Red Bull Emerges From Bahrain

// Race Recap

Amidst the complexities surrounding Sunday's race in Bahrain, Red Bull finally took their first win of the season and re-entered the push for the 2012 championship.  Sebastian Vettel took both pole position and the win in Sunday's race with his teamate Mark Webber finishing fourth position for the fourth time in a row (a record of sorts).

A good qualifying session on Saturday began a great weekend for the Red Bull team, starting first and third in the race and setup for a decisive win.  Sebastian had a good start from the grid and maintained his first position, while both Ferrari's jumped quickly into the top ten after a poor qualifying session from both drivers.

Lotus Renault GP's Roman Grosjean also made up some ground quickly, with a superb start for the newcomer, Grosjean jumped from sixth to fourth in the first turn and then finally into second position after passing Webber and Lewis Hamilton of McLaren.

Battling for position to gain world championship points got interesting very early on as Kimi Raikonnen in the Lotus Renault fought with previous race winner Nico Rosberg and Fernando Alonso before moving into third position.  With nearly half the race complete, Kimi was just behind his teamate Grosjean, chasing Vettel's Red Bull and setting a very quick pace. Raikonnen passed Grosjean on lap 24 of 57 but despite the rumors, there were no "team orders" which forced Grosjean to step aside, Raikonnen's pace was solid and gaining on the leader quickly.

With Rosberg pushing hard to regain last weekend's pace and catch up the the top three, he battled closely with Hamilton, pushing him off track and into the run-off area with a wheel to wheel skirmish which almost cost Hamilton the race.  Action regarding the incident was to be taken following the race, but the FIA Stewards (regulation enforcers) took no action.  Speculation about their abrupt departure from enforcing the incident was cited as a need to leave the track before sundown to avoid entanglement with potentially threatening protests.

Shortly after his close call with Hamilton, Nico repeated the defensive maneuver while also battling with Fernando Alonso; again, no punishment was assigned to Nico for doing so in this situation.

As the counter moved to lap 36, Raikonnen gained on Vettel and was just half a second behind the Red Bull car.  Kimi set himself up to make the move on Vettel on the main straight with both DRS and KERS giving him the speed to do so.  As he made his move to pass on the inside leading up to turn one, Vettel defended with a strong maneuver, keeping Kimi behind for the duration of the race.

The final podium was Vettel, Raikonnen, and Grosjean; all Renault powered cars and the first podium for the Lotus Renault team with returning champion Kimi Raikonnen in 2nd and newcomer, Roman Grosjean in 3rd.

// Mugello Testing

Following Sunday's race, the teams head to Mugello, Italy for a three day test session before the Spanish GP on May 13th.  We'll be following the testing to see how the technical improvements will influence the remainder of the season.

Austin Pit Stop - April 06, 2012

// Bahrain

Political tensions surrounding the Bahrain GP are starting to heat up as protests of F1 fall under the spotlight. Though Formula 1 claims all is well and the series will race in Bahrain, citizen journalism via social outlets is revealing a different side to the story. As with last year's situation in Bahrain where a 'day of rage' was declared should an F1 race be staged, we share the opinion of Red Bull Racing driver Mark Webber who tweeted the following during last year's discussions about Bahrain:

When people in a country are being hurt, the issues are bigger than sport. Let's hope the right decision is made...

// Lotus

There are some shakeups with Lotus F1 team, as team owner Genii Capital has decided to cancel their sponsorship agreement. The UK Telegraph reports, and Joe Saward adds his comments. For those visual learners, however, here's a nifty flow chart that attemps to, ahem, clarify.

 A Lotus flow chart, designed by Joe Taylor (@DCLXIV on Twitter)

// Argentina

Motorsport is reporting that the Argentinean government will sign a three-year F1 contract next month, commencing in 2013 and replacing Korea. More here.

// Rubens in the Media

Peter Windsor welcomed Rubens Barrichello back to his webcast, "The Flying Lap." Rubens just completed his second race in the IndyCar Series, but hasn't completely ruled out a return to F1.

//COTA

Seems like more and more people are posting aerial photos on their ascent into/descent out of Austin! Here's one from a covert Jet Blue pilot.

COTA also took their updates to the air and posted new aerial photos with a quick construction update, here.

According to the Austin Business Journal, Paul Mitchell founder Jean Paul DeJoria will be in Austin to celebrate the "topping off" ceremony for the structural completion of the Paddock Building at COTA. The ceremony is set to be held Thursday, April 12th, just one year since the project vision was officially unveiled.

COTA is seeking financial assistance from Travis County on improving pertinent roads leading to November race.

COTA is now accepting applications for volunteer marshal opportunities for the November F1 race. Link here.

// MotoGP

The first race of the MotoGP season is this Sunday in Qatar.  Free practice was completed earlier today with the three American riders, Hayden, Spies, and Edwards finishing 7th, 11th, and 14th in the pre-qualifying standings. More here.

MotoGP Legend Kevin Schwantz joined Dave Despain on SPEED TV's Wind Tunnel! Best wishes to Kevin as he recovers from a broken sternum - ouch!! You can wish him well on his official Facebook page.

 // Other News

RIP Ferdinand Alexander Porsche (1935-2012) - designer of the Porsche 911

Indy Car Series to Expand Calendar With Room for Austin

On this week's episode of Wind Tunnel with Dave Despain, Speed correspondent Robin Miller spoke with Despain about the expansion of the IndyCar Series calendar in 2013. In addition to the recently announced race in Houston for 2013, Miller mentioned that circuit representatives from Austin have reached out to Indy to host a race. Miller said the following about the discussions with Austin and Randy Bernard, CEO of the IZOD IndyCar Series:

AUSTIN: Formula One is making its debut on the 3.4-mile road course in November but Bernard says, "They approached us about having a race next year and we’re evaluating it.’’ Is Texas big enough for an oval (Texas Motor Speedway), a street race (Houston) and a road race (Austin)?

Following up on this story, Dave Doolittle at the Austin American-Statesman reached out to Circuit of The Americas for confirmation of the discussions:

A Circuit of the Americas spokeswoman said officials have been talking to several series that have expressed an interest in racing at the track currently under construction in southeastern Travis County.

“We have no formal agreements beyond those already announced to unveil at this time,” Julie Loignon told the American-Statesman this week."

The potential to host the IndyCar Series here at COTA would be a real treat for many American fans of open-wheeled racing. The IndyCar Series is an American sporting icon with a very dedicated following, drawing as many as 350,000 fans to the Indianapolis 500.

Though of a different ethos than the typical Indy track, COTA would operate more like Infineon Raceway in Sonoma Valley, an exciting track with plenty of elevation change, challenging the teams and drivers on a different level than their more traditional oval, street or tri-oval races.

With an existing oval race in Dallas at Texas Motorspeedway, the newly announced street race in Houston, and a race at an FIA spec road course in Austin, fans would be given the trifecta of motorsports experience, the ultimate gift for an IndyCar fan.

One could argue that these events would be too close and would compete against each other, but I would argue the opposite. Each event gains collective exposure and promotion by the success of each other, thereby accelerating the growth of the sport overall.

Similar to arguments about competition between F1 races in Montreal, Austin, and New Jersey, this argument assumes the sport will not expand its fan base and the attendance will be split between venues. On the contrary, I have and will continue to argue the opposite, that they all stand to gain far more by working together to expand their overall exposure to the entire American market.

Finally, COTA has said in the past that they're intending to expand their motorsports offering beyond F1, MotoGP, and V8 Supercars. Given the large existing market of fans and sponsors in American motorsports like Grand-Am, ALMS, NASCAR, and many others, IndyCar would be a valuable asset to their programming list and a gateway into the existing American fan base and sponsorship markets.

Online Delivery of Formula 1

// Story

Formula 1 is upgrading their technology position in order to support the growing global demand for online access to the sport. Announced this past Thursday, the partnership between F1 and TATA Communications begins with hosting the Formula 1 website on their network. Receiving between four and seven million unique visitors a race weekend, the site's increasing media-centric content is causing demand for improved online speed from all corners of the globe.

Vinod Kumar, MD & CEO, Tata Communications and Bernie Ecclestone, CEO, Formula One groupWith a blisteringly fast 1-Terabit per second network, the TATA communications infrastructure will fuel the future of media delivery for the sport while simultaneously saving money. Joe Saward brings up an excellent point in his commentary on this news, that this partnership may be motivated by lowering the costs of the broadcasting expense of the sport, while simultaneously extending the reach of the F1 and its advertising exposure. Currently, Formula 1 sends it's own broadcasting team to the races to cover the sport, including cameras and editing team. This complex, known as "Bakersville," was started by Bernie Ecclestone in the late '90s as a way to deliver the highest quality digital content directly from the track to broadcasting partners around the world. (Here's a great page from the history books, from inside Bakersville in 1999, also by Saward).

// Future

I am, as both a technophile and F1 fan, thrilled by the potential of this new partnership. Tremendous opportunity exists for F1 to delivery higher quality content and rival the best of American sports coverage. It was only this past year that F1 finally embraced high-definition content delivery to it's broadcasters, six years after NASCAR started HD broadcasting. Though the American F1 community mocks NASCAR for several reasons, NASCAR has F1 beat when it comes to American coverage and interaction.

Watching the (lack of) Daytona 500 yesterday, anyone who showed up on screen, driver or announcer, had their Twitter handle listed just below, along with a new hash tag created just to round up the discussion about the rain delay. This effort by NASCAR and FOX is a major step in the right direction for social media integration, and should be watched closely by Formula 1.

In terms of on the television, if you've watched a race on DIRECTV satellite service, the NASCAR HotPass is a great example of the diversity of programming that we really need. Viewers can choose in-car cameras from the top four drivers, watch the map of the track with car positions, and you can choose from team radio feeds to listen to as well. This might be a tough sell to much of the secretive aspects of the Formula 1 teams, but needless to say, NASCAR has got it right when it comes to fan-immersion.

Can internet TV bring that kind of experience to F1? It's not only possible, it's inevitable.  Like the music industry struggled to grasp the power of internet distribution, Formula 1 has resisted the trend and is now finally embracing the potential with this new deal with TATA.  Though spending a night on the sofa watching YouTube on your TV doesn't exactly sound like a great future for entertainment, the new ways to experience interactive and in-depth content is on it's way. Last night's Oscars brought exclusive camera views of the red carpet and backstage areas via online streaming on their site, and the Superbowl this year was broadcast online as well (albeit a frustrating first try on their part).

Having Twitter and live timing running on the laptop while watching SPEED's coverage of F1 is the norm for the hard core fans these days, but the one-way interaction with the sport is leaving lots to be desired.  Where could this new partnership with TATA take Formula 1? 

He's a list of what I'd like to see come of the new Formula 1 website:

1. Choose a number of cameras, up to 8 for example, and pick their location and size myself
2. Listen to pit wall radio feed for any team
3. Listen to Race control (FIA) radio feed
4. Watch driver's briefing before race
5. Live timing built into the interface
6. Twitter/Facebook chat with others (group chat with friends preferred)
7. Full driver interviews afterwards
8. All content stored for viewing later
9. All 1080p HD, high bitrate codec preferred

It may be a lot to ask for the first try from Formula 1, but if all they provided was a copy of the feed from the track for a monthly fee, I'd be a happy camper for now.  There's tremendous room to grow and a promising opportunity for the sport to engage media and the more connected fan base in the US.  We are accustomed to a more connected lifestyle overall, so we expect a bit more than a singular show with limited interactivity.

If you want a taste of what's to come to your TV, I'd recommend you take a look at what Google is trying to do with GoogleTV.  Built into your TV set or a stand-alone box, GoogleTV brings interactive environments to your living room with a developer platform that affords opportunity to engage rapid growth and entrepreneurial investment.  MSNBC's app for GoogleTV is a great example of the kind of seamless interface and slick package that could be adopted with a dedicated Formula 1 application.  Let's hope Bernie's got some tricks up his sleeve and we'll see something that fans across the world can access, in high quality, without costing an arm and a leg.

Barcelona Testing: Day 4

 

//The following is a featured article from guest contributor Jamey Price, Jamey Price Photography, an American sports photojournalist on his first Formula 1 project.  You can read more about Jamey and his passion for his work in our feature: Intro to an American F1 Photojournalist - Jamey Price.

February 24, 2012

Formula one is a secretive world. It is the biggest, loudest and most expensive circus in the world and they do a great job promoting the sport. But a lot of money is spent developing these cars and the teams come up with interesting ways to keep their technology secret.

In testing especially, teams are developing new parts for the cars and the goal would be to develop something no one else has or has seen. Mostly the teams wage a war against the photographers. Each time a car comes and parks in the pitlane, the team quickly run and cover the rear of the car to keep people with cameras from taking photos of it. McLaren even went as far as to not paint the back of their rear wing so that it becomes close to impossible to take a photo of it as the contrast is too high for the camera. It actually makes it challenging to shoot the McLaren from behind because the camera pretends it doesn't exist and won't focus on it. Like I said, it’s a secretive sport. The funny thing is that as soon as the car is on track it's fair game for me to take a photo of. Many of the cars would stop at the end of the pitlane and do practice starts which has them standing still with the tail facing me, and I can take photos of it whether they like it or not. So much ado about nothing?

I have so many people to thank for making this week a special one, so I won't even try and name them all but again, thanks to everyone for the support and I can't wait to be back in the F1 paddock soon.

Cheers!

Barcelona Testing: Day 3

//The following is a featured article from guest contributor Jamey Price, Jamey Price Photography, an American sports photojournalist on his first Formula 1 project.  You can read more about Jamey and his passion for his work in our feature: Intro to an American F1 Photojournalist - Jamey Price.

February 23, 2012

Another day of testing gone and we've learned a lot about the cars. The Red Bull, as expected is strong. But I'm not telling you that looking at timing sheets. In fact, out on track, all I have is my eyes. I have no connection to the outside world whatsoever. Not that I could hear anything even if I did.

I'm telling you the Red Bull is fast and that Adrian Newey has designed another stunning machine by watching it. I've walked this track 10 times over and I've seen it go through all of the corners and in every single one, it is planted. Rock solid. Steady. Fast. It just looks fast.

Ferrari on the other hand are not. And again, not looking at timing sheets or listening to what Alonso and Massa are saying in interviews. I know it's going to be a long first few races for the Scuderia because the car is unruly. It is out of balance and looks more interested in trying to kill the driver than win him races.

But as everyone at tests say, who really knows? I certainly don't. But thats the beauty of winter testing. You can play your mega hand close to your chest and tell no one how strong you are if you really wanted to.

It's been a fascinating experience being in the pit lane and on track and I look forward to sharing the final days images with you tomorrow.