F1 links: Grid walks and Twitter
6th January 2009, 21:52 by Keith Collantine 4 Comments »
F1 gets hit with the ugly stick
In the early part of the 2008 season, I had a conversation with a senior member of an F1 team who said they had already recovered 85 per cent of the downforce the ’09 regs were supposed to lose and that the the fitting of slick tyres meant the cars would go quicker than ever.
ART confirm Euro Series line-up
"Formula 3 Euro Series champions ART Grand Prix have completed their line-up by announcing deals with Jules Bianchi, Valtteri Bottas and Adrien Tambay, alongside Esteban Gutierrez, who was confirmed yesterday. Both Bottas and Tambay – son of former grand prix driver Patrick – will be stepping up for their rookie seasons in the category. Bottas won the Formula Renault Eurocup and North European Cup last year, while Tambay finished third in Formula BMW Europe."
Grandprix.com in now on Twitter
"[Martin] Brundle has his doubts whether the unrehearsed and unscripted interviews will continue to work, especially as the drivers – with other arranged media commitments while on the grid – are becoming increasingly reluctant to chat."
Can anyone beat Ganassi’s superteam?
"Ganassi’s team of star drivers is led by defending Grand-Am champion Scott Pruett… This year he will again be partnered in the Rolex 24 by Montoya and Rojas in Ganassi’s #01 car, while Franchitti will drive the #02 Lexus-Riley with IRL champion Scott Dixon and Alex Lloyd." Ex-F1 driver Montoya aiming to win the Daytona 24 Hours again.
Horner: RBR to benefit from cost-cutting
Christian Horner: "For an independent team like Red Bull Racing, the rules do create a more level playing field. With the restrictions that are coming into play, pretty much everyone has the same tools at their disposal. It's very easy to overlook that we are an independent team. We have got great strength of depth in people and the infrastructure is very strong. But as a non-works team, we lack the depth of manufacturer research and development and analysis. With the regulation changes, that becomes irrelevant."
These are articles I’ve found and bookmarked using Delicious. View my Delicious profile to see what else I’m reading and recommend other links to me.
PaulD said on 7th January 2009, 7:42
Following on from the ‘F1 gets hit by the ugly stick’ article: the best looking F1 car ever is the Lotus 33
DG said on 7th January 2009, 8:58
I could never decide if it was bad luck that ITV only let Brundle onto the grid last season when most drivers were having a ‘comfort break’, or whether the teams PR people had got wise to his style and just kept the drivers away from him as much as possible.
The way round it for the BBC is to have a motorhome in the middle of the Paddock, serving all day breakfasts etc and invite the drivers, engineers, team principles and guests for proper interviews around the days events.
There can still be a ‘Grid Walk’, but more to catch the atmosphere or note changes to the cars…..
ajokay said on 7th January 2009, 9:12
I love the gridwalks and it’ll be a shame if they go, even if the drivers were being interviewed less and less.
Chaz said on 7th January 2009, 17:07
I really hope Brundle continues the grid walks. But I seem to remember reading (here on this blog I think) that Alonso signed a huge deal with a TV company for exclusive grid interviews or something like that. So I guess Brundles grid walks will probable come to an end sooner rather than later unless the Beeb pays up. Other drivers will probably sign similar deals and therefore not be keen to give away freebies when there is money to be made, especially if the teams want to cap salaries.