F1 F1 - 2013

See, I keep coming back for the drama and the arguments over minutia. I guess some people get their fill of that watching reality TV, or soaps, or somesuch. I get all from following the nonsense between races.

And yes Hamilton is pretty full of himself, but he also wears his heart on his sleeve and doesn't really filter his comments too well. Then the press (which adores him) jumps all over some off hand comment he says and suddenly it's a new controversy. To be honest, they all seem like pretty nice guys in most of the interviews. Seb's only unpopular right now because everyone still remembers the team orders kerfuffle (and forgets that Mark did the same to Seb a few years back). It's all part of the ebb and flow of the crowd.

I wouldn't have it any other way.

 

I think some of these comments have a bit of culture clash in them - as I grew up with Yurpeen racing (which is what much international racing is, at heart), a lot of it seems normal to me.

F1 really is just club racing on steroids. It started with guys racing their own cars 60-80 years ago (OK, sometimes with money from that nice Mr Hitler) and then morphed into a mega-million activity with tobacco money, but some of the organisation is the same. Sure, Bernie appears to a proper white-cat-stroking mastermind/autocrat, but there's still quite a lot of stuff decided by chaps in blazers meeting as a committee, just like a club would.

It is daft to think of anyone in the US running what is a very big entertainment business without putting the spectators (or TV viewers) first, but I think F1 teams and principals want to win races more than they want to make money. A recent study showed that the majority of teams are in effect non-profit-making businesses - why make a profit when you could spend the same money going just a little bit faster?

So I hear comments here about limiting pit crew on pit stops, as though that is a normal thing to do. Sure, in an entertainment business, when competing on pit stop durations, it doesn't matter to the spectators if it's a two-second or a twenty-second stop - and if you limit the pit crew, that's a cheaper way to go racing and provide a spectacle. But if all you care about is speed, a twenty-person pit crew is faster (and many of those guys have probably driven the trucks there, so does it really cost?).

And if you wanted to protest a club race decision, you would. The idea that the club could say "that doesn't look good to the fans, so keep quiet" wouldn't apply. So we end up with some F1 rule decisions being finalised in courts! Sure everyone in the sport loses, but the guy who won in court lost less than the others, so that's a win!

 

The Runoffs at MO were at the top of my list!

 

That's why the rules need to be changed to do it. Kind of like Indy cars.

 

Well, I just watched my taped edition of the Belgian Grand Prix. Vettel simply had an amazing race from start to finish. Alonso did well by moving from 9th position to 2nd. Hamilton gave up the pole for an okay 3rd place finish. Raikkonen is sure to be unhappy dropping to 4th in championship points. Grosjean had a crappy race for Lotus and Button's pit strategy didn't work out very well either. Next stop: Italy!

 

Is Ricciardo replacing Webber?

 

It sounds like Raikkonen will stay with Lotus if they spend the $$$$ to improve his machine. I wonder if Mossa has done enough through the BGP to keep his seat with Ferrari. The 'Prancing Ponies' could use another Alonso.

 

I just have trouble seeing Kimi and Alonzo as well working team mates. Who would absorb the Ferrari bad luck. It's always been the number 2 driver.

I like Massa but I think Hulkenburg would be faster.

 

Better keep him away from Diffey then, that guy does not know when to shut up! :biggrin5:

 

I finally got to meet Mario at Mid-Ohio this year.

 

I had the very distint pleasure in meeting both Mario and Micheal at the Portland CART race the weekend that Mario beat Micheal on Father's day 1986.

 

I'm not a betting man, but I'd bet we will never see an F1 race in New Jersey.

 

Jersey ain't happinin.....it's already been canceled......permanently.

It was a daft idea for a Formula 1 course anyway.....

 

Of course it's not. Thanks for making it official Minidave.