In the round-up: Carlos Sainz Jnr says he hopes Formula 1 is able to get rid of DRS eventually following Marcus Ericsson’s crash.
What they say
Sainz says F1 needs DRS now but should work towards getting rid of it in future.
I’m glad he’s OK. And thinking about this artificial device, DRS, it’s a dangerous thing. If it doesn’t close the car really changes completely on balance, on braking performance.
Just wondering if hopefully Formula 1 is going to develop towards no need of DRS for overtaking. I do feel we need DRS nowadays because if not overtaking would be pretty much impossible. But hopefully F1 develops towards a formula without the need of DRS.
Quotes: Dieter Rencken
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Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
Robert Wickens is back home again in Indiana. #GetWellWickens ❤️🖤 // #INDYCAR pic.twitter.com/17hIRAPHFq
— Schmidt Peterson (@SPMIndyCar) August 31, 2018
A MESSAGE FROM MARCUS: Thank you for all your good wishes! @Ericsson_Marcus is feeling okay and looking forward to tomorrow.#alfaromeosauberf1team #ItalianGP @F1 pic.twitter.com/1VvycKQvER
— Sauber F1 Team (@SauberF1Team) August 31, 2018
What planet does he live right @Ericsson_Marcus ? Ahah
Front row tomorrow! 💪🏻💪🏻 @sergiosettecama pic.twitter.com/wVL1tKQwp3— Tom Dillmann (@TomDillmann) August 31, 2018
Louis Camilleri: ‘Ferrari is a team, not a single person. I think we have a fabulous team on track and in Maranello.
I aim to put a smile on the faces of our Tifosi.
Ferrari is a jewel, my job is to make sure it shines’ pic.twitter.com/YVElWDQqZs
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Links
More motor racing links of interest:
Vietnam gives green light to F1 race in Hanoi (Reuters)
"Hanoi authorities have asked people living in the planned area for their opinions about holding the race and they have all shown their support, to attract tourists."
Williams to remain independent in F1, says deputy team principal (The Guardian)
"Rob Smedley (head of vehicle performance) described it as an ‘evil car’,” she said. “I don’t ever like to think of any Williams car as evil but we know we have a number of issues and we need to do better."
Gossage slams F1 for head-to-head Texas schedule conflict (Racer)
"Shame on Formula 1 for doing this to the fans. Fans have recognized this as the NASCAR date on this weekend since its inception long before Circuit of the Americas was built."
Alonso: 'I'd stay if I was winning, but I'll have more fun away from F1' (BBC)
"I discovered last year the approach to the )Indianapolis 500), the way of driving those cars, the way of anticipating the tows, the overtaking manoeuvres. Everything is quite different to what we have in F1."
F2 post-qualifying press conference (FIA)
George Russell: "It’s been a tricky season this year, and Sergio (Sette Camara) is one of the few drivers to have even more misfortune than me! I’m not here to focus on (Lando Norris), I’m here to put in good performances and impress people in the Formula 1 paddock because that’s where I’m aiming to be next year: I’m not focusing on Lando, I’m focusing on winning the race."
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Comment of the day
Sainz isn’t the only person who’s concerned about the safety implications of DRS:
I find it’s hypocrisy for FIA with their “safety first” politics to implement questionable passive safety solutions like halo and still keep DRS on the cars.
The rear wing, essential downforce generating part, literally tons of downforce, that can be disabled at 360kph. This season Williams already had problems with airflow reattaching after DRS being shut, and now this.
Tim
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On this day in F1
- 55 years ago today Jack Brabham won a non-championship grand prix at Zeltweg, which one year later held Austria’s first world championship race
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
1st September 2018, 0:40
I can’t believe they made it again, a clash with a big event in the same region as the F1 race. Seriously can’t be that difficult… Two major Motorsport series in Texas the same weekend isn’t the brightest idea, even if (as a gross generalisation) the NASCAR fans probably care less about F1 than anything else.
Jere (@jerejj)
1st September 2018, 7:41
@fer-no65 Makes me wonder even more about the still ‘mysterious’ unexplained reasoning behind the switch of the order of the US and the Mexican GPs from previous seasons. Other than that, I couldn’t care less about this particular weekend clash, though.
Levente (@leventebandi)
1st September 2018, 8:54
The promoter of USGP was pretty much whining about how the closeness of the Mexican GP hurts their audience numbers for years, I guess this move is a try from Liberty to silence them, though they always asked to move Mexico away from them.
While there may be truth in their argument, I do think moving the Austin weekend earlier to summer or spring would be much better, as It wouldn’t clash with as many household big hits, like NFL and such.
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
1st September 2018, 10:02
Not just NASCAR, Suzuka is scheduled the same day as WEC in Fuji. Arguably a worse clash!
V12Beard (@v12beard)
1st September 2018, 1:03
There is never a clash between F1 and Nascar for me. I don’t watch Nascar.
Based on my Nascar-fan friends’ comments, they aren’t all that interested in watching these days either.
faulty (@faulty)
1st September 2018, 3:56
True, dat.
Jere (@jerejj)
1st September 2018, 7:38
@v12beard Same here.
Mangy Black Sheep (@mangyblacksheep)
1st September 2018, 1:41
NASCAR races almost every week, what on Earth could the FIA do about that?
Andy in Atlanta
1st September 2018, 2:27
Not every race is in Texas, in fact they only race in Texas twice a year. But the promoter at TMS is a blowhard even by Texan standards. There’s probably less than 200 fans who would have a tough choice between Texas Motor Speedway for NASCAR or COTA for F1. He just wants everyone to think F1 is why the track tarps 1000s of seats for the race now. Not that they run the oval race in the heat of the day instead of a great Saturday night show. He’s better off arguing football should have to take room for him.
NS Biker (@rekibsn)
1st September 2018, 2:59
And …. what on earth did NASCAR do about that.??
Cristian S (@crystakke)
1st September 2018, 3:02
“Oh my god, something broke on the car at high speed an caused a crash, let’s get rid of it”. That’s a stupid reaction to have and F1 drivers should know better. There are dozens of things that can malfunction or break at high speed that can cause a crash. No.1 on that list are…. Brakes. So yeah, let’s get rid of the brakes on the car.
Get rid of the DRS when you solve the follow closely and overtake problem, not because of fear. One idea: reduce the width and length of the cars so 2 of them actually fit side by side in corner and it would take less time and braking distance difference for one to get passed the other.
The Skeptic (@)
1st September 2018, 4:19
Did you read what Perez said? From the article above:
“hopefully Formula 1 is going to develop towards no need of DRS for overtaking. I do feel we need DRS nowadays because if not overtaking would be pretty much impossible. But hopefully F1 develops towards a formula without the need of DRS.”
socksolid (@socksolid)
1st September 2018, 4:22
I don’t like the drs one bit but I agree with you. If a part breaks on the car the part must be fixed so it doesn’t brake. We don’t ban suspension parts, tires or front wings either just because they can (and have) break at high speeds.
The width of the cars are not a problem though. Most f1 tracks are 15meters or more wide. There is plenty of room. The only issues really are the huge amount of downforce which also creates tons of dirty air and the engines which are so computer controlled that drivers can’t make mistakes anymore. With less downforce we would have less dirty air which would allow cars to follow more closely. And with less downforce the braking distances would be longer because you need to brake longer and earlier to slow down more because you arrive into the braking zone at faster speed (less downforce = less drag = faster on straights) and need to take the corner slower and with less downforce your braking capability is less.
And with better non-computer controlled engines we would see drivers make mistakes on corners which would create passing opportunities on the next straightaway.
bukester (@bukester)
1st September 2018, 3:12
I like Dieter’s question to Kimi about the book. Very fun
Flig
1st September 2018, 10:04
?
Michael Brown (@)
1st September 2018, 4:34
Brilliant! If the FIA are convinced DRS is dangerous, they’ll drop it. Hard with Whiting worshipping it, but still.
Mashiat (@mashiat)
1st September 2018, 4:41
This is a completely unrelated topic, but due to the whole Stroll replacing Ocon thing, I was recently thinking about what I would want the grid to be like for 2019 if I had complete control over it (assuming the performances of the teams are the same as 2018). Post your guys’ ones as well. Will be nice to see what everyone comes up with.
My F1 Dream Grid:
Mercedes: Lewis Hamilton & Max Verstappen (Interesting tactics)
Ferrari: Fernando Alonso & Sebastian Vettel (Battle of 2010-2013)
Red Bull: Daniel Ricciardo & Esteban Ocon (Solid & quick)
Renault: Nico Hulkenberg & Valtteri Bottas (Battle of the lower-middle-upper class of drivers)
Haas: Charles Leclerc & Kevin Magnussen (Idk…will be interesting, I suppose)
McLaren: Kimi Raikkonen & Carlos Sainz (Meh)
Toro Rosso: Lando Norris & Pierre Gasly (Millenials)
Force India: Sergio Perez & George Russell (Time for the next Mercedes junior, Checo!)
Sauber: Romain Grosjean & Jean-Eric Vergne (The Baguette Battle)
Williams: Robert Kubica & Bernd Maylander (Over 800 laps led between them)
Safety car driver: Pastor Maldonado (Time to remove the “safety” from “safety car”)
Phylyp (@phylyp)
1st September 2018, 5:19
While a lot of your captions had me smiling, this line had me laughing. Nice list, now put your billions to good use , @mashiat (BTW, is mashiat2 your alter ego? There’s another user with that name) .
Mashiat (@mashiat)
1st September 2018, 6:22
@phylyp Thanks. Mashiat2 is indeed my other account. If I’m being honest, I opened that account as a means of getting two bites at the cherry for predictions championship, but that was about 4-5 years ago, and I’m glad to say that my desperate levels of winning something have decreased since then. Looking back, I can’t believe the lengths I went to…
Zim
1st September 2018, 9:39
Hahaha. Last line is great. :D
Tom
1st September 2018, 6:14
Didn’t know Rob smedley had a sex change? Surely that would have been news worthy during the summer break? ;)
Panagiotis Papatheodorou (@panagiotism-papatheodorou)
1st September 2018, 7:37
I don’t think he had one. Probably a mistakes. There are no news on him regarding such an event.
Tom
1st September 2018, 8:14
I was joking about the typo
Dom (@3dom)
1st September 2018, 10:36
I know that it’s easy to miss sarcasm on forums sometimes, everyone does it. But this made it more humorous 😄
Joao (@johnmilk)
1st September 2018, 10:26
The quote is from Claire, hence the “she said”
Dom (@3dom)
1st September 2018, 10:35
I knew someone would beat me to that! 😄
Jere (@jerejj)
1st September 2018, 7:37
No, it definitely needs to stay until at least 2021.
– Regarding the Racer-article: Although I personally couldn’t really care less about something like this as it has zero impact on me but the easiest way to avoid this particular weekend clash if they really wanted it would be to simply switch the order of the US and the Mexican GPs back to how it’s been so far. BTW, I’m still keen to know that is there any particular reason behind the switch of the order of these two specific races from previous seasons for the first provisional calendar released yesterday? It’s always annoying concerning any given thing if there’s no reason given on something I’d be interested to know.
ColdFly (@)
1st September 2018, 8:57
I assume they went to keep Mexico before 1/2 Nov – día de los muertos.
Dewald Nel (@ho3n3r)
1st September 2018, 9:40
What’s Nascar?
/runs
Zim
1st September 2018, 9:42
Can you not take powerbanks into F1, but you can rent them there? They should drain devices of charge before they’re allowed in too.
ColdFly (@)
1st September 2018, 10:00
Just checking with the experts here.
Why does a car ‘snap’ when applying the brakes at 320kph with DRS?
I assume that the rear brakes are almost useless with DRS due to lack of grip and that one front brake had significantly more retardation than the other (wet patch or brake failure).
But I’m still surprised the car ‘snapped’ like we saw. All motion is still forward, and it requires a lot of ‘push’ from one side (e.g. acceleration on one wheel) to get the car change direction like that.
Was there another problem/consequence when DRS was open? And is there nothing the driver could have done, e.g. let go of the brakes?
zoom
1st September 2018, 12:51
Since it’s not a live-axle, there can be a difference in torque between the two wheels. At those speeds even the most minute difference will be greatly amplified between them. Mixing in downforce amplifies the effect even more. The result is a whip rather than a skid or a slide.
Pjotr (@pietkoster)
1st September 2018, 12:27
Why not thinking outside the box? Not more speed at the straights but extra downforce in the corners. Use the DRS in a different way. Opposite.