but more so this year,
what with the taking care of tyres all the time, no refuelling and stupid rules that killed of any chances of getting to see real racing, now its just hold your own position from start to finish kind of shit.
I think thats what Schumi said before the start of the season in some press conf or the other.
:(
i'm pretty sure they gotta change some rules or this(f1) is gonna die a slow and painful death.
i think thats hill climbing at pikes peak, so not exactly a rally-video
never the less are rally stages much more interesting to watch, even with the lack of competition in the wrc with only ford and citroen as manufacturers..
i kinda miss the time when there were 6 or 7 big companies involved and im curious if sebastien loeb would still beat the shit out of his opponents drivers if he would be up against tommi mäkinen or didier oriol :)
back 2 topic: formula one kinda died together with ayrton senna, afterwards f1 became more and more like playing on a playstation (alain prost said that a few years ago) with all those fancy gimmicks you can use via one of the 3 bazillion buttons on the steering wheel :>
never the less, today we saw the return of british racing green, even though the new lotus team is from malaysia :D
or you watch free practice on freeview, them go down the bookies and place a bet before qualifying, wake up in the morning with a hangover and maybe win some money
Only really boring because of the double diffusers and that they removed refueling. Other then that, it had all the ingredients to be an awesome season.
Doesn't take a genius to work out that if you remove the main cause of the dirty air (the DD) and allow strategy play with refueling that races would be more interesting (more overtaking, more leapfrogging etc). Doesn't help that the circuits are just badly designed for overtaking (Tilkodromes are just boring lifeless shitty circuits).
The sad part is, I'm a huge fan of F1 and today's race, as much I tried to get into it, was just kinda a disappointment. Only overtakes going on were in the mid-field and for the most part it was just a parade. The only real interest came from Vettel's car going up the shitter, which was also a disappointment because I can't stand Alonso and wanted Vettel/Massa to win. Cars were up to 6 seconds slower then qualifying pace and didn't even improve that much over the session.
New cars are a disappointment. Can't believe that teams such as USF1 and Campos (now known as WedidntmakeittothegridF1 and Hispania racing) made it to the grid over Prodrive, StefanGP and plenty other more suitable candidates. The only reason I can see Hispania making it is purely for the Senna name, and he barely made it around the track...
TL;DR - yep, t'was boring. It's just an egg and spoon race now. Nursing their cars around the circuit trying not to break something or wear out their spoons.
Yeah but with the way Bernie is thinking, these new SUPAR FANTASTIC countries (read: super rich countries) are far more entertaining (read: super rich) then the circuits that are interesting. Which is why I hate these Tilkodrome circuits
i hate it so much, it's just digusting, how it's trying to be something special among the others. press it and some lame Help Menu comes up nobody ever uses anyway because it is so farking lame. gr
- Alonso would never have got past Vettel had he not have had an engine/exhaust failure. Nothing more then a luck win.
- The only reason Alonso got past Massa on the first corner was simply because he wasn't starting on the dusty side of the track.
- Schumacher and Rosberg both in supposedly inferior cars to Ferrari were consistently putting in good times practices and quali. Schumacher having been out of the sport for 3 years was only tenths off in a car that so far isn't looking as impressive as the Ferrari/Red-Bull.
- Ferrari stopped last year early to focus on this year and whilst they're better, they're not even that far ahead of the rest of the competition. Red Bull, McLaren and Mercedes all can challenge them and they didn't stop development last year. Had it not been for Kimi being as awesome as he is, last year for Ferrari would have been dire.
- Races this year will be decided on qualification. Red Bull and McLaren are both capable of beating Ferrari as shown in testing, quali and yesturday
The WCC is likely to be Ferrari's, but the WDC isn't guarenteed and with partnerships like Webber/Vettel, Button/Hamilton and Rosberg/Schumacher, the WCC isn't even set in stone
Right now no one manage to gain a place on the track (thats the big problem) & the fact that you cant refuel anymore eliminates the chances to gain a place whit strats...
As far as i remember in 2005 you weren't allowed to change tires...And imo it was a good year. With 25 point for the winner, refueling and a few changes here & there it could turn great...or bad, things are hard to predict in f1...But they should try...it cant get any worse.
It's pretty hard to overtake in F1 unless you're significantly faster than the driver in front of you making the refueling strategy pretty much the most important factor during the race (that is if the cars hold) because of the different car weights.
Point is not being allowed to refuel is a lot different than not being allowed to change tires.
The main problem is the double defusers that were supposed to be written out of the rules for 2009 but (DERP DE DERPEDY DERP) Ross Brawn was asked to help write the rules and (what d'ya know) he wrote in a loophole so his team (then BrawnGP, now sold to MercedesGP) could basically win the championship off that.
The bit that's more irritating is that BrawnGP was bought out of Honda for allegedly $1 (or something around that sum) due to Honda not being able to continue with F1 but not allowed to drop out (due to contracts etc etc) so rather then lay everyone off which would cost them more, they just funded Brawn and some others for one more year. BrawnGP was bought it for a stupid low sum, then sold it for millions to Merc...
But anyway, the double defuser is basically a vacuum cleaner bolted onto the back of the cars. It sucks the car to the track with air coming in and being pushed out so that the car has significantly more downforce. What this means is more grip, speed etc but also it means that the car behind gets a shit load of hot, dirty air spewed into their face (which means that they can't use the draft to slipstream and can't overtake)
TL;DR - 2010 has double defusers completely written out, so overtaking will be a heck lot easier.
It may be easier than last year but it hasn't been easy for at least 10 years which is why the races have basically been boring as shit. You usually don't see a lot of overtakes unless a crappy car somehow made a good starting position, some car has a malfunction or it's raining.
The reason why there was more overtaking back then in most people eyes was basically because of back markers. Nowadays it's so competitive that most cars are at a certain level anyway. With the new teams in this year, there was actually twice as much overtaking in Bahrain then last year (DERP!) :P
Well I thought it was clear I was talking about the leading cars, top 5 maybe.
Anyway I always thought the qualifying was the most interesting part of the whole show, but with the rules that have been introduced over the last couple of years it really lost a lot of excitement for me.
Within the race itself there have only been a couple of interesting situations most of which were during the pit stop phases.
I guess most races this season will be as boring as the first I'll probably only watch the start and the first couple of laps of the next race and then follow the rest over a live-ticker.
Oh right yeah, top 5 there's usually not alot of overtaking unless there's mistakes or tyre ware or blahblah true :p
Do you mean old qualifying or the new 3 sections qualifying? Cause I think the new qualifying rocks :D
And yeah, for 2011, I think they should bring back refueling, choice on tyres, no double defuser and stricter rules. Bahrains always been so shit, I dunno why they made it the season openner. Austrailia has always been a great race. Even though there's not so much overtaking, there's plenty of action :D
I guess the 3 sections qualifying suits the new ruleset much better but I disliked that it wasn't allowed to refuel after the qualifying which meant that a team had to plan at least the 1st pit stop before even knowing at which position their driver had to start from. BTW are they doing the qualifying with light or heavy cars now?
Qualifying rules before that (same but only with 1 fast lap) have been a total joke.
The old qualifying is IMO still the best, for the viewer at least.
//edit: just figured the 3 sections qualifying offers better opportunities for controlled commercial breaks which is probably better for both the viewer and the TV stations, taking these factors into consideration it's probably a better choice from a business standpoint.
Well I like the 3 section qualifying because it adds unpredictability and excitement (the whole "IS HE GOING TO MAKE IT THROUGH!?!??!?!")
Also meant that in section 3, an underdog could get put on pole by running really light and added more strategy which was cool. Nowadays they do Q1 and Q2 on fumes and Q3 on full fuel and the tyres they used on their fastest lap in Q3 are the ones they have to start on; which just sucks, because it means that the people through Q1 and Q2 are predictable and Q3 is all about which car is best (to a certain degree) with full fuel. Drivers don't push hard because they don't want to lock up their tyres and be forced to start on a shitty pair that are like 50p coins and they don't want to push hard in the race because they'll use up too much fuel or ware out their tyres faster. It's just a tortoise and hare race now, except nobody wants to be the hare
Well they've got Jean Todt in now who used to be with Ferrari and he's improved some bits (there now has to be an ex-driver with the stewards to help with decisions etc) but the rules are still pants
Even more irritating is Bernie Eccelstone (the commercial rights guy) is proposing they add 'shortcuts' to circuits that drivers can use a limited amount of times to pass another car or go quicker...
I know Todt is president now but I bet he's not the only guy making decisions.
Didn't know that there has to be an ex-driver with the stewards now, great thing IMO.
I wouldn't take all of Eccelstones crap serious he's concerned about viewers and IMO bringing more and more city circuits to the Formula1 is great, I'm really looking forward to the race in Rome next year.
Yeah I think it's a combination of Fota and FIA etc that do rules, but the problem is that people always want the rules in their favor, so if they think they have a fuel conservative engine, they're gonna watch full fuel or if they think their car's light on tyres, they're gonna vote against 2 mandatory pitstops... Which is why they need stricter rules :D
Steward thing is pretty good so far but it wasn't really a big factor in Bahrain since fuck all happened :D Prost was doing it then, not sure about Australia, might be Mansell
And Eccelstone is a prat and just cares about the moola (which is fair enough I guess). That's the reason Bahrain was the first race on the season. It just worked timezone wise. Australia means starting at early morning for Europeans... Pfft, I liked the excitement of waking up early on a Sunday like a kid at Christmas :D
Lewis is indeed very good but i think Vettel is better, he proved it to me when he passed Hamilton in the last race of 2008. The red bull wasn't near as good as the McLaren but he made a bad ass overtake.
Last year he dominated 2nd half or the season & this year he continues where he finished at the end of last season.
Montoya was a pain in the ass for Raikkonen ^^ But he was a funny driver.
Must have been the only overtake he has ever done? On a Hamilton slipping about in the rain desperate not to crash with people that have nothing to lose while he is fighting for a world championship. Vettel is very fast but Hamilton overtook more people in this one race alone then Vettel has in his entire F1 career. Vettel must also have some kind of record for DNFs, and despite starting in F1 before Hamilton seems a much less experienced racer all round. Hamilton is the most exciting driver to watch and has been consistently the best since he joined F1.
Alonso really showed his quality again though today holding off Hamilton. If it had been Massa, Hamilton would have got 4th.
What about Kubica? I'm not that much into F1 anymore but in the previous seasons I've been under the impression that he was treated as a second driver in BMW. Should the credit for second place be given to him or the car?
Except last year Hamilton was not, and for two years previous Alonso was not either. But would it not be logical that the best drivers and teams come together for the best package anyway?
I agree to actually win it is more like 80% car, but you can see clear differences in the qualities of the drivers.