Here I am once more, after what has been a challenging week and before what promises to be an even more difficult one ahead, so it's a good time to release another update before the madness of the coming seven days turns me insane. At this rate the preseason posts will be provided from a padded cell in a lunatic facility, and typing in a straight jacket would be a major challenge, but persevere I shall. Which brings me nicely on to my purpose here typing out more things onto the internet, and clogging up cyberspace with my ramblings, and this time it is to bring you the third of the winter update packages from the empty void that is the off-season.
Last time out the blog was taking on the internet rather unsuccessfully in an online racing competition - for which the highlights video has amassed a grand total of one view on my youtube channel, which is a positive sign of how this little corner of the internet it progressing. Then again the youtube side of things along with the twitter expansion haven't exactly taken off quite yet, and I'm not entirely sure if embedded views count on the actual channel page so perhaps I'm being unduly sceptical. But once more I digress, as the blog (now back in blog HQ after the Christmas tree was moved back into storage) is taking on the internet, in a rather different perspective. This time in the social media shorty awards - on account of the twitter extension of the blog anyway, so far I have one vote (wooo) but for some reason not showing up in the listings for the category. Not that it really matters I guess, winning would be a little out of reach somehow, considering the leaders have more votes than this little corner has had audience members... over the course of it's entire existance but never mind.
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| F1 Total SP3 at Rockingham in rFactor |
Now back to the real world, beyond the developments here at blog HQ, of lack of developments - more online races were planned but other circumstances have arisen - apparently I am required artistically, if they saw my actual school work then the promotion would seem even more laughable. But that does kind of some things up really, anyway since not too much has happened over the winter these updates have been a little few and far between, combined with the other developments.
Driver updates
Well despite two seats reamining on the grid, and a flotilla of drivers currently without a race seat heading into the new season there has been no further announcements on who is going to end up in the final places at HRT and Williams. However we can check a couple of names off the list in the recent weeks who we now know will not be in the cars when they line up in Albert Park in March,
Firstly Sebastien Buemi has maintained his allegience with the Red Bull brand despite being booted out of the Torro Rosso line up in favour of Daniel Ricciardo. Buemi will spend 2012 in a reserve driver role for the main Red Bull team, perhaps in some devious effort to replace Vettel and take over the world, well perhaps not - after all he is Swiss and those guys are kind of neutral when it comes to world domination. Then the plot thickened somewhat when the team that gave him the sack at the end of 2011, announced he would also be their reserve driver too - so effectively Buemi is now the back up driver for all four of the Red Bull backed cars on the grid. So if either Jean Eric-Vergne or Ricciardo fail to deliver for Torro Rosso then Buemi is in the prime position to get back on the grid, and STR are not to bothered about dumping drivers after they got rid of Sebastien Bourdais. Agreed the frenchman did whine on a lot, and still does back in America - but there wasn't really any grounds for the dissmissal, neither was former Squadron Leader Heidfeld's ejection from Renault but F1 moves in mysterious way sometimes.
The second driver to knock of the checklist is also a refugee from the Torro Rosso reshuffling, Jaime El-Incognito - a strong contender in the second half of the 2011 bonus points championship. He has announced that he will not be driving for HRT in the coming season, claiming that it would be a step backwards in his career. Being a spanish driver the suddenly disowned from the Red Bull family, an automatic connection was inevitably made between him and the spanish team to parner Pedro De La Rosa. However Jaime has indicated he is hoping for an oppoirtunity with a bigger team a little further up the grid, although almost anything is further up the grid then the HRT cars. The problem then lies in where that spot might be, only Williams have an open race seat further forward, and with Red Bull selecting Buemi as their overall reserve driver the opportunies are limited for Alquersuari. It's all well and good having ambitions of roles within the division one teams but, as with life here in blog HQ you rarely get what you want and have to settle for less than preferable scenarios or end up with nothing we shall see how this develops.
Calendar Issues
While the 2012 calendar has been announced for some time now (there was going to be a post about it but once more other things occurred, mainly laziness followed by gaming) but now things are a looking a little less certain then they were when the details were released. Throughout the back end of the 2011 season there were many concerns regarding the progression of the newest addition to the season - the U.S.A. GP to be hosted in a new facility in Texas. With construction pace seeming a little slow for Bernies liking, the position on the calendar was under threat, a problem which was then exacerbated by a second racing event to be added on US soil. The Grand Prix of the Americas to be set in New Jersey overlooking New York was rumoured to detract funding and attention from the race in Texas and therefore compromise the rate of progress.
Now, I like the idea of a race in the US - there are plenty of good racing circuits already in place, Laguna Seca, Road Atlanta and Sears Point being some examples and the Texan track is quite good (even though it isn't built yet a simulation version exists) but there is something somewhat gimicky surrounding the New Jersey event. I think there should be a race in the States but two, possibly not, pulling that many Americans away from NASCAR might be hard.
Then there is the issue of Bahrain, dropped from the calendar last year due to the unrest and violence in the country, it's position this year also seems to be under threat once more as stability in the gulf state is far from ideal. Personally I find the Sakhir track rather boring, and the 2010 layout was a crime against motor-racing, but it was the first middle-eastern venue to host an F1 GP and does possess some redeeming features, as a sporting event however it won't be missed if cancelled once more. In the event of Bahrain being unable to host the race this season rumour has it that the place will be filled with the Turkish GP which is waiting in the wings for it's cue to go on. If it was a contest the Instanbul circuit wins hands down as the race I'd rather see on the calendar.
All of that might sound fairly unstable and uncertain - primarily because it is - but it isn't the worst of it... the french are coming back. Claiming they will be back on the calendar in 2013. This may not sound like a bad thing, especially considering the venue won't be Magny-cours, as the thought of fighting an understeering blogmobile through the infuriating Estoril corner is enough to give you nightmares. The selected venue is the Paul-Ricard circuit which is a labryinth of different layouts for different formula so which route the GP will use is unknown, it has featured as the home of the French GP before doesn't have an 'Estoril corner'. Of course I can sit here and paint a nice pretty picture of the track and the south of France, making it all seem fine, but there is a problem, a rather big one, a problem so big it makes the current economic apocalupse seem like a minor niggle. The French, in order to gain a spot on a very compact schedule, want to run alternate seasons oposite the Belgian GP....
Yes, all those horrified gasps were justified, this means there will be seasons without a visit to the iconic Spa-francorchamps track. No wonder the French get a bad reputation, effectively neutering the season with their race, I'm not going to dismiss the French GP as a poor event - if it wasn't for one corner I'd like Magny-Cours but it is no competition for the Beligan GP, why can't it alternate with something else, like the Spanish or Hungarian GPs as long as we get to get the epic that is spa on the calendar. The last time it went missing from the season I was so mad, I dedicated one of my homework excercises in english to ranting at the FIA for dropping the race.
On a lighter note, trouble is also afoot for the Korean and Valencia races, both venues have requested a lower race hosting fee from Bernie as it costs a too much to host the events. I noted this in this bottom section of lighter notes because Valencia is a rather poor circuit, even more boring than Bahrain in terms of layout - yes there is a nice final sector but the rest of it is dire - a bunch of lifeless straights and dull concrete barriers. The place has all the interest of Stanley front street, and is about as popular so it wouldn't be too much of a loss to the calendar. As for Korea - the track there isn't too bad but it is a far cry from the vast picturesque resort complex the designs have illustrated, and the turn 4-6 section is enough to condemn the track to the darkest bowels of hell for being as almost as evil as the estoril corner at magny-cours. But Bernie is likely not to reduce their fees because with the season already at max capacity already and Russia, New Jersey and now France wanting to get in on the act the weakest races will be weeded.
And so concludes this update of all the going on beyond my little corner of the internet as the season slows creeps forwards a little too slowly for my liking - but there are other more pressing matters are at hand at the moment and have been stealing the energy these things require. Future posts should be a little more energetic but these things happen, so until next time farewell for now.
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