F1 is BACK! It's been an up and down weekend, but F1 is BACK!
First some breaking good news - team owner unanimously have approved shifting back to the old qualifying for Race 2 and beyond. Hopefully somebody <cough> Ecclestone <cough> learned something from this weekend's disaster.
In other news, Sebastian Vettel's car isn't named after a pizza (no, really), and VJ Vallya's financial stylings continue to make headlines...
Aston-Martin is back in F1 - but they assure us it's more than just stickers, and Christian Horner says engines aren't part of the deal - although rumors in the paddock say otherwise.
The radio ban is really strict - but the FIA may relent a little.
Finally, we had a great race to start the season - and no Qualifying had nothing to do with it...
This week one motorsport series kicks off with another waiting in the wings for it's start next week.
Indycar is up first with it's season opener at the Firestone Grand Prix of St Petersburg - and F1 alumni Max Chilton and Alexander Rossi start the race pretty far back on the grid, meanwhile F1 alumni Juan Pablo Montoya is up in fourth.
But while we dabble in Indycar we're really an F1 show and this week we got confirmation that this year's US Grand Prix in Austin is ON! Or as the rest of the media covered it - Taylor Swift will be doing a concert at COTA - after some car race is over...
Sauber pays it's bills - late...
The new qualifying rules are definitely happening - but the story of how we got there is really good. Plus we try and demystify just how F1 is governed...
And of course with us being on the cusp of a new season of F1 we have to offer up our predictions for the year... Feel free to add your own in the comments...
The start of opening wheel racing season is tantalizingly closed. Next week Indycar opens in Florida and the week after that F1 starts off in Melbourne Australia..
One of the things that's gotten noticed from Haas' F1 debut is that the car is rather bare of sponsors - which Gene Haas says is just better for him to promote his company.
The rules for 2017 are coming - later... But qualifying is actually going to be changing starting in Australia. Bernie says he doesn't like the new qualifying, but Christian Horner says that it was all Bernie's idea... And by the way, the drivers don't seem to be big fans of the new qualifying format either.
Winter testing wrapped up this week, Mercedes is still running strong, but it looks like the teams that were nipping at their heels last year may be a bit closer.
And with Indycar starting next week we take a look at the series rules - and at first glance they're even more complicated than F1's rules...
This week F1 woke from it's winter sleep in a big way, and there was plenty for us to talk about before we could even get to Winter testing...
VW has once again re-affirmed their commitment to not get involved in F1, because F1 can't seem to commit to a set of rules
Force India says that Aston-Martin could still come to F1, if F1 decides to commit to a set of rules.
Meanwhile, F1 has decided to change the rules...
Not that it really matters since the guy who's supposed to promote F1 has announced that he wouldn't take his family to a race...
From what we can tell about where things stand after the first round of testing...
Mercedes is probably still fast
Mercedes is definitely more reliable than anybody else
Ferrari is probably still close, but not close enough
and McLaren is better, but still nowhere near good enough.
This week the entire Formula 1 paddock stands in shock at the news that Pastor Maldonado will not be on the grid for 2016.... Ok maybe not...
However, Pastor's departure from F1 does lead us into a discussion about paid vs pay (or paying) drivers, and what each brings to the table. - Thanks Phil for asking us to discuss the subject.
Renault is setting the bar low when it comes to expectations for the next few years.
The rules for 2017 still haven't been agreed to,,,
And Fangio has a son... Actually he has two of them...
This week - Helmet Marco doesn't seem to understand what it means to be a customer team...
Pastor Maldonado appears to need to find new things to crash into.
You can buy an F1 car.
McLaren's 2015 F1 car continues to perform at it's 2015 levels.
That big 2017 rules revamp? Might not be happening...
And February looks like it could be a busy month...
This week we got to find out how several F1 folks started off their new year:
Sebastian Vettel drove the 2014 Ferrari F1 car
Max Verstappen drove the Red Bull RB7 around Kistsbuhl Austria (and Red Bull may get in trouble for it)
Adrian Sutil spent it in court...
The Strategy Group met again, and it appears that they have cut engine costs. Jean Todt wants refueling - but the teams say no. The teams want you to vote for awards every weekend, and think the stewards should be nicer to the drivers.
Good News! David Coulthard will be presenting F1 in 2016 on UK's Channel 4 - it makes Patricia happy even though most of our US fans don't really care.
Christian Horner is still upset that Mercedes and Ferrari were only willing to think of their own teams when it came to supplying engines to Red Bull - even though he would have done the exact same thing if he was in their positions.
Bernie Ecclestone once again assumes the role of "Old Man Shaking His Fist at Cloud"
Are the F1 Strategy Group's 2017 proposals in tatters?
Maybe Aston Martin won't come F1 racing after all?
And Manor hires an unemployed guy...
As we come into the New Year it was a slow week for Formula 1. So slow that we thought it was time to introduce a new segment - "We Can't Believe They Got Paid for Writing That!" where we highlight some of the weak stories that Formula 1 journalists conjure up to desperately fill column inches during the off season.
Since it's slow, we also decided to use this week to take something out of the Bloke and A Bird Test Labs... Both of us have spent some time with the Olympus PEN-EPL6 micro-fourthirds camera, and we were impressed with what you get for such a low price.
We're back from our vacation, and take a quick look back at some of the stories from while we were gone.
Jenson Button is back on the market again after separating from his wife of - 1 year...
The BBC has ended it's contract to broadcast F1 on TV with the UK's Channel 4 stepping in to take their place.
Ferrari actually admits that they were afraid to take Red Bull on as a customer
Things are looking good for Monza to continue to host races
Mercedes isn't in a rush to renew Nico Rosberg's contract, and Roberto Mehri wants to become a paid driver...
This week we bring you our final show of 2015 - Patricia has decided it, even if she didn't share it before we started recording.
But as we head into the winter break, the work is still going on for the teams- they have to give their tire selections for Melbourne this week.
Sauber explains why they asked for an early payment from the prize fund, and Bernie says that Mercedes and Ferrari are ruining the sport...
And make sure you stick around all the way to the end for some final words from Toto Wolf... Trust us, it's worth it...
Well, as we expected there was quite a bit of news to wrap up the season.
Lotus and Renault have changed their Facebook status from "It's Complicated" to "Married"
Red Bull and Renault have changed their Facebook status from "It's Complicated" to "It's Even More Complicated"
Tag Heuer's no new stranger to rebranding engines
And we have to ask - just who is Monisha Keltenbourn talking to, and does she know that she's talking to them?
Finally we take a look at our predictions for the 2015 season - and the results surprised us...
Fast, furious, heart breaking, heart stopping, its Formula 1. Join us each week, even when there is no racing, as we take a look at the actors in the big show that is Formula 1.
When the racing is off and things are quiet in F1, we'll talk about other things that catch our attention, from travel to tech to product reviews, you never know what's in store during the off season.
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This is it, the last race weekend of the 2015 season, and going in to the weekend the important stuff has already been decided.
The F1 Commission has decided that Bernie and Jean's alternative engine proposal is a bad idea.
The race marshals have decided that Ferrari and Haas haven't violated the development restrictions.
Red Bull and Toro Rosso have decided on engines for 2016 - but apparently we're not allowed to know what the are...
And Ron Dennis has been talking but once again, do we really know what he means? For that matter, Fernando Alonso has been talking, and do we really know what he means?
As the season winds down, we wonder - where did Nico Rosberg's pace come from?
We try and sort out Massa's exclusion from Brazil, and figure out just how much Red Bull spends to be in F1.
So those guys who stole a bunch of Red Bull's trophies - they've been caught and are headed to jail. No word on what happened to the trophies that weren't found in that lake.
COTA and Texas may be about to get into a big huge fight - one that if COTA looses could be the end of F1 racing there.
Could there be a takeover of Manor in the works?
Red Bull will be on the grid - but still won't tell us what engine they'll be running.
Has Louis Hamilton written off the rest of the season?
And did you catch the antics of McLaren's drivers this weekend?
Every so often we have a show where everything clicks, and we stay focused and on topic... This week - was not one of those shows. You've been warned.
This week there's again "a fan on the track," Patricia drools over a few drivers, oh and there was a race last weekend in Mexico too...
