July 05, 2011

F1 on TV!: Britian 2011

If Monaco is the glamorous soul of Formula 1, and Monza the basic essence of Formula 1, Silverstone Circuit, home to the 2011 British Grand Prix, is Formula 1's beating heart.  Let's take a look at this, the track where the very first official F1 race was held:

There's been some changes made since that bright day in 1950 when Giuseppi Farina brought his Alfa Romeo 158 across the line for the first ever F1 victory.  Heck, there's been some changes since last year, when they debuted the new "Arena Circuit".  Take a look:

You see the change?  They've moved the start/finish line!  Before, Copse was Turn 1, now Turn 1 is Abbey, which leads into the new part of the layout.  Of course, they've moved the pit lane and the speed trap as well.  Actually, moving the speed trap makes sense: it's now at the fastest part of the track, the Hangar Straight, just before braking for Stowe.  It'll be a bit confusing now, I expect.  For years, you came out of Woodcote, one of the faster turns in F1, for the blast to the finish line... now you're coming out of Club, which is not one of the faster turns in F1.  Copse used to be the best first turn in F1 save for Spa's La Source.  Now it's the "just" the lead-in for my favorite sequence of turns: Maggots-Becketts-Chapel.  I'd kill to have a good camera and a position right where the number "13" is located on the 2011 track map... oh, the pictures one could take.

But I digress... and I note that I'm accidentally repeating my comments from last year's F1 on TV! entry for Silverstone.  That's the problem with this sort of preview... I've been doing it for nearly six years, eventually you run out of original things to say about a circuit.

Well, the Legendary Announce Team is paid to say original things!  They'll be bringing us their usual sterling coverage of the race weekend, starting off with Friday's 1st Practice session, streaming on speedtv.com from 4am to 530am.  P2 will be live on SPEED itself from 8am to 940am.

Saturday brings us streaming coverage of P3 from 4am to 5am, leading up to the live broadcast of Quals on SPEED, airing from 7am to 830am.

Finally, the race itself will be on your local FOX affiliate from 11am to 1pm.  All times are Pond Central, of course, so add a hour for those of you who live in Jersey, subtract one hour for people who live on top of the Rocky Mountains, and take away two hours for those of you near the Pacific Ocean.

Of course F1U! will be proving that you don't have to be witty or clever to provide writeups about a Formula 1 race weekend!  See you then!

Posted by: Wonderduck at 09:14 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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1 Speaking of Monaco, I can't wait to see your thoughts on a particular motoring show's recently-aired visit there...

(I believe my exact words were, "Holy crap, Wonderduck is going to have a FIELD DAY with this!")

Posted by: GreyDuck at July 05, 2011 09:46 PM (7lMXI)

2 Is it just me, or does the very mild curve shown between Stowe and Vale in the old image look a little different in the 2011 layout? Are they going to guide the cars to different areas of the old tarmac this time around?

Posted by: Will at July 05, 2011 10:05 PM (9JOC+)

3 GD, I suppose I'll be doing something something eventually, yes.  Heh.

Will, I think it's merely the FIA's artwork.  Unsure about that, though.

Posted by: Wonderduck at July 05, 2011 10:25 PM (tm3b1)

4 Hi WD, thought I'd check in for my home GP! The new start/finish line is *really* confusing, I watch the Moto GP race at Silverstone about a month ago, and I just couldn't get a handle on it for several laps. Getting there now.
Not going to make it to the GP itself this year, but I am due to go and check out the new circuit in September for the Sportscar race there, really looking forwards to seeing all the new bits and taking far too many photos

Posted by: flotsky at July 06, 2011 01:22 AM (hO6fm)

5

I've always loved watching the Silverstone race.  :-)

(When will the races go back to SPEED?)

 

Posted by: Mallory at July 06, 2011 04:33 PM (WJ2qy)

6 Flotsky, you old reprobate!  You do know you're welcome here at any time, right?  Miss ya, ya bum!

Mal, FOX gets four races a year... so after the GBGP, they'll do Germany and then they'll be out of our hair for the rest of the year.

Posted by: Wonderduck at July 06, 2011 06:32 PM (3tp4g)

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