Most liked posts in thread: 2014 - F1

I think the penalty for Magnussen was for blocking Alonso onto the grass as they went up the straight.

 

I believe it was for an earlier outside pass attempt by Alonso. Magnussen opened his line & took space away from Alonso. When Alonso went off at Eau Rouge it was because he'd just lost half his front wing at La Source when he rammed into the back of Vettel's car.

 

"The Beat Goes On" Vanilla Fudge

 

It is a sad day when F1 thinks about strategic penalties.

If the races start getting decided by grid spot penalties they are going to loose a lot of fans.

 

At the end of the day it is just entertainment, a way for people to set aside their real lives/problems/issues. I enjoy F1 partially because of the sheer extravagance of it (the worldwide locales, the thought of travelling from race to race on a private plane, the yacht parties at Monaco). NASCAR and Indy don't have that same appeal to me.

I would totally agree that there are some calls/penalties that are sensationalized by the teams and sports media, but what sport doesn't have that? The on/off track drama helps give us good guys and bad guys. Take the Continental Tire Series when RSR was still running MINIs, they were our good guys and Nic Jonsson (sp?) was our bad guy.

MiniDave, what do you consider real racing without the business aspect of F1, NASCAR, IRL...etc.?

 

I agree with Williams being in the run this year. Wonder if Patrick Head is
bouncing off the walls this year? And it doesn't hurt that Frank's daughter
is semi-running the show.

 

It's difficult to say anymore, I used to race SCCA and back in the 60's it was pretty grassroots, but even then there were guys who could outspend everyone else and win - I think that's where the old saying came from "how fast you want to go - how much do you want to spend?"

I also like NASA racing, but the same thing holds true there as well, the deepest pockets usually own the faster cars, making it hard for the average guy to compete.

I'm currently trying to get involved with their Chump Car series, I'll let you know if/when it happens and how it turns out.

But F1 wasn't always the exotic, out-of-reach-of-the-average-guy series...there was a time when gentlemen racers could compete and win with a very small team - those days are long gone out of all motorsports series it seems.

But F1 has evolved far and away from any other series in terms of cost, technology, availability of the drivers to the fans and so on, so the only way the average guy has to participate is thru TV, so to me it's mostly just a TV show these days.

 

Your kidding right? Those gentlemen drivers you speak of were almost always rich gentlemen or son's of very rich gentleman.. Never has F1 been a "grassroots" race series where money wasn't necessary to get the checkered flag... Albeit what was a ton of money then is not today.

 

I honestly don't see much of a difference in F1 now as in prior years. All the drama, the mountains from molehills, the petty rivalries, the griping about rules changes, and the relative scarcity of passing is all the same as it ever was.

What is different is that it's slicker looking, more polished, more regulated and a whole lot safer. And sadly the cars are a bit more homogenous.

In my dream world, F1 would have safety and weight restrictions on the cars, be open-wheel, and that would be about it. I'd love to see what the designers could come up with if they had fewer rules to be hemmed by, but I understand the costs would go up astronomically, and so I see why they don't do that.

Now, if only I could somehow take Bernie's place... no one would notice if he were suddenly over 6 feet tall and bald, right? Hmmm... bad idea perhaps. Besides, he doesn't make the rules....

 

Colin Chapman was NOT wealthy when he started racing Lotus cars in F1, neither was Bruce McLaren, Bernie Eccelstone, Frank Williams, John Cooper and a bunch of others....yes there were some well off guys, and of course Ferrari - but even Ferrari was not wealthy when he started his F1 career - as he famously said we sell road cars to fund our racing.

In that era just about anyone could win with their design in any given race, and just about any driver could die on any given weekend as well.......so it was obvious things had to change.

But the cost of attending an F1 race today makes it pretty impossible for most people, and the cost of actually racing in F1 has gone to the moon making it almost impossible for a startup to win anymore.....you only have to look at Marussia, Caterham and any number of recent teams to see that. So for most it's so much easier to just watch it on TV....making it no different that any other reality TV show really.

 

I think Lucas is right.

 

I think you may have nailed it!

 

Remember when Lewis left a top team doing great for a floundering team? Everybody thought he was nuts till that team started kicking ass.

<total speculation - disregard> Lewis is talking to McLaren & Ferrari. McLaren cause of Honda returning and Senna being his hero. Ferrari cause he knows he can beat Alonso. Does Lewis think he can do the "genius jump" again - absolutely.

p.s. F1 contracts get bought out on a regular basis.

 

They are certainly not drinking buddies.

 

^^^ +1