Worth a read among all the predictions and assessments of the sport after Jerez. The Elastoplast Technique - Pitpass.com
A fair assessment. The thing is that those who run F1 couldn't care less. They're swimming in money yet everyone is broke. Either someone's lying or it needs more competent management. But we all know this.
It is a depressing read. After reading it I tried to work out why I still care about F1 when it clearly doesn't care about me. I think I'm in an abusive relationship. Is there a shelter for battered F1 fans to wean us off it? Actually I'm not ready yet. I know deep down it loves me and this year will be different!
Normaly Pitpass only writes garbage but in this case, they are right...but i would like to add that sutil, maldonado and Perez deserve do be in f.1, they all are pretty decent drivers....of course there are bad examples like Chilton or kvyat (this one may even turn out to be a good driver, but that´s not why toro rosso chose him over Da Costa).
I've made that point for years, maybe if Malone buys in it will change, maybe. remember this - http://espn.go.com/racing/blog/_/name/hinton_ed/id/4271052/formula-one-teams-full-revolt
You think so? I think they're pretty good, decent writers, good news updates and I enjoy Sylts pieces. You sure not thinking of PlanetF1?... That one does suck! Cheers, Ian
You guys don't get it. It's not a sport. It's a business. When you get that through your heads everything will become clearer.
And this is the problem IMO. It has to remain at it's core a sport. If it doesn't it simply looses our interest. BUT I don't have a problem with paying drivers. They have existed since day one when motorsport was really an elitest sport and heck it still is. In the end, while it is a sport, like yachting, somebody has to pay for the equipment. So the grid will be made up of talented drivers (such as Fangio, who only got into F1 because of financial support from Argentina, he did not have rich parents) and paying drivers (such as Prince Bira). No problem. Where F1 really pisses me off is the way they deal with the profits, which are enormous especially when you include TV. Instead of Bernie (and the teams) running off with their wallets full it should go back to the tracks where they race and the countries they race in. This would boost and encourage growth in motorsport and their surrounding community. It sickens me that Bernie is allowed to run the sport like this and be such a selfish b@stard. Can you imagine how motorsport would have grown in your country if F1 put some of their profits back into the track they use and the local clubs? The F1 teams would still exist, Bernie would still be a well off guy but we all would share the profits of our top level. There could be education programs in third world countries, there could be driver safety/training programs for young kids just getting started with driving, there could be sponsored tyres and fuel for amature levels ... heck probably most of us that post in this section would be club racing instead of only talking about it on sites like this. How any of you can be fans of Bernie when all he has done is look after himself when WE the motorsport community gave him F1; the track owners/makers/repairers, track workers, the financial supporters of talent up through the ranks, the enthusiasts, the engineers, etc. Pete
The only thing I like about Bernie is his daughter Tamara. I guess Petra isn't bad either. Imagine marrying one of them!
Of course it is. I think everyone knows that. Just like every other 'top level' sport around the world; the English Premier League, the NFL, NBA, baseball, even hockey, they're all big time money making businesses. Dayum, even the Olympics went down the same rat hole long ago. It is what it is.... Just that some get pissed at the Pygmy for making too much money! Cheers, Ian
Personally, I don't care who makes money from F1, I just want a good show. That's the major problem with F1 right now, the show, it's rubbish. Artificial results from artificial rules designed to remove opportunity for innovation and racing. What do they really think, that ERS and KERS of an F1 car will encourage us all to trade in our cars for ones running it? I don't think so. Limit fuel so we end up with a frugality test? Stupid idea. The purists want cars racing at their limits, drivers pushed to their best and beyond, cars that differ in look and performance so that we can try again, like in the 90's and early 2000's, to predict the race distance and the various strategies. Remember when some cars had one stop, others did 4, or when Eddie Irvine was sent out on low fuel in japan to hop past the mclarens, slow them up, and let the heavier schumi take them down with a crafty strategy despite a slower car? Schumi doing four stops in France and doing just about every lap at qualy pace? That's what we want, refuelling, tyres a plenty, engines and gearboxes that can be replaced if they go wrong rather then nursed for half a race. RACING!, pure and simple It used to be that if you want to be in F1, the prerequisite was you needed to be able to afford it, and if you didn't, you went to GP2 or wherever you could. Nowadays, they are trying to manipulate this. Yes, costs need some control, but if F1 is to remain the pinnacle of Motorsport, you have to retain the prestige. It shouldn't be easy to get in and stay. The world might be preaching frugality with petrol etc, but racing shouldn't be all about that, they have specific formulae designed to perform on electric or a litre of fuel, F1 needs to be about the best aero, engines, power and the like, it's only 20 races a year, and extra few gallons of fuel aren't going to make much difference to the world
+1!! I nominate you for FIA President "Racing pure and simple" What a great catch phrase for F1 if it would only become that. Well said! You need to copyright that ASAP!
I like what you say except for you are very mistaken when it comes to pit stops. Having pits tops is what caused racing to stop. Take your Irvine example, that is not racing, that is chess and a complete contradiction to everything else you said. Irvine puttering around holding up the field. To get racing back on the track, we need no pit stops at all, like it was before the 90's ... Before compulsory pit stops we had the best racing. And I think it is a shame that you don't care who makes the money, because Bernie is raping YOUR car club for only his gain. That is not cool in my books. I'm amazed you guys can't see this because the way the sport is run is simply not right. Soon his self interest will have sucked the last bit of sport out of F1 and then it's over. As you say it is completely contrived now, and that is 100% Bernie's fault because he panics when the TV numbers fall. Imagine if the managed soccer like that! While we/you might want a good show, it is the sport that provides that quality show. What do you have once it has all gone. Nothing ... thanks Bernie. F1 in 2013 was as boring as any modern TV show, utter rubbish. DRS is a push to pass joke. KERS is actually good because it is turning wasted energy into more performance, but DRS should have caused the teams to strike! Pete
Well, I´m a purist like you. But as I use to say, it´s easy to be a purist with someone else´s money. Even in this castrated formula, most of the teams are struggling just to survive.
DRS is not such a terrible thing: with the current state of the aero technology, it´s not easy for the cars to pass. You talk about real racing and that, but you know that before DRS there was not in-track fight as cars couldn´t get too close. Thus, the different pit-stop strategies to overtake. The problem for me is that DRS is a band-aid for a bigger problem. Radical changes should be made to the aero rules, IMO. Probably, that would make the cars look radically different, but with the current noses, I think that fans wouldn´t complain too much about a change.
This again is the thing that some people don't understand. In any form of car racing you don't just drive up and then select where to pass. You can do close to that in motorcycle racing because the bikes are so narrow and it is close to impossible to defend the passing attempt ... which is why I find motorcycle racing boring. Love the qualifying but the racing is yawn material. So returning to cars. It does not matter what car formula catching somebody and then being able to conjure up a pass are two very different things. With many cars nowadays aero becomes part of the equation. But there is still on an track fight because the following driver has to find out how to deal with this. Take Senna and MS, they often found a way pass. In saloon cars the same thing happens, they block, etc. So very much on track racing because this IS what real racing is all about. It is not just cars lapping and occasionally they cruise past another car ... yawn. Where is the excitement and drama, and challenge in that? Yes modern aero makes it harder, but it's not impossible. With pit stops they stopped trying and just waited. Without pitstops they would have had to be a racing driver and find a way passed. Yes the problem is modern drivers have to worry about TV time for their mobile advertisement so are instructed not to be racing drivers and grow a pair and pass. Solution: reduce sponsorship so the cars are not advertisements and inform the drivers that they are allowed to have a pair and let's go racing, and if you don't get past the first corner, oh well not good for the championship but at least you had a go. Senna, Villenenuve, Schumacher, Hamilton ... they could and can pass. Sure it isn't easy, it but we don't want it to be easy, it supposed to be the peak of Motorsport! I can cruise passed other cars too ... do it every day driving to work on two line highways, I don't feel like I'm a F1 driver doing that. Pete
Btw: any track with fast flowing corners is a no pass zone. Does not matter what type of cars, the passing will be infrequent if ever. Hairpins help with this and always have. Pete
Yeah, overtaking with aero is possible, but it has become increasingly difficult. The cars that Senna, Villeneuve (and even Schumacher in his young days) drove were very different to what we have now so the comparison is not fair. They had not only different aero, but the braking distances were longer, different rubber, etc... The problem is that now for overtaking it´s not enough to be faster, you need to be A LOT faster. Everybody remembers races pre-DRS with top cars getting stuck behind mid-fielders after a bad start. And you should already know that "cojones" and desperate overtaking attemps is not the solution for everything. You complain about pit strategies, but the other option is races where the guy who has the pole always wins. Although I agree that DRS, if the activation zones are not correctly calculated, makes it too easy, and even then, it´s an artificial solution. I suppose that a definitive solution involves a severe limitation of wing size and shape to 1970-or-so levels. I don´t know the relevance of diffuser in the air stream of following cars; maybe it should be reduced again. Tires and engines should be better/with more power to keep the current lap times. Those changes should be implemented progressively to reduce the impact in modest budgets.
Exactly. The tracks are designed for good TV not good racing. Adding gimmicks like DRS to compensate does not improve the sport.
