The Official 2010 F1 Thread!

Oh dear i do hope it gets better than that i have my doubts it it will as removing re fueling i think has just killed F1 stone dead.

That must rate as one of the most boring GP's in recent years, i was seriously looking forward to it being a new era with Shuey back and lots of new rules etc, i think F1's gone and shot itself in the foot.

I have been following F1 for decades, but this first race of the 2010 season has to be one of the most dull races I have ever seen. I gave up after about 15 minutes came back and watched the last 5 laps. Looks like Sunday afternoons will be free to do something else for a while. The best bit was Massa thanking everyone for their support during his recovery. The FIA need to act quickly, as racing snails is more exciting and wont take so long either. If I was Mic Fleetwood I would be asking the BBC to use another theme tune until the FIA pull their over paid fingers out of their gold plated arses.

When they said last year that they were removing refuelling, I remembered how they had reintroduced refuelling in the early 90's because then, having spent a few years with a refuelling ban, the sport was getting lots of flack because it was soooo boring.

 

It seems nothing has changed in that respect.

 

Oh well, ALMS starts next week with the 12 hours of Sebring. After this finish on the last race of 2009 with all the controversy between the Flying Lizard Porsche and the GT2 Corvette, (Watch the last corner incident) it could be an interesting season!

 

9ppCBCDtPTI

Any more news on the outcome

They banned refuelling because they were all winning races on the pit strategy, at least this way they have to overtake to gain places, or otherwise be better with fuel and tyres.

I just want them to remove all the regs and limits on cars, no rev limits and let them do any engine they want, and fully adjustable wings and venturi undertrays!!!! They would be so damn fast and exciting it'd be excellent to watch.

What was the out come of that?

Both drivers were given suspended bans I believe. If either driver gets involved in any dodgy stuff during the first two or three races of 2010, they'll have to serve the ban.

How they can let someone away with driving into another car and flipping it around like that is beyond me.

At least it was exciting though! There's another video of it on YouTube of the final 10th mins of the race that will really give you a feel for just how exciting the end of the race was.

I agree F1 needs to go back to the drawing board if they want to make the racing more interesting.

Looks like most people on the BBC 606 discussion think it was crap as well, apart from a few die hards ofcourse who's comments are hilarious.

Heres one of the last on there.

"The drivers did very well to look after their cars!! this is the first time they have had to drive their cars for two hours absolutely pushing them selves to the max and the cars especially not being aloud to re fuel!!! if u dont like it don't watch it!!! well done to lewis he pushed that car today n no doubt he be pushing himself more on the next race!! well done to u all!!! "

Pmsl

Not the best advert today - and not the best track to have at the opening race.

Tyres need to be significantly softer so they wear out quicker.

One of the most boring races Ive ever watched

I am an F1 fan for the last 10 years. I have been eagerly waiting for the first race of this season for the last 5 months. I am very very disappointed with today's race. In all honesty F1 is not racing any more! When is conserving tyres and driving economically called racing? No wheel to wheel action, this year none of the cars break any previously set records due to the stupid rules like no refuelling, fixed no of engines for the whole season (tho the race calendar increased by two GPs), no testing during the season and finally no KERS (tho some of the teams spent enormously last year to develop the system). It is more like a parade of cars 49 times rounds the track. Everybody (or atleast the top 10 cars) have the same strategy, qualify and start on soft compound and then use the hard compound to last until the end. Why would anybody even pay to watch this rubbish?

I would soon be sticking/switcing to WRC and Moto GP which are way more exciting to watch than F1 unless somebody really takes the leadership and scraps the new rules and make F1 more exciting. Bye Bye F1.

Seems some teams are already discussing taking to the FIA a rule of at least 2 pitstops per race.

Also seems Hamilton 'sacked' his father from managing him rather than parting ways more mutually.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/formulaone/article-1257772/Lewis-Hamilton-Why-I-sack-father-Anthony.html

They banned refuelling because they were all winning races on the pit strategy, at least this way they have to overtake to gain places, or otherwise be better with fuel and tyres.

I thought re fueling was stopped because of the close calls with someone getting seriously hurt and nothing to do with winning races in the pits.

Hamilton only got past Rosberg because they had to hold him in the pits because of the new release rule so !

I shall watch the next race but can't see it being any better, i understand the need to keep the budgets down to get other teams involved but its now more like an endurance race than a 2 hour dash to the flag.

IIRC it was more of a cost cutting measure.

It meant you could reduce the number of people involved in the pit-stop, as well as reducing the costs of buying the equipment and flying it around the world.

Brilliant idea, except we still need a rig to fill the cars up (not the same as the old rig), and that rig still needs to be flown around the world.

Oh yeah, we've also got a couple of old style rigs now kicking around that aren't doing anything.

Oh there's also the fact that we've spent a great deal of time and money researching how to get a larger fuel tank into the car with a minimal performance cost.

Maybe some could consider it a bit of an own goal...

I say limit the amount of downforce the cars can make (put a 1000Kg weight in the car and it must touch the ground). Development would then focus more on drag reduction and improving the downforce loss when following the car ahead which will lead to closer racing.

My conclusion f1 has died as what we once knew it as, and been replaced with some new form of endurance style race.

My conclusion f1 has died as what we once knew it as, and been replaced with some new form of endurance style race.

The biggest endurance is trying to sit there for 2 hours watching it.

I used to love F1 but basicly the rule changes to keep costs down have taken away the whole point of F1's exsistance.

I cant believe how much of a disappointment it was going to be, I turned the tv on to see a 49 lap race. And then to see the cars pacing around and dropping like flies. I heard a rumour that the Ferrari's had larger tanks than the other cars is this true?

I must say, it was pretty damn boring.

I heard a rumour that the Ferrari's had larger tanks than the other cars is this true?

Quite possibly. Depends on what the fuel consumption of the Fezza is like compared to everyone else.

You can choose to make the fuel size whatever you like, but it's got to last the entire race, so those with low fuel consumption can carry less fuel and hence have smaller tanks.

It's nothing like the early 90s or the old 80s racing.

Bring back turbos?

I say limit the amount of downforce the cars can make (put a 1000Kg weight in the car and it must touch the ground). Development would then focus more on drag reduction and improving the downforce loss when following the car ahead which will lead to closer racing.

Good idea!

What's wrong with swapping previous race standings for the start of the next race? You could change the points around even more so the top 15 get points, then you'd have some drivers slowing down so they're at the front for the next race, some just finishing in the middle every race and hoping to even out a win, but the best would always be fighting from the back to get to the front.

Also, what's wrong with removing some of the rule limitations, add some variability into it again and make it the best of everything once more. Teams with different engines and adjustable wings and stuff would add a massive variation in performance between teams, even if you end up with teams that are being lapped 5 times it'd be much more exciting to watch!

Quite possibly. Depends on what the fuel consumption of the Fezza is like compared to everyone else.

You can choose to make the fuel size whatever you like, but it's got to last the entire race, so those with low fuel consumption can carry less fuel and hence have smaller tanks.

Ahh right, so its all about track research then. The more data they have the more likely they are to cruise around and take the win lol.

I reckon...

Points for qualifying...

reverse the Grid for race.

Same points for both sessions. So there is a greater reward for trying to be fast on the 1 lap as its 1 lap for 25 points, meaning faster cars will be at the back for the race.

Then in the race no one has anything to lose by pushing to the front. Guaranteed overtaking and the fastest get the highest rewards. first 20 odd laps be manic!

Sort of like BTCC 3rd race of the day...no rules lol

Drivers would probably say its dangerous or something to have slower cars in front!

Make the tyres 3-4 grades softer, minimum of 2 stops per race. Bring back a Qualy only tyre and a very slightly harder race tyre. Job done.

It wasn't the most exciting yesterday was it. Didn't help that the producer had no idea what he was doing (there were 19 passes yesterday, how many did we see?), the commentators were watching what the producer was doing, and not the live timing (one of them should have been commentating on that!), the stats on the TV were MASSIVELY lacking, and the track had an idiotic redesign that also ruined GP2.

Limit the cars downforce (they need more mechanical grip and less aerodynamic), remove the stupid engine limitations (Massa had to start shortshifting half way through the race), remove the enforced pitspots (let the teams choose), remove the refuelling ban (let the teams choose), and remove the idiotic tyre rules (let teams choose their compounds they want to use, and give them all fresh rubber at the start of a race!). Oh and get a set producer with some talent, and some commentators with a clue. We'd have a race then!

That was so dull I didn't bother to watch it as I could tell from the practice and quali it was going to be a giant yawn.

I don't know if they could have ballsed it up much more than this.

Ban the diffuser slots immediately (the ones that allow for a DD). Only use the super softs all year (no dual compound bollox). Delete barge boards and make a spec wheel....etc etc.

Even then it will still no doubt be dull dull dull...

Ahh right, so its all about track research then. The more data they have the more likely they are to cruise around and take the win lol.

I'm not sure if I follow you.

They'd have made the fuel tank just big enough to allow them to fill it up at the start of the race and for there to be a minimum amount left at the end. They're unlikely to have a different size fuel tank for each race so it would have been sized for the race that has the largest fuel consumption. I'm guessing from your comment about the fuel tank size, that the Ferrari is fairly thirsty so they would need a larger capacity of fuel to do the same distance as say the Cosworth. Simple really.

However, your comment about data isn't far from the truth anyway. The more data you have the more likely you are to be able to design a car that doesn't have problems, or be able to resolve problems that arise.