IRL Preview: 2009 Indianapolis 500

IRL IndyCar Series
- 93rd Indianapolis 500 Mile Race (4/17)
- Indianapolis Motor Speedway
- Speedway, Indiana, Indianapolis, United States
- 200 laps
- www.indycar.com and www.indy500.com (check both)

Event History
The second of the two great events occurring today, though perhaps only in terms of scheduling. I’ll leave the Monaco vs Indy debate for others and of course readers of this blog must surely agree the N-Word thing happening later isn’t even in the reckoning.

The 500 is one of the longest-standing events in the world if not the longest, it having started way back in 1911. As you can imagine, there is a lot of history and tradition here, right from retaining the yard of bricks at the line, to releasing the balloons before race start, to the three-wide start.

There have also been some very tight finishes!

1992:

2006:

Circuit
On the face of it the track is just a couple of very long straights connected by 90-degree corners, like a rounded rectangle, and while this is somewhat true it very much hides some interesting nuances.

- The banking isn’t very steep for an oval, especially not an oval of this speed, so it requires some balls-out commitment to head into turn one when all you see in front of you is a concrete wall. It is a little bit better now they have the SAFER barrier – but you still don’t want to hit it.

- Unlike many ovals, each turn is unique and has its own characteristics. Dan Wheldon in this week’s Autosport magazine says turns 1 and 2 are tricky and often have crosswinds, while 3 and 4 are easier and allow you to set up a run on someone along the main straight.

The bigger issues at Indy are the traffic, the fuel mileage and the other drivers!

Check out this video of Helio Castroneves on a restart two years ago, if you’ve never seen this you won’t believe how close he gets to the pit retaining wall, and neither did he…

Form
The Penske and Ganassi teams are largely unbeatable on the ovals, yet Indy is the place the smaller teams hope to score an upset because anything can happen. You’ve got to say it is between Helio Castroneves and Scott Dixon though, and anyone else is an outside bet!

What to Watch For
- The warm-up lap. Seriously! This is the only oval race I feel the pre-start tension in the same way I do with F1, and it really kicks in on the final warm-up lap as the cars come off of turn 2 and form up in the classic 3x3 formation, which they hold until turn 4. Goosebumps.
- A fast and furious opening section, a long middle section, and a fast and furious closing section.

UK TV
R: Sky Sports 3 and Sky Sports 3 HD will air the Race live at 6pm

US TV
R: As usual, ABC (in HD) will air the Race live at Midday.
US viewers should remember to switch to Versus when the ABC coverage is over for an extended post-race show!

Enjoy the race!

F1 Preview – GP de Monaco 2009

FIA Formula 1 World Championship
- 67e Grand Prix de Monaco (6/17)
- Monte Carlo, Monaco
- 78 laps
- www.formula1.com
- F1.com Track Map
- Live timing

Event History
This is the big one, the grand-daddy of all Grands Prix. The very first Monaco GP was held in 1929 and 2009 marks the 67th edition of this classic race.

Despite being commonly referred to as Monte Carlo, that is only one small area at the top of the hill with the Casino, and the Hotel and Cafe de Paris. The harbour area is La Condamine.

There have been so many events at this race over the years it is impossible to provide a good enough summary here, needless to say the place is known for odd results! You need a lot of talent and fair amount of luck to win at Monaco because it has a knack of biting you.

Notable highlights include:
- Mansell getting a suspected puncture, pitting for new tyres and then hounding Senna all the way to the flag.
- Gilles Villeneuve winning in a turbo Ferrari when turbos were not meant to be suited to the place against the Cosworths.
- Panis winning in 1996 after not stopping when everyone else made one stop or more in changeable conditions.

- The final two laps of 1982:

The opening part of the classic movie Grand Prix:

There are an absolute ton of videos on YouTube, just run a search for Monaco Grand Prix!

Circuit
The 2.1 mile street circuit is known for being a test of both driver and machine, and while it is the shortest circuit of the year it is also the longest at 78 laps and usually runs quite close to the 2-hour time limit.

The proximity of the barriers makes for a unique challenge in GP racing with the smallest of errors causing race-ending accidents. There are only a few run-off areas, and some of these are relatively recent innovations.

In terms of circuit layout the actual footprint of the track has hardly changed through the entire history of the event, yet there have been notable changes to the surroundings. The addition of the swimming pool section and the Rascasse to replace the hairpin, the new tower blocks appearing every few years along the track (this year check out the new one at the chicane where there used to be a cliff face), the much later and very recent addition of the new pit buildings.

The track demands precision guidance of the car, yet the fastest way around is to hustle it as it is heavily dependant on mechanical grip from the tyres rather than aero grip.

Onboard lap, Nico Rosberg 2008:

Form
It has got to be a battle between Brawn, Red Bull and Ferrari, hasn’t it? I don’t see anyone else getting involved and I only include Ferrari because Massa ran well in Spain and Kimi qualified well here today.

Look also for Renault to score decent points and Force India to surprise some, though perhaps only because BMW and Toyota are having such a hard time this weekend.

What to Watch For
- The fastest blue flagger in all of racing. He’s on the hill after Ste Devote! Only the exit of the final turn at Long Beach comes close.
- Lots and lots of rubber marbles from the tyres after about 1/3rd distance. Its this as much as the walls that make passing hard here.
- Drivers making silly errors causing lengthy Safety Car periods.

UK TV
R: BBC One will air the Race live at 12:10pm with the race to kick off at 1pm.

US TV
R: SPEED will air the Race live at 7:30am ET


Parade Lap
Before the race festivities be sure to go to Sidepodcast.com Live Comments at 11am and await the live pre-race Parade Lap show, a lovely relaxed way to get into the GP. This is a live discussion which will end just as the BBC’s coverage begins, perfect!

Enjoy the race, my notes will hopefully be up in the gap between Monaco and Indy! Then again, you know me, maybe they won’t be.

IndyCar Preview - Kansas 2009

IRL IndyCar Series
- Road Runner Turbo Indy 300 (3/17)
- Kansas Speedway, Kansas City, Kansas, United States
- 200 laps
- www.indycar.com
- Track Map

Event History
Going to be honest, I have no idea.

Circuit
It's a 1.5 mile oval and it should be highly entertaining. The IRL visits a lot of 1.5 mile ovals - remember when American Open Wheel featured the long superspeedways and the short low-banked one milers? What happened to that?

I can't find a decent YouTube or DailyMotion vid of the track action other than some practice shots of lone cars, which is a bit lame really. Ovals are only exciting when there is more than one car on it.
EDIT - SandWedge pointed out this excellent vid from 2003 which I somehow missed, thanks!




Form
First oval of the year so nobody knows! Will the former 'transition' teams be up to speed in the race? It looks like it because the front row is made up of Rahal and Doornbos! How will Robert cope with starting his first oval race up front?


Support Races
NASCAR Camping World Trucks, Firestone Indy Lights


US TV: LIVE on VERSUS at 4pm ET!

UK TV: Sky Sports 2 at 11pm! (I *think* it is live but since it follows the NASCAR I can't be sure - it does seem to tally with the US TV time though)

Sorry for the short and late preview. I don't know a great deal about this racetrack or history and I've been mega busy!

F1 Preview - Chinese GP 2009

FIA Formula 1 World Championship
- 2009 Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix (3/17)
- Shanghai International Circuit
- Shanghai, China
- 56 laps
- www.formula1.com
- F1.com track map / Allianz track map
- Live timing (Java required, free registration required, worth it)

Event History
Perhaps unbelievably the first F1 Chinese GP was held in 2004, my hasn't time flown? I suppose that impression is furthered because the 2008 edition was only held last October and five months between races isn't very much at all - however it means we have an interesting twist. This race should provide us with the starkest comparison yet between the cars as they were at the very end of the "aero era" with the beginnings of this new generation of car at the early stage of their development - I think qualifying 2 will be interesting for the laptime comparison, and the race will be interesting to see if the drivers can race with the cars and throw them about a bit more.

Normally we have to wait a full 12 months so let's take the positives from this. The 2008 event was a very tedious affair which was panned worldwide for being boring - let us hope the new aero, the slicks, the diffusers and the KERS all combine to bring us some good racing action, as they have at the first two races of the year. It could go either way really - the KERS or diffuser guys may be able to drive past everyone else on that huge straight, so it seems odd that so many are opting not to use KERS this time.

I have to say I don't remember a great deal about the previous races here. This may be down to my poor memory which is highly likely, or the races were genuinely not very memorable. Of the 5 races held so far Ferrari has taken 3 wins (Barrichello, Schumacher, Raikkonen) with Renault (Alonso) and Mclaren (Hamilton) taking the other two. It was in 2007 of course that Hamilton threw away his title chances on the pit entry, coming in far too hot and sliding into the tiniest gravel trap in the world. He made up for it by winning the race last year.

There has never been a huge attendance at this event. The main grandstand sees a decent size crowd but we are led to believe by some that many of these people are bussed in by the organisers. The rest of the circuit seems positively lacking in spectators - notice the large stands at each end of the long straight.


Circuit
Much is made of the fact that Hermann Tilke (and/or his design group) laid out this track in the shape of the Chinese symbol 'shang', as in Shanghai. The reality is that other than one of the longest straights on any racetrack in the world, the ever-tightening first corner and a similar ever-expanding turn on to the backstraight, there isn't much to say about the place. The bulk of the circuit is made up a technical section linking turn one with the long back straight and that's about all that can be said of the race track itself.
The biggest landmark are the two huge buildings overhanging the pit straight, one of which acts as the media centre (thus making it a very long journey for the hacks trying to get interviews) and I believe the other is corporate hospitality.

The teams are based in large huts behind the wide pitlane. Again, these are so far from the pitlane buildings it looks as though you'd need a taxi to get from the huts to the pits.

Here is Martin Brundle, then of ITV and now with the BBC, describing Barrichello's pole lap of 2004, the inaugural event:



Here is David Hobbs of SPEED describing Hamilton's pole lap of 2007, note the addition of further grandstands at turn one and elsewhere and the change in engine note:




Form
You've got to say BrawnGP really, haven't you? And I'm not just saying that because I bought a cap! I'm tipping Button for another win and I reckon Barrichello may run him a bit closer this time, if not nick it for himself. I also expect Vettel, Glock and Webber to show well once more. I think both Ferrari and McLaren are still distracted by their respective off-track diversions with their management changes and we won't really hear much from them until the Spanish GP. This is an ideal time for the likes of BMW, Williams, Toyota and RBR to score valuable points before the F1 giants get their acts together.

UK TV
Q: BBC One will air Qualifying live at 6am BST Saturday, session begins at 7am.
R: BBC One will air the Race live at 7am BST Sunday, race starts at 8am.
H: BBC Three will air 1hr Highlights at 7pm BST Sunday.

US TV
Q: SPEED will air Qualifying semi-live at 2am EDT Friday night.
R: SPEED will air the Race live at 2:30am EDT with the race to start at 3am. Rerun at 4:30pm.
- Canada should get coverage on TSN featuring BBC commentary but you may find Speed is blacked out.

Note about qualifying for US viewers: Speed builds in a delay during qualifying coverage in order to fit in as many advertisements as possible. This completely screws up your chances of following it online via live timing or joining in with Twitter / Live Commenting discussions. Complain! Make a fuss! Tell them which decade this is!

Live Comments
I will be at Sidepodcast.com for qualifying and the race. Fire up the Live Commenting Live..Thing at the appointed time, join the appropriate thread at the top of the screen, enter your name and then just type away! You're welcome to join us as long as you keep the sweary stuff away.

I will not be on Twitter for this race as I will be watching at my Dad's place, on his 42" screen!

Support events
Porsche Carrera Cup Asia; Aston Martin Asia Cup;

IndyCar Preview - Long Beach 2009

IRL IndyCar Series
- Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach (2/17)
- Long Beach, California, United States
- 85 laps
- www.indycar.com
- Track Map (PDF)

Event History
The Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach is one of the classic events in all of racing, starting out as a Formula 5000 test event before hosting Formula 1 for eight years. With Bernie's ever increasing fees - and this was in the early '80s! - the race organisers decided to switch to the nascent CART series which had recently split away from USAC. There was something of a drop-off in popularity for a short while before Long Beach found itself as one of the crown jewels of American motorsport and a level of prestige within Indycar racing second only to Indianapolis itself, with massive crowds and a party atmosphere.

This continued for many successful years until the damage from 'The Split' eventually found its way even to this event with the fall of CART. The re-formed Champ Car and the Long Beach GP stuck together until the death of Champ Car over the winter of 2007/08, and it was entirely fitting that the final send-off of the CART/Champ Car era was held at Long Beach one year ago, shortly following the unification announcement.

To the present then, and the IndyCar Series takes on the mantle of racing around these prestigious streets as the headline act and ensuring a long future for the Grand Prix of Long Beach. Toyota continues its long tradition as title sponsor (and the sponsor of the Pro/Celebrity race), and for the 3rd year running the ALMS is on the card and will be racing on the Saturday evening. The beginning of the IRL era at Long Beach also brings the Indy Lights to the streets for the first time in that series' current incarnation.

Circuit
Long Beach is the all time classic American street race circuit, the one format all other US street tracks follow, and yet due to developments it has changed many times over the years.
The current lap begins with a long flat-out blast along Shoreline Drive, which is a dual-carriageway with the pitlane taking up the other side of the road. The cars then take a 90-degree left turn, one of the best passing places on the circuit, before passing the fountain and working back in a short loop to very briefly rejoin Shoreline Drive again. From here there is a 90-left into a short downhill section and then into the long back straight under the bridges. After that is the slippery run through to the hairpin, and back on to Shoreline Drive.

Here is Justin Wilson describing a lap of the track in 2007:



I'm not sure why he wasn't flat out along the backstraight, it could be the audio was out of sync.

This track is one of the first I ever saw in American racing, late one night here in the UK, and is one of the reasons I fell in love with it.


Form
Justin Wilson always runs extremely well at Long Beach and given his performance at St Pete you have to think he's looking very strong despite being with an unfancied team. Other ex-CCWS teams/drivers ought to fare well too including Will Power, and Ryan Briscoe knows the place well from his ALMS runs, but we'll see if Helio Castroneves' return will be disruptive to Penske's efforts as they are said to be running 3 cars.
You can't rule out the Ganassi team despite neither driver nor the team having run here for several years, the same is true of the likes of Kanaan. Marco Andretti also raced here in the ALMS.

Support Races
ALMS, SPEED Challenge, Indy Lights, Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race

TV Coverage

UK TV: LIVE on Sky Sports 3 at 9pm BST!

US TV: LIVE on VERSUS at 3.30pm EDT! (and catch the all new qualifying show at 6pm Saturday)
Don't forget the race replay on Monday night if you miss it live or want to catch it again. Versus also carry the Indy Lights race highlights on Monday night.

Finally, be sure to check out their YouTube channel! Go there now to see highlights from St Petersburg and remember to check back later next week for Long Beach clips.

I'm not sure if I'll be watching live as I may have double-booked myself with Sidepodcast.com's Panel. If I don't catch it live I'll see be watching it as soon as I can on Monday!

F1 Preview: Malaysian Grand Prix 2009

Welcome to the slightly delayed preview to the Malaysian GP!

* * * *
FIA Formula 1 World Championship
- Formula 1 Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix (2/17)
- Sepang International Circuit
- Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
- www.formula1.com
- F1.com track map
- Live timing (Java required, free registration required, worth it)

Circuit
Check the track map link above to see the three official timing sectors.

We move from the stop/start part-street track of Albert Park to the very fast, very open Sepang, sited adjacent to KL International Airport some 20 miles from KL itself.

Sepang joined the calendar for the 1999 season and was the first of the 'Tilkedromes', those circuits penned by the track architect Herman Tilke who has become the F1 track designer of choice. It set the tone for his later circuits including Bahrain, Shanghai and Istanbul. Features include an exceptionally wide racing surface, a very long wide pitlane and a large central grandstand with local styling cues.

The signature corner on this circuit is turn one, an ever-tightening right-hander leading into a very tight switchback to the left. Accidents are common here and drivers will need to keep their elongated noses clean. Tilke used a similar corner design twice for Shanghai, at the first corner and at the corner on to the long straight.

The track as a whole is very fast and flowing for the most part, with a couple of harder braking areas producing potential overtaking spots, as well as the two very long straights either side of the central grandstand - these straights ought to be ideal for those running KERS.

This track was very smooth for the first several runnings but in the last couple of years several bumps have appeared - many drivers and F1 analysts have perhaps unkindly stated this brings the circuit some much-needed character!

The overbearing heat is frequently the topic of the weekend with team personnel and media alike hiding away in the air conditioning of the paddock buildings (no such luck for the spectators). This year though, the 5pm start should negate some of this but it will bring another problem: rain. Typically after the race is over, usually 5.30pm local, and the sun begins to set, the track is engulfed in a tropical rain shower - this year the race begins at 5pm and the forecast is for rain. Last time we had heavy rain at Sepang it caused utter chaos with cars off the track at all angles.


Form
BrawnGP are the clear favourites after their performance last weekend however the race pace of the Toyotas and BMWs, and Vettel's Red Bull, should not be underestimated. Neither should Hamilton's McLaren. There is also the question of how the various combinations of KERS and diffusers - or lack thereof - will work at a very different circuit to Albert Park. Already in practice Kimi Raikkonen's KERS battery has come to a smoking halt, will the heat of Sepang prove too much for KERS?


UK TV
Q: BBC One will air Qualifying live at 9am BST Saturday, session begins at 10am.
R: BBC One will air the Race live at 9am BST Sunday, race starts at 10am.
H: BBC Three will air 1hr Highlights at 7pm BST Sunday.

US TV
Q: Speed will air Qualifying semi-live at 5am ET.
R: Speed will air the Race live at 4:30am ET with the race to start at 5am. Rerun at 1:30pm.
- Canada should get coverage on TSN featuring BBC commentary, you may find Speed is blacked out.

Note for US viewers: Speed builds in a delay during qualifying coverage in order to fit in as many advertisements as possible. This completely screws up your chances of following live timing as well as ensuring anyone following F1 updates on Twitter gets spoilers 10 to 15 minutes ahead of seeing it on their TV screen. I don't yet know if they do this for the race - either way, I urge you to complain!


Live Comments
I will be at Sidepodcast.com for qualifying and the race, and probably for the IndyCar race too (if they decide to live comment it). Fire up the Live Commenting Live..Thing at the appointed time, join the appropriate thread at the top of the screen, enter your name and then just type away! You're welcome to join us as long as you keep the sweary exclamations away.

I'll also be commenting on Twitter from time to time, but since I'll be focussing on writing my race notes I may be fairly quiet.

Support events
GP2 Asia Series; Formula BMW Pacific;

F1 Preview: Australian Grand Prix 2009

Finally, after all the waiting, it's here!!

* * * *
FIA Formula 1 World Championship
- ING Australian Grand Prix (1/17)
- Albert Park
- Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
- www.formula1.com
- F1.com track map / F1Fanatic's track guide
- Live timing (Java required, free registration required, worth it)

* WARNING *
In the UK the clocks will change on Sunday morning. At 2am GMT we will jump to 3am British Summer Time (BST). Thus Qualifying and Race start at the same time locally but one hour apart for us.

Preview
Welcome to the slightly delayed preview to the Australian GP!

Circuit
Albert Park is a semi-street track set around a lake in the city of Melbourne. It isn't a traditional street track, being as it runs through a park and the barriers aren't always up tight to the racing surface. The racetrack isn't as bumpy as your average street track - although this year the drivers seem to have found more bumps than usual.

The deceptively fast first corner is always a concern, more so this year with the extended width of the front wings this year. You know how drivers like to win the race at the first corner? Well this is the first corner of the Championship and some of them think they can win the title in the first corner!

Of course this is followed up by a medium/long straight into the tight heavy braking area of turn 3. Some guys who were careful in turn 1 decide turn 3 is the better opportunity, sometimes they are right, sometimes they are wrong. The guys will need to temper their enthusiasm to avoid crashes!

Here are two onboard laps to refamiliarise yourself with the layout, assuming you haven't already been watching Free Practice!

The first is Jenson Button's 2006 pole lap described by Martin Brundle, then of ITV:



Here is Kimi Raikkonen's 2007 pole lap described by David Hobbs of SPEED:



Rule Changes
There are far too many variables to discuss with regards to the new rules and the time for explaining them in long reams of text is over. What we do know is that both Ferraris, both McLarens, both Renaults and Nick Heidfeld of BMW will all be using KERS this weekend. Force India, BrawnGP and Toyota say they are not running KERS, and the remainder are tight-lipped on the subject with speculation that Williams and others may be running it.

If you've been away from all the pre-season hype you may be aware of some major changes this year but perhaps not the specifics. Everyone else could probably use a refresher on the eve of the first race and this video is ideal for the purpose:


(7m40s, Inside Track from SidepodcastTV
you may prefer to try the low-res version)


Form
BrawnGP have been running exceptionally well in testing and have carried that into Free Practice. McLaren and Ferrari are stuck in the midfield among suggestions of sandbagging, running heavy to mask their true pace. I'm not sure this is true. Ferrari seem to have good speed over a long run if not over a lap, but they aren't at the absolute cutting edge of lap time. McLaren appear to be struggling much more.

Williams are also fast however this has happened with Williams over the last few years, they are quick at Albert Park and then have a dire race in Sepang. Let's hope the latter trend is put to rest this season. Interestingly Toyota and Force India have shown promising form in practice.

What is clear is the grid is very well shaken up and yet very close together, with only 2 seconds separating front to back in Friday FP2. The combination of all the different factors makes it incredibly difficult to predict what will happen on both Saturday and Sunday, something we haven't been able to say about F1 for a very long time!! I think we're going to enjoy this season.



UK TV
Q: BBC One will air Qualifying live at 5am GMT Saturday, session begins at 6am. Rerun at 1pm.
R: BBC One will air the Race live at 6am BST Sunday, race starts at 7am. Rerun at 1pm.
H: BBC Three will air 1hr Highlights at 7pm BST Sunday.

US TV
Q: Speed will air Qualifying live at 2am ET, it seems they are jumping straight in to the green flag unless I have my times wrong.
R: Speed will air the Race live at 1:30am ET with the race to start at 2am. Rerun at 4:30pm.

Canada should get coverage on TSN featuring BBC commentary.
EDIT - you used to be able to choose Speed but you may want to see this link and check what you can see at the time, although I'm not sure why you'd voluntarily sit through all their ads.

Race Notes
I will again be writing notes during the race for upload straight after the event. I won't be doing a live blog, it's more a journal of noteworthy events which is written live, checked for editing and uploaded shortly after the podium ceremony. If you're sitting here killing time before Qual or Race because of the timezones, you can click here to see notes on previous races.

Live Comments
This season I will also be in the Sidepodcast.com Live Comments for all races and most qualifying sessions. Fire up the Live Commenting Live..Thing at the appointed time and join the appropriate thread at the top of the screen, then just type away! I've been keeping up with the comments during the latter end of the off-season, but not a live F1 GP before - it should be fun. You're welcome to join us as long as you keep the sweary exclamations away.. I think I'll struggle with that bit.. I may be quiet during races while I concentrate on the Race Notes, however I should be active during qualifying.

I will of course have TwitterFox to hand for those all-important tweets.


Support events
V8 Supercars*, Australian GT, Australian Formula Ford, Aussie Racing Cars, Historic Formula 5000, Mini Challenge, Minardi F1x2 two-seaters, Ultimate Speed Comparison (road car vs V8 Supercar vs 2008 BMW F1 car)
(these events are spread across the weekend)

Preview: 2008 Japanese Grand Prix

Preview: 2008 Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix

This weekend sees the second visit to the revised Fuji Speedway (owned by Toyota) after many successful years at Suzuka (owned by Honda). I always enjoyed the racing at Suzuka. It was unique for being the only figure-of-8 layout in major motorsport as well as being a demanding circuit for the drivers. This was because it was designed as a test track for Honda in the 1960s by the same guy who did the original Zandvoort (not the current Zandvoort).

F1 visited Fuji twice before, in 1976 and 1977. These races I know very little about except that one of them was held in appallingly wet conditions and that one of them was a title decider between James Hunt and Niki Lauda. It might have been the same race because I remember Lauda pulled out of the wet race saying it was too dangerous.

Fast forward to 2007 and the return to a massively redeveloped Fuji for a race held in appallingly wet conditions. Modern safety rules being what they are, the cars circulated behind the Safety Car for the first 19 laps (yes, 19 out of 67, not a typo!), and it was the right decision - the conditions were dreadful with almost zero visibility. If the 70s guys had the same stuff I don't blame Lauda for stopping in those pre-Safety Car days.

The conditions were such that we didn't actually see a lot of the circuit redevelopment on TV, there was just too much spray. I hope we'll get to see it this time so that we can properly criticise it on Sunday. I mean really, ditching Suzuka? What were they thinking?

The distinguishing features of Fuji are that is has a 1.5km main straight, possibly the longest in F1? I'm not sure because next week we go to Shanghai which also has a ridiculously long straight. The rest of Fuji is made up of unremarkable corners with acres of run-off, from what I recall. To be fair to the designers they wanted to stay reasonably close to the original design, and the topography of the land didn't offer many options. The track is very close to Mount Fuji so it is in a mountainous region. We didn't see anything of the mountain last year because of the clouds blocking the view, I really hope we get to see the place at its best this year despite my reservations about the circuit layout.

We'll see the cars back at Suzuka in 2009 as the two circuits have agreed to alternate, just as Hockenheim/Nurburging do in Germany. I hope this doesn't set a trend where we'll alternate the entire calendar in future!

The 2008 Japanese Grand Prix gets under way at 13.30 local time which is 05.30am here in the UK. At this time of year I have no idea what DST is doing around the world, I think that makes it 00:30 Eastern in the US but you should check.
Wherever you are * remember it starts on the half hour *.

Qualifying is at 14:00 local, 06:00 UK, and that is on the hour as usual.


F1 News
Bridgestone have added green grooves to all tyres this weekend to promote eco issues. That'll work, well done boys. It won't really mean the majority of fans asking "why is there green paint all over the tyres?", and "isn't all this extra paint very much eco-unfriendly?".
The softer compound will continue to be marked with a white groove as well as the green. We can add this to the long list of reasons why I'll be glad to see slicks again next season!

Just days after I was wistfully remembering the late 90s and the days of the rumoured engine deals among the mid- and back-field teams, Force India is rumoured to be switching from Ferrari to Mercedes engines! I swear I can see the future in my dreams. I AM Isaac off of Heroes, although I blog instead of paint. Painting with words.

Ferrari has announced they will no longer use their 'traffic light' pit signalling system for the remainder of the year - meanwhile Honda have erected a different design at their pit boxes in Fuji for use this weekend, I'm not sure if they are testing it in practice or if they intend to use it in the race too.


Blog News
Sorry for the delay in writing this preview, I was shattered yesterday after a long and boring day learning about tax and financial statements - I will attempt to do the Chinese preview on Wednesday unless I'm still doing homework by then!

I ditched the clock thing because it didn't work well for this site, and I rewrote the bottom panel. I now have flags of my county, nation, country and continent because unlike most people in this country I am actually proud to represent all of those things rather than just one or two.

See you Sunday.

Preview: 2008 Singapore GP

Preview: 2008 Singtel Singapore Grand Prix

This is the inaugural Singapore GP, and also the first ever night race for F1. In order to light the 5km track to make it suitable for F1 cars, high-power lighting has been installed throughout. Some articles are quoting 1500 light projectors providing light which is four times brighter than your usual stadium lights, and equivalent to daylight. Check out the Autosport.com preview gallery of photos taken Wednesday/Thursday as the last details were being added, and you can well believe it.

So there are two bits of good news. First: the drivers WILL be able to see where they are going. Second: The track is actually quite wide and fast in places. This is good, the initial track maps indicated short straights and lots of slow turns. There are lots of slow turns except that now we can see there is enough width to encourage racing, at least in places.

Two problems have cropped up, these are the dusty track surface (which will hopefully rubber in a la Monaco or Melbourne by Sunday morning), and the other is the weather forecast which is suggesting storms. You don't really want that in a night race!

The drivers, teams, journalists and seemingly everyone involved are apparently still operating on European time so that they are fully alert for the race and all the post-event paraphernalia which occurs (press interviews, team debriefs, etc.). Hamilton says their doctor told them not to acclimatise to the local timezone. They are getting up at lunchtime and going to bed at 3am, which isn't too far from my normal weekend routine, I don't know what they are complaining about...

The race gets under way at 8pm local time which just so happens to be 2pm Central European Time, 1pm in the UK, the time all European races start.* Big thanks to Bernie for burning all this extra carbon, running several massive generators lighting this long track, purely for my benefit. I get a nice lie-in. And it'll look great on the telly.

As the times here are fuckoed, make sure you know when everything is happening. Your best bet is to go to Formula1.com and use the widget in the sidebar where it says 'Convert to My Local Time'. If your computer clock is set correctly it should work. I say this because qualifying does NOT happen at the usual European time, it is a couple of hours later. I have no idea why this is because that's 10pm local time, which is nuts.

Annoyingly I have to miss qualifying live as Dad decided to book a tee-off time midway through it, he didn't know the Qual time had moved. If it rains it is a moot point as we won't go.. I'll set the VHS and make sure he's got the radio turned off. Yes, I still use VHS - digital terrestrial hasn't got here yet and I can't afford satellite... I will of course watch the race live.

* bonus fact: if the race is held in Europe but outside of the CET area, it still starts at 2pm CET.

ELSEWHERE IN RACING
MotoGP - Motegi Japan: The two-wheel circus heads to Motegi. I can't remember ever seeing an exciting race on the road course at Motegi. If you ever wondered why this is called 'Twin Ring', the bikes are on the 'other ring' to the oval. I'll hopefully catch the BBC replay, not sure when it is on yet. I'm not getting up at 4am for bikes!

NASCAR - Kansas: I'm sure some people will watch this, I'm not one of them. I really don't care.
World Series by Renault - Estoril, Portugal: Europeans stopped mocking the American baseball thing when this Europe-only series was introduced. I've never got into this series.
Errr, that's it. The season is winding down and the busy weekends are becoming few and far between. Thankfully they invented A1GP and GP2 Asia, so no more hibernation!

Speaking of A1GP, the first event was postponed and the second event looks like becoming a non-points race because their equipment isn't ready yet, so not all teams can take part. This doesn't look good for A1 while Superleague is solving problems every week.

While I have your attention, you need to do yourself a favour. When you're done here, click this link. Don't worry it isn't a scam, there's no money involved. It'll take you to Last.fm. There's a big play button on the right. Press it. Turn up volume. Listen.

EDIT - Even better, check it live with Jools Holland at YouTube. This was aired live two days ago.

You're welcome.

See you Sunday.

Preview: 2008 Belgian GP

Race Preview: 2008 ING Grand Prix of Belgium
Spa-Francorchamps, nr. Francorchamps, Belgium
Round 13 of 18

Formula 1 heads to Belgium for the classic circuit at Spa-Francorchamps (or just Spa- its easier). This just-over-7km circuit in the Ardennes hills is famed for the rolling up and down nature of the track, for the driving skill required, and for the rain. The unique microclimate means it can rain at one side of the track and be dry at another - leading to strange calls from the pits if the rain is there and the rest of the place is dry, or vice versa!

The circuit used to be all public roads at 14.9km in length, until it was revised in 1983 to roughly the current length for safety reasons. Unlike other redevelopments, Spa retained it's character in the new section between Les Combes and Stavelot. Only within the last five years or so has it become a full-time race track with traffic permanently diverted around it, allowing safety upgrades and a complete reprofiling of the last corner, the Bus Stop chicane, so-called because it used to leave the road and rejoin in the shape of the perimeter of a bus stop..

The pit facilities were demolished and rebuilt in time for last year's event, with the start/finish straight actually becoming straight at long last! It used to be the back of the grid couldn't see the start lights up front.

If you get a chance to watch a full onboard lap of this place - do so. Hell I'll even provide the link.
Check this out: Mika vs Michael, Spa, 2000
Michael blocks him and tries to run him into the grass (for which he was widely criticised). This makes Mika mad. Watch him at Eau Rouge next time through, he almost loses it he's so fast. He tries again next time. Enjoy the lap and the sound of those glorious V10s. I miss those, and I miss Mika fighting Michael.

Ferrari often dominate this race, but unlike other circuits where this happens, nobody minds at Spa because hey, we're at Spa! Equally, nobody seems to mind only seeing the cars 44 times and having no victory / cooldown lap after the race, the cars are stopped after La Source. A cooldown lap here would take too long for TV. 44 laps of 7km is 308km, which brings us over the 300km per race guidelines. Personally I would like to see it extended it a little now the cars are more reliable than ever before.

My tip for the podium: Raikkonen to find some form and win, Hamilton 2nd, Kubica 3rd.
My tip for the weather: Dry qualifying - Wet race.
Let's hope this doesn't happen: 1998 race start with the biggest accident seen in years, luckily the worst injuries were to Irvine's knee and DC's pride. This is why the medical car follows them around and had already done so for years. Back in '98 the teams were allowed one spare car between both drivers. Now they can't have any which is a crazy rule.

Anyway, enjoy the race and let's hope for more of the Mika 2000 and less of the DC 1998!

Check www.formula1.com to find out when the race starts in your local time zone and for kickass live timing replete with live text comments (Java needed for the timing), essential during those commercial interruptions.