FORUMula1.com - F1 Forum

[texasmr2]

From Autoport:
Richard Branson has backed the call from Lotus boss Tony Fernandes to get rid of blue flags in grand prix racing.

Fernandes, whose team has made its Formula 1 debut this year, said earlier this season that he believed the sport would benefit from not having blue flags.
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Virgin Racing's CEO Graeme Lowdon reckons blue flags hurt smaller teams too much, as they lose big amounts of time letting the leading drivers through.

"We get a blue flag three seconds before someone approaches us, and at the moment three seconds is almost a lap and you have to let them by within four corners," he said. "So we have situations where our guys are pulling to one side and the car behind cannot catch up.

"It's a massive compromise over the whole of a race. We do this graph of time against distance, and you look at the graph and you immediately see where the blue flags start because up to a point of the race we are there or thereabouts in terms of pace, but then it drops away.

"The issue is that you get the flags so early - and three seconds is quite a long time. And you have to tell your driver to let the guy past but you cannot speed the car up behind. It has ruined a lot of racing for us."

[hounddub]

Yep...I agree...cough cough!

Lets make sure the race for 18th and 19th is not impeded by those fiesty leaders travelling 8-10 seconds a lap faster.

Damn the leaders.

[texasmr2]

Well the 'blue flags' have been here for sometime before the backmarkers of this season so don't forget that part . They have been an issue for sometime aswell and many here agree that they are detrimental to the sport as a whole, this is racing you know and racing is about fighting for track position aswell as passing.

I would just like to see them gone.

ps,
One last thought aren't F1 drivers supposed to be the best in the world and if so why do they need help passing another car?

[myownalias]

Frankly Virgin and Lotus need to shut up and race, if you don't like the rules; there's the door!!! Blue flags are essential as we have seen in the past where a leading driver is being held up lap after lap by a back marker, specifically on the street circuits where it's not so easy to dash past!

[hounddub]

Frankly Virgin and Lotus need to shut up and race, if you don't like the rules; there's the door!!! Blue flags are essential as we have seen in the past where a leading driver is being held up lap after lap by a back marker, specifically on the street circuits where it's not so easy to dash past!

+1

I think that if Virgin and Lotus were somewhat more competitive then they would have a point....but they have so many more issues to cover to become mid-field teams that they really are in no position to complain.

[billindenver]

Well, how could we argue with a racing expert like Richard freakin Branson. Clearly he knows more about racing than.....well.....I was going to say my labrador, but I'm pretty sure that he can bark more intelligently about racing than Branson can speak.

[texasmr2]

So I guess the last few replies agree that blue flags are needed yet the opinion seem's to lay that the past decades of F1 such as with Senna were the best when there were none?

[spankyham]

These teams shouldn't be racing in F1.
This is a product of the ridiculous budget farce from Max Mosley last year.

[texasmr2]

These teams shouldn't be racing in F1.
This is a product of the ridiculous budget farce from Max Mosley last year.

One must start somewhere don't you think and since testing is banned why blame both and not the real devil? Anywho you did not answer my question, do you think the blue flag fiasko is good or bad??

[spankyham]

These teams shouldn't be racing in F1.
This is a product of the ridiculous budget farce from Max Mosley last year.

One must start somewhere don't you think and since testing is banned why blame both and not the real devil?

No testing, budget limits etc were IMO, artificial attempts to get new teams into F1 to reduce the power of FOTA and especially the biggest teams.
Yes, teams should start somewhere. Kids start school at the elementary level, not high school or college. It is ridiculous that some new F1 teams turn up to tracks running times more akin to GP2 cars.

Anywho you did not answer my question, do you think the blue flag fiasko is good or bad??

There's no need for blue flags if you don't have mobile chicanes.

[racechick]

Well Im kindov with Tex on this one. Its racing and if they want to get past then learn to overtake . If there's that much speed drifferential then it should be relatively easy. Witness an out of place driver coming through the field. Some top line drivers(leaders) even overtake other top line drivers That's what racing's about.

[The_Stig_Money]

I hate to agree with Virgin Branson... but lapped cars should not have to give way to some one behind them.

The pace of every car slows down due to traffic compared to a flying lap

Why dont we tell every other driver "Red Bulls are 1 second a lap faster... let them through"

I have seen some backmarkers get past with out blue flag and it seems reasonable

[What's Burning?]

It would 1, help the drivers that are more skilled at passing, and 2, really change race pit strategies since you no longer can get a free pass from the back of the field to the points scoring range.

[Hexagram]

This is just plain dangerous. Look at Webber and Kovalainen's crash. 99% of the time you are getting lapped because you are way slower than the pace setters. 3-4 seconds a lap maybe or worse.

We don't need this happening on a regular basis.

[youtube]pBO1mX8sKYk[/youtube]

[Fred_C_Dobbs]

Branson is a gnat that thinks it's a crocodile.