Ecclestone, Di Montezemelo and Todt hold meeting to improve F1

Well, the flatcaps would be an improvement for those drivers who have no idea how to bend the peak of their team caps.

All the best,
Andrew.

 

From Sawards Blog

A while ago now, in the UK, there was a popular music chart television programme, made by the BBC, called Top of the Pops. It ran for 42 years. It was a countdown to find out what was the Number One that week. It drew a vast audience and every singer and every band wanted to be on it. Looking back now, in the age of whizzbangs and wonderment, it was all rather tame – and the clothing and hairdos were giggle-inducing – but it worked wonders for the pop music industry and kept the toothsome DJs amused with a constant stream of teenage girls, wanting to be in the audience, and willing to do whatever it took to get there… It worked because there was a structure, suspense and if some of the groups were awful (cue: The Bay City Rollers), there was always someone you liked. It was a win-win deal for all concerned.

Formula 1 used to be like that but in recent times it has all been getting rather confused and today, rather than everyone doing what they are told and singing in beautiful harmonies, we have Luca and the High Horses doing “Paint it Black”, Bernie & The Asset Strippers singing “Money, money, money”, Dietrich and the Untermensch warbling “My way”, Jean Todt and the Blazers doing “We are the champions” (without the sequins), the other teams singing “Ain’t no sunshine” and the media doing “Dancing in the Dark” all at the same time. It is a right old cacophony. A lot of noise.

Yesterday I read a Ferrari press release announcing that 83 percent of the fans do not like Formula 1. Fabulous! The team that gains the most from the sport, saying that the sport is rubbish.

Did they teach that one in PR school?

I read with fascination, it was like a chapter from Suicide 101, explaining how to load a pistol and point it at one’s head. I even went to ask the Ferrari PR man if there was any possible logical positive strategy for such a ridiculous release. His argument was not convincing.

Formula 1 is in the process of a brilliant technical revolution that has a real value to the world at large and the people in the sport are all whining and griping and trying to get things changed, because they have other agendas. It is incredibly depressing that the sport is delivering such a poor message to the public at a time when there is such a positive story to be told: the F1 cars of 2014 cover the same distance at the same sort of speed as the cars of 2013, but they do it using 35 percent less fuel. That’s impressive. But where is this great story being broadcast? Why can no-one remember the word HYBRID? The teams are squabbling as ever, the Formula One group does not do promotion (an odd stance for a promoter) and the FIA’s idea about communication is about as useful as a Trappist Debating Society.

It is as if everyone is working to bring down the value of the sport. Some may be, some may wish to drive away the investors so that they can buy the shares. The investors are, sadly, completely clueless. They look only at the bottom line and do not care how it is arrived at. And they don’t have the nous (nor the balls) to run the business as it could (and should) be run and they just don’t care whether the sport spins off into a wall and catches fire, so long as they have their pockets bulging with fivers when they depart. If they had any clue they would realise that there is still plenty of milk left inside this old cash cow.

What happened to the sport that we love? Why are the teams trying to get rules they like rather than buckling down and building better racing cars as racers do? The culprit today is Ferrari, and it is clear that the folk in Maranello have not mastered the new engines as successfully as Mercedes-Benz (major ooops). Yesterday it was Red Bull. They are not winning, so they are whingeing instead. They are trying to change the rules as Red Bull did last year.

They have no respect for the sport.

Well, as a fan of F1, my view is very simple: if you don’t like it, go away. There will always be other racers who will step in to replace these prima donnas. It is just a question of money. If we wish to see the sport destroy itself then we need to let everyone spend as much as they like. The dinosaurs can have a final party, but if we want to go forward, we need to do so with rules that restrict money and ego, just as they restrict wing size and tyre width.

Goodness me, I sound angry.

 

No offense to you Kraftwerk, because you only posted someone else's words. But I think that blog was posted by some politically correct kid who wets his bed each night.

He says that if we don't like it we can go away. He should be careful what he wishes for.

 

None taken

My words above from a good few posts back, more or less echo's the same.

 

I think also that there should be some engine changes from 2014 to 2015 to level the playing field with honda's entry into the sport.

 

That blog post was pretty much worthless IMO. It was summed up by, if you don't like F1 then go away. Wonderful.

And all the stuff about how the cars relate to what you drive on your daily commute. Please. To quote Bill Gates in his response to Jobs arguing that Apple stuff was better than Windows, "That doesn't matter."

-F

 

Re: Intentional de-valueing of the sport, read:

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/f1/443091-don-bernie.html

 

People will get over the sound maybe... but not this nonesense of lifting and cutting off an attack to save fuel. That's no longer racing. There is nothing eco-friendly about racing... period. You can marvel all you want about how much more efficient these cars are, but they are still no where near being eco-friendly.

Once the you've given the spectator the impression that the race is isn't really racing, that the better driver, the better car can't battle someone because of subtle differences in engine design that makes it a little less fuel efficient... you're going to lose the fans and it'll be hard walk back that impression.

 

I guess I'm used to it - as NASCAR lets teams decide their own fuel strategy - and you see some of the drivers doing the early lift or cut the engine. I consider it part of racing.

What I don't like - is blabbing how "eco friendly" your sport is when you fly jumbo jets of cargo and people all over the globe every week.

You do bring up a point that Senna did when his Honda powered Mclaren was outclassed. To get what you want - everyone would use the same engine - same chassis, same tires. I'd just as soon have F1 and NASCAR be different in that respect. F1 is fascinating to watch the different cars, and I'm ok with their being huge winners and loosers at the start of a season. NASCAR is fun as there are generally 20+ competitive cars on a track at once. I wouldn't like F1 to be a spec a series, and if it isn't a spec series - you'll have a team with a gap like we have this season.

Saving fuel has been a part of F1 driving since its early days really. Trying to balance the right amount of fuel in the car vs fuel consumption has played a part with or without refueling rules.

 

I've heard they want to make the engines 'louder', but how? I have no idea how they can make them louder, it's not as if these engines use a muffler.....

 

More Revs alone would produce more noise.

 

Rising the fuel flow limit they could run at higher rpms. But I suppose it would require a serious redesign of the current engines. Not possible now, or even for 2015.

 

F1 even had it's own Jimmy Saville in the guise of Max Mosely!

 

No, not "we" the fans. Saward says that if Ferrari doesn't like the rules now that they've botched their car, then Ferrari can go away. Let's not forget that Ferrari had a veto, but voted in favour of the new V6 turbo ERS power trains. Now all the whining from Ferrari is just being sore losers because Mercedes got it right and Ferrari has not been able to design their new power train nearly as well.

I liked the new TV graphics introduced for Bahrain, showing fuel percent for the race and energy available for the lap. It gives an insight into the new energy management systems.

 

Did you even watch the Bahrain race? It was flat out, full tilt, maximum attack racing, especially for the last 10 laps. And it was damn exciting, not just at the front but through the field.

 

What about a fuel stop?

 

No matter how hard the FIA tries to "improve the show", the cream always rises to the top, no matter what the spec. This season it happens to be Mercedes. What's the difference between watching a dominant Ferrari (MS years), a dominant Red Bull, and now a dominant MB? No difference at all! Why can't they accept this fact? If nothing changes this season, we'll be watching Nico trying to stop the juggernaut Lewis (which will never happen unless he starts driving with his heart and not his head). And everyone else will be 1/2-1 lap down. So much for the show—watching Mercedes-powered team mates fighting for the third spot on the podium...

 

It was exciting but given some of the radio messages late in the race its obvious that even MB was soft pedaling to save gas during much of the race.

There's some truth to that but these days economy has a disproportionate effect on race strategy.

 

Take the safety car out of the equation.

 

i found race sunday very entertaining,wife and I loved it!,sadly though dosnt look like anyone will catch up with Merc this season,i get the feeling the seasons over already

 

LOL well done, am glad you picked up on that...

 

Can you provide any documentation to back up your claim that Ferrari were the only team to participate in the drafting of this formula? That is contrary to everything that I've understood about the genesis of this process which began over four years ago.

 

Not impressed by the post from Joe Saward's blog. Apparently Mr. Saward has deluded himself into believing (like so many others) that this has all been about going green and saving fuel. Hate to sound like a broken record but the only thing that matters here is what the manufacturers want, and if they want to market fuel efficiency then that's the F1 we'll get. di Montezemolo has maintained a consistent stance (along with Ecclestone) the entire time and all of these attacks and over simplifications of his motivations are petty. The British media are the last who should point a finger at anyone for "whingeing" So Bahrain went better than the two prior Grands Prix, but I'm not yet convinced we are witnessing a trend.

 

I wrote that Ferrari is the only team involved in the drafting of the new regulation AND NOW complains that other teams have done their home work better.

Ferrari is the only team complaining (well de Montezemolo does, so does Alonso) because its engine is less powerful.

Renault doesn't and blame themselves, and Mercedes is on top.

 

I can't believe a team like Ferrari with the history they have can't build a more powerful engine