The Hungarian Grand Prix was not a classic, but the tension remained from start to finish as the two Mercedes drivers fought for the win, although TV viewers might not have known it given the lack of coverage the two cars received… In the end Lewis stayed ahead and Nico contented himself to say that he had lost the race at the start when Lewis took the lead and Nico briefly fell behind Dan Ricciardo, who pulled off an ambitious outside pass in Turn 1. Nico was able to scramble back ahead at Turn 2 and from then on it was a question of press sure being applied, hoping that Hamilton would make a mistake. Ricciardo ran third, shadowed initially by Max Verstappen but the latter was unfortunate during the first pit stops and found himself trapped behind an uncompromising Kimi Raikkonen. The roles would be reversed later in the race and at one point Kimi clipped his wings while trying to pass Max and complained about Verstappen’s tactics. The stewards said nothing. Vettel had a different strategy and this put him ahead of Max and Kimi and in the final laps he pressured Ricciardo, but he never really looked like a challenger for the podium. Behind the big six, Fernando Alonso had a lonely race for McLaren-Honda but brought home more points in seventh, while the top 10 was completed by Carlos Sainz, Valtteri Bottas and Nico Hulkenberg. Hamilton’s victory put him into the lead in the World Championship as it passed its mid-season point.
Also in GP+ this week…
– We interview British rising star Jordan King
– We remember John Blunsden, a man who changed the face of F1 media coverage
– We look at the history of Montlhéry
– We went to watch Hans Stuck drive his father’s AutoUnion at Shelsley Walsh
– JS muses over the importance of front men
– DT raves about hillclimbing
– The Hack delves into the recent F1 booing
– Plus the usual fabulous photography from Peter and Lise Nygaard
GP+ is the fastest F1 magazine. It comes out before some of the teams have even managed to get a press release out. It is an e-magazine that you can download and keep on your own devices and it works on computers, tablets and even smartphones. And it’s a magazine written by real F1 journalists not virtual wannabes… Our team have attended more than 2,000 Grands Prix between us.
GP+ is an amazing bargain – and it is designed to be, so that fans will sign up and share the passion that we have for the sport. We don’t want to exploit you, we want you to join the fun. You get 23 issues for £32.99, covering the entire 2016 Formula 1 season.
For more information, go to www.grandprixplus.com.
If you don’t mind this question – do you drive home now, or straight to Germany?
Flying to this one
Can’t believe the state of Hamilton’s tyres on the front cover!
It’s the tyre rubber (“marbles”) they run over after the race to add weight to the car.
Rosberg’s response
“ What you have to do with a double yellow is significantly reduce your speed and make sure you go safe. I went twenty kilometres per hour slower into that corner, twenty kilometres per hour is a different world in an F1 car. Twenty kilometres per hour, you are going proper slow”.
Twenty kilometres per hour slower seems like the response in a denial of responsibility in an accident claim in a supermarket car park incident rather than a Grand Prix.
Hamilton and Ricciardo are right to ask for clarification, as least one of their number has a different understanding of the rules.
Perhaps Rosberg is right, going twenty kilometres slower is showing that you are prepared to stop.
I will remember that when I next go to the supermarket.
I have to agree with you. Hamilton had to virtually stop dead when he came around the corner. It’s not really good enough in final qualifying to effectively remove all the contenders for pole by allowing one very clever driver to circumnavigate safety rules. As there was not enough time to permit any additional laps due to Alonso’s ‘off’ the session should have been extended.
It doesn’t work like that
But this is where F1 is getting it wrong. Charlie’s so busy trying to catch drivers taking a wide line on certain corners or so-called illegally communicating with the team (how absurd was Jenson’s penalty?) the spectacle suffers from a fundamental flaw in the rules. As it happens Nico’s time was contended so we didn’t have the confirmed result on pole anyway until hours afterwards by which time we’d all gone home. It’s tragic how these events are handled by the FIA.
Lulu will go down in F1 history as the driver who personally approached F1 race director Whiting to question whether his team mate should keep pole.
And you know this how?
Autosport said so.
Does that make it right?
you sounds like you don’t know this!
If you have nothing positive to say I’ve always found it best to say nothing. You should try it
What is with all this ‘Lulu’ nonsense anyway Sunny. You use that and expect to be taken seriously?
In any case Hamilton would hardly be the first guy to use whatever means he can to unsettle an opponent.
The fact Rosberg’s time was not deleted proves the FIA are very slow to learn any lessons from the Bianchi crash.
Bianchi crashed, Rosberg not, that’s the difference.
It was reported that Lewis did ask Charlie for clarification, although it’s also reporting the subsequent steward’s investigation was unrelated and just delayed due to the number of stewards inquires/rulings and some unspecified late emerging ‘evidence’ that warranted a closer look.
Although it sounded a little sore of Lewis to question Nico’s pole with the FIA, I don’t think it’s necessarily wrong for a driver to request clarification of the rules when it comes to safety or something they feel they maybe losing out but don’t necessarily feel comfortable pushing based on their own rule understanding. In the end the Stewards ruling on Rosberg is pretty much consistent with previous yellow flag situations in qualifying, where a slight lift, a different line or even brief wave to the marshals seems to cover the ‘prepared to stop’ aspect of the double waved yellows. I don’t think it’s a ‘worrying precedent’ as Lewis has claimed…I think the precedent was set many years ago and the FIA, once shown the data and heard all arguments, were actually consistent.
In the end, how affected or how much Lewis slowed compared to Nico isn’t really relevant as Lewis actually arrived at the corner first, with Alonso still facing the wrong way, and Nico arrived at the same corner once Alonso was back on his way, so probably saw flags for less time with no obvious dangers ahead. And any comparison to sectors of previous laps in such changing track conditions was also pretty much meaningless.
Unless the FIA further clarifies ‘prepared to stop’, most drivers will probably escape punishment if they can produce data showing a lift/reduction in speed, even if not completely lap destroying. On a normal dry qualifying session, Nico’s handling of the caution probably would have been enough to loose a chance at pole, but given the track condition improvements he was able to gain enough time elsewhere to beat Lewis’s earlier lap. Who knows how good Lewis’s lap would have been if he hadn’t bailed on the rest of the lap, considering his first sector was fast and the track improvements meant times were improving by seconds, not tenths.
As much as it’s easy to blame the FIA it is going to be a hard balance to allow race drivers to get on with their jobs without being overly draconian – as fans we want to see and understand what’s happening on the track without having to wait for too many investigations and judgments to shake up the order. But it’s also a case of ‘be careful of what you ask for’. The FIA have tightened the radio communication rules to the point of stupidity and are struggling with satisfactory (and consistent) solutions for track limits.
Autosport is not the bible it used to be
You are so right! I subscribe to the “plus” version on-line, but apart from Gary Anderson, who seems not to have much to say these days, is becoming not worth the sub. They used to do an analysis of F1 practice with short and long run comparisons and info on the mods at each race, but these articles seem to have disappeared over the last few races, so I will have a big rethink when the sub runs out this year.
PS GP+ – great read as usual, especially the hillclimb articles, along with sprinting one of the purest forms of motorsport.
Nothing is. Same goes for most specialist interests of mine. BYTE* magazine split into – if you want to follow the editors’ output* – thousands / annum in newsletters. More dramatic things have shaped this outcome, than many people see, despite it being the most covered of subjects dint it affecting those who write. Many explanations, whilst plausible and not untrue, have become default Gospel for those who are outside the media, but also – critically – many inside, as well. If I may, a quick hack at it:
I dunno how neatly I can buttonhole this argument, but I shall try to be as concise as possible. The personal ref is simply assertion I’ve not cogitated upon the subject casually. Readers may note a shift in recent years to more long – form websites, like Harpers and the old style magazines. Vice started as a free handout in “hip” sections of cities. Many of these behave really like a traditional publisher, playing conglomerate – in – a – box, out of necessity. I would – inside the subject but outside space and scope – argue this changes nothing fundamentally as it affects the market en plein.
I increasingly think (just like Itanium as a strategy**) print media was head – faked out of their strong game. This came after a huge cultural business shift to narrower markets (“core competencies” wasn’t so bad a idea, but it was generally anti – conglomerate) caused the boards of media companies to see disfavour from investors (ahem, analysts, not investors so much, I’d say) at the same time the noughties beckoned with riches to be made from “pure play” on the WWW and stocks in general stripping down. It was a pro – management, anti general – management sea change, beyond the walls of the media estate.
Everyone in media knows, or was brought up knowing, that you dump a lot of print into the garbage before you attain a truly successful / profitable title. Most people outside media, know this, or accept it if it is put to them. Even modern apparently trashy websites have re-learned the trick of selling dross to pay for real investigative journalism. Instead everything got pulped, 16 years ago.
This left the cross – selling, that enabled smaller titles to survive, often for very long periods unprofitably at the headline, to be done by a new kind of agency. The kind which now fill a large spreadsheet of trackers or comprise efforts behind up to 500 scripts on the page of one major UK “broadsheet” daily.
In so doing, the new cross – sellers flat lined the marginal value of print advertising, which previously cold be sold – to general buyers not vertical in the market, e.g. airlines in F1 mags, life policies in computing titles.. at discount from rate but directly earnings accretive because of marginal cost in production.
Google spent approx. $300 MM to try their hand at print advert trading, and quit the holy game of poker after hardly a year. What they didn’t do, began a wastefully distractive detour around capital sources that might have sucked my little company dry of its soul, had my co – founder not passed tragically a year later, and done the same instantly, before we closed on critical terms. What Google did not do still shocks me.** I’ve been quietly on the very same trail since not very long after my 18th birthday.
What taking away the marginal sales did, was take away the carer paths for young journalists, understudies, sales hacks like me who found a loose enough organization about to prize knowledge from (the critical, non – book, cultural kind). That generation – my own gen, even because contemporaries spent another 4 years in uni, on average – can almost be considered lost to the traditional magazine publishing world. I’m 42. .
Blogging came bolstered by a widespread programme of attaining social credibility for unknowns or (very commonly in the earlier computing department sponsored early web) unknowns outside their specialism. Overture actually had and settled on a infringement Page Rank may have made, on a similar rating system. The bulk of queries now are looking up “where did the majority go” and barely touch the indexes, however. We had a new “me generation” in the millennials, many smart enough to realise that the image they presented was key to averting the challenge of very difficult general economics. Blogs remain largely undeveloped past the identity and opinion of their eponymous publisher.
Why do blogs and so many sites suffer difficulties with advertising revenue?
(the question is equally, why have eponymous blogs, actually so very few any which way , hired any staff, even to lessen the load, you know, the way kids got a break even as late as the early 90s, like I did.)
Because the market, such as it, is so unsophisticated that the marginal page rates that the cross – sellers can get, have become normative, heavily discounted from the rate card which itself was a statistical target on any publisher’s behalf, not a concrete price. You may use many arguments side by side with this one, but vendor (publisher) tools are at any rate on the wrong end of a arms race, and there are e.g. no locals like LIFFE had, putting their own liquidity at the behest of experienced “what can work” market making.
I could take the argument as far as imputing that there will be no bibles to come, either, to replace the old standbys, for F1 and sadly for so many areas that warrant, deserve, and _need in depth coverage the kind that search engine referrals and CPM rates do not support.
It is also a challenge to develop even excellent “online”*** titles, such as GP+ for a host of inter – related factors. But lack of marginal sales, lack of selling footprint: past – the – door – presence; sales negotiation flexibility; variety of vertical talent e.g. the airline specialist who books every airline into every title .. all these key functions that cannot be quickly let lone easily replicated assuming you have the energy and investment, has all been abdicated. To varying degree, the closer association of titles with often star but sole or dominant publisher factotum – which is so commonplace as to be a industry concern – always leaves key person risk. In a already highly concentrated unbundled basket of a bet.
This could lead to the conclusion that one should not look at titles such as GP+ and either wonder why they are not much larger, nor think that lack of backing is alone what is the hurdle to higher circulation or visibility. I will not argue that now, but those are truisms you can arrive at from my above argument, but which can have entirely different arguments I’ve omitted, nevertheless which are orthogonal to what I’ve outlines. I don’t think it’s a crying shame, because I see the problems as But I think you have to do this within (before the end of) a working lifetime, else critical generational and cultural DNA will be incredibly hard to regenerate. The progress of magazine titles such as GP+ is a sweet singing healthy canary down the mine, but it is nevertheless, a canary down the mine. Society may not have yet assessed the long term mutative effects of the air.
*for Halfill, see MPR, and his FAQ. Kanter can be found now infrequently at RWT, for free. But to be inclusive of the old wide coverage, you need a laundry list of journals)
** Itanium, Intel’s mooted server processor successor to Pentium lines (x86) promised hardware emulation of old systems and such new – line performance, and offered vendors the earth: volume like Pentium, so much so they dropped developing their own chips e.g. SGI spun out MIPS, HP dropped PA-RISC, Digital ended up selling their soul generally, and Alpha ended up, such as was left but still with brilliant minds, at Intel. Famously, Intel is still decades behind, cumulatively, on any of their promises. Itanium is a very interesting chip, but another day.
*** The subject is long, because of how close this area is to what I live & breathe, but of interest I think to more general debate, would be the argument about consequences, and how much Google saw the consequences of the market. In online adverts they claim to execute trades for the client only, but in reality they are what the Financial Services Act would classify as “systematic internalizer” are ask to be regulated, if there was a cash settlement or possibly even as things stand, if you look deeper. What Gogle did _not do, to the best of my knowledge, is try to create a actual open market. My belief is that a functional open market for print advertising would more than put some life back into the old Linotypes…
**** GP+ or the PDF Ars Technica (Conde Nast for some time, that one) are not online magazines, in that the consumption is at most minimally interactive. If I had said that anyone could get by with a PDF off the imposition, basically off – plate, in ’99, I would have been laughed at. Of course, we want the core content, thank you very much,. but core and even content was not what it was about, despite that little glitch of “conmtent is king” in the mid nineties. No, traditionally you have to deal with the bumph to get to the core content you want, that is how people find everything of interest to them. Computers were interesting to make this a human interaction, not consumption. The general focus on “consumption” is I think a fatal misreading of the possible markets, when they have not consumed all your computing power to run a ad network these days, and a rehash of the never really believed content is king tune.
Hey nice to see you back J ( o J )! Missed your posts, which are always interesting although a lot of the tech stuff goes straight over my head!
Sunny can yo stop using the term Lulu !!
You seem to think it’s OK. While on other sites you get away with. Or is moderated.
It’s derogatory and disrespectful the man is a 3xWorld Champion. You may see it used in the cheaper low brow F1 sites. You know his name it’s Lewis Hamilton.
He did not do what you say. It you see the interviews Kimi Daniel Vettel Versteppen all expressed there disgust at how in a yellow flag zone where safety is concerned that anyone could be allowed to be hitting purple sectors after. While other drivers have slowed to a near stop . Get you facts straight Bunny Stickvala
I’m bored with the fellow
it was reported that he did what I said he did, you are saying he didn’t, you have a right to your opinion as much I, hope this is not also boring to you not being something you would rather not hear.
I am welcome to my opinion!? I was in the F1 Paddock in Hungary. I have been in every F1 for 28 years. Where were you? How long have you spent in an F1 Paddock? Is your opinion worth anything?
Joe, I honestly recognise/acknowledge your illustrious F1 career and that very few if any can lay claim too. Not agreeing with you or better put, not liking some of what you say does not change anything of the above, yours is a site/block were one can express his opinion and or agree/disagree with others, I am here telling you direct that yours is one of the very best and free F1 sites, if I was asked what I would like changes/improved on your site, I would say reduce the time it takes for a post to moderated/passed on to thread.
I don’t claim my opinion is worth any more than that of others, neither that I being in the F1 paddock, what I claim is that for the past 60+ years I don’t remember having missed following a GP or anything to do with F1 racing.
Do not worry, you will not be asked what needs to changed on this blog. I would not hold your breath on the publication of some of your comments. You have not done enough to be blocked, but a lot of what you are writing is tiresome drivel designed to annoy people and which adds nothing to the argument. If I was feeling impatient I would simply stop you doing it, but I am trying to engage with fans here and so I am telling you nicely to change the approach. If you wish to talk about Lewis Hamilton, call him Lewis or Hamilton, and try to be positive occasionally. It is ironic that you call yourself sunny when your posts are grey clouds rolling across the passion that is inherent in this sport.
wow I like your answer. Just found your site so cannot comment but it is so boring wadding through “fans” pathetic bitche comments just because they don’t like tel or tel driver. As I understood it Lewis wants clarification so next time he will slow less or treat the situation differently. As NR was down on Lewis’s 1st secteur I was really surprised that he managed to take pole. Nico saying that the evolution of the drying track allowed him to go faster everywhere but the endangered area. I find it hard to believe that he managed to go as fast as they had been going in dry conditions ‘after slowing for double yellows), the track seemed nearly dry at this point and lap times seemed to be getting to the fastest possible (that we had seen during W/E) Anyway I find it hard to believe that Nico could go faster by slowing down after a slower 1st section than Lewis.
However it probably did Lewis a favour as IMO being 2nd on grid this time around gave Lewis the win, as if everybody had made the same getaway in a Lewis pole he would have not been able to come out in lead after 1st corner, he would probably have been on outside going round corner as Nico was…
Boring Race as usual
It’s not “as usual”. Most F1 races have been good this year. Subtle sometimes but hard fought
Perhaps you always being at the track , have different point of view regarding enjoying a grand prix, us sitting at home… they have taken away sights and sound of what F1 use to be….. people talk about the “gems” these engines are , but I bet 90% of the world’s fan would love to see the screaming V8 or V10 come back…. Merc have taken all fun from F1 , or should we blame F1 and FIA for not allowing unlimited testing for others to catch up… and hence the problem… As “CART” once died and Indy car have never filled that gap, I fear F1 will also die… thank GOD for Max, giving us some pleasure in watching this year.
You get a huge amount of access to second screen data to follow races. They are what you make of them. Most are really interesting. Occasionally not.
A bit off topic Joe, but as a regular user of such things are you aware of a decent live timing/scoring/tyres data source available to the public? My random googling has yielded scarce results thus far
You have to pay
Didn’t Alonso said, these cars are not fun to drive for F1 drivers, they are always saving engine, fuel and tires, can’t push and these are slow cars.. Let s hope next year will change
Naeem, you might not like how ‘programmatically’ these engines need to be run, but the fact is that the engine manufacturers threatened to walk away unless they were getting some relevant road car benefit, so Ecclestone and the FIA rewrote the formula. Had that not happened you may well be spending your Sunday afternoons watching a 2-engined formula: Ferrari engines racing FIA-subsidised Cosworth engines.
Besides, if you’re sitting at home then it doesn’t matter how loud the engines are. In fact, I enjoy that I can sometimes hear the tyres squeal.
Add in that these engines are actually faster than those “screaming V8 or V10” engines were. Formula 1 is both faster and more cutting-edge than it has ever been. What more do you want? Granted, the competition could be better, but that’s not Merc’s fault – quite the contrary.
Agreed awj100… you are right…. I just miss that scream of V8.. These little one are getting faster, I agree and it is growing on me slowly…. I hope next year is better…. I mean you all heard it from Alonso mouth, thats these cars are not fun to drive , and slow.
I think my understanding is not up to date, but I remember being given to understand that should fuel flow rate be opened up, then the maximum revolutions of the ICEs would consequently follow a steep upwards trajectory.
That was based on engine development projections, in addition to fuel rate. The fuel rate, as I appreciate it, is a kind of resource restriction, but I wonder if it does not have a non – linear effect on engine development costs.
Efficiency has equated horsepower, in recent progress. That is superb for the sport’s image, no matter it is left largely to chance how any of this ever greets the general public reading about F1.
My interest would be what if total average flow rates were permitted, allowing HP boost but also higher revs and longer throw gears. (and screechier Doppler effects at the right moment, possibly!)
There would be interaction with DRS strategies, I imagine, for a start. Long turning curves and straightaways would potentially garner more excitement, if a long fuel burn was possible, to catch up into the DRS zone of a fundamentally faster car. I can imagine some level of tactics could be played into this, with great interest, at least from me.
Actually it isn’t just Ferdy who complains, i’ve read JB / Kimi / Vettel /and even Lewis say the same as Alonso, as well as others in the field. However, their views are discarded just as fans views are. F1 has become just a travelling ” bubble ” over the last 30 years or so, and become less relevant to motorsport enthusiasts whilst becoming more introverted itself. and more self congratulatory…..it really is looking to disappear up its own exhaust pipe in my humble opinion as a 50+ year veteran fan.
The subleties of F1 were once again hidden by the continuing nonsense coming from Whiting, the FIA and the Stewards.
If they can’t ensure consitency with the yellow flag rules, they need to be replaced with people who can and new rules made that everyone can understand and accept.
The radio rules have gone too far. During races, radio communcation give the tv spectator something to follow. They can give us an insight into what the drivers and teams are thinking and planning. The most we get now are bleeped moans from Ferrari drivers. The commentators are now struggling to tell us what is happening, because so little information is available.
If one driver can take advantage from exceeding track limits, they all can. So what is the problem? It’s another makey uppey rule created to make headlines in a sport which is dying on it’s arse.
I beg to disagree
Thanks Joe….. I just downloaded GP+, but, seeing as its the Hungarian GP, on such a boring track, I’ll save GP+ for later.
Have seen one race on TV this year ( Australian), and, its got the way that I don’t care any more.
Time to get out all those nice 1991 Ferraris, McLarens and Williams that were so much better
You’re not missing much – The headline should read ‘Borefest in Budapest’
Perhaps you are not fully appreciating the spectacle you are watching.
I agree with you, Joe. There was indeed a most interesting level of tension, particularly at the front of the field and also with the Vestappen/Räikkönen duel. I enjoyed the race. I watched the Sky feed (in Oz) and the flow of detailed information from the commentators was a significant factor in appreciating what was going on. Trackside at the Australian and Singapore Grands Prix, I really appreciate the local FM broadcast of the on-track commentary. I’m the bloke with my ear protectors normally used when mowing the lawn or brush cutting and earbuds feeding me the info! But that said, the relative complexity of today’s Formula One does make it challenging for spectators to appreciate the sometimes subtle factors bearing on a race. This, I submit, it a problem that F1 might like to put on its list of things to address. I know little of NASCAR but I’m guessing that one of its positives lies in the easy ability of even casual attendees to keep up with what the dickens is going on.
I was trackside, for example, at the 1965 British GP, the 1965 Monaco Grand Prix, the 1969 British Grand Prix, and the 1987 British Grand Prix. I cite these from the many races I’ve attended because you, Joe, will immediately recall the particular elements that made these races interesting. The absence of trickery such as tyre allocations, DRS and fuel flow nonsenses made all these races easy to follow, even for spectators who are not F1 tragics like me.
For someone who went to so many races, you seem to have missed that races were processions from lights to flag for many years, until DRS came along.
It might be “trickery”, and it might be artificial, but I still keep a close eye on the timing screens to see if a pursuing car has gotten themselves inside the second that allows them to use DRS to try to pass.
An overtake without DRS is always preferred, but the facility is a positive for F1 in my book.
I am sure you know best. I just say it as I see it
It’s okay, Torchwood Five is having a crack at me. The word “trickery” is the giveaway. And by the way, Torchwood Five, best you don’t think about pursuing a career as a legal advocate or a journalist… your grasp of logic seems, er, flaky. There was nothing in my comment implying that I have failed to notice processional races.
Hi Joe. I remembered too late that you cannot tell who is being replied to.
I was responding to Penn, who listed four of the races he had been to, and then counted DRS as one of the negatives affecting F1, and I was defending DRS because of the processional races that preceded it.
hey man howd you do that? I’m in french west indies and trying to watch F1 (sky) is really difficult and not much fun as often bugs a lot.
For some reason this is one of my favourites and I’d really like to take it in one day…It’s a shame though those damn taxi-drivers lurk. Thanks for the heads-up. Just dreaming BTW!
… ” Our team have attended more than 2,000 Grands Prix between us. ”
If one follows that kind of logic then all track side racing team personnel must have attended more than a million Grands Prix between them!
Yes. That’s how they work statistics. If you said that of F1 had been to 750 Grands Prix it would be equally daft.
Joe, what is your opinion on Nico’s pole lap? Whilst the stewards deemed he had slowed sufficiently it does feel inconsistent with the current drive for safety.
Bianchi’s incident was initiated by too great a speed when stewards were on track and we’ve seen reprimands for Lewis reversing in the pit lane (for example) which seem less risky.
I appreciate that the drying track was a factor in Nico’s sector being purple so there are arguments both sides.
As a man on the ground I wondered what your view on the matter was?
He was lucky
Joe, Regarding your comment on Rosberg’s qualifying, can you please clarify if there were single or double yellows when he went through the area? in GP+ you say there was a single yellow, but other news outlets mention double yellows.
If there was a single yellow, I think the decision was fair. But if there was a double yellow, I think the FIA is being inconsistent (as you point out in the intro of GP+). Particularly in the context of the Bianchi accident, where the FIA basically said that the main reason for the accident was not lifting enough under double-yellows, and the current law suit brought up by the Bianchi family, I would think that if they indeed let Nico off with not even a warning the FIA would create a dangerous precedent.
To me this is way more serious stuff than all the silliness about radio communications….
Thanks!
The FIA has amazing data access in race control. If they say it was OK, then it’s OK. However I tend to agree with Lewis that a lift in a dangerous situation may not be the right sndwer
Pascal> If there was a single yellow, I think the decision was fair. But if there was a double yellow, I think the FIA is being inconsistent (as you point out in the intro of GP+). Particularly in the context of the Bianchi accident, where the FIA basically said that the main reason for the accident was not lifting enough under double-yellows, and the current law suit brought up by the Bianchi family, I would think that if they indeed let Nico off with not even a warning the FIA would create a dangerous precedent.
I can’t help but agree. It most definitely was a double waved yellow (when UK Channel 4 replayed the incident it was clear to see both the flags and the light indicator on the right-hand-side going into the previous bend), exactly the same indication that Jules Bianchi (RIP) didn’t take sufficient notice of.
Perhaps the huge amount of information that is indeed available to the stewards told them that if a car had been lying right across the track, Nico would have been able to stop in time, in which case fair enough. However that’s certainly not the way it looked to me, and given the ridiculous over-caution the FIA have been applying to things like safety cars recently, it seems very odd that they would ignore this. A lift like that under single-yellow, fine, but not under double-waved-yellow, surely??
Thank you. Nico seems adept at pushing the limits of the rules and largely getting away with it. He’s probably good with crossword puzzles.
I guess it depends what one admires in a dtiver
Not that! I like a fair fight as far as possible with skill being the deciding factor.
Easy. I admire honesty, fair play, and superhuman ability.
Sadly, none of these qualities are present in Rosberg.
team #LH is always there to take-up his cause when he isn’t winning or claiming pole due to some issue, but never there when for example he gets an advantage by overtakes a medical car on track.
Just stop being so silly
Have to agree with you Joe.
Firstly Auto Sport is not the same publication it was 20 years ago.
Secondly this poster has a beef with Lewis Hamilton as he is constantly posting negative comments. Not just on this site either.
It is tedious and draining I assume their is a constant Grey Cloud hovering over his head…no doubt it’s raining on his parade 24/7.
Every cloud has a silver lining…
THAT was more the kind of tedium historically associated with the Hungaroring. Only the Kimi ‘n’ Max Show kept me from hitting the fast-forward button.
Talking of Buttons, JB’s comments about what can be said on the radio made me smile but he does have a serious point and an addressing of the issue by The Man is well overdue.
It is a track that has needed changing for 20 years.
What I found most perplexing is that Nico lifted off for T8 yet Alonso had gone off at T9.
I think this sets a very dangerous precedent.
Don’t waste your energy on it.
all those at #TEAM LH thinks it sets a very dangerous precedent.
And?
/Nico lifted off for T8 yet Alonso had gone off at T9/
Yellows were there before T8 already, visible from T6.
And after T9 there were green flags.
Yes, but my point is about the safety issue. The lift Rosberg applied was at the corner prior to the incident. He did not lift at the corner where Alonso had spun.
Anyone who has followed the Jules case knows that Jules got effectively blamed for something that all the others were doing and are still doing in the case of Rosberg. Please don’t take that as a criticism of Rosberg as he is just a driver who will always seek the maximum.
My fix for this is simple. A double waved yellow should immediately be a slow zone and all drivers should go at the same speed. Drivers in my view should never be allowed the choice.
Jules Bianchi did not get blamed as much as he might have been blamed. The FIA report was very gentle on him. The exchange between LH and NR after the race shows that everyone is not doing it…
Joe,
You don’t strike me as the kind of man to harbour delusions, so I fear instead that a bubble has developed among those who live in Planet Paddock and who don’t get to ‘enjoy’ F1 the way us normal folk do. I’m not a superfan like some, and certainly nowhere near as knowlegable as you, but I do spend around £2,000 a year on F1. This is in the form of a long haul race visit every year (tickets, flights, hotels plus spending money and some tourism while my mate and I are out there) to races like Abu Dhabi, Singapore, Mexico etc. I never miss a race on TV, and usually catch quali, but I have to tell you there’s something very, very problematic with the F1 ‘show’ these days. Simply put, it’s bloody boring. In fact, it comes to something when the most exciting race of the the year so far is Monaco, a spectacle which fans normally appreciate for the glamour and backdrop but which they forgive for producing anodyne track action.
As a 43 year old, my personal ‘golden age’ of F1 enjoyment stretches from the mid-90s to mid-2000s; drivers like Michael, Damon, Mika, Eddie, Coulthard, Villeneuve, Alesi etc seemed like genuine characters, and certain of the soap opera aspects like Michael’s repeated near misses at giving Ferrari their first WDC in 2 decades, or the fraternal battles between Michael and Ralf, were box office gold. Added to which, the V10s sounded great (though probably not as great as the previous V12s) and the wheel-to-wheel racing more often genuinely thrilling than today. Throw in the fact that far fewer NONSENSE REGULATIONS such as engine and gearbox penalties seemed to blight the race spectacle and, I believe, F1 was a far easier sport to love than it is today.
Time was my entire Sunday, if not weekend, revolved around the race. I’d structure my day around it and look forward to it all week. I now find my attention for a race competing with just about everything else on TV – and all too often the highlight is the Channel 4 pre-race show, or Ted Kravitz’s notebook, rather than the laps of actual racing. If I knew the odds were in favour of a thriller I’d still prioritise watching it live, but sadly I now invariably do other ‘Sunday stuff’ and catch up on the recording later.
This, Joe, isn’t a good thing. I’m not married and have no kids, so this isn’t a case of my grown up Sundays being so filled with distractions that F1 has to slide down the pecking order. It’s just that it’s not exciting to me any more. It’s simply not. I’m not that interested in the intricate chess-like strategies of the teams when there’s a complete lack of wheel to wheel racing between hard chargers desperate to win. I hate the fact that someone as gifted and passionate as Alonso can rattle of a fastest lap on Lap 55 just to show that he can hustle the car around, but is curtailed from doing so every single lap because of fuel saving regs. I hate the fact that every race now throws up ‘investigation’ after ‘investigation’ into normal every day racing activies that the likes of Alfonso De Portago, Gilles Villeneuve or Nuvalari would scarcely have shrugged at. I hate DRS for its artificiality and I despise these nonsense rules that prohibit a team from telling a driver how to work around a car issue, but more than anything I simply loathe how monotonous the racing has become, whether I’m watching on TV or from the stands.
Now – you may well disagree, and say that I’m not appreciating the nuances enough or whatever, but people need to listen to what I’m saying. Because the sport’s spectacle is indubitably in decline, and if a guy like me whose loyalty to the sport means that I’m still happy to spend £2k a year on experiencing it, finds himself tempted to switch over to Fast n’ Loud by Lap 30 because nothing.is.happening, then how the hell is the sport meant to attract teens to become the sport’s next generation of fans? Sorry, but pap shots of Lewis frolicking with a Kardashian ain’t going to sort it, when the sport’s core issue is broken.
Anyway, I had to get this off my chest, because I care enough to write this, and because every fortnight I read the likes of you, James Allen etc gamely describing the previous day’s borefest as ‘interesting’, ‘exciting’ or ‘not a classic but still fascinating’, when the reality to the rest of us is sadly the opposite.
Cheers.
Please consider that I am sane and that the racing is better than you think. We’re not delusional, so….
I’m only a year or two younger, started watching the same time as you and by the sounds of things feel the same as you. I’ve don’t think I’ve missed a qually or race in 20 years, and you’re right it is boring, I find myself hanging on for teds notebook rather the grandprix. I saw for the first time one of these new hybrid engined F1 cars in the flesh last week, and I was just underwhelmed. Before for testing days, I’d stay all day, I was bored by lunch time and left. The cars are dull and where are the rivalries? F1 has lost something, but as always f1 sticks its head in the sand, journalists tell us it’s great, but it’s nothing more than the emperors new clothes. I’m convinced if you took some who had never seen an f1 car and they saw a hybrid f1 car or any other car dating back to 94, you have your answer as to why f1 is losing viewers.
I’m sorry to disagree with you, but I’m not sticking my head in the sand. It wasn’t a classic, but the racing was still intense and fascinating. OK, some will not see that, but if you look harder you will. If not, then not much can be done. It’s down to you.
I never get the feeling they are driving as hard as they can except the first lap. I think I remember when it seemed the drivers were running “qualifying” laps during the race. Now it’s save the tires, fuel, machinery etc., this should not be endurance racing.
Moo, you are suffering from nostalgia. Your perception of reality is just that, perception. What you find objectively boring, is in fact, subjectively boring. You yearn for a time long since past, not the great characters or racing but for yourself, you yearn for who you were twenty years ago. Stop looking to the past and find something to enjoy now. If that happens to be something other than F1 then take it, before you are too old to appreciate it.
CBR, I tend to agree with you here. I also agree with Joe about the racing. In recent years the Hungarian GP has produced some great races. However head back to the 90s and it literally was a complete bore fest. Yes in that era the cars were more impressive but the racing was certainly a lot duller.
In short the problem is Mercedes dominance and that the cars are too quiet and are not as impressive as they were. Fix that and F1 will be just fine.
Thanks for the psychology session lol. You’re quite wrong though – I’m not remotely nostalgic and I don’t yearn for anything, save perhaps a revitalised, thrilling iteration of F1 to come along again.
Rather than debate with you the ratio of objective vs subjective in our differing opinions, I’ll instead simply say that I don’t have a dog in this fight – if F1 becomes a marginalised fringe sport in the next few generations then it won’t affect my quality of life at all, but those who do have a vested interest in the sport need to ask why my thoughts are far from unique, or even a minority. They’re widespread, and growing. And if that doesn’t concern the stakeholders, be they journalists, the governing body, the rights holders or the teams, then more fool them.
I feel much like you do, Moo. When an 18 year old running 4th in a Grand-Prix is complaining that he has to drive like his grandma… Or Alonso recently saying that 10 years ago you needed a 2-hour massage after qualifying and now you barely break a sweat all race long, a change is needed.
Moo, its like you said everything I wanted to say….. I am 47 so a little older and also spend 2500$ a year flying from California to Austin every year… Very sad what’s happening to F1 today…… Its a Joke on TV….. watching more then few laps is a struggle… Too bad the powers to be don’t realize it.
Well said Moo and very well written, I couldn’t agree with you more. I completely understand why Joe & other journalists defend it like they do. I would too if I was in their position but let’s hope that someone somewhere takes the ordinary fan’s opinions on board and does something to stop this sport that we all love, from disappearing up it’s own a**e.
The views of the fans are listened to by us. However, when we tell you that you are missing out on how good F1 is at the moment, you don’t look to see what you are missing, instead you turn around and tell us that we are blind to realities. We are not blind at all… we see more than you do. So, why not listen and look a little harder at what you are getting, because F1 is a sport of infinite subtlety.
“We are not blind at all… we see more than you do.”
Joe, that’s kind of the problem in a nutshell. If a sport requires ‘enhanced vision’ to appreciate all its ‘infinite subtlety’, then it’s gone too far in the wrong direction. Let’s face it, we’re not tuning in to watch Kasperov vs Fischer – this is a sport born over a century ago of impoverished engineers creating mechanical masterpieces with what tools they had at their disposal, hellfire drivers happy to risk life and limb to pass the chequered flag first and thrilling racecraft on roads that were little more than carriage tracks… Some of that essence remains, thankfully tempered by modern safety measures, cutting edge technology and proper facilities, but the pendulum has simply swung too far.
Remember when Ross Brawn would tell Michael Schumacher over the radio that he’d figured out a strategy that could maybe secure a win, but to make it work MS would need to put in 20 qualifying laps, starting immediately? We the fans would hear the radio message and sit glued to the TV to see if he could do it. Often truly nailbiting stuff. When was the last time something like that happened? Honestly?
Yes I’m fully aware that infinitely subtle little calculations and machinations are being wrought throughout the race by quantitative scientists with brains the size of small planets back in Brackley or Milton Keynes or wherever, but this doesn’t help us, the fans, thrill to the spectacle of men risking their lives to compete and win. I don’t think my thoughts, or those of the folk who agree with me, are unreasonable – it’s not like we’re asking for Dijon ’79 every fortnight (though that would be great!) but simply that the sanitisation, over-regulation and technological masturb*tion that’s robbing F1 of its soul be put in check so we can all get back to the days when we’d be talking to our friends afterwards saying ‘god, did you see that crazy move by….?! I was on the edge of my seat!’
I don’t agree. If you need racing to be crash bang wallop then that is fine. You are just watching the wrong thing.
I don’t think you are blind to the realities, but if the fans are saying one things and you’re saying another, maybe the product isn’t the problem, but how that product is delivered.
Its great rivalries that interest people and make any sport more interesting, and F1 is lacking that with Alonso and Seb not in a position to fight.
We know there is a big rivalry at Merc, and I know we are told how close it is, but they are not equals, in a life time of racing together Nico has never beaten lewis over a season, and seems further away than ever in terms of raw pace. F1 desperately needs another to join the fight, then maybe we’ll care about the racing a bit more, even if the race itself isn’t that great and it’ll start to fall into place.
To sum it up a i think….
The cars now lack a little something
The tracks now lack something
The commentary and coverage lack something
The drivers, just aren’t as interesting, or a least they’re not allowed to be. (just see the press conferences, they’re like a cure for insomnia)
It doesn’t need much of change, but every are needs work.
I’m only 4 yrs or so older than you Joe, and have watched motorsport event maybe 10 yrs or so longer, back to when FF1600, F3 1000 & 1600 and F2 was 1600, while F1 was 3000cc and all the cars were basic. I grew up watching the cars get ever more complex and then the 1500 turbo cars arrived from Renault in 1977 at Silverstone.
And things were simpler then, even the rules, as well as the cars. The drivers really were Stars, and the racing was simply flat out for as long as the car could stand it, or tippee toes in the wet, with by far the best drivers showing just how much better than the average ones they were.
These days i’ve dropped F1 more and more, apart from your blog, which is a lot of fun and interesting, I only buy MS now, none of the other mags ( MSN when there is a WRC result, but that is only a dozen times a year ), and the reason is that modern racing, not just F1 has become hidebound and yes, boring…..Historics are great to watch, but not a replacement for the times when Mad Ronald & Co drove them. Goodwood is now my Mecca, and I don’t see track racing pulling me back anyday soon. I find this very sad personally, but WRC helps keep my enthusiasm alive, although the dead hand of the FIA keeps trying to screw that up as well. GP+ which i bought this year is great, but the current F1 & GP2 reports i barely scan, i go straight to the articles that are of prime interest, which is all of it minus the race reports, as there’s nothing much ever to report. I like racing, i’m not into subtlety.
For me the subtleties of racing are the most joyous thing.
You and Max Mosley Joe? I play chess as well, in a little town club, i don’t do the County League because although my Grade is good enough, i can’t stand the nitpicking that goes on over rules and how they are interpreted. And F1 is now like Chess, not like racing.
There was nothing subtle about guys like Peterson, Rodriguez, Siffert, Black Jack, or many others. Even JYS wasn’t subtle when he had Rindt to handle, or Ickx….and Regga wouldn’t have known subtle if it had hit him over the Bell Star regularly…….
I have no idea what you are talking about.
You commented that you like the subtleties of F1 racing. I said I preferred the days when it was just about racing and subtle didn’t come into it…..my comment re Mosley, was in regard to his views many years back that F1 was more like a Chess game in modern times, and that this was no bad thing….I referred to this comment and yours, as placing you & Max in the ” chess game ” as opposed to “racing ” camp, and just found that surprising, as a bloke who cut his journalistic teeth on such as F3, F2 & ETCC, would in my book, be someone more interested in balls out racing than chess strategies played out in the Pits and translated into RoboWins on track. The way things are going especially with H & S in racing, it probably won’t be 10 years or so before F1 is just RoboCars and the Drivers will be lined up on the Pitwall with a Monitor and a hand controller….if Drones can fight wars without risking Pilot lives, then how about removing ALL the risk from F1 with remote controlled cars and remotely sat Drivers?
It may be good if you are involved, I love F1, have done for years (30+ yrs). I used to watch everything I could on TV etc. But I have to agree F1 has become boring. As a ham supporter it keeps me interested. For how long? Don’t know? I do believe F1 is less appealing now. My 18 year old son is absolutely not interested and he has been brought up with his father glued to Tv or internet for 18 years.
I listened to the BBC commentary while recovering from Chemotherapy, I did look at watching on C4 on my tablet but too many hoops to jump through.
I thought that it sounded OK, ignoring some of the over-excitement, and while never as good as the full-on BBC coverage it did the job.
GP+ gave me the fill-in details as always, thanks for that, Joe.
David and Joe…
A measured and professional drive by HAM. ROS could get close but never looked close to passing him on the track, the race was full of intrigue if not full on balls to the wall racing. The big question is could HAM have passed ROS on the track if the roles were reversed ?
A good race from RAI I thought, a nice battle with VES.
I would be interested in the views around here on;
1-the one move rule, no one wants blatant weaving and blocking but was RAI right to moan at VES? I thought VES was driving very intelligently.
2-blue flags and back markers jumping out of the way. I remember Murray Walker referring to the Trulli train due to his resolute defence and desire not to be passed do we think the current situation where drivers jump out of the way after three flags reduces the reliance on a basic racing skill being able to overtake.
Just my thoughts, feel free to agree or disagree.
🙂
Just_a_bloke, you reference the Trulli-train of old. The difference between the train and the blue flags is that Trulli was racing for position. He was obliged to get out of the way for blue flags just as much as anyone else when the situation arose. And if I recall correctly, he was no worse than anyone else at doing so.
Not the best race of the year so far in terms of crash bang wallop, but I found it incredibly tense. It is too easy to underestimate the skill these drivers have. Hamilton was very very lucky that his ‘off’ in the closing laps didn’t cost him the race victory.
I really do not understand the moaners who constantly bemoan the state of F1. No, it is not perfect, but we have had some fantastic racing over the last few years, despite Mercedes dominance. With the teams’ policy of allowing Rosberg and Hamilton to race, it surely cannot be said the seasons have been uneventful or dull.
Agreed
I was bemused by the old fellas revelations and back story to the booing. (I am probably as old if not older) That it turned out to be a long standing grudge between Red Bull and Merc, seems to me like one of those bad news stories that Bernie uses to get publicity; in fact I would not be surprised to hear later, that he was the moving force behind it. A nudge here and there a “paid booer” strategically placed in a crowd of RB or Merc fans and you have a story. Only a story that may make the nationals because F1 fans are usually well behaved people and this is out of character.
I was similarly taken by the reminder that Todt was the instigator of the Barricello/Schumacher team order debacle. Would he pass a fitness for office test if there were one? Had it been McLaren I wonder what the fine would have been.
Well young Mr Verstappen (not to be confused with young Mr Grace) is keeping the older generation on their toes, of course he only has to crash and everyone will say “There I told you he was too young” Anyway certainly keeping Kimi awake during races.
Did I read that Renault are not developing this year’s engine further now? If so that must give some relief to the front runners.
Joe, do you know of anywhere to get data on how many engine parts each driver has used. This will have an impact on the later stages of the season, but as yet I can’t find anything.
Thanks.
Not easy
Joe, those two words are why fans are turning off.
If an established insider like yourself finds it hard to get an overview of the state of play what chance the casual fan? How simple would be to have a pictogram of each engine (PU) and the allocation of designated parts graphically shown using a series of spanner icons;
broken spanners-scrapped items not for re-use
dirty spanners -items with life left
shiny spanners-unused items
Make the teams update their usage stats after every session. Put a stop to the secrecy and open up the sport, make it easier to understand.
The fact we follow your blog and post on here shows we care and follow the sport, if we are getting turned off by the state of play what hope is there for the casual fan…..
This is a bit like the earlier mentioned placing of the advanced timing screens behind a paywall. The sport has become in the last few years increasingly technical and procedural, yet the data to inform the public about what’s going on, is missing.
I see that FOM have finally started to get YouTube and Twitter a few years after every other sport, but maybe enough nudges will see things like the decisions of Charlie, the Stewards and FOM placed more accessibly in the public domain
Things will change, but it takes time to convince people
For each GP, the FIA release a Technical document of the starting position at each event. Follow the links on www. fia.com / sport / world championships / formula 1 / event timing and information and look at “technical report – pu elements”.
Changes through the weekend are then posted which add to the counts of each unit.
Other data such as parc ferme changes, stewards decisions, car weights, lap charts etc are all there.
It’s worth a look for the heavy duty fan.
/how many engine parts each driver has used/
If you’re asking about power unit components, then FIA webpage gives you detailed info on usage before the weekend and on any new components introduced during the weekend (there are five drivers that used only two Mercedes PUs since Australia!).
If you’re looking for more detailed info… no idea.
there is an FIA race weekend report for every race weekend, which contains much more than engine (power unit) component usages, as far as I know this FIA report used to be obtained for a fee.
FIA web page gives you detailed info on usage before the weekend and on any new components introduced during the weekend
Thank you all, I have found the data I was looking. Looks tough for Lewis.
That’s because the Raikkonen / Verstappen battle was much more interesting.
There were other battles just as good.
Joe
In my earlier wittering about Supermarket Car Parks I neglected to say how much I appreciate Grand Prix +.
It is a brilliant reflection of events and a great archive for past events.
Hungary was not a classic but it was a good Grand Prix in what for me is one of the very best years.
There are so many intriguing battles, not least within teams, going on whilst the on track action this year has been of the highest order.
I should like others to gain the same enjoyment from F1 as I do. You, DT and others are doing are doing a brilliant job informing those who wish to informed of the realities.
Could F1 be better? Yes, as you have repeatedly said. In the meantime
thank you Sidney
Thank you. The best way to grow any business is by word of mouth because if we say all the above people will say we are crooks!!!
I must say I fully agree with Sidney regarding the quality of GP+. My enjoyment of the show re-ignited 5-6 years ago when I discovered your amazing blog, Joe (I think through a link in the Gossip section of the BBC’s website). And having subscribed to GP+ for the past 3 years, I have learned a lot more about the sport, its characters and its history thanks to the amazing job that you guys are putting together.
I do spread the word and recommend both the blog and GP+ as I think you should be rewarded a lot more for all the content that you give to us fans.
If I may add a couple of suggestion:
1) for people who were given a GP+ subscription as a gift, it might not be easy to remember checking the website after every race, and they may not be regular readers of your blog. Maybe there is a way to set up an automatic email being sent to all subscribers once the GP+ is published?
2) Is it possible to include a lapchart of the race in GP+?
Thanks again to you, David, Peter and Michael for the great work that you do.
A lap chart is complicated. One is not allowed to include the official one (copyright issues, would you believe) and we do not have time to create out own. I could, I suppose, photograph my own lap charts, but they can get a bit messy!
At last they have gone back to the drivers eye level on-board camera. So much better than the anti camera shake rollover hoop one.
This radio ban is out of control… and was pointless to begin with. Whoever came up with it hasn’t considered that the fans don’t care much for what the engineers and drivers are talking about over the radio.
If there is a problem to be fixed or change to be made I’d rather see them do it out on the track and keep racing if possible. As soon as someone pits and/or drops out of the race the spectacle reduces slightly and seeing someone penalised after standing on the podium (Rosberg @ Silverstone) for a brief radio exchange is infuriating. Let it go!!! We just want to see good racing.
Why is John Watson asking for a complete ban? He was a racer himself. Would he be happy with a penalty or DNF over a simple problem that his engineer could have told him to fix by tweaking his knobs?
Joe, How do you rate Kimi’s performance. Was he just upset and hence complaining over Max or was he justified? It provided great entertainment in on otherwise boring race (which was rare this season)
The stewards did nothing. Says it all.
A bit of needle and pressure adds to the spice, see my earlier post about blue flags. I hate it when you get Vettel of all people on the radio complaining about drivers not getting out of the way. If you are faster overtake, I want to see firm robust racing but not stock car racing, ROS, I’m talking about you here😉
The sport is too sanitized, too polished. Senna could always scare someone out of the way, crossed the line once or twice but was generally on the harsh side of fair. The same can be said of Schumi, a couple of transgressions but typically in the harsh/fair camp.
I think the overtaking should be easier with less aero, but harder with less waved blue flags. force people to overtake.
🙂
I really enjoy Grand Prix Plus. Particularly like all the historical articles. I have a v large motorsport library which includes publications both by you Joe and DT. However, as I am currently on holiday in Uzes, having something portable is greatly appreciated.
I recently chanced upon the French & Italian car meeting at Prescott and I very much agree with the comments made by DT about hill climbing. I went with my son ( who is not really a petrolhead) but we both agreed it was a day to remember.
Thank you again.
I find it slightly ironic to read all the comments about F1 being boring and “not as good as in [insert preferred period here]” when The Hack writes about racing fans being ever so slightly more discerning than footie fans. Especially the fictions that F1 is only “fun” if it destroys your ear drums and that it “used to be about racing flat out” (which it obviously never was). The appeal of F1 is that it is as much a strategic and tactical sport as it is a sport of pure performance. Both the short view and the long view are important: sometimes overtaking is interesting and exciting, sometimes the developments during a race, sometimes the developments during an entire season (closing a 48 points deficit, anyone?), sometimes even during several seasons (the rise and fall of Ferrari’s challenge, the fall, stumbling and rise of Renault’s PU). Yes, tires and engines need to be managed (not to mention egos), but that’s exactly the intrigue, the fact that a superficially uneventful race like Budapest still yields interesting food for thought if all the tactics and underlying tension (and good performances by HAM, RIC and VES soaking up that tension) are considered.
The problem is that the sport has lost it’s identity. It’s trying to be green, relevant to road cars etc.
Each formula 1 race should be like an Olympics 100 metre final and not a marathon. It should be about the car and driver tested to the limit, now it’s about preserving everything.
The cars run as little as possible to preserve engines, gearboxes now, what good is that for fans that pay loads to get to a gp, oh, and the rules seem to be made up at each race venue.
And will I still watch this show, yes, because I hope that one year, the rule makers see what an easy fix could be applied.
Just let the cars be able to follow each without all this dirty air and we would have some cracking racing. (and I’d like to see the rev limit increased, racing engines should scream like hell)
What identity has it lost? It has always been relevant to road cars.
Perhaps I have rose tinted glasses from earlier years but remember cars being tucked up on the gearboxes of the cars in front, slipstreaming down the straight. Or a Ross brawn call telling Michael, we need 20 qualifying laps, of which he did.
Now we have (had before radio bans) lift off, save fuel, save gear boxes, pu units. No testing, I could go on.
F1 needs to get back on track without the gimmicks, radio bans and stupid rules.
Cockpit protection will be another rule that just does need to introduced
The relevence for the manufacturers is pretty clear I think. They’re all learning plenty about how to extract economy and performance from a small turbo charged engine while making it reliable not to mention the weight savings and aerodynamics.
Notice how most new cars now have smaller capacity turbo charged engines and their makers are also looking for ways to save weight and improve aerodynamics so that they’re fuel efficient yet still fast? Sounds a bit like F1 tech to me.
If F1 was like the 100m Final we’d only be excited for 10sec then bored for the other 1h59m50s. Have you ever run a marathon? It’s a tough test let me tell you.
Small turbo engines are nothing new, after all, the late 80’s turbo cars were only 1500cc.
Group b rally cars of the mid 80’s were also small turbo lumps with massive amounts of power, some with 500 bhp, not bad for a car built 30 years ago with an under 2000cc engine. These rally cars also had exotic materials in their construction.
My wife’s car is a small capacity turbo, only 1750cc with 235bhp, long before the current F1 cars.
Forklift trucks have had regenerative braking for years,again this technology is not new.
As for running a marathon, no I have not ran one, have no interest to either. If you want to watch marathon car racing, watch the le mans series, I would prefer to watch man battle machine to go as quick as possible for the entire race. I’m not interested if the engine lasts all season and how fuel efficient or how green it is. I want speed, i want noise and i want excitement, I want the best drivers going flat out. That is what F1 should be about.
The big word in this comment is I. That’s normal, but I would argue that this is exactly what you have.
Joe,
Can you comment on the coverage of the races, meaning the director? Why spend so much time on Max and kimi, when Vettel was closing on Riccardio for a podium and the battle for the lead was close. Also, for example during qualifying the director will show Nico on screen, but show Lewis’ times going purple in the bottom right corner. Why won’t they switch the coverage to the driver setting purple times. The F1 group’s TV coverage is annoying.
I have heard it said that some people in the Formula One want Mercedes to get minimal coverage.