Australian racer Ryan Briscoe was embroiled in a thrilling battle for championship honours in the 2009 IndyCar Series season finale at Homestead after a three-way shootout with Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon.

Over on these shores, you would have been hard pushed to find any reference to the championship-decider outside of the specialist motorsport press, even though eventual winner Franchitti hails from Scotland. In the US, though, this was big news in and outside of the racing press and garnered huge coverage for all three protagonists in the run-up to and in the aftermath of the race.

Now recall, if you will, the equally exciting championship deciders of recent Formula 1 seasons – Hamilton/Massa/Raikkonen in 2007, Hamilton/Massa in 2008 and to a lesser extent Button/Barichello/Vettel last season. The climax to these championship deciders were well documented across Europe and indeed internationally. So what is it that differentiates the popularity and fan appeal of stateside racing from the continued global fascination of Formula 1?

Ryan Briscoe is a man who is better placed than most to assess the differences, having driven in Formula 1, IndyCar and American Le Mans Series, while also having first-hand experience of the ever-popular NASCAR series. I have known Ryan since his early days in Formula Renault and F3, so I picked his brains to get a driver’s perspective ahead of this weekend’s season-opening race in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

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We are just weeks away from the start of one of Formula 1′s most open and uncertain seasons for years. Teams have been desperate to get mileage on their new cars with just three official pre-season test sessions prior to Bahrain, but even the Spanish weather has been unusually fickle. Out of last week’s four-day session at the most southerly of Spain’s numerous testing venues, Jerez, two days were a complete washout, placing even greater importance on this week’s Barcelona test.

What can be deduced so far? In truth very little, but in the absence of real facts, we are left with traditional timesheet PR and that has been more prolific than ever before with the seeming eruption of Formula 1 accounts across the Twittersphere. From the most esteemed journalists to the most dedicated fans of the sport to the teams and drivers themselves, there is a veritable feast of F1 on Twitter. For those of us who devour every morsel of F1 ‘news’, Twitter accounts are burgeoning with seemingly endless opportunities to ‘follow testing live’.

This is a real breakthrough for Formula 1 whose fans are used to playing second fiddle to other sports when it comes to access and interaction. You only need to look at the continued frustration from the armchair spectators at the lack of Formula 1 coverage in HD to see just how insatiable their appetite is. With other leading sports not only embracing High Definition but also branching out into 3D and other cutting edge technologies, F1 has to avoid being left behind in the media stakes. F1 is the fastest moving, most technologically advanced sport on TV so it should be similarly ground-breaking and progressive in its adoption of the latest media and communication technology.

Twitter and Facebook have allowed those who work in the F1 paddock’s inner sanctum to do their own bit to bring the fans closer to the sport. Autosport and BBC journalists are among the frontrunners with live test coverage and regular news insights but the teams themselves have really embraced this new found link direct to the fans. McLaren stood out in 2009 for their use of Twitter (@thefifthdriver) while Williams have been lauded in recent weeks with frequent updates from @clairevwilliams, the team’s press officer. The new teams are also helping to breathe new life into F1 with Virgin and Lotus adopting very public and approachable faces. It will certainly act as a wake-up call for the more established teams. Getting a piece of the action will be harder than ever in 2010 with up to 13 teams and 26 cars on the grid.

But let’s get back to the subject of Timesheet PR. In the past, you just needed a rough idea of fuel loads to guesstimate car and team performance in testing, but with the abolition of refuelling during races in 2010, it is now a more intricate job. As a consequence of the refuelling ban, 2010-specification cars have bigger fuel tanks so teams have a much greater window to test in. Lap times can differ by seconds rather than the usual tenths or hundredths of seconds depending on fuel loads, so the fact that Michael Schumacher “languished” in tenth place on the combined times from last week’s test means absolutely nothing without knowing his set-up, fuel loads and tyres. Not that it makes a difference for some unseasoned Twitter commentators for whom ‘you are slow on the timesheets, ergo you must be slow’ is the daily mantra. Testing is more about analysis than running commentary. Finding that happy medium is where the better quality journalists really make a difference.

This week sees the final test session of the pre-season period take place in Barcelona. And for those of you who have not overindulged in a pre-season testing binge, the Formula 1 season actually starts in earnest in Bahrain with free practice on 12 March. That’s when we’ll know who is quick and who is not…

Inspiration for blogs can come from the strangest of sources, but I never thought that I would be contemplating my second entry for The UK Sports Network on the back of a sports edition of Channel 4’s popular comedy quiz 8 out of 10 Cats.

During the show’s lead feature, it was revealed by a Harris Interactive poll that the UK’s most memorable sporting moment was when Torvill and Dean skated their way to Winter Olympics gold in 1984. Bolero-tastic, it may have been, but the nation’s most memorable sporting moment? Naturally, my immediate thoughts were the 1966 Football World Cup or the 2003 Rugby World Cup, momentous achievements that have yet to be repeated, but they were found playing second fiddle to ice skating prowess and precision.

This led me to wonder what constitutes a nation’s favourite sporting memory. It can’t simply be a question of sporting popularity – since football would have won hands down (or hands up in the case of Thierry Henry or Diego Maradona).

In fact the list can be split between memories that are very UK-specific and those which are genuinely global greats. A quick run through the list and you would have seen Usain Bolt’s record-obliterating 100m sprint in the same breath as Mike Tyson’s infamous ear-biting incident with Evander Holyfield. That is really polar extremes of the sporting spectrum – in the first instance the absolute sublime and on the other hand the absolute obscene. But the presence of such opposing sporting memories helps appreciate how the human psyche recollects such moments.

In the case of Bolt, it is all about the feat (no pun intended) – what Usain Bolt has achieved in sprinting is near superhuman and is a sporting accomplishment that has been recognised and admired the world over. The Tyson incident is there because of the shock and abhorrence that it caused. Pictures say a thousand words and the image of Holyfield’s post-snack ear is one that will last a lifetime – and is still nauseating 13 years on.

England’s world cup glory in 1966 and its rugby success in 2003 will only be found on the UK’s top 5 list but it is still a surprise that the former is not in top spot even closing on 45 years since the achievement. These feats are what bring a nation together. It is at times like this – when sport transcends society – that memories are made. But factor in the all important element of ‘success in the face of adversity’, ‘triumph against all odds’ and that’s what makes a memory indelible. This is precisely the category that Torvill and Dean fall into. Forget their Sunday night set pieces on Dancing on Ice – it was only because of their achievement in 1984 that this show even exists. British success in winter sport is rare to say the least (think Eddie ‘The Eagle’) so there comes little in the way of expectation, thus the celebration when it does appear.

I started to apply this logic to Andy Murray’s match against Roger Federer last Sunday. 74 years since the last British Men’s Grand Slam winner (Roger, it only feels like hundreds and thousands of years) and a whole nation expected of Andy Murray. Many were tipping him for the title and even the sport’s top pundits started believing that this was ‘Murray’s time’. But even if he had triumphed against the frightening prospect of an in-form Fed, it would not have been up there with the greats because it would have been ‘Murray’s time’ not ‘Britain’s time’. There is only one place where that can happen and that’s Wimbledon. And happen it might just. Murray is on awesome form at the moment and his demeanour, while still retaining his trademark frown and edginess, has become more emotive. And that’s what us Brits like isn’t it – a bit of emotion to our sporting jubilation.

So what do you think – let’s allow The UK Sports Network members to decide – what is your favourite sporting memory?

There are few people in Formula 1 who can command an audience quite like Michael Schumacher. The ‘launch’ of the Mercedes Grand Prix team in Stuttgart on Monday was proof that the seven-time former world champion can still create a stir amongst the international press corps, not least the British press for whom memories of Damon Hill’s mugging at Adelaide in 1994 still resonate strongly. But the return of Schumi to the F1 fold after a failed three-year attempt at retirement is a much needed boost for the sport after a year dogged by controversy.

The departures of Honda, BMW and Toyota from F1 over the last twelve months or so are in stark contrast to German automotive giant Mercedes who have conversely upped their involvement in motor racing’s premier class by buying into reigning champions BrawnGP. Their increased presence in the sport is enough to grab headlines in the so-called post-manufacturer era but poaching Schumacher from Ferrari is a major coup for the company.

Spare a thought, however, for poor Nico Rosberg. A much vaunted switch from Williams to the reigning champions for 2010 was supposed to be his move into the limelight but he now finds himself in arguably the most unwanted seat in F1, that of Schumacher’s team-mate. For all the talk of equal driver status, the fact that Nico’s number 3 plate was quickly nabbed by Schumacher (he has a preference for odd numbers don’t you know?) was indication enough of the 41-year-old’s intentions upon his return. He is not back in F1 simply to make up the numbers; he wants to add another championship to his impressive collection. And he won’t let even a son of a former world champion stand in his way. It’s make or break for Nico in 2010.  

When the lights go out for the first race of the 2010 season in Bahrain in March, the sport as a whole will have a very different look. F1 has been gradually reinventing itself over the last few seasons with new rules and revised regulations, but 2010 will see some of the biggest changes yet. The sport welcomes a raft of new teams this year with a possible 26 cars on the grid (imagine that at Monaco!). New teams Campos, Lotus, USF1 and Virgin Racing will make their bow in Bahrain but little is expected of the rookies in their first year. In fact, it remains to be seen if they will all make it. The return of the Lotus name is fantastic and although an entirely different proposition to the icon of the past, the return of such a famous F1 name will undoubtedly raise F1’s profile yet further. The return of engine supplier Cosworth also harks back to the glory days of the past but it is a very different company to the Cosworth of the past and will be supplying 40% of the grid. It is one of the most tantalising and widely anticipated seasons for years.

In-team battles will not be limited to the Mercedes camp. We also have a mouth-watering all-British driver line-up with reigning world champion Jenson Button joining former world champion Lewis Hamilton at McLaren, a duel that should have every family in the country locked into BBC1 or glued to 5Live for all 19 races this season. Many have been quick to criticise Jenson’s move to Woking, but it is a bold and sensible move in my opinion. He won six out of the first seven races of 2009 and was criticised for winning too much. His drop off in performance in the second half of the season was well documented and led to suggestions that he was reversing into a championship that was won as a result of the Brawn Supremacy. His performance in Brazil dispelled those critics and his switch to McLaren proves he is well up for a fight. He will have tough opposition from Lewis, even he knows that, but he is not reversing into anything this season – he is squaring up to his defence of the crown face-on and for that he should be lauded.

But when we reach Bahrain, all eyes will be on the return of one the greatest Formula drivers ever, perhaps even THE greatest – Michael Schumacher. His odds on taking the drivers’ crown in 2010 say it all. At 5-1 (behind Hamilton and new Ferrari recruit Fernando Alonso) and getting shorter – who’d bet against him?