*SPOILER* PlanetF1 Conclusions from Race 1

PF1's Conclusions From Bahrain

Sunday 14th March 2010
Plenty to celebrate?...

Plenty to celebrate?...

It's still early days, but it looks as if F1 has turned into a procession of neurotic old women...

*Change Is Not Always Better
So much for the hope that a ban on refuelling would rekindle F1's flame. Even Michael Schumacher, even the man making his return after three years of pining, admitted he found it boring. Millions of viewers, many of whom who would have only tuned in to watch his return, will have already turned off long before his verdict was broadcast. Perhaps that's just as well given that his damning commentary finished with the prediction, "That's the action we are going to have unfortunately with this kind of environment of race strategy."

In other words, as the rules and new regulations are to blame, don't expect a change of formula when the circus moves on to its next arena.

Tempting though it is to reserve that sort of judgement until the results are in from Australia or even Malaysia, F1 cannot bury its head in the desert sand before it leaves Bahrain. Something already looks fundamentally, crippling wrong with the new regulations. Wait and see? The danger of that policy is that many people will already have decided not to wait or see, and a further exodus will follow if a soporific re-run is repeated in Albert Park.

Though the lack of overtaking will be bemoaned, there were actually a few moves of note and Bahrain's TV director did his product no favours. It looked worse than it truly was. But of greatest alarm ought to have been the suffering of Fernando Alonso's Ferrari in the dirty air churned out by Seb Vettel's Red Bull and the confession of Jenson Button, the World Champion no less, that he was focused on protecting his tyres rather than producing pace. The pinnacle of motor racing? Not if the tortoise is ahead of the hare.

Button's confession included the admission he was overcautious but there is little - if any - incentive to chase at full pelt when overtaking is bordering on impossible. Bahrain's new twisty middle sector was a further barrier to passing because it only succeeds in stretching out the field but even when the faster Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button caught Vettel, Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher respectively they were unable to even produce an overtaking attempt due to the dirty air spewing on to their front wings.

Next year's ban on Double Diffusers will help the overtaking cause but next year is twelve months too late. Nor will it provide a comprehensive solution. So what can be done? The suggestion of McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh, hardly a renowned reactionary, on Sunday night was for two pit-stops, rather than one, to become mandatory so that drivers have good reason to push on every stint. Sensible heads will no doubt ask for a second or third viewing before considering fresh change. But if a repeat is served up, F1 needs to be in a rush to prevent itself suffering long-term damage as a procession of neurotic Sunday afternoon go-slowers.

*The F10 Is The Car To Drive
Better to be in a fast and reliable car than a slightly-faster but unreliable motor. In clean air and on the prime tyres, it may also be the case that Ferrari are untouchable. And better, surely, to be fastest on Sunday rather than Saturday.

Given the size of Red Bull's qualifying advantage, the apparent ease with which Vettel was able to pull clear of the Ferraris on soft tyres, and the fact that Mark Webber was waylaid by technical gremlins on Friday, it would be no surprise if the pattern of Bahrain is repeated throughout the season: Red Bull quickest off the mark, only to be caught by Ferrari or caught out by their own unreliability. You know what people say, Adrian Newey's cars are fast but...

It's entirely hypothetical at this stage but the response of Red Bull to the idea of a second mandatory pit-stop - which only can be introduced with the full approval of the teams - is already worth a quick ponder because if that rule was in place in Bahrain then Alonso would surely have jumped Vettel then and there. Caught between protecting their own interests and that of the greater good, quite the dilemma might await Red Bull.

*McLaren Can Stop Panicking
It looked grim for Macca on Saturday night but Sunday afternoon brought relief in the form of Lewis Hamilton's competitive race-pace. They're behind but not adrift.

Those of a cynical mind will have noted that, having suffered this weekend in qualifying, McLaren are leading the calls for a compulsory second stop - an introduction which would be of greatest benefit to the cars that are quicker in race trim. But their qualifying woes could have just been a matter of circumstance, the broiling heat or a poor set-up.

Moreover, they are suffering from a general lack of downforce and are once again relying on engine superiority and a clever gizmo to disguise their now-traditional aerodynamic weakness. This time last year, McLaren would have been at the very back of the field but for their success with the KERS system and Hamilton was only faster than Mercedes in Bahrain because of the extra mph created by the team's ingenious air flow assembly. The difference in speed between Rosberg and Hamilton along the straights was staggering given that their cars were powered by identical units.

*Bridgestone Are Doing Too Good A Job (Especially If Your Name Is Jenson Button)
Even without a mandatory second pit-stop, the show would still be a spectacle if the extra weight of the cars weakened the performance of Bridgestone's rubber. The problem in Bahrain, as noted by Martin Whitmarsh, was that "There was no real serious degradation of the tyres".

Tyre management was easy rather than a skill, and that's particularly bad news for Jenson Button because his skill at nursing his tyres was predicted to give him a critical edge over Lewis Hamilton (among others). Unless Bridgestone start blistering, that advantage will be factored out of the equation to his considerable disadvantage.

*But Could Bahrain Be So Bad To Make Australia Good
But before we go too far with the pessimism, here's an optimistic scenario for Australia:

Drivers, realising that overtaking is close to impossible in normal racing conditions, identify the first lap as the only opportunity to get past the cars in front, and throw caution to the wind.

If they do, then the risk is that the tight confines of Albert Park are fertile ground for Safety Car deployment. And if and when the Safety Car is deployed, some drivers are bound to take the gamble of pitting early for a 'free' stop in the hope that their tyres will last the rest of the race (which they would have in Bahrain). Cue mass upheaval and, just possibly, plenty of on-track drama.

Well, here's hoping.

Pete Gill

 

I don't expect the comments above to go over too well on this forum considering Ferrari's result from this race, but... if you look at it unbiasedly... it was an incredibly boring race, and the new rules are horrendous.

It has become a marathon rather than a sprint. If it wasn't bad enough before with silly rules, it is WAY worse now. It's like the curling of motor sport.... see who can go juuuust fast enough to get to the line and no more. I have little interest in watching a bunch of teams not being concerned with other traffic because they have pre-calculated their most efficient speed/tire wear combination and they just want to stick to their strategy rather than get into an actual fight for position.

It's like hyper-miling but in F1 cars.

Needs to be changed ASAP. Bring back refueling.

 

Agreed!! Even Whitmarsh is calling for change now.

 

LOL!

not quite that bad....but frankly, if it weren't for Vettel's engine problems, this race would have been a snoozer, at least up front.

some decent mid-pack action if the producers accidentally allowed it on screen.

 

All teams would have to agree. SF has no interest in this IMVHO.

 

or maybe speed-walking.

 

If you want to make F1 uber-exciting again then all the drivers need to be sacked and replaced by rookies that have never driven an F1 car before haha.

 

The curling of motorsport....
Bwahaha!!!!
Best line on this forum in a long time.
Thanks
Kevin

 

Well, what I mean is that in curling, the object is not to be the fastest or quickest but rather to give the stone the absolute minimum amount of force necessary to get it to where it needs to go. Too little and you don't make the target - too much and you wasted energy. Same with F1 this year... just enough gas to reach the finish line, and go easy enough on your tires so you don't have to change them but once.

A marathon instead of a sprint.

 

I'm just thinking Mike would your sentiments be the same if the Shoe had won....

No need to reply mate.

 

I'd say that the curling in question, was of the big steaming one in the porcelain bowl variety.

 

No-one tried to use the tires as part of their strategy by playing it safe with a one stopper.
Cuz no-one else did.
I always liked refueling because it added a strategic element to the race.

All those dissing KERS, be careful what you wish for.

 

Extra pitstops does not solve the problem.

Races were not boring in the late 80's before refueling pitstops. I agree that we need to sack the drivers and get some kids with big balls to drive these cars.

Anybody that thinks that refueling pit stops enables passing is a fool, all it does is enable a driver to use the pitstops to get past another driver. If you thinking that is exciting to watch then I'm sorry you have no idea of what motorsport is about. Go and get some old videos or Prost versus Senna and wheel banging at 200mph ... that is passing.

Oh and BTW F1 has always been an endurance race, not just a sprint. A sprint lasts 5 laps or so not 80 laps. These current drivers just have to lift their performances to the Prost and Senna level, which they are way below and then racing will return. Senna used to have no trouble passing ... because he WAS a racing driver.
Pete
ps: All proper F1 races used to have pitstops for real needs, ie. tyres were fncked or fuel was required cause it was running out. Only Bernie's TV show introduced unnecessary pitstops because the modern race driver cannot drive and actually pass a car on the track. Gilles Villeneuve would not have a problem ...

 

I don't know what we can conclude, but some of the better wheel to wheel dicing in this race was between the tail enders. Pity we have to watch the boring procession up front.

 

I'll wait until the second race before condemning the new rules....

 

Should never have come back.

The MS of old would never have found ANY race boring. This is a bad sign.
Pete

 

I was going to suggest that as well, however i gave it more thought and the difference is that with another mandated pit stop, drivers cannot afford to conserve tires and must go all out. Without refueling it's more difficult to pass in the pits (with everyone on the same fuel everyone pretty much has similar timing for pit stops). So while it doesn't *guarantee* more on-track action, it does encourage it. At minimum it means drivers aren't going at 10/10ths, and not a tire-saving pace, and so there is more opportunity for error.

Big balls aren't the problem. There is a tremendous amount of money at stake and the drivers do what they're told.

The difference in the 80's is that tires and aero sucked and so braking distances were much longer. All the F1 guys know this, but no one wants less grip and less power (and note power and aero are tied together thanks to drag). It would be ridiculous for F1 to be slower than GP2.

 

Here's Michael's opinion on it.

http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.aspx?id=47966

 

Race was boring need fuel stops.The more variable factors involved the more the excitement at least in IMHO.

 

Put the shifter back on the floor, let them refuel and let the aerodynamic geeks do their stuff. In other words bring back the cars of the late 70's....enough of this "cost saving". I actually dozed off several times watching the race...terrible.

Oh yeah...let them race at Mosport or Spa or Watkin's Glen again! Enough of these new tracks in the middle of nowhere!

 

Disagree. That moves the action OFF the track ...

Pete

 

I was having fun cheering on the new guys hoping they would all somehow make it to the finish. That was at least fun!

 

One of the big issues with the race was the new track section.

I think Bahrain is suffering from the economy, and put the new section in to generate revenue:
.... They walk around after the race and collect the gold fillings shaken out of the drivers' teeth.

The Monaco streets aren't that bumpy --- and you know how impossible it is to pass at Monaco.

Ultimately, I think it's the "preserve the engine and gearbox" rules that are keeping drivers from pushing the envelope.

A few more years of the budget constraints, and the field will be nothing but Prius drivers, watching the "blue ball" economy display.

 

If I were Bernie I'd wait till all the cars on the grid on Sunday and then walk down the grid with a large hammer. I'd knock the front wing of every car and then let them race.

The car would be tricky to drive, but so would everyones. Catching up to another car would not be a disadvantage as the dirty air wouldn't matter, you'd also be able to slipstream on the straights. The drivers would have to be careful about destroying their front tyres, or they could think 'F0ck it' and just go for it, but take the penalty of extra pit-stops.

I'm glad that refuelling has been banned. It was a stupid gimmick that lasted too long. We just need the cars top have more mechanical and less aero grip - like real cars!

P.S. Also bring back steel brakes!

 

Every time when a rookie is interviewed that just drove an F1 car for the first time, they're amazed about the stopping abilities. Take away those advanced brakes and you'll have a real race on your hands (along with the stupid aero parts and diffusers).

The Ferrari one-two was the only positive thing about the race. Otherwise it was booooring!