F1 'not what it used to be' - Lotterer F1 'not what it used to be' - Lotterer | News | Motorsport.com
What a load of bollocks! One, failed, F1 driver that screwed around in a POS Caterham for a single race, is somehow qualified to comment on the current state of F1? Please! Tell you what dude, when your 'pure Japanese' car can get close to F1 times, I may listen. Till then, STFU! And then there's dear old Mark. A longtime journeyman who was comprehensively beaten by a guy who's now being shown the way by a kid. No wonder he's bitter & twisted too! Your Michelins may be 'pure race tires', but again, when you can turn F1 times I'll listen. Cheers, Ian
About 6 seconds per lap difference in both Qualy and Race in favor of F1 cars over Super Formula. The SF cars are doing it with a 2 liter inline turbo 4 though.
From a spectator's point of view, I don't think the lap time is all important. What matters is the closeness of racing and the entertainment derived from it. It's possible that GP2 or Super Formula are just as interesting to watch than F1 now. Sprint Car is more entertaining to me than "the pinnacle of motor sport", for example, and I don't care about the lap time; that's for the anoraks. From a driver's point of view, it's the pleasure you get from driving a certain type of car that matters. It maybe that a hybrid LMP1 is more of a challenge to drive than a F1, these days. But they have a point about the tyres, though. The brief to Pirelli is to provide a show by artificially delivering tyres that degrade quickly. At Le Mans and other WEC races, tyres are there to last and there is competition between manufacturers, and the drivers are allowed to race.
Yeah, I guess if you're an old, failed, F1 driver! I will concede that one! There's no doubt Pirelli could 'do better'. I'd guess they could do tires that slice at least 3-5 seconds off the times, and still last well too. And they're not allowed to race in F1? OK!.... I beg to differ. [gotta be careful here - this isn't a 'spoiler' thread ] We just witnessed some very serious result changes as a result of tires being good/bad. I'd love to see Pirelli allowed to produce the best possible rubber. I'd love to see another tire war too. Would probably slice at least 5 seconds off their lap times as well. But, unfortunately, it is what it is I guess. Cheers, Ian
Fair comment! But, seriously? OK, he's won the old boys race in France. Kudos. He can obviously drive. But criticizing F1 like that is just jumping the shark IMO. Cheers, Ian
About how much slower current F1 cars are than the 2004-2005 machines. While I don't agree with his comments, he probably drove the F1 car and wasn't impressed. That's his prerogative. I was watching an interview with Magnussen the other day where he said they don't drive much different or feel faster than GP2 anymore. Let's face it, the "WOW" factor that drivers used to feel when they stepped into a F1 car for the first time is gone. Much of the "WOW" factor spectators used to feel when seeing a car in person is also gone. You guys can spin it how you want, yes the racing is closer, blah blah but in terms of how spectacular the machines are, it's been downgrade after downgrade to where we're currently at. In terms of how awe inspiring the cars are, F1 is at its lowest point in many decades in my opinion. Are other aspects of the sport much better than the past? Yes of course...but the cars themselves...bleh...
I agree. Attending Silverstone was an awesome experience, but I wasn't as blown away by the F1 cars as I had hoped to be... single car demonstrations of the old V10s and V8s were more impressive as machines than a whole V6 turbo field. Yes, the F1 cars were much faster and the drivers more seasoned, but GP2 felt like it had more energy in it - the machines themselves were more exciting. The F1 cars sort of whished, whined, whooshed, whistled, and droned, while the GP2 cars roared. I wore ear defenders for GP2 and not for F1... Also, the GP2 drivers made more lunges to overtake, not as paranoid about taking life out of tyres they were trying to manage. Tyres designed not to last and the lack of refueling along with limited fuel supplies has made F1 an endurance/economy race - the cars are not driving flat out for a whole race, they're trying to get good tyre wear and gas mileage instead. That's just crap. All the best, Andrew.
Endurance has stopped to be tactical racing long time ago; it's often flat-out from the start, and with a small margin in the end. Le Mans isn't an "old boys" race, as much as you want to deride it. Also, don't forget that that for a long time, F1 was in fact SLOWER than sport car racing. Finally, not all talented drivers want to make it to F1, and some prefer other disciplines.
Are w watching the same races? Because I keep hearing race managers coaching their drivers about tyre wea, asking them to save them, or to make them last longer, etc... Also, I hear on the radio communications about "saving fuel", short-changing, etc... So, I cannot see how the drivers are allowed to race all the time, like say Formula Ford, or Touring cars. Am I wrong? The fact is that tyre wear, the Pirelli monopoly, the quick degradation, the imposition of soft or option, etc... are all part of the "dog and ponny" show Ecclesone and the FIA have come up with to entertain us. A return to a tyre war isn't on the cards in F1 they are scared of cars going too fast.
As much as it grieves me to admit it, I think I'm going to have to agree! I haven't seen them live since Indy 2003, and was (still am) seriously considering heading to COTA next month. F1 used to bring goose bumps. Make the hairs stand up. Etc. Nothing could even come close.... Coming into turn one at Indy, when your brain was saying "there's no way he's going to make the turn' he'd then start braking. The noise, particularly in the empty steel grandstand on Friday was just awesome! I have some friends I can stay with. Was figuring just get a GA ticket and see what showed up for Sunday in the stands. (Much good advice for good locations here of course ). But I'm just not sure it's worth it! Am I going to be disappointed? Will I have to remove my rose tinteds!? *IF* I could blag a pit pass, even just for Friday and/or Saturday, I'd definitely do it. Not worried about the 'hospitality' BS, but want to get up close & personal with them for a few hours..... I've tried a few 'avenues', but so far no luck. Sitting in the Texas sun without having my socks blown off just isn't exciting me too much I guess. Cheers, Ian N
I do agree with that! GP2 is more entertaining to me than watching F1 now. It's "all balls out" from start to finish, and not the silly tactics imposed by F1 rules. F1 the "pinnacle of motorsport" ? Not anymore.
Don't waste your money. Come to the Aussie GP instead, where the weather is better, the support events are better and the people are absolutely charming.
Yeah, I guess so. They all get BOP'd into a false equality before they even start. As for running 'flat out', we all know that's not true. I'm being just a little cynical, sorry. I recognize there's some serious effort and good driving going on at the pointy end. Some very interesting engineering too. But they're not as quick, and at least in the 'modern era', never have been. Plus, they don't have sticky out wheels! If the wheels don't stick out, they're little more than taxicabs! (Cynical hat on) Now there I do have to beg to differ (Seriously!) - I can't believe there's a young driver out there who's ultimate dream isn't F1! As they get older, they may change their 'expectations' to simply becoming a 'pro' driver (still one hell of a fine achievement!), but F1 remains, for now at least, where they'd all like to be IMO. OK, before anyone says it, I guess there's some US guys who's dream is the taxicabs, but outside that, F1 remains the pinnacle where they'd all like to wind up. Cheers, Ian
If not for the fact that Australia had such a high concentration and variety of deadly wildlife, that sounds like fun! Actually, my wife's aunt and uncle live in Melbourne and every year when the F1 race came to town they'd hit Facebook to complain about the noise... apart from this year. Not a peep from them about F1 in 2014. Annoy my new relatives, being back the V8! All the best, Andrew.
This is where we differ. I find it an anachronism in the 21st century to keep open wheels cnfiguration. To me, that doesn't make sense. Why using all this aerodynamic research, wind tunnel and so on, and still impose open wheels like on 19th century horse carts? Apart that it's dangerous, open wheels are a drag.
F1 isn't attractive to all racing drivers, and some even give it up. Look at Montoya! Webber? Other aren't interested in pursuing the elusve goal and prefer other disciplines. For many F1 isn't a dream at all.
They get burnt out, tired, cynical whatever. But there's no doubt that the two you mention dreamt of it when they were growing up was my point. As they get older, sure, objectives change. As I said, just making a living at it is one hell of an achievement and if they do that in sports cars, or IMSA or whatever, a doff of the cap here. Well done! But, I still maintain that to the vast majority (outside of North Carolina at least), F1 remains the ultimate dream. Cheers, Ian
Forgive me, but are you sure about that, yer know you being the Aussie ambassador on here for how to win, influence friends and charm folk .. or is it how to influence friends and win enemies..
I think keeping it Open Wheel is part of the magic of F-1 I assume Bernie is responsible for this with how he likes to keep it old school. Now,lets get rid of the trying to be green/electric crap/computer glitches, go back to screaming V-12s at close to 20k RPM,have at least two tire manufacture's or better yet 3 and make it a real sprint race,NO PITTING,No Refueling,No tire changes,nothing. Balls out sprint race !
Maybe poor Webber has forgotten the Merc aeroplanes he use to "fly" [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxONVf9oVss]Mercedes Le Mans 99' Mercedes CLR GT1 Crash Live - YouTube[/ame]
