by Tess Tarossa on Sep 1st, 2011

This week Podium or Pits gets a bit angry with Red Bull, F1 descends into celebdom, Jenson takes to the streets of Manchester, and Bernie Sprog Watch is back!

Red Bull - I know, I know, the Red Bull team should probably have a podium for their impressive 1-2 finish at Spa last weekend.  But it turns out that they seriously risked the lives of their two drivers by fitting them with potentially dangerous tyres.  "Pirelli were telling us after qualifying that our tyres were very marginal and they wouldn't say whether it was after half a lap or five laps, but they were going to fail ... I have to say it was one of the scariest races I've been involved in, it was heart-in-the-mouth stuff" said Red Bull technical chief Adrian Newey.

How did this happen?  The Red Bulls blistered their tyres in qualifying due to, according to Pirelli, an overly-aggressive set-up (excessive camber - camber is the angle of the tyres on the car when you look at them from the front-end).  This made them potentially dangerous, which is why the Red Bulls pitted suspiciously early.  Red Bull asked for new tyres prior to the race, but this request was refused by race director Charlie Whiting, as it had been their fault - so they were left with either adding tyre pressure and stopping early (which they did), or by reducing the camber and starting from the pit lane.  Regardless, having just re-watched Grand Prix: The Killer Years (link works for UK users only), and all the horrendous deaths that happened at Spa, POP feels pretty damn angry with Red Bull for being so win-hungry as to risk their drivers' lives.  Poor sportsmanship.

Celeb F1 - there's no escaping it these days ... the (literally) insane world of "Celebrity" has now well and truly collided with the world of F1.  Lewis Hamilton will be appearing alongside Sarah Jessica Parker (of Sex & the City fame) and Adele (the brilliantly foul-mouthed singer) for Jonathan Ross' new show, handily titled the 'Jonathan Ross Show'.  Creative thinking there ITV.  Watch the trailer (possibly featuring the castle from Monty Python's The Holy Grail) below!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exhGexfcp6o&feature=player_embedded

Bernie Sprog Watch - this week's BSW (Bernie Sprog Watch) features a wedding, ooh!  His youngest daughter, Petra, 22, got married on Saturday in a fairytale Italian castle wedding - but Bernie still managed to make it to the Belgian grand prix on Sunday!  POP bets Bernie had a killer hangover headache for the race ... from the £5 million price tag for the nuptials!  The wine alone cost £1 million.  Yes, definitely a hangover then.

F1 events - There were 55,000 lucky Mancunians (that is, folk from Manchester) who saw Jenson Button drive his McLaren along the streets of the city on Monday.  Click here to watch the video.  Via Twitter Jenson said this of the event:

Thanks for all your tweets regarding The Manchester demo today.. Think we might have to do more demos around the UK!

All POP can say is yes, yes please - more F1 events!  Preferably in London, many thanks in advance.

Jenson Button - POP loves you, Jenson, but you've really got to work on your negotiating skills.  He said this on Monday of his hopes to stay with McLaren next season, "all Martin [Whitmarsh, McLaren team principal] has got to do is say 'yes' and I will say 'yes' because I want to be here next year".  No, no, no, no ....!  If you want to stay somewhere, and have even a smidgen of hope of negotiating a decent pay packet, the golden rule is never say expressly that you want to stay - especially not to the world's press.  Whitmarsh will sign him, of course, but mark POP's words, Jenson has kissed goodbye to any pay rise for 2012.