Most liked posts in thread: F1 - 2010

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  1. am0eba

    am0eba New Member

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    #182 am0eba, Mar 18, 2010
    @MiniDave: Interesting rant, not sure why you seem so peeved, but I agree with all of your your conclusions except about the drivers. I agree that there's a little too much "corporate employee" characteristic to some of them, but they are all very skilled, and some of them are genuinely talented and brave. I would prefer to see the rules opened up somewhat (i.e., get rid of many of them, like the engine limitations, etc.), but at the very least, FIA should stop CHANGING them and making new ones all the time.

    @bee1000: I like your summary of the available courses. I would defend Monaco, just because of the spectacle, and the fact that it has always been there. I would also give Barcelona and Monza a little more cred, and Spa is still Spa, even without the Bus Stop (It could probably survive for as long as Eau Rouge remains unspoiled.)

    I was happy with the outcome of Sunday's race, being a huge Alonso fan, and I was happy to see Vettel doing so well for most of the race. I think most of the boredom was due specifically to the facility - with or without the new curvy section, Bahrain just sucks.

    The 4 apex turn at Turkey is a little interesting, but mainly as a novelty... In effect, it's really just one long corner. And there's nothing else that any of the new tracks offer of interest to me.

    Valencia was a mistake, the night racing spectacle is laughable, and the rest of it, just seems like advertising for the various host countries' tourism industries.

    We need a good US road course! I think we also need "T" cars, and flexible rules to allow drivers to compete in as many or as few races in the series as they want or are able to... We need some of the innovation and unpredictability such as the 6-wheel Elf, and the Fan car, and other crazy experiments, so that the drivers HAVE to go balls-out to compete!

    F1 is supposed to be the pinnacle of motorsport. It can't do that with its hands tied to its sides like [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrison_Bergeron"]Harrison Bergeron[/ame]... [/my own unexpected rant]

    _Dave_
     
  2. Minidave

    Minidave Well-Known Member
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    #183 Minidave, Mar 18, 2010
    Wow, I came across as angry?

    I thought I was just being ferverent and emphatic! :eek6::D

    I was a little over the top in my post, but I did that on purpose, to try and stir things up a bit....sorry............
     
  3. bee1000

    bee1000 New Member

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    #184 bee1000, Mar 18, 2010
    I agree with this. We've had several down-to-wire championships now, yet they continue to change things to somehow make it better. Some stability could help (although it was the instability that led to the double diffusers last year that led to Brawn getting off to such a great start that led to the close finish at the end...)

    This I disagree with. Hundreds of millions of people watch each F1 race on TV, compared to hundreds of thousands over the course of a year seeing races in person. The TV spectacle is a huge part of creating and maintaining F1's popularity. Given that these newer tracks have no personality, they are not compelling on my TV screen. Combine that with the constant tracking shots that take away any sense of speed, and F1 has a very dull look. Give me a track with elevation changes and distinctive surroundings and watching an F1 procession is still fun. And I can't give enough credit to the team on Speed either. An F1 race is like hanging out with 3 entertaining friends - it's okay if the racing is dull because the announcers are so likable (to me anyway). Put Rick Debruhl back in the booth and I'm fast forwarding through the race just to see if anything interesting happens.
     
  4. farkus

    farkus Active Member

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    #185 farkus, Mar 18, 2010
    Just a little...I know I've been curled up in the fetal position in the corner here since I read your post. :p

    Honestly, I have confidence that all this will work itself out...as long as it rains every other Sunday. :cornut:
     
  5. am0eba

    am0eba New Member

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    #186 am0eba, Mar 18, 2010
    Debruhl was never enjoyable. Or interesting in any way. Derek Daley was downright obnoxious with his Schumacher-love and incessant outcries of "Hold onto yer hollyhocks!" I wrote in to have him removed from the commentating team back in the day.

    I'll prolly make some enemies with this comment, but I think Matchett is a GASBAG. I respect and appreciate his technical input, but somebody should muzzle him when he's trying to do color commentary... I'd rather listen to Hobbes and his Alzheimer's-like symptoms any day, than to endure more of Matchett's egotistical pontificating. Varsha has matured fairly well, but I get the creeps when he makes comments about the women the producer has decided to feature onscreen.

    I miss Sam Posey in the booth, though I understand the need. I do appreciate his little poetic intros, although they seem to be getting more and more contrived. His occasional editorials for Road & Track magazine are still worthwhile.

    One thing that truly bugs me about the recent SPEED TV F1 programming is the BATMAN-like narrator who bring us up to date before the race with his every-word-is-a-serious-effort cadence... What is this? Prime-time TV Drama?

    And don't get me started on.... [crunk splurt....] oh. my head fell off... carry on...

    _Dave_
     
  6. Steve

    Steve Administrator
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    #187 Steve, Mar 18, 2010
    Last edited: Mar 18, 2010
    Amen, I love an unpredictably rainy F1 weekend.

    Amen to that too. However, I still say it's not just the tracks. Some are better than others. It's always been that way and always will be. There are characterless tracks now and I'm not happy about it and I agree they play their unfortunate roles, but it's certainly not JUST the tracks. If the racing was better, it would be better by some degree on every track. I'm happy to slam circuits (including Monaco...I know, blasphemy) and even happier to talk about Bernie's stupidity, but I'll leave that for another post.

    My biggest gripe is the same-ness car to car. Some of the rules that caused the ever increasing homogeneity came from safety concerns but I think in the current era most are the result of trying to "improve competition." Also to make it so back-markers will feel less humiliated and to make it harder and harder for wealthy teams to find places to spend their way to more performance and even greater disparity.

    Top boring homogeneity with unfortunate developments that have made it harder than ever to follow closely plus a few other ill-conceived rules with unforeseen circumstances and the game is about starting from the front and hoping you can stay there.

    I think there are drivers in the current field who are perfectly willing to risk the car to gain position, IF they think there's a fair chance they can make a bold move successful, but those same drivers are complaining that it's worse than ever and (though I know it's only one race so far) not passing. If the rules allowed for greater development 1) things like the "super diffusers" would have less impact, and 2) teams would be able to innovate to make them less effective and we wouldn't even be talking about them anymore.

    I say they need to scrub out all those "improve competition" rules while retaining those rooted primarily in safety and let the teams decide which paths to take with their own cars. Also, fire Bernie AND instead of capping spending, severely cap the profits CVC, etc, are allowed to skim off the top...maybe making it less profitable for the money-grubbers would reduce the show/circus mentality.
     
  7. minimark

    minimark Well-Known Member

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    #188 minimark, Mar 18, 2010
    The new tracks are just to sterile, they look as if their a giant vinyl sticker apllied to a parking lot. The course and elevation changes used to be dictated some what by the geography of the location.. Now there is no way we need to go back to the unsafe conditions of circuits from the 50's, 60's and early 70's before driver saftey was actually considered important... Read Jackie Stewart's auto and you become very aware of how dangerous those circuits were, but with some thought most were made much safer..
     
  8. Steve

    Steve Administrator
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    #189 Steve, Mar 22, 2010
    Verdict on the Bahrain race from one more "authority."

     
  9. Nathan

    Nathan Founder

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    #190 Nathan, Mar 24, 2010
    New online F1 Magazine.

    PitlaneMagazine

    So why a new one when there are so many sources out there already?

    From the publisher...

    A number of our contributors have worked in the sharp end of F1 for example a commentator/pit reporter, journalist, commercial director, head of sponsorship so are able to offer great insight into the world of F1, while there are of course sites like James Allen's and Joe Saward's and others I feel we have a lot to offer in terms of F1 at the sharp end.

    How is this funded?

    From the Publisher...

    The only online dedicated F1 magazines are Autosport (subscription), GPWeek (free but the F1 section written by one man), Grandprix+ (subscription) and P1 Magazine (subscription) all are excellent but there is a gap in the market for a quality free publication written by a team of writers, we are a kind of free version of Autosport.com but F1 only.

    We have had discussions with a number of parties with regards to advertising and as it is a less than 2 week old publication with 1 issue so far (2nd one coming Saturday) the consensus has been that once the circulation is x amount then they will come on board.

    Circulation has been above expectation for the first issue which is very pleasing given the early technical gremlins

    We also have something else which will be launching in the next week or 2 that will provide useful revenue for the site but until then it is self funding out of my own pocket and the writers have been very accomodating as all share a collective vision and wish for Pitlane Magazine to succeed
     
  10. farkus

    farkus Active Member

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    #191 farkus, Apr 1, 2010
    Breaking news!

    Seems to me like a shoe-in for the 13th spot! :Thumbsup:
     
  11. Steve

    Steve Administrator
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    #192 Steve, Apr 1, 2010
    :lol:

    Making a prediction about who will replace Bridgestone too, eh?

    If only it wasn't 1 April..........

    I'm not normally a fan of the April 1st stuff but those are some gorgeous renderings! I'd love to see it happen for real.
     
  12. goaljnky

    goaljnky New Member

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    #193 goaljnky, Apr 1, 2010
    What gave it away? The lack of the Praying Mantis design?
     
  13. farkus

    farkus Active Member

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    #194 farkus, Apr 2, 2010
    From Autoweek... :yesnod:

     
  14. Minidave

    Minidave Well-Known Member
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    #195 Minidave, Apr 2, 2010
    Anyone heard about "cold gas gate" on the Red Bull and Ferraris?

    Oh boy, the next scandal!:crazy:
     
  15. Steve

    Steve Administrator
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    #196 Steve, Apr 3, 2010
    I've read about it. It's another of those things like last season's diffusers where no one is certain of the legality, in fact Whitmarsh says they're already working on matching Red Bull's system by the time they get to China.

    I've also read that Ferrari's approach is more mechanical. Whatever that means, it sounds like two different versions of adjustable ride height scandal.
     
  16. goaljnky

    goaljnky New Member

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    #197 goaljnky, Apr 3, 2010
    That is the thing that annoys me and at the same time I wish they would employ more. Leave some wiggle room in the rules for teams to play with. Have more variables and see where it leads. Eh, I am probably not thinking straight.
     
  17. Steve

    Steve Administrator
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    #198 Steve, Apr 3, 2010
    I agree, but the problem seems to me to be in deciding where to leave the wiggle room.

    They restrict most non-aero development, but there's always room for movement (wiggle room). Unfortunately, it doesn't take them long to figure out which is the "right" direction to move within the boundaries and since all teams shoot for the optimum solution, which is completely understandable, the cars end up very similar. Then teams with slower cars snoop like industrial spies to figure out how the faster cars got that way so they can make adjustments to their own, thus making the cars even more similar...nearly identical. It's inevitable as long as room for development is fairly small. You can fix that by dropping a large percentage of the non safety-centric specs, but I expect to see the opposite continue; more restrictive specs year by year.

    I think the rules makers should be looking for ways to inject variability on the track, if not in design. Since wiggle room in development space doesn't bring it as F1 is currently run -- it's only a few steps from being a spec series -- make it greater levels of adjustability allowed on the cars, not just from race to race but from practice to quali to race start and even at any time within any session. Seems to me if they allow many new adjustable factors there ought to be teams/drivers choosing all sorts of different combinations looking for an edge....well, maybe.
     
  18. Steve

    Steve Administrator
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    #199 Steve, Apr 3, 2010
    FIA may negate Red Bull suspicions with rule tweak (Motorsport.com/GMM)

     
  19. Steve

    Steve Administrator
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    #200 Steve, Apr 3, 2010
    Opinions on the resurrection of KERS?

    Compulsory KERS to spice up F1 'show' (Motorsport.com/GMM)


    Formula 1 teams disagree on return of Kers power-boost (news.bbc.co.uk)

     
  20. Steve

    Steve Administrator
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    #201 Steve, Apr 3, 2010
    Back to the actual racing biz...

    If you haven't noticed, it's only a 1-week break between Australia and Malaysia...the race starts in about 8 hours (4am Eastern). It rained during quali which made for a surprising grid and there's a good chance of rain during the race as well. Set your DVRs.

    The grid:
    Column 1 Column 2 Column 3 Column 4 Column 5 Column 6 Column 7
    Pos No Driver Team Q1 Q2 Q3
    1 6 Mark Webber RBR-Renault 1:51.886 1:48.210 1:49.327
    2 4 Nico Rosberg Mercedes GP 1:52.560 1:47.417 1:50.673
    3 5 Sebastian Vettel RBR-Renault 1:47.632 1:46.828 1:50.789
    4 14 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:49.479 1:47.085 1:50.914
    5 10 Nico Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1:49.664 1:47.346 1:51.001
    6 11 Robert Kubica Renault 1:46.283 1:46.951 1:51.051
    7 9 Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1:50.301 1:48.371 1:51.511
    8 3 Michael Schumacher Mercedes GP 1:52.239 1:48.400 1:51.717
    9 23 Kamui Kobayashi BMW Sauber-Ferrari 1:48.467 1:47.792 1:51.767
    10 15 Vitantonio Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 1:49.922 1:48.238 1:52.254
    11 12 Vitaly Petrov Renault 1:47.952 1:48.760
    12 22 Pedro de la Rosa BMW Sauber-Ferrari 1:47.153 1:48.771
    13 16 Sebastien Buemi STR-Ferrari 1:48.945 1:49.207
    14 17 Jaime Alguersuari STR-Ferrari 1:48.655 1:49.464
    15 19 Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 1:52.875 1:52.270
    16 24 Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1:52.398 1:52.520
    17 1 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:52.211 No time
    18 18 Jarno Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 1:52.884
    19 8 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:53.044
    20 2 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:53.050
    21 7 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:53.283
    22 20 Karun Chandhok HRT-Cosworth 1:56.299
    23 21 Bruno Senna HRT-Cosworth 1:57.269
    24 25 Lucas di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 1:59.977


    Button qualified for Q2 but missed out ("no time") because he beached his car before Q1 ended and they couldn't get it back and on the track in time.
     
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