Sidepodcast

• Length: 06:18 
• Size: 73.2 MB 
• File: track11.m4v 
• Transcript: track11.pdf 
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Last year’s Hungarian Grand Prix turned out to be something of a controversial affair, but what does this years race have in store? Join Christine as she takes a look at the never changing circuit layout, the qualifying events that irrecoverably altered last year’s season for McLaren, and a quick recap of where the teams and drivers stand in this years championship.

Also we follow Gerhard Berger as he drives his own Scuderia Toro Rosso F1 car around one side of Lake Balaton, across the water via transport ferry and then back down the other side, entertaining fans at every turn. It might well be the first time a Formula One car has crossed the largest lake in Europe, but with a new racing circuit scheduled to open nearby in 2010, it may not be the last.

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• Length: 06:03 
• Size: 71.5 MB 
• File: track10.m4v 
• Transcript: track10.pdf 
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Sidepodcast presents a presenter-less look at the German Grand Prix, which returns this year to the incredibly flat Hockenheimring circuit.

In this special edition of the show, join Sebastian Vettel for a once in a lifetime trip around the German track onboard a Red Bull helicopter. Vettel explains how to drive every inch of the course while quietly impressing himself with the spectacular views on offer.

We also catch up with the current state of the ever-so-close championship, but let’s be honest, even that isn’t enough to distract us from all the flying.

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The pictures we’ve been posting over the three days of testing are all very well and good, but we’ve missed out two of the most important.

Bourdais

He was emerging from the Toro Rosso garage and heading towards the motorhome. I know I said I wasn’t bothered about him anymore, but he seemed to be the nicest man ever.

A crowd gathered around him and blocked his path across the paddock. He stopped, he signed and signed, kept on giving out those autographs and muttering greetings to the surrounding fans, and didn’t stop until everyone had gone. When his way was finally clear, someone approached him with a microphone and asked him if he could spare a couple of seconds. He nodded, but said they had to walk and talk, and he indicated for the person to join him in the motor home.

Why didn’t we think of that?

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It’s a running joke in almost every single conversation about Formula 1 that Mark Webber is the unluckiest man on the grid. If he’s leading a race, his engine will blow up. If he’s in front of his home crowd, he will spin off spectacularly. If he needs the points, he’ll have someone crash into the back of him. If it’s just a regular day, his gearbox will fail.

My heart goes out to the guy, but I’ve been doing some thinking. It seems to me that he has made the biggest mistake of his life by joining Red Bull. The unluckiest man in F1, joining the unluckiest team?

Let’s discuss.

First, I’d like to wow you with some facts and figures.

In 2005, running two cars, RBR suffered 9 retirements. In 2006, it was 12. In 2007, it was up to 14. One race in to 2008 and they’ve already notched up 2. (Yes, alright so did a lot of teams, but stay with me, here.)

Sister team Toro Rosso had 8 retirements in 2006, 17 the following year and 1 so far this year.

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David Coulthard sat out yesterday’s test in Barcelona because he’d “tweaked” a muscle in his neck. I’m assuming that’s not the medical term for it, but it will do. He was back in action today after some treatment and a good rest.

Sebastian Vettel was given the golden opportunity to move up from Toro Rosso to Red Bull for the day, as STR were only running the one car. Vettel did pretty well, no major incidents and ended up 7^th. Personally, I’m happy he got the chance, as I’m a Vettel fan. However, it does leave some questions in place.

The first question is why Vettel? Why not Bourdais? Autosport’s reporting of the event said:

“…it was an obvious decision to draft in Vettel to run alongside Mark Webber.”

Why obvious? Vettel has slightly more experience than Bourdais, and perhaps they didn’t want to risk any smashes. Maybe it was a reward for all the hard work that Vettel put in last year.

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• File: Episode53.m4a
• Length: 34:29
• Size: 31.7 MB
• Transcript: episode53.pdf

Last week we looked at the drivers taking to the grid, these week we look closer at the 2008 contenders - the teams, how they’ve changed and how they will fare.

Intro

A quick update on the status of my bad luck - this week is better but I have proof that last week was the worst ever.

Good Week / Bad Week

Bernie Ecclestone gets someone onside, Super Aguri can’t find anyone, Fuji are looking to stay in the sport, and which one is Pinocchio Schumacher?

News and Views

Alonso has his main sponsor following him around, so does that means he’s a pay driver? We’re worried about the state of mind of Toyota drivers, they seem unable to stick to an opinion. And we briefly recap a very wet testing session, and discover we’re looking forward to the return of a previously disliked figure.

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If I said that December 15th 2002 was a significant day in the history of Formula 1, you might struggle to recall why. If I also said that January 9th 2003 was an equally important day, you might start to believe I was losing my mind. That may well be true, but first a brief history lesson.

At the tail end of the 2002 season a certain Flavio Briatore was coming under pressure from his paymasters to bring some French blood into the team. The Renault brand had recently returned to the sport and there was an apparent desire to see an injection of national identity.

As the team’s test driver, Fernando Alonso, was being promoted to a race seat, an opening had appeared for such a talent, and Mr. Briatore opted to try two up-and-coming Frenchmen for the role. One was reigning Formula 3000 champion Sébastien Bourdais, while the other was the 2001 World Series champion Franck Montagny.

On the 15th December 2002 the two went head to head during a test at Jerez, and although Franck had previously got the better of Sébastien while they were team-mates in Formula 3, Seb managed to come out on top. He finished both ahead of Franck, and also in front of Fernando.

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