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The 2017 F1 Thread

tyefighter said:
It'll be nice to see Jenson back but Alonso is gonna be bored sh1tless going around in circles for 500 miles
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I am always dismayed by the ignorance of professed motorsport fans who are so dismissive of oval racing. Oval Racing is arguably more difficult than circuit racing -- if you want to really learn throttle control go to an oval -- and definitely requires more balls.
 
matthewr said:
I am always dismayed by the ignorance of professed motorsport fans who are so dismissive of oval racing. Oval Racing is arguably more difficult than circuit racing -- if you want to really learn throttle control go to an oval -- and definitely requires more balls.
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Agreed. Those cars are permanently at the limit, and at some ovals they're permanently sliding. I'd love to go to a few races, and NASCAR. I bet they're really impressive events, as only America seems to put on.
 
matthewr said:
I am always dismayed by the ignorance of professed motorsport fans who are so dismissive of oval racing. Oval Racing is arguably more difficult than circuit racing -- if you want to really learn throttle control go to an oval -- and definitely requires more balls.
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Matthew and Tony are spot on. Having worked with some of the best oval drivers in the world and some of the best F1 drivers I can say that the skillsets required are quite different. Doesn't mean drivers can't swap and be brilliant at both, but they do need to drive differently and so you cannot infer that they can just swap and be brilliant at both.

Oval racing requires a car set-up that allows the driver to drive the car on a knife edge, for much of the lap, with very subtle changes occurring around the lap that have to be dealt with.

Whereas an F1 car spends most of it laps engine power limited with big transients for each turn and a vehicle set-up that is dominated by the corner entry balance and stability.
 
Tony Lockhart said:
Agreed. Those cars are permanently at the limit, and at some ovals they're permanently sliding. I'd love to go to a few races, and NASCAR. I bet they're really impressive events, as only America seems to put on.
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I wasn't sure that I would really like to see a NASCAR event, but I would strongly recommend going to see one having been to a few.

Seeing 40 cars race together around a banked oval is very impressive (the sound and the visuals).

Pitstops are very different from F1, with very high caliber athletes or military people conducting the physical work of changing the tires.
 
I visited Bristol to see NASCAR a few years back and it was a great experience. The racing itself is fun to watch in a gladiatorial manner, not subtle but action packed certainly. The effort the teams make to engage the fans is cool and the fans themselves are something else. I walked through a camp site around 6 am to get to the track from my parking spot and everyone was up, drinking beer and cooking on grills already.

I would love to watch cars on a superspeedway sometime.
 
Hi Gareth,

I haven't been to see the race at Bristol, but am told that it is one of the classic NASCAR races to watch.

A small amphitheater with the fans, the teams, the cars and the drivers really close together. Race team attendees talk of the Bristol hangover due to the exhaust fumes hanging around in the amphitheater as there is little wind to clear the air.

Ian
 
Rodrat said:
Not my cup of tea. Perhaps a little more entertaining than watching paint dry but not by much. :)
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I was fortunate enough to go to last year's Indy 500 (the 100th running of it) and can say it ranked well up in my list of all-time sporting events I've attended - and this includes watching Silverstone '87 from Stowe grandstand and Montreal 2011 (Button's win in the wet). In terms of spectacle, close racing, the teams engaging with the fans, facilities, friendliness, and the atmosphere on the campsites it was excellent, and certainly changed a few prejudices about Indycar I had previously harboured.

What struck me the most was the complete absence of high-viz clad stewards or "security" compared to European sporting events, which seem to be blighted by hordes of them.
 
Yep, Indy 500 is definitely worth a visit, fantastic experience. The museum and track tour is worth the effort as well if you find yourself in the area.
 
At least the lack of power won't matter as much. A decent qually session could work wonders. But I'm not going to get my hopes up too high.
 
Famous last words (or, at the very least, my wishful thinking): "McLaren's Alonso starts to challenge the Williams cars from Spain onwards and even manage to get a podium or two towards the end of the season"
 
Lovely idea, but unless Honda can find another 50 horsepower and reliability from somewhere it's never going to happen, sadly.

As usual, there are four or five exceptional drivers but only two or three plum drives. Hamilton's 'strange' decision to move to Mercedes turned out to be inspired. Alonso's to McLaren could have been but is a disaster. By the time they recover he'll probably be trying to win Le Mans, which is also about being in the right team at the right time. Whatever his future achievements he's already a double world champion and a sportsman who doesn't have to drive his opposition off the track in order to beat them.

Indianapolis will be interesting, and for Jensen's sake let's all pray for rain in Monaco.
 
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