2011 F1 Thread

[Marlin]

Yeah ditto completely Harry.

I know they reckon it's hard to judge the length of the front end, but that wasn't even close to being an over/under manouver...... rooky shit, and it just seems his judgement might be clouded by massive pressure?

[hrd-hr30]

yeah there certainly was alot of expectation on Mercedes to deliver this weekend. And Schumacher's poor qualy (1.1sec behind Rosberg) after being so fast all through practice put him under extra pressure. Where did all thier pre-race pace evaporate to when the red lights went out?

[Galois]

Wow, turkeey was an interesting race, I enjoyed it. Quite busy though.

Schumacher really hacked it up! I have NFI what to make of that first incident. The squeeze move was OK and had the desired effect - made the other guy overshoot the apex. Surely he didn't just turn into his back wheel intentionally? The only thing that was ever going to do was damage his own wing. He must have been trying for the under and over move, but how does someone with that much experience get it that wrong? I was hoping for good things after his strong showing in practice too. Very dissapointed.

I was thinking the same thing when I saw it, but another angle made it look like more of a mistake. Though schumacher was the only one to make that mistake in the race.

I don't get schumacher, he must be a very proud person, the most successful person in f1. Sure some of that is because he had a killer team for a fair few years, but plenty of it is him as a driver (I don't think he's the best ever, nor that he was carried through by the team, he was a talented driver with a really focussed team. He did have to beat rubens (some of the time anyways), who according to frank williams is an amazing driver). Anyways, he's come back in to wrestle with midfielders and constantly get thrashed by his teammate, man he must be on some big money.

Btw above the qualifying on the onehd stream too, when it works. The signal was pretty shoddy signal a few times on tv too.

I'm sure I'm in good company here not wanting vettel to just walk away with the championship. It's boring, but even worse, only 6 drivers ever have one their first and second championships consecutively, the last being alonso and before him schuey. I just can't see vettel being on the same level as alonso, vettel wins easily from pole but has only won once when not in pole, when he qualified 3rd, had a good start and took webber in the first corner. He's not the clever overtaking machine alonso is (or can be), at least we haven't seen it from vettel yet.

Maybe drs was making it too easy, and it is a bit fake, but at least it gave people a chance to overtake back, which made things interesting (probably frustrating for the drivers though). Drs and kers are just bandaid fixes for the real problem, too much aero making air too turbulent and killing real racing.

As said above, free drs would be an improvement, if it didn't result in bad crashes and people hurt. Or maybe the teams get to pick multiple drs zones every track, that'd be very interesting to see teams do it differently, maybe being allowed x seconds of drs per lap.

One other thing, anyone notice how sometimes massa drives like such a hack, but there are a few tracks every year where he drives really really well, turkeey and brazil come to mind. He reminds everyone why he's driving for the top funded team.

Edited May 9, 2011 by Galois

[Marlin]

Do you not think the current aero package allows them to follow much closer and retain grip than in previous years? I do..... I think that's improved the racing as much as anything.

I'd like to see them retain both KERS and DRS, if only because it adds another dimension to the racing.

I was also heartened to hear that there's plenty of individuals and teams against the intro of SR20, oops sorry, 4 clyinder turbos.

[sav man]

I thought they were going to CA16's

[hrd-hr30]

lol - SR20 F1 would be awesome! but I think they're talking about 1400cc.

They definitely are able to follow closely even in high speed sections. I reckon there would be passing without DRS. Look at last year for example - it had plenty of action without all this shit and was a great championship battle.

This is not the Schumacher I know...

"But, I guess I was responsible myself to have the result that I had because with (Vitaly) Petrov I guess it was mostly my mistake what happened there.

"I need to analyse it, because it was a bit strange that suddenly we got together and I lost my front wing.

He never admitted mistakes before. He's also said "the joy is gone". I think he's about to call it quits again. Hopefully he can put in some decent performances to end on a better note.

Edited May 9, 2011 by hrd-hr30

[Marlin]

Well, I know they're talking about 1400cc, but I maintain it's make much better fiscal sense to simply develope an SR20 crate engine. They're only wanting 600hp, so that's easy, and quite reliably available. For about $8.50.

Instead, they're considering going down a multi-mega-million dollar developement road just to appease the greenies that the smaller teams are already saying they cannot afford.

Edited May 9, 2011 by Marlin

[Galois]

Do you not think the current aero package allows them to follow much closer and retain grip than in previous years? I do..... I think that's improved the racing as much as anything.

I'd like to see them retain both KERS and DRS, if only because it adds another dimension to the racing.

I was also heartened to hear that there's plenty of individuals and teams against the intro of SR20, oops sorry, 4 clyinder turbos.

Oh yeah, of course! It's a massive improvement, and I actually do like the button's that make them go faster (kers and drs). But they introduce these systems for overtaking without completely addressing the major factor, downforce. Looking at yesterday's race maybe giving them straight front and back wings and straight body panels wouldn't improve the number of overtakes, not in that race at least. Look at all the times last year when a 1-2 second faster car was held up significantly because they couldn't drive in the dirty air.

Obviously it affects some tracks more than others.

But maybe lowering the downforce would make the cars too much like gp2...

On the engine side, I read a couple of days ago that a separate company is starting to develop an engine for 2013.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/formula_one/13285976.stm

Edited May 9, 2011 by Galois

[gts-4 dreamer]

The drs does seem to remove the inability of faster cars to pass so rather than someone falling down the order from a mistake and getting stuck there, outright car speed will mean they can still get back. It's more of a benefit to having a faster car. The teams can pit more often, a good off set to the tyres needing more frequent changes. It did seem to artificially easy to passing but it does seem to have made it a much safer prospect to get past. Noticing allot less damage and accidents that last race. overall it gave me a feeling of wow bullshit but overall a much more exciting race. watching a bunch of cars circulate for 50 laps in a game of follow the leader was not as fun.

[N1GTR]

"Do you think Schumacher's problem is he doesn't know when to give up?"

"What, on his career?"

Loved that comment

[Marlin]

Yeah, it's seems even the most hard-core traditional fans still enjoy the overtaking that these 'new" systems bring.... it's a tough call, but I reckon they've got it pretty right.

I maintain that free use of DRS would be pretty epic

[N1GTR]

Free DRS use would be great, RBR would be even that much further in front

Not much talk of Pirelli this weekend, still find it amusing to see how much rubber builds up off the racing line by the end of the race

[iamhe77]

Schumacher really hacked it up! I have NFI what to make of that first incident. The squeeze move was OK and had the desired effect - made the other guy overshoot the apex. Surely he didn't just turn into his back wheel intentionally? The only thing that was ever going to do was damage his own wing. He must have been trying for the under and over move, but how does someone with that much experience get it that wrong? I was hoping for good things after his strong showing in practice too. Very dissapointed.

Misjudged puncture attempt?

Do you not think the current aero package allows them to follow much closer and retain grip than in previous years? I do..... I think that's improved the racing as much as anything.

I'd like to see them retain both KERS and DRS, if only because it adds another dimension to the racing.

I was also heartened to hear that there's plenty of individuals and teams against the intro of SR20, oops sorry, 4 clyinder turbos.

Wouldn't be against 4cyl turbo engines... as long as the power limit is considerably higher than 600hp... and aero is reduced/allow DRS anytime.

Could make for some fan-friendly catches and spins, not to mention show you the more talented drivers are!

As an aside, can someone puhleeeze look like challenging Vettel?

[Marlin]

Free DRS use would be great, RBR would be even that much further in front

Not much talk of Pirelli this weekend, still find it amusing to see how much rubber builds up off the racing line by the end of the race

ya reckon? I think the likes of Mercedes would have more to benefit.

[N1GTR]

ya reckon? I think the likes of Mercedes would have more to benefit.

Yeah well im thinking from this years results we can see Vettel gets out in front and pretty much stays there, so free DRS and he's going to add more top speed in all the straights, meaning the gap will just get wider to whoever's in second even though they can still use DRS in all the same spots if that makes sense

[Beer Baron]

anyone else marvel at the pit stops? most pit stops in a F1 race ever at 80! pretty crazy. and did you guys notice the marbels!! my god man. at the end of the race there was a thick black carpet of them all over the track.

webbo did a great job to hold 2nd in an 'interesting' race.

everything saying vettel has it in the bag I think is jumping the gun a bit. we are only at race 4 out of 20 races.... long way to go yet.

as far as the front wing goes I would say if the new wing was any better than the one it replaced they would have snatched webbers up for vettel in a heart beat. I think they let webber keep it as it offered no real advantage.

it's a bit sad to see schumacher like this. I had very mixed feelings about his return and they have been confirmed. it was a bad idea. he retired at the top of the game and should have stayed retired. it hasn't worked for anyone else and even a driver as good as he was can't pull it off.

[Marlin]

Yeah well im thinking from this years results we can see Vettel gets out in front and pretty much stays there, so free DRS and he's going to add more top speed in all the straights, meaning the gap will just get wider to whoever's in second even though they can still use DRS in all the same spots if that makes sense

ok, ok.... good point

[boiracer]

i liked the DRS. made for alot of close calls and fights into the last few corners. overall a good race. good driving from al, and not a SC anywhere.

[PHaT MR30]

How cool would it be if when the car with DRS engaged gets level with the car its passing, the car being passed can also engage DRS?? Imagine the dicing under brakes then!

[hrd-hr30]

i liked the DRS. made for alot of close calls and fights into the last few corners.

there was plenty of that last year too without the need for this fake/artificial passing. and not just for faster cars on slower cars, but also from teammates with equal cars. All this stuff is just so unnecessary!

Its like a game of AFL or basketball (as Ben suggested) where you just expect to score everytime you get anywhere near the goal. I don't like it. Takes the skill out of "making" a pass. Its not supposed to be easy to pass. And just because you have the faster car should not mean you automatically get to pass the guy in front of you. You're supposed to have to work for it. They've probably worked hard with their drive and strategy to get there and now its impossible to keep that hard won advantage. Its not motorsport. It just doesn't feel right to me.

Its the skill and difficulty of overtaking that makes it exciting. The automatically getting alongside someone if you're close to them does very little for me. Even leaving aside the past 2 races where its been alot more than just getting them alongside - its left the lead car all but defenceless. That's not motorSPORT.

would it be as popular if instead of drag reduction for the following car, they cut power/revs to the leading car? Then maybe more people would see it the way I do.