The first race of the 2013 Formula 1 campaign has come to a conclusion. Here in the States, it was the first race of the new NBC Sports Network era. After over a decade of the Fox run Speed TV, NBC won the bidding war last season to host the races. For those not familiar with NBC Sports coverage of the IZOD IndyCar Series, it was a pretty big change in presentation. NBC worked hard to keep the core of the broadcast very similar to what we had on Speed.…
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Formula 1 – FP2 Notes; Vettel Sweeps Practice
Sebastian Vettel stormed to P1 in both practice sessions from Albert Park as the 2013 Formula 1 season kicks off. Vettel’s Red Bull was the class of the field as he and the team picked up where they left off at the end of last season. There was a lot of interesting data collected as the super soft tire compound took center stage. The new Pirelli rubber was due to be faster by approximately a second, but suffered an extremely short life with times dropping almost immediately. The real surprise…
Read MoreFormula 1 – Another Beautiful Letdown?
Mercedes-Benz AMG is riding the wave of momentum into Australia for the Formula 1 opener. After topping the time sheets over the final two days of testing last week, expectations for the team are beginning to change. Mercedes were originally set to just survive the 2013 season with Lewis Hamilton making the switch over from McLaren. The interesting thing about it is the top teams now believe Mercedes could be the favorite as we are just a week out from Australia. The question is will 2013 be beautiful letdown sequel…
Read MoreEpisode 178 – OpenPaddock.net Podcast
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadA little delayed this week, but Episode 178 of the OpenPaddock.net Podcast is now available for your aural pleasure. Dr. Patterson and Mr. Whitesell cover the sobriety spectrum as Doug is stuck recording the show late night at the shop drinking potentially decaffeinated black tea while Mike enjoys a growler full of a fine local IPA. Mr. Neely is recovering from the plague and Mr. Shaw wonders why the hell he ever joined this sorry band of misfit motorsports fans! On this week’s show,…
Read MoreFormula 1 – Preseason Driver Power Rankings
After showing you how I feel the teams stack up for the start of 2013, I now give you all 22 drivers in the preseason driver power rankings. Please note that during the season we will only give the top 10 ranked drivers as it is frankly a pain the ass to do this for 22 drivers. Especially when we will forget half of them exist in about two weeks’ time! I will give a full update during the three week summer break and will have a full roundup at…
Read MoreFormula 1 – Honda Rumor Shows V6 Promise
The big gossip over the last day or so is a BBC story linking Honda with McLaren for 2014 or 2015 at the latest. Honda whom used to run a team in the series (now the Mercedes AMG team) is strongly rumored to be making a comeback in the engine department as F1 moves to the turbo V6 for 2014. The Japanese manufacturer has made no official statement regarding their F1 plans, but the McLaren rumor isn’t going away. I think even the rumor shows there is a lot of…
Read MoreFormula 1 – Razia Out and Bianchi In at Marussia
One day after being ruled out of a seat at Force India, Jules Bianchi has landed a seat with Marussia with two testing days left until the 2013 season kicks off. Bianchi who had been reserve driver with Force India will take the race seat of Luiz Razia. A terrible and gut wrenching afternoon for Razia after his sponsor failed to deliver payment to the team. Bianchi will be set to test the Marussia over the final two days of the last preseason test. While heartbreaking for Razia, this is…
Read MoreFormula 1 – Ferrari Downplay Pace
Ferrari has looked pretty good so far during pre-season testing. At a minimum they look a lot better than a year ago. I found it really funny that a lot of fans on the forums have been rather critical of Stefano Domenicali and Ferrari for playing down their pace heading into Australia. The Italian squad firmly believes they will not be the fastest car for 2013 season opener. While it is hard to judge pace during testing, Fernando Alonso and Ferrari set one of the fastest times at the last…
Read MoreFormula 1 – Force India Getting it Wrong Already
If I am Jules Bianchi, I am one pissed off reserve driver today. I have worked well with my Sahara Force India team all year last year, and tested well with them this off season and still I get snubbed. To be honest I would be an ex-reserve driver at this point. This after finding out that Adrian Sutil who has not driven a racing car but once over the last year and a half has been signed to the second race seat at my team. This is a real…
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