Well, you know, there’s no number thirteen in Formula One so I’m keeping with that theme in not having a number XIII weekend post. It’s been a long off season and thankfully the end is now in sight. I’m all excited at the prospect of qualifying for Bahrain just four weeks away. Who will make it to the grid there and will they have the pace hasn’t really been answered by the testing results so far but there are still another eight testing days left… if the weather holds out!

But along with the racing comes the inevitable desire to speculate on what the outcome will be and to comment on what we’ve witnessed, so it’s great to see that Twitter has really started to grab the attention of the F1 teams, drivers, journalists and fans alike. It’s odd that with just 140 characters to play with we’ve had more instant access to what’s really going on behind the scenes than ever before. The short, precise, snippets of information are a joy to read: so if you haven’t already joined, how can you get in on the action?

If you’re not sure if Twitter is for you then a good first step would be to take and look at some of the “twitter lists” compiled by F1 bloggers. For example, here at VivaF1 we have lists for F1 drivers who tweet, F1 news listings and several other groups. If you are interested in a more extensive listing of F1 sources then you should look at Sidepodcast Twitter lists or the encyclopaedic listing from James Allen which even has its own website dedicated to tweeting.

What is it that makes Twitter special? Fortunately for us there have been a couple of great articles this week on the empowering nature of Twitter so I’ll start with this one from Too Much Racing on social media and why it’s important to him. Pat gives us his personal view of how the network has grown in the past year and why it’s really taking off; his lists include feeds for podcasts, media sources and other racing series for those who enjoy other forms of motor racing too.

The other article on social media worthy of a mention is this one from Racing Eagles entitled “I (heart) Claire Williams”. It’s all about Williams F1 communication officer Claire V Williams (un-related to Frank I believe); even though she’s only been tweeting for about a month she’s made a huge impact in the dissemination of information, live as it happens from the tests at Valencia and Jerez. Her enthusiasm for the job is obvious and it’s a joy to watch. Other F1 teams would be wise to take a take notice of the groundbreaking work that Claire does.

Moving on to something new and an article from Gives You Wings on designing and applying the artwork to one of Sebastian Vettel’s 2009 race helmets. Sometimes it’s nice to have a story told in pictures and this is the perfect article for that genre which describes the work of German designer Jens Munser. It’s a complicated process taking more than 16 hours to complete. I knew that F1 cars were concerned with the amount of paint used in their liveries as it added to their weight but it had never crossed my mind that the same applied to helmets… find out some more interesting facts along at the blog.

The new teams are never far from the news and this post by F1 journalist Will Buxton emphasises why it’s no surprise to see them struggle. This is quite a political story that questions the FIA’s decision to give the new teams’ entry on the promise of a fixed budget only for that promise to fall apart and them to be warned of all sorts of consequences should they fail to turn up in Bahrain. At the forefront of the questionable list are Campos Meta, reportedly struggling for funds, and the much hyped USF1. Will ponders the due diligence process the FIA employed to determine the new entry list and speculates on Stefan GP and/or Lola getting in their places should it all go pear-shaped. This was a thoroughly enjoyable read; can we have some more please Will?

My final pick gives us some more information and background on Stefan GP. This post, from fellow journalist Joe Saward looks into the man behind the team, Zoran Stefanovich. The man has the money, seems intent on using his influence and doesn’t seem afraid of controversy, firstly having employed Mike Coughlan and now, rumour has it, he’s planning on buying the Campos chassis’ from Dallara to prevent their entry and “force” an opening for himself. If that’s true it would seem he is a man determined to have things his own way as he plans on using the Toyota chassis and not the Campos one he aims to deprive them of. Much more can be found over at Joe’s and a fascinating read it is too.

That’s it from me for this week; please remember to comment on the respective authors’ blogs if you have found something that interests you, it really does make them feel their efforts are worthwhile.