Perhaps if the last teams are out of the 107% at the previous race they would be allowed a test session the day prior to everyone elses practice at the next race ? No pressure, no fast cars on the track to get out of the way of, full facilities on a track they will be racing on. And the Cherry; One more day of Fchat speculation. I dont forsee Virgin going deliberately slow. That is their nature.
Not really. F1 is a commercial enterprise, period. That's not to say the olympics are an idealized world of unicorns and fairies, but: there are no jamaican bobsled teams in F1.
Bad analogy at best - The Jamaican bobsled team had to qualify fair and square for the right to compete. "Eddie the Eagle" saw to that! - As he was the best British ski jumper he qualified and embarrassed every nation that takes ski jumping seriously. The IOC changed the quali rules as a result...... Cheers, Ian
I agree that for the most part F1 is a commercial enterprise, but is nowhere near being limited to being that, if it was we would all be talking about the huge success of Toyota F1 and their budget.
To be frank, i don't even know how the FIA allowed HRT on the grid this season with a completely untested car.
+1 I think the "problem" is they accepted the entry, so they've gotta let 'em try....... Good for the stewards that they didn't give 'em a waiver. I wouldn't be surprised is we see a rule tweak next season that says (something like) "if you don't turn at least XX laps in FP then you're not allowed in quali." They're an embarrassment to the sport. Cheers, Ian
I personaly think the 107% rule is total BS just as alot of F1 rules are. How many new teams throughout the decades have we seen be slower than the frontrunners and with the no testing rule they are vitually deemed to fail.
They should feign a puncture or something that will prevent them from setting a lap, and then they'd be able to realistically plead force majeure and start from the back of the grid.
Honestly it shouldn't but I think it gives us something else to pull for in Q1. Not only are we watching the final laps to see who will make it into Q2, but now we can pull for HRT just to make the race. I quite like that.
Beyond obvious safety concerns, 107% should at least be a motivation for HRT to "get with the program or go home". Every other team starts the season with some expectation for the future. Their goals are always clear and based on prior results. All teams are targeting WCC, WDC, poles, podiums, points, finished races or some lesser combination. Among the new teams last year, HRT NEVER stated an ambition for achieving ANY of the above. I think 107% is a great place for them to start.
Maybe the FIA should make pre-season testing compulsory, but as it stands now, it is not. They should re-write the rules. But do we want to make it more difficult for newcomers, or should they be encouraged? Getting into F1 is very difficult, with sponsors and backers starting to give money once they get some exposure. Sponsors aren't in the charity business. The fiasco in Australia could have been very costly for HRT, and maybe some sponsors will stop giving money until they see their name on a car live on TV. If it was to save money on an already meagre budget, it has backfired big time for HRT. Maybe the HRT owner will cut his loses after a few non-qualification and pack up. Remember Super-Aguri, it went out quietly for the same reasons.
I don't see the issue. It's not like the 107% rule was kept a secret until the first day of the race. HRT are in this position because of one thing alone - bad management. They have no excuse for turning up on Qualy day of the first race before turning a single wheel. Why didn't they just run last years car (with mods to meet the new regs) while they finished off this years car? F1 is not a charity and it is not a spec series. Everyone knows that. The rule is there to ensure a degree of consistency in performance, whilst maintaining safe speed differentials between the fastest and slowest. I hope HRT get their act together, but if they can't I don't think many people will miss them.
HRT can continue in F1 only if they run an Affirmative Action / L plate decal. Isn't that exactly what Max had in mind? Allowing entry to teams that otherwise would be unable/unqualified without a special dispensation? Max is gone so send his progeny packing as well.
Lets see what happened if one of the top teams meet problems during qualif one say and goes over 107%. We will see if they get 'special dispensation' then. I remember years ago some top teams failing to qualify one car and, if I am correct, Graham Hill, Damon Hill, Niki Lauda, Keke Rosberg, Johny Cecotto, etc... among others failed to qualify in the past.
I can see both points of view, I like the fact there is a cut off point, however the new teams should be encouraged as like posted it's damn hard getting a foot hole in F1 to start with.
Firstly I'd draw a distinction between a legitimate team having a bad morning and an outfit that needs special consideration to enter the sport in the first place. Secondly in today's F1 a front running team missing just one car in just one race is enough to kill a championship bid. Not exactly the punishment fitting the crime is it? A foolish consistency is, after all, the hob-gobblin of small minds.
If you don't get in you should be allowed the same mileage as the race, in testing. I like the rule. I would like there to be more cars than spots on the grid, and only the top, say, 20 cars get in also, but that is a different topic.
DO NOT INSULT ME... Mosley is to blame for this farce in the first place, he was more interested in whether your face fitted and you would be willing to bow down to his perverted altar, rather than capable of providing a fast and capable car, look no further than Prodrive boss David Richards he tried numerous times and was more than equipped....why did he get refused.
My point is that teams come and go, and that only a hardcore of teams exist from the 60s or 70s, and plenty fell by the wayside in between. FIA should try to bring new teams in. Mosley was successful in that, in my eyes at least, by bringing Manor Virgin, Lotus Fernandez, Campos now HRT, and USF1. OK USF1 didn't materialise and HRT is a bit of a lame duck at the moment. New teams face an incredible struggle to fit in among highly specialised multi millions dollars engineering firms. Several teams on the grid never started from scratch like these 2: Team Lotus, Virgin and HRT. Mercedes was Brawn before, before Honda, before BAR and before Tyrrell. Force India was Spyker, before Midland, before Jordan. Red Bull was Jaguar and Stewart before. Toro Rosso was Minardi Stoddart and Minardi before. Renault was Benetton and Toleman before. The last teams that started from nothing were Sauber, Williams before and previous to that McLaren. I don't know if Williams would have taken off the ground if the present rules existed when they started. Williams wasn't exactly awash with money when he entered a Brabham, a Politoys and a De Tomaso in GP. He had many non-qualifs and plenty of troubles for many years. McLaren didn't have a competitive car when they started and they missed several GPs with terrible reliability in their first year. Throwing the book at HRT is easy, but the benchmark is so much higher these days. We have seen how large companies like Toyota, Honda and BMW ended up throwing the towel because the results were slow to come. Maybe there is no room for 11 or 12 teams of 2 cars, but only for 8 teams with 3 cars?
Sorry, but Bernard just moved it to suit his new track location in Antarctica. It now rices in the south and sets in the south. Amazing what you can get done if you're playing with other peoples money.
As we all know Max did not act to help the little guys so much as to Screw the big guys who were growing too powerful.
NOTE I didn't say START THE RACE, I think they should all get equal track time, which means all practices and all Q sessions. If you have not improved by (the end of) Q3, then you are done, but to toss them after Q1 just doesn't help, and I don't see any reason why they should even have this type of qualifying, it just helps the fast get faster, and the slow stay slower. The faster cars are getting more track (test) time, the slower ones don't get anything. And yes, F1 IS elitist - I realize that. Nobody in the audience cared back in the old days (which were not THAT long ago) when all cars ran all sessions, and then some went home. I disagree 100%. If you don't make it, you don't make it. I recall an Indy 500 when neither Penske cars qualified, was in 93 or something like that? I also recall a GP when Nelson Piquet blew up in qualifying - he went home too, 82 Detroit I think. Reigning WDC to boot.
