Major changes to the makeup of the grid set the tone for a promising 2015 Formula One season. Two World Champions have opted to switch teams in order to reinvigorate their careers following lacklustre results last year. Fernando Alonso returns to a team he almost destroyed back in 2007, while Sebastian Vettel makes a clean break from the team and personnel that have been responsible for his F1 success to date.

If you’re not a fan of Kindle-shaped reading products, never fear! The iBooks edition of the Pocket F1 Handbook: Guide to the 2014 Grand Prix Season has arrived. The book contains all the driver and team profiles, rules and regulations updates, and circuit information that you’re going to need for the upcoming Formula One season, and has the iBooks bonus of easier navigation and better-looking tables. So, if you own an Apple device, be it phone, tablet or desktop, there’s no excuse not to get your hands on a copy of the Pocket F1 Handbook. You can download a handy sample to preview the book before you buy, but snap it up soon. There are only nine days left to the start of the 2014 season, so you can swot up on all you need to know before the action gets underway in Australia next week.

To celebrate the release of the latest Guide to the 2014 Grand Prix Season, the previous two editions have been reduced in price, allowing you to complete your Pocket F1 Handbook collection. The Pocket guides have been previewing the last three seasons of Formula One, featuring all the information you need to know about drivers, teams, rules and regulations, plus bonus extra content in each edition of the book.

The 2014 F1 season promises to be a dramatic one, a time of regeneration and modernisation that more than anything else guarantees to be unpredictable. With an overhaul in the regulations, a raft of driver and personnel movements, plus a handful of new races to challenge all, it is set to be an eventful year in motor sport. Defending champions Red Bull field a revised driver line-up, but they are far from alone. All teams bar Marussia and Mercedes have at least one new face behind the wheel. The regulations too create their own special kind of chaos, with new turbo engines, fuel limits, plus a raft of aerodynamic tweaks to challenge the most experienced of engineers.

This book, the first of three that he wrote, gives an insight into how the Professor got to his position, what kind of activities he got up to during his time in F1, as well as thoughts on various aspects of the sport from a position as a fan, and as a doctor. A big part of the book is detailing some of the huge accidents that Watkins dealt with, and the aftermath of such. Whether it was a tragic and fatal crash, such as Ratzenberger or Villeneuve, or one that the participant walked away from, Sid talks of them with the same clinical descriptions youíd expect from a doctor.

It’s probably prudent to separate the F1 fan and the film fan in me apart. As a follower of F1, I thought it did a good job of putting across the story to non-fans, and was a good attempt at being interesting to people who don’t give two hoots about the sport. Having said that, the racing scenes got a little repetitive and didn’t exactly inspire. F1 is complicated and it’s hard to tell the story of a season in just a few short sequences.

Every Formula One season tells a story. A continuing saga, a sporting soap opera, it dates back to the inauguration of the World Championship in 1950 and even before that. At the same time, each and every year, the slate is wiped clean and both drivers and teams are given the chance to impress all over again. This book will guide you through the 2013 season, visiting each event in turn to see how the year unfolded, and how events wound their way towards the season-closing race in Brazil. From the early anticipation of brand new rookie drivers, to the closing stages with familiar faces on the podium, you’ll revisit the highs and lows of another page added to F1’s illustrious and often controversial history.

It’s been a while since I took one full week off work, but that’s what I did this past week, and boy did I pack in the activities! Wednesday and Thursday last week, Mr C and I went to Silverstone to watch some F1 cars while they were testing. We shared photos along the way via Twitter, and then gathered everything up at the end of the day in a dedicated post on Sidepodcast. Here are links to those posts, because I really like how creative we got with the photos and think it’s worth sharing - if you haven’t seen it already.

Rush And thus, my Formula One world collides with my Film Watch world again. This looks like a pretty solid effort, I’ve been watching Ron Howard tweet about it for what seems like forever. Thankfully, it’s all about to get going and we’ll be able to watch the results soon.

This year, the Pocket F1 Handbook is spreading its wings and launching on more than just Amazon reading apps and devices. The Guide to the 2013 F1 Season is now available on the Apple iBookstore, making it available to an iDevice near you. If you prefer your books to have a more standard viewing experience, and the ability to update faster, the iBookstore option may be the one for you.

Formula One begins a brand new season, with a lot to live up to. The action in 2012 surprised, delighted and thrilled fans with a host of different winners, a successful return to the United States and a championship fight that went right down to the wire. With Red Bull and Sebastian Vettel securing their third driver and constructor championships in a row, the challenge of trying to beat them is ever-present. Lewis Hamilton’s high-profile move to Mercedes will be a key factor in that team’s fortunes, as they attempt to move forward and join the intense battle at the front. Look out also for Ferrari and McLaren who will both be keen to halt Red Bull’s run of success.

This book was recommended and loaned to me in physical format, meaning I’ve read it in gradual stages at work, as it was quite a hefty hardback and I didn’t want to lug it back and forth. The tale inside is an incredible one though, with great insight into the troubles that Nigel Mansell faced trying to get his career off the ground. From near bankruptcy, through some horrific injuries, and then the steady progress towards the F1 World Championship, it’s all documented in great detail, and honesty.

Last time I checked, the new Formula One season was still something like 80+ days away. The beautiful off-season stretched luxuriously ahead of us and there was all the time in the world to knuckle down to some projects. Then I blinked. Now there are 20 days left. That’s like, three weeks. The off season is all but over and what do I have to show for it? Well, actually, I have a book. I wrote a new book all about the upcoming season. We’ve publicised it all over the place, but if you haven’t heard about it yet, do check it out - Pocket F1 Handbook: Guide to the 2012 Grand Prix Season

Formula One enters its 63rd year in 2012, with a packed grid of 24 drivers, 12 passionate teams, and a calendar bursting at the seams with 20 races across the globe. Pitting brand new drivers against returning faces and defending champions against title hunters, the sport will cross five continents in nine gruelling months to discover who is the best of the best. By year’s end we will see a driver and constructor champion crowned, and learn who can handle the pressure and who needs to return to the drawing board.

Matchett’s three books follow distinct paths - the first an entire year with a championship winning team and the third a look at how to put together a fast race car. This second book focuses on life as part of the pit crew. From getting the job, through winning and losing as a team, to desperately trying to get out, the book expands on its predecessor with more experiences from the F1 paddock.

Life in the Fast Lane guides us through one single year in the company of Steve Matchett as mechanic for the championship-winning Benetton team. There are plenty of highs and lows to be covered through the year, though, as 1994 was one of the most tragic and troublesome seasons Formula One has ever seen. Matchett covers all the difficulties surrounding Michael Schumacher and a black flag, he talks candidly about the refuelling flash fire that occurred on Jos Verstappen’s car, and briefly touches upon Ayrton Senna’s death. As Steve quite rightly says, that race in Imola was just too personal to go into too much detail.

For those of us that watched the 2007 season, we already know how this story ends, but Hamilton uses his journalistic skills to delve behind the headlines we might have already seen and find out what made those involved make some of the decisions they did. It’s a remarkably unbiased piece of writing, considering the high emotions and questionable actions detailed along the way, and there are no significant conclusions drawn at the end. That’s by no means a bad thing, the book simply gives the reader the tools to make their own judgement.

Bower was alongside Ecclestone as he meandered through the Monaco Grand Prix last year, and that is where the biography begins, following Bernie as he hobnobs with the rich and famous. It’s a jarring way to begin the story, a first chapter filled with assumed knowledge and irrelevant characters. As a glimpse of Bernie’s presumably hectic and celebrity filled life, it does the job, but as a reader, it is about as off putting as a first chapter can be.

Recently, I have talked a lot about writing. I talked about the process of doing it: I’m quite lucky in that what I’m doing has specific sections so I know how far I am through it. Seeing the percentage creep up each day is really motivating, although the days when it stays the same is less so. It’s also good to say, when I get to this percentage then I can have a reward. I haven’t decided what my reward should be for finishing the whole thing. Maybe cake.

A while ago, Mr C compiled a list of things you cannot podcast near to, and they are (including but not limited to): near train stations in windy locations anywhere close to police or fire stations next door to noisy neighbours in an owl sanctuary Owls are a surprisingly common problem. A week or so ago, I offered a throwaway comment on Sidepodcast, suggesting if we had the funding, we would build a bunker and never come out. I think that was actually a reaction to some traffic based issues, but the more I think about it, the more this seems like a good idea for noise issues as well.

This week’s episode of LOST (don’t worry, no spoilers here) wasn’t the rip-roaring ride we’ve had recently with Richard and Desmond. It was good, but it was more of a transitional piece to get all the characters in the right place for whatever is to come in the final episodes. That is fine by me. Sometimes you need a break from the mind-blowing awesomeness - a breather to gather your thoughts. Not that we have many thoughts. We love watching the show, but instantly turn to Vozzek’s recaps so he can point out all the things we missed. (There will be spoilers in there.)

Being an F1 fan, it would be impossible not to want to read a book by the legendary commentator. I managed to get my hands on a copy and settled down with interest. Unfortunately, I found it quite slow going. Half the book is taken up with his previous life as an advertising executive, which is somewhat interesting. The rest is a whistle stop tour through his life as an F1 broadcaster.

FKM will be on TF1 tomorrow in France to talk about the first ever Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi. The race will be interesting as it is also the first twilight GP, and looks like it might be an interesting one. He’ll be on at 13:55 French time. I don’t have access to the channel, but yay for Mr M anyways!

I really enjoyed this film, despite its obvious flaws and that really awful supposedly French accent. There were laugh out loud moments which make up for some of the bad points, and it was a good story with a happy ending. What’s not to like?

Another reason print is dead (to me). Once a month, F1 Racing falls through my letterbox on a Saturday morning at 8am with a massive clonk and wakes me up. PDFs do not do this.

A quick shout out to current Formula 1 driver Heikki Kovalainen, who remembered Franck whilst being quizzed by F1.com. The Ask the Expert feature puts tricky questions to F1 drivers, with the subjects being loosely associated with their lives. Heikki also managed to get the highest score of the ten or so drivers quizzed so far. He is officially now a friend of the site.

First, I have to preface this entire blog post with the fact that writing for BellaOnline was an honour. I am grateful that they selected me to write for the site, and I learnt a lot from the experience. I was signed up at the very end of January 2007, and have written for them for just over two years. Just a few days ago, I resigned from my site, and am no longer writing for them. My articles are still available on the Formula One section of BellaOnline but only until they are overwritten by the next editor. (I haven’t decided what to do with them yet.)

When we met up with some like-minded F1 fans at the Science Museum in London, the conversation spilled over into the pub and into the evening hours. One of the topics that really got me thinking was how we define sport. I don’t remember how we got onto the subject, but I imagine it had something to do with our suggestion that if F1 goes down a particular route with the regulations, we’d probably prefer to watch darts instead. That leads to: Is darts a sport?

Today, the BBC announced exactly how they plan to cover the 2009 Formula 1 World Championship, after the sport returns to the channel after 12 years. The press release promises the coverage is the “most comprehensive in the history of the sport”, and capitalises on red button facilities, and the online platform. The idea behind the coverage is for it to be as customisable as possible, with fans getting the choice between in-car cameras, split screen action, a choice between TV or radio commentary, and plenty of live action on the website.

Whilst it is the norm to not even open presents until Christmas Day, nothing about me is normal. That would explain why I bought the present for myself, wrapped it, gave it to myself during a live stream of a party, and have now finished up with the present already. You know how it is. The gift I bought myself was the Mega Bloks Vodafone McLaren Mercedes Pit Stop - a lego alternative that comes complete with pit wall, F1 car and driver.

Whilst the demise of Super Aguri is both sad and a seemingly interminable story, the highlight of reading the articles for me, is the odd mention of Franck. He drove for SA briefly in 2006, replacing Yuji Ide and being replaced by Sakon Yamamoto. Montagny was third driver initially, and got the chance as the FIA believed Ide wasn’t necessarily experienced enough to be a full driver. Franck raced for seven races, with the results:

Mevio Dumps PodShow Name & Distances Itself From User-Generated Content Never believed in user generated content?? That is an untruth if ever I heard one. Willis to play Murray Walker in F1 biopic? This is beyond bizarre. Our Videos at One Year: Facts and Figures More lovely statistics. Major oil pipeline to close down Don’t.Panic.Buy

In a recent interview with Ed Gorman at The Times Online, BBC 5live pit reporter Holly Samos talks about her scariest moment in the heart of the action. The pits are a dangerous place so you have to have your wits about you. One of my scariest moments was when I was about midway down the pitlane talking with a photographer. Franck Montagny, who was driving for Super Aguri at the time, went past us, and, just as he did so, his steering snapped and he brushed the pitwall. My photographer friend and I looked at each other as we realised that if he’d gone the other way he could have crashed into us.

What have I let myself in for? So, Blogathon 2006 begins and I find myself sitting in front of my laptop, tucked away at my desk, looking forward to the coming hours. When I woke up this morning, I was concerned at the shiny, bright weather outside the window, and that perhaps I would be missing out by staying only half an hour’s distance from my laptop. Now it is pouring with rain and I am not bothered.

I had to think for a while about this one. It was a quiet day for a lot of the drivers. I don’t remember even hearing Webber’s name, Alonso kept his head down at the front, Button had a quiet day until Coulthard overtook him. The main focus was on Schumacher, desperate to catch up to the front, and Villeneuve, as it was his home race. Either way, I was going to put Raikkonen down as my driver of the day, because he did a superb job of holding back Mr S, that is, until the last minute when he had an issue with a chicane. Regardless of whether it was his fault or not, letting the red car flash past is an unforgiveable action.

Got to be Alonso, hasn’t it? And at the end, when Schumacher was being a complete ass, and sulkily pushed the camera out of the way, Fernando’s cheery and accommodating personality shone through and showed the older man up.

Well, today’s race took a turn for the better - not so much frustrating as boring, really. However, Schumacher didn’t win, so that makes everything alright. Button was rubbish, but at the moment I expect nothing less. Have you seen those adverts on the television at the moment for Mars? They’re in support of the World Cup and telling everyone that to win, we need to really, really BELIEVE. Oh, and buy Mars Bars, obviously.

Another frustrating race, not much to say really. The first pit stop was exciting, just wish that it would have carried on for the rest of the race, but Schumacher had the edge today. Driver of the day goes to Rosberg, who kept his head down, kept out of any scraps, and came storming through the pack from the very back to end up seventh. It’s not a stunning position, but an impressive run from the rookie.

So, basically, this race sucked and did nothing to improve my mood. I’m not even going to talk about Jenson Button because there aren’t really enough words in the dictionary. Alonso should have won but didn’t. Schumacher won. He’s an idiot. A spectacular rolling crash from Albers at the beginning was about the only incident, which makes for quite a boring race. Everyone seemed to have bad luck, Raikkonen was nowhere to be seen, Coulthard slipped out of the race without making any impact whatsoever.

I wanted to write this after we finished watching the race live. Mostly to prove that I was up in time to watch it (5am and I didn’t fall asleep two seconds before the start this time - go me!), and also because I like to write about the driver of the day when the race is fresh in my mind. But the problem with the race this time round was that it was so busy and there were so many incidents that I couldn’t really concentrate on who was going where and who deserved the accolade.

To be honest, it didn’t seem like any of the drivers were on top form and no-one particularly stood out for me. I thought Heidfeld put in a great race, kept his head down and was pootling around in fifth place, until his car gave up and he had to retire. I won a bet with Mr C that Massa would finish in front of Schumacher, despite him protesting that team orders would reverse the situation.

Today, I woke up at 5:30am in the morning to watch the ITV3 coverage of the Malaysia grand prix. This means I am either the best girlfriend in the world, or I am secretly starting to like F1 as much as he does. You decide.

A brilliant race to kick off the season with, I was already convinced that there would be four teams vying for the win: McLaren, Ferrari, Renault and Honda. We had our money on Schumacher clinching the first win of the season, but our hopes rested with anyone but. Räikkönen put in a sterling performance, starting last on the grid and storming his way through the pack to end up third. Although this would be driver of the day material, we’ve seen him do this before, and I wasn’t surprised to see him on the podium today. Montoya must be a little bit embarrassed though, having a very quiet afternoon and finishing a lowly fifth.

Three things I need to admit to before I start this post: I didn’t know there was such a thing as the Stirling Prize before we caught the awards on television. We only watched two and a half out of the six entrants I am biased towards all things F1 So, flicking through the channels, we stumbled across Kevin McLoud. I got all excited, thinking a new series of Grand Designs had started without me knowing, but soon realised it was actually coverage of the Stirling Prize announcement. The Scottish Parliament building won.

You may not hear a lot from me for a while now. Packing up everything we own commences this weekend, the move takes place during the week, and then of course, there is the tedious wait for broadband. How will we survive? I won’t be able to check my gossip and Mr C won’t be able to check for Formula 1 news. We’ll be unbearable. Think cold turkey, think withdrawal symptoms, the works.

Michael Schumacher breaking down for the first time in about three years. Mr C was over the moon and you could actually feel the happiness radiating from him for the rest of the day.

We stayed up (well I was woken up in the wee hours of the morning) to watch the first Formula 1 race of the season, starting at 3am. It was worth every yawn though, Michael Schumacher started from the back of the grid. And just as I figured out his ridiculously clever strategy and thought we were doomed to face another Schumacher win, he went and crashed and had to retire. What a shame.

Oh my god, just four days left to the first Grand Prix weekend!!! How excited?? To celebrate, I thought I would join in the fun (and make it extra exciting in case Schumacher decides to dominate again) by participating in a Fantasy F1 competition. You pick the elements, driver, tyres, etc, and score points depending on how well they do. But all the ones I looked at just weren’t quite right for me, so instead, I decided to make my own. And you know what? It’s a hell of a lot more complicated than you might think. First you have to decide the rules. How many of each thing and what things are you going to be able to pick? How much money and how many transfers are you allowed to start with? When and how do you make changes? Any bonuses?

This article tells us that every single team lined up for this year of F1 is happy to limit their testing time throughout the season. All, that is, except Ferrari. Surprise, surprise, the boys in red have decided that they’re above the rules that apply for everyone else and will test whenever and wherever they feel like it. Whilst they’re not actually breaking any ruling, some may call this an unfair advantage… I call it cheating.

Brundle speaks about himself with humour and in a very self-deprecating way, attributing most of his successes to luck and his failures to driver mistakes. The journey through the book takes you from his very first lap as a Formula 1 driver, and you can feel the nerves, and then the growing confidence. It’s written well, clear and informative, without being patronising. The layout of the book also means that you there are clear breaks in the narrative, it’s easy to pick up and put down, and you don’t have to read it straight through, although I did.