Sidepodcast

This article was originally written for BellaOnline, but is republished here for posterity.

There are quite a few changes to the 2009 F1 Calendar compared to last season. We’ve lost one race, as Canada has been kicked off the calendar, and France pulled out due to financial difficulties. There is one addition, with a new circuit at Abu Dhabi, ready to host the season finale in 2009. Here’s a quick guide to the first half of the year.

Australia
There is ongoing confusion over the future of the Australian Grand Prix. The event constantly makes a loss, but in terms of racing, it’s one of the most action packed weekends of the year. Everyone is excited to be back in action, and there’s usually a certain amount of chaos to mix things up. Performance can’t be judged on the Australian results, but it’s a great way to get the season going.

Malaysia
Malaysia hosts one of the hottest races on the calendar, with the humidity an added endurance factor for the drivers. As the second flyaway race at the start of the season, teams need to maximise reliability, as securing extra parts can be expensive and timely.

China
When the Shanghai circuit was introduced on the calendar, it’s facilities were impressive and their corporate hospitality seemed unbeatable. However, there have already been complaints about the lack of facilities for fans, and grandstand numbers have been falling. Moving from the end of the 2008 calendar to the start of the 2009 season will also mean a quick turnaround for organisers.

Bahrain
Both Ferrari and Toyota spent a lot of time testing in Bahrain over the winter, so they will be accustomed to the hot, dry and dusty atmosphere. The others may take a while to adjust, but Bahrain is the last race before the European leg of the season begins, so teams will be looking forward to heading home.

Spain
The one problem with the race being held at Barcelona is that a lot of time is spent testing there over the winter. Although the in-season testing ban will make the track’s current conditions more of an unknown, all involved are still completely familiar with it’s twists and turns.

Monaco
The highlight of the calendar for many involved, Monaco introduces some glitz and glamour into proceedings, even if the racing can sometimes be dull. For the drivers, the race is one of the most intense, as concentration is paramount to not end up in the barriers. The tunnel is a particular highlight.

Turkey
Turkey remains one of the more popular recent additions to the calendar. As one of the few tracks to run anti-clockwise, it presents a challenge to the drivers as they feel the strain on their necks. Turkey moved up the calendar from the 12th round to the 5th in 2008, but now slips back to the 7th.

Britain
During the British Grand Prix in 2008, Bernie announced that Silverstone had lost the contract to hold the race, and it would be moving to Donington Park in 2010. If that is the case, and many still don’t believe it will happen, then Silverstone, who held the very first F1 World Championship race in 1950, will feature it’s last race this year.

If you enjoyed this look at the first half of the calendar for 2009, stay tuned for the second half – Germany to Abu Dhabi.

Back in March, before the season got going and our Fantasy Racers league was in its infancy, we were curious about who was signing up. In fact, we took the user by country stats, knocked up a quick graph and commented on the results.

At the time, the competition was dominated by the USA, followed closely by the UK, with Canada in third place. The components of the United Kingdom and Australia made up the rest of the notable figures. Keeping that in mind, does this look about right?

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If anyone’s keeping track, I’m feeling much better now but the man has caught some of the germs. Of course, they are much worse, and more man-flu shaped than mine were, so everyone give him lots of sympathy today, if you find him in the comments.

It appears to be a bit of a slow news period at the moment, which would make sense, as we can’t still be talking about Brazil, and we’ve still got a few days left before the next test.

Some topics are still resurfacing though:

• Just what lengths will Canada do to get back on the calendar?
• Is China really giving up on their race so soon? Low ticket sales or just too darn expensive?
• Those drivers who will get a chance in an F1 car next week, including Bruno Senna, Takuma Sato and Giedo van der Garde. Didn’t that guy break all kinds of contracts last time he was around? Why would Renault want that hassle?
• Also noted in F1 Minute yesterday that Barrichello has apparently said it’s either F1 or nothing for him. Are there any other motorsports he could try his hand at if he wanted to?

Of course, this is an evolving list and if there’s anything you want to talk about, please don’t feel limited by what I’ve mentioned here. Sidepodcast Daily is your place to discuss anything on your mind, and we want to hear about it, so get talking!

This article was originally written for BellaOnline, but is republished here for posterity.

The World Motorsport Council met in Paris this week to discuss various topics, one of which was the latest version of the provisional 2009 calendar. The calendar has been tweaked several times already, since the first version was introduced, but this one had to incorporate the loss of France.

A few weeks ago, the French motorsport organisation pulled out of Formula 1, saying they did not have funding to host an event in 2009. They were looking into funding and hoping to be able to return with a long-term plan in the future.

Therefore, it’s no surprise to see that the French Grand Prix is no longer on the calendar, but it is disappointing to find that the Canadian race has not been reinstated. After meetings between Bernie Ecclestone and the mayor of Montreal, things were looking particularly hopeful. The mayor said he and Bernie now understood each other and he would be looking to raise the investment needed to participate. Clearly this hasn’t happened yet, as they are missing off the list. However, it is still a provisional calendar, so there is still hope. I would have to say it seems unlikely we’ll see their return for 2009 though.

There are other changes to note as well. The Chinese Grand Prix has moved from it’s position as the third to last race, right up to the third race of the season. That’s quite a change for them and means they’re running races much closer together, without the benefit of a long break in between. This pushes the Bahrain event back a week, and brings forward the last two races. This means the season ends at the beginning of November, instead of running through the month.

Lastly, there is almost an entire month gap between Hungary and Valencia, which I just know is going to be an interminable length of time.

Here is the updated version of the provisional 2009 FIA Formula One World Championship.

29th Mar – Australia
5th Apr – Malaysia
19th Apr – China
26th Apr – Bahrain
10th May – Spain
24th May – Monaco
7th Jun – Turkey
21st Jun – Great Britain
12th July – Germany
26th July – Hungary
23rd Aug – Europe (Valencia)
30th Aug – Belgium
13th Sep – Italy
27th Sep – Singapore
4th Oct – Japan
18th Oct – Brazil
1st Nov – Abu Dhabi

Frequent commenter, and BMW fan, R.G. sent us this email which was an excellent, and very complete and thorough round up the year. I wanted to read out on the show, but then it occurred to me that it’s quite long and would work better as a blog post. Take it away, R.G.

Well, what a race that was. Couldn’t have asked more for a championship showdown in Brazil. Though I may have accidentally jinxed Felipe Massa by announcing he was the champion thirty seconds too early. Needless to say, not long after, Hamilton passed Glock to win it. Well done to Hamilton nonetheless. Shame Coulthard retired on the first lap, especially since it appeared it was not his fault, he’s had a great career. Just a pity his retirement will be overshadowed by Hamilton. Massa was unlucky, and I’m impressed with him that he took it on the chin and didn’t wail his eyes out.

Shame for BMW to finish the season with no points from Brazil, but I’m optimistic for 2009, and I think we will be able to fight the big guns right to Abu Dhabi in a year’s time, hopefully with both Kubica and Heidfeld battling for the title. And with Renault likely to be more competitive, we could see a Raikkonen, Massa, Hamilton, Kubica, Heidfeld and Alonso battle for the title. And I thought 2008 was good.

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This week we discuss Canada’s removal from the calendar, and all the action from the Japanese Grand Prix, plus we have a record number of call about the subjects too.

Intro

Of course we’re tired, but that still doesn’t mean I’m important enough to be in good week / bad week.

Good Week / Bad Week

A good week for test drivers and sponsorship deals, but a bad week for Renault and the other manufacturers.

News and Views

It’s all about the lack of Canada on the ‘09 calendar this week, and pretty much nobody is happy about it.

Qualifying

We talk about the tyres, what we were expecting from Fuji (which wasn’t much), the few incidents that were worth talking about, and of course, our race predictions.

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This article was originally written for BellaOnline, but is republished here for posterity.

The provisional 2009 calendar has been available for a few months now, but the World Council met this week to confirm it. They released the official calendar on Tuesday, and without explaining why, have dropped Canada from the line up.

The North American races have been subject to discussion since the US Grand Prix was dropped from the calendar. Teams have always been keen to return, as it’s a key market for them, and the F1 spectacle is a good opportunity. However, with no US return imminent, it’s speculated that the freight fees for getting to Canada couldn’t be justified. If there were two races, perhaps, but going all that way for one is clearly not acceptable to the FIA.

Meanwhile, organisers of the Canadian GP said they weren’t informed of this decision ahead of time, and had to learn of their fate through the media. They didn’t want to comment until discussing the situation with the FIA and FOM, and meetings were due to take place. Many, many fans are disappointed with the decision, as Canada is one of the most popular races on the calendar. The track has suffered in recent years, and it was slightly embarrassing in 2008. The asphalt was supposed to have been resurfaced, and fixed so it wouldn’t break up as much as it has in the past. However, the cars had barely started when things were already going on.

There must be a solution, though, and this is no reason to throw the event off the calendar completely. Whilst we wait to hear a decision, we are left thinking that it must just be to do with money. Either Canada weren’t willing to pay the fees, or as I mentioned earlier, the FIA believed it to be too expensive a journey.

It’s possible that this could be a single year decision, and that Canada will return for 2010. We’ve seen tracks take a year out for redevelopment and return better than ever. The only problem here is that neither the organisers nor the fans know the reason for the decision, and therefore can’t hold out any hope for the future. Once again, the FIA needs to start explaining what goes into making these important decisions and make their findings a little more transparent.

Other changes to the calendar include the Italian and Belgian races shuffling their weeks, and Turkey moving back up from August to June. This means teams get the summer break they have been lobbying for. This should please them, but I’m sure it will not make up for losing one of the most eventful races of recent years.

Not for the first time, the F1 world is facing a problem with transparency. Yesterday a meeting of the World Motor Sport Council was held in Paris and those present agreed on a number of points that were scheduled to be discussed. None of this came as a huge surprise, but what has knocked the F1 world sideways is an update to the 2009 calendar that casually drops the Canadian Grand Prix.

Whilst there are no doubt reasons for the FIA dropping the race, the problem is no-one has any information as to what they might be. A quick scan of the official press release that followed the meeting actually makes no mention, it only provides a revised 2009 calendar without giving reason for the omission of a significant part of its timetable.

The subsequent reaction around the web has been entirely predictable given that one of the best races on the calendar has suddenly vanished, and now the sport has no presence in North America. As a result of the lack of information, every man has his dog have been blamed, most of them probably unfairly, but when there’s nothing to work with what else can people do?

It’s almost as if the FIA is deliberately trying to court controversy, as if they revel in lighting the blue touch paper and watching the resulting fireworks.

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I think I mentioned in the Canada podcast, that Massa has really taken a step up in my estimation. Previous to this season, I thought of him as a bit of a no-hoper, clinging on to the coat tails of Michael Schumacher. A harsh assumption, but it was just that, an initial opinion based on very little evidence. He came a very second best to Raikkonen last year, and so I’d basically written him off.

Turnaround

So, what’s changed? I’m going to pin it all on Monaco. Massa was having a dire start to the season – three races in, zero points, Raikkonen dominating, not a lot to look forward to. Then Monaco came along and everything was different. It began with the usual pre-qualifying excuses, that he didn’t like the track and wasn’t expecting to do well. But he stormed out there and took pole position, surprising everyone, including himself. I don’t remember the exact words, but afterwards his race engineer Rob Smedley said they had both worked like the devil on the track and on Massa’s mind. It clearly worked and something had clicked.

Total Eclipse

Since then, it’s been all good for Felipe. He may not always take the win, as in Canada, but he’s always there, a thorn in the other driver’s side, challenging them. Whilst everyone was panicking about the track breaking up at Montreal, Massa was there, cool as you like, ready to take it as it comes. The results will surely follow.

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Last weekend in Canada there was a new man standing upon the top step of the podium, Robert Kubica. It was also the first time his team BMW Sauber F1 had won a Grand Prix and they did it in style with a perfect 1-2.

Formula One has been dominated by just two teams and a handful of drivers for the past 18 months, so we figured this was an event worth documenting. In the process, we catch up with Kubica and teammate Heidfeld along with big boss man Mario Theissen on their way back from the podium celebrations. But don’t you go pretending that a gutted Nick Heidfeld doesn’t make you want to cry, you know he does.

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