The 2013 Season

We might not of enjoyed much of the 2nd half of 2013 (Red-Bull/Vettel fans aside)

But at least the remaining 2 tracks are exciting tracks that promote racing, so we should get some good racing to view even if Vettel is already in Melbourne.
 
November 7, 1993

Ayrton Senna's last race for McLaren and his final Grand Prix win, last race against Alain Prost, before taking his place.

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2014 boring if Pirelli build lasting tyres??

For goodness sakes. We don't need refuelling, we don't need DRS, we don't need marshmallow tyres, we don't need sprinklers...

Ban pit car radio! They have pit boards, the drivers have sophisticated dashboards and the stewards and dash have flags.

There is nothing dangerous in banning it except in exceptional circumstances but the benefits will be:
- Driver has to be racer and deploy pre agreed strategies
- nobody knows what the other teams are planning until they've done it
- Drivers have to feel and respond whether it's damage, balance etc without being given specifics
- Drivers decide when to back off or race
- this will mix it up especially with the difference between tactical and strategic drivers
- nobody can bitch and moan to Charlie

Disadvantages
- Won't hear funny radio

What else?
 
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2014 boring if Pirelli build lasting tyres??

For goodness sakes. We don't need refuelling, we don't need DRS, we don't need marshmallow tyres, we don't need sprinklers...

Ban pit car radio! They have pit boards, the drivers have sophisticated dashboards and the stewards and dash have flags.

There is nothing dangerous in banning it except in exceptional circumstances but the benefits will be:
- Driver has to be racer and deploy pre agreed strategies
- nobody knows what the other teams are planning until they've done it
- Drivers have to feel and respond whether it's damage, balance etc without being given specifics
- Drivers decide when to back off or race
- this will mix it up especially with the difference between tactical and strategic drivers
- nobody can bitch and moan to Charlie

Disadvantages
- Won't hear funny radio

What else?
100% in favour of it. Make the bleedin' driver do his own bleedin' thinking. Allow the teams to put a "SHUT THE CAR OFF NOW" signal light on the steering wheel, so they can warn of impending catastrophic failure, but otherwise all communications should be via the pit boards.

Driving shouldn't mean simply steering the car. In a sane world, it also would mean the driver has to do his own strategerising. Who is the best F1 driver? So long as their race engineer does all their thinking for them, we will never know.


There already is a movement afoot to ban the radio collection of real-time telemetry data as a cost savings measure. Which is a bit cockeyed, as it also prevents the paddock warning a driver of a faltering system, and coaching him through the work-arounds, which reduces the incidence of catastrophic failures and with it the DNF rates. So is it worth the cost savings to suffer costlier repairs and lower finishing percentages?
 
Don't even warm them that the engine is going to blow. Drivers should be able to know when something is wrong with the way it is sounding or performing. If they don't pull over to save the engine then that's their loss.
 
Teams can inform race control who could issue a black flag, or teams could directly issue black or black/orange flags or equivalent but really what else is needed for safety?

I think having the real time telemetry is fine but unless there is a genuine safety concern that requires a pit stop or stop altogether then pit boards will suffice.

It's obviously still incredibly valuable for practice and quali but races should be about driver/car/staying alive.
 
Yes lets take away the technology that might save some lives for the sake of racing. Who cares if a few drivers who could have been warned to get out of the car earlier burn to death or get life time scarring if the racing is better? Real drivers shouldn't wear helmets either because they should drive well enough that they don't hit anything.

Seriously though I do understand what you are saying but F1 has always been about pushing technology forward and we should be incouraging more of that not taking things away and coming up with gimmicks to try and 'excite' the races.

Remember when we had an exciting race in Canada due to tyre compounds being far apart? The public said lets do that! The FIA jumped on it and it turned out awful!

Remember when the tyres kept exploding in Silverstone and the public went ra ra ra you're ruining the racing! Make the tyres more durable! Then Red Bull dominated the rest of the season and everyone hated it.

Remember how the FIA got together with a focus group of fans and asked what they wanted more of and they said overtaking! Then they introduced Kers and DRS and everyone hated it.

Stop fiddling already! Lets just say here are the regs now who can build the best car.
 
A blown engine can oil down the track. And leave a disabled car in a location that would prompt a safety car. Or a red flag. So there are very material reasons apart Ludditeism why alerting the driver to shut it down when detonation is imminent is a good idea.

I also argue against bicycle racers being allowed to use 2-way radios, for some of, but not confined entirely to, the same reasons as F1. When the topic of safety comes up, I always suggest that race control could still transmit safety messages to the contestants, using a standardised generic format to assure no team can send surreptitious tactical information. There is no reason the team itself has to send the message.

But there are very good reasons why it should be sent.
 
If the engine thinks it is about to suffer catastrophic damage it usually shuts itself down. There is no need for it to report back to base (which can be a chancy thing to do anyway).
 
Is peoples problem with team radio that its made their favourite driver sound too whiney/like a spoilt brat/like they don't know what they are doing? Because lets facevit this season they all have at some point this year. Probably because the whole grid is in a sulk. As for the annoyance at media edits, I sympathise I shout at Saving Private Ryan everytime I watch it for similar reasons. However I still watch it because its a great film and I have no belief thatvit is anything other than a film and put there to entertain me, not to be accurate in its interpretation of results. I would hope even the simplist of F1 fans would understand that is the case and if they don't then why talk to them? To quote John Lennon "You don't have to pick up the phone Ringo!".

Back to the grid being a sulk. Does it remind anyone of 2004? 2004 was the year Schumie broke the grid. They'd come so close to beating him in 2003 that they just couldn't cope with being trounced in 2004. Some of them never reovere. The great Juan Pablo Montoya (for a long time everyones favourite to topple Schumi) turned to confort eating and was never the same again. Ralf Schumacher just mentally gave up and DC just faded to nothing. Only Kimi ever really recovered.

In 05 though a few drivers who had suddenly started looking good come the close of 04 started hitting the front in a car that was only about 3rd, 4th fastest in 04. Also 05 saw two of the big names put in the same team and one of them get thrashed.

Is it (as Shirley Bassey says) all just a little bit of history repeating?
 
RasputinLives -
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The car numbers are right! :o

So I think we can expect Grosjean to win his first title next year by being steady and consistent. Jenson Button is much faster for McLaren but his Mercedes engine keeps letting him down, while Magnussen is fast but his rashness costs McLaren, and his "tennis skills" are half as bad.

Despite the Enstone #8's new journeyman Latin team-mate having won one race but done little else of note in the season before this one, he does not threaten despite winning the first race due to qualifying rain.

This pattern also suggests that an unsafe tyres saga at a mid-season race will give Red Bull their only win when Vettel and Ricciardo are pitched against the soon-to-be-sold Marussia and Caterham in one of the races.

Either that, or it won't happen...
 
Thought I'd put this here rather than in Mark's thread. Mark talking about what he will and won't miss in his last ever pre-race press conference: http://www1.skysports.com/f1/news/2...negatives-than-positives-for-him-in-formula-1

His comments about how things like DRS and the tyres have been to the benefit of the neutral but forced the drivers to drive within themselves, hurting the aggressive drivers like him and Lewis who want to push every lap, is exactly how I feel about the current state of F1.
 
Agree spot on with what Webber's saying, like I said, F1 has been made way too much orientated on trying to pander for the casual viewer with gimmicks like DRS and KERS with super degrading tyres and it's hurting the sport massively
 
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