Sidepodcast

• Length: 8:34 
• Size: 7.9 MB 
• File: digest29.mp3 
• Transcript: digest29.pdf 
• Torrent: digest29.torrent 

You either love or hate this track, and within today’s F1 Digest preview, we experience both sides of the coin and see who falls on which side of the fence.

Vital Statistics

• Date: 22nd June
• Circuit: Magny-Cours
• Length: 4.4km
• Laps: 70
• 2007 Winner: Kimi Raikkonen

Preview

It’s very quiet out there in paddock land, mostly because the team’s are really not digging the French circuit right now. Some say they are, but there isn’t the usual excitement that a Grand Prix stirs up.

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.

Continue reading…

There are a few not very widely promoted suggestions that Ferrari’s win in Malaysia may have been one of those team order affairs. According to this story on Formula 1 Sport, Gary Anderson – a grand prix car designer – believes that Raikkonen being able to leapfrog Massa had been planned from the start.

Now, I don’t know who Gary Anderson is, whether he is a respected voice in the sport of not, but I can say I’m not a fan of this conspiracy theory. And I am a fan of a lot of conspiracy theories.

I believe that Kimi Raikkonen is just that good, and Massa is not. Given the evidence of previous GPs, this isn’t exactly a stretch to believe, is it?

The reason this story is getting my attention, however, is because when Stefano Domenicali was accepting his trophy on the Malaysian podium, I turned to “me” and said: “I don’t know when it happened, but I don’t feel the same animosity towards Ferrari. It doesn’t feel tainted.”

When I first started watching F1, and watching should be in quotes, because I couldn’t tell you a thing about it back then, it was Michael Schumacher this and Michael Schumacher that. Questionable wins here, dodgy tactics there.

Continue reading…

Today, Ferrari were the first of the teams to launch their 2008 challenger, and YouTube user yossidlr provides us with the media interviews conducted at the launch.

Slightly long winded, and not the world’s most exciting unveiling, but worth 10 minutes of your time if you’re after the full low down from Kimi & Co.

Watch the drivers talk about the new ECU for 2008, and remind yourself that it really is “the same for everybody”.