2019 F1 chat thread

[ilogikal1]

At least I’m consistent. 

[Ekona]

Unlike Ferrari AHAHAHAHAHA SEE WHAT I DID THERE

[ilogikal1]

They’ve been consistent this year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Consistently saying they’ll be better at the next race!

[Ebized]

Niki Lauda - RIP - one of F1 true Legends - courageous, fearsome and a huge loss

[skate2create]

BTCC is closer because of the way the regulations are set up with regards to engines and ancillaries, with all pretty much coming from the same set of suppliers.  All teams have the choice of running an unbranded 350hp 2L turbo engine along with all ancillaries or developing their own powerplant to match the regs.  It does make for closer racing and puts it more down to the actual driver ability than about being in the best performing car on the day.

Other race series with loose connections to F1 have tried single powerplant manufacturer type series to not much avail (See Superleague Formula... mmmm V12 goodness), but with so many different manufacturers involved, I just can't see such regulations or forced one make powerplants being used in F1.

[Ekona]

See I hate BTCC because it feels more like it's 'fixed', with all the reverse grid nonsense. Yes it's closer racing in that regard, but I just don't find it entertaining at all. Plus FWD scrabble wagons really aren't my cup of tea (yes I know there's some RWD stuff in there, but it's well outnumbered).

 

Give me WEC any day of the week.

[ilogikal1]

BTCC also artificially manufacture closer racing by imposing weight penalties on cars that are faster on the day. That works in BTCC but I don’t see that being transferable to something like F1.

 

As for same spec cars with identical engines, anyone remember A1 GP? No, thought not.

 

Forcing F1 down that route of standardising the cars would largely defeat the purpose of F1. Aside from the fact that it’s a team sport, and therefore reducing it so that the only difference is the driver removes the team aspect, it’s also supposed to be the pinnacle of racing. By providing all the chassis and engines for the teams undermines the basic principal of development that is the foundation of F1. I mean, how much tech on your average daily comes from BTCC, after all?

[skate2create]

Not a great deal, it's only the shell of the road going cars that seem to have any resemblance to the cars in BTCC.

 

Agree, F1 is meant to be the pinnacle but it plainly isn't or at least doesn't feel that way.  It feels stale if anything.  The cars themselves are tech'd up to the max but it just doesn't excite you as much as a stonking great V10/12 engined car that's difficult to control and involves a great deal of skill.  To me, the modern cars just seem too "calm".

[ilogikal1]

I quite agree that F1 isn’t as entertaining as it could be, but I don’t think you can look to other variations of motorsport for the answer to F1’s problems to be honest.

 

I still think it’s the pinnacle of the sport from a tech and advancement perspective, so much so that the cars are far too capable if anything; the tech that’s developed in F1 almost always filters down to virtually everything in the showrooms after a few years. It’s just not as entertaining as people like to think they remember it being in the past.

 

 

 

 

...okay, so it’s not all rose tinted glasses, but actually how entertaining was it really when Schumacher & Ferrari dominated the sport for years on end compared to now? Sure, the V12, V10 and especially V8 were louder but...

[skate2create]

I agree that the advancement in tech has made the modern day cars too capable and maybe that's part of the problem. I can't remember if it was Martin Brundle who said it, but it shouldn't be such an easy transition from another race series to F1 that a very young driver can jump into a F1 car and instantly be at the same pace as the "big boys".

 

Was the dominance of the Schumacher era down to him being in the best car for the best team, maybe. But was it down to him also being one of the best drivers on the grid who knew how to get the most out of the cars of the time.. maybe so too. I suppose Lewis is in the same boat now, but the difference between the Merc compared to almost all other teams in the pit lane seems massive.

 

Looking at it from a different perspective, there was a video shown on SkyF1 of Jenson Button driving his Brawn GP car in 2009 (I think) at catalunya vs Valtteri Bottas lap in the modern day car, JB was constantly battling the car to get the best out of it whereas VB was smooth and if anything uneventful/boring to watch despite being a lot (in F1 terms) faster. So what do they do to bring back the excitement? I don't know!

[ilogikal1]

Yep, completely agree, and I have no idea how to fix the excitement issue either. Aside from regular rule overhauls forcing teams to design new chassis and solve the aero issues regularly, but then people (both in and out of the sport) constantly whinge about the amount of money being spent. 

 

As for Schumacher, regardless of how good a driver he was or not (which divides opinion at the best of times) there's absolutely no doubt that he had the best car at the time with Ferrari (granted not with Benetton though). I mean Ferrari did have to constantly cheat to be better, but still... 

[Ebized]