Sidepodcast

• Length: 9:02 
• Size: 8.3 MB 
• File: digest108.mp3 
• Transcript: digest108.pdf 
• Torrent: digest108.torrent 

Red Bull have the speed advantage, but Brawn have the strategy guru on board. Would Vettel be able to maintain his lead? Would we see a first corner crash? Listen on to find out all the action from Silverstone.

The Race

Vettel made it look easy, speeding away into the distance, whilst the scrapping happened further back. The BMWs got in the way of pretty much everyone, whilst Heikki and Le Seb came together at the exit of the pits.

Team by Team

Brawn GP are happy to have picked up points, but are disappointed with how the weekend went. Quite a few of the teams believe they could have done better if they’d made a good start, whilst Piquet still thinks his improvements need to be made in qualifying.

• Length: 9:23 
• Size: 8.6 MB 
• File: digest107.mp3 
• Transcript: digest107.pdf 
• Torrent: digest107.torrent 

We catch up with all the action from qualifying at Silverstone, with a drying track and some very fast Red Bulls.

Free Practice 3

A really quiet session preceding qualifying due to the rain soaked track, and it was Rosberg’s turn to take the spotlight again.

Qualifying

Red Bull had the edge in qualifying, although Webber found himself tripping over a sleepy Kimi. Sutil had a major smash but escaped unharmed, even if his car didn’t.

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• Length: 08:01 
• Size: 7.4 MB 
• File: digest106.mp3 
• Transcript: digest106.pdf 
• Torrent: digest106.torrent 

Silverstone faces it’s last hurrah, so the teams were desperate to use Friday practice as a good setup for an excellent race. But would the weather hold out for them?

Free Practice 1

Guess who had the first major spin? No prizes. Force India found some pace, but it was Red Bull who made it work for them.

Free Practice 2

Kubica kept his team busy with an engine change, and was much faster than in the morning, however it was still Vettel who dominated.

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• Length: 06:48 
• Size: 6.3 MB 
• File: digest105.mp3 
• Transcript: digest105.pdf 
• Torrent: digest105.torrent 

We’ll be doing our best to avoid all talk of unnecessary politics this weekend, as we say goodbye to Silverstone at it’s last British Grand Prix.

Vital Statistics

• Date: 21st June
• Circuit: Silverstone
• Length: 5.1km
• Laps: 60
• 2008 Winner: Lewis Hamilton

Preview

Assuming the teams can actually concentrate on their strategies, the teams are feeling mostly positive about the upcoming race. Ferrari and Red Bull are relying on some new updates to help boost their performance, whilst the home teams and drivers are hoping for the fan support to help them along.

• Length: 8:06 
• Size: 7.5 MB 
• File: digest104.mp3 
• Transcript: digest104.pdf 
• Torrent: digest104.torrent 

The Turkish Grand Prix didn’t turn out the way Red Bull would have hoped, but plenty of teams saw improved performance during the weekend.

The Race

Button sailed away with the lead after a first-lap mistake by Vettel, and for one half of Brawn GP it was an easy afternoon. Elsewhere, we saw drivers mixing up their strategies to try and make the tyres work.

Team by Team

Toyota are grateful for their much improved performance, Red Bull are happy they had a podium but are ruing what might have been. BMW believe they have turned the corner, whilst Ferrari are hoping for more.

• Length: 10:37 
• Size: 9.8 MB 
• File: digest103.mp3 
• Transcript: digest103.pdf 
• Torrent: digest103.torrent 

The dusty track conditions in Turkey cause a few hiccups during Free Practice and Qualifying, but overall it is Red Bull who get the job done when it matters.

Free Practice 3

The third practice session of the weekend offered up very little in the way of surprises, although it did look as though a lot of previously struggling teams were returning to form.

Qualifying

As it turns out, that isn’t the case because the big battle was between Brawn GP and Red Bull once again. We lost a couple of big names in the first two sessions, though, meaning we could see some fightbacks through the field tomorrow.

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• Length: 08:32 
• Size: 7.9 MB 
• File: digest102.mp3 
• Transcript: digest102.pdf 
• Torrent: digest102.torrent 

The Turkish Grand Prix gets underway in style, with a red flagged first session, and a low key second session, although there were some surprises in store.

Free Practice 1

A slight problem with some of the landscape gardening saw some time lost during this session but that was nothing compared to the relaxed attitude of the teams due to the dust.

Free Practice 2

Vettel was the big casualty of the afternoon, only managing to complete a handful of laps, but somehow he still managed to finish pretty high up the order.

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• Length: 06:30 
• Size: 6.0 MB 
• File: digest101.mp3 
• Transcript: digest101.pdf 
• Torrent: digest101.torrent 

The racing moves on to Turkey, and whilst it’s all politics in the news, teams and drivers alike are looking forward to the unique challenge that Istanbul Park produces.

Vital Statistics

• Date: 7th June
• Circuit: Istanbul Park
• Length: 5.3km
• Laps: 58
• 2008 Winner: Felipe Massa

Preview

Massa is looking to extend his record of three consecutive wins around Istanbul, but there are many teams hoping that their new developments will start to take shape and speed them up. With it being an anti-clockwise track, preparations will have been slightly more involved, as well.

• Length: 8:01 
• Size: 7.4 MB 
• File: digest100.mp3 
• Transcript: digest100.pdf 
• Torrent: digest100.torrent 

The Monaco Grand Prix wasn’t the thrill a minute it could have been, but it wasn’t the worst race we’ve seen either. Plenty of drivers found their way into the barriers but only one could take the chequered flag first.

The Race

There were no incidents until the tenth lap of the raced which surprised as all, but as soon as that happened, it opened the floodgates for more. In the end, we saw six retirees.

Team by Team

Ferrari are buoyed by their progress and think they are moving up the order in terms of competitive teams, whilst Brawn are over the moon, but Toyota and BMW are thinking hard about what went wrong.

• Length: 10:29 
• Size: 9.6 MB 
• File: digest99.mp3 
• Transcript: digest99.pdf 
• Torrent: digest99.torrent 

Monaco qualifying is one of the most important, as overtaking can be tough. Listen to today’s F1 Digest to find out who met with the barriers, and who managed to avoid trouble.

Free Practice 3

Alonso was the fastest driver in FP3, whilst both Toyota and BMW drivers were struggling to drag themselves off the bottom of the timesheets. Would this carry forward to Qualifying?

Qualifying

The answer is yes, as neither BMW nor Toyota made it out of Q1, dropping out with Hamilton. Button regained pole position, and it’s onwards to the race we go.

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