Am I the only one who was hoping for that gopher to take out a front wing?

It's not far off being that dull and boring.

 

Have you ever watched NASCAR?  

 

Masses of overtaking, shunts, pitlane excitement, around a dozen different winners in any given year, and its on Free to view in its home country - unlike F1.

 

Even in its good years F1 doesn't come close for entertainment value.

i meant in the sense of driving round and round in circles

Nope. still don't see your point.  NASCAR is often exciting, F1 is rarely exciting.  NASCAR understands it's audience, F1 (Bernie) does not appear to.

 

I love F1, but it seems like sleeping off my hangover in Las Vegas was a better use of my time than watching the Montreal GP.  From what I've read, I won't even bother with the replay.

I was likening current F1 to the layman's view of NASCAR - which is bunch of race cars following each other round a track! That is F1 at the minute, processional and boring.

 

I watched F1 Rewind last night - 3 races featuring Senna - Suzuka 1988, Monaco 1992 and Donington 1993. Now that was a great era of racing - Monaco where Mansell, on new tyres, couldn't get past Senna, on old tyres. Donington where the lead drivers must have pitted about 20 times between them because of weather conditions.

 

Name the last true race where it had such excitement? I can't remember one. Bernie and CVC are so out of touch with the fans, they are taking the sport away from it's traditions, it's routes. How long before Silverstone is off the calendar?

Good article on BBC website by Coulthard.........effectively slaying F1 in its current format.

Sunday was truly awful.

Just read his article ( link) and it is absolutely on the mark.

 

I have heard a few comments on BBC and Sky suggesting the cars and drivers are only working at about 80-90% at best - thats not what F1 should be all about.

 

A few changes I would like to see:

Fuel - allow the teams to fuel as much as they want. Let them decide whether to underfuel (meaning fuel saving) or over fuel meaning full on racing.

Tyres - get some kind of tyre that doesn't fall apart after being pushed to the limit for 2-3 laps. Also lower profile tyres would probably translate to quicker cars as less need to manage the sidewall flex. Also wider tyres for more mechanical grip in corners etc

Engines - greater development during the season. At the moment if a team is behind at the start (Red Bull/Renault), they have little or no chance of ever catching up.

DRS - the removal of DRS. It is a gimmick designed to provide overtaking but only in limited situations. Make the racing harder and more full on and passing will happen on its own.

Aero - more open regulations to allow blown diffusers etc. If a team takes the chance on something like that reward excellent design (so long as it is shown to be safe - unlike the flying DC Mercedes) instead of writing it out of the sport.

It would require a rule change to allow a change of wheel size, and that wouldn't affect the fragility or otherwise of tread compounds. The associated reduction in sidewall height might force designers to run softer springs though.

Bernie doesn't like the look of the low profile 18's proposed by Michelin, so that's one change unlikely until he's gone.

Bernie doesn't like the look of the low profile 18's proposed by Michelin, so that's one change unlikely until he's gone.

Bernie should bear in mind that a lot of the changes made while he has been in charge are responsible for the slow (on and off the track) agonizing death that F1 seems to be heading for.

 

Bearing in mind that they are currently using 13" rims, any move towards lower profile would be a good thing IMHO. Even Incycar use 15" - link

It's not just Bernie saying he doesn't like the idea of low profile tyres / larger rims, the teams are saying much the same thing.

 

I guess there would be significant development costs as the chassis' would need altering to provide suspension travel that would be lost by moving to low profile rubber.

They're trailing 17's I believe, they did a test at Monaco! Using aGP2 car I think?

Michelin have submitted a proposal for F1 tyre supplier from 2017 season.

 

18 inch and "drive to the max" tyre performance

Now I like the sound of that!

 

Rather than the "lets drive the procession round nice and slow to keep to two tyres, which we are only using because its the rules", this sounds like " lets have some serious racing"

 

Now lets get rid of the restrictions on fuel amounts - let teams weigh up the time penalty of extra fuel weight against the ability to drive flat out.

Did read an article on Michelin which also bundled in a renewed push for a budget cap in exchange for relaxed development rules on anything "Road relevant".

Now I like the sound of that!

Rather than the "lets drive the procession round nice and slow to keep to two tyres, which we are only using because its the rules", this sounds like " lets have some serious racing"

Now lets get rid of the restrictions on fuel amounts - let teams weigh up the time penalty of extra fuel weight against the ability to drive flat out.

I had the impression the cars are slow because of the 50% reduction (since 2013) fuel formula not the tyres. Pirelli built degradeable tyres because they were asked to. With unlimited fuel they could go flat out and do more stops.

Edited 17 June, 201511 yr by camelspyyder

Fascinating Q1 results.  Great to have low air/track temps to see how the driver is and less how good the car (engine) is.

 

 

 

Watching qualifying today I had one of those random thoughts that we all get occasionally, albeit this was F1 related. The greatest single F1 lap ever? Who knows?

 

The final race of the 1979 season was the United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen and at this point, team-mate Jody Scheckter had already taken the World Championship. Friday practice was held in extremely wet conditions and Villeneuve went fastest. Looking back at great F1 laps we think of Senna, qualifying a whole second quicker than team-mate Prost at Monaco. Well Villeneuve trounced that.

At the end of the session he posted a lap that was an astonishing 11 seconds faster than the entire field. 11 SECONDS!  Scheckter was second, who said “I scared myself rigid that day. I thought I had to be quickest. Then I saw Gilles’s time and I still don’t really understand how it was possible. Eleven seconds!”

Fangio. Nurburgring 1957. Broke the lap record by huge chunks. On nearly every lap. So I guess the last lap record was best.

Fangio. Nurburgring 1957. Broke the lap record by huge chunks. On nearly every lap. So I guess the last lap record was best.

 

15.5 seconds a lap faster than Hawthorn who was leading at the time is a mighty impressive feat I agree. But the Nurburgring was over 14 miles long and Fangio was in the best car, with fresh tyres. The debate continues!

Not convinced Maser was still the best car in the 2nd half of '57. Vanwall won everywhere else I think.

At least these were competitive race laps. GV's genius lap was in a meaningless wet practice session against a team-mate whose motivation seemed to vanish the moment the Championship was tied up.

Senna's first lap at Donington '93 is held by many as one of the best ever.

Yes, Senna's lap at Donington was indeed very special. Yes, GV's lap was in practice but he was 11 seconds faster than they guy in 2nd place who happened to be his team mate. The rest of the field were even further behind.

 

We should be having this discussion over beer!

Not sure if it's the best lap but this has to be up there ?

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivHrg_S86Ts

Or Hamilton's first lap at Austria last year, 9th to 4th. Certainly agree about Senna's lap 1 at Donington too.

The last 2 laps of the 1979 French GP which are perhaps best remembered for one of the fiercest battles ever for second place, between Ferrari driver Gilles Villeneuve and Renault driver René Arnoux, who on several occasions during the final laps touched wheels and swapped positions. Find it on Youtube, watch it, and then say why if you think I'm wrong.

With all these posts relating to historical drives, I am left wondering if anyone will remember anything about F1 at the moment in years to come other than it was a complete snooze fest.