Sidepodcast

Race day is upon us and yesterday’s stunning qualifying lap from Robert Kubica has given Formula 1 some light relief following a week of bad press and controversy. We may have awoken to yet more newspaper allegations this morning, but today is all about the racing.

For the first time Kubica gets to lead the field for the installation lap, and then hopefully into the first corner. He has the advantage of being on the clean side of the grid, and the assumption is he’s running lighter than the cars behind. Whatever happens the first corner and lap will be must-watch-blink-and-you’ll-miss-it television.

Further back we have have Trulli, Rosberg, Button and Alonso all putting their respective teammates to shame. What can they do from back there, and who’ll pick up the last of the points positions? The battle of the midfield is sure to be exciting today.

The UK’s television coverage begins in just a few moments, it’s also online. Live timing screens will hopefully be offering a better service than yesterday.

Continue reading…

What do we have in store for Qualifying today then? Firstly sun and sand, there’s no prediction of bad weather all weekend, unless of course you count blustery wind blowing cars around (and more sand onto the track).

Free practice three gave us a good indication of what to expect today, the McLaren’s were off colour, as was Nick Heidfeld, but Nico showed us that Australia wasn’t a one off event.

Do Renault have an answer to their problems, and can they do anything to convince Alonso that Ferrari isn’t the right way to go? Thus far, things have not been looking good at all.

We’re watching ITV’s coverage (which is also online if you can convince them you’re in the UK), and don’t forget live timing from f1.com (as if you could). Please give us a shout if you’re around and tell us how and where you’re watching.

Also, please do let us know your predictions for today’s qualifying event.

As Saturday dawns, there’s not a whole heap of change to note on the racing front. Teams have now had to make their gearbox ratio selections (a difficult process after yesterdays changeable conditions) and the McLaren mechanics have no doubt had a busy evening with Hamilton’s car.

The race weekend official starts here, it’s a one hour session, but teams will now be extra careful with their engines from here onwards, although a couple of drivers can ill afford to relax during this session. Vettel struggled considerably in yesterdays second session, as did both Toyota’s and Nick Heidfeld so they may be looking to make up lost ground.

There’s no live video from ITV for this session so we’re back to looking elsewhere. We’ll give TVlizer a test and see what that has to offer, while BBC Radio 5Live have audio commentary on their Extra station. Finally there’s the ubiquitous live timing from f1.com.

Scream, shout and yell if you’re dedicating your Saturday morning to following the cars running in the desert.

Moving swiftly on then. After a short break, Formula 1 cars return in anger for Free Practice 2. Again, as it’s Friday it’ll be a 90 minute session, this time starting at 2pm local time (12pm BST).

We didn’t learn a lot from FP1 that we couldn’t have surmised for ourselves. The circuit clearly suits the Ferrari’s, with Massa looking particularly comfortable and leading a large part of the first session. McLaren appear to be playing catch up, but as they didn’t take part in any pre-season testing that’s to be expected.

BMW, specifically Heidfeld, ended up farther back than was expected, while Honda looked to be playing it extremely cautiously. Excluding Super Aguri (who may as well have not bothered turning up), Barrichello managed the least number of laps with only 12 tours of the track.

ITV will very kindly be broadcasting pictures online, although their efforts earlier were frankly laughable, we’re hoping to see a bit more than a blank screen this time round. Live timing is as always… available.

Continue reading…

After a two week break, F1 returns to the track. Much has been said off the circuit these past seven days, but for now we’re offered a brief respite from all the politics, as cars and drivers take to the asphalt once more.

So, what delights do we have in store today then? First up, it goes without saying it’ll be dry but dusty. The track tends to be reasonably grippy from the off, but given the copious amount of run-off area, we can expect plenty of excursions and spins as drivers find their personal limits.

The session starts at 10am local time (8am BST), and will last for 90 minutes. ITV are broadcasting the session over the net, while the official Formula 1 site offers live timing data.

Please do shout if you are up and about at this slightly more friendly (at least in Europe) time of the day. We’ll be around for both the sessions today, and as ever we try and feature the best of the comments during the podcast round up later today.

Continue reading…