F1/ Formula E/ Motorsport Thread

Oh no, don't get me wrong - Vergne isn't ready now, but I can see a lot of potential in him, maybe this season he'll make more of a name for himself.

Eric Boullier seems to be a very smart man too, I've only seen a few interviews with him but he's certainly not just winging it! I didn't realise he was at A1GP Team France, the old enemy! (I used to be a big A1GP fan).

I was reading something yesterday which raised a very good point. It looks like the new tyres have shifted the balance of F1 away from being a quest for downforce, now it's a race to find the perfect balance between downforce and tyre degradation. I think we might be in for an exciting season, as teams find the slightest tweak drastically improves their tyre management... I just hope the drivers aren't scared of racing hard as a result.

 

Webber's comments were brilliant today :sign15:

 

It was an entertaining race! I love a bit of controversy.:sign13:

 

Hamilton's mistake was quality.

Button will definitely be at Red Bull next season at this rate.

 

More often than not are.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BGHbbkNCAAEyNsd.jpg:large

 

Did anyone else think that DRS was somewhat too useful at the Chinese GP? Rather than aiding overtaking it gave a free overtake to the car behind.

On the opening few laps, it meant that cars in 2nd and 3rd could just use it to get past Hamilton in 1st who wasn't allowed to use DRS.

 

I suppose the argument against that is if Hamilton was quick enough he would then have been able to overtake them back on the next lap.

I think the current tyres are a bit if a nightmare and detracting from the actual racing as the teams are overly wary of degradation. Thoughts?

 

Unquestionably so. This weekend one of the tyres was literally useless. I know Pirelli had been asked to design a tyre to make races more exciting, but it's got a bit ridiculous to the point that next to noone would have wanted to use the 2nd tyre this weekend if they didn't have to. They've taken the effect of the tyres a little too far in my eyes.

The thing that really hacked me off was the lack of blue flags in the final 2 laps with the whole Hamilton and Vettel situation. Absolutely ridiculous that the back-markers were not getting flagged to get out of the way, and it could have ended up with contact between cars, and ultimately could have handed Vettel the podium place. On the same note, the only reason Vettel went wide was because he was forced off line onto the marbles by the Caterham, and subsequently missed his braking point slightly and didn't get the run he'd have probably been able to get on LH.

So it could have worked either way - but I did think that it was very careless marshalling on that front.

McLaren are still a long long way off the pace, and Webber literally just isn't having any luck at the moment having got himself back into the race after starting from the pitlane. I have a strong feeling this will be his last season in F1.

 

Only problem being that this only goes to enhance the strategic side of it rather than the drivers racing eachother. That said, I enjoyed the refuelling aspect a lot, and wouldn't mind seeing it return. It was quite unsafe though in some ways, so whether they'd consider a return to it, i'm not too sure.

 

I'm no F1 aficionado, but me and my wife do enjoy watching the races, at least we did!!!

We were watching the Chinese GP, and quite frankly we had great difficulty in following what was going on It is very difficult to know who is actually winning (not leading) the race, with all the different stratagem's etc.

We both agree with "Smudgers" last post, except for maybe the refuelling bit. The way things are going the drivers will soon be made redundant, and we will be watching "Driver-less" cars careering around the track, in fact I think the drivers are only there to keep a little bit of human interest, but quite frankly with all the rules and regulations, me and my wife are beginning to find it boring!!!

What is this compulsory use of different types of tyres about, the soft ones are only good for about six laps, ..........
WHAT IS THE POINT OF THEM

 

I'd argue the best driver out there is Hamilton and he hasn't had a decent chance at a world championship since he won it.

 

Yep would totally agree with that Smudge.

In terms of competitiveness I think if you found a halfway point between the near level playing field of the old A1 and modern F1 you'd have found a good balance. It would help us distinguish who the most talented drivers were with differing cars/ideas which I also think is quite important.

 

And yep I also agree with all this but I'm just very biased towards the Brit! Moreover I enjoy his aggressive style of racing.

 

I'd tend to agree with that summary. For me Alonso is the best of the current drivers, then Vettel closely followed by Hamilton. I don't massively like Hamilton, but there's no denying he is talented.

I think modern F1 is like the Premier League, where the top teams have a massive budget and essentially prevent any real competition from the rest of the pack. Although in recent seasons, rule changes have had an effect on giving 'lower' teams more of a chance. But if you think back 5-10 years, it was Ferrari v McLaren every race - at least now there is Red Bull and Lotus (maybe Mercedes too?) to add to that top pack.

 

Bring back refueling and bullet proof tyres.
Give out points for Saturday qualifying.
Then on Sunday reverse the grid, fastest at the back.

 

I've been a huge f1 fan over the years and have been to GPs at Silverstone, Catalunya, Spa, Nurburgring... but Vetel RB domination is becoming as boring as Schumacher Ferrari was.

 

A track marshal was killed at the GP today - he was run over by a crane sent to retrieve a car near the end of the race. For those who watched on Sky it's somewhat ironic as although the death wasn't shown in any way as the crane came on Martin Brundle was very critical of the decision giving the stranded car was in quite a safe place.

 

Sad to learn that, but looks like a freak accident rather than poor safety management.


I'm divided on F1. Part of me thinks that it should be the pinnacle of motorsport and anything should go. There are other formulas and categories that are cheaper to run and more competitive. On the other hand this will produce about 4 or 5 teams and less interesting racing.

For me KERS & DRS are artificial systems. They both appear to have improved overtaking which is a plus, but it's not pure racing any more. It's the advance aerodynamics that stopped easy overtaking and raised the costs to a prohibitive level. They could more forcefully regulated the shape of the body shell, one rear wing one front wing and nothing else maybe. None of these silly winglets, stepped noses, exhausts blowing over bodywork etc.

 

They will take it further forward rather than take it back. Bernie has talked about shortcuts and other wacky ideas before. As much as they should strip it back to original racing, they'll likely replace DRS or Kers with another system

 

Webber leaving F1 end of this season. Who will take his spot in Red Bull?

 

It's a shame to see him leaving the sport. I like his no nonsense attitude.

 

An honorary Englishman, more English then button or Hamilton in that he lives and pays his taxes in the UK. Genuine nice bloke, don't think I've ever heard a bad word said about him. Lesser people would have kicked off big time if they'd been given the Vettle/Alonso treatment.

Wishing him all the best in his porsche racing going forward but hope he gets a fair crack of the whip for the rest of this season.

 

22 cars, a track ... and in the end a German always wins

 

Don't rule out Raikkonen to Red Bull.

As for MW leaving Red Bull for Porsche, this has been in the pipe-line for a while and the announcement's timing was all down to Mark. The rumours are that the first Horner knew of this was reading it this morning. A close source of mine told me last night to look out for an announcement at 9am this morning on BBC Sport regarding his future.

As Meister has said, I sincerely hope he doesn't get treated anymore unfairly than he already has been following his handling of announcing the news, and am excited to see him lining up at Le Mans next year for Porsche. I went there for the 24hrs 2 years ago and had a great time, and myself and 2 friends are already planning for the 2014 race following this announcement. Exciting stuff

Can genuinely understand his reasoning too with F1 seemingly becoming less and less about pushing cars and drivers to the limit. Top professional and guy too.

 

Have I not already mentioned?

22 cars, a track ... and in the end a German always wins

 

Tell you what, having just watched Lewis Hamilton's tyre spontaneously combust on the Wellington straight, which has as good as handed the win to Vettel on a plate, I am really really starting to lose my rag with the sport.

I could not be more thankful that Webber is leaving it at the end of the year, as one of my main interests will be gone and I won't feel obliged to watch it as much.

Pirelli need to sort it out! Massa has just done exactly the same thing?!!

Edit: And then John-Eric Vergne