Are you satisfied with the current form of racing?

The tires wear out so quickly, prompting so many pit stops, I never seem to know who is doing really well with the exception of whoever is in front. I think the tires formulation should be changed such that less pit stops are req'd.

 

Yes and no:

I don't like the <anything> management kind of racing. Now it is tires. In the late eighties it was fuel consumption with the turbos (and that might come again with the 2013 engine formula). It smells like endurance racing and I find that boring. F1 is all about a 100 meter dash to the finish line and shouldn't be conserving anything.

That said, I do like the racing as it is this season: KERS, DRS and tire degradation finally allow for endless passing. And 80+ pitstops guarantee that at some point a crew will screw up and that adds some random element of mayhem.

If they all had tires that would last an entire race, I'm sure we wouldn't be seeing that many passes. So I take that smaller evil for the greater good.

Qualifying OTOH is another issue: I hate to see some teams not going out in the final shoot out just to preserve a set of tires for the race. That shouldn't happen. I hope the FIA will introduce new regulations separating the tire sets for qualy from the ones for the race. Easy fix.

Or to look at it differently: Vettel will win the WDC this year. No question about that (unless he injures himself somewhere). But I don't really care: There is now so much action behind him and in the midfield that the camera literally jumps from one passing attempt to another. How many times did we see Vettel in Turkey? Barely at all.

+1

It is particularly difficult to get an overview of where they stand when teams are on different pitstop strategies. But I can't fault F1 for my lack of understanding. Some better graphics might be helpful though.

 

One thing I definitely don't like about today's racing:

The missing DNFs

With the rules demanding that engines and gear boxes last practically forever we don't have many mechanical DNFs anymore. Almost everybody makes it through to the end. That's another element of chance robbed.

And along the same lines:

The paved out run off areas give drivers constantly second chances. It has become rare that a driver gets stuck in the kiddy litter. That again lets everybody see the checkered flag. Another element of chance reduced.

I realize that wasn't in the OP question, but I'd love to see something done about that (very unlikely though, sponsors want to see their cars).

 

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I heard they're going to start giving every driver a trophy, along with a pudding cup.

 

On one hand yes, after all it is more exciting than watching them follow each other like robots. But and I'm afraid it is a big but, it's no longer about who does the best job in qualifying or who is quickest on race day. It's about who can manage there tyres the best... once they've easily driven past everyone thanks to the DRS and KERS.

So for me it's a bit of a mixed bag.

 

I would prefer:
1. Separate tire sets for Quali.
2. Bring back refueling
3. Pirelli should make 4 compounds for the season. + inters / wets. teams should be free to use any combo they choose.

If a team wants to fill her up and run no stop on super hards... so be it. Want to do a 5 stopper on softs... have at it.

I'm torn about DRS... it does prevent slower cars unnecessarily holding up faster cars. But it's fun watching the top tier cars struggling with traffic.

 

I like it to be honest, a step in the right direction, although I fear Qualifying will end up a farce.

And the marbles could prove a problem.

 

+1000

there is so much drama i seeing the car of the guy who seem to be cruising to victory, slowely but surely developing a smoke trail of some sort and losing speed as a consequence. It happend to Vettel in Korea, but in today's racing it is practically a given that all major participants make it to the finish. And yes, that does take away alot.

 

you mean by teams opting the keep more tires fresh, thus only one run or no run at all in Q3?

 

I would hope this is remedied with the upcoming Turbo era, but methinks this is a different kind of turbo era, a SPEC turbo era with no "grenade" tune allowed for quali, just the same 750 HP all the time (~100 HP less than the best of the current engines, not counting another 80 HP from KERS), but with only 13,000 rpm and less of that wonderful noise, i.e. going backwards......thanks Bernie......

If they will let it morph into a go for broke turbo era, I'll be 110% behind it.

I can't help but say the past couple races have been quite exciting to me with some genuine battles being fought out there.....even if they went a bit overboard with the tires. I'd like to see the return of the Frontier days of the early '80s----NA V-12s or turbo V-6s or I-4, or even V-8s, whatever you want to run, with certain regulations to keep things competitive. These days, a NA F1 engine actually CAN compete with a somewhat limited turbo setup, we've come a long way since the faithful but ancient Cosworth DFV was racing with cobwebs in the early '80s.

 

Correct

 

Then I agree. If one team starts by sacrificing the qualifying in order to have a extra set of option tires for the race (and that seems to have large benefits) then that will effectively will be the end of (at least) Q3.

Racepace is the only thing that matters on sunday. We saw that with Webber in China and the other way around with Rosberg in Turkey. No matter your gridposition, you'll end up with the position that corresponds with your racepace. So who cares about quali?

 

Yup. Race pace and having enough of the softs to run the race. KERS and DRS have made it possible to get past your rival, if you are indeed faster.

I think any discussion should also consider... Imagine the season to this point without Vettel. Might be the best "show" in modern times. Now is the best show = the best racing???

 

If they keep "improving" F1 they'll ruin it.
Bernie & Co. have the hubris to think that all F1 needs is one more adjustment, one more tweek to be "fixed" when what it needs is fewer rules and less interference.

Oh, and get off my lawn you darn kids

 

Brawn stated as much that this, or that will be the case when interviewed after the race.

 

NO!
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Nice hat. Are you putting on weight?

 

Bingo!

As for tifosi12's comments about the paved runoff areas, I completely agree there too.

 

Friend, you're mixing movies here. You can't be both: Either it is a T-800 or Darth.

As far as I'm concerned: Pick the T series. I never was much of a Star Wars fan but I'm addicted to Terminators.

<sorry for the hijack>

 

Some folk got no respect for the classics

 

Ain't that the truth!

<apologies to Kevin for an otherwise great thread>
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