It’s been our busiest year ever on F1 Fanatic.
Here are some of my favourite articles from throughout the year and a reminder of some of the new features which have appeared during 2011.
Enjoy some of the best F1 Fanatic features of 2011.
January
The missing 2010 F1 car: Stefan GP’s Toyota TF110 – A look at the car that should have raced in 2010.
Lotus vs Lotus: Time to stop the nonsense – The row between Renault and Lotus dragged on throughout the year.
"I wanted to jump around saying ‘I’ve got the best car!’" – Mika Hakkinen – The two-times champion spoke to F1 Fanatic about his career.
First look at Ferrari’s adjustable rear wing – The Drag Reduction System was one of the most talked-about innovations of 2011.
February
Renault’s radical front exit exhausts pictured – F1 Fanatic was the first to picture the radical exhaust system on the new Renault.
‘I never believed I couldn’t make it’ – d’Ambrosio – Interviewing Virgin’s new driver – sadly, he was dropped at the end of the season.
2011 F1 testing diary part two: Jerez – Report from the second test session of the year at Jerez, where the paddock was reacting to the news of Robert Kubica’s crash.
Bernie Ecclestone must cancel the Bahrain Grand Prix – Arguing for the cancellation of the race in Bahrain as the situation in the country deteriorated. The race was eventually axed, but not before several more months of wrangling.
The end of the pursuit of speed – Improvements in car performance have slowed almost to a standstill in recent years.
March
How a team runs an F1 car for the first time – Interesting insight from Lotus into how teams test their newest creations.
F1’s safe decade: Ten years since last F1 fatality – A look at how safety has improved in Formula 1 since 2001.
April
A "chaotic race"? Ignore the whingeing journalists – While fans enjoyed an exciting start to the season, not everyone was happy.
Why Pirelli deserve credit for F1’s terrific start to the 2011 season – Three major changes led to more exciting and unpredictable races this year – but one particular change deserved most credit.
Why F1 steering wheels have over 20 buttons – and what they all do – This proved an especially popular article.
May
25 years ago today: Elio de Angelis killed at Paul Ricard – Looking back on the career of Elio de Angelis.
If DRS is unsafe for Monaco, then Monaco is unsafe for F1 – Drivers were eventually banned from using DRS in the tunnel at Monaco, and through Eau Rouge at Spa Francorchamps.
The Making of Senna
As Senna appeared in cinemas in the UK, F1 Fanatic produced an in-depth series of articles on the making of the film:
The Making of Senna part 1: Life and death
The Making of Senna part 2: Meeting the Sennas
The Making of Senna part 3: Inside the F1 archive
The Making of Senna part 4: ‘You’ve never heard F1 sound like this’
The Making of Senna part 5: The lost scenes
The Making of Senna part 6: The perfect bad guy?
The Making of Senna part 7: Imola 1994
The Making of Senna part 8: The Death of Ayrton Senna
The Making of Senna part 9: The response in Brazil
June
30 years ago: Villeneuve’s last and best F1 win – The 1981 Spanish Grand Prix saw a remarkably close finish between five cars.
The Bahrain affair was a return to the bad old days of F1 politics – The FIA eventually bowed to the inevitable and cancelled the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Goodwood Festival of Speed car features
The Goodwood Festival of Speed provided an opportunity to get a close look at some great Formula 1 cars:
McLaren MP4/1: Carbon fibre revolutionary
Williams FW15C: F1’s high-tech pinnacle
Renault RS01: F1’s turbo pioneer
Ferguson P99: The only four-wheel-drive F1 winner
Lancia D50: Ferrari inherit a title-winning car
Lotus 88: the F1 car that was banned
Martin Donnelly gets back in a Lotus 102
July
Barrichello credits Pirelli for increased overtaking – A chat with Rubens Barrichello on the change to F1 in 2011
We’ve just had the end-of-season driver rankings – here’s how they stood in the middle of the year:
2011 half season driver rankings part 1: 26-16
2011 half season driver rankings part 2: 15-6
2011 half season driver rankings part 3: 5-1
August
Why Sky’s deal will damage F1’s popularity – The BBC’s decision to split its F1 coverage Sky met with furious disapproval from fans.
Why are car makers shunning F1 for other series? – The likes of Toyota and BMW, who had recently turned their backs on F1, now appeared in other categories.
From Teflonso to Britney: Top ten F1 driver nicknames – Featuring Michael Schumacher, James Hunt and more.
Team radio is F1’s wasted asset – An analysis of how much team radio we hear during F1 races.
September
How F1 failed in Turkey – The Turkish Grand Prix was dropped for 2012.
50 years ago today: F1’s worst tragedy at Monza – The story of the fateful 1961 Italian Grand Prix.
Schumacher passes Alonso and more Monza moments – A new series of fan videos filmed during race weekends proved popular. At Monza one fan spied Schumacher trying to pass Alonso – a moment that wasn’t shown during the race.
Is the Vettel era "boring"? Not even close – My view on Sebastian Vettel’s domination of Formula 1 in 2011.
F1 2011: The F1 Fanatic review – The anticipated second F1 game by Codemasters reviewed.
October
On this day: 1986 title goes down to the wire – Looking back on the dramatic 1986 Mexican Grand Prix.
Rethinking oval racing for IndyCar after Las Vegas – October was marred by the tragic deaths of Dan Wheldon in IndyCar and Marco Simoncelli in Moto GP. This article looks at the circumstances of the former.
November
Five years, over 35 incidents: Has Hamilton been treated fairly? – Lewis Hamilton had a dreadful year marred by incidents, which led many to ask whether he received fair treatment from the stewards.
200 F1 Twitter accounts to follow – All the teams and most of the drivers are now on Twitter – and there’s plenty more accounts worth following.
December
Over 100 ideas in the 2011 F1 Fanatic Gift Guide – Festive shopping for F1 Fanatics.
"He’s done it again" – official 2011 F1 season DVD reviewed – Always one of the most-bought items by F1 Fanatics readers, this year’s review is available in HD for the first time.
Win: Autocourse 2011, McLaren books and Johnnie Walker – There’s still time to enter!
More new stuff on F1 Fanatic in 2011
Statistics pages
The new-look statistics pages have been added to several times during the season:
- 2011 F1 statistics: Championship points
- 2011 F1 statistics: Season records
- 2011 F1 statistics: Races
- 2011 F1 statistics: Qualifying
- 2011 F1 statistics: Retirements
- 2011 F1 statistics: Strategy
- 2011 F1 statistics: Driver form guides
- 2011 F1 statistics: Race information charts
Quizzes
The F1 Fanatic Quizzes were launched in August and there’s more to come soon.
Social features
October saw the introduction of a host of new social features on the site:
Ten cool things you can do on the new F1 Fanatic
Your favourite F1 drivers & teams: November 2011
2011 F1 season review
- The 2011 F1 season: The complete F1 Fanatic review
- Your 2011 F1 predictions revisited
- 2011 F1 statistics part 3: Stats and facts highlights
- 2011 F1 statistics part two: Vettel’s domination
- 2011 F1 statistics part one: car performance
- New 2011 rules produced best racing of last four years
- What F1 Fanatics really thought of the 2011 season
- Sebastian Vettel voted F1 Fanatic Driver of the Year
- F1 Fanatic’s article highlights of 2011
- Dominant Red Bull join F1’s top teams
Images © Red Bull/Getty images, Julien Leroy/Firstlap.be, Senna movie, F1 Fanatic, Red Bull/Getty images, Pirelli
ed24f1 (@ed24f1)
24th December 2011, 13:52
Thanks Keith for all your dedication and hard work on the site in 2011! Merry Christmas to you and your family.
BasCB (@bascb)
24th December 2011, 14:10
Ha, i went through the articles thinking “hey didn’t I read this before” before realising I what the title of the post was Keith (opened a bit earlier, then wandered off to the forum, before returning here)!
Amazing how many interesting angles for approaching the stale statistics there are and wonderfull analyses and opinion. Thanks for another lovely year of coverage @keithcollantine!
Enigma (@enigma)
24th December 2011, 14:25
Keith, thanks for your hard work, the website is more and more brilliant every year. I hope you enjoy the holidays, with hopefully finally some free time :)
George (@george)
24th December 2011, 14:34
Merry Christmas @keithcollantine ! Will you be going to the tests again next year?
TommyB (@tommyb89)
24th December 2011, 14:37
It has been a joy to watch F1Fanatic grow since I came here in 2007.
2011 has been a fantastic year and the new site updates are fantastic. This really is the King of F1 Blogs.
Keep up the great work Keith and Happy Christmas to you and all the other F1 Fanatics! :)
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
24th December 2011, 15:02
Happy Christmas, F1Fanatics! wish you all the best :)
ScuderiaVincero (@scuderiavincero)
24th December 2011, 15:39
F1Fanatic itself has been a good friend to me ever since I joined, and I have yet to say thanks for that. Truly brilliant coverage Keith, and with the networking features you added this season, second to none :)
Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!
Fixy (@)
24th December 2011, 16:27
It has been a long season, with some bad and some great things happening, but living it on F1 Fanatic has made it all more interesting and enjoyable!
Thanks @KeithCollantine, and a Merry Christmas to you and all the other moderators!
LucaBadoerFan (@lucabadoerfan)
24th December 2011, 17:39
thank you for a host of brilliant articles throughout the year to keith and site contributers. despite drs, i cannot wait for the 2012 season. here’s to another year of great content on this brilliant website. thanks again.
Girts (@girts)
24th December 2011, 17:46
I have been a permanent reader of F1 Fanatic since 2009 but this year it became my favourite website and now I have set it as the home page in my browser. I have really enjoyed being here this year, expressing my opinions and discussing F1 stuff with the nice F1F community. There have been many good articles but this one particularly impressed me:
Five years, over 35 incidents: Has Hamilton been treated fairly?
This is an excellent analysis that any professional and experienced motorsport journalist could be proud of. You can find a lot of opinion pieces in F1-related websites but only a few of them contain such a thorough analysis that really allows one to make reliable conclusions.
Thank you for that and everything else you do @keithcollantine . You make this world a better place. I wish you and all the other F1 Fanatics a very Merry Christmas.
Gaz
24th December 2011, 22:03
Merry Christmas all! Cheers Keith for a year of excellent news, updates, information and analysis. All the best for 2012.
rdpunk (@)
24th December 2011, 22:52
I have only been a member of F1 fanatic for half as year or so and I have to say this is one of the best, if not the best F1 fan site. Thank you for giving me many great articles and too the members for a great read and many an arguement from which I have learnt much. Merry Christmas to all and long live F1 fanatic!
Maciek (@maciek)
25th December 2011, 0:06
Keith, it’s been a joy to watch your work, writing and site evolve over the past few years. Congratulations on all fronts : )
Riffa (@)
25th December 2011, 0:46
Just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. And thanks all the the Christmas wishes too.
aka_robyn (@)
25th December 2011, 0:57
Merry Christmas to you, Keith — and to all the F1 Fanatics you’ve brought to your excellent site! :-)
Shu
25th December 2011, 1:54
merry Christmas to all fanatics. Can’t wait for the new season to begin!
Thecollaroyboys (@thecollaroyboys)
25th December 2011, 2:03
Well done Keith, this site has some of the most concise and illuminating commentary in the sport. Hope you and the other fanatics have a good Xmas.
MahavirShah (@mahavirshah)
25th December 2011, 6:25
Wish each and every F1 fanatic including the biggest one of them all, Keith, a very very Merry Christmas. This has to be one of the, if not the, best formula 1 related website in the world. Cheers all :D !!!!
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
25th December 2011, 22:30
Proud to have been part of the testing team for the updates, wonderful to have given something back. Thanks for the opportunity and the new features.
I really liked the article about the steering wheels, it was very interesting!
Merry Christmas @keithcollantine