The 2022 Formula One Thread
- Thread starter Tony Lockhart
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tones
Tones deaf
I guess an analogy can be made with the 2009 Brawn double diffuser - it was the key to Jenson Button's world championship. A lot of the other teams thought it illegal, and by the time everyone else caught up, Button had a commanding lead. And of course that Brawn team morphed into the present Mercedes, so one could say that they then enjoyed the benefit of getting it right, the way Red Bull and Ferrari are now enjoying it.
Tony L
Administrator
That is kind of the point I’m trying to make. There was an opportunity to win by real lateral thinking and originality back then. Someone with a genuinely great idea could beat massive high-prestige companies like Ferrari. These days the rules are so absurdly rigid that no thinking outside the box would get through. The only real advance in recent decades to my eyes is safety, and I’d not reverse that a millimetre, but with that defined I’d love to see a situation where real creativity could thrive. What we have just seems crazy restrictive and authoritarian. X-Factor karaoke limitations whereas I want to see jazz!
tones
Tones deaf
Understood and agreed completely, but I think the scope for such originality is much less now than it was then, simply because of the increased technical sophistication and the tools available to utilise them to their fullest extent. To go further back, Jaguar's 1950s' Le Mans wins came about largely by adopting technologies from the aircraft industry, the disc brake and Malcolm Sayers' more aerodynamic C- and D-Types. And Colin Chapman's "simplify, then add lightness" philosophy came from the same background.
It seems a trend in all technological fields that big advances are initially possible, and, as time goes on, the ensuing technological arms race ensures that the scope for such advances becomes steadily smaller, until the fight is over tiny increments of enhanced performance.
Having said all that, I think your original inclination is correct - the only way out of the trap is to have an entirely new rule book.
matthewr
spɹɐʍʞɔɐq spɹoɔǝɹ ɹnoʎ sʎɐld
The problem with this is that you would very often see cars with such an advantage that in many years the drivers would be irrelevant. F1 is about trying to balance the close, competitive racing of spec series verses the fact that it's meant to be a competition of car + driver vs car + driver and the car part is kind of what makes it (almost) unique as a racing series.
Also the big rules changes like this year's only happen about once a decade and then quickly settle down in years 2 and 3. You probably don't want to organise the sport around once in a decade events.
matthewr
spɹɐʍʞɔɐq spɹoɔǝɹ ɹnoʎ sʎɐld
As to this year, I would change the rules if it's unsafe or unhealthy for the drivers which has to be the priority. Personally I would change the rules to add a significant weight penalty to be added if the driver is a "massive twat". I will make myself available for the FIA to determine to whom this might apply.
Tony Lockhart
Avoiding Stress, at Every Opportunity
Many drivers would become even more plastic just to avoid your massive-twat ballast!
cutting42
Arrived at B4 Hacker Ergo
Maybe but they are also the team that has won the WCC for the last 4.5 million years and Toto, HAM and RUS are always getting asked about how sh*t their car is so it is somewhat self generating. If all we hear is Merc then it surely seems like it is mostly Merc. If you read into the F1 press in more than a cursory manner you will find equally vehement comments by most teams including RB and Ferrari drivers early on before they were possibly shut up by their teams.
canonman
pfm Member
Red bull gives you whines
flutteringwow
She called me baby, like an old romantic
Ah the days when Red Bull would whine over innovation and try to get the rule changed..
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/formula...official-protest-mercedes-revolutionary-dual/
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/formula...official-protest-mercedes-revolutionary-dual/
flutteringwow
She called me baby, like an old romantic
Verstappen would have to drive a tank but Id be concerned as the ability for him to then fire shells.
palindrome
Thru a hedge, backwards and forwards.
No need for a tank and firing of shells. Verstappen saw no problem parking his car on the head of Hamilton, walking away with barely a glance to see if Hamilton was still alive. No doubt keen to return to the RB garage to celebrate with Little Jack by sharing high fives and a tin of carbonated puke.
John
John
Tony Lockhart
Avoiding Stress, at Every Opportunity
flutteringwow
She called me baby, like an old romantic
Tony Lockhart
Avoiding Stress, at Every Opportunity
I remember Jackie Stewart criticising other drivers for their appearance, hinting it wasn’t professional. As much as I admired his driving and racing skills, and of course his dedication to safety on the track and the road, his commercial awareness didn’t sit well with me. Almost every time he spoke you could tell it was with his sponsors in mind. James Hunt must have given him nightmares!
Does anyone else usually switch off right after the flag or prize giving? I can’t stand the post-mortem, the creepy interviews etc. And I usually mute the telly when they play the driver to team radio messages of the winner. I’d rather they chatted to a mechanic from a team that finished just outside the points.
Does anyone else usually switch off right after the flag or prize giving? I can’t stand the post-mortem, the creepy interviews etc. And I usually mute the telly when they play the driver to team radio messages of the winner. I’d rather they chatted to a mechanic from a team that finished just outside the points.
flutteringwow
She called me baby, like an old romantic
I sometimes watch them if its been an interesting race but as you say its so much ‘toe the line’ waffle it irritates me somewhat.
I enjoy the more semiotic displays like coloured hub caps and messages on t shirts to use F1 as a platform for the better good, Seb has really gone up in my ratings since he stop caring about the faculty!
I’d love to hear more dialogue from the pitlane though not just the main guys.
LecsonQuad
pfm Member
I record the highlights so I can fast forward through all the pre race guff then watch the racing and turn off after the chequered flag. Even BTCC has too much of Louise Goodman pissing off drivers on the grid chatting to them whilst they get ready to race.
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