Charlie Whiting is a pathetic loser and F1 is officially a clown show

Not sure that this is the lesson learned.

They had that equipment out there to remove a stranded F1 car. Remember Regazzoni? His injuries were compounded because he hit a stranded F1 car. So removing them is perfectly fine and a heavy machine is sometimes all that's at hand.

THAT is precisely why they brought out the SC car and reduced the speed limit. Bianchi broke the rules and paid the ultimate price.

Insanely stupid as he would have received a penalty anyway for speeding behind the SC. AND his star was already secured that season by his performance in Monaco. There was zero need for him to do what he did.

I don't want to sound so cold but I really hate that F1/Whiting has turned into a bunch of ***** cats (no Sherzinger pun intended) who now prefer to start a "race" behind the SC if there is a drop of rain. I'm sure Jules Bianchi would have been the last person to have that as his legacy. Not so sure about his father.

 

Yep I do agree.

 

All the same reason I don't like the halos.

You don't want to race without halos, go join Nascar. You want a closed cockpit, there's plenty of other races to watch.

 

Completely agree.

 

Agreed

AND they are also a risk

 

+1

It's like boxers not allowed to punch someone in the head anymore.

 

Not to mention ridiculous new run-off areas which are the size of Yankee Stadium.

It wasn't so long ago F1 racers were allowed to show their skills by racing in the rain with a gravel trap and armco winking at them.

 

--Formula 1's regulations sentenced the British Grand Prix to a safety car start, but the FIA must find better procedures to ensure safety cars do not outstay their welcome, and take a hard line on track limits--

Ferrari analysis--FERRARI: 101.785%
(2nd: 204 points)

For Ferrari to be this big a percentage off shows just how much Mercedes has moved forward - and how Ferrari has been unable to keep up the pace of development.

I keep hearing from Ferrari comments like "this circuit doesn't really suit our package". Well, I have news for you: if Ferrari is ever going to win another championship, the team needs to work out why.

Nowadays, you need to be competitive everywhere and Ferrari isn't. In fact, it seems to be going backwards, and we've yet to see this magical race weekend where the track really does suit its package.

F1 is doomed to safety car starts - F1 - Autosport Plus

 

Exactly. They murdered Parabolica at Monza with that, too. Once a challenging corner (to take fast), as you had to run it right to the edge to slingshot you onto the straight...now you can go wide unpunished. If you went wide then it meant a struggle through the gravel trap.

 

Spot on.

Plenty of WDC's got beached in gravel. There should be consequence for screwing up !

Now it's designed for sleepy people cruising around a shopping mall car park. No penalties.

 

Let's not forget Tamburello, maybe the harshest example of track neutering ever!

 

youtube

 

What many fail to understand, by the tone of their posts, is that a bunch of racing cars on wide tyres following a safety car for several laps actually shift standing water, and are very efficient at dispersing the poddles in a circuit. They also allow the drivers to spot the places where aquaplanning is most likely to occur, and familiarise them with the track conditions. I just cannot understand the furore against Charlie Whiting because he decided to start under that method; it's done for safety reasons, and we should welcome his decision, rather than condemn it.

When the rain starts coming down during a race, the drivers have the time to adapt to it within a few laps; but launching a pack of car from a standing start on a waterlogged track after just one formation lap doesn't sound very clever to me.

Also, I have noticed some of the posts are from the US, where racing in wet conditions in a definite no-no. When NASCAR of Indycar start to run their races on wet tracks, maybe some people will start to understand the dangers involved.

 

If that's the case, let's have a pack of "track-drying" cars run laps until its OK to have a standing start. I'm only half-kidding. The day F1 abandons the standing start (and the pit in my stomach tells me its coming) is the day I stop watching.

 

I wasn't aware that a dry track was responsible for Senna coming off and hitting the outside wall at Imola.
The car bottoming because of loss of tyre pressure, or steering failure have been invoked, but I have never heard that the track was mentioned.

 

The organisers could in fact dry the track by running several "blowers" to disperse the water to an acceptable level.

There are already existing methods involving jet engines on trailers, etc...

 

I was sarcastic in my comment. If terrible things can happen in the dry too, might as well not race. Or use remote control. Until that becomes too scary, and just run the races virtually.

 

I think that is the whole point, it is the responsibility of the driver to make allowances for track conditions, be they wet or dry. So no, Senna did not crash because of a dry track and drivers do not crash because of a wet track.

 

Drivers do crash because they are under pressure to perform whatever the conditions.
Also, rainy conditions have in the past leveled the disparity between cars, and allow more skilled, or more daring drivers to compensate for the inferiority of their mount.
That's why some welcome rain, in the hope that they will outclass their better equiped competitors.
But rain means danger.

 

Huh?

As I recall, Adrian Sutil had already crashed out and Charlie Whiting decided that rather than deploying the safety car, the situation was already suitably covered by the double waved yellows in that area (meaning that drivers should slow down substantially and if necessary, be prepared to stop if required).

I will totally agree that Jules died "of his own undoing", but I'm pretty certain it wasn't behind a safety car!

 

+1!!!
If safety is the issue, that SC was going very dangerously fast in that rain!

 

I looked it up and you are right. They were under yellow flags but no SC. Sorry my bad

 

Upper echelon motor sports, as with the rest of life's endeavors, is about choices, actions, and consequence. Whether driving a F 1 car in the rain, flying a fighter jet, or performing surgery on someone, there are risks and rewards that must be considered. We don't watch F1 because "safety is paramount" as someone earlier posted; we watch it because at its best it is a glimpse of how highly skilled men can dance on the edge of control while operating exotic, hyper-fast, and yes, dangerous machines. We watch it because we can't do it.
As F1 becomes more like a video game, it becomes less compelling and much less a melding of skill and art.
Just my opinion.

 

How come I've seen Moto GP hold races in monsoons? Isn't it much harder to remain in play on two wheels than four? (please read the sarcasm in that question - I own both)