"This F1"? Seems to me we've seen some pretty darn fine racing this season.... Some great dices up & down the field. Some great overtaking. Some teams moving forward. Others backward. Exactly as it should be in a world *constructors* championship. Sure, they look & sound like ****, but I'd say be careful what you wish for! I just know that the day they ballast a successful car is the day I quit. Cheers, Ian
I have no problem with Sochi and Baku as new GP venues; they can't be worse that Turkey, Bahrain or South Korea. But I do object to a race held in Azerbaijan to be called the European GP. That's going too far ...
It may not be the "pinnacle of motor racing" (whatever that means), but the BTCC format is truly entertaining. I am sure that I enjoy myself better glued to the TV all day watching BTCC (3 races, you see), than watching a GP where the result is so predictable after a few laps.
Yes, THIS F1. One team has started the season with an unprecedented margin over their competitors, and despite that they probably know what they need to do to fight back they can´t do it because the engines are frozen till next season and they can´t test. Half of the grid is facing serious economic difficulties. Even teams that are doing reasonabily well like Force India have an uncertain future. Despite the cost cutting measures, the new engine formula has risen around 40% the engine bills. The TV ratings have going down for years almost everywhere. Things are not terrible right now, could be worse, but I see some stormy clouds.
The BTCC is a great series with some really close racing, lots of door banging & paint trading etc. It, & the DTM, among others, is entertainment. Fun stuff to watch. Take the kids. The cars look a little like daddy's! Get in cheap. Buy an ice cream. Have some fun. F1 OTOH is supposedly the pinnacle of automotive engineering excellence, not a ****ing circus show with rules/weights changing every week based upon 'success'! Cheers, Ian
I hear you, I really do & don't disagree. I would argue that Mercs head start is 'unprecedented', but definitely agree the engine freeze this early was a bad idea. Stormy clouds indeed. Trouble is, at least partly, they bought this whole mess upon themselves! The *teams* decided to outlaw testing! They agreed, indeed, mandated the engine freeze & life limits. Tunnel & CFD limits. The summer shutdown. They made their own beds, now they've got to lie in them. I don't get it either! But again, they ballast a car, I'm done with it! Cheers, Ian
Bring back normal power train V8,V10,V12s. Get rid of the carbon rotors, and aerodynamic aids. Similar to Formula ford. Then there might be some out braking and normal passing. Ago
Sure, it's entertainment. So is Barnum & Bailey! Or the WWF! Ring master; "Here we go folks!.... Driver A won this race, so we're going to put 45kgs into his car" Audience; "woot!" RM; "and make him start from the back!" A; "wow!" No thanks! If I want to be "entertained" by a "show", I can see much better on Broadway! That's not why I follow F1. Cheers, Ian
The idiocy is that F1 doesn't trust its product. Grand Prix racing don't need no stinkin' enhancements.
Let's say that I don't have a problem with Russia or Azerbijan hosting GPs. Russia just held the Winter Olympics, and that went well.
If these events weren't used for political purposes I'd agree. Holding an event in a given country carries an implicit approval of that country's government. I have an issue with a sport that I follow giving its sanction to regiems that I don't respect.
I don't think participating in a sporting event actually means endorsing a country. International competitions are held everywhere. Personally, I have no problem whatsoever with Russia.
There's no doubt that nations use international sporting events to promote themselves. By selecting a nation as a venue the sporting body is complicit in that. You have every right to your opinion as to various regimes but I don't see how you can deny the links between international sports and politics.
International competitions have to be organised in different countries, just to justify their titles of being World Championships, etc... Therefore their locations have to be rotated, and events held in various countries, each having different political systems, etc... A sporting body that would make difference between countries, according to their political systems, would discredit itself, I believe, and lose its authority. How could the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile pretend to be the global motorsport authority, if it starts to pick and choose participating countries because of political pressure? Would you say that by having a GP in Austin, the US want to promote themselves, and that the FIA is an accomplice?
Yes. By definition but some governments exploit sporting events more than others. The US does little on the federal level. Local authorities here take a more active evolvement. While international sporting series visit various nations they have no obligation to hold events in any particular nation. Either now or at any point in history, are there any nations that you would have an issue with F1 visiting?
F1 is is more a multinational business than a sport these days but that might be a separate discussion. I respect the purity of your position but I doubt that many feel that way. Most would draw the line at some point. Be it N.Korea, Stalin's USSR or Nazi Germany.
Maybe the best chapters of GP history were written in the 30s with the Silver Arrows racing at the Nurburgring, the AVUS, etc...
Dying slowly? Are you sure? It's getting f***ing ridiculous. Ballast....... Jeez, why don't we just have separate starts, and those that dare to win have to start the next gp 20 seconds after the rest, just to teach them a lesson, trying to win a race, how dare they. I've got an even better one bernie, if someone leads for more than three laps. They automatically earn a stop/go, but no radios in the cars, so teams can't give out strategy. If the leaders lap time drops outside a delta, just like when there's a SC, trying to slow and lose the lead to miss a penalty, they get a £100million fine and a trip to the headmasters office. The winner is the guy that sits at the back, waving to the crowds the most and hits the front on the final lap, provided of course his exhaust note plays the tune of the national anthem of the country in which they are racing. Wow, what a show! I'd definitely NOT watch it, but then, racing fans aren't the target audience anyway are they? So who gives a monkeys toss what I think
