It will end up like Formula E at this rate! I watched a bit of the Rome Street race at the weekend, i was laughing after 10 seconds and stopped watching.
The “problem” for most casuals is going to be the balance between good, close racing and a formula with enough freedom to not be a one-make series.
I for one still enjoy watching the current crop of cars but for different reasons to many. It’s no secret that back in the “good ol’ days” (choose you preferred era), the close races were few and far between. But the cars were high tech monsters, and in itself, that was the buzz for me. That and the endless political argy.
As @Mrs_Maureen_OPinion says, the owners of F1 equate “good” racing with close racing, and the only way for them to achieve that is a virtual one size fits all F1. This is the Mercan way.
F1 has always been, and should remain a meritocracy. Relax the restrictions, mandate less, innovate more. Those who get it right……win. Cream floats to the top. Sometimes it’s the little guy who finds the secret.
No, there won’t be as many close races. But it’s the anticipation that will keep me watching.
Penalising success because one team is dominating is anathema to F1. Or, at least it should be.
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I guess I’d be 15 when I was really hooked into F1, Alesi passing Senna in Phoenix….
Well that was close……
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Good outcome, but another fucking stupid, annoying format tweak likeliest to harm the slower teams tho’…
Merc should take their entire strat team round the back and shoot the lot…
Budapest is an unusual circuit. It is the one circuit that I have always struggled to predict performance there. At BAR and then Honda we had cars that were quicker or slower than expected and we could never explain why. Other than Jenson’s car in 2006.
In general Budapest is hard to predict because of the following:
- Comparatively large run off areas and so drivers who go a little slower because of the walls often perform better at Budapest compared to their team mates.
- Very sensitive to centre of gravity position due to the flowing curves.
- Has large track gain so being on track at the right time is really important.
- Requires the highest downforce level with very different handling characteristics to Monaco (other circuit that needs max downforce). So more difficult to set up and drive.
- Getting the soft tyre in the best condition for Q3 is difficult.
And the track was recently resurfaced making it even more difficult to optimise.
I expected Aston to out perform the McLaren, but got that wrong.
Having said all that, great jobs by Lewis and ZHO.
Oh and yes, I think this new approach to qualifying is pretty stupid, give the teams freedom, and do not keep on making up new rules to restrict them. If saving tyres is what the organisers want then allow them to use 11 tyres whenever the teams want instead of the current 13, no need for stupid rules.
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Very close indeed. While headlines are making a lot of fuss over Lewis being on pole, it’s not as though there is much to choose between him and second. Or third.
In fact, less than 0.4s splitting the top 9.
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Except he did it in a significantly less-competitive car, while the other guy in this season’s must-have car came (checks results) … ninth.
Well, all change there then.
Pat Fry as CTO is also leaving the team to go to Williams at the end of the year.
More changes to come I suspect as Pat and Otmar should should have changed things as it was clear that it was not working at Alpine.
Permane had just been there too long and was happy to keep on doing things the same old way which just resulted in more and more problems at the track. Whilst other teams were bringing in better trackside processes.
The area most responsible for the poor on track performance has not seen any changes yet…
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When I was Chief Engineer at Benetton (1992-1994) Alan Permane was the data technician responsible for fitting transducers and their wiring loom to the car and connecting them to the logger and checking they worked. His nickname is “Bat” because he was the last to finish at night since he often couldn’t even start until the mechanics had finished.
He was a good bloke doing that.
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Alan Permaine did very well to go from 4th mechanic to be Sporting Director.
I can imagine that losing ALO and PIA last year due to various reasons, but in particular PIA through a poorly configured contract played its part in both Otmar and Alan Permane being kicked out.
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What has Massa been smoking?
I totally sympathize with him, but if it is really “just” about the money, it feels a little bit shabby.
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Oh dear. A driver I hold in high regard just slipped-back a notch. Silly man.
I like Massa as an interviewer, he’s just brilliant at it 
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Agreed!
I have forever been impressed with his “I know how to win, and I know how to lose” demeanour after that race / season…it’s a shame it’s come to this.
Anyone who follows the sport (OK, perhaps not all the Max & Lewis fanbois on twitter) know that he was a fully deserving WDC, he drove brilliantly that year.
Sometimes - like Alonso’s only 2 WDC - you have to settle for the nod being as good as a wink to a blind man
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Spot-on.
Dignity > Money
[says man with neither]
I’m not convinced it’s about money (for him) but about satiating his ego.
Either way, it’s a loss of dignity 
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