F1 Fanatic round-up: 26/10/2010

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The results of the latest round of the F1 Fanatic Predictions Championship will be up later today.

Here’s today’s round-up:

Links

Red Bull ready to evaluate team tactics (Autosport)

Christian Horner: “I haven’t had time to look at all the mathematics and scenarios, but it is something that we will look at pretty closely between now and Brazil.”

BBC’s Formula One coverage prompts nearly 300 complaints (The Guardian)

“Some viewers who had set their personal video recorders to record the grand prix claimed that they had been deprived of the climax to the race.”

There are people still using video recorders? How did they send their complaints in, by carrier pigeon?

Comment of the day

Cacarella spots a flaw in TommyC’s idea for fans to raise money to protect the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps:

You better hope to God that Bernie and his goons don’t see this comment thread!

You’ll have given him the idea to start charging all fans $10.00 per race or they drop ’em.
Cacarella

From the forum

Prisoner Monkeys, Icthyes and RobR do a great impression of Clive James.

Site updates

A glitch on the Mercedes race review yesterday led to a small number of comments being lost. Apologies for the inconvenience.

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday to luigismen!

On this day in F1

Two former world champions started their last race on this day 24 years ago. One of them was 1980 champion Alan Jones, who served as the drivers’ adviser to the stewards in the Korean Grand Prix.

The other was the man who succeeded him at Williams and won the championship two years later: Keke Rosberg, father of Nico.

Of course the 1986 Australian Grand Prix is best remembered for the dramatic turn of events that made Alain Prost the world champion, after Nigel Mansell’s spectacular tyre blowout.

Read more about that here: 1986 Australian Grand Prix flashback

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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84 comments on “F1 Fanatic round-up: 26/10/2010”

  1. ‘personal video recorders’
    sky+?

    video doesn’t have to be VHS.

    1. Yeah, I was gonna say, I quite often record races, but on DVD’s.

      (and by a very strange coincidence, I happen to be watching a film on video as I type this! No carrier pigeon though unfortunately)

      1. I record every single Grand Prix on DVD and on my computer, and I always make sure I set the recorder half an hour before the telecast, and two hours after the telecast. It is a ritual of mine because I know what can happen. Basically if you didn’t allow for the unpredictability of a Grand Prix’s duration – then too bad. You’ve only yourself to blame really. You can’t guarantee a race will go for 1 hour and 50 minutes every time.

        1. Jarred Walmsley
          26th October 2010, 2:52

          Actually the issue was the BBC switching channels, using a DVD recorder you can only set it on a single channel, therefore with the switch people lost the remaining part of the race

          1. Why did they have to switch over there in the UK? Was there something more important than F1?!

          2. Yes damon, Andrew Marr had to go on TV to interview some very old celebrities and talk to Anne Robinson about the newspapers… very important stuff.

          3. My V+ PVR ended the recording at about 915, shortly before the switchover to BBC2 – I think fundamentally it wasn’t in the BBC or anyone’s control.

            The race was massively delayed, what were the BBC to do, send Jake Humphrey down to race control and tell them to finish it on lap 42? I really don’t get the complainers, these things happen.

          4. It infuriates me that people are upset about this… If (in Aus) we got the same coverage as the Uk, I would dance for joy… probably for many hours… We have stupidly uninterested commentators, our pre race show is useless, and post race show is, wait. there is no post race show… And remember those dark days of ITV when you had ads? We always have ads…

            Oh and every time Brundle talks about some sort of special segment explaining wheel nuts. (how many wheel nuts segments do you get exactly???) … It drives me insane because the amount of F1 related documentaries we get is… Well… None…..

            … … And to be honest, I am quite happy with the coverage I get, I just feel sorry for the Americans…..

          5. haha Mike.. Awesome.

            In NZ we get…. well, we get the race, with Legard and Brundle..

            ………..

            and we get, a beginning and an end. We are truely blessed. Hence I don’t care if Legard is commentating or not, I’m glad I have any commentary at all you moaning witch hunters

            nuff said! ;)

          6. Actually on second thoughts, if what happen to them happened to me, I’d be upset as well…

          7. Two words: Red Button. That is all.

          8. American coverage of F1 is quite good, especially when compared to just a few years ago. Bob Varsha is good, Steve Matchett is good, I preferred Peter Windsor to Will Buxton, but we get P2, the qualy sessions, and the race–along with a debrief program. I am pretty happy with it!

            I did miss the last part of the Korea race–I always add 30 minutes to the end, now will change that to 1 hour!

            don

    2. Fair enough. Being someone who finds it hard to grasp people not watching practice live I can’t really empathise with the complaints!

      1. Isn’t there a limit on the satellite time as well? What happens if the race overuns that, or is that what the 2 hour time limit is all about?

      2. Indeed if you want to watch a recording, why not just see the rerun. Or download the sessions from usenet.

      3. But you must admit, that if you are not able to watch it live (work, travel, important events or illness), it is the best solution to just tape it.

        And i know my brother often tapes the BBC feed and watches replays on Dutch TV, or the other way around, to be sure to watch.

        That said, it is not as if you miss your own wedding when you don’t get to watch the video of a F1 race ;-)

    3. these complainers should instead be praising the iplayer.

      Our virgin media service went down just at the crucial moment, so I watched the end of the race and the forum online when they got things sorted.

  2. Another interesting piece of news for you:

    Williams receive award for Corporate Communications:
    http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns22696.html?utm_source=ultimateinfo&utm_medium=twitter

    1. Haha, and a new favourite pic of f1 drivers outside a race:
      http://plixi.com/p/52903444

      1. Hahahahahaha! Nice!

  3. “Some viewers who had set their personal video recorders to record the grand prix claimed that they had been deprived of the climax to the race.”

    It’s precisely this kind of scenario that is my worst nightmare, thankfully god invented alarm clocks so you can get up at 6am and watch it live.

    1. I’ve had my DVR cut short on me once last year. Ever since then I have al F1 broadcasts set to record an extra two hours. Unfortunately I just can’t force myself to get up at 4:30AM for all the European races live.

      1. In Australia, most the races are on at manageable times. The European races start at 10pm and most of the Asian races start 5pm(ish). But Brazil is 12 hours behind us, meaning it starts at 2am. Hopefully Webber can win to get myself in a good frame of mind before my Year 12 Math Methods exam.

        1. Cunning Stunt 8
          26th October 2010, 9:58

          Stretch, last year I had my year 12 Maths Methods exam right after Brazil, and I got 95%. If Webber wins it again you’ve got it in the bag :)

      2. I really do sympathise with you guys without BBC, one of my mates is in California for a year and he’s really sruggling to follow the races, I’ve often been sending him links I’ve found in the the F1F live blog

        1. Yeah, we get the BBC audio feed during the race and Brundle tells us to watch the Red Button (whatever that is) about all this interesting sounding extra stuff like video features about wheel nuts or steering wheels. One HD does try to give some coverage but sounds like nothing compared to the BBC.

        2. “I really do sympathise with you guys without BBC”

          That is what bittorrent is for. I don’t get to watch them live, but at least I can see it in relatively close quality to the original broadcast. I’m usually busy Sunday most times anyway, so it’s nice to be able to watch it on my own time.

      3. Haha US_Peter! That is exactly what I do! I learned to do that when I was about 8 and my VCR recorded up until the last lap! :P

        1. I watch it on iplayer on re run3, and I had to wait 4 hours before Part 2 was loaded up, that meant I couldn’t go out of my house for fear of my friends ruining the outcome for me and I couldn’t go on the internet for the exact same reason.

          1. Gavin Campbell
            26th October 2010, 12:44

            This was so annoying because i missed part two because of the channel change (Getting up at 6.30 odd on sunday was a bit too much of an ask)

            My homepage is F1 Fanatic which is all well and good apart from when you haven’t seen the race yet :P

  4. I didn’t catch the rerun or the actual live race (I resorted to iplayer). But wasn’t the full rerun shown in its entirety on ONE channel? If so what exactly is the problem?

    1. I recorded the race on BBC1 I have a digibox (digital tv) I made sure to set the timer for long enough. I woke up on sunday at 14h(went out the day before), start watching the race entirely, didn’t fast forward any of the delays, by that time there wasn’t any re-run available. Also I am from Belgium so iplayer doesnt work for me.

      1. Fair enough. It’s been a while since I bothered to record (or rather had the equipment to do so).

        I’ve heard stories of the BBC doing this when they originally had the rights to F1. Maybe it’s a case of old habits die hard?

  5. Looks like the Brazilians are hanging out at Sea World on their way home from Korea: http://plixi.com/p/52903444

  6. Man, the Clive James impressions are nearly as bad as Dr. Farnsworth from Futurama XD. Once you start reading it with his voice in mind it’s like he’s in your head and won’t get out!

  7. Isn’t 300 really a negligible number? It’s not a huge amount of complaints and there really was nothing that could be done.

    1. It does sound negligible, but actually 300 is massive for a single programme compared to what they normally get.

      1. Tell that to Leonidas!

        THIS IS KOREA!

        sorry, I’ll stop that

  8. After the success of the Gold Coast 600, Ford talk about getting Jacques Villeneuve down here full-time for 2011:

    http://www.speedcafe.com.au/2010/10/24/ford-brokering-deal-for-villeneuve-to-race-v8s/

    Apparently all they need to do is talk his girlfriend into coming to Australia and he’ll do it. No word on where he’ll go yet, though I reckon he’ll either be set up in a satellite team like Paul Dumbrell Racing (who he drove for this weekend), or set up in Dick Johnson Racing, who are said to be in an ownership dispute and might lose one of their drivers.

    The organisers are also looking to expand on the Gold Coast 600 format, increasing the number of international drivers to 29, one for each car (possibly thirty if Ford buy a Racing Entitlement Contract for Villeneuve .. .but then, wouldn’t he count as an international anyway?):

    http://www.speedcafe.com.au/2010/10/25/gold-coast-v8-event-set-for-changes-in-2011/

    They’re talking about getting Giancarlo Fisichello, David Coulthard, Jean Alesi and even Martin Brundle into the category for next year, provided that the calendar doesn’t clash with Formula 1 (although as the F1 calendar is already known, it shouldn’t be too hard to set up the event for an off weekend). I doubt they’d get any of the current drivers down here, though – Jenson Button has said it’s not something he can do because of his contract with McLaren (though if Vodafone pulled strings, it could happen since Vodafone sponsor Triple Eight) and Mark Webber has said he’s not interested.

    1. Cunning Stunt 8
      26th October 2010, 10:00

      I’d have thought Villeneuve would make his own team with Durango?

      1. Maybe, but if Durango are not interested in V8 Supertaxis and Villeneuve is, they could well go their separate ways. Their relationship will only last so long as it suits both parties.

        1. Cunning Stunt 8
          26th October 2010, 23:34

          True, but I read somewhere that Villeneuve and Durango were looking at the possibility of running a NASCAR team, which I guess in terms of vehicle is not that different though in terms of size and money etc is quite different.

          But yes I’ve fair lost interest in V8 Supercars this year, haven’t watched a round since QR (though I have been bloody busy with Uni). Some international drivers like Villeneuve and Montiero racing full time might renew my interest. I wish Ambrose would come back though :(

      2. I suppose he would like to do a team and race, so he will be thrilled to have these possibilities to choose from.

        It’s not as if NASCAR is cheap, even if not as expensive as F1. So Jaques will use the money from Durango or whoever to get a team in the highest / most challenging series or just the one opening a spot for him depending on his options.
        If someone offers him this, Durango can still come along to keep their contacts if they want.

    2. Cunning Stunt 8
      26th October 2010, 10:00

      Also Speedcafe is a great site (Y)

  9. I still use a video recorder, Keith!

  10. Yeah my old man wanted to watch the race and he pre recorded it on his DVD hard drive. Had to watch the re run instead. Im at uni so iplayer was what i used, except they didnt put bbc 2 part up there!!

  11. PVRs are the best form of recording, particularly for hidef. DVD=too small, poor quality, VHS=way too poor quality, BluRay=too expensive and pointless for recording.

    Go Hard Drives!

    1. My digibox has hard drive but unfortunatly it doesn’t switch when the bbc decides to switch the channel.

  12. and horner ready to evaluate team tactics? that’s quite a change from yesterday…
    I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s just going along the equality line to the media but truly know that if he wants the championship he must back webber. otherwise, dietrich won’t be too happy.

    1. Well look at it this way:

      If you put your support behind Mark Webber for the championship it is set out clearly what needs to be done to win the championship. If you let Vettel go for it things have to go his way for him to win the championship. He can win the remaining races and still not be the overall victor.

      At this point in the season there are too many variables to not put weight behind Mark Webber. You can’t be picky when you’re going for your first championship, priority is to get it.

  13. http://www.autosport.com/news/grapevine.php/id/87747

    Story at the bottom of the page – that is brilliant.

    1. That’s the thing about Ecclestone – for all the flak he takes, he’s got a fantastic sense of humour. Like when he asked if the replica of the Hungarian crown jewels was made in China. Or when he was told the circuit in Korea was very slippery, he instantly replied that he wouldn’t go out on it. He’s very quick-witted, our Bernie.

  14. Keith, Is it possible for this site to host recorded race videos for everyone to watch. Or we need some kind of permission for this?

    1. Sure, just send me a few million dollars so I can out-bid the BBC for the rights and I’ll have them up by the end of the day.

      1. (smart-ass) comment of the day! :)

      2. you can also set a new blog: F1Pirate, the formula pirate blog, and upload all the races there…

      3. Ah, I am afraid i must have mislaid them last week or so, sorry cannot be of help there!

        But it would be an amazing prospect, just we would need to buy world coverage and stream it live on the internet in addition to digital HD feed for subcontractors like the BBC.

        I am curious, who would you hire to do the commentary, Keith?

  15. It’s not that ba surely, the race in full was repeated at 2pm UK time.

  16. I’m very happy to say that the comment code buttons are back to make styling your comments easier.

    1. I love the box that comes up: ‘The page at f1fanatic.co.uk says:’

      1. Hmm. Will see if I can change that!

    2. Thanks Keith! Makes quoting much easier!

  17. I don’t understand the BBC sometimes. Jonathan Legard was taking an eternity to realise that it was Nico Rosberg who had overtaken Lewis Hamilton. And then you get Jake humphrey advertising the f1 driver tracker. Doesnt Legard have one??

    1. Ha, indeed!. Legard really got on my wick for Korea. Please give the job to Ted!

      1. Legard is at catch 22 currently. I think he knows his time up coming to an end unless he does something about it, and the only way to do something about it is to open his mouth, which, got him into this situation in the first place.

  18. Here’s a thought, what should the threshold for team tactics be?

    If Vettel leads Webber and Alonso in Brazil then the gaps to Alonso will be 15 and 8 points respectively. Now the championship would be possible for Vettel, but it would mean Vettel winning and Alonso seriously failing, or a 2nd and DNF for the pair. If they switched, the gaps would be 22 and 1 point, much better for Red Bull’s chances – but what if Webber and Alonso come together in Abu Dhabi and Vettel is 2nd?

    I think there will come a point in the next race where Vettel will be able to do his chances some good but weaken Red Bull’s overall effort and it will be up to him to decide. I don’t see him taking one for the team that has pledged to build itself around him though.

  19. I usually have to work on Sundays. My FreeSat+ PVR records races for me and I watch them on Sunday evenings. The PVR is great for over-running programmes, but can’t deal with the channel switch. This isn’t really the BBC’s fault, but there must be a way to tell the PVR what to do – after all, it knows when the original programme starts.

    Luckily, I’m in the UK so I iplayered the end of the race.

  20. also in Italy they switch from Rai1 to Rai2 at 10:30. I had to stop my Hd recorder e restart on the other channel, losing some minutes

  21. “There are people still using video recorders? How did they send their complaints in, by carrier pigeon?”

    It appears so Keith, obviously the same people who don’t have access to BBC iplayer!

    1. Jarred Walmsley
      26th October 2010, 21:17

      Well I don’t have access to iPlayer, however I also have a PS3, iPhone, iPod, iPad, Macbook Pro, 50″ Plasma.

      However I don’t have access to iPlayer because I don’t live in the UK, just because you don’t have access to iPlayer doesn’t mean you don’t have access to advanced technology

  22. I like to watch F1 without distractions, so record and then can watch when my children have gone to bed. So it recorded to 9:30, and missed the remainder. If the BBC had put a ticker on CBeebies (that we were watching when the race was on) to say it was overrunning and moving to BBC2, I could have set that to record…

  23. I’m pretty annoyed that the BBC have received so many complaints. The BBC have the main channel plus there’s the red button as it is. We were given plenty of warning and how hard is it to press a button?

    It happened for Brazil last year and their were barely any complaints I think. This is a week when there’s been a lot about public spending and the next show scheduled on BBC1 was about just that which is far more relevant to people than F1.

    It’s also far more easier to tell people already watching to switch over than have people tuning in at different wondering where their show was. I think the BBC acted well in such a mad morning for F1. I think any f1 fans who complained must hand been cranky from the lack of sleep :p I don’t buy the argument that it disrupted people who were recording it (I was one of them too) as the BBC replayed the entire thing on the afternoon, showed the highlights and had everything up on iPlayer.

    1. It’s pretty hard to press a button if you’re not in the house at the time.

      How hard is it for the BBC to move a programme to another channel? Surely easier than splitting one in half for it to replace another on the other side!

      Plus there were several complaints that the iPlayer only went up to the end of the BBC1 footage. And why would people have had to wait until 2 pm to see the rest of the race? What if they didn’t watch the re-run because they thought they had the original recorded and discovered too late. What if they’re 58 and don’t have the internet? What if they’re 28 and don’t have the internet?

    2. “It happened for Brazil last year and their were barely any complaints I think. ”

      No, most of the complaints came from the 8m+ who had to put up with Strictly Come Dancing being delayed: http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/response/2009/10/091019_res_f1brazilianqualifying.shtml

  24. Haven’t these complainers heard of iplayer?

    And not watching a race live is shameful, really.

    1. I’d put money on most of the complaints being from people outside the UK so can’t access iplayer (but get bbc using a satellite). Those people probably don’t realise that they have no right to complain if they aren’t paying the license fee!

  25. This is one small balls up by BBC, and most people were unaffected, and if you were affected remember all the good things they offer now:

    Advert free Grandprix racing :D
    Advert free Qualy sessions :D
    Live Practice Sessions :D
    Full midday replays for early races :D
    An hour of F1 gossip in Postrace F1 Forum :D
    7:00 Pm Race highlights show :D

    Just think how much F1 video hours are available on the BBC every race weekend, upwards of 11 hours! We are so lucky in Britain wuth 20 races next year, there will be nearly 10 DAYS (210+ hrs) of F1 video on TV!!!!!

    Oh, and if we miss any of it there is BBC online….

    Ability to watch all F1 sessions on iPlayer :D
    Driver Tracker :D
    Live stream :D
    Classic F1 highlights :D

    I think it’s safe to say, we take it for granted sometimes.

    1. Wow, a good reason to move to the UK

    2. Jarred Walmsley
      26th October 2010, 21:23

      Wow, I really don’t see how you manage to complain with all that plus the majority of the races being on at decent times (Japan & Korea & Aussie excepted).

      In NZ I get live sessions plus the first section of the post race conference and thats it, no online anything, no extra coverage or discussions. Nothing at all, I really don’t think you guys in Britain really appreciate how much better your coverage is then the rest of the world.

      Also, I would be happy to pay for access to iPlayer however the BBC doesn’t allow access to this service by anyone whether they’d be happy to pay or not.

    3. Come on, this argument is bunk.

      The BBC had a perfectly do-able, logical and sensible option in moving Andrew Marr to BBC2 and though it wouldn’t have helped people doing timed recordings (nothing could have helped them), anyone using Sky+ or similar would have had no disruption. And they chose the other option instead. Short of not showing anything, it was the worst decision they could make it. They then even messed up on the iPlayer by initially not showing the BBC2 section of the show!

      Their usual brilliant job does not excuse messing things up on such a basic level. Your argument would be valid if people were calling for the BBC to lose its coverage, but they’re not.

  26. I haven’t seen this piece of news anywhere on this site, so I’m going to share it. Brazilian driver Cesar Ramos won the Italian F3 Championship last sunday and as a reward he is going to get a Ferrari F1 test at Vallelunga

    Cesar Ramos (BVM-Target – R1: 8th, R2: 1st):
    “Winning the title at the end of such a fought race like race two has been really exciting. Team BVM-Target worked perfectly throughout the season and I have to thank all the men of the team, thanks to their work I always had a competitive single seater. Winning a championship extremely tight until the end is a huge satisfaction to which soon it will be added that of testing a Ferrari Formula One car”.

    1. Thanks for that one Guilherme.

  27. I was caught short using Sky+, but the fact there was so many delays, the Andrew Marr show should have been put to BBC2 i think.

    My work shedule sometimes dictate i use Sky+ and the red button for practice replays. I do however download all the races anyways, so i have a copy of each race if i want to go back and look at one.

    If it were a England football match at the world cup, that some how had a delay in the middle, the Andrew Marr Show would have been on BBC2.

  28. Gordon Murray (ex-Brabham and McLaren designer) was on the news tonight talking about his lightweight green car his company have designed, couldn’t find anything on the BBC News site except this month-old article about it http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11301831

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