Tonight I’m flying to Barcelona and I’ll be spending Thursday and Friday at the track as a guest of Virgin sponsor FXPro. Hopefully I should have access to both their drivers for interviews so keep an eye out for those on the site plus more updates from the circuit.
The Spanish Grand Prix preview will be on the site later today and the Predictions Championship is already open for your entries.
Here’s today’s round-up:
Links
Front and back page news: Tuesday, May 4 (Jersey Journal)
I include this link purely for the wonderfully retro picture they’ve used on the front cover of the newspaper…
New-look quicksilver Silverstone promises F1 fans an exciting ride (The Guardian)
“While the brutish GT cars that raced last weekend could go through the quick bits in close proximity due to the lack of aerodynamics, modern F1 cars are crafted in wind tunnels by boffins who can turn a wing mirror into a vital component that increases grip. If cars can’t get close enough due to dirty air to race then there is nothing that an imaginative track designer can do about it.”
‘Boost is a lot cheaper than revs’ (Autocar)
“Current thinking for 2013 is along the lines of 1.5-litre turbocharged engines that will feature KERS. We had 1.5-litre turbos back in the 1980s when such 1.5-litre units, running sky-high turbo boost pressure, could easily develop more than 1000bhp in qualifying trim. But now, of course, the emphasis will be on fuel efficiency and showcasing advanced energy-saving technologies as an advertisement for a responsible industry in tune with the prevailing times.”
Comment of the day
Robert Kubica has also enjoyed success away from F1 recently – thanks to Damon for filling me in:
Keith, you should drop some lines about Kubica’s success from just two days ago.
Robert Kubica won the 17th Rally Internazionale del Taro in the Trony International Rally Cup in the S1600 class.
Robert won 9 out of 10 stages of the rally!
Damon
Site updates
You can now view statistics for all this year’s previous Predictions Championship entries here: F1 Fanatic Predictions Championship race-by-race statistics
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Sush Meerkat!
On this day in F1
Fans of forgotten F1 engine builders rejoice! Today is the 25th anniversary of Motori Moderni’s first appearance at a Grand Prix weekend.
The Italian-built 1.5-litre turbochanged engines were first used by Minardi in the 1985 San Marino Grand Prix. Minardi were responsible for all bar two of their 44 appearances in F1 races – the other two coming in the back of AGS cars.
Minardi persevered with the 6VTC engine until the end of 1987, suffering endless reliability problems with the unit. In 1988 they switched back to Ford Cosworth engines, which they had briefly used at the start of 1985, and finally scored their first F1 point that year.
Ned Flanders
5th May 2010, 0:41
In light of our discussion of the effectiveness of sponsorship yesterday, I’d just like to say FXPro’s partnership with Virgin is a dynamic and successful one. I have great respect for FXPro and the financial services they offer, and will have no hesitation in recommending FXPro to all my friends for their online trading needs.
Now can I please have a paid trip to Barcelona too?!
Magnificent Geoffrey
5th May 2010, 3:36
I think you’ve just proven that you’re a much bigger F1 Fanatic than myself… I wouldn’t want to go and watch the Spanish GP at Barcelona, even if someone paid ME!
macahan
5th May 2010, 5:09
Ohh I’d go especially if it meant I got to spent time in the garage and drivers and team. Sweet.. Keith if you for some reason can’t go I promise will write a great articles for you and get pictures in loads (love my DSLR).
Mike
5th May 2010, 15:54
I’d go f they fed me :D, I like Weetbix thanks.
Sush Meerkat
5th May 2010, 7:49
haha excellent Geoffrey.
matt88
5th May 2010, 9:29
it’s still a free trip to Barcelona, if they gave me this chance i’d go on the spot.
steph
5th May 2010, 9:42
Virgin were good to bag FxPro as I think they were BMW’s sponsors before. They also sponsor the Cyprus Rally in WRC which isn’t surprising as FxPro works under CySEC (the ‘c’ standing for Cyprus). This year they are sponsoring the Cyprus Rally again and are doing so in the IRC I think so they do have an interest in motorsport -or at least the audience and people involved- which is good to see.
sato113
5th May 2010, 1:07
keith are you there for sat and sun too? how did you get the opportunity to be a guest?
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
5th May 2010, 8:31
It’s to do with a new product they’re working on – it’s not been released yet so I can’t give out details about it.
BasCB
6th May 2010, 8:02
So we can await detailed background articles on the GP weekend and Virgin as well as about this financial product.
Good catch, i would go any time as well if i got offered the opportunity.
This blog / site is getting better each week!
wasiF1
5th May 2010, 1:38
” Robert won 9 out of 10 stages of the rally!”
That’s a good news,it’s nice to see that F1 drivers are racing other form of racing when they don’t have anything to do.
Terry Fabulous
5th May 2010, 4:27
Happy Birthday Sush!
Nathan Bradley
5th May 2010, 8:15
Cool Predictions Statistics page Keith, great idea!
Just a quick suggestion: Could you put a search facility on the Predicitions results page that you show immediately after the race?
As it’s sometimes really hard to spot your own name in small print among 2000 or so others, quite easily missable.
Just an idea.
Thanks,
Nathan
matt88
5th May 2010, 8:20
maybe the “find” button in your browser could help :)
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
5th May 2010, 8:31
Ctrl-F on your browser allows you to search on a page (Cmd-F on a Mac).
Nathan Bradley
5th May 2010, 8:55
Thank you Matt & Keith, should have thought of that really lol!
Nathan
Irishlad
5th May 2010, 8:17
Good luck keith, about Time you got a Free trip for yourself
Bullfrog
5th May 2010, 20:25
Yeah, have a great time, don’t mention the fuel tank and I hope they let you talk to some of the other teams!
matt88
5th May 2010, 8:27
i’m glad to see that the turbo comeback discussion is still going on also among the experts. It could be a solution to the main F1 problems, that is costs, fuel consumption and aero-dependance.
BasCB
6th May 2010, 8:08
I read about some technical development using exhaust engery to give an extra boost for the turbo. Getting F1 to work on that could easily make it work very soon.
http://www.theengineer.co.uk/news/news-analysis/increasing-engine-efficiency/1002093.article?cmpid=TE01P&cmptype=newsletter
DanThorn
5th May 2010, 8:33
Trying to work out who’s actually driving that BT49 on the front of the Jersey Journal…It certainly isn’t Piquet or Patrese, could it be Rebaque or Zunino?
Icthyes
5th May 2010, 14:08
Mark Webber: Red Bull has what it deserves
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/83323
Good to hear this from Webber. He has a (justified) reputation for moaning but he can also look at things realistically.
Mind you, being that Vettel has suffered the most from circumstances, Mark may be a little more at ease with the situation than his team-mate ;-)
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
5th May 2010, 14:14
True but Webber was a bit unlucky in Malaysia to get knocked off like that during the safety car period. He was ahead of Vettel on merit at that point.
Matt
5th May 2010, 15:27
1000bhp per litre and a half of displacement? That’s incredible.
Ned Flanders
5th May 2010, 16:00
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/83332
New Jersey has cancelled its GP plans already. Well that didn’t take long…
Icthyes
5th May 2010, 19:27
You have to wonder what was the point. Well, of any of it, but making the application in the first place.
slr
5th May 2010, 22:50
I think F1 should just go back to Indianapolis. I don’t think Bernie will be able to get a street races where he wants one.
wasiF1
5th May 2010, 17:15
KOREAN FORMULA 1 GRAND PRIX 2010 tickets are up for sale.Anyone going.
http://www.bookf1.com/korean-formula-1-grand-prix-128/tickets.htm
wasiF1
5th May 2010, 17:16
It seems like that ticket are very high relative to many GP
GQsm
6th May 2010, 20:24
Not sure if someone has pasted this on another article comments thread but I hadn’t seen the onboard footage before today. If you haven’t seen it, it’s reasonably spectacular.
Ricardo Teixeira F2 Crash
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1r82_BL9pG8