Welcome to our Formula One 2013 preview week on The Lowdown Blog. This week is dedicated to getting you up to speed for this season with our annual F1 preview. We’ll have the usual examination of rules changes, team and driver outlooks and my predictions for the upcoming season. First, is a roundup of some news that we haven’t talked about yet on the blog. Continue reading
Sports
Formula One: 2013 2nd Barcelona Test Recap
This past weekend was the final pre-season test ahead of the 2013 Formula One World Championship. Once again, the teams returned to the Circuit de Catalunya for one final tune-up before the season-opening Australian Grand Prix which was only two weeks after the conclusion of the test.
So who would enter the new season with the momentum from a strong showing in the final test?
Formula One: 2013 1st Barcelona Test Recap
As per usual, the Formula One circuit will run a pair of pre-season tests at the Circuit de Catalunya near Barcelona, Spain. While it’s not the first test of the year, it’s the first one that teams and driver will use to properly gauge how they stand heading into the season. That’s because the teams will spend two weeks in February and March here but also a weekend in May for the Spanish Grand Prix.
Formula One: 2013 Jerez Test Recap
Formula One is back in action for another year with the start of pre-season testing. The first of 2013’s tests was at Spain’s Jerez Circuit which doesn’t host a race on the Grand Prix calendar so the teams and drivers weren’t putting much stock in the results. In fact, Fernando Alonso couldn’t even be bothered to show up to this test. That didn’t mean that Ferrari wasn’t fast last week, though. Continue reading
Could F1 Be Down to 18 Races This Year?
No sooner did my monthly F1 news recap go live than news broke that the German Grand Prix could be off the calendar. Bernie Ecclestone told the German newspaper Spiegel that he and the bosses at the Nurburgring could not come to an agreement that was “financially acceptable” so negotiations had been terminated.
The Nurburgring went into administration (the European equivalent of bankruptcy) last year. However, being tight on funds looks to have resulted in the circuit being unable to pay Bernie’s more than likely exorbitant sanctioning fee to host the race this year. Continue reading
F1 January News Roundup: Teams Already Gearing Up For 2014
The covers haven’t been taken off the cars for the 2013 Formula One World Championship and teams are already working on their engines and cars for 2014. With a big rules change coming in 2014 with the turbocharged V6 engines and increased emphasis on KERS, there is an opportunity for all teams to capitalize and vault to the front of the grid. Continue reading
Manti T’eo Link-Off: We’re Not Faking It
As we are wont to do when there’s a big news story with a lot of info floating around the internet, we’re dedicating a special link-dump to cover the recent breaking story about Manti Te’o’s fake girlfriend. We’ve gathered some of the most informative news pieces and best columns about this story into this handy post.
Since Lennay Kekua isn’t a real person, we don’t actually have a picture to start this post with. So we’re running with that picture to the right as the next best thing.
First, here’s the in-depth Deadspin investigation by Jack Dickey and Tim Burke that launched this story. (Deadspin)
My Team’s Jumbotron Is Biggah Than Your-ahs: A Comparison of NFL Jumbotrons (Infographic)
No, I’m not trying to do a Tommy From Quiznee thing with that headline. I just thought it worked for the football theme of the post. With the NFL down to the final four teams, I though that this was as good a time as any to look at the jumbotrons of the NFL. With the Houston Texans planning to install 277 foot wide screens next season, they’ll have the biggest video screens in the league.
For a complete comparison of the video screens of the NFL, we have this handy infographic. Continue reading
Join The 2013 Lowdown Blog Fantasy Hockey Pool
It’s time once again for the annual Lowdown Blog Fantasy Hockey Pool. We’ve created our fantasy hockey league over on the TSN/ESPN fantasy website. It’s a public pool so anyone can join. As with last year, if we run out of space in the first pool, we’ll create a second one. It’s a head-to-head league with the winner of each match-up based on winning the most of the nine categories (G, A, +/-, PIM, SOG, STP [Special Teams Points], Wins, GAA, SV%) in play kinda like the old Yahoo pools we all used to play. Each team has 20 roster spots with nine forwards, four defensemen and two goalies starting each night.
The autopick draft takes place at 5:00 AM Thursday, January 17, so sign up now and set your picks.
Click here to go to The Lowdown Blog Fantasy Hockey League.
The first league has filled up. We’ve added a second pool which is a points pool. It’s draft is at 5:00 AM on Friday.
Click here to go to the second Lowdown Blog Fantasy Hockey Pool.
F1 December News Roundup: Prepping For 2013
During the off-season, we’ll be doing periodic updates of the goings on in Formula One. With the recent announcement of F1’s rules for 2013 and 2014 and the ongoing discussion as to what, if anything, will replace the postponed New Jersey Grand Prix, there hasn’t been a shortage of news. Bernie has also been talking about the current team lineup and decided that F1 doesn’t need 13 teams. He thinks ten is enough.
First, though, I’ve been giving some thought to the McLaren driver situation. At first, I thought signing Sergio Perez was swapping Hamilton with someone aggressive and fast enough to be Hamilton-esque. After some thought, I think Perez’s driving style could mesh enough with Jenson Button that he could be a bigger threat to win the title than his more experienced teammate. Continue reading
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