FORUMula1.com - F1 Forum

[GRHinPorts]

For as long as I have been following the sport there has been a view that reducing the dependence on aerodynamics and putting the emphasis back on to mechanical grip would lead to better racing. I'd be happy to see this happen just to put the theory to test.

It may be that for whatever reason modern F1 realities make this theory outdated because I can not see any other reason for not trying it out.

[racechick]

DRS, KERS and fragile tyres are just gimmicks that paper over the cracks and do not solve the more deep rooted problems which greatly reduce overtaking.

I would be happy if all 3 were dropped and wait and see what the new reg's bring in 2014.

Im with you on this one

[Hammer278]

The new rules WORK.

Not for me they don't. Too many gimmicks all at once. Passing has become far too easy thanks to the car behind having an unfair advantage once within 1 second of the car ahead. I still remember when passing was an art and not a formality. I can't remember the last time I heard the phrase "last of the late brakers" used in F1. Used to be extremely common.

KERS is a gimmick aimed at making a sport which drinks huge amounts of fuel and produces a huge amount of pollution go green. You see the contradtiction here?

A bit offtopic, but I heard that the amount of fuel used in F1 over an entire season is still less than what a Boeing 747 requires to travel halfway across the world. Could this be true? I found it hard to believe, but I read this in an interview with Ross Brawn I believe.

[darwin dali]

The new rules WORK.

Not for me they don't. Too many gimmicks all at once. Passing has become far too easy thanks to the car behind having an unfair advantage once within 1 second of the car ahead. I still remember when passing was an art and not a formality. I can't remember the last time I heard the phrase "last of the late brakers" used in F1. Used to be extremely common.

KERS is a gimmick aimed at making a sport which drinks huge amounts of fuel and produces a huge amount of pollution go green. You see the contradtiction here?

A bit offtopic, but I heard that the amount of fuel used in F1 over an entire season is still less than what a Boeing 747 requires to travel halfway across the world. Could this be true? I found it hard to believe, but I read this in an interview with Ross Brawn I believe.

Bear with me:
An F1 car today uses probably around 150 liters of fuel per race. 24 cars = 3,600 liters for the entire field. 19 races = 19 x 3,600 liters = 68,400 liters. Let's double that figure for practice and qualy = 136,800 liters. Let's double that for off-season testing = 273,600 liters.

A Boeing 747-400ER has a range of 7,670 nautical miles (14,205 km) with its maximum fuel capacity of 63,705 gallons (241,140 L) 14,205 km is not quite half-way around the world though (20,000km), thus, add another 100,000 liters = 340,000 liters.

[Hammer278]

Damn. Very interesting info, thanks for that!

[racechick]

F1 teams use far far more resources up by using the wind tunnels than petrol. The figures for electricity use in a wind tunnel are scary....but Ive forgotten them . Thats not really talked about though. Doesnt fit the agenda.

[Fred_C_Dobbs]

The public were clamoring for more competitive racing, which they voiced as "lack of overtaking." The FIA foolishly took them literally and created mechanisms for increasing overtaking without regard to superiority of driver or car. Had they thought to give the public what they want rather than what they had asked for, that would have been an end of it.

Todt and Whitmarsh already have proved to me they at best are incompetent and/or inattentive. That gives me little hope they will realise their error any time soon, unless the fans pool their money and buy an advert on the Beeb to say, "No that's not what we meant ...."

F1 teams use far far more resources up by using the wind tunnels than petrol. The figures for electricity use in a wind tunnel are scary....but Ive forgotten them . Thats not really talked about though. Doesnt fit the agenda.

Not to mention they lease supercomputer time to run computational flow dynamics as a substitute for track time.

[LewEngBridewell]

The public were clamoring for more competitive racing, which they voiced as "lack of overtaking." The FIA foolishly took them literally and created mechanisms for increasing overtaking without regard to superiority of driver or car.

With DRS and Pirelli tyres, the superior cars and drivers DO make the passes. That's clear by what we've SEEN on track and what the RESULTS show.

Once upon a time, the superior drivers and cars couldn't make these passes, because the dirty air didn't allow it. Now they can. What is so difficult to grasp about this????

[Fred_C_Dobbs]

The public were clamoring for more competitive racing, which they voiced as "lack of overtaking." The FIA foolishly took them literally and created mechanisms for increasing overtaking without regard to superiority of driver or car.

With DRS and Pirelli tyres, the superior cars and drivers DO make the passes. That's clear by what we've SEEN on track and what the RESULTS show.

Once upon a time, the superior drivers and cars couldn't make these passes, because the dirty air didn't allow it. Now they can. What is so difficult to grasp about this????

OH.

So DRS only works for the best drivers and only the bad drivers tyres go off.

Sorry. Didn't realise.

[LewEngBridewell]

The public were clamoring for more competitive racing, which they voiced as "lack of overtaking." The FIA foolishly took them literally and created mechanisms for increasing overtaking without regard to superiority of driver or car.

With DRS and Pirelli tyres, the superior cars and drivers DO make the passes. That's clear by what we've SEEN on track and what the RESULTS show.

Once upon a time, the superior drivers and cars couldn't make these passes, because the dirty air didn't allow it. Now they can. What is so difficult to grasp about this????

OH.

So DRS only works for the best drivers and only the bad drivers tyres go off.

Sorry. Didn't realise.

No. That's not what I said.

[Fred_C_Dobbs]

This is Jacques Villeneuve's "Raw Neuve" column from the May print issue of "F1 Racing" magazine. My copy apparently got lost in the post and I've only just received it.

Is F1 still a sport? I'm not so sure.

I forced myself to watch the Turkish GP the other week but I have to admit I find F1 really tough to watch now -- it's so boring. A lot of fans think this season has been brilliant so far but I'm sure they'll get bored pretty soon.

It's difficult for me to enjoy a race with lots of overtaking but no racing. You still get some good battles, but with DRS you see the drivers just giving up because they know they can't do a single thing to stop being passed down the straight. You can't compare it to proper overtaking. The next thing we'll get on F1 cars are indicators so a driver can tell the car in front which side he's going to overtake on!

I don't see it as a sport any more. Yes, you still have to be fit and have a good qualifying session, but drivers don't really have to think about what's going on these days. When a guy behind you, who's maybe on better tyres, presses his DRS button, what can you do?

And I find the tyre situation a bit ridiculous. People say, "Oh, it's great that the tyres give up really quickly." Well no -- they're just bad tyres. In the past, tyres used to give up really quickly because they were supersofts, but there was a reason why they'd wear reasonably quickly. Now they just disappear straight away.

And if it wasn't for DRS and KERS, people could defend on older tyres, but the problem now is that there are too many pitstops. There were 82 in Turkey, and most people stopped four times. Lewis couldn't even remember whether he'd stopped four times or five afterwards! It detracts from the racing.

For years, people complained about how motorsport in America was just a big show, but now F1 is more of a show than anything over there. Then I watch the TV and hear David Coulthard saying how great F1 is... so I suppose it must be.

[Jose Lorca]

Where did you get these from fred?

[bud]

Where did you get these from fred?

This is Jacques Villeneuve's "Raw Neuve" column from the May print issue of "F1 Racing" magazine.

[Jose Lorca]

Where did you get these from fred?

This is Jacques Villeneuve's "Raw Neuve" column from the May print issue of "F1 Racing" magazine.

I thought I had seen it before. Thanks

[ebs001]

1. More people worldwide are watching F1 so the rule changes are having the desired affect. This is a business and money drives it
2. No drivers are complaining, in fact seem very happy with the changes. With all due respect to JV but he's a has been from a different era.
3. DRS may be artificial but so is aero.
4. They are all on the same tires. Advantage comes not from how the driver handles them and but how aerodynamically efficient the car is. Maclaren to date lag way behind the Red Bulls and have very little chance of winning until they correct this situation.