I got a question about what’s changing in the rules for the 2011 season. I’ve said before that I believe F1 is first and foremost an engineering exercise (actually first and foremost it’s about money, but I choose to ignore that for now), but no one buys Ross Brawn or Adrian Newey T–shirts and baseball caps.

The rules are broken down into two sections, Sporting and Technical. If you are interested in some bedtime reading they are available on the FIA website, but are certainly rather dry.

Sporting governs the rules around the races and the championship, while the Technical regulations dictate the rules that the cars will be built too. I may have missed detail in this post, but think I’ve hit the bigger points OK.

Sporting

Return of the 107% rule – This is to get rid of the no hopers that just get in the way of the front runners. Every car must qualify within 107% of the pole sitter. So if pole was set in 1:15, any driver slower than 1:20.25 does not take the start. It should not affect too many cars, but anyone can have a bad Q1 session and not make the grid now.

Team orders are permitted, but it has to be explicit, no coded message to let drivers know now is the time to put their car into the wall. Not sure how this is enforceable, but the idea to make things clear to everyone, including the spectators and stewards.

The maximum fine that stewards can impose on the teams has gone from a slap on the wrist $100,000 to a still not exactly eye watering to the big boys $250,000.

No all-nighters by the mechanics anymore. Garages are closed to everyone between midnight and 6am.

Technical

F-Duct is gone, McLarens rather inventive system for reducing drag is banned.

Diffuser height is cut by 50mm to 125mm. Will reduce rear end downforce somewhat, and only single plane diffusers allowed, the double plane units pioneered by Brawn in 2009 are gone.

Rear wing is now adjustable. The lower drag setting can only be used for a few seconds when a car is trying to overtake another in certain parts of the circuit. F1 Tech director Charlie Whiting will get to specify the where at each race.

Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) is being used again. While not really a rule change, the teams have agreed that it can be fitted after the gentleman’s agreement in 2010 about not using it. Combine the few second long power-boost of KERS wit the momentary use of the lower drag setting of the rear wing and overtaking should be easier than it has up until now.

It will be interesting to see if the wing and KERS together really makes a difference.

Lots of little changes that tighten up on the aerodynamics that are allowed to be used. Nothing connecting the bodywork to the rear wing, some of the little dive planes have been removed and the underside of the forward chassis needs to be flat.

Gear boxes now have to last 5 races instead of the 4 from last year.

Pirelli has taken over as the tyre supplier. At the moment all the teams are sharing tyre data so no one gets an advantage through testing. To make Pirelli’s life easier the cars have a mandated 46:54 Front-to-rear weight bias.

Thoughts

I think the rear wing is probably the biggest deal, it will be interesting to see how it gets used and if it gives the 12-15KMH advantage down the straight that’s been claimed. Interestingly it’s only the overtaking driver that’s allowed to lower drag, not sure that’s going to be popular with everyone and has the potential to be difficult to police. Along with KERS it gives the teams a little more help in getting past cars, that tactics that develop around these two things will be interesting.

As for the other aero changes, I’m sure the teams have been working hard over the winter and have already found every gram of lost downforce and probably a little extra besides.

Tyres are the big unknown, build a chassis that does not work well with the Pirellis and it could be a long season playing catch up while trying to get the car to work.

Working in the ever diminishing grey area in the rules separates the average from the great engineers. The F-duct is a great example, the theory of stalling airflow to reduce drag is well known and has been used in aero for a long time. But it’s the discovery of a way to make it work on the car in a way that meets the letter of the rules (no movable aero devices) that’s the tough part.

As I said F1 is really an engineering exercise and that requires huge resources and a lot of smart people happy to work in the unknown. It is absolutely fascinating.

As a side note In Valencia today Alonso was fastest, by a significant margin over Vettel. De Reesta in the Force India was third and almost half a second faster than Hamilton in the 2010 spec McLaren. Based on the 107% rule, only Kovalainen in the Lotus would have missed out.

It’s only day one of the first test of the year and really means nothing, but Vettel is top of the timesheets in the new Red Bull and by a little distance. Force India had a good showing, Ferrari were not much off the pace (but was reliable, Alonso did 98 laps today, but Ferraris Twitter feed is so boring) and Mercedes had issues and were a little off the pace.

To be clear, the times from Valencia are pretty meaningless, but there was some interesting stuff on show today. First day of pre-season testing is typically interesting, there was always something new to look at, drivers getting back into the groove and the glorious sound of more than one car running at any time.

When there were fewer rules on testing the bigger teams would test throughout the winter. There were plenty of freezing winter mornings in Silverstone, warmer winter days in Barcelona and shorts and the occasional t-shirt weather in Kyalami. But almost always there would only be one or two cars at a time on track, this would change at the first “official” test where there would be a handful of cars out at anyone time and it sounded absolutely glorious. While mechanics rarely enjoy testing, the noise did let us know the season was getting closer.

Other than the massive surprise that Vettel and the new Red Bull were quick, what else did we learn?

Ferrari are a little down, with Alonso behind the two Force India cars. I’m a big fan of Hulkenberg and his times were not only quicker than Alonso, but also very consistent. Last year I thought Force India may have a good year and net a few podiums, it’s way too early to say, but perhaps it will be this year?

The new Mercedes was unveiled today and from the pictures looks very sexy. While racing has disproven the “if it looks right it is right” saying more than once, it did look very nice. Niko Rosberg said the cars is a huge advance from last year, again the noises being made by the drivers are exactly what you’d expect.

The tech story of last year was McLarens F-duct that was used to stall the wing at high speed, very innovative and by the time mid season had rolled around the principals were worked out and copied by everyone else on the grid.

This year it seems Renault/Lotus has the first of the tech stories. I have to say the Renault looks spectacular in its black and gold. Last year a lot of teams were using their exhausts to make the diffusers more effective by directing the exhaust gasses under the car. Now this is banned and Renault now route the exhausts forward and vents it under the car. I think this must increase the downforce created by the floor/diffuser by accelerating the air traveling under the car and according the Bernoulli this would increase down force. First thought is the downside is the hot exhausts are now forward and next to the driver and could produce cooling issues with the exhaust gasses being pulled through the sidepod.

I wonder how many computers and wind tunnels are running hurriedly cobbled together simulations tonight to work out exactly what Renault are up to. It will be fascinating to see if this is the new must-have like last years F-ducts.

McLaren have yet to release the new car, they will be running it in a couple of weeks at Barcelona. That test will give a better comparison between the top teams and perhaps the times will be worth looking at.

What

Last fall at BlogWorld I met Drew Bennet, he was leading a session about different forms of media, it was very interesting and informative. One of the things he has done is publish a picture on his blog everyday for years, he is now at well over 2000 photos. I’m not going to promise thousands of photos, but I’d like to try it for a year and see what happens.

On January 1^st I took a picture out of the window of my bedroom, and every day in January I’ve posted a picture. Now on February 1^st I have another picture out my bedroom window, who knows what will come tomorrow.

Why

This is an attempt to record what happens to me. I’m sure some will be significant moments, others may document the minutia of my day-to-day life.

I’m intrigued to see what the end result will be and how my subjects and photographs evolve over the project. It will be interesting look back at any particular day and be reminded of something that happened, this seems all the more remarkable when I often can’s say for certain what I had for dinner the night before.

I’m sure there will be many memorable moments I missed and hopefully some I will capture in a way that may be meaningful to others.

One thing I do hope to get out of this is to become a little more creative, perhaps a better photographer as I’m forced to create something a little different every day.

Not sure when the last time I travelled through terminal-3 at Heathrow was. I’m sure it’s been quite a while. In comparison to the new T-5, T-3 is a tight, claustrophobic shopping mall under renovation with seats shoehorned into every space. This is the T-3 departures lounge today, on what I was told was a quiet day.

T-3 was first opened in 1961 as the “Oceanic Terminal” and was built to handle all the long haul flights out of London. It was only used for departures initially, an arrivals hall was not built until 1970, about the time it was renamed Terminal-3. Spend any time there and it’s clear it’s 50 years old, was never designed for the 14-million people it handles every year and has seen a number of expansions to the 39 gates it houses today.

T-5 was opened a couple of years ago and is used exclusively by British Airways, this picture is from last September. When it’s finished it will have over 70 gates, deal with 35 million passenger a year and has the biggest airport lounge I’ve ever seen. Inside it is huge with large open spaces and is a massive contrast from T-3.

I’ve talked a number of times about being without mum and how difficult that transition been. I spent a little time today at the garden of remembrance at Guildford crematorium where her ashes are spread.  I got some flowers and after spending a couple of hours with dad in the Royal Surrey I was probably not in the best frame of mind for it, but none the less I went.

I still get emotional about it, I know dad misses her terribly and in his typical “I’m a Scotsman and we don’t complain” stoic demeanour he’s not going to share his pain unless you corner him. And even then he’s going to fight it. It’s just how he is and we all know that.

First thing is how well my niece has dealt with the transition; my brother and his wife have been masterful in guiding her through this process. Protecting her from some of the more harsh realities, but letting her express how she feels. They have done a hugely impressive job in always setting a positive model for her and letting her recognise mum in a way that’s meaningful to her.

To no ones shock this has unquestionably been a huge thing for me. The biggest, most emotional thing I’ve ever been through and it’s affected me in many ways that I’m only just coming to recognize. It was not so much the death that changed things for me; it was more what went on before hand. Mum’s passing was expected somewhat, we knew it was coming despite the time line being uncertain, even right at the end.

It was what went on leading up to that, it was a roller coaster ride of emotions for many months before hand. The really hard part started when I found out it was about managing quality of life rather than treatment to save her. It was well over a year before hand, we all knew, but denial as a coping mechanism does run strongly in my family. And I think we were all happy to buy into that, including mum.

I know it worked for dad and to find out what was going on I’d have to read the rather meticulous notes that were kept by the McMillan nurses that came to look after mum a few times every week. Mums last letter to me, written only a couple of months before she dies was especially poignant, it took me months (and a very good bottle of wine) to open it and read it. I had it today in my pocket, it weighed heavily as I wandered around the garden of remembrance today.

It was the late afternoon when I got there, not long before it closed and the sun was low in the sky. The air was very still and it was cold, well bellow freezing. I went and looked in the book of remembrance to see where my grandparents were interned and spent a few minutes there before wandering through the very peaceful glade before sitting down to contemplate what’s gone on.

While we had our differences, the love mum and I has never been in question. Interestingly she brought up a couple of times that as the eldest child she felt some extra responsibility fell to me, I’m still not sure what that it, but she was the eldest and when my grand father passed she did feel the pressure of being the eldest child herself and felt she needed to in part take on some of Granddad role.

I’ve said all this before somewhere in this blog, but this really has been incredibly tough. It has given my significant perspective about what is important in my life and what I need to do to align myself to these changed realities.

Having said all of that, if I ever find out who stole my case last year in Minnesota with a couple of mums letters to me in it I’d take a baseball bat to them. These little notes was meaningless to them, but was everything to me.

My final thought today goes back to sitting in the garden of remembrance and rereading her last letter, she said she saw my pain and just wanted me to be happy, more than anything else. While it’s taken me time to discover what that really means for me, but I have a better idea now and embrace my life in a very different way. It was inevitable that your passing would change me; with a little distance I believe that change was for the better. I’d swap it all for you.

Mum believed in an afterlife, and got a lot of comfort from that. I hope she is right and I’m wrong, I love you mum.

Wandering along Guildford High street this morning, heading to the book store if you are interested, and looked up the High Street. It really is a wonderful view, for a start the cobbled high street goes back at least a couple of thousand years to the Roman, and probably a lot longer.

Live music, a little history and a couple of good book shops. Really could you want any more?

A crowd collecting around a couple of Barnett Newman painting at the Tate this afternoon. Taking a tour with one of the curators really does add, I now have a clue what “chromatic structure” and “generated tension” in a painting means. It was a very interesting to kill a morning before visiting hours start at the RSCH.

In Trafalgar Square Nelson is currently looking down at the bottled replica of his flagship HMS Victory from atop his column.

There are four large plinths in Trafalgar Square, three of them are occupied by George IV, Henry Havelock and Sir Charles Napier. The fourth plinth has been filled by a rotating list of new public art. Yinka Shonibare’s “Nelson’s Ship in a Bottle” currently fills this space.

This plinth in the northwest corner of the square has become one of the most public stages on contemporary art over the last decade. The next installation will be in place over the Olympics in 2012 and there are six pieces that have made the short list to become the next installation on the plinth and were on view in the crypt of St Martin-in-the-Fields on the east side of the square last time I was here.

The winning piece is a large golden rocking horse called “Powerless Structures, Fig 101” by Elmgreen and Dragset. The fourth plinth and what is being done with it really is a wonderful example of public art at it’s best.

I spent a couple of hours at the UK head office on the South coast of England. It was awfully cold with the wind coming off the Solent, but a very productive visit.

This is the Spinnaker. The closest analogy I can come up with is that it’s Portsmouth’s version of the Space Needle in Seattle, just with no restaurant at the top. Both have impressive ocean views from the top (I imagine in this case, as I never actually went up) in this case it’s the Isle of Wight.

Last night I went to Tesco to grab some food, and these jumped out from the shelf into my shopping basket. No only Jaffa cakes (with the smashing orangy bit), but dark chocolate Jaffa cakes!!!

I get that for those of you living in the UK this may be no big deal, but it was for me. I got a little excited about these and despite the temptation I did not have them for breakfast.