Shouting at the F1 Qualifying...

[Scottd]

I'd take the contrary view:

The more and more things have been banned and/or restricted, the less 'real' racing there has been. If you could imagine a 2000hp turbo car, active suspension car with wings tied to the suspension , full ground effect etc.... I'd bet that the racing would be a lot more interesting. IMO, the restrictions on the cars have left to be evolved; the same basic car is honed, re-honed and worked over again for every new season as the rules are no longer open enough to encourace genuinely new innovatons. When was the last big innovation that was actually allowed to stand more than a few races that significantly moved the cars on? (electronics excepted perhaps, but as the FIA admitted they don't know all of what happening, and thus allowed TC, how are we to know?) Engine's lasting more than one race have compounded this further as teams look to save engines for the next weekend. As far ago as 1984 (I was 2, so it's what I've read) Chapman complained that the sport was no longer the fertile breeding ground of new ideas it had been when he started, mostly due to over regulation on the technical side. IIRC this was when his Type 88 twin chassis car was banned. Anyway it's my opinion the stagnation encouraged by the regulations coupled with the massive advances in aerodynamics have left the cars so close, yet unable to actually race. Fitting smaller wings wouldn't actually change that much.

I completely agree with you on the one hand. But by around the early 80's the 1.5 litre F1 engines were giving about 1,500bhp. Add to that Chapman / British innovativeness and today we'd have 6,000bhp cars with 8 wheels and huge fans sucking the cars to the ground on the corners. It'd be like Skaletrix, lap times of 3 seconds and... oops, he's gone off, and.... dead. Off course that's why F1 drivers originally earned so much (shorty life expectancy) but it not really what we want to see these days. I guess.

Innovations still come through from F1, mostly things us S1 Lotus owners are exempt from, like ABS, Carbon fibre body work, traction control etc etc

[mac]

I watched a programe on Sky travel (of all places) about the Monaco GP. Was quite astounded by the differing opinions of Jackie Stewart & Stirling Moss.

As we all know Jackie is one of the reasons modern F1 is so safe and mentioned the safety aspect quite a few times in the programme - Moss said that he wouldn't like to race now as there's no danger and that's what it was all about for him - "where's the thrill when you know that whatever happens you'll probably walk out" (or word to that effect)

Aero is a good thing, it's putting the speeds up to where they need to be for the "pinacle" of motorsport - but when they get so finely tuned that you can drive within .7 of a second behind the car in front then they have removed the racing element from motorsport with most of the passes being made in the pits and using "track position". I used to remember drivers sitting on the gearbox of the car in front - all that happened was they had a little more understeer but then a good driver can compensate for that.


Mac