Sidepodcast

• Length: 24:13 
• Size: 22.3 MB 
• File: ancillaryomnibus1.mp3 
• Transcript: ancillaryomnibus1.pdf 
• Torrent: Coming soon 

The omnibus edition of the Ancillary F1 series, looking closer at companies that help Formula 1 operate but never get any of the glory.

Here are the links to the individual show notes:

1. Bridgestone
2. McLaren Electronic Systems
3. Tilke Engineering
4. Mercedes Support Vehicles
5. Météo-France
6. Philips Lighting
7. RTV

This is the first series of Ancillary F1, I hope you enjoyed it. If you have any suggestions for future companies or feedback about the ones covered above, I’d love to hear from you.

• Length: 46:30 
• Size: 40.8 MB 
• File: episode79.mp3 
• Enhanced: episode79.m4a 
• Transcript: Coming soon 
• Torrent: episode79.torrent 

The anticipation for Formula 1’s first ever night race has been building since Singapore was announced. Now we rake over all that happened, take a couple of calls, and get feedback from the circuit.

Intro

Doing a show on a full stomach may just calm the hyperactivity.

Good Week / Bad Week

A good week for David Croft and Richard Cregan who have both secured jobs, but a bad week for, well, everyone.

Qualifying

So many incidents, which highlighted issues with the marshals and intrigue about the safety barriers. Also, we discuss Trulli driving the wrong way round the track, and why Ferrari’s can’t turn circles.

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What a fabulous race! I was worried that Singapore wouldn’t live up to the hype but it certainly did that. Perhaps not in the way we were expecting, or perhaps it was. Amazing what throwing a couple of safety cars into the mix will do. Not literally throwing them, of course. Anyway, we’re back now to discuss the goings on in Singapore in today’s F1 Debrief.

Join us as we record the show live, and discuss the merits of the new track, and the failings of certain teams, whilst bringing the regular elements in, such as Good Week / Bad Week and your Feedback. We want your calls this week, talking about anything you’ve seen today in the race. We’re ’sidepodcast’ on Skype, or the number is 0121 28 87225.

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• Length: 11:22 
• Size: 10.4 MB 
• File: digest60.mp3 
• Transcript: digest60.pdf 
• Torrent: digest60.torrent 

What was already an exciting weekend has culminated in a stunning race with more incidents than we’ve seen for a long time. We also got yet another new race winner.

The Race

A much cleaner start than we were expecting, but the action was just saved for later as first Piquet and then Sutil brought out the Safety Car. All the pit stop action meant that Hamilton lost time, Massa lost his dignity, and Alonso lost his losing streak.

Conclusions

Everyone felt like it was a difficult day, especially because it was hot, it was long, and tiring. Really, everything boiled down to where you were at the pit stops, and our drivers tell us how they’re feeling after a lottery of a day.

• Length: 01:30:59 
• Size: 83.4 MB 
• File: parade3.mp3 
• Transcript: Coming soon 
• Torrent: parade3.torrent 

Building up to the race of the year at Singapore, the Parade Lap settles in for an extended 90 minute chill out and chat. Topics on the agenda include who qualified where, just how poor the marshals were and of course, we try a little bit of Tremayning.

The music played in this show:

• Moloko, Sing It Back
• Dylan in the Movies, City Skies
• Di Sheldon, What in the World
• Jeff Caylor, Moving Backwards
• Ramin Streets, Traffic
• Hampshire Guitar Orchestra HAGO, Liberty Bell
• Amy Regan, Carry On
• Info about these artists and more available on the music page.

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We saw plenty of incidents during qualifying yesterday, but it didn’t leave us with a messed up grid like Italy. However, there are still plenty of things to keep an eye on - the first corner being the most important. Will Massa keep ahead of Hamilton? Will Hamilton go all out to get past his arch rival? Will Raikkonen play a part in any of this? Which of the mid-field runners will tangle together?

So many questions, and just a short hour to go before we find out. It looks as though all the rain predictions will not come to fruition, which I am personally grateful for. The marshals seemed to struggle with simple accidents, and rescue missions, so I dread to think what would happen if there was an extra variable of rain as well.

If Kubica and Raikkonen don’t finish well this race, then their championship chances will be all but over. BMW never said winning a title was part of their goal for this year, the single win is enough. Kubica, however, wants to keep on pushing, get to the top, if he can. I’m not hopeful, but this race will really prove one way or the other.

Another driver to watch out for is Vettel. It will go one of two ways: either he will be able to keep the pace up and make a nuisance of himself in the championship battle, or we will see him falling through the pack and mixing it up with everyone else. Either way, he’s one to watch.

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We’re up in time for the Singapore Grand Prix, and because we’re so excited about the first ever night race, we’re going for an extra half an hour. 90 minutes of chatter and music to get you warmed up and ready for the racing action.

With a new track comes plenty to talk about, lots of unknowns: the weather, the track, the marshals, the scenery, and most of all what we have seen so far. We want to hear your thoughts and predictions, visit the Live Commenting Live… Thing (where lots of bugs have been fixed) to join in the streaming fun. We also want your calls, and especially want to encourage Tremayning. I know, I don’t really understand it either, but it sounds like a blast.

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• Length: 11:34 
• Size: 10.6 MB 
• File: digest59.mp3 
• Transcript: digest59.pdf 
• Torrent: digest59.torrent 

We’re back to a hot and humid race, so qualifying is all important to try and make Sunday that tiny bit easier. Listen to today’s F1 Digest to catch up with who was in the wall, and who was out in front.

Free Practice 3

Raikkonen and Fisichella both struggle to get to the end of the session, with the Force India mechanics having a lot of work to do. Meanwhile, Alonso showed that Renault are heading in the right direction.

Qualifying

What qualifying session would be complete without a championship contender almost failing to get through to Q3, a pit lane controversy and a couple of drivers in the wall? These three Singapore sessions had it all.

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So far, we’ve had three sessions of Free Practice, four hours of on-track action, and many, many incidents. Singapore has already far surpassed what I was expecting, so I don’t see how it can’t live up to the hype. Who knows what Qualifying will bring, but this is the place to find out.

The only thing letting the side down at the moment is the abysmal performance of the marshals. On the one hand, it’s incredible to see so many drivers struggling, hitting the walls, and generally having issues. But every time someone goes off, we have to endure the painful sight of incompetent marshals. They look like they’re not quite sure what they’re supposed to do, or as Neil said in the comments, whether they’re even allowed to touch the cars.

Hopefully this isn’t going to be too big a problem, because it’s the only blight on what is already turning out to be a stellar weekend. The scenery continues to be stunning, and I can’t wait to see what qualifying brings.

Alonso looks completely on it so far this weekend, but we’ll have to wait and see what happens with fuel loads. Hamilton is also showing well, as is to be expected, whilst Kovalainen struggles down in the mid-field. Kovi has also used his joker engine change for this race, so hopefully he can pull his socks up a little bit. Raikkonen and Fisichella both saw early ends to their Free Practice session today, and it’s worth keeping an eye on them to see if it affects their qualifying performance.

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I don’t know how the drivers are faring, because my body clock is all messed up, and this is a relatively normal race! Presumably they are all still coping with the European time adjustments (or non-adjustments, as it should be) but we will be able to tell once they jump back into the cars for Free Practice 3.

At the moment, the weather looks to be hazy, the humidity is about 60% and there’s a bit of a wind. My weather source says there’s a chance of a thunderstorm on Saturday night (Singapore time) but it also said that yesterday and we had nice, clear track action.

Talking of which, there was plenty to behold. I imagine Webber will want to get some more running in this morning, as he was limited yesterday following his crash. I don’t think the track will be empty though, as all the drivers hit the streets of Singapore to get a feel for what it will be like. Today will see the track at it’s closest to what it will be in qualifying, and they need to get all the data they can.

If I can tell the time right, which I’m not sure I can, the gap between FP3 and Qualifying is shortened, although not as manic as yesterday’s simple hour between sessions. We’re hoping to see a bit more organisation between the marshals, as it looks like they could really slow things down. It also appears the drivers had a really long briefing with Charlie Whiting yesterday with a whole host of complaints (my guess is Bourdais was particularly vocal) about the track, so it will be interesting to see if anything is done.

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