Nice article over at Wired about the steering wheels in the cars. A bit long to quote here. An Inside Look at the Insanely Complex Formula 1 Steering Wheel | Autopia | WIRED
Oh don't worry. They have me on a monitor. Every time my heart beats oddly the RN's are here in a flash.
A coupla highlights: "IGN (ignition) rotary switch: Controls ignition timing." What? Like the advance/retard lever on a 1930s car/bike? "MFRS (multi-function rotary switch): This allows the driver and engineers to control a variety of systems that don’t require a dedicated buttons. They include .... cruise control (CC, disabled for qualifying and the race)...." CRUISE CONTROL? Ideal for those long straights at some tracks?
Did anyone notice they've made some changes to the road course at IMS? I don't usually have any time for Montoya but here's his take. Montoya says 2005 Indy GP farce wouldn't have happened on revised course (racer.com)
Truth on that tire issue Michelin either did or could have had the right tires there for the race. But chose not to as a political protest. They had been on that track the year before so they know what the track was like.
The original changes to that part of the track were for the bikes but they changed it again while they were making other alterations, including straightening out and eliminating the hairpin from the back straight. I think this is the shape before the most recent alterations: And the new config, for comparison:
I still don't care for the way they sound. I have to keep reminding myself that they are formula 1 cars. I also won't be buying tickets to Austin. The sooner they drop the Green crap and the turbos the happier I will be. The thing I am enjoying the most this year is Vettel keeps having one difficulty after another. It serves RB and Vettel right for how they treated Mark Weber the last couple of years!
I'm getting used to the lack of sound or rather the different sound. I do love all of the chasing the cars tail through the turns. Those driver's are working much harder this year.
I think if I ever went to a track to watch a race in person I'd be more interested in the change. But sound levels for me depend on how they mike the track and produce the sound for broadcast. Just like when I was trying to find an exhaust I like on my MINI, there's both quantity and quality to consider. I already like the sound quality and the broadcasters are coming to grips with quantity so it ends up sounding pretty good in my living room.
Ouch... From motorsports: May 11 (GMM) Formula one is not the loudest spectacle in Spain this weekend. The feeder series GP2, still powered by naturally-aspirated V8 engines, is making more noise in Barcelona than the newly-quiet 'hybrid' Grand Prix machines. Not only that, there are GP2 cars that are actually faster than their F1 counterparts this weekend. Stephane Richelmi's name may be almost unknown beyond the GP2 paddock, but this weekend at the Circuit de Catalunya, the Monagasque's Mecachrome-powered DAMS 'outqualified' F1 stars Max Chilton, Jules Bianchi, Marcus Ericsson and Kamui Kobayashi. Not only that, every car inside the top 13 in GP2 qualifying was faster than the Caterhams in Spain. Force India's Sergio Perez said earlier that the louder, faster GP2 - with budgets eight times smaller than F1 teams - is "embarrassing". "It's down to the regulations and there's nothing we can do," said Marussia's Graeme Lowdon. "You couldn't criticise fans for asking that sort of question, and it's important people listen to it," he is quoted by Sporting Life.
Hopefully we will see an F1 Extra broadcast sometime this week. I'd guess the interviews will be shown then. I too missed them. I enjoyed the race.
I PVR'd the race and watched it last night. Post race interviews weren't that interesting. The race was plenty exciting amongst team mates racing each other. But Mercedes is so far ahead of everybody else so far this season..... I guess to see Vettel come back to get 4th in Webber's car is pretty exciting to watch.
I think you mean Mercedes I wishMcLaren were out in front, but alas not so far. Still, there have been plenty of seasons in the past where one team has dominated like this. New rules or no, it's like Williams in 92's, Ferrari with Shumi, or the nearly unstoppable McLaren / Honda years. Same as it ever was. I'm loving this season so far.
The last 10 laps were interesting. Before that it was boring. Looks like Merc might have called team orders the way Rosberg backed off.
Either that or he used up the advantage of the softer compound tires closing the 4 second gap. Nathan mentioned on Sunday that there is a site that usually has all the transcripts of the radio transmissions a couple of days after the race. Anybody know what site that is on? It will be interesting to see what happens at Monaco. Slower speeds and not a lot of passing opportunities could bunch up the field and make for some interesting battles between teammates. I like the spectacle that is the Monaco race, but the racing itself seems to be the most boring on the schedule (granted only been watching for the last couple of years).