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:
- F1 circuits history part 1: 1950
- F1 circuits history part 2: 1951-53
- F1 circuits history part 3: 1954-57
- F1 circuits history part 4: 1958-60
- F1 circuits history part 5: 1961-66
- F1 circuits history part 6: 1967-70
- F1 circuits history part 7: 1971-74
- F1 circuits history part 8: 1975-78
- F1 circuits history part 9: 1979-84
- F1 circuits history part 10: 1985-89
- F1 circuits history part 11: 1990-93
- F1 circuits history part 12: 1994
- F1 circuits history part 13: 1995-98
- F1 circuits history part 14: 1999-2002
- F1 circuits history part 15: 2003-07
- F1 circuits history part 16: 2008 and beyond
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.
wasiF1
5th January 2010, 2:21
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.
James Bond
5th January 2010, 3:01
Thank you for sharing the circuit history,that was a wonderful piece of writing.
David
5th January 2010, 8:02
Couldn’t agree more…
lukeaa
5th January 2010, 3:02
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
Sush Meerkat
5th January 2010, 5:53
My favourite piece of architecture was always long beach and its innovative “oil drum” pit exit.
Ads21
5th January 2010, 3:13
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.
lukeaa
5th January 2010, 3:31
Best paragraph ever
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
5th January 2010, 7:52
Thanks – must have been in a bit of a mood when I wrote that! :-)
Macca
5th January 2010, 4:36
Just wondering why the ruond up is a full article today and not just an article in brief.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
5th January 2010, 7:53
The “what age is too young” should have been the “in full” today, I’ve moved this over to “in brief” now.
Sush Meerkat
5th January 2010, 5:43
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.
David
5th January 2010, 8:06
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”
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
5th January 2010, 11:41
Raikkonen talks to Red Bulletin about his WRC switch: http://en.redbulletin.com/articles/kimi
Kanyima
5th January 2010, 13:48
Well, Kimmi had to find a reason of sorts. And you all know how difficult it is for the Iceman!
lukeaa
5th January 2010, 14:19
Word on the street (Twitter) is that Flav has had his ban overtuned. Well done FIA for making yourselves look even more ridiculus.