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2016 Formula 1 Season

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Point taken Tony but at least Le mans and the GT series have classes for teams to fight over.

The LMP's are pretty evenly matched as are the GT's.
 
F1 is about teams, drivers, money, politics, race tactics by drivers and teams, driver and employee changes, people being sacked, a few crashes, the rich and famous not to mention the odd falling out or an exchange of very heated opinions and of course a favourite driver or country that one prefers to support.

I don't see any other threads on PFM about any other form of motor sport, so F1 must being doing something right to be able to have as much debate on here as it does.
 
F1 is about teams, drivers, money, politics, race tactics by drivers and teams, driver and employee changes, people being sacked, a few crashes, the rich and famous not to mention the odd falling out or an exchange of very heated opinions and of course a favourite driver or country that one prefers to support.

I don't see any other threads on PFM about any other form of motor sport, so F1 must being doing something right to be able to have as much debate on here as it does.

Yes, I reckon Boss GP, Caterham R400's and historic Touring Car racing would not create a huge thread like this:D, that's not to say they are not incredible to watch. Seeing 15 Caterhams scrapping for the top 3 places lap after lap is truly a sight worth visiting a circuit to see.

As an aside, probably my must watch live TV motorsport is the support package for the BTCC, the Juniors in the Ginettas is fantastic and they could teach the BTCC guys a thing or 2 about clean but truly skilful overtakes.
 
F1 is about teams, drivers, money, politics, race tactics by drivers and teams, driver and employee changes, people being sacked, a few crashes, the rich and famous not to mention the odd falling out or an exchange of very heated opinions and of course a favourite driver or country that one prefers to support.

I don't see any other threads on PFM about any other form of motor sport, so F1 must being doing something right to be able to have as much debate on here as it does.

Pretty much spot on.

IMHO, of course. ;)
 
If you take a look at the grids through the whole history of F1, they're littered with long forgotten teams. It's just the way it is.

Can you imagine how tough the BTCC is? And that's with all manner of attempts to make it "affordable". Most teams spend hundreds of thousands and watch the same few drivers win each year. Le Mans? The same. When did a good amateur last win MotoGP and have a shot at the championship?

F1 is also littered with periods where public interest was seriously limited and there was no live coverage whatsoever Tony isn't it?

It's a circus now. A show. The show must be good to retain the interest of the casual follower. The motor sport fan is somewhat incidental I would have thought to the viability of the sport.

It's been like that since the really big money came into the sport and since the FISA/FOCA wars and Bernie's takeover.

When I started watching in the early seventies, the British teams were mostly run out of units on trading estates. Owners got enough cash to buy a few DFV's, a Hewland gearbox or three, to pay some mechanics and a driver and they went racing. Teams like Hesketh surprised the establishment. You can't really see Zaandvort 1975 happening again can you?



Now if the good times are to continue and the gravy train to keep rolling then I would suggest massaging of the rules is essential. Having been a life long fan of the sport I've lost faith in the authenticity of the product I'm afraid. I watch now with the belief that what I am watching is, to a degree, scripted anyway. To do so in the open, but to allow unfettered racing over a race weekend, just might restore my faith. I doubt that will be a cause for concern however until there are no more revenue streams to open and the existing ones have clammed up.
 
They've adapted pretty well to changes in rules and culture on sponsorship. Even in the depths of recession the money rolled in.
 
Out of interest. What are the collective views on starting races if it's raining behind the safety car?

No perfect solution I suppose. I'd prefer a restart from the grid, not a rolling restart, but clutches might not like it. And I don't like to see a hard won lead eroded just for the show.
 
Problem is you have the three tiers of performers at the moments, Red Bull, Merc and Ferrrari fighting for the top 6 grid slots, 5 midfield teams and a couple of stragglers, although the stragglers are now beginning to merge with the mid table runners.

The difference in performance from top to bottom is not far away from the Turbo v N/A cars of the late eighties who ran their own races and pissed a lot of fans off.

The grid is far closer than at any time that I worked in F1. No need for the 107% rule with the teams so close.

It's sad that in 2010 the budget cap was overturned. Litespeed who saw the writing on the wall had their entry taken over by Maylasia/Lotus Racing/Team Lotus/Caterham.

The budget cap was always going to fail as there was no penalty for ignoring it.

They tooled up with Mike Gascoyne and a host of other well respected F1 personnel and had a queue of top drivers wanting the seat.
They even attracted top names from McLaren too. I was gutted to see them 5 seconds off the pace year upon year with no real steps forward

They tooled up with the wrong people I am afraid. It takes a couple of years with very good people to develop the tools and processes required to deliver vehicle performance at the rate required to move up the grid. It then requires a couple of years to use those tools and processes to actually move up the grid.

My mates lad worked for XTrack so by default Team Lotus and had first hand experience of just how one sided things were as he travelled the circuits with them. Lotus/Caterham were no mugs but simply financially out of their depth. Fernandes took flack but very little he could do.

I'm still amazed they get grids of 20 if things are the same as they were 3 years ago.

Fernandez and the leadership team were fully responsible, as they took the wrong path to deliver a car that could compete.
 
What was your roll in the Team's you worked for Ian out of interest?

A good few people in F1 that I know thought Team Lotus would hit the ground running, a crying shame they didn't for all concerned with them.

In hindsight you could be right that they chose the wrong people, as you can't argue against results as some people like to.
 
Leading the development of tools and processes to direct vehicle performance development along with the application of these tools.

I worked in F1 for 25 years and knew noone who thought that team Lotus would hit the ground running. In the teams I have worked at there are always "the grass is greener" types who think that new teams will come up some clever ideas and do well because of the people going there and starting from scratch. But noone even voiced those concerns.

Caterham made some very bad technical decisions that I am aware of, that very few would have any idea about, even in the team, with those decisions having a very big impact on the performance of the car.
 
I worked in F1 for 25 years and knew noone who thought that team Lotus would hit the ground running. /QUOTE]

Seems like I was receiving biased and maybe hopeful opinions then from the good lads I knew who worked there:D

I did not know or speak to anyone from anywhere else in the industry.
 
Whatever you say, Matthew.

Well you said that "If the NFL was a successful model for motorsport competition (with the emphasis on sport) then I'm sure NASCAR and Indycar would be the 'pinnacle of motorsport'. But the NFL and Nascar are only related in as much as they are both American so you are making a very obvious and simple logic error.

Hardly. The NFL model is all about protecting the interests of the franchise holders.

Yes to an extent. But your point obviously completely ignores both my point and the wider picture.

There is no penalty for failure at all.

Other than not winning which is kind of the point of sport.
 
I don't see any other threads on PFM about any other form of motor sport, so F1 must being doing something right to be able to have as much debate on here as it does.

Long threads more often than not indicate contrary or equivocal views. There is no long thread when people agree.

So one might equally infer that F1 is getting something wrong.
 
To be fair, the technology and brain power on display in F1 these days is inspirational.

I imagine it's a fine balance trying to allow such people the freedom to find their work rewarding whilst at the same time offering up a spectacle that appeals to an audience increasingly reared on dumbed down TV and short term thrill seeking.
 
Long threads more often than not indicate contrary or equivocal views. There is no long thread when people agree.

So one might equally infer that F1 is getting something wrong.

Equally you could infer that it just divides opinion. I don't think it is essentially wrong, it takes paths I don't always agree with and it is run by a character who's main technique is to divide and conquer.

I think that is what makes it such a great topic, there is always some ridiculous Bernie ism to deal with, a driver saying or doing something arrogant/stupid/selfishly .

Love F1 :D
 
The fact that this thread is running after the end of the season is testament to what F1 is today; as a sport it captures people's interest. It just takes a deluge of rain to turn it in to the type of motor racing I like to see:)
 
But the NFL and Nascar are only related in as much as they are both American so you are making a very obvious and simple logic error.
NASCAR is run primarily as entertainment like the NFL. The main aim is to sell beer and get close competition like the NFL. You can accentuate the differences if you wish, but if NFL-style manipulation could make NASCAR 'better', they are doing it or have tried it I'm sure.

NASCAR, the NFL and baseball are very popular in the US, but are largely ignored in the rest of the world. There's probably a reason for that.
 
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