Formula 1 2015 Discussion

[OGG]

As expected the race itself was a snoozefest right up until Verstappen decided to wreck into Grosjean. That strategy call for Hamilton was a royal clusterfuck, Niki Lauda has pretty much made that clear, and he's not one to hold back from speaking his mind.

Seriously I think instead of running the F1 cars in this race they should have to run a road car from whatever manufacturer they are representing. Ferrari, Manor, and Sauber would run Fiat 500's, Mercedes, Force India and Lotus would run Merceds A class cars, Red Bull and Torro Rosso would run Renault Clio's and McLaren Honda would run Civics., all the cars would have to be factory stock with the appropriate safety equipment added. I think it would make the race much more exciting, and at least they could pass each other.

I know it's blasphemy, but Monaco hasn't been a suitable circuit for F1 for a long, long time. I know it's a spectacle, and the darling of the press, but in reality, it's just a bad circuit. The scenery is beautiful, all of the glitz and glamour are a feast for the eyes and so on, none of that makes it a good race.

The Polesitter has an absolutely ridiculous advantage, the numbers don't lie, they win every time barring a crash, retirement, or in Hamilton's case, a strategy blunder of epic proportions.

It's too narrow, it's too slow, there's too many laps, and it is unquestionably the most dangerous circuit on the calendar. It's a miracle no driver has been killed there in decades. Lots of drivers have gotten seriously FUBAR'd though. Was it year before last, that Massa crashed twice at the same place in practice, and the second one screwed him all up? I think so, he was in a Ferrari.

Letting Crashtor loose on that curcuit in an F1 car is like handing Mr. Magoo a bunch of bath salts and the keys to a Porsche and seeing how far he gets. You just know it won't last long.

Anyway, I hate to say it, but maybe it's time to take Monaco off the F1 calendar.

 

[2112]

Taking Monaco off the calendar would not be a bad idea. I agree with all you posted about the circuit. One of the problems I see is the need for Aramco barriers instead of Safer barriers. I know that the reason for the Aramco is due to the narrow track but if you cannot put anything but Aramco around a track then, perhaps, it is time to find another track. Imola comes to mind...

When Merc FUBAR'd Hamilton (and I am no Hamilton fan) my first thought was: " Three straight..." I can not believe that a Championship team would commit such a colossal blunder as pulling him in with that lead.

Maybe Merc wanted to tighten the race so fans don't go to sleep while watching the rest of the season. Maybe Uncle Bernie called the shot...

They have to do something. Used to be I looked forward to watching F1. Now I check my calendar for the next WEC or Tudor Race. If they conflict with F1 I get my F1 results on line or switch to the race during commercial breaks in the endurance races.

F1 is becoming about as uninteresting as Indy...

Speaking of which can anyone come up with a worse looking race car than Indy has? Are we doing open wheeled racing or sport car racing. Looks like the cars cannot decide upon which class they want to race in...

Sigh...I guess it could be worse: NASCAR 24/7...

 

[TomcatMF]

Taking Monaco off the calendar would not be a bad idea. I agree with all you posted about the circuit. One of the problems I see is the need for Aramco barriers instead of Safer barriers. I know that the reason for the Aramco is due to the narrow track but if you cannot put anything but Aramco around a track then, perhaps, it is time to find another track. Imola comes to mind...

When Merc FUBAR'd Hamilton (and I am no Hamilton fan) my first thought was: " Three straight..." I can not believe that a Championship team would commit such a colossal blunder as pulling him in with that lead.

Maybe Merc wanted to tighten the race so fans don't go to sleep while watching the rest of the season. Maybe Uncle Bernie called the shot...

They have to do something. Used to be I looked forward to watching F1. Now I check my calendar for the next WEC or Tudor Race. If they conflict with F1 I get my F1 results on line or switch to the race during commercial breaks in the endurance races.

F1 is becoming about as uninteresting as Indy...

Speaking of which can anyone come up with a worse looking race car than Indy has? Are we doing open wheeled racing or sport car racing. Looks like the cars cannot decide upon which class they want to race in...

Sigh...I guess it could be worse: NASCAR 24/7...

I agree that the Indy Cars are fugly, but the Indy 500 was the best race of the day. WAY more exciting than Monaco. Lots of lead changes through the race, and the last 10 laps were a real nail biter.

 

[2112]

I agree that the Indy Cars are fugly, but the Indy 500 was the best race of the day. WAY more exciting than Monaco. Lots of lead changes through the race, and the last 10 laps were a real nail biter.

Agreed. This was the first Indy I was able to watch since 2006 ( Two daughters in club volleyball during that time, Memorial Day Weekend was a big tourney weekend) and I liked the action. It was, indeed, a good race overall.

The cars though...I kept trying to picture them without the warts behind the rear wheels and could not. My mind is polluted with images of little boy drawings of "The Perfect Race Car!". That is how the Indy cars look to me.

 

[OGG]

The Indy cars of this era are painfully ugly. They used to be such beautiful machines, sometimes almost indistinguishable from their F1 brethren. Now they look like something out of an old Japanese anime. I thought part of their ugliness was for improved aero, but with so many of them taking flight in the practice and qualifying rounds prior to Indy, maybe that's not the case?

I know the extended body work around the wheels is a dafety thing meant to mitigate cars launching one another by touching wheels at speed, but that pretty much disqualifies them from still claiming to be open wheel cars.

Indy racing has been a mess since the big CART debacle many years ago. It's hard for me to follow anymore. It has lost so much of its appeal. I used to go to Long Beach religiously, but now I don't even watch it on TV. It's rare that I watch a race at all.

Seems like both engine choices are entirely craptastic, combined with being basically spec racing, and the profoundly ugly cars, it's a sad state of affairs.

 

[2112]

The Indy cars of this era are painfully ugly. They used to be such beautiful machines, sometimes almost indistinguishable from their F1 brethren. Now they look like something out of an old Japanese anime. I thought part of their ugliness was for improved aero, but with so many of them taking flight in the practice and qualifying rounds prior to Indy, maybe that's not the case?

I know the extended body work around the wheels is a dafety thing meant to mitigate cars launching one another by touching wheels at speed, but that pretty much disqualifies them from still claiming to be open wheel cars.

Indy racing has been a mess since the big CART debacle many years ago. It's hard for me to follow anymore. It has lost so much of its appeal. I used to go to Long Beach religiously, but now I don't even watch it on TV. It's rare that I watch a race at all.

Seems like both engine choices are entirely craptastic, combined with being basically spec racing, and the profoundly ugly cars, it's a sad state of affairs.

Yeah. We think alike. The funny thing about the abortion of design is that they are supposed to prevent over the wheel accidents yet...

How many in the last few years? I remember Krausnoff in Detroit and a few more but was it that bad that they needed to make the changes? I don't think so. Not like we have F1 drivers dying in droves every yea from going over the rear tires of the car in front of them.

I don't know why Indy has to keep effing things up. They have the courses, (well...ovals pretty much suck any way one looks at it...) but they just cannot rise above the suckitude of the CART/Indy split.

I spit in Tony George's face for his tantrum and the face of the current Indy bosses who have made a great series into an afterthought of crap racing.

yeah...

 

[TomcatMF]

Yeah. We think alike. The funny thing about the abortion of design is that they are supposed to prevent over the wheel accidents yet...

How many in the last few years? I remember Krausnoff in Detroit and a few more but was it that bad that they needed to make the changes? I don't think so. Not like we have F1 drivers dying in droves every yea from going over the rear tires of the car in front of them.

I don't know why Indy has to keep effing things up. They have the courses, (well...ovals pretty much suck any way one looks at it...) but they just cannot rise above the suckitude of the CART/Indy split.

I spit in Tony George's face for his tantrum and the face of the current Indy bosses who have made a great series into an afterthought of crap racing.

yeah...

I believe Dan Wheldon's fatal accident at Las Vegas in the previous car was one of the thing that led to the pods being added to the rear wheels for safety. It also looks like F1 may be headed in the same direction when they make the radical rule changes they are talking about for 2017. (and don't get me started about the fugly noses in F1 the last few years due to safety mandates from the FIA)

 

[2112]

I believe Dan Wheldon's fatal accident at Las Vegas in the previous car was one of the thing that led to the pods being added to the rear wheels for safety. It also looks like F1 may be headed in the same direction when they make the radical rule changes they are talking about for 2017. (and don't get me started about the fugly noses in F1 the last few years due to safety mandates from the FIA)

Could we be seeing the beginning of the end of open-wheeled racing as we know it? Could we be seeing sports cars fighting for the F1 title in 20 years?

I, for one, would not weep as I am finding that my tastes are moving more toward sport car racing.

 

[TomcatMF]

Could we be seeing the beginning of the end of open-wheeled racing as we know it? Could we be seeing sports cars fighting for the F1 title in 20 years?

I, for one, would not weep as I am finding that my tastes are moving more toward sport car racing.

Interestingly the P1 cars at the WEC race in Spa a few weeks about were putting in lap times that weren't too far off from what the current F1 cars do around that track. You may be right.

 

[OGG]

I hope not. I'm all for safety, and I think F1 has done an incredible job of making the cars and the circuits as safe as they've been since the loss of Ayrton Senna 21 years ago. The fact that (technically) no F1 driver has been killed since then is staggering when you consider how many fatalities other motor sports have produced in that same period. There have been some truly brutal F1 crashes that resulted in either minor or no injuries. It's remarkable. What happened to Jules Bianchi last year was a tragic and freak accident that was entirely avoidable. The events that lead to him going under that crane were a series of bad decisions.

Compare the crash Verstappen had this week at Monaco to the the crash that killed Dale Earnhardt, and it's mind boggling to think that Max walked away from a head on high speed crash into the barriers and walked away without a scratch, while Dale by contrast had a seemingly light, side impact that shut him off like a switch. One silly strap connecting the helmet to keep the head from flying forward made all the difference.

Open wheel racing is to me, the pinnacle of motor sports. I would hate to see it go away.

 

[TomcatMF]

Well that race was a bit of a snoozer. The only interesting part was Vettel's run through the field.

There's no doubt now that Mercedes will pull the double championship again this year.

I am so disappointed with McLaren. I really expected better from them.

 

[Tiltsta]

The most exciting part of that race was the groundhog.

 

[OGG]

Well that race was a bit of a snoozer. The only interesting part was Vettel's run through the field.

There's no doubt now that Mercedes will pull the double championship again this year.

I am so disappointed with McLaren. I really expected better from them.

Don't forget the incredible drive that Massa put in as well. He almost got Crashtor'd again.

But yeah, the groundhog moment was a nail biter for sure.

 

[Gorgon90]

Other than the groundhog, the radio message from Alonso was telling. He was all calm and towing the party line afterwards but complaining how much of an amateur McLaren Honda are making him look was priceless.

 

[OGG]

Other than the groundhog, the radio message from Alonso was telling. He was all calm and towing the party line afterwards but complaining how much of an amateur McLaren Honda are making him look was priceless.

That lap wherein Alonso got passed by Vettel in his old ride, and Massa his former team mate within seconds of each other had to truly suck. Alonso left Ferrari by his own choice. Having his former Red Bull driving nemesis overtake him so effortlessly in a Ferrari was brutal. Pile on Massa who got the boot from Scuderia blow by him in a Williams immediately after must have been excruciating.

Poor Fernando. He only has himself to blame. I am 100% certain that he's a better driver than Vettel or Kimi, and had he stayed at Ferrari he'd be giving Lewis and Nico all they could handle this year. Nobody can squeeze every last drop of performance out of an F1 car like he can.

 

[Flatspotter]

Massa's and Vettel's drives were exciting, but other than the groundhog, typical F1 parade.

Alonso burned his bridges at Ferrari and had no choice but to leave, but burning bridges was certainly no one's fault but his. Maybe Haas can convince him to join them.

 

[nuke_diver]

Didn't watch the race sounds like I missed nothing :(

I agree with OGG on Alonzo, with the Ferrari much better than last year I would think Alonzo would be reaching the podium with regularity this year. Instead he's lucky to finish a race

 

[OGG]

Alonso still has maybe 2-3 years left in F1. I don't know where else he can go that will give him any real shot at making a run at another drivers championship ship. There just aren't any teams that look as if they can field a good enough car. Red Bull looks like it's going off the rails since Adrian Newey stepped aside, and they are threatening to leave F1 entirely, which would mean taking Toro Rosso with them. The only legitimate contender left would be Williams, but you know Massa is locked in and Bottas likely wouldn't leave the team either.

He can only hope that McLaren gets their shit together quick, as he has no choice but to bet the farm on his current employer.

Jensen Button is screwed. I feel awful for him because this is almost certainly his last season in an F1 car. Not a good way to go out.

 

[TomcatMF]

Alonso still has maybe 2-3 years left in F1. I don't know where else he can go that will give him any real shot at making a run at another drivers championship ship. There just aren't any teams that look as if they can field a good enough car. Red Bull looks like it's going off the rails since Adrian Newey stepped aside, and they are threatening to leave F1 entirely, which would mean taking Toro Rosso with them. The only legitimate contender left would be Williams, but you know Massa is locked in and Bottas likely wouldn't leave the team either.

He can only hope that McLaren gets their shit together quick, as he has no choice but to bet the farm on his current employer.

Jensen Button is screwed. I feel awful for him because this is almost certainly his last season in an F1 car. Not a good way to go out.

There are rumors of Bottas heading to Ferrari to take Kimi's ride. Renault is also rumored to buy Torro Rosso.

 

[OGG]

There are rumors of Bottas heading to Ferrari to take Kimi's ride. Renault is also rumored to buy Torro Rosso.

I figured that if Bottas were to go anywhere it would be to take Kimi's Ferrari seat. That presents a very real possibility of Alonso and Massa being teammates once again at Williams. I would actually like to see that. They work well together.

Renault buying Toro Rosso could also be a good thing. Potentially.