How's the F1 gonna pan out?

[Guest]

Who do you think is going to be champ this weekend then. Obviously we want Hamilton to win but can a rookie really win it? It's never been done before. But this boy is some sort of machine. How many titles to ShoeMaker win? Seven? Pah!! That's nothing to Lewis.
But at 14/1 Raikonnen is good money. Well behind in the points but i can easily see Alonso getting too frustrated at the teams "favouritism" towards Hamilton and hitting the anchors a bit late and taking the pair of them out, handing the title to Mr.Personality.



COME ON LEWIS!!!!

 

[RC18B 911 turbo]

I want Raikkonen to win I'm fed up with everyone going on about the Mclaren/Alonso/Hamilton thing and how such and such has done this, that or the other it's got extremly tedious now.

 

[juliany27]

I hate to be a pedant, but at the first Grand Prix season everyone was a rookie since no-one had won the championship before [:-] .

Back to collecting my anorak as I get ready for the game at the Emirates [8|].

Hope Lewis, Arsenal and England win this weekend [] [] []

 

[locodude]

Just can't get my head round F1. It's not really racing is it? For the longest time now (and I know I'm going to sound like a stereotypical hater of F1) it's been a procession, not a race. Where's the racing. It may as well be run like a time trial or hill climb against the clock. I think that people are just caught up in all the razamataz and hype. There's some wonderful racing out there to watch and it's televised every weekend, only it's on two wheels not four. Moto GP, World and British Superbikes, and the world superbike champ is a brit and for the second time! I do watch some car racing, I even make the annual pilgrimage to Le Mans. Just my two-penneth.[]

 

[sawood12]

It is racing, however it is not wheel to wheel racing. It has become more of a thinking mans motorsport. Thanks to the sensitivity of the cars brought about by the daft tyre regs and their reliance on aerodynamics means that they can't afford to get too close to eachother so overtaking is almost ruled out. The overtaking now happens through pitstop strategy which is kicked off at qualifying due to the park ferme rules.

This type of racing is what Schumacer excelled at as he was always able to step his pace up, so he'd put in several lighting laps on the run up to his pitstop that no-one else could match, put in an outlap that was a league above everyone else and would find himself jumping up a couple of positions.

This is part of the reason why Hamilton is so exciting to watch. Because he is only a handfull of years since he was battling wheel to wheel in karts he is still very much tuned into racing wheel to wheel while the old guard have had several years in F1 to have lost touch with that mentality. This is why Hamilton is so good at the starts where he feels at home surrounded by lots of cars. The others perhaps play it a bit safe and aim to survive the first corner and lap rather than see it as an opportunity to pick up a few places.

F1 only needs to make 3 major changes to bring it back to the gool old wheel to wheel fighting days - go back to big fat slick tyres, limit aerodynamic downforce (i'd say a single wing at the front, a single slotted diffuser at the rear and no daft little appendages in between), and get rid of fuel stops - go back to carrying enough fuel for the whole race. As a secondry measure I'd even go so far to go back to steel brakes as well to increase braking times to maximise overtaking opportunities.

However with all the teams having recently invested millions in wind tunnels and employing the cream of the crop aerodynamicists I can't imagine that happening any time soon.

As far as Hamiltons chances - I don't think he'll win the race but he is perfectly capable of winning the championship. COME ON!!!!

 

[RC18B 911 turbo]

I also think that F1 is just a high speed procession, I was really quite into last year, sort of anyway, but now all this hype about Lewis Hamilton has really started to get on my nerves, that and the off track disputes between Hamilton and Alonso also the Ferrari and Mclaren thing all boring and some of it very childish too.

I think that Hamilton is not much more skilled than any of the other rookies that joined this season, he just had the better car which in the end is what it mostly all boils down to, if you have the best car you're gonna win, driver skill is just the difference between whether you'll beat your team mate or not, the fact that barely any overtaking happens just makes for tedious watching now.

I've found that the best motorsports to watch is anything on 2 wheels which sadly I've missed out on as I either forgot it was on or had other things to do. But on 4 wheels it has to be any kind of endurance racing like GT, ALMS, and the LMS plenty of overtaking and things catching fire too.

 

[locodude]

ORIGINAL: RC18B 911 turbo
I've found that the best motorsports to watch is anything on 2 wheels which sadly I've missed out on as I either forgot it was on or had other things to do. But on 4 wheels it has to be any kind of endurance racing like GT, ALMS, and the LMS plenty of overtaking and things catching fire too.

A man after my own heart, here here. Best of luck to Lewis tho' but I shall be watching the recording of the Moto GP from Sepang (Malasia)

 

[sawood12]

Not sure about the argument about being in the best car. Schumacer was only in the best car for 3 maybe 4 of his 7 world champoinships and you could argue Alonso took his two world champoinships in the second best car on the grid - maybe even the third best. Also look where Renault are now - their car cannot be that much worse than the car Alonso won in last year. Also the Ferrari is currently the best car on the grid right now. It is certainly the fastest in terms of straight line speed. No, I firmly believe it is all about the driver executing the team pit stop strategy. I'm beginning to think that Hamilton is the real deal. You cannot get away from his consistency, and he hasn't had it all his own way - he's made up positions on the first bend on the first lap. That is just about as exciting motorsport gets no matter how many wheels you're on. If it wasn't for his immaturity and getting embroiled in the scrap with Raikonnen at Japan which ultimately lead to him running his tyres too far then him picking up the championship tomorrow would almost be a certainty.

Motorbike races are too short - they're more like sprints. It's not exactly the best test of a rider. Riding fast over such a short time is nothing compared to stepping the pace up after an hour and a half.

F1 is the most exciting it has been for the last four or five years. for the first time in a long time we have at least three people in contention - possibly four if you count Massa. Next year when Alonso spits his dummy out and scuttles back to Renault then the we'll have the three contenders all driving for three different teams.

 

[Neil Haughey]

Who can remember seeing Nige on Top Gear? ISTR him wiping the floor with the younger F1 drivers in a shopping trolley of a car. 1.7s or whatever it was is an amazing gap to put on what are supposedly some of the top drivers at the mo.

IMHO ppl under-estimate the importance of the driver if the driver was sooo unimportant then why do the top teams offer such massive salary packages to get the best guy? The point about Shumacher is important not to forget. Murray W said he was the most complete driver ever, certainly he knew how to develop the car and team around him like nobody before or since.

Still can't believe what it has been like this year with Lewis, what a talent.

I just hope it doesn't end up like all those years ago when Nige looked all set and his tyre blew out! Fingers toes everything crossed.

 

[Guest]

Good post []

I much prefer a 'marathon' race over a 'sprint'. Take Touring cars for example, They do indeed have some great races but as soon as things start to get exciting, they're on the last lap and it's over!! And then they'll have another burst and then another. Just have one big race chaps.
F1 has been tedious and monotonous recently, but this season has been incredible. I casually watch a lot of motorsport but i make a point of watching F1. But i do wish they would take some of the technology away and although i completely understand why, i also wish it wasn't soooo safety concious.

 

[Hilux]

I also think that F1 is just a high speed procession

You`ve said it in a nutshell. What a boring spectacle it is. I`d rather watch snooker [][][]

How can you possibly get excited by it. Look at Monaco, unless you make a mistake or suffer mech failure you will not lose if in the lead.

I watched it for years in the good old days. I watch BTCC if its on and motorbikes, le mans series and rallying now.

 

[RC18B 911 turbo]

I haven't watched much racing this year was trying to think of something to watch other that F1 and I think that the best race I've seen so far was the last world GT in whereever it was where there was a Maserati nudging the back of an Aston for a couple of laps near the start then when it got past started to pull away and at the end after a lot of overtaking a Corvette won and a Porsche won the GT2 class (always a good thing)

 

[Diver944]

Just a reminder please not to post any results on here as there may be people who miss it live for whatever reason and wouldn't want it spoiled by seeing the result in a 944 forum []

 

[sawood12]

ORIGINAL: Hilux

I also think that F1 is just a high speed procession

You`ve said it in a nutshell. What a boring spectacle it is. I`d rather watch snooker [][][]

How can you possibly get excited by it. Look at Monaco, unless you make a mistake or suffer mech failure you will not lose if in the lead.

I watched it for years in the good old days. I watch BTCC if its on and motorbikes, le mans series and rallying now.

You've hit my bugbear there, Monaco. What a farce. That is a procession and should be struck off the championship. Fair enough make it into some sort of motor racing spectale like Goodwood, but it's not racing. It really annoys me when Bernie continually puts under threat the best tracks ever devised like Silverstone and Spa that consistently deliver the best races season after season, and yet Monaco seems to always escape being under the spotlight. I smell a few underhand bribes there!

 

[xenon]

ORIGINAL: sawood12

F1 only needs to make 3 major changes to bring it back to the gool old wheel to wheel fighting days - go back to big fat slick tyres, limit aerodynamic downforce (i'd say a single wing at the front, a single slotted diffuser at the rear and no daft little appendages in between), and get rid of fuel stops - go back to carrying enough fuel for the whole race. As a secondry measure I'd even go so far to go back to steel brakes as well to increase braking times to maximise overtaking opportunities.

Agree with that but most of all remove the driver aids. I want to see the skill of the driver, not the team's software engineer. They should be steering on the throttle, not keeping it mashed to the floor with the T/C flashing all the time. Likewise with ABS etc. Let the driver drive the car; if he's on the power too early and has to opposite lock it, it'll be like the good old days in the late 70s thru mid 80s.