has had a couple of good race, but in general it's a bit dull.
:P
It's produced a championship twist every year since 2005. For a twisty-track, it puts the Tilke-dromes to shame.
Deary
It was bad in yhe ninties and the early part of this decade, but it has been good recently
I remember 1998 being an awesome year. :D 1997 was also a great race, if heartbreaking for Murray and co.
Bit strange that. But it has been good for reasons other than the racing - something weird and random had to occur...
1986-89-97-06-08 were good races.
i LOVE the archives!
:D :D
What? If your aim was to baffle me, you've managed!
i shall do it in a sec.
Add 98 to that list, and 07 quali too. :D
I don't remember '98 - that was the year I didn't watch many races...
09 wasnt too bad either ;)
Schumi winning after switching from 2 to 3 stops at his 1st stop and beating McLaren with the 2nd-best car.
It wasn't too shabby.
I was told today to learn to knit to pass time on the off season. I already know how to knit so where does that leave me?
Oh that one. Well I wouldn't have enjoyed that anyway...
BLOG!!!
I remember Murray and Martin being taken breathless by it. I don't think they saw it coming.
Knit some more? :D
I have two half finished posts, and right now I am cleaning. And by cleaning I mean I am fondling the washing I just did because its nice and wet and cold
I can knit. I'm sure I dropiod some pictures of my creation a few months ago. I'm making scarves for Christmas shoeboxes.
fondling the washing... riiiiight.
You could knit me a panda.
hahahaha!
It's too hot for night time!
My air conditioner leaves downstairs lovely and cool but that doesn't work when I sleep upstairs :)
I have been looking for a pattern actually. I have one for an adorable elephant, but that ain't a panda.
It could be a panda going to a fancy dress party as an elephant....
Elmer?
They do have significantly smaller noses.
Elmo?
You must know who Elmer is??
Fudd?
Google tells me he is not just an elephant but a patchwork elephant! who patched him?
I wonder if I can find this pattern. I am too fussy because most of the pandas I have found look nothing like pandas.
Fudd?
Noone knows. It's a sad story :(
Elmer is the one colourful elephant and he feels left out. So one day he covers himself in grey mud to fit in. Then the other elephants accept him until it rains and washes all the mud off :(
It's a good point. Quite a lot of them just look like black and white bears.
That's awful!
I'm sure that's not the ending. I think afterwards he comes to the conclusion that it's okay to be who you are. I wasn't going to ruin the ending but you seem very distressed.
penguin? crab?
Oh dear! why would you bring up such a sad story!
I was a little upset by that as well. Thank god it all works out OK!
That crab is AWESOME!
I was worried too... i was thinking we should do a sidpodradio and adopt him ;)
panda vest?
I also like penguins.
And piglets.
They're cute books. I think I missed the undertones of racial tolerance as a child.
I figured that was the ending (it was a kiddie story after all), but still... phew! ;)
:D
I can't believe you've all missed out on the Elmer joy. I had a huge Elmer poster on my wall! I wish I still had it, I'd put it up :(
I just had this weird idea for Sidepodradio 2. Sidepodradio is a family show, right? Perhaps we should do a book reading show for the kids - complete with some of us acting out the different characters. That Elmer the Elephant story sounds like a good place to start. :D
this ladys job title is "chief panda keeper."
On a scale of 1-10, Christine, how much do you want to be her?
There was another one I liked about a rainbow. The rainbow came out while it was still raining and all its colours got washed away. Elmer went to the end of the rainbow to try and give the rainbow some of his colours. Then he had some philosophical discussion about what would become of himself if he gave the colours away.
Just to spare you the angst. He learned that we can all gain from sharing ;)
"some enthusiasts even had several screens in their house simultaneously showing camera footage of pandas from around the world."
Wow.
About 25.
"Obviously the pandas won't know what's going on, but there are online clubs devoted to watching them, that's how charismatic and interesting these animals are to the world," he said.
Anyone for Sidepodpandaclub?
Big Brother for Pandas. :P
See my vest, see my vest, made from real panda chest...
Aww that sounds bad on pandas. Stupid Mr Burns. I was saying Boo-urns.
I have this t-shirt. I will add you to the list of people who would not ask me the meaning behind it.
I must have it.......
Ooooh I found Revels! I keep thinking this is the best day of my life. Then I remember I'm supposed to be writing a staff meeting agenda.
Other than the BBC, Germany's RTL also produce AWESOME end-of-season montages.
Here's their 2009 effort.
Awesome site... I love this one!
This one also amuses me.. http://www.glarkware.com/adult/generic-product-t-shirt
*coughs* Dutch *coughs*
They love the crashes.
Nothing amuses me quite like "No seriously Rubens, like properly on fire!"
Oops. Dutch. :D
can I just say how mad I am that a band I really want to see managed to sell out their ONE melbourne show in 4 minutes and now the tickets are being scalped on eBay for 8x the face value. I hate scalpers so much.
The Germans do good stuff http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTSHqUFKe6E
It's awful! I really hate it. It's ridiculous.
hehe did the comentator swear? i dont think he was talking about that fast food joint çlucking bell...
I was so excited when I found out I might get to see a band that broke up years ago and now I am sad again :( Hopefully they have time to add another show because clearly the demand is there.
Holland is like Germany, you can say what you want.
love it... they should do that in the uk, its not as if 4 year olds dont know more swear words than regular words these days anyway...
do they deliver to the UK on the boourns tshirt site?
I was shocked when I found out what you can't say on the BBC.
they delivered to NZ, so I'd assume so
Americans are shocked when they find out what you can say!
What's Legard doing in the Dutch montage, though? :D
Boooo for restriction of the press.
Nick, does Dubai have a free and open press? I'm not talking about swearing or whatever. But is it independent?
mav was going to do exactly that. but i think he ran out of time.
Hmmm... it is a lot more open than it used to be, i would say it is open but self regulating.
There are some things they know not to print.
oooh. should ask mav to do it for the sequel, then. :D
Did anyone see hillary clinton with bernie on sunday?
http://formulaone.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/01/agness-paddock-notes-from-abu-dhabi/
he also says kimi will not go to mclaren
No, Croftie said she was there though.
she even!
Okay. That's what I thought. I wondered if I was being unfair.
naughty step for her.
i think NYT is wrong on this one - he'll end up at Macca anyway.
but what was Hilary doing at Abu Dhabi? Setting up a USGP? :D
also interesting to note that not everything seems to be going so smoothly in korea...
I've seen pictures of her near the track.
She is in town for talks with the Palestinian governement
I thought Bernie was closer to the Israelis? :D No matter - if Hilary likes what she saw, I wonder if she'll do anything for a USGP.
whitehouse needs a new image? from january it'll be the blueredandorangehouse
perhaps the USF1 motorhome will be a mobile white house...
:)
In Dubai? That's mad as well.
I think Kimi should hold out and get what he wants. This is what he has said.
"I have options and I still want to be here [in F1], but everything needs to be perfect,"
"I have no reason to make any contract that I don't feel 100 per cent happy with.
"So we'll see what happens."
Yes Kimi you must play it tough with McLaren let it be known they want you more than you want or even need them.
if he'd done enough to warrant the pay. fair enough.
but he's useless at doing PR. he doesn't appear to be a great galvanizer of team sprit. he doesn't appear to be very good at developing a car. i don't remember him doing anything really special since 2005.
Oh btw did Tim ever admit he went into the wrong pit box by accident?
To me, if a driver walks away from a team with 25 million and holds out for more money after two disappointing years, while the world champion earns a tenth of what he did - well I am sorry but that is just greedy.
The man is a phenomenal talent and F1 would be a loss without him - but he's simply not worth what Robertson insists he is.
He secured $ 25 million pay off from Ferrari and wants another 25 million to drive for another team. He should hold onto those demands.
Everything you say is true but he has valued himself at what he thinks the market will withstand. Incidentally he wants a maximum of 12 PR events for the year - no more.
There seems to be slim pickings on the driver market at the moment though. New drivers are such a risk. Obviously McLaren hit the jackpot with Lewis but I can't see a big team risking it again for a while considering the state of the current crop. Who else is there for their 2nd seat??
then kimi will get the team he deserves.
Hah none?
I expect to see him doing 0 PR events...
Sutil to mclaren?
If money is his only concern then his only shot is Toyota, who historically overpay their drivers.
mclaren have plenty of 2nd seat choice, all with experience:
- nick
- trulli
- bourdais
- kovi
But I'm sure it's not. He's rich enough to live a happy life. Why waste his time rolling around at the back of the grid. I can't see him bothering with it.
toyota.
And that is why he is so widely criticised for his attitude. Quite frankly if he is being paid 25 million then he better do all the PR events possible, else the team have no chance on breaking even on their investment.
So why not go to McLaren and say he'll drive for free?
Hahahah you think McLaren are going to sock it to Ferrari next year then? My 2nd driver is Fernando Alonso and yours is.... Bourdais.
mclaren should tell him his demands are stupid, he will have to pay them 5 million to get the drive..
Some people just can't help being greedy. I'm just saying it's not his only concern. I personally don't think he'll be in a Toyota. I think he'd rather retire than be humiliated like that.
Not recently neither Timo nor Jarno are reported to be earning much - he was with the team that historically overpays their drivers.
Toyota have never been an option
he'd be guaranteed to beat his teammate. something that can't be said in mclaren.
So you think Lewis is that good that Kimi will roll around at the back of the grid in his McLaren?
What? I think you've misunderstood somewhere.
I think Fernado is their 1st driver - I do not want to appear callous but we do not actually know if Felipe will actually make the grid and be competitive next year. You could argue that a fit Bourdais, Sutil, Nick or Jarno is still better than an unfit Felipe.
I am sure that was the region that McLaren were thinking - if the New York Times is to be believed McLaren feel that he had such a good payout they should not have to pay too much - and I suspect want a performance based contract.
I think Nick's not bad. In my opinion though, with the rest of them you'd be better cutting your costs and only running one car.....
I am saying Kimi should hold out for his demands - he will only drive for McLaren - so he will not roll around at the back of the grid. He has rejected Toyota's offer rumoured to be 8 million somethings - probably Euros.
Kimi has made this so clear it is McLaren or nothing and with a healthy package and little PR duties.
I think mclaren have made it clear they wont accept that... so i guess we are guessing who is going to get the seat...
Sutil is relativly quick and is pals with lewis, he could be a good bet.
I think they (Macca) should pay Kimi what he is asking and hire him. Do you mean like with Kovy, Nick and others would be like running without a second car - I do not think you are allowed not to enter two cars.
You would cut your sponsorship in half too though...
Hah I wasn't really serious. I think Ferrari are wishing they just kept that seat open in honour of Felipe though ;)
hehe
Christine will be happy, I've blogged some more :) http://f1loonie.wordpress.com/2009/11/02/22-one-year-on/
Macca have said they want the best two drivers on the grid in their team. I think in most people's mind the best three are Fernando, Lewis and Kimi and they have had all three in their team - they clearly do not want nor are getting Fernando as it cost them rather more than 25 million last time. So I say get Kimi, more or less whatever the cost, it will still be cheaper than Fernado. Lewis looks an absolute steal of a bargain compared to the other two.
YAY!
with mercedes and maybe mobile1 bailing? who'll pay for him?
If Kimi can get 25 million payout how much do you think Macca could hold out from Mercedes who seem to want out of their arrangements with the team as early as possible. That could be used to pay Kimi.
nothing. kimi isn't german and they've got rosberg in the wings.
why do mercedes care about kimi?
I would expect mobil 1 to stay... i think they get more out of mclaren in image termsn, and can always supply fuel to both.
They will be keen not to upset merceddes though
especially when kimi broke so many of their engines. ;)
note to self M-e-r-c-e-d-e-s
You have missed my point - Mercedes will care nothing for Kimi - but Macca have a valid contract which Mercedes who seems to want to get out of so they can peruse Brawn and redecorate it silver. Getting out of contracts costs and Macca could use that money to hire Kimi and have the best two drivers on the grid.
hehe. that too.
if kimi goes to macca, the following has to be true:
- he will be paid equal or less than lewis
- he will paid paid in performance bonuses
- he will be required to perform PR duties
the most improved team of 2009 essentially have the pick of the remaining crop, they'd be crazy to agree to anything else.
When they could spend it on the car? I'd value Kimi right now at 15M, tops.
You want a sticker?
:D
umm. if mclaren end the contract with mercedes, how are they going to power their cars?
Why not just get someone like Nick Heidfeld?
Cheap, consistent, decent and quiet...
Joe says they will build their own engines...
with mclaren engines, of course. ;) and yes, i'm serious.
could you write it on my forehead?
in 2010? madness.
but that's not what Kimi is asking for. He wants twice Lewis' salary and about a third of the PR stuff to do.
he won't get it.
If Kimi won't be sensible, they'd probably do okay with Nick. Better than paying Kimi too much and not having money for anything else, especially if they're having to start their own engine development in ernest.
2011 apparently.
BMWMcLarenThere is of course at least one other option.
Backwards so you can read it in the mirror?
obviously not 2010. :D but they need to start developing them soon...
more madness.
they probably already are. however, that won't see kimi in mclaren in 2010, will it?
What would they want with BMW engines? Mobile bombs.....
Kimis limited PR appearences would be vey costly to the point he may not be the best driver for them. Its very risky especialy at a time when mclaren need to fund themselves though sponsors rather than mercedes
Sounds like a plan... can you write backwards?
The merc used to be like that too...
Erm..... I'm certainly willing to practice on your forehead.
Oddly enough, prior to 2009, they were mostly reliable. I think the car just wasn't designed to cool the engine well enough.
you are nuts.
engines are homologated. mercedes have the best one. mclaren will run mercedes engines for as long as possible.
there is no improving the bmw lump when engines are frozen.
hehe thanks!
the redesigned it twice and it didn't improve.
I guess one hasn't blown up on Nick either.... They can't be that bad. In my head though, when I think BMW I see a lot of smoke....
It is not a bad engine, I think BMW might have gone too light with the packaging.
Oh i dont doubt that, they will run it for 2010 and 2011 at least, probably 2012 if they can, that gives them 3 years to build a new engine from scratch for the 2013 regulations
the car, you mean? their reliability seemed to improve towards the end of the season...
It has in practice.
chassis, yeah. didn't they have two blow up's in qually with the new chassis?
From Will Buxton on Twitter:
What, not a Japanese driver? :D
No problem. Always happy to help.
that was way back in monza, right?
hellava assumption there. why discuss that in a public location?
they've redesigned the chassis since then?
dont ask me, i just quoted him. :D but people seem to talk a lot of business at airports...
Of course Macca statement of wanting the two best drivers on the grid could just be interpreted as Lewis and Jenson - the last two world champions.
well, they had aero updates for singapore - may have had something to do with cooling?
ahhh, didn't know that. fair enough.
Jenson would probably be just as good and at less than half the price!
i also remember BMW say that the Monza engines had a manufacturing fault, so it was probably a one-off incident.
basically this year they developed two cars - first with KERS and the second without KERS and used a completely different chassis.
It would serve Brawn right for (probably) hiring lanky hair and firing Rubens.
yeah. assumed the engine probs had persisted beyond them.
I think you might find he is willing to do more than 12 PR jobs as well. He is just not as cool as Kimi.
Like I said at the tail end of my guest post/rant t'other day, F1 is about to experience one hell of a comedown as those members of the private plane set who are coming to the end of long-term contracts find that the pot of gold is no longer there.
I am sure they had hoped Rubens would not have announced his exit - they have less bargaining power to get Jenson to accept a reasonable contract. Who does Jenson think he is to demand 10 million?
Do you think Kimi will agree to a reduced price with McLaren, or would he rather walk away?
I actually do not think Kimi cares! He is the Iceman after all.
Jenson is much better value for money at 10 million than Kimi is at 25 million!
He needs to wash out his potty mouth with soap first, though...
He will walk away if does not get what he is demanding.
When Jenson can at least bring #1 to the cars which Kimi cannot.
Naaah his manager's not a mug. You don't go into a negotiation offering at your lowest possible point of agreement.
Hehehehe. :D Mind you, Markie's been right up there with him. ;)
me thinks he is not the only one who's mouth should be washed out with soap.
So why hasn't either side budged?
He is getting 25 million not to drive anyway so I do not think he cares.
Macca have to budge, or hire Jenson to get the two best drivers on the grid.
I don't think Kimi is particularly money-oriented. He just likes to drive cars quickly. It's his management who are playing hardball on money.
This is a long-standing problem when a manager's pay structure is linked to a percentage of their charge's earnings. Of course, it provides them with an incentive to drive up the rate and maximise their client's fee. But it can also lead them into bad places.
David Coulthard totally rearranged his management structure a few years ago because he felt that his previous management had done a deal with McLaren for big money, rather than let him stay at Williams on a lesser rate but with a championship-winning car.
Eurgh I have to go to work to run a meeting :(
I've managed to procrastinate rather than write an agenda....
they are talking at the moment. Contracts are complicated things. There are many clauses that have to be considered. Personally I think one of the biggest at the moment is if Kimi can drive rally next season besides F1 and if yes what cars.
I suspect Kimi and Jenson are coordinating behind the scenes. If one of them gets confirmed first, the other will lose a lot of leverage with the team of his choice.
Ping goes my inbox. It's a statement from Brawn GP (quote from Ross himself).
"We are very pleased for Rubens that he will be driving in Formula One once again next year. Rubens was with our team for four years and we regard him as a highly experienced and talented driver whose contribution to the team over that period was significant.
"2009 was a very special season for Brawn GP and I am extremely proud of the spirit in which our drivers Rubens and Jenson fought for the Drivers' Championship. Rubens contributed hugely to our success in the Constructors' Championship with two great victories in Valencia and Monza along with numerous podiums and he was a pleasure to work with.
"We wish Rubens the very best with his new team and thank him for his contribution to Brawn GP this year."
Are you sure that was just a few years ago? That seems like 13 years ago. :D BTW, Stuart, do you see DC becoming a driver manager like MB?
Is that not sort of like a cartel?
So no confirmation yet on replacement for Rubens. It's not like we don't know who's replacing him or anything. :P
Joe said in a previous blog post that it's probably happening anyway. After all, Jenson also used to be managed by the Robertsons, so there is a link.
If I had a pound for every driver who told me he was talking to so-and-so about a drive, I'd be tootling around in a Porsche rather than a Skoda...
:D
And people make fun of my car?
I make fun of Porsche's all the time ;)
I think that is why Kimi was so insistent on only 12 PR event so he could have time to devote to starting his Rally career. I also think he will hold ground as he has another option.
I think there is another more Machiavellian side to Kimi's contract negotiation. He will have the full inside to Macca through Kovy. He is insisting that Macca invest more in him financially than in Lewis to ensure he gets equal treatment and is not the second driver. I do not think the money is so important but the equality of treatment.
Point 1.
Write on new employees foreheads
Interesting point there.
Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeh. So it is/was!
Depends on how he sees his future in broadcasting. MB (gridwalk MB, not he-done-overshot-his-pitstop-Steve MB) stepped back from driver management to concentrate on the broadcast role, although that may have been instigated by the BBC. They wouldn't want the likes of the Daily Mail pointing out every instance of him plugging one of his clients.
So what do you drive?
People make fun of my car because it is only half a car!
But if you negotiate like me there is a penalty for dragging out the talks...
Fair point. That's why Martin left 2MB to Mark. I love your description of Mark B though - winner! :D
True enough. When you occupy the other Macca garage you've got Team Hamilton to contend with as well.
On the other hand, the sort of epic nonchalance that only Kimi can pull off may have a very interesting effect in any ongoing mindgames.
Oh btw before I leave I thought I'd let you know that after in depth negotiations I've put back my flights until after Christmas. I'm gonna see how I feel then. I've not sorted out what I'm doing workwise until then. I'm meeting my boss on Friday to talk about it.
Now I really do have to leave or I will be genuinely unemployed.
But surely if anyone knew Kimi's nonchalant game, it would be McLaren?
Stuart, question on Bridgestone - who's the favorite to replace them? We were thinking Pirelli, and f1scoop seems to agree. Goodyear has a shot too, though.
Right dinner time for me .... Babyback ribs...mmmmm
baby back, baby back, baby back... :D
Kimi is anything but stupid, he is only going to be in an F1 car if he has a chance to a) win races and championship, b) have enough spare time to indulge in other interests.
of course and I suspect Ron will be keeping a watchful eye and ready with advise should it be sought.
McLaren are having a clearance sale up to 70% off all stuff ...
https://www.mclarenshop.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/storefront_10001_10551_-1?langId=-1&storeId=10001&catalogId=10551&krypto=mfvQ4TdDJqPcGAvqxptJJQ==&ddkey=https:SetCurrencyPreference
clearly they are needing the capital to hire Kimi.
cap wasn't discounted by much, but the shirts and jackets are dirt-cheap. i suspect a new marketing design next year. :D
Thank you for bringing that over here onto this thread, Mr. C.
Just me trying to give a little bit back to a community that has given me so much this season. Since I found you my F1 enjoyment has gone up exponentially.
One perhaps missing "Mercedes"?
All the stuff with Santander logos hasthe most discount.
I am not here
was just about to say that too, i suspect a new livery :D
Actually, I was thinking of one missing "Mobil 1". ;)
But Santander confirmed they were renewing, so I don't think it's them...
it's so cheap, i'm tempted to buy a tee. but i'm not a mclaren fan, and i don't really need it... hehe. :D
has this ferrari store been mentioned?
The building of approximately 370 sqm is characterized by a large glass gallery that recalls the image and feel of Formula One box, immediately projecting visitors in the Ferrari world.
http://www.contemporist.com/2009/10/27/ferrari-factory-store-by-iosa-ghini-associates/
What's a Formula One box? :D
I decided a while back that I wanted to collect F1 team keyrings from out and about, but as I haven't been to an event for a loooong time now, my collection has stalled at just the Williams one.
*thinks of Scrubs* :D
I can say that Kovy is leaving his $25 kid's cap has been discounted to $7.5 whereas for Lewis the discount is only to $12.5
https://www.mclarenshop.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_10001_10551_-1_44154_VMM233K
Interested to know who f1scoop is. I have my suspicions.
Anyway, Pirelli would be a good bet because they've tendered for the contract before. Failing that, someone once told me that Bernie has a stake in Avon (and I don't mean Twerton-on-)...
Ooooh. Interesting. :D
Bernie has a stake in Avon? Well, I guess that's not a bad thing, if only to ensure he doesn't get caught out with F1 and no tyres.
The BBC website never ceases to amaze me with the sheer levels of fail concerning finding videos and searching on the website
So Hillary Clinton was at the Yas Hotel yesterday?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/02/AR2009110201507.html
agreed.
That meeting couldn't have been very productive (WAY too noisy) - but, hey, F1 provides them free security!
And on that weird note, I'm off to bed. Night, everyone.
I was trying to find an older video on there with Mark Webber I know is there because I watched it recently but I've just given up. It is far too impractical/ near impossible to find archives.
#foramy
Don't know if you've seen this or not, but lot of Kimi :)
http://community.livejournal.com/kimiraikkonen/71747.html
And the search function is UTTERLY useless. You get the most bizarre, unrelated results!
They changed ribs night! :(
will go later in the week...
Howdy SPCLand...
Flying visit at the moment.
Are you all well? Mondays are rubbish.
They seem to have a real beee in their bonnet with the bbc and autosport....
they keep saying really dumb things...
Just been watching some videos, and we need more gridwalks like this. None of this celebrities crap!
evening!
Evening, seems quiet tonight.
i came 2nd in the sofaf1 pole poll :(
http://www.sofaf1.com/2009/11/sofaf1-championship-2009-round-17-abu.html
Evening! I don't know if this has been said ealier about the tyre problem, but what about Continental?
I didn't do too bad with my Australia picks for the season I suppose
quickly catching up on comments
suppose it depends if your a jenson fan or not.. Australia was epic start to finish, and i enjoyed monaco just because he won and it's well.. monaco...but hey i'm hardly one to judge the only race this year i've found dull was yesterdays.. i've kinda enjoyed all of the others..
that's cause i was baking while the repeats were on... plus he won in monaco!! :D it's awesome! :)
will catch up with more at some point.. driving lesson then homework now though...
woo, came joint 4th in the race thing...
the last great Monaco race before 2008, was 2004. Only 8 cars finished. Throw back to the 1996 race.
Australia was good, I thought Malaysia was good until the rain, erm, apart from that though.
Evening!
I may or may not have lost points because I didn't enter this week. I have no idea if I would have because I don't know what I picked before and I don't know what I would've picked this time.
It means Alex beat me, so well done! I did still beat Christine, but only just..
Mr C, when do you think the Debrief will be public? I missed the last part and my iPod doesn't let me listen to the replay
It's so quiet this evening.
I am about to start editing it in the next half hour or so.
(from the embedded vid earlier)
That was a really interesting piece of software they are using to model the boxes. I've only ever seen diagrams, never the model being manipulated.
great, I really wanted to hear the end.
replay is up, but it'll talk a while to download:
http://www.sidepodcast.com/2009/11/01/live-the-off-season-starts-now/
can't listen to it on my iPod... :(
paddock life:
...next year, there is every reason to feel the event could get even better. Renault's new sponsor, watch maker TW Steel, was one that felt F1 should be having a bit more fun off the track - and it has some grand ambitions to bring spectacle for both those in the paddock and fans next year.
http://www.autosport.com/news/grapevine.php/id/79983
MrC how is wave? does it live up to the hype?
I heard someone ranting on TV about how it is the opposite of an apple product...
apple builds excitement, whereas google builds frustration...
should be able to. have you checked out show selector?
http://sidepodcast.com/playground/showselector.php
you can choose "live streaming", click the "generate" button and then the itunes link that appears.
*waves at nick from the daily*
Ooops...! sorry
TW Steel was a series sponsor of A1GP, which probably adds weight to their woes if this was a transfer rather than in addition to.
I can't remember what they did for A1 though, other than provide a lot of their branding and some grid girls..
doesn't work, link is invalid (apparently)
Johnny Noble says if we provide our top 5 drivers of the year, he'll use them in a column, like he does with his and the team bosses top 5s..
They will be title sponsor next year i heard
sorry. not from the iphone directly. you do it on your main pc and then sync with itunes. directly from your iphone, try this link:
http://sidepodcast.com/episodes/media/live/live85.mp4
but please don't do it over 3g, the file is huge.
i approve of that.
Its a bit odd... they make watches, i have never head of them.. where does the cash come from?
ace. will have a think.
I've started watching these. I say started, I watched Daytona last night.. The editing could be better but you get the general idea and tbh you don't need it any longer.
@NobleF1 top f1 drivers of '09: 1) BUT 2) BAR 3) MAS 4) VET 5) ALO
#sorryamy
don't know. i used it for one day last week before another f1 race got in the way.
am working on it this evening.
Mine were: Button, Vettel, Barrichello, Webber, Hamilton. Honourable mentions for Massa and Kobayashi, but didn't feel I could put either in for a 'whole season' comparison..
ctrl + mousewheel also changes it
The lack of championship context was a factor, I'm sure. We've had equally boring races but the points meant something there.
Nonsense.
That's ridiculous, it had nothing to do with it.
Back.
The link doesn't work either, Mr C.
odd. it's fine on mine.
christine will no doubt have the edit up shortly.
It leaves you here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRuiQrpXpG0
if you could post the link again, I'll try again.
I am seven minutes in.
Even ingningning
http://www.sidepodcast.com/episodes/media/live/live85.mp4
hey ya jackie.
Hellllo. Hows Jackie?
hello
I'm very well thanks .. and you all?
My Top 5.. JB SV RB LH (omg) and FM
Hey everyone.
Yeeee..... old lady hands taste on my cerial is not something I want in my breakfast.
Hi Dan
Q .. Is F1 too safe?
just won't load up - I am on wifi
For what it is worth:
SV, JB, LH (MBE), RB, and LB.
Luca?
Hey - Skoda's are good cars now!
went for but, ham, bar, vet and since i couldn't think of anyone for 5th, glocky
Does anyone know what the circuit/country pays Bernie to hold and F1 race?
@NobleF1 wants your Top 5 drivers tonight for a poll in AUTOSPORT...
SB was getting pretty fast and no one really noticed
I think the proper question is if the tracks are a challenge these days. I like that the cars and drivers are well-protected. I like that there is enough run off and tire wall. However, the Tilke-dromes are just not a challenge of a track.
Look at how much of a hard time the grid had a Suzuka? Spa used to be that way but they destroyed the challenge of that track with all the tarmac run-off area. Call me old fashion, but I do believe if you run off track, you should be severely punished by it.
Yeah ;)
In hinsight, seeing how Fisch did in the Ferrari, it really wasn't that bad.
I did actually think pot kettle black at Abu Dhabi especially when Fisi got the pitlane speeding penalty
Because how many people know who Leimer is or what he looks like? I've never heard of him before today and I'm obsessed with this stuff.
It was deadly dull and not helped by the TV director thinking he was making a promotional video for the Abu Dhabi tourist board rather than covering a sport.
I have watched many races over the years after championships were clinched and they have been some of the best races ever because no-one is being cautious. The idea that after 60 years we should change how points are assigned to different races is ludicrous.
You think all the Australians and New Zealanders and Americans who comment here are bothered about whether or not Silverstone has a race. I have argued since the day Donington was announced that the race would be at Silverstone and I see no reason to change that opinion so it did not affect my view of the race.
For the first time in my life I lost track of a race and lost interest. That didn't happen when Schumacher or Mansell clinched championships in September and we had 4 or 5 races still to go.
I said from the first video of the track was released that it would provide bad racing and to be honest it was much worse than I thought. I started with low expectations and it was worse than even I expected.
No such thing as too safe
The 2009 Formula 1 World Champion.
In previous years when he made demands he came over as a bit petulant. This year he's earned the right to ask. They can only say no, and they can meet in the middle.
Kimi is another matter because he already has a sky-high salary and he hasn't been performing consistently.
I agree, it was a comment that seemed opposite view to my own in our forum that got me wondering if I was out of sinc with public opinion
@Motorsportprint is auctioning off a Vettel pic for the "Wings for Life" Charity if anyone's interested: http://tinyurl.com/yzmdlpx
I'd love to but the price will get skyhigh .. what's the current bid?
There has to be a penalty for going off the track. I like gravel traps but the trouble is when a car gets stuck in one of those it often requies a yellow to clear it. Tarmac run-offs are ridiculous in that there is no penalty and in the wet they are worse than useless
Gonna be honest, it did with me..
I disagree. Fisi was less than a second a lap of Kimi in a car he never really ot on top off. Badoer was 2.5 seconds a lap back
races used to have action all the time, crashes in every race. Where has that gone? (not that I want anyone hurt...)
What is the thinking behind tarmac run-offs, less expensive?
Maybe I don't count, having a foot in both camps, but I have always supported sticking with the British and other traditional Grands Prix....
No - it's too sanitised. Where was the penalty for going off track yesterday? That track looked about as challenging as tying my shoelaces...
Too high for most of us I reckon - 250 Euros!
Stirling Moss keeps saying that it is too safe. The trouble is the more safe people feel the more risks people take. Because drivers expect to walk away from any accident they enter corners at ridiculous speeds and if they go off they go off. If the tracks were not as safe they would need to slowly build up the speed they carried into the corner to make sure they did not get hurt.
Surprised at that, I expected it to be in the 1000's
He was a laugh at Le Mans during the classic race. They brought out the safety car because someone had a bad accident and after the race he got all into a huff proclaiming that racing had become too soft and safe. He still doesn't wear a proper helmet!
I think it is that cars don't get stuck on them so there are fewer delays and in the dry tyres grip better on tarmac so there is more chance of not hitting the barrier. They started to introduce them after a coupl of cars had skipped across gravel traps and because they were airborne they didn't lose a lot of speed. Of course that is due to the tech regs of the cars.
Oooh, now they are affordable.. could all teams do this please?
Do you know, at Le Mans they had a lot of 'old' gear and it was dirt cheap - I picked up a mighty Blue and Yellow Renault F1 tee shirt for 5 Euros!
Bargains or what! Can't believe the team race t-shirt is down to £7.50!
Heikki shirt's down to £4.19 as well.
if cars roll, the hoops dig in and the weight of the car is on the drivers helmet/head.
*in the case of gravel traps that is. doesn't happen on tarmac, hence they are safer.
Still waiting for Brawn to bring out a men's hoodie though :(
Or in Pedro Diniz's case the role hoop snapped in the gravel
Continuing the them of making films out of games...
Minesweeper - The Movie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHY8NKj3RKs
(via @JRaydan)
You can now setup your own google wave server: http://code.google.com/p/wave-protocol/wiki/Installation
(not sure if this has been discussed already, and I haven't fully read the instructions yet)
Anyone else having trouble with the McLaren shop? Seems to want to refuse my Visa, Diners and Mastercard!
It also allows the ambulances to get right next to the car quickly, tarmac is safer all round, although i think it should have some penalty, sticky patches which ruin the tyres could be good
In half the places... ummm barriers?
The only reason anyone has a race anywhere is money. They didnt start racing at Spa because it looked like a good track, they raced because a wealthy duke put up a lot of vcash to do so...
It's nowhere near as safe in the wet. A car that skates off a wet track keeps skating till it hits the barrier,
As his teammate i am sure jenson knew he was leaving...
One complaint about the track I have, what was with the light blue on the run off? Unbeliveably ugly.
agreed. Super sticky in the wet or dry so that it actually works in the wet, and ruins your tyres in the dry. Don't ask me how to achiee this however. Sand paper type surface or drag racing type sticky chemicals?
He is the world champion. When was the last time the reigning world champions signed a new contract for anything like as low a number as 10 million. Even Lewis got more than that and he already had a contract in place.
it just made my eyes go all funny...
I think its a bit presumptious to judge a track on just one race, with just one series.
Its one thing to judge the race, i have a differing opinion on that, but I really see how you can make a judgement on something so quickly. Having said that you were prery determined it was going to be bad before we even saw the first video
did Rubens make his decision after the 'blah blah blah, incident? Or did the team make the decision for him?
Can we please get over this and just move on?
True but gravel makes a car jump and therefore is likely to induce the car to flip before hitting the barrier
What will be the next big announcement?
Is that good enough, Lukeh?
:)
I guess somone thought it would look good? ...and marina-esque?
I think it is higher-grip asphalt, so cars can decelerate more effectively. They forgot it was covered in dust.
Glocky lad at Renault.
fair enough, i think all that there is to say has pretty much been said
Kubica and Glock will be an awesome team. The lineups for next season are starting to look really good me thinks.
no surprise there then, RG...
I think, after that, Brawn will come out with something - it
might just be a Button renewal, but something.
I would love to see him at Mclaren...
especially the British GP. Not having a British GP would be like not having a race at Bathurst each year in October
I disclosed it earlier, Glocky isn't allowed to go to McLaren.
and Britain was the first country to host an F1 race (even if otnwas called the European GP 1950...)
*it was
If they are going to give silvrstone a cut price deal, i cant help but think they are missing an opportunity to move it to brands or even donnington.
Silverstone has little cash and needs upgrading, so do all the others...
Speaking of barriers, I think the FIA is getting really lackadaisical about track safety technology. I think they could make a major push for this, especially in light that any technology to make the track safer is immediately applicable to roads around the world. For instance on a courses like Canada and Monaco, you could bring in what NASCAR and the University of Nebraska is doing in terms of their SAFER barriers.
I think there is possibilities for making tracks safer without neutering them endless tarmac and chicanes. I believe that we have the technologies or have the capacity to make the technologies to make tracks safer without alterning the challange of the track.
Todt, get on it.
I wan't determined it was going to be bad but I was convinced it would be. Tilke designed it and Tilke designs tracks that produce dull races. I am judging him over quite a number of tracks now and he has not produced a good one let alone a great one. I knew the land was flat and I know that flat land is not conducive to great circuits. So you have a porr piece of land and a designer who makes dull tracks so I was pretty convinced we would not get anything to rival Spa.
Looking at the videos it was obvious it was as bad as I expected and the race was even worse.
What do you think is going to happen in future races that will change my opinion? All those consecutive mickey mouse corners generate field spread and destrooy any chance of racing. That is going to apply in 10 years time as it does now.
It's a straight copy of Paul Ricard
Kimi to McLaren
the other races in 3 different catogories were pretty good, plenty of overtaking and good racing...
Brands can't get planning permission. That's why they gave up the contract when Bernie did a deal with them 15 ish years ago.
maybe they could put Paul Ricard on the calendar for 2011. All they have to do is build some grandstands, and it's already a classic track.
Thats what they did in abu dhabi with the tech-pro barriers, they also used them in monaco. I dont think they will catch on though
They had barriers like that in Abu Dhabi
i'm finding it highly amusing.
i've never know such a one-sided debate on sidepodcast. even michael shumacher had more than one supporter.
Hehe. I'm just rubbish at arguing.
didn't tim hit one and just carry on like he'd run into a bouncy castle?
then build a new circuit... theres no point going back to silverstone year after year.
As you said, flat racetracks are not great
Irrelevant. That happens in many circuits that produce boring F1 races. Those categories don't have the downforce or straight line performance F1 does so the straights effectively are longer and the cars get closer through the corners.
What about refuelling, wasn't that also the whole of sidepodcast against, someone, name forget me.
i don't think the world vs. nick counts as an argument. tis quite funny all the same.
Now there is an interesting thought. Abu Dhabi after one weekend is more unpopular than Schumacher. He will be gutted.
But you have the longest stragits in F1 with tight corners before and after.... the fact there was little overtaking is surely more to do with the cars?
Yes
hehe... someone else was on my side this morning!
:P
I'm amazed F1 tracks haven't implemented SAFER in at least some places, particularly new venues.
I'm pretty sure the IRL / IMS had a big hand, not just NASCAR.
Easier said than done
Absolutely true and Silverstone have spent most of the last 30 years making changes to the circuit to make it better and they are still planning more. The one thing Silverstone has always had in ints favour is that it doesn't have 25 corners.
I enjoyed the GP. That's all I'm saying.
But they were all wrong
I thougtht I saw that yesterday, I didn't realize they used them in Monaco.
singapore, no?
perhaps that was the first place to use them? I remember us trying to spot them at monaco...
:D
No to continue the argument, but I kind of like it. It was interesting in the way I find the orginally created Grand Tourismo tracks. There fun to race on if the game forces me to do so, but if I wanted to race my friends I am going with Laguna Seca or the Nurburgring instead.
That said, because they actually sold the place out, I rather F1 go there over Bahrain, Malaysia, Turkey, and China any day.
The cars exist so you have to design new tracks with their performance in mind. The cars are wrong as well but that is a different argument.
You have long straights but from the end of the seconds straight what you have from turn 11 to turn 7 is a series of mostly mickey mouse corners that generate field spread so when they reach turn 7 at the start of the first straight there is too much of a gap between the cars for overtaking to happen.
Silverstone is flat but it is probably the best flat track in the world right now. Look at its layout. There are very few genuine corners over tha lap and there are more now than there ever have been. It used to only have 6 proper corners and we got much better racing.
In that case, FIA rant on lack of roadside safety withdrawn. I wish they would push it more then just trusting the boring hand of my Tilke.
They sold the place out because they only had 50,000 seats though!
and no-one came on friday or saturday.
Surely this is evidence of F1 being too safe?
I dont think i can recall there being a good race at silverstone, it gets a huge crowd, its very fast, but thats about it
I was sooo there ;)
The only reason they sold it out is because it only has 50,000 seats and it was only sold out on Sunday. They sold three day tickets only so technically it was sold out for all 3 days but it was empty on Friday
Oh come off it Nick!
2008 was flippin' awesome.
you were given free admission and corporate hospitality.
Thats quite a lot! Would you get that many for a NASCAR race in say france?
world = 11, nick = 0
What about Rubens a couple of years ago.
2003 wasn't that bad, nor 2007, 06, I don't remember that one.
Alas... but i had to fight for it!
He was comparing it to other F1 events not some made up event.
I can see it now... Factbyte factbox is going to have a scoreboard soon ;)
world = 12, nick = 0.
i should open a book on this.
Have you had too much hookah in Dubai or something? Jeez!
ooops.
Its a fair comparison... new sport in the country with expensive tickets, i dont think 50,000 is all that bad.
neither do i... if anyone had actually sat in the seats they'd paid for.
hehe its called shisha here :D
There is one sign which calls it Hookah though, in a very unfortunate place ;)
NASCAR doesn't know how to sell an expensive ticket
Should have posted my top 5 drivers earlier but I forgot because the McLaren store FAILED :(
@NobleF1 1.Button 2.Barrichello 3.Hamilton 4.Vettel 5.Webber. No bias of course ;)
It was pretty hot!
And to convince people its worth going on fridays ou need them to be interested in the sport, it takes time to develop.
Pre alonso what would the friday attendence have been in barcelona?
I had @NobleF1 Jenson, Webber, Rubens, Kobyashi and Piquet
I used to get together with 50,000 of my closest friends every weekend of the season for a college football game.
50,000 seats does not impress me in the slightest.
right. and that must've come as a massive shock to the locals.
It's is not a remotely fair comparison. There are F1 races already in the UAE there are no NASCAR races in France. Tourist went to Abu Dhabi to see the F1 races as they do to most GPs. NASCAR fans are not going to fly to France.
Low but they were not claiming a sell out while the place was empty
I guess they had seen/played the sport before?
Its an abstract comparison.
Ok new tack... would you get over 100,000 for a gp at silverstone on a monday during school term time if there were no british drivers?
You are abstract!
Who puts a race on a monday?
the UAE weekend is friday/saturday
my company put our upcoming holiday party on a Friday, 1pm - 5pm. So, I'm guessing Time Warner Cable would be the type to put a race on a Monday :)
Here's a question for you - if the race was on the moon with speedboats on a course made of cheese and set 20,000 years ago would it still have more overtaking moves than Abu Dhabi?
world = 112, nick -12
If the race was on a Monday the crowd would be just the same as if it was on a Sunday
have you been on the sheesha?
:D
:D
:D
:D
how can i loose points!
Bernie put the race on the equivelent of a monday!
hey everyone, all having a nice day?
A course made of cheese would be awesome.
Does it have a hotel?
ahh, brilliant. i'm in hysterics here.
car crash commenting.
:P
Second question then.
Who puts a race on a Saturday?
Hellllllo.
:D
wait, I got it... perhaps all the tarmac runoff could be covered in cheese to punish drivers who go off the track, at the same time giving the spectators something to do at the end of the race (come down and eat it all) win-win!
No, I'm just debating in your abstract fashion ;)
Nascar, GP2, Le Mans!
the people turned up on the sunday.
it was fri/sat (their weekend), that the place was deserted.
good to know, i'm rather high on red bull atm so should be fun ;)
:P
Nascar is just stupid.
GP2 as it has two races over a weekend, and they can't fit it all on one day due to the F1.
Le Mans is a 24 hour race, finishes on a sunday.
SHOO!!!!
Am I supposed to be shooing you BTW?
This i was not expecting, but there were people there for quali. Its difficult to explain to people why they would want to go on a friday/saturday if they have never seen the sport before, they just wanted to see a race...
I think a lot of tickets went to music fans leaving people like me locked out!
Shoo first, ask questions later.
:D
Interesting point. So the weekend argument is nonsense
that totally contradicts your earlier statement that it's bernie's fault for putting it on, on a monday.
Also Moto GP, IRL (i beleive), am i missing any other major motorsport series?
i was only saying hi while i had a cup of tea.. i'll be gone soon.. it's been a long and tiring day. on the plus side driving in the dark (without rain) is actually pretty fun.
world = 255, nick = -24
love you too Christine :P
:D :D
If she is supposed to be shooed she won't read the question.
Moto GP has one race on a saturday
NASCAR and IRL have saturday night races.
T
as a current resident of the USA I should possibly defend NASCAR and yet I won't. Hello all from inside a conference;)
That is still 45,911 more people that they got in Turkey, Malaysia, Bahrain, and China combined.
I am not commenting on the track. After all, Tilke will always steer you wrong even when he has all the resources in the world. The viewing experience on Sunday was like every other Tilke-drome race I've ever seen on TV.
Step One: Pan shot of cars going down straight.
Step Two: Close up shot of cars going through tight chicane.
Step Three: Repeat step one and two till finish.
I think the more pressing issue to all this is the fact that the FOM and FIA are trying to standardize race tracks. This is a shame because I always felt that the World Championship should be decided on the greatest variation of tracks as possible. From the fast sweepers of Sliverstone and Spa, to the high speed straights of Monza, to the tight spaces of Monaco, to the rough street surfaces of Melbourne and Canada. I think that is part of the charm of F1 and helps mix up the season.
I know everyone on here will chastise me for mentioning it, but I still believe F1 should run one race on the full Indy oval. It is a completely different challenge from all others and would add credence to my ideal of a true “world champion” from all different driving and engineering tests. Yes I know there is some big questions, especially with how the chassis are standardized today. However, I would love to see it just once to see how it would go. I think the results would shock a lot of people.
Hope we're using more than 8 bits to store the number!
If the race was on a saturday you would get more people going, when practice is is irrelevent as i dont think people will go untill the sport has been here long enough to develop fans.
Remember untill this year it hasnt even been on normal tv here...
that could be an issue.
Sunday is a working day there isn't it?
You really are taking to driving like a duck to water. Bad example since it was dry.
Yeah, it's sorta like "nobody can hit my little brother but me", but, well, it's Nascar. If you think a Tilke drome is boring, I mean, come on, an OVAL!?!?
:-)
hah, good point!
evening
I was insinuating putting the race on a saturday, quali on a friday
hehe well it's taken me a while, but tbh i should be alright at driving by now.. seeing as my test is in a few weeks. it's awesome though :) i had great fun today and my instructor was really impressed that he basically didn't have to say anything all lesson (except talking to me about f1 and things)
plenty of Americans refuse to defend NASCAR
I'd like that.
I subscribed to big ben on Twitter and it still makes me laugh when it tweets every hour!
I won't defend what goes on the track. I don't watch it regularly nor do I care to.
However, I will defend how savvy the entire France family and how they run their sport. I would take NASCAR's management over FOM's anyday of the week and twice on Sundays.
ah I saw that mentioned earlier when at work and i cracked up :-)
It depends which aspect of the sport we're talking about. Their marketing is untouchable but their technical rules leave a lot to be desired.
So we should change the whole thing round to suit a few thousand locals and tourists and screw up the millions who watch on TV? There is a reason why the British GP and others were switched from being on Saturday to Sunday and there is no way anyone will get the race on a Saturday.
I like some aspects of NASCAR, just not the racing so I guess I like NASCA
That is good. I am so glad you enjoy it.
:)
Agreed.
So whats more important... crowd going to the track or having it on tv when you want it?
Evening all. Have finally managed to watch the race, so can rejoin civilisation.
oooooooh. impecable timing.
wasnt it great :D
at silverstone you have both.
I think Bernie has given us he answer with the change to night and twilight races on the fly aways to make the races fit in with European TV audiences.
ok... but assuming you have to go elsewhere, outside the traditional christian world... china, malaysia, bahrain...
firstly i don't think there is a specific need too, beyond simple greed.
i would personally start with grass roots support and try to nurture a future star, that the public could show an interest in. or a team they can get behind.
i would chuck a race in the middle of nowhere and expect it to be brilliant.
Why?
But its supposed to be a world championship?
maybe f1 needs to have a separate European championship which runs on alternate weekends to the world championship and goes to all the tracks in europe.
The world championship could still go to monaco, britain, monza, spa, but it would also go to Aus, malaysia, china, AD e.t.c...
I think both are important. I don't see any point in having events put on with empty grandstands when there are people elsewhere in the world who love to go to practise or qualifying day. I don't understand Abu Dhabi putting on an event to promote its tourism industry with empty grandstands. That suggests that they are failing at tourism and doesn't encourage people to go.
How good was that race!
we've been debating the merits of said GP most of the day.
(although it feels like longer)
Did anyone notice Smithy taking the p*** while the BBC interviewed Boris Becker?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EFwRcmKDhU&feature=autoshare_twitter
it was a world championship for 50 years before f1 rocked up in the desert.
Exactly. There needs to have been a growing or developed domestic / regional scene to create the fans, the buzz, the interest in motorsport. Other than the Middle East Rally Championship which I think has been running for a while, what else is there? All the other major series that visit haven't been there long either.
Not true, they used to race in the desert at casablanca
So why does it need more than one race in the UAE where there is a very small population?
Well I thought it looked magnificent, the light is amazing as the sun sets and then the artificial lights gradually take over. I'm in awe of the hotel with the LEDs, but the race could have been a bit more exciting.
the tracks are brand new. they were built for major international events. if those events there would be no circuits, there can be no future stars...
its chicken and the egg...
never heard of it. why didn't it last as long as say, monza?
So i've read through the comments about the GP... well some ... and i can safely say it was the worst grand prix i have seen all year, it was the only one this year i've felt was dull. Croftie and Ant weren't even talking about the race at one point... they missed several pitstops, solely because it was so dull, and pitstops are usually the highlight of a dull race...
They did that in 1958 and didn't go back to the middle east for decades
Gee it's worked for Malaysia, China, Turkey...
Rubbish. You don't need to spend a billion dollars to create a club circuit
It doesnt...
But grand prix have always gone where the money is. Monaco, Spa, monza... all those races take place because some one put the money up and said he will pay the people who race.
the population of spa is small, monaco isnt huge either...
Why would they build a club circuit?
They were built for the prestige of hosting those events, not for attracting people to come and watch, otherwise both Bahrain and AD would have more stands. What future stars? The only Middle Eastern racing driver I can think of is Mohammed Al-Fardan who was a laughing stock in the last iteration of GP2A. Let's not pretend Andi Zuber is from the UAE, that's just where he lives now.
Evening all...I'm pleased you wrote that.
I'm doing a blog post "How to solve a problem like Abu Dhabi" comments like this are good feedback...
What do you think the main problems of the race were?
To create grass roots interest in the sport. That's how it should be done.
that's true. at one point i commented kubica had pitted, before realising i didn't even care. no-one was around him, if made no difference to anything else, he may as well have been driving a test session.
i think the car culture in the uae stands it in a better chance than the others. with 4 tracks in the gulf now hopefully some racing series will develop when the recession is over
easy. grass over the and turn it into a holiday destination.
To develop local talent and build up grassroots motorsport, and things like local touring car and F3-or-similar series.
There are far more people within easy travelling distance of those places with the interest in going to races than Abu Dhabi
:) Brutally honest as ever!
I dont see how you expect there to be stars without tracks, i dont see who would grant the land and build the tracks without a reason.
It needs the big events to get things going, you are creating a whole new sport...
I wasn't actually that bothered by Abu Dhabi, the race wasn't great but then the entire season hasn't been amazing race wise.
i missed the word track. but they already have the entrance to the multi-story.
Just as an aside, my Turkish mate says that the reason why nobody goes is that it's just too expensive - so I don't think the circuit is there to develop grass roots motorsports...
That's why you need club tracks FIRST.
Exactly... give it 20-50 years...
100% agreement.
is anyone keeping count?
They just spent a billion on a track surely putting some cars on it can't cost too much
same as Nico.. i noticed and it was a good 4 minutes before Croftie mentioned it in passing. Five live can usually make the worst race interesting but they didn't even bother for some parts of it..they concentrated on more interesting things like next season :)
It's at about
everyone 401
Nick -91
They wont be built. no way. sports venues dont just happen for no reason...
ah-ha. how points does the hotel have?
They want you to go to the GP and then realise what a lovely place it is for a holiday, so you go back there for a holiday.
They should create their own. Ah they did.. Speedcar..
You can imagine the cost to put on an F3 race on a circuit that cost a billion
not quite.
they want you to see it on tv, and then go there for a holiday.
I wanted to keep a BMW watch, but got bored of that when we were keeping the same position.
I lost count. It lost me at the purdy colours
Spa didn't need 20 years neither did Spa, Silverstone, the Nurburgring etc
The governement has money in AD, but there is less cash around the private sector.
The UAE national championships get under way in 100 days time with touring cars, radicals and GT's though so it should be good start
That's because people in that region seem to insist on being bigger and better than anything else. Why not make a little 1.4 mile track somewhere and market it as a driving academy?
All three were around when cars could actually overtake though and racing was actually exciting.
one issue is currency value and exchange rate - so even if you make entrance say 250 euros - I can say where I live that is more than a month's wage for some staff where I work.
Yes but they were leaning on the previous races between cities which were in the press.
I still think my idea of splitting the championship would keep everyone happy... there would be enough gridslots for Sauber, Prodrive and Lola to join in too
A) you wouldnt get the land b)noone would know what it is and go
Yeah.
It was actually a lot lower than that and still too expensive!
They also started at a time when very few people could afford to travel any distance even within their own country
we wouldn't watch non-championship races.
if we didn't do a podcast, or have live commenting, we wouldn't have watched past the first 10 laps on sunday.
it feels like the event and setting was built first with the intention of it being a great event, a lovely place to take sponsors, team partners, and for celebs to turn up at and show how beautiful they all are, and so that they can all have a lovely party. The race seems like a huge after thought... and tbh didn't seem significant to the weekend at all. in fact i think i've seen more interest from the journalists that went regarding the facilities and the gigs than for the race itself.
This weekend was just one huge concert.. with a race thrown in for goo measure.
sorry if that's a little harsh...
exactly, it was a different time. did everyone like spa, nurburgring and silverstone first time?
I don't want my to feel my team has just been chucked in to make up the numbers.
You want to change the structure of the championship and of race weekends to improve one circuit?
That too. But the ticket prices were relatively cheap, so perhaps they want people to go there, have a great time and then come back and tell all their friends about the lovely time they had. LPG knows someone who went there for $400 a head all inclusive.
I think that has more to do with the championship being over in the previous race.
Live commenting was where we all were in the end - if you notice the comments - they were thoughtful and discussive rather than short and reactionary - like Steven said, I think we all just zoned out!
hahahha
I have decided that you have gone clinically insane!
But you could choose the european series or the world series.
Same cars same rules.... Like F3 is now with both national and european championships..
maybe so.. but i'm sure the gigs were more exciting than the race..
That is the problem now. They build facilities and fit the tack in with the architecture.
Been there, done that, failed miserably!
Have you any idea how expensive that would be?
Perhaps Nick's friends were right...
I am sure there were some dissenters but nowhere near the level of dissent this track has drawn
I want to fix the fundemental problem with the world championship. Fans wanting a european championship, and lots of countries outside europe wanting races
Jamaraquai defiantly wasnt!
madness. utter madness.
ok, i have to go now, as much fun as this discussion has been. i do hope it continues until the small hours when i return!
Agreed, there was more of a party atmosphere for this very reason, plus it could never compete with the spectacular finish to the 2008 championship.
good point.
So basically split the series? That would just confuse the heck out of everybody!
Not really they are cutting costs anway, now your development costs get double the returns.
I would only expect the bigger teams to do both championships, and even then with different drivers...
ah that's a shame... Jay Kay is funny :)
We have a world championship and have had it for 60 years. Who exactly is going to agree to splitting it and putting on a secondary series?
Is Nick back from his travels yet?
Personally I was very disappointed with Abu Dhabi - if you compare to Brazil or Japan. Sure it was not deciding any championship (other than who will be the first loser) but some how I did not get the feeling of a passionate public watching an epic race. It seemed like little toy cars rotating around a rather large blob of an over-decorated Xmas tree which was being watched by a webcam that automatically posted the video onto YouTube. Utterly soleless.
Are you going outside? In the dark? Be careful.
but they carried on with the tracks and they are now possibly the "best" in the world. It isn't the tracks fault the race was bad, the races have been poor at Silverstone and Spa this year.
And a proper car nut!
He looks a bit like me too :P
No, he's still away with the fairies ;)
He was trying hard, but he was dying in the heat... i dont think wearing a jumper was all that clever!
I liked is songs, but the setting wasnt really right for his music
like GP2 but at the same time.... or like CART/IRL...
Not yet... sunday morning ;)
only physically
Night Mr C
Hi Nick .. still going on Sunday?
Not to be the Rodney King of this discussion screaming, "Can't we all just get along?" But I think there is a fundamental thing that I think that everyone can agree on.
This is all Bernie’s fault.
It’s his economic formula that is at fault. We’ve gotten to the point where the fans are irrelevant to the economic model of the sport.
If we were still under the same economic model that F1 had in the 1970's and 1980's with the races being organized by private companies and groups to make money off of gate recieps and sponsorships; we still wouldn't be racing in Turkey, China, Malaysia, or dare I say even Valencia because of their reliance on government funds.
That the part that burns me a little bit... even if F1 comes back to Indy, sell out the place, and sell out of everything; they still couldn't make it because of the cost to hold the race.
There is no reward for sucess, only punishment for failure. Thanks Bernie.
Fans don't want a European championship. No-one has said that. Go back and read the comments on Australia or Japan or look at th number of comments hoping that the USA or Canada will get a race. I have not read a comment anywhere, ever asking for a European championship.
see ya Mr C :)
Yup... if you have me a ticket... what time is it at?
I get in about 6am...
No he is still on a different planet
Is anyone else having problems with their live commenting thingy. Mine is really slow.
It starts at 10 so was hoping to meet up about 9 with Lou and Mr and Mrs C
Nope mine is fine
Good night everyone.
Spot on Dan
accounting for sidepodtime of course :)
Night Gavin
Using the doohickey and it is fine
Night Mr C and Gavin
Night
Why dont we have a race in france... what about Austria... why only one race in italy... no one will admit it but people dont like loosing the european tracks. Whilst i dont deny people enjoy the other tracks around the world (the ones they have grown used to), there were a lot more complaints about missing spa and imola than suzuka
My solution returns them, and still takes the sport around the world
ah cool... at the place? its pretty close to me so that shouldnt be a problem... you have enough tickets for all 5 of us?
night... i shall do the same in 5-10
Think there is a station at weybridge with a shuttle buss (free) to the event. Can I PM you my mobile on PF?
Ah I have 4 tickets but kimster has 4 but he's only using 3 and is willing to share.
yep... hope i know my password ;)
i can get a train to weybridge too...
Many of us have complained about losing historic European races and said we don't like it.
I like Suzuka when we first had a race there I like the modified Interlagos when we went there. I did not need to be familiar with them before I accepted them. I love that we have races in different parts of the world but I don't like the kind of tracks Tilke has produced throughout his career. If he built Abu Dhabi 5 miles from where I live I would not like it more than I do now.
great :D
Awesome... will bring the chips if he brings the sauces... ;)
lol Nachos
Nick, have sent message.
right, i'm going to finish this stupid history question before it kills me, speak to you all later...
Steven and/ or Christine if you can make shoo me as usual if i come back that would be awesome :) night! x
Night Lou
See you later.
I should do something productive really... unpack or blog..
SHOO
Aye, maths to finish for me as well, so see you lot later too. lotsa love.
unpack, hey its the offseason, keep the blogging ideas for later in the week when we are desparate for new reading material
Cool, i have replied...
Bed for me... night all!
I've got two lots of F1 notes to do ('cos I forgot to finish Brazil), a season round-up (I can expertly spread this over a few ;-) ), and I was going to start writing a couple of paragraphs about the other stuff I'm watching.. But yeah, loads of time for that.
Night
Adios.
on the other hand I really ought to dig out my accountancy stuff, my exam retake is in 4 weeks today...
English and biology can wait for a bit. Gonna catch up on my blogs for a little bit...
Bye RG
why not just have a relaxing evening?
bye RG and Lewis
sounds nice...
That's what I did all weekend :-)
I'm still here for five minutes
(really should get some sleep - cross country tomorrow... -_-)
I love Midweek motorsports. I've turned me on to a new racing series that I might partake in next year: http://chumpcar.com/
Night.
evening all
For a second I thought that would be an anti-Champ Car site.. maybe it is :-) Sounds like fun.
Sounds like a fun championship.
evening all!
Bye Lewis, hi SB
...and Chris
:-)
I'm angry that I missed the "Trick-or-Treat 24" at Portland International Speedway. I know I could of found a sweet 1988 Mustang SHO for under $500 around here somewhere.
nice to be an afterthought ;)
Here's something awesome and nothing to do with F1:
http://xkcd.com/657/
saw that this morning. he has WAY too much time on his hands!
I did just over 9 hours worth of driving over Thursday and Friday, about 3 of it in the dark as well.
woah, that's insane
Better than being ignored I suppose
true!
where is everyone tonight?
I've been lurking for about 2 hours, and writing This post.
I'd love to know your thoughts in the comments on the weekend as I sadly have to go to bed in a minute.
Pretty mental!! My head now hurts.
2 quick things - Ferrari WORLD and it was Kobyashi who overtook Jenson.
2 more: Vettel won, Tim doesn't know his own garage!
Oops, misread what you meant. Ignore the above comment. Sorry! (feels like an idiot)
Not a problem. I'm tired and typos creep in. Nakajima, duh. I guess I just feel subconciously sorry for the little tyke. I doubt he'll be around next year...
Thanks for the proof reading!
No worries :)
Man, the coversation just died.
So I will start up a subject.
What was a worse decision: Bernie selling FOM to CVC or me starting a dedicated blog to a team that looks less likely to end up on the grid?
Mine wasn't. It was me being an idiot and not realizing Andy WAS proof reading. I thought he was just talking about the race!
It depends, was your blog self hosted? And have you spend any money.
What was the team in question?
'sup guys. That Debrief was awesome, I never actually thought I'd find favour with both Mr and Mrs C!
Hehe. I guess it is a bit late in the day. Actually I should go to bed
Indeed I should too.
Hello and goodnight Turkey machine.
Outside of buying the domain name... that about it.
The U.S. "We only have 7 employees on a month to month contract with no drivers or sponsors signed surviving on YouTube money" F1 team.
I have just come back is there a link - I am just finishing my review of Abu Dhabi race.
That is just weird
What's your site so I can check it out.
http://bit.ly/1zYx7Z and I really should go to bed, so on that note.
Goodnight everyone.
Rich, let me know the link (@f1tailpipe on twitter is pretty easy) and I'll have a read over my coco pops tomorrow morning.
Night all.
I think USF1 will be on the grid next season or is there something I don't know?
They are more likely than some others, surely? They have been planning for longer
Was the live show like you thought it would be or different?
Finding homes for things..
USF1 will be on the grid.
Bernie selling was a terrible decision.
Sorry: www.racingeagles.com
Things just not adding up for me.
Everything they've announced are things of zero consequence. There has been no development on the sponsor front and the driver front.
Working still (it still is 3:30 PM over here)
oh, I've just remembered. My copy of Cars arrived from Amazon today! I'm ready for the sidepodfilmclub (whenever it is...)
Jacques Villeneuve? :D
Morning, everyone.
I saw that on Joe's blog and threw up in my mouth.
For what is worth, Peter Windsor over the weekend was saying they have finished the "top half" of the chassis development, and working on the bottom. They will be crash testing in December and at teh first test in February
No question mark, too. Looks more likely than not, I suspect...
As I have bookmarked it, it clearly was not a bad decision to make the blog. I am sure USF1 will be on the grid next year - sadly my team I have supported since their le Mans debut is no more - Poor Sauber.
Not publically but I'm willing to bet things are moving behind the scenes and they are working to a launch date.
Hi J
Sorry, I don't rate Jacques very high. I loved him CART. Couldn't stand him in F1.
This what drivers me nuts. This is where Todt should step in. You have a team with everything set up on the outside looking in while you have four teams that may not make. I think they should let them in because I think one of the four isn't going to make it anyways.
Thanks for bookmarking BTW. :)
I suspect USF1 is getting him for his experience (whatever that means) and marketing value (last North American World Champion, familiar to both Americans and Canadians). Not sure if this move will work, but it's worth a try.
Unfortunately, contracts are already in place. Unless one of them drops out, there is no vacancy at the paddock (figuratively and literally), simple as that.
We were never going to hear much about sponsors or anything else until the season was finished
ahh, but davidson at lotus, i can live with that.
I have the feeling that Jacques will be working for free next season.
That's true. I just can't believe BMW pulled that. Say what you want about Honda, but they actually helped out and just didn't employee a scorch earth policy with F1.
That true. It just I haven't heard anything. Outside of wild wild speculation about Kyle Busch.
The only hunch I have is possibly they want to get out their Cosworth deal to take Williams Toyota engines. That would make a lot of sense for both sides.
I would love to see Jacques back in F1 now that the cars will be a lot more to his liking.
I should of explained myself. I never knew how to rate Jacques in F1. He entered into the sport in arguably one of the best cars ever (the 1997 Williams.) Then he did nothing at BAR. It was the age old conundrum of the car or the driver is the reason for his success with me with him.
you've forgotten his spells at renault and bmw.
Oh... I remember. I remember them well. He had a hard time getting a handle on the Renault after the absence and he was out shown by Massa and Heidfeld at Sauber/BMW.
I think the thing I am getting at is why hire Jacques when you can let one of the kids like Summerton or Alexander Rossi drive? (Pending super-licenses of course. If Yuji Ide and any Red Bull development driver can get one, why can't these two?)
I smell a Luca Baoder like performance from Jacques if he came back to be honest. The man has been away for too long.
I'm convinced Summerton is in. I follow him on Twitter and he frequently mentions visits to the Charlotte / NC area..
It could be NASCAR. :P
Alexander Rossi isn't ready yet - no point bringing him in too early. He's just started GP2, and should be ready in a year or two.
I saw that but there is no way he qualifies for a licence.
oh i hope not
He went straight into a race winning car and delivered from day one. I think the change of regs to grooved tyres, low mechanical grip, high aero grip worked against him and that was introduced the year after he won his championship. I think the whole BAR thing dragged him down too.
I would really like to see him make a fresh start now that the cars are likely to be more to his liking.