This week Podium or Pits is written by Benson Jammichello, bravely taking over the mantle relinquished (for one week only) by Tess Tarossa. So without further ado let's descend further into the gossiping, frivolous and funny world of F1...
Art in F1 - Some may say art is watching some of the world's finest drivers pilot their cars round stunning circuits in beautiful scenery. Other's don't.
So, for those naysayers, Force India have spotted a gap in the market and got involved.
Should have got Tony Hart to do it
The car is the VJM01-05, which Giancarlo Fisichella drove in 16 races during 2008 .The artist, Dexter Brown, has been involved in car art for thirty years and they're auctioning it for charity later this year.
Get ready to bid, Badgers!
Ken Blocked - A man wants to drive an F1 car. A group with an F1 car want him to drive it. Tricky? You'd have thought not, wouldn't you?
Not so for Craig Normansell's man crush Ken Block. Pirelli want him to test an F1 car with them in August, but have had to think about how it might work after finding that his legs were too long, meaning he couldn't turn the steering wheel.
One Pirelli employee Badger spoke to said they were thinking of modifying the car "along the lines of an old sock", with the aim of "allowing Ken's toes, feet, and even legs if necessary to poke out of the nose cone." It's not yet known how the FIA will respond.
At great expense, Badger has mocked up an artist's impression of what this might have looked like:
Ken didn't really know what was going on, but was kind enough to pose for a photo
Sponsorship - A small business from Hove, East Sussex, has won the chance to have its company name on the McLaren cars at Silverstone.
Now, the release Badger has seen doesn't say where the logo will be - something we'd be checking on as a matter of urgency. For example, "under the front wing on the left hand side facing the floor" doesn't seem like prime advertising space to us.
Apparently they're backing McLaren for the win. Not terribly surprising.
Jacques Villeneuve - Honestly, just go away and don't come back. Race some sportscars, drive touring cars, we don't care, no one else cares, just go into retirement gracefully.
Remarriage - We heard earlier this week that Renault are to supply engines to Williams during the 2012 and 2013 season. This sounds good to Badger - we like tradition.
However, what we like more is the idea that it might lead to a return to Mansellesque moustaches. If there was a god of F1 and if we were the praying kind, we'd be down on our knees in a shot.
Misleading headlines - While looking for stonking material to bring you in POP, we found this: Dozens Arrested in Hamilton Crackdown
What's this we thought? An FIA ruse to stop Hamilton racing? Have the fashion police finally got involved? Has his stylist been locked up?
No. Apparently there's crime in New Zealand and the police want it to end. Stop the presses.
Comments and Discussion
YES!!! I knew it wasn't just me who had a disturbing obsession with Mansell's moustache.
Re Mansellesque moustaches: If it's any consolation, Alonso was
sporting quite the bit of facial hair earlier this year. Since Mansell
also raced for Ferrari, I thought there was a certain hairy
connection.
And how can you praise the Williams-Renault remarriage and yet bash
their offspring, World Champion Villenueve? His opinions may be a tad
weird, but hey, they are quite entertaining and refreshing. And we
will never forget the 1997 European Grand Prix in Jerez! Long live
Villeneuve, I say.
Villenueve is the only straight talking driver, apart from Hamilton. Getting his in the stewards office might give us some racing instead of penalties being dished out whenever one car gets within a foot of another one.
Yes I always Villeneuve was alright but some of the interviews in the last couple of weeks have not done him any favour and I know think he is an idiot.
He said all the races these days are boring and all the rules are ruining the sport and making it boring, so boring that he and I quote "falls asleep"! Yes there maybe be rules people don't like but I wouldn't say it made the sport boring, look at Canada and China, both down to the wire.
"Craig Normansell's man crush Ken Block" - accurate journalism as ever Benson.
As for block If the fia have a say i can't imagine they will be happy with that at all!..... I mean seriously, we all knew toyota were cutting back on their formula one program but did that thing even pass the crash tests before they shipped it off to pirelli?
On the subject of tyres though how did bridgestone test when they were the sole supplier? Surely they didn't build a car every 2 years like pirelli are suggesting that they basicly need to?
Gotta agree on villeneuve the only reason he's saying it's boring is because no one would give him a drive, I'm sure the teams will be clambering over each other to get him now that he's told us he falls asleep during races. You only have to watch the bbc highlights from last years races and compare them to their counterparts this year to see the races are ALOT better and jacques simply bought a basket of sour grapes. Also Saying hamilton would be great if he could pair his talent with a brain shows you why jacques left the sport with his own team laughing at him.
Fairly typical for the 'Tron' to be in the headlines for criminal activity. Hamilton is the butt of many a joke in this country! Surpised you didn't have a dig about the V8 Supercar round there each year.