- 07 Apr 18, 21:46#443899
F1 is not staged for the benefit of the drivers or the spectators, it is an expensive publicity exercise
by the major car manufacturers to convince their customers that their cars are the best in the world – and a 'must have' in the prestige car market. Therefore although there are two championships, the constructors one is the prize, and the drivers one is manipulated to gain it, and / or maximise the publicity for the constructors and their sponsors. A glaring example is the publicity gained by Red Bull after the 2016 Spanish Gran Prix. Realising they'd only be noted as the lucky recipients,and post race headlines would be all about the Mercedes duo taking themselves out, they deliberately robbed Ricciardo of a potential win for the benefit of Max Verstappen, and trumpeted the fact that an 18 year old novice on his Red Bull debut had become the youngest F1 winner in history -and it worked - those were the headlines, and how the race is remembered. This ability of constructors to manipulate the drivers championship takes many forms, slow pit stops, inappropriate call ins, but clearly the most unfair are grid penalties for mechanical failures, logically a replacement gearbox does not give a driver any advantage over the others, yet these have allowed Mercedes to get their preferred candidate, a German, as the winner., and the extra home publicity and interest that engenders. They could – and should - be stopped. Logically Mercedes F1 success should be judged not only by what it has achieved performance wise in the hands of their best engineers, but the amount of expensive failures which engendered driver grid penalties, penalties which should clearly show up on their constructors championship table as guide to the likely reliability of their road vehicles – minus 50 points for a gearbox or engine problem and a 100 for a complete engine failure might do it.. In 2016 this would have relieved Niki Lauder of the task of trying to convince Hamilton that despite the fact that eight drivers on the grid were using Mercedes running gear, it was just bad luck that he was the only one to suffer, gifting the title to Toto Wolf's protege, Lauda's fellow Bavarian . Unfortunately, at some stage all the major players have threatened to quit over rules they didn't like, so I don't believe the FIA has got the clout to sort it.
by the major car manufacturers to convince their customers that their cars are the best in the world – and a 'must have' in the prestige car market. Therefore although there are two championships, the constructors one is the prize, and the drivers one is manipulated to gain it, and / or maximise the publicity for the constructors and their sponsors. A glaring example is the publicity gained by Red Bull after the 2016 Spanish Gran Prix. Realising they'd only be noted as the lucky recipients,and post race headlines would be all about the Mercedes duo taking themselves out, they deliberately robbed Ricciardo of a potential win for the benefit of Max Verstappen, and trumpeted the fact that an 18 year old novice on his Red Bull debut had become the youngest F1 winner in history -and it worked - those were the headlines, and how the race is remembered. This ability of constructors to manipulate the drivers championship takes many forms, slow pit stops, inappropriate call ins, but clearly the most unfair are grid penalties for mechanical failures, logically a replacement gearbox does not give a driver any advantage over the others, yet these have allowed Mercedes to get their preferred candidate, a German, as the winner., and the extra home publicity and interest that engenders. They could – and should - be stopped. Logically Mercedes F1 success should be judged not only by what it has achieved performance wise in the hands of their best engineers, but the amount of expensive failures which engendered driver grid penalties, penalties which should clearly show up on their constructors championship table as guide to the likely reliability of their road vehicles – minus 50 points for a gearbox or engine problem and a 100 for a complete engine failure might do it.. In 2016 this would have relieved Niki Lauder of the task of trying to convince Hamilton that despite the fact that eight drivers on the grid were using Mercedes running gear, it was just bad luck that he was the only one to suffer, gifting the title to Toto Wolf's protege, Lauda's fellow Bavarian . Unfortunately, at some stage all the major players have threatened to quit over rules they didn't like, so I don't believe the FIA has got the clout to sort it.
