F1 Fanatic round-up: 5/1/10

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An earlier-than-usual start for the round-up today as we wait for the outcome of Flavio Briatore’s appeal against the lifetime ban handed down by the FIA.

Links

No way back for Piquet (Autocar)

Alan Henry reveals Campos did receive an offer from Nelson Piquet Jnr but they turned him down. Good riddance.

BMW Sauber name to remain for now (Autosport)

Oddly, Sauber will carry on with the BMW name despite the car manufacturer leaving the sport.

Kubica will stay with Renault (BBC)

Robert Kubica’s manager denies the driver will abandon his contract with Renault – news which was met with widespread cries of “what else was he going to do?”

If you’ve spotted any interesting F1 news stories not covered here please post them in the comments.

Comment of the day

The minimally-named -A- offered a convincing analysis of the problem with “the show” yesterday. Here’s a snippet, head over to the article to read it in full:

What is missing from (modern) motor racing that could make it more interesting? My answer, I’m afraid, isn’t one that could be rushed in as a change for the new season.

One of the most important factors for me right now are the race tracks. Especially since the evolution of the technical regulations over the last two years seems ot have succeeded at unleashing some potential for close and interesting races, I’ve been all but underwhelmed by most of the new circuits that have been added to the calendar in recent years.
-A-

From the forum

Harve asks who was the best F1 driver never to win a championship?

Site updates

The forum software has undergone some substantial changes, but I’ve kept the design largely the same. You may notice a few subtle differences and possibly the odd fault in the code. If you do see anything that looks wrong please let me know.

Happy birthday!

I’m afraid there’s no F1 Fanatic reader birthdays today. To let me know about one you can get in touch by emailling me, using Twitter or adding to the list here.

On this day in F1

On this day five years ago Red Bull announced David Coulthard’s team mate for the forthcoming season would be Christian Klien… and Vitantonio Liuzzi. The ‘drive share’ plan didn’t work out to well – Liuzzi did just four of the 19 races.

January being a fairly quiet month, this time two years ago I embarked on one of the longest series ever posted on this site – a 16-part guide to F1 tracks through the years. Here’s the series in full if you’d like to re-visit it:

As ever if you’ve got a link to share, a nomination for ‘comment of the day’ or an idea for ‘on this day’, please share it in the comments.

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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15 comments on “F1 Fanatic round-up: 5/1/10”

  1. Good thing that Piquet is not racing.
    I do agree with -A- that circuit design need to be more good for racing so that cars can follow each other more closely.

  2. Thank you for sharing the circuit history,that was a wonderful piece of writing.

    1. Couldn’t agree more…

  3. That series on old circuits is really interesting, I wish there were still a few crazy ones around like the 25km long Pescara road circuit and the German dual-carriageway but will have to make to with ‘amazing’ lighting and architectural effects instead of circuits for different sorts of racing

    1. but will have to make to with ‘amazing’ lighting and architectural effects instead of circuits for different sorts of racing

      My favourite piece of architecture was always long beach and its innovative “oil drum” pit exit.

  4. On the subject of F1 curcuits i’ve a question that I’ve not yet heard a good answer to.

    When we were talking about our ideal F1 calender on the forum the restrictions on the maximum length of tracks and the maximum length of straights for that matter came up. But why if all the correct safety precautions were in place should a track be limited to a certain length? I don’t really understand the logic.

  5. Now look at this wretched scrawl of a circuit. A dusty parking lot in crummy Las Vegas was the scene of two of the most intriguing championship finales in 1981 and 1982. There’s no justice, other than that this nasty little track is long gone now.

    Best paragraph ever

    1. Thanks – must have been in a bit of a mood when I wrote that! :-)

  6. Just wondering why the ruond up is a full article today and not just an article in brief.

    1. The “what age is too young” should have been the “in full” today, I’ve moved this over to “in brief” now.

  7. Tilke established Tilke Engineering in 1984, combining skills in architecture, civil engineering and electronic engineering to provide complete solutions for motor racing and waste disposal projects.

    Marketing blurb from the mafia of the internet, wikipedia, I’m guessing Bernie’s favourite architect isn’t his favourite because of superior track layout but because his company has been at the pinnacle of engineering design.

    His company does the buildings and access roads too, so its an all in contract I guess, and Bernie wants luxurious buildings to woo F1 sponsors.

    Also the FIA stipulates all sorts of safety measures in track layout, such as flat layouts so cars don’t lift.

  8. Probably Herr Tilke should work on buildings only, not on the lay-out: “Hermann, here is the track lay-out. Just build what stands around”

  9. Raikkonen talks to Red Bulletin about his WRC switch: http://en.redbulletin.com/articles/kimi

    I’ll watch a race on TV every now and then. Maybe I’ll go to the Monaco Grand Prix. I could get an F1 drive again any time, but lots of bad things are happening in F1. Manufacturers are pulling out.

  10. Well, Kimmi had to find a reason of sorts. And you all know how difficult it is for the Iceman!

  11. Word on the street (Twitter) is that Flav has had his ban overtuned. Well done FIA for making yourselves look even more ridiculus.

Comments are closed.