Why aren't F1 races longer?

Well just be glad you're not on the west coast, I have to wake up at 4:30am! I'm not too picky about the length of the race, I just hate the commercials every 30 seconds on speed.

 

Agreed! the commercials are crazy. I think the race lengths are pretty good, honestly I can't watch a nascar race it just takes tooo long.

 

You'd lose the audience. Most of the races have one dominant racer, and do you really want to see your rival pulling away for an extra hour?

 

i get pretty frustrated with Star Sports. they go for a friggin break every 5 laps. like as if they're driving. ITV, OTOH, is ok.

 

I don't think that the G-levels imposed on the DRIVERS, at maximum effort levels, can be endured, for much more than the length of the GP's, today. Much, much more physically demanding. Like a Boxer, who can only go for 3 min. Rounds, it's dangerous for the Drivers, at the Speeds involved to make any mistakes, they will cause injury and death, as a result. A very dangerous and unforgiving occupation.

If F1 Drivers, who have driven the Le Mans Races and past Mille Miglia's, 24 hrs of Daytona and 12hrs of Sebring, could explain to us, the physical differences between the two types of Motor Racing?

Ciao...Paolo

 

Have you seen the new G-meter graphics on the races?

F1 cars pull more g-stress than a Space Shuttle launch. And an astronaut only has to take launch stress for a few minutes.

F1 races have (or used to have) a clock limit at two hours. If rain or other factors slow the race, it ends after two hours regardless of the distance.

Do you notice Kimi perspiring in the interviews? (Okay, he's from a northern climate).

But the cars are hot, the g-stresses are huge, and your neck has to support that big helmet around turns.

Race drivers *are* athletes, and there's a limit to human endurance.

Dakar has some older drivers. But F1 is going to the younger drivers.

We like to second-guess the F1 teams, and daydream about driving an F1 car. But, truth be told, most of us just aren't in the kind of shape it takes to pilot a supercar.

(It bothers me that swapping rims/tires on my cars results in such sore leg muscles, these days. I used to do that all the time -- when I was 30 years younger. )

 

Yeah but I bet Michael wouldn't have any problem with longer races. I've never seen him look tired after a race. at 38 he'd still be hopping out of the car and celebrating while Kimi is exhausted and in search of a drink.

 

well, Michael's Michael. thats what makes him different from the rest.

 

Yeah but i'm sure there are other drivers that could handle it. In fact i'm sure most would, accept guys like Kimi, Montoya, Mansell etc. who weren't really into the fitness that much. Especially Mansell lol.

 

for his age, DC is pretty impressive. i'm not so sure about Monty tho. i remember, back in 2003, the german GP. he was ice cool on the podium and in the post race interview.


Trulli, OTOH, who finished 3rd i think, didn't even make it to the post race interview, because he was too exhausted. he even needed a doc to check his pulse rate just before the podium ceremony.

 

Are you kidding ?

Two hours is plenty long enough to watch a train of little action follow-the-leader 'for the most part'.

IF it were me, I'd do two races and add up the points, like they did at the Questor Grand Prix in 1971 (go see youtube.com).
Two heats of about 150 miles each would be great, IMO, 30-45 minutes in between each heat.

 

Memories of Mansell at... was it Dallas or Phoenix ? The guy had the heart of a lion, though, racing-wise.

 

yep. something like Flav proposed. more action fro fans both on and off the track

 

F1 cars only pull close to 5 gs for a split second upon braking. Astronauts experience over 3 gs for several minutes. It's definitely much harder on the body to experience a shuttle launch than a spurt of 5 gs when braking.

 

agreed. but don't forget, it's over 50 laps...

 

There's little reason to watch follow the leader for more than 2 hours. It'd be like watching drive in a pack NASCAR for 3.

 

I usually stop giving my full attention midway through the race (45 minutes). By that time, the final order is basically done unless something happens like an accident. Very rarely am I on the edge of my seat. That was basically Kimi's push to the front in Japan overtaking both Renaults on the final laps and then Michael vs. Fernando in Spain on the last corner.

 

+1

 

Formula One IS NOT ENDURANCE racing. FIA reqs specify the length of races. Those of us who are true F1 fans watch the races no matter what time zone they occur and we can watch whenever on tv or via live timing. No complaints here on my end - just set an alarm.

Carol

 

Watch the graphics: F1 cars pull around 3 Gs in turns.

There's a reason it's called a "super" license.

 

Unfortunately I also have a memory of Mansell after the Michigan 500 in 1993, when he had to pulled from his car by his crew from exhaustion. Meanwhile, his 52 year old teammate, Mario, who finished second to Nigel, looked like he could go another 500 miles.

When asked about Mansell's condition, Mario smiled and shrugged his shoulders, without saying a word. He didn't need to.

Nigel should have won an Oscar for all his theatrics.

 

Relax, grasshopper, I think we all know it's not endurance racing.

 

The length of GP has been shortened a few years ago, at the demand of Ecclestone, when he was negociating with TV companies on behalf of FOCA.

For the TV companies to schedule GPs in their programme, they asked for the duration to be less than 2 hours - it used to be 3. Ecclestone convinced Ballestre (I think ) that shorter GPs would get more exposure on the screens.

The same thing happened with the World Rally Championship. Traditional 'classic' rallies were difficult to sell to TV companies because they were run over 3 or more days, with long stages. TV companies asked for events to be run over 2 days max., with a maximum length to each stage, and no competition during the night, because of technical difficulties to film the event. The FIA complied.

 

Another example of Ecclestone's interference is his proposal that The Australian GP as Melbourne must be run in the dark.
Ecclestone threatens the Melbourne promoter not to renew the FIA contract in 2010 unless he agrees to run the race in the dark, to satisfy TV schedules in Europe!!
F1 is dominated by TV interests!!