quote:

Originally posted by nhtagmember:
I need to see racing, not tire management

the last few years have been nothing more than highly choreographed wastes of time

The link at the bottom of P250's post above has an interview that provides a few more details. One thing that they briefly talked about was questioning why they had Pirelli engineer and design a specific amount of degradation into the tires. Maybe they will have Pirelli reduce/remove the amount of built in degradation going forward, but nothing definite yet on that point.


I really hope that between the focus on body work, ground effects, and tire changes on Pirelli's part, that there will possibly be a chance for the drivers to really race other in the upcoming years.


When you have so much artificial degradation and restrictions built into your formula, why don't you just pick the final results and be done with it.


Better yet, move all of the drivers into an E Sports arena, have them strap into their top of the line sim rigs and go at it. Have the sim rigs hooked up to full sized EV cars in each of the teams colors. Run the EVs on the real tracks so fans can still see the cars in real life.


No one gets hurt in that scenario, and I guarantee we would start to see passing come back. With no physical danger for the drivers in their sim rigs, I think they would all be so much more aggressive. I can imagine it in the vein of Robot Wars and Demolition/roller derbies.

You could end up with multiple spectacular wrecks in every race. Teams having to worry about when a rival team is going to take them out intentionally. Have Leclerc run back in the mid pack, Vettel stays up front and plays the bad guy. That would be so funny to see Seb take out the 2 Mercs late in the final stint, Ricciardo then takes out Seb while also taking himself out, and then we see Leclerc and Verstappen fight to the finish. Infinite strategies and possibilities compared to forced degradation.


Sorry for the extended trip into a fantasy, but it is so much more enjoyable than what we have been getting from F1 in reality.

The idea of high tire degradation was supposed to ensure more tire stops and mix things up some.
Then the decided to make Q2 tires determine the starting tire choice. Only the front guys, with a big enough performance advantage, get to make that choice. They should make you start on your Q3 tire from your quick lap. That wouldn't be a complete fix but would be a step in the right direction.

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:
The idea of high tire degradation was supposed to ensure more tire stops and mix things up some.
Then the decided to make Q2 tires determine the starting tire choice. Only the front guys, with a big enough performance advantage, get to make that choice. They should make you start on your Q3 tire from your quick lap. That wouldn't be a complete fix but would be a step in the right direction.

Only potential issue with that is that they get a free set of the softest compound from Pirelli. So, if they happen to set their best time on that, they get a free set for the race.

I know that typically, they do at least 2 outs, and I'm not sure if they use the free set for both, but could throw a wrench in it in regard to regulations.

Not so much constructive criticism as destructive criticism but he's on to something I do believe. Something radical is called for.




Link to original video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdalHDSQRDk

I agree with everything he said - F1 is like watching plants grow

I've seen two races this year...

Mercedes tribute livery for the German GP.
125 years in motorsport & 200th start in F1

Haven't watched the race yet, but this just hasn't been Vettel's year.

For as long as I've been following F1, I should know better. But FP1, FP2, and FP3 saw Ferrari at the top of the list. Then qualy saw Mercedes and Red Bull at the top. I was thinking there might be a chance for a Ferrari pole.

quote:

Originally posted by HuskySig:
For as long as I've been following F1, I should know better. But FP1, FP2, and FP3 saw Ferrari at the top of the list. Then qualy saw Mercedes and Red Bull at the top. I was thinking there might be a chance for a Ferrari pole.

Might've been a chance, if it weren't for their car issues.
Turbo failure for Seb & hydraulic for Lec I believe.

Cooler temps compared to Friday played into Mercedes hand as well I'm sure.
IIRC, chance of rain for the race as well.

Nice one!

My vote is that every Formula 1 race should be held in the rain.

quote:

Originally posted by .38supersig:
Nice one!

My vote is that every Formula 1 race should be held in the rain.

Artificially wet the track before every race.

quote:

Originally posted by 280nosler:
Artificially wet the track before every race.

That was actually an idea floated by the Poison Dwarf about 10-15 years ago. About the time DRS was being discussed. Although, I think the idea was to have sprinklers around the track that would turn on randomly during the race.

quote:

Originally posted by HuskySig:

...Although, I think the idea was to have sprinklers around the track that would turn on randomly during the race.

Replace F-1 Management with the crew from "Top Gear."

That was entertaining.
Didn't look good for the Bulls at the end of the first lap but it was a long race. Who would have expected 5 pit stops today.
Several drivers that had their big chance blew it. Leclerc will get more chances but Hulkenberg and Gasley are running out of time. Bottas didn't do his reputation any good either. Stroll did good although a lot of it was due to the well timed tire change (the teams call, not his) and his future is guaranteed by dads checkbook.
Hopefully Hungary will continue the trend of interesting recent races after the boring French GP.
Should be some driver decisions to be made during the mid season break.
Haas? Guenther needs to show both of them the door. With some racecraft and a little luck, a clever driver should be able to get some better results and some weekends they are legitimately fast. Too many guys on the sidelines waiting, to let that go on much longer.

Great fun with some heroic performances.
That said, and to pile on , some clarification please. Hammy finished out of the points so not important but still... He spins off near pit entrance, enters the pit lane on the wrong side of the bollard, gets a five second penalty. Another few feet down the track and he's forced to do another lap with a crippled car, about 1 1/2 minute more time loss at least. Five second penalty?

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:
That was entertaining.
Didn't look good for the Bulls at the end of the first lap but it was a long race. Who would have expected 5 pit stops today.
Several drivers that had their big chance blew it. Leclerc will get more chances but Hulkenberg and Gasley are running out of time. Bottas didn't do his reputation any good either. Stroll did good although a lot of it was due to the well timed tire change (the teams call, not his) and his future is guaranteed by dads checkbook.
Hopefully Hungary will continue the trend of interesting recent races after the boring French GP.
Should be some driver decisions to be made during the mid season break.
Haas? Guenther needs to show both of them the door. With some racecraft and a little luck, a clever driver should be able to get some better results and some weekends they are legitimately fast. Too many guys on the sidelines waiting, to let that go on much longer.

A little less inclined to give LeClerc a pass since he slid off at that same corner two times before and got away with it. You’d think after doing it twice, he’d learn and change his approach. That’s really entirely on him, and whining after the race about it being slick out there doesn’t change that. You knew it was slick, dude!

A rare bad race for Hamilton, and when it rains, it pours, but it probably won’t change much. Agree it’s bad for Bottas. He mostly stayed out of trouble, but got stuck behind Stroll(!) for far longer than he should have been, and then wrecked it at a time the track was dry enough that people shouldn’t still be going off. Don’t agree with Toto’s comments that their race was karma for spending time on anniversary celebrations. Their race was due to the team and drivers not handling the variable conditions as well as others. Keeping the standard paint scheme and wearing long pants wouldn’t have changed the outcome.

Gasley is really on thin ice. Unless he has a massive sustained improvement in the second half of the season, he’ll be back to STR next year (if he’s lucky).

Pretty sure Ocon will be back next year, and he’ll have plenty of choices. Will he replace Bottas, Gasley, or one of the Hass drivers?

P.S., what’s up with just a team fine for LeClerc’s unsafe release? I get that it’s not the driver’s fault, but it’s a safety thing with all of the unprotected mechanics in the pit lane, especially when everyone’s coming in. A fine is chump change for a big team like Ferrari. What is going to happen the next time there is an unsafe release from now on? How can the stewards justify give the next team a time penalty while giving Ferrari only a fine?

The last time I was excited during a race was when the new HAAS team was just getting started and they did well in their first race.

Rain brings back the tacticians. I miss that. Refueling during the race would ring it back but I doubt it will ever come back. Fantastic race.

quote:

Originally posted by redstone:
The last time I was excited during a race was when the new HAAS team was just getting started and they did well in their first race.

Last time I was excited about a race, Mansel was driving!

They had to have Pirelli create degrading tire schemes, or no one would pit. How boring would that be? Once they did away with fuel during pit stops, the cars could literally drive the whole race and never pit.

So they are engineering at least two pit stops (iirc they are required to use two different tire types as well).

It is just ridiculous.