Formula 1 is Back, and 2010 is Go!
Whilst browsing through the available photographs for our required Free Practice schedule, we realised there are just too many good ones to narrow it down to one.
Instead, we’ve selected our ten favourite photographs from today in an F1 Minute special. Highlighting several moments that made the day fascinating, the photographs take you from posed portraits to raw speed out on track. Enjoy this F1 Big Picture – 2010 is Go Special.
- The Class of 2010 – every single driver who will be on the grid on Sunday poses for a photo.
- I’m Still Standing – Rubens prepares himself for the task ahead.
- Bruno Meet Bahrain – Bruno Senna, and Hispania Racing, make their Formula One debut.
- Let’s Get This Party Started – Lucas di Grassi is pleased to have got the weekend underway.
- Grumpy Old Men – Michael Schumacher gets used to the way F1 is now.
- Whole Lotta Laps for Liuzzi – Tonio gets plenty of running in for his first day of work in-season.
- With Finland Behind Him – Heikki flys the flag for Finland and gets off to a good start with Lotus.
- Glock ‘n Roll – Timo Glock holds off a Sauber. Probably not the last time he’ll have to do that.
- Many Massa Returns – Felipe makes a welcome return to the cockpit of the red car.
- The Boys are Back in Town – Smiling faces in the paddock, but how long will that last for?
I hope you enjoy this special set of Free Practice photos, look out for more F1 photo goodness as the season progresses.
How F1 Big Picture Covers a Grand Prix Weekend
Last year, we introduced an F1 Big Picture format for the week leading up to a Grand Prix event. It probably slipped under the radar, as we made that age old rookie mistake of not telling anyone about it. Now that we have this new-fangled blog section of F1 Minute, it’s about time I told you what we’re up to.
Instead of the usual news coverage that F1 Big Picture illustrates, the race build up begins on the Tuesday ahead of a race. The format goes something like this:
| Day | Subject | Brazil 2009 |
|---|---|---|
| Tuesday | History | Taking the Title |
| Wednesday | Last Year | New Colours for Final Send Off |
| Thursday | Atmosphere | Downtown São Paulo |
| Friday | Free Practice | The Lesser Spotted Seb |
| Saturday | Qualifying | A Qualified Disaster |
| Sunday | Race | 2009 World Champions |
We fully intend to keep this format up, and hope that you enjoy our coverage of each and every Grand Prix this year.
Celebrating Kimi’s Arctic Run
Over the past two days, Finnish favourite Kimi Raikkonen has been brushing up his rallying skills and taking part in the Arctic Rally. He didn’t have an easy ride, managing to collide with a tree and end up quite a bit slower than his teammate, but I think it’s fair to say he has potential.
Combine Kimi Raikkonen, with some ice and snow and throw in a Red Bull photographer, and you end up with some stunning imagery. Although not technically F1 anymore, we were keen to highlight some of the best images from the event, and so we’ve picked our ten best for this F1 Big Picture – Kimi Special.
- Happy For a New Challenge – Kimi poses in front of his new car, ready for the rallying still to be done.
- Keeping a Roof Over His Head – He certainly looks different in the car, and it’s a whole new style of racing.
- Something in the Air – It’s fair to say that the Arctic Rally was sometimes a bit a dark and often pretty cold. Rather him than me!
- As Cold as Ice – You have to have nerves of steel to race across the snowy path, winding your way through (or around) the trees.
- Out of the Limelight – The rally scene is completely different to F1, which is probably exactly why Kimi chose it!
- Raging Bull – With a relaxed and friendly team like Red Bull behind him, Kimi can concentrate on what he does best – driving fast.
- Taking the Rough With the Smooth – Some of the scenery surrounding the Arctic Rally is pretty breathtaking, particularly as we’re so used to the dull grey of F1 circuits.
- Comfort Zone – Although sometimes pausing for thought, Kimi looked more happy than I’ve ever seen him during the entire two day stint.
- You Can’t Fit Quicker – There’s still plenty of room for the mechanics to get involved though, particularly when your car meets a tree at high speed.
- White Riot – To sum up, throw Kimi into a car with some ice and snow and a co-pilot, and he seems to be the happiest driver around.
I don’t know what the photography will be like when the WRC starts officially, but I’m hoping we can feature some more Kimi pictures in the future.
Best of F1 Big Picture 2009
The middle of January is a little late for end of year round ups and season reviews, but in our defence, F1 Minute has only just acquired a blog section in which to put content such as this.
F1 Big Picture started back in January 2009, and managed to cover the entire of last season in picture format. Every day Formula 1 photographers traipse the globe capturing the fastest cars and the most important events with their gigantic lenses. With so many fabulous images taken throughout the course of last year, we wanted to collect together our favourites as a reminder of season we experienced.
- Mark Webber in Training – An unusual sight to see an F1 driver in the water.
- Ron Dennis Attends Paris Exhibition – The bow tie says he means business
- Lewis Hamilton Tests in Jerez – Jerez blue is like no other blue in F1
- Robserg Behind the Wheel – A wide-angled lens captures this stunning action shot
- Keep Your Enemies Closer – It’s hugs all around before the season gets serious
- Three Abreast – A rare shot of some side-by-side action
- Crossing the Line – The camera doesn’t lie, but you’d swear that Renault was slower
- Racing Underground – You know it must sound awesome
- Kimi Turns a Corner – Gucci, Monaco, Ferrari
- On Reflection – Button overshadows Vettel, on track and off
- About as Far Away From Paris as You Can Get – Now you can visualise the circuit
- Spot the Ball – Football adds some much need colour to the mix
- The Focus of Attention – If he was as fast as he is photogenic
- Who’s on Pole? – It’s hard to express confusion with a helmet on
- The Only Way Is Up – Eau Rouge as you’ve never seen it before
- Smile Like You Mean It – Who doesn’t miss the Formula Unas?
- United Colours of Barrichello – He’s a colourful chap
- Low Down with Low Downforce – A lovely overhead shot with two drivers vying for position
- On Your Bike – Possibly the only team boss to join in fitness training?
- Looking For a Comfortable Seat – It’s tough to find a good picture of Bobby K, this one of them
- Bright Lights, Big City – Singapore offers the most picturesque views of the year
- Four Peas in a Pitlane – Black Eyed Peas do provide the best headlines
- Explain That One – Lee McKenzie is usually found off camera
- Something Borrowed, Something Blue – Favourite headline of the year
- Scuderia Amongst the Shadows – A strong contender for best photograph of the year
- Hi Ho Silverstone – Confirmation of a British Grand Prix in 2010 closes out the season in style
We hope you enjoyed that belated trip down memory lane. F1 Big Picture will continue to document the 2010 season, and we look forward to you joining us for the ride.
The Future of F1 Minute Video
Last week, for a period of five days, F1 Minute trialled a new service dubbed F1 Minute Video. The idea was to look into ways of building upon the current daily audio show format and to judge audience reaction.
The feedback received was overwhelmingly positive. Whether from comments here, or on other sites, it looks like the concept translated well. We had originally envisaged running the trial for more than a week, but we’ve halted the project temporarily in order to improve a number of areas.
Upscaling
The production workflow was always envisaged to be a high definition workflow. Original footage is filmed in HD, and the graphics are created for HD resolutions. Sadly high definition Formula 1 footage is few and far between at the moment, and upscaling existing SD footage is both time consuming and imperfect. We’re actively looking into solving this issue though and there will be more trials relating to this in the future.
Formatting
F1 Minute isn’t necessarily tied to a daily format, it was just the most obvious step up from the current daily format to investigate. We’re keen to see what else might work, and how we might handle events during the course of a race weekend. At the moment, the audio show runs five days a week during the off season, and seven days a week when races occur. That’s a lot of video editing to consider, when there’s only two people working on the project.
Sponsoring
The production time involved in creating the daily video was greater than we estimated. There are many ways to reduce the amount of work involved, some to the detriment of the project and some not so. Primarily though, if we want to ensure the show remains some form of regularity it will require additional financial input that we don’t yet have. Traditionally there are a number of solutions to this problem, from offering a subscription package to finding some form of show sponsorship. As far as we’re aware, there are no other services like this online or offline, and currently the content is produced to a broadcast standard. Whether or not there is enough demand for such a service is open to question.
This post was intended as a means of keeping everybody in the loop, and offer a chance to say thank you to everyone who took an interest in the first video trial. We’ve already learnt a lot, and we’ll need to learn a lot more, so we intend there to be more trials before the start of the 2010 season, albeit perhaps in a more ad-hoc fashion.
We’ll keep you posted.
Number of the Beast
Hello there, F1 Minute now has a blog. It’s become apparent over the last year or so that we’re missing a place to talk about behind the scenes stuff for F1 Minute – a place for admin, if you will. Sidepodcast sometimes features F1 Minute items, including the introduction of the Big Picture, and an anniversary or two.
It’s clear that Sidepodcast wouldn’t want to feature the latest milestone – episode 666! Traditionally a number representing all things devilish, and an episode all about Flav. Enough said.
With that in mind, here is F1 Minute’s brand new blog. It’ll be an occasional thing, only when there’s something worth saying that doesn’t fit into the podcast itself. I have quite an opener for you.
Over Christmas, we’ve been working on the idea of F1 Minute video. Similar to the minute’s worth of audio content you get every day, the video brings an added visual element to proceedings. We’re running a bit behind, because creating brand new video shows is not easy, but the first show is up and available for you to view now.
It’s really just a concept at the moment, but we are working on more videos as we like creating new stuff. There’s a dedicated feed available, and we have submitted it to iTunes, although Apple are a law unto themselves when they decide to approve feeds and put them in the store.
As ever, feedback is very much appreciated, and we’ll keep you updated with our plans as we go along.
