The Flying Lap with Peter Windsor

As the 2012 season gathers pace, so The Flying Lap focuses again on the new cars and team/driver combinations.  Peter Windsor, fresh from attending the opening day of F1 testing at Barcelona, will be talking about all this and more with our regular technical expert, Craig Scarborough.  There's the new Mercedes to analyse and questions to answer about the new Lotus F1.  Quick in Jerez, the car was withdrawn from the Barcelona tests after only a few laps of running.  How quick is the new Red Bull RB8?  And does the new McLaren have the pace to win?  Find out on Episode 58 of The Flying Lap.

Like mechanics, F1 photographers are a breed apart.  They are both artists and artisans;  they live in the motor sport background, blending into a scenery that they themselves create;  and, most of the time, they must be so passionate about their world that they are prepared to work for nothing.  One such is Darren Heath, a genius I was fortunate to meet in the late 1990s, when we were all working at Haymarket's new monthly magazine, F1 Racing.  It was easy, teaming with Darren - just as I'd always had a smooth time with such snappers as Nigel Snowdon, David Phipps, Peter Cramer, Keith Sutton, Michael Cooper and Maurice Rowe:  my mediocre copy, I knew,  would inevitably be carried by the creativity of Darren Heath.  Today a freelance, with both editorial and commercial clients, Darren is roundly acknowledged as the....Fernando....of his industry.  Or, perhaps, the Lewis.  We shall see when we meet him in Episode 57.  Fresh from his head-turning exhibition in London, Darren will be talking us through some of his best works, his life, his loves and his taste for what is right in the world of Formula One - and, yes, for what is not so right. 

As the dusk falls at Jerez, Spain, bringing to an end the first F1 test session of the new season, Episode 56 looks back at the past four days of intense development work by the major teams.  Craig Scarborough will be giving us his impressions of the new Ferrari F2012, Sauber C31, Torro Rosso STR7 and Williams FW34 and will also be talking about a hot technical topic of 2012 - roll-hoops.  We also recorded the thoughts of Renault's Rob White on how the Championship-winning engine builders are facing the task of supplying four teams.  We reported live from Jerez at the start of the week, on Episode 55;  today's show brings the Jerez test to a conclusion. 

The Flying Lap reports live from Jerez, Spain, where the F1 teams are undergoing their first tests in 2012.  We spoke on Monday with Kimi Raikkonen, who is making is F1 return with the Lotus F1 Team - and we've also recorded the thoughts of Craig Scarborough as he analyses the new Red Bull RB8, the Torro Rosso STR7 and the Lotus E20.  With live guests also joining us for the show, Ep 55 takes you into the heart of F1's preparations for the season ahead.