Grand Prix 2021 British Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

Better late then never!

There is a Formula One Grand Prix this weekend. Now, let's take a step back and look at that sentence. We use some words without thinking about what they mean so why is it Formula One? My apologies if this seems a bit patronising but the Formula bit refers to the design specification for the car and engine around which the teams must design their car. It's One, because it is supposed to be the pinnacle of motor sport, the fastest, the toughest test of car and driver. And for this you win a grand prize, and although other races use the term Grand Prix, this is the only series which (I believe) is allowed to use the term.

So why am I going on about this? Well, this weekend the powers that run Formula One Grand Prix racing have given up trying to actually create a competitive race series and have decided that it is better that this series can be made more exciting by trying to get the drivers to crash in to one another in a "Sprint Race" on Saturday rather than than allowing the fastest car and driver combination to start from the front of the grid as has been the norm in virtually all forms of motor sport since people started racing cars.

I know motor racing is contrived and there is no such thing as "pure" motor sport, but there are a few norms which I believe should not be messed with, and the idea of a qualifying session which often pushes the driver to, and sometimes beyond, the limit is one. How that session works, what groups of cars go out when, whether drivers get one lap or one hundred I don't mind. I do object to trying to gerrymander the starting grid by running what I'm sure the power brokers in F1 hope will be a destruction derby to replace a qualifying session.

That's my two pence worth. I may be wrong, it may be a great success, it might be very exciting, I have no idea. I am really not that excited about the prospect of this experiment.

Anyway, here's the revised running order for this race:

Friday
14:30 to 15:30 F1 practice
18:00 to 19:00 Qualifying Session (for the sprint race)

Saturday
12:00 to 13:00 F1 Practice (yup, after the qualifying session)
16:30 to 17:00 Sprint "Qualifying"

Sunday
15:00 to 17:00 F1 race

So there you go. I shall rant about the 2022 car design elsewhere.
 
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You have to ask why the teams are allowed to put such pressure on the race director and the stewards. They are the "judiciary" and the teams should only be allowed to contact them when invited by them. These exchanges show everything that is wrong with F1, where the tail wags the dog over and over again. The rule makers set the rules, the teams and drivers should work within them and if the rule makers say they have transgressed they take it on the chin and get on with it.

What next, will each team have a lawyer waiting to take their arguments to the stewards? Utter crap!
 
It’s just like in football we’re the players crowd the referee and wave an imaginary card in the air. Michael Masi should tell them all to get lost, and leave him and the Stewart’s to make there decision.
 
Johnny Carwash said:
It’s just like in football we’re the players crowd the referee and wave an imaginary card in the air. Michael Masi should tell them all to get lost, and leave him and the Stewart’s to make there decision.
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Not really.

It's as if the referee makes a decision and the chairman of the club storms on to the pitch to remonstrate with him and the chairman of the opposition calls the ref on his mobile to state his case.

Fully agree FB

The time has long gone when teams can be put back in their box. They should have no involvement in setting the rules, vetoing the rules, influencing penalties or anything else.

I can't think of any other sport in the world where the lunatics are given that much say in the way the asylum is run.
 
In the old days there were very few racing incidents that were protested as the participants died, as Max would have done in his first season assuming he got that far
 
what was the FIA or FOM thinking, because it was obvious they were never going to be neutral & think what the sport needed/fans want or was that another 1 from bernie book of how to build a sport & they proceed to destroy all your own work
 
And according to Sky, the most likely cause of Hamilton's understeering was having his line into the corner tightened by being squeezed against the wall on the run up to Copse.

Definitely a racing incident but unfortunately with the state of modern F1 (and life today in general) where there's blame there's a claim.
 
whats been forgotten in all this that red flag saved the race. because Mercedes have said if they had carried on under the safety car. it wouldve been adelaide 94 where 1 car is out of race & other is retired in the pits

but for hamilton genius final stint, it was exemplary. he finishes 2nd leclerc wins & horner has less issue with the penalty. no one else couldve done what hamilton did then

cider_and_toast said:
but unfortunately with the state of modern F1 (and life today in general) where there's blame there's a claim.
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well that comes from the stewards & there joke decisions. as F1 pundit said over the weekend. drivers cant fart out of place incase they get a penalty. i can see 2022 being a bloodbath. because these new rules are designed to get more wheel to wheel racing & if works it could be brilliant. but stewards are doing everything in the power to stop driver go wheel to wheel
 
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F1Brits_90 said:
well that comes from the stewards
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Yes, with an added but....

The stewards are constantly under pressure from drivers, teams and even the fans.

Couple that with the fact that two F1 cars hitting each other, even at speed, rarely causes anything more than a wrecked chassis at most and without Stewards penalties the effects on a driver's race from collisions are almost negligible.

Drivers rarely hit each other in the past because they weren't suicidal. This explains why Prost was so vocal against the way Senna drove.

I reckon there should be some sort of devices fitted to the car where if one car strikes the other it causes both cars to retire from the race. That would sort out driving standards overnight.
 
sobriety said:
So if Verstappen had backed off, Hamilton would have speared off into the gravel and he'd have walked it? Just another reason not to fight the corner then.
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we have always been interested in how verstappen would deal with a championship. because what happens at 1 race has never had consequences before. because its just a series of 20 mini championships to him. if you retire or crash well their always next week

the closest weve ever got was when red bull felt they couldve had a snatched 2nd off bottas & verstappen got stressed at mugello & imola
 

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