In today’s F1 Fanatic round-up we have a strange photograph, a funny video, and a special birthday:
Links
A photograph of JLS in the back of a taxi driven by Jenson Button (Popjustice)
This is curious because McLaren drivers are not normally allowed to have personal sponsorship deals, but the site reckons: “It’s something to do with Walkers crisps.” Can anyone shed any light on this?
Pick your classic grand prix – race one (BBC)
The return of BBC’s great video feature from last year.
Lewis Hamilton, Heikki Kovalainen (still in McLaren gear), Ross Brawn (still in Brawn gear), David Coulthard and Anthony Davidson are among the F1 personalities appearing in this video to promote the BEN charity.
Formula 1 – “Motores – 30” (Youtube)
A more unusual video – F1 drivers including Felipe Massa, Nico Rosberg and Vitaly Petrov pretending to be race engines.
Felipe Massa: ‘If I’d have crashed like that 10 years ago, I wouldn’t be here now’ (The Independent)
“The technology we have now, the helmets, can save your life. It was very close, but I am here. After [Ayrton] Senna, it all changed.”
Comment of the day
A sharp-eyed spot from three4three on the new HRT F1 car:
The arrow to the left of ‘Bridgestone’ and ‘Potenza’ are pointing the wrong way compared to the rear tyres. It’s a rookie error alright.
three4three
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to IDR, TommyB and Jarred Walmsley!
On this day in F1
And there’s one more birthday to celebrate: I set up F1 Fanatic on this day in 2005 and today it turns five years old.
I began the site as somewhere to post articles on Grand Prix weekends. Now it’s got over 5,000 articles and 500 pages and instead of being something I write on a Sunday night it’s my full-time job!
So thank you to everyone who’s followed the site over the years. I hope I can keep making it bigger and better with every passing year.
Here’s to the next five years of F1 Fanatic – and a great 2010 season ahead of us!
mfDB
5th March 2010, 0:14
Happy Birthday F1Fanatic! This is the best F1 site out there, keep up the good work Kieth.
sato113
5th March 2010, 2:12
2nd that. happy bday f1fanatic! my first stop for f1 on the web.
Pabs
5th March 2010, 9:24
Yip totally agree its here first then elsewhere. Oh and Keith maybe you can get added on this app http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id309177201?mt=8 I use it for and they have feeds to F1 news
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
5th March 2010, 9:31
I don’t have an iPhone, is the app any good?
Invoke
5th March 2010, 10:10
I have this app too, I used to use it all the time before I realised I could put a direct link to my RSS feeds on my phone.
It is a good app though, and would be good if you can get added to the list Keith
oh and Happy Birthday F1F!
Magnificent_Geoffrey
5th March 2010, 0:15
Congratulations on the milestone! Thanks for these last five years and here’s hoping the next five will be even better!
K
5th March 2010, 0:18
Haha Alguersuari and Rosberg definitely win the impressions contest although Buemi looks like he’s having a good time, Massa’s is rubbish, sounds like a cat!
K
5th March 2010, 0:20
Oh yeah and happy anniversary.
Tom L
5th March 2010, 0:33
I see I’m not the only one who thought Massa sounded like a cat!
Hallard
5th March 2010, 14:55
Yep. Like a cat in heat…
Patrickl
5th March 2010, 1:12
Vitaly Petrov sounds like a Lada …
Mark Hitchcock
5th March 2010, 13:23
Buemi sounds like a chicken!
Tom L
5th March 2010, 14:33
Maybe that’s what the new low-cost-era Toro Rosso is powered by… not sure Alguersuari’s impression supports that theory though!
Nirupam
5th March 2010, 0:18
Happy Birthday F1Fanatic!!!
This site is truly amazing..
Tom Watson
5th March 2010, 0:18
Congratulations Keith.
Felipe has an unusual sounding engine. That video is excellent and Buemi is really going for it.
LookingSpiffy
5th March 2010, 0:25
To think Massa took the mickey out of other people’s attempts at F1 engine noises a few years back…
Happy birthday, F1F! :)
Stephen
5th March 2010, 0:25
More info on the Walkers Ad: http://www.thedailydust.co.uk/2010/03/04/jls-and-jenson-button-star-in-new-walkers-advert/
Stephen
5th March 2010, 0:26
Happy Birthday F1 Fanatic! I’ve only been coming here since about this time last year, but it’s definitely my first stop on my F1 internet rounds now.
Becken
5th March 2010, 0:29
Hey, I know those guys :)
Happy birthday Tommy and IDR.. and Jarred too!
three4three
5th March 2010, 0:45
Thanks for my second COTD, tho I hardly feel worthy. And Happy Birthday F1Fanatic!! The site goes from strength to strength thanks to you Keith, congratulations. To the next five years indeed! :)
Duncan Stephen
5th March 2010, 0:47
Awesome work, Keith. Happy birthday F1F!
Gman
5th March 2010, 1:04
What happened to your other name? ;)
Icthyes
5th March 2010, 1:00
Happy Birthday IDR, TommyB, Jarred Walmsley, and of course f1fanatic!
LAK
5th March 2010, 1:09
Happy Birthday F1F!! To many more years of success and popularity! :) Thank you for an amazing website, wish you all the best!
Happy Birthday IDR, TommyB, and Jarred Walmsley!! :D Have a great day!
Massa must have thought they asked him to copy a kitten lol, Pedro and Petrov also have interesting sounds lol..
@LookingSpiffy Nice video, cuts Massa some slack
sato113
5th March 2010, 1:53
BEN seems like quite an excluding charity, only helping people in the car business. am i right?
Giuliano Vilela
5th March 2010, 2:09
Happy birthday FIF!
Also, I laughed so hard at those impressions :D
macahan
5th March 2010, 2:43
Happy birthday F1F. Fantastic site Keith and only gotten better since you started doing it full time. I hope you can keep at it.
TommyB happy birthday to (hope you had a good time out in the bars ;) sounds like you had).
Impressions there is a great vid on rbr’s community website a lady doing a multi minute F1 engine noise “song”. But of course even more fun to see the drivers do it..
Anon
5th March 2010, 3:03
Many happy returns F1 Fanatic!
Roll on the next five years!
Thanks for all your work Keith.
:-)
And I’m lovin’ those engine impersonations!!
F1Yankee
5th March 2010, 3:09
happy birthday f1f!
Macca
5th March 2010, 3:32
Happy Birthday F1f, thanks for all your hard work.
Keith, could you please post a link to the very first article on this site. I would like to see where you have come from.
wasiF1
5th March 2010, 4:25
HAPPY BIRTHDAY F1F.
Lamo2741
5th March 2010, 6:34
With regards to the Mclaren drivers personal sponsership…….Lewis Hamilton has Reebok….although he is restricted from wearing Mclaren gear whilst advertising for them
Mark
Sush Meerkat
5th March 2010, 7:18
HAPPY BIRTHDAY F1FANATIC!!
Mariusz
5th March 2010, 7:19
How d U pronounce Kubica’s name? Correct is KUBISA not Kubika. Remember it’s KUBISA but this S sounds much more like this in for example “cycle” word.
maciek
5th March 2010, 8:51
Mariusz – you sure you’re Polish?
For English speakers, the phonetic spelling would be Koobitza.
GQsm
5th March 2010, 10:27
I’ll second maciek.
Someone I know who is Polish once pronounced it for me.
Calum
5th March 2010, 19:50
I say Koobeatsa, but nobody else I know does…
Kathryn S
6th March 2010, 15:52
For the authoritative answer to how do you pronounce Kubica, you can’t go wrong by getting it straight from the driver’s mouth:
http://namethatdriver.com/
garf
5th March 2010, 7:39
Happy birthday! One of the best F1 sites out there! :)
rabbit
5th March 2010, 7:54
Thankyou for this wonderful site Keith !!!!
Happy birthday to IDR, TommyB & Jarred Walmsley : )
Daniel
5th March 2010, 7:56
Happy birthday F1Fanatic! Great site, excellent job – keep it up!
Peter
5th March 2010, 8:15
Last year Brawn did very limited testing which I think in the end caused parts to fall off the car of Barrichello and injure Massa. Now we have 6 not well tested cars on the grid. 2 have not run at all.
I think this brings back a lot of danger to the sport.
As I prefer racing over crashes I hope the new teams fare well and take a lot of care to the quality of their car.
ajokay
5th March 2010, 9:11
I think that was fairly unrelated. That incident did happen over half way through the season, so I seriously doubt it was lack of testing that caused the spring to wiggle loose.
dsob
5th March 2010, 9:58
Yessir, Brawn did very limited testing and really rushed to get to the grid last year. And where did it get them???
Just goes to show, if you don’t have 10,000 kilometers testing distance, you just won’t be successful. Oh…..perhaps it doesn’t show that, after all….hmmmmm.
On a more serious note, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ALL!!!! (Those whose birthday it actually is, I mean, lol)
Hope F1Fanatic is here for many more years, Keith!
Jolien
5th March 2010, 8:33
Congratulations Keith, keep up the good work!
Funny enough my Liuzzi fan site (http://www.liuzzifanbase.com) has turned FOUR years old a few days ago, so I know how it feels Keith!
samuel
5th March 2010, 8:49
Happy anniversary F1 Fanatic!
Keep up the good work Keith,your effort and enthusiam trully appreciated.
matt88
5th March 2010, 8:56
Happy birthday F1 Fanatic!
Peter
5th March 2010, 9:07
Reading about the new cars and the designs every time the body work shape is characterized as a Coke bottle shape. Maybe we should pay some tribute to Earl R Dean who designed the coke bottle in 1915 that ultimately led to the soon to be legendary F1 2010 season.
ajokay
5th March 2010, 9:08
Happy Birthday Tommy B!
I challenge you to a birthday game of Forza 3… I’ll send you a free car/paint job if you win.
Which you won’t!
The Comedian 39
5th March 2010, 9:22
i wish there were F1 cars on Forza lol :)
MondoL
5th March 2010, 9:44
Happy birthday F1F!
Next best thing to F1 itself :)
SiY
5th March 2010, 9:52
Happy birthday F1F!
Regarding Button: even at the time of Jenson’s contract negotiations I got the feeling that he signed for a lot less than he initially asked but probably got a bit more flexbility on personal sponsorship (and possibly on other clauses) than is normal for a McLaren contract.
rampante
5th March 2010, 10:18
Auguri e buon compleanno F1F. keep up the very good work.
Walking Leaf
5th March 2010, 10:19
Happy Birthday F1 Fanatic! I’m amazed by the content on this site over the last five years with fantastic pictures and in-depth articles. Bring on the new season and the next five years!
Ned Flanders
5th March 2010, 10:53
Lots of regulars’ birthdays today! Happy birthday Tommy, IDR and Jarred… and of course F1 Fanatic!
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
5th March 2010, 11:38
Psst. Anyone wanna buy a 1997 Mastercard Lola?
http://www.lola-group.com/content.asp?ContentId=18&nav=Motorsport&Page=Cars+Parts+For+Sale
Tom
5th March 2010, 11:55
Haha, just too late for USF1!
Great Massa interview. I like the “I know the answer will be no, but what kind of no will it be?” approach, and the insight into how a team mate can learn from Schumacher (hope Nico reads that). He still sounds like a cat though.
And congratulations, happy birthday to F1Fanatic and all the other guys!
Adrian
5th March 2010, 12:42
Do you think they’ll take Visa??
DanThorn
5th March 2010, 12:56
I was looking to buy one next year sometime, but a third party is pushing for me to buy it now. I hope that doing so doesn’t compromise my future enjoyment of owning it and make me a laughing stock!
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
5th March 2010, 13:33
Nice one Adrian :-)
BasCB
5th March 2010, 13:12
I like the Lola T70 available there. Maybe it is faster than the F1 car as well.
Shame USF1 weren’t able to scoop up this car and put it up in the workshop, it might have saved their sponsor from running away in January!
GeeMac
5th March 2010, 13:46
From what I’ve seen the prices of historic racing cars is linked to a) how rare the car is and b) how well it performed in its day.
So I’d be willing to offer anything up to ZAR15 (GBP1,30) for the car.
perveze
5th March 2010, 11:59
happy birthday f1fanatic. Keith ur doin a good job.
heliwave
5th March 2010, 12:15
Happy Birthday F1Fanatic and happier years to come.
I find people born in the Spring to have a happier outlook to their lives and very kind too.
So happy birthday to IDR, TommyB and Jarred Walmsley and all Pisces people :)
IDR
5th March 2010, 12:52
Happy birthday, F1F!
Five years old and you are talking out loud in the F1 world!!!
Congratulations, waiting so excited for the next 5 five!!!
Oh, and thanks to all who kindly had sent their congratulations to tommy b, Jarred and me.
TommyB and Jarred, we have the best day for our anniversary, the same than F1F!!!
Happy birthday!
Kathryn S
6th March 2010, 15:54
Happy birthday IDR!
perveze
5th March 2010, 13:00
happy birthday to the great f1fanatic site. keith ur doin a good job.
DanThorn
5th March 2010, 13:04
Happy birthday F1F! Been posting here just over a year now and even when I become Formula 1 World Champion, I will continue to do so.
Would also just like to mention that it’s also 33 years ago today that Tom Pryce was killed in the South African GP. RIP chap.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
5th March 2010, 13:31
Indeed it is. I wrote a short piece on Pryce when it was the 30th anniversary in 2007: https://www.racefans.net/2007/03/05/tom-pryce-30-years-on/
BasCB
5th March 2010, 13:09
Happy birthday F1Fanatic. I will enjoy following your great work and the posts here for many years to come.
Hopefully the Forums will be up again soon as well.
I just read this background story from James Allen on Virgin. I am looking forward to their updates!
http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2010/03/virgin-racings-secret-behind-the-scenes-at-wirth-research/
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
5th March 2010, 13:29
Time magazine has done a cover feature on F1 – here’s a link to the coverage: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1969288,00.html
Dr. Gonzo
5th March 2010, 13:49
To underscore the total lack of interest in F1 in the US, there is not one word about Formula 1 in the US edition of the magazine!
http://www.time.com/time/magazine
Ned Flanders
5th March 2010, 14:11
“F1 is about as likable as a 250-lb. bouncer”
Interesting that the casual observer sees F1 that way…
U2
5th March 2010, 14:01
Super Keith
Congrats
Wesley
5th March 2010, 14:19
Happy Birthday Tommy and F1fanatic!
rabbit
5th March 2010, 14:51
I just read on f1technical that Stefan GP is probably a fraud !!!!!
Hallard
5th March 2010, 14:58
Happy Birthday F1 Fanatic!
TommyB
5th March 2010, 15:23
Happy Birthday IDR & Jarred Walmsley!
Thanks for all the Birthday wishes to me :)
Happy Birthday F1F!
Vince
5th March 2010, 16:22
Happy B-Day F1F!!
Spud
5th March 2010, 17:15
You’re site is brilliant Keith.
I have it as my homepage.
Best wishes on F1 Fanatic’s birthday, and all the best for the next five years!!!
slr
5th March 2010, 17:32
Happy B’Day F1 Fanatic!!!!
NomadIndian
5th March 2010, 19:21
Happy Birthday F1Fanatic!
Great going Keith, here’s to a bigger and better F1F every year!
Vincent
5th March 2010, 22:31
Mabuhay! (Long Live!) F1 Fanatics from the Philippines!!! Great job and many thanks to the dedication Keith!
Salty
5th March 2010, 23:37
Happy Birthday to my favourite F1 site on the web. This crucible for F1, works so well because of Keith’s hard work to ensure this is not just one of the very best informed sites on the web, but also due to his clear and honest desire to make this a ‘clean’ site, where vulgarity and trolling tactics are not acceptable, enabling true F1 fans to share in his love of our (Bernie’s?) sport, without the sad name-calling and backbiting found elsewhere.
Great job by F1’s biggest fan, Keith Collantine, I recommend that you gain, as per The Queen, a second birthday of 5th March. Great job sir.
IDR, Tommy B and Jarred – hope you all had a grand one too. See you on the chats :)
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
5th March 2010, 23:58
Thanks Salty and I especially appreciate you pointing this out. It’s something I care about a lot. One of the things I’d like to introduce on the site soon is a system to enable people to flag up comments they consider inappropriate so we can continue to improve.
Chaz
11th March 2010, 19:40
I’m really liking the Brazil F1 season promo commercial…