Sidepodcast

Of all the elements that go into a successful race campaign – driver, pit crew, engineers, aerodynamics, engines – the tyres are way up there with the most important. If your tyres aren’t working, you’re not going to get anywhere. We’ve seen drivers struggle because they stayed out too long, or because they’re suffering some serious graining, or even chunking.

However, if the car is hooked up and the tyres are working well, you can speed to an easy victory. As one of the most important components of a race strategy, it therefore follows that they are key to spicing up the action. Or so Bridgestone think.

At the moment, Bridgestone bring two compounds to each race, adjacent selections from the super-soft, soft, medium and hard tyres. This is only true of dry tyres, by the way, and that’s all we’re discussing here. A wet race demands enough strategy issues of it’s own that we won’t get into here.

Selecting two neighbouring compounds means the difference isn’t all that startling, and although we can just about tell the difference between a soft, single lap tyre compared to a hard, go longer tyre, it’s nothing to write home about. It doesn’t make the drivers rethink their strategies too much, in fact we’ve only had one major decision based on tyres this year (Hamilton in Turkey).

Continue reading…

I’m really enjoying some up the videos Ferrari have been putting up onto YouTube recently. While lacking in the production values of say Honda Racing TV, they do offer a unique perspective on the team. The latest video is an interview with chief designer Nikolas Tombazis.

Somehow the producers have achieved a retro vibe that’s so convincing I had to double check it hadn’t actually been filmed in the 70’s, but it’s definitely modern.

Mr. T (as only I call him) reveals some insightful information about the difficulties the team faced getting their new hollow nose through the mandatory crash test, as well as how the team are preparing for the 2009 regulations.

If you haven’t seen it already, it’s worth five minutes of your time, if only because I’m interested to hear if you think he’s drunk on duty or not?

Continue reading…

Formula 1 fans in the UK received a second helping of good news this month when it was announced today that F1 television coverage is returning to it’s natural home, the BBC. Last week Formula One Management finally caved in to pressure and allowed races to be broadcast online, and next year they will also be shown uninterrupted and commercial free.

This is excellent news for any Formula 1 fans living in the UK, and as pointed out by Lou in a comment earlier:

We are gonna get to watch the WHOLE race!

For many years ITV has been the subject of criticism from fans for it’s poor coverage and incessant advertisement breaks, ruining the flow of the action during what are often the most important points of the race.

Continue reading…

The Oxford Times ran a rather concerning story yesterday, detailing the anticipated loss of 30 jobs from Super Aguri’s Leafield factory, in the not so distant future.

The team are having to cut back due to a lack of funds, after sponsor SS United failed to make agreed payments earlier this year. There is hope that the employees affected will be picked up by other teams within the area.

On its own this isn’t a massive problem for Formula 1. Super Aguri had a fantastic 2nd year, exceeding all expectations and the lack of sponsorship payment could be considered a minor disruption. There is further trouble brewing for the team though, as an article on grandprix.com pointed out, customer cars will probably be banned from 2009 onwards:

[Super Aguri] was always aimed as being in an F1 in which customer cars would be allowed. It seems that this will still happen but only until the end of 2009 when all the teams will have to become constructors in their own right.

Finding a replacement for SS United, especially one that could fund the step from customer to constructor, could prove troublesome.

Brad Spurgeon extrapolates the idea further in the post F1 Speculative Fiction, in which he looks into his crystal ball to a future without customer cars (and then some). It doesn’t paint a very rosy picture, in fact if such things come to pass it’ll be very hard to tell the difference between F1 and A1GP.

I’m all for entrants having to construct their own cars. In principle it sounds like the ideal benchmark, but if such a requirement becomes reality then they’ll be more than 30 people looking for employment in motorsport valley pretty soon.