Phil: First of all, sincerest apologies for complete absence of blogs for my part for the last two months. I've been very busy at work and have had a wedding to help organise. As my co-blogger rightly pointed out, I'm fortunate the wedding thing is mainly outside 'the season'.
Anyway, my co-blogger has been doing a sterling job of counting down the days to the new season, although I knew it was time to blog when I dreamt the night before last that the season had started and I'd missed it. Fortunately I realised it was but a dream when I noticed Raikkonen was back (driving a Sauber). As if a half decent team like Sauber would have him back.
All that remains for me to do, I think, is for me to recap the musical seats that normally take place about this time of year. This year there are actually less drivers moving teams than most.
1. Raikkonen is definitely not back.
2. Ferrari, McLaren, Red Bull, Mercedes, Renault, Lotus and Toro Rosso have the same blokes as last year. Furthermore, Barrichello, Sutil, Kobayashi and Glock are staying where they are.
3. Lotus now have Renault engines, and will henceforth be known as Lotus-Renault.
4. Renault now have a sponsorship deal with Lotus, and will henceforth be known as Lotus-Renault.
5. As my co-blogger has perceptively observed, this means there will be two teams called Lotus-Renault. To avoid confusion I will be sticking to their old names. To create confusion for humorous purposes I will be sticking to their old names, but the other way round. Said confusion has arisen because since Colin Chapman's death, and perhaps before, Lotus the F1 team and Lotus the car manufacturer have been entirely separate entities, both with a claim on the Lotus name and heritage. Predictably, both teams have been trying to reinforce their Lotusness and claim to Lotus heritage, by bringing Johnny Herbert out of retirement to drive round very slowly at the back of the field for 15 laps before retiring.
6. Williams have replaced Nico Hulkenberg with last year's Formula 2 champion Pastor Maldonado, from Venezuela, who brings much-needed sponsorship millions and also hopefully some talent. Regrettably, Hulkenberg, who impressed everyone with a pole position in his first season last year, hasn't found a race seat for 2011 and will be testing for Force India. Hopefully we'll see him back on the grid soon.
7. Sauber have replaced Nick Heidfeld with last year's Formula 2 runner up Sergo Perez, from Mexico, who brings much-needed sponsorship millions and also hopefully some talent. Is a pattern emerging?
8. Force India have replaced Tonio Liuzzi with Paul di Resta. He's from Scotland so probably won't be bringing any sponsorship millions.
9. Virgin have replaced Lucas di Grassi with Jerome d'Ambrosio from Belgium. They don't need sponsorship millions so long as Richard Branson doesn't get bored with F1. Might I humbly suggest that the home of F1 banter will keep him entertained, even if the championship is wrapped up by August?
10. Almost unbelievably, Narain Karthikeyan is back (the first Indian F1 driver, drove a season for Jordan in 2005) driving for Hispania. I'm almost certain some sponsorship millions are changing hands, probably linked to the first Indian Grand Prix this year. Actually, Hispania would probably take him for sponsorship thousands.
11. There will be an Indian Grand Prix this year, bringing the number of rounds to a record 20.
12. Everyone will be on Pirelli rubber this year, Bridgestone having decided they don't want to come if Honda and Toyota aren't coming.
13. This leaves by my calculations, only one spare race seat left. Unfortunately it's at Hispania, so we probably won't know who's in it until about two races before the end of the season. If they last that long.
That's about all the updates you need, apart from - did I mention? - Raikkonen is back. Don't ask him where he's been, or we may have to post that video again.
Friday, 4 February 2011
Tuesday, 1 February 2011
37 Days to go!!!!
Justin: But it's 0 days til the first official testing session of the year! The teams are in Valencia as I write. I will blog over the next few days reporting back on times etc.
Elsewhere, the new Ayrton Senna film has won awards apparently. I saw a trailer some time ago and cannot wait to see it.
Not much else going on right now really, aside from the non existent blogging of my esteemed colleague :-).
Oh, and it should be noted that a group of 8 of us are going karting for my colleagues stag do. This serves as a warning to all who want to win. I will win. That is all.
Elsewhere, the new Ayrton Senna film has won awards apparently. I saw a trailer some time ago and cannot wait to see it.
Not much else going on right now really, aside from the non existent blogging of my esteemed colleague :-).
Oh, and it should be noted that a group of 8 of us are going karting for my colleagues stag do. This serves as a warning to all who want to win. I will win. That is all.
Saturday, 15 January 2011
54 days to go!
Justin: Anyone spotting a pattern emerging in the title of my blogs? If anyone is actually reading of course.....co blogger, where are you?!
On with the news roundup. Mclaren are launching their car in early February, just after the first official test days in Spain, thus they miss some important testing time.
Personally, I can't really see anyone outside Vettel or Alonso being champion in 2011. Missing out in 2010 by such a small margin seems to have ignited Fernando like never before (and he tends to ignite a fair amount!) and Vettel will no doubt still have the fastest car out there.....you don't need a Schuey if you have a Newey...as the old saying goes.
On the subject of Schumi.....me thinks Alonso has started playing mind games quite early by saying he see's Schumi as his biggest direct threat for 2011....erm....ok Fernando we believe you, given you trashed him twice and made him retire last time out in 2006!
Speaking of Alonso and Ferrari, they had their big ski-ing bash with Ducati - pictures here...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/9361981.stm
Alonso, sporting a pirate look, competitive as ever, beat Hayden, Massa and Rossi in 2 Ice Karting races....nice. I'd like to try my hand at that, given I am a pretty good Karter myself..
Red Bull seem to be getting accused of not sticking to spending budgets that were agreed last year. Same old, same old in F1. Anyone who wins seems to get accused of cheating in some way.
Jake Humphrey has a long way to go before he is blogging to our standards, but I have included a link to his blog here - despite DC being part of the commentating team with Brundle, he will still be mincing around the pitlane with JH and EJ - excellent...as Jake himself says, why break up a winning threesome. http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/jakehumphrey/2011/01/ringing_the_changes_for_2011.html
On that note, I am done.
On with the news roundup. Mclaren are launching their car in early February, just after the first official test days in Spain, thus they miss some important testing time.
Personally, I can't really see anyone outside Vettel or Alonso being champion in 2011. Missing out in 2010 by such a small margin seems to have ignited Fernando like never before (and he tends to ignite a fair amount!) and Vettel will no doubt still have the fastest car out there.....you don't need a Schuey if you have a Newey...as the old saying goes.
On the subject of Schumi.....me thinks Alonso has started playing mind games quite early by saying he see's Schumi as his biggest direct threat for 2011....erm....ok Fernando we believe you, given you trashed him twice and made him retire last time out in 2006!
Speaking of Alonso and Ferrari, they had their big ski-ing bash with Ducati - pictures here...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/9361981.stm
Alonso, sporting a pirate look, competitive as ever, beat Hayden, Massa and Rossi in 2 Ice Karting races....nice. I'd like to try my hand at that, given I am a pretty good Karter myself..
Red Bull seem to be getting accused of not sticking to spending budgets that were agreed last year. Same old, same old in F1. Anyone who wins seems to get accused of cheating in some way.
Jake Humphrey has a long way to go before he is blogging to our standards, but I have included a link to his blog here - despite DC being part of the commentating team with Brundle, he will still be mincing around the pitlane with JH and EJ - excellent...as Jake himself says, why break up a winning threesome. http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/jakehumphrey/2011/01/ringing_the_changes_for_2011.html
On that note, I am done.
Friday, 7 January 2011
62 days to go!!!!!!
Justin: Thats right. The BBC have a countdown timer showing how long we have to wait until first practice at Bahrain. It's just 62 days.....2 months essentially, give or take a week. Fantastic.
My co-blogger has been unusually quiet lately. Me thinks he needs to dump a fresh one out.
My 2010 season review DVD arrived yesterday and since then I have been looking back over what has to be the best championship ever! Watching the highlights over again reminded me of some of our best blogs of the year too.
A couple of fun points I noted from the DVD, which gave interviews some of us might have missed, or they may not have been shown at all when originally broadcast.
1) After Silverstone quali, where Vettel broke his new front wing and Red Bull plonked Webber's wing onto Vettel's car....Vettel grabbed pole.....in the press conference after quali Mark Webber was visibly furious. They were both asked "whats the deal on favouritism in the team given the wing situation?".....Vettel gestured to Webber to answer it first.....Webber said "The team got the result they wanted"......cue smirking from the little shit Vettel and Webber pouring a drink and slamming it down on the table....blimey.
2) After the team order fiasco in Germany, the driver press conference was possibly the most awkward I have ever seen. Massa first answered the question of team orders at Ferrari, Alonso then kept his head down and said "yep, same as Felipe"......blimey!
Elsewhere, there is plenty to discuss in the BBC F1 rumour column...so much so that I shall be quite lazy this time and just paste the link for our readers http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/9344147.stm.
Now, to watch the special features on my F1 DVD.....which I will of course report upon soon!
My co-blogger has been unusually quiet lately. Me thinks he needs to dump a fresh one out.
My 2010 season review DVD arrived yesterday and since then I have been looking back over what has to be the best championship ever! Watching the highlights over again reminded me of some of our best blogs of the year too.
A couple of fun points I noted from the DVD, which gave interviews some of us might have missed, or they may not have been shown at all when originally broadcast.
1) After Silverstone quali, where Vettel broke his new front wing and Red Bull plonked Webber's wing onto Vettel's car....Vettel grabbed pole.....in the press conference after quali Mark Webber was visibly furious. They were both asked "whats the deal on favouritism in the team given the wing situation?".....Vettel gestured to Webber to answer it first.....Webber said "The team got the result they wanted"......cue smirking from the little shit Vettel and Webber pouring a drink and slamming it down on the table....blimey.
2) After the team order fiasco in Germany, the driver press conference was possibly the most awkward I have ever seen. Massa first answered the question of team orders at Ferrari, Alonso then kept his head down and said "yep, same as Felipe"......blimey!
Elsewhere, there is plenty to discuss in the BBC F1 rumour column...so much so that I shall be quite lazy this time and just paste the link for our readers http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/9344147.stm.
Now, to watch the special features on my F1 DVD.....which I will of course report upon soon!
Tuesday, 4 January 2011
Bog all going on!
Justin: There isn't too much happening in the world of F1, but what little that is happening will be reported here in another one of my news posts.
Petrov has been signed up by Lotus Renault until 2012. I say Lotus Renault, as thats the official name now and god knows what Tony Fernandes will call his Lotus team now the license has been revoked by the Proton Group. The Chapman family has come out in support of Lotus Renault, saying that whilst they liked the way Lotus came back into the sport with Tony Fernandes, they don't like the idea of the name Team Lotus.
Ferrari's new car will be launched at the end of January. Stefano Domenicalli gave an interesting interview recently whereby he stated that he considered his own future with the team after the shambles in Abu Dhabi. There seems to have been some major organisational restructuring going on at Ferrari. He also said that Massa needs a good year in 2011. Sounds ominous.
The James Hunt book, Shunt, is proving to be a fantastic read so far. My co-blogger would love it.
A nod to my co-blogger whose Fiancee apparently found my previous blog about their wedding not (thankfully) interfering with a GP weekend rather amusing. Can't think why. I was deadly serious.
Petrov has been signed up by Lotus Renault until 2012. I say Lotus Renault, as thats the official name now and god knows what Tony Fernandes will call his Lotus team now the license has been revoked by the Proton Group. The Chapman family has come out in support of Lotus Renault, saying that whilst they liked the way Lotus came back into the sport with Tony Fernandes, they don't like the idea of the name Team Lotus.
Ferrari's new car will be launched at the end of January. Stefano Domenicalli gave an interesting interview recently whereby he stated that he considered his own future with the team after the shambles in Abu Dhabi. There seems to have been some major organisational restructuring going on at Ferrari. He also said that Massa needs a good year in 2011. Sounds ominous.
The James Hunt book, Shunt, is proving to be a fantastic read so far. My co-blogger would love it.
A nod to my co-blogger whose Fiancee apparently found my previous blog about their wedding not (thankfully) interfering with a GP weekend rather amusing. Can't think why. I was deadly serious.
Tuesday, 28 December 2010
Reading for the break
Justin: Seasons greetings one and all. Not much news to roundup really, so I thought I'd say a well done to my co-blogger for announcing his wedding day which happily falls on a non-f1 weekend. No clashes with quali or races then! I doubt much thought was given to F1 when planning his nuptials, but still, it's pretty good going to sandwich it in on the weekend between the season opener in Bahrain and the next race in Melbourne. One can't help but imagine the scenario had it been on an F1 weekend.
Elsewhere I neglected to mention the sad news of Tom Walkinshaw's passing. The guy was a legend within F1 circles having been part of the team that took Schumi away from Jordan and into Benetton, as well as taking Damon Hill to Arrows after he was dumped by Williams.
I received the F1 encyclopedia for christmas - fantastic stuff! I also bought a book on the history of circuits used in the championships from the 50's to today, another great read. Also in my pile of new f1 books is the new one on James Hunt titled "Shunt" - which I am very much looking forward to reading.
In a very F1 xmas I also received a Ferarri/Fernando Alonso Polo shirt - awesome. This will go well with my Fernando baseball cap. Bring...on....2011!!!!!
Elsewhere I neglected to mention the sad news of Tom Walkinshaw's passing. The guy was a legend within F1 circles having been part of the team that took Schumi away from Jordan and into Benetton, as well as taking Damon Hill to Arrows after he was dumped by Williams.
I received the F1 encyclopedia for christmas - fantastic stuff! I also bought a book on the history of circuits used in the championships from the 50's to today, another great read. Also in my pile of new f1 books is the new one on James Hunt titled "Shunt" - which I am very much looking forward to reading.
In a very F1 xmas I also received a Ferarri/Fernando Alonso Polo shirt - awesome. This will go well with my Fernando baseball cap. Bring...on....2011!!!!!
Sunday, 19 December 2010
News Updates
Justin: A nod to my co-blogger for a fine review blog there. I bet Vettel wins International personality of the year later today on the BBC sports review of the year. I still dislike him intensely, then again many in the UK hate Alonso...brilliance polarises I guess! It's true though, Vettel was the fastest guy in the fastest car, but would he have won it, or come nearly as close as Alonso did, in a Ferrari or Mclaren? I doubt it.
Plenty of F1 news to digest as we come up to Christmas. Mark Webber was replaced at the Red Bull xmas party by a fat, unfunny comedian...apparently this was a fun joke.....If I was Webber back in Oz I wouldnt find it funny at all. Vettel was "guest of honour" and all staff members were given a massive bonus plus a huge party at a London hotel. James Corden came along dressed in Webbers overalls and helmet...for a bit of fun. Goes to show, they thought of Webber as number 2 all along. He needs to kick ass next year!
Alonso has gone on record as saying 2010 was his best ever, in a brilliant interview in Autosport recently. Though in their (Autosport) review of the year, for some reason they gave driver of the year to Lewis Hamilton, from Kubica and Alonso....erm, did I miss something?? And on the subject of Mclaren....anyone who thinks Lewis panned Button this year..forget it. Lewis was certainly stronger in the second half of the year after Button had the upper hand earlier on, but the stats don't lie. People moan about Button not making nearly as many overtakes as Lewis, but Button led 145 laps this year to Hamilton's 100. Ok, its just a stat, but it knocks away naysayers degrading Button. Button is serene and superb when leading, and clearly hasnt needed to overtake and recover as much as Lewis.
Will we have two Lotus teams on the grid in 2011? Lotus Group has bought a stake in what is left of Renault, to call themselves Lotus Renault and paint their car's in the famous black and gold livery of the old Lotus of Senna days. This was after "Team Lotus" announced its name change and livery to that of black and gold. Lotus Group has revoked Tony Fernande's rights to use the Lotus name I believe and it's now stuck in the courts. What would be hillarious is having two teams with exactly the same livery.
Lastly, Mark Webber announced via his season review book that he broke his shoulder with 4 races to go and didn't tell anyone apart from his personal physio and the F1 powers that be. He neglected to tell anyone in the Red Bull team. Sensible that. What a hard bastard too!
Plenty of F1 news to digest as we come up to Christmas. Mark Webber was replaced at the Red Bull xmas party by a fat, unfunny comedian...apparently this was a fun joke.....If I was Webber back in Oz I wouldnt find it funny at all. Vettel was "guest of honour" and all staff members were given a massive bonus plus a huge party at a London hotel. James Corden came along dressed in Webbers overalls and helmet...for a bit of fun. Goes to show, they thought of Webber as number 2 all along. He needs to kick ass next year!
Alonso has gone on record as saying 2010 was his best ever, in a brilliant interview in Autosport recently. Though in their (Autosport) review of the year, for some reason they gave driver of the year to Lewis Hamilton, from Kubica and Alonso....erm, did I miss something?? And on the subject of Mclaren....anyone who thinks Lewis panned Button this year..forget it. Lewis was certainly stronger in the second half of the year after Button had the upper hand earlier on, but the stats don't lie. People moan about Button not making nearly as many overtakes as Lewis, but Button led 145 laps this year to Hamilton's 100. Ok, its just a stat, but it knocks away naysayers degrading Button. Button is serene and superb when leading, and clearly hasnt needed to overtake and recover as much as Lewis.
Will we have two Lotus teams on the grid in 2011? Lotus Group has bought a stake in what is left of Renault, to call themselves Lotus Renault and paint their car's in the famous black and gold livery of the old Lotus of Senna days. This was after "Team Lotus" announced its name change and livery to that of black and gold. Lotus Group has revoked Tony Fernande's rights to use the Lotus name I believe and it's now stuck in the courts. What would be hillarious is having two teams with exactly the same livery.
Lastly, Mark Webber announced via his season review book that he broke his shoulder with 4 races to go and didn't tell anyone apart from his personal physio and the F1 powers that be. He neglected to tell anyone in the Red Bull team. Sensible that. What a hard bastard too!
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