F1 Fanatic round-up: 30/6/2010

35 comments on “F1 Fanatic round-up: 30/6/2010”

1. 

   F1Yankee
   30th June 2010, 0:28

   Now that the dust has settled (Joe Saward)

   is the link broken?
   1. 

      BasCB (@bascb)
      30th June 2010, 6:01

      Works for me F1Yankee.

      some pivotal parts of it:

      Looking back at the Valencia weekend there were a number of things that perhaps need some discussions. There was much talk about the penalties involved and whether they were fair or not. Ferrari obviously felt that Fernando Alonso was hard done by, while McLaren felt pretty much the same way about Lewis Hamilton’s penalty. There were questions too about Mark Webber’s accident and what can be done about wheel-over-wheel accidents. There was a strong feeling that the race track needs to be changed to try to promote better racing.

      In addition, there were a couple of other discordant notes: the Ferrari’s minus any signs of a bar code, or even a white box on their bodywork (the power of the anti-tobacco lobby seems to be endless); and the appearance of Flavio Briatore on the grid, swanning around as though Singapore 2008 never happened.

      On the time it took before handing a penalty

      I am told that the only thing standing in the way of Race Control getting all this stuff is cost: everyone wants the technology, but no-one wants to pay. Fair enough, then we will just have to go on arguing every time there is a problem…

      He feels the penalties for the 9 guys were OK, with some of them still hard done by.
      To make F1 better Joe thinks the track should be improved

      The track did not produce good racing – for the third consecutive year. The venue is not glamorous and the race track no great challenge and that is such a shame because the city of Valencia has a lot more to offer than appears on the TV.

      and Briatore showing up on the grid is a disgrace

      That sends out a terrible signal about the morality of the sport – if indeed one can use the two words in the same sentence. If those in F1 want to go on seeing Briatore that is fine. There are overpriced restaurants all over the world where they can do this, but to do it in front of the TV cameras simply make F1 look sleazy.
      1. 

         F1Yankee
         30th June 2010, 6:03

         works fine in firefox, dead in opera. weird.
      2. 

         US_Peter (@us_peter)
         30th June 2010, 6:22

         I think he’s dead right about Briatore being allowed on the grid. Shameful.
         1. 

            Mike
            30th June 2010, 8:06

            It is. Race fixing is someone you can be forgiven for. He cheated in the worst way possible, what if Piquet was hurt?

            I know some might say, but he wasn’t, or, it was a controlled crash.

            But how many like me thought Webber was seriously hurt or worse until he started getting out?

            F1 is dangerous, but he is the only person I know to have purposefully put someone’s life at risk.
            1. 

               PJA
               30th June 2010, 12:43

               Di Montezemolo may have said that what happened in Valencia damaged Formula 1’s credibility, but if anything damaged F1 in Valencia it would have been Briatore been accepted back.
2. 

   LAK
   30th June 2010, 0:53

   The link works fine for me.. Great point there by Joe Saward, I remember seeing Flavio on the TV screen but I completely forgot he was supposed to banned from the paddock. He did appear in Monaco, but in Monaco things are done a bit differently, so to see him again appearing as if all is well is certainly not professional.. It just shows how seriously the rules are taken..
   1. 

      US_Peter (@us_peter)
      30th June 2010, 6:41

      That wasn’t the only example on Sunday of how seriously the rules are taken…
3. 

   George (@george)
   30th June 2010, 0:55

   That video is scary, he’s a lucky guy. I love Snetterton but crashes like these make you remember why F1 circuits need to be so safety conscious.
   1. 

      Hare (@hare)
      30th June 2010, 1:15

      Yeah, he ended up yards from the bridge, unless he’s resting against it. Another 100 yards or so doesn’t bare thinking about.
      1. 

         Macca (@macca)
         30th June 2010, 4:50

         I would like to see the inciedent from outside the car.
         1. 

            Mike-e
            1st July 2010, 1:24

            http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ce7ISuJesJM&feature=related have a look at this, its a little better but you dont see quite where he ends up. i think from what i can tell he lands on the earth bank that holds the bridge in place.
4. 

   sato113 (@sato113)
   30th June 2010, 1:07

   holy moly! that was a big crash.

   keith what happened to the main page’s articles pictures? why are they so small now? I liked the larger, more colourful photos of before
   1. 

      Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
      30th June 2010, 5:09

      They were nice but I’ve replaced them for several reasons:

      The smaller images are quicker to load, reducing page loading times.

      It easier to find images that fit the box size. For example it always used to be difficult finding pictures of people’s faces that worked well within the wider frame.

      And it means I have to spend less time manually re-sizing images.
      1. 

         sato113 (@sato113)
         30th June 2010, 12:03

         ah fair enough! the site still looks great!
5. 

   Mark Hitchcock (@mark-hitchcock)
   30th June 2010, 1:22

   oo, horribly crash. Is there any footage from outside the car?
   1. 

      Mark Hitchcock (@mark-hitchcock)
      30th June 2010, 1:23

      *horrible….

      Damn typos.
6. 

   Joey-Poey
   30th June 2010, 3:35

   “And Schumi at Montreal this year. Heavily defensive driving. Loved it!

   Sometimes I wonder what the hell people are talking about, when they complain about aggressive driving. IT’S WHAT WE WANT!”

   Well, there’s aggressive driving and then there’s cutting chicanes. Which is not kosher. I’m sorry, but a driver should get one warning and then a penalty. It’s just not acceptable to cut the track and then keep a place because of it. That still angers me.
   1. 

      F1Yankee
      30th June 2010, 6:05

      what if a driver passed the safety car and kept his place, would that anger you too?
      1. 

         Joey-Poey
         30th June 2010, 6:28

         In this case with Hamilton, yes and no. The fact that he didn’t lose a place because of the stewards taking so long to make a decisions is rather annoying. But MORE annoying is the utter confusion about the safety car in general. Having grown up with indy racing, it seems cut and dry to me that you simply close the pits, line up behind the safety car and then enter once they’re open. When the yellow comes out, racing stops. Why it needs to be more convoluted is beyond me because I NEVER remember seeing anything like this “back in the day” when I was watching CART in the 90’s and early 00’s.

         What DOESN’T bother me about it is that he managed to gather enough of a lead to lose his position. Webber did the same at Nurburgring last year and I wasn’t angered by that either. That’s just racing. If you’re still winning on merit even with a penalty, then clearly you’re doing something right out on the track.

         Should it have been a stop and go? Probably. When they begin looking into fixing both the safety car and the chicane rules, I will be happy. Until then, yes both are upsetting.
      2. 

         Rob
         30th June 2010, 17:02

         The chicane cutting has been an issue for a couple of years now in several races – I think it is worse for a driver to systematically and in some cases repeatedly take a short-cut to stay ahead of another driver and not get punished or reprimanded in any way, than for a driver to (arguably inadvertantly) overtake a safety car a couple of metres the wrong side of an arbitrary line, get punished and for some people to not believe the punishment fitted the crime.

         As Joey-Poey says, Webber won despite his punishment before and Ferrari weren’t using words like ‘scandal’ and saying the race was ‘manipulated’.
7. 

   Scalextric
   30th June 2010, 5:25

   Two videos of great interest and great contrast.
   How sad is it that I wish the Renault garage video was 10-20 times longer?
   What a crash. And can F1/Mad Max also take credit for the improved safety in lower level races?
8. 

   BasCB (@bascb)
   30th June 2010, 6:04

   Those accidents with cars getting airborne are really amazing. It will be interestig to see, weather anyone can come up with a workable solution for such kind of things happening (Indycar designs look at covering the space in front, behind and between wheels to limit it). How impressive safety has become at most levels of Motorsport to be able to walk from crashes like that.
9. 

   BasCB (@bascb)
   30th June 2010, 6:16

   I think the way Withmarsh talks about clearing what they agreed between themselves and maybe have a thought at renewing some form of in season testing is the way to go for FOTA.

   They have to agree on this together and i think the problems we have seen with HRT and Virgin especially but also with too much work going into finding solutions to get around the testing ban show a certain amount of testing would be good.

   I would prefer if those testing days would be at a GP track (but what about the money involved), before or after the race, with a limited amount of km allowed during the year, maybe combined with where the team is in championship points/position.
   Or just have the teams rent space at some tracks during the year for a limited amount of days.
10. 

    Fred Schechter
    30th June 2010, 6:17

    The testing limits still test me greatly.
    Bernie, there’s an easy answer here, allow testing, but only at tracks in countries that don’t get an F1 race. Bring the show, bring the people out, and let the others enjoy what only a few on this planet do.

    Come on,, test in Finland, Holland, the USA, Mexico, Argentina, New Zealand, South Africa (Kyalami return anyone?). There are far too many wonderful places that are hugely receptive to Formula 1 where Bernie can stick it to us humans and put on a show that makes him money anyway. Plus it would give the teams without money, more money to do testing/development (that’d have to be part of the package)

    Red Bull gets it (Road Show anyone) why doesn’t Bernie?! Oh right,, duh.

    Other fun places to watch/test

    Macau (right before Monaco!)
    Marrakesh (right before Monza)
    Indianapolis (right before hell freezes over or Kuala Lumpur)

    Are there logistics involved,, yes, so have each team send 1 car required, and 2 would be up to them, along with 1 driver (even a test driver would be fine!))

    Just make use of the rest of the planet (heck, it could only build there bottom line, have a better show, and maybe even bring innovation back in).

    Nahhh, who’d want that?!
    1. 

       Alex
       30th June 2010, 8:36

       I’d love to go see F1 cars test in Holland! It would probably be cheaper than seeing an actual race, which is a big plus.

       But do test tracks not have to have about the same safety requirements as race tracks? Because if that’s the case, you can scrap a lot of those tracks.
       1. 

          Fred Schechter
          30th June 2010, 15:33

          Yes, the test tracks do need to be to F1 safety regs. However, it’d be worth it for them to do in the first place (seriously, who complains when their track is safer). Plus adding a huge income day to tracks can offset the costs quickly (if done correctly). Most of them need smaller changes (mostly to runoff). So typically it’s not a full resurfacing issue. Best of all, we’d get to see F1 cars all over the planet!
11. 

    Charlie Watts
    30th June 2010, 8:01

    That crash at Snetterton is just surreal. How on earth does someone just jump out of that car completely unscathed?! Secondly, F1 should have a look at this series. I know very little about it but the slipstream seemed to kick in from a long way back. Does he have an adjustable rear wing!
    1. 

       Whitty 123
       30th June 2010, 11:16

       No they have boost. They have a set number of them to use throughout the race. It’s a bit like KERS. Kind of. Although I don’t know if he uses it in the video. That could be down to just as you said, a good slipstream.
12. 

    TommyB (@tommyb89)
    30th June 2010, 10:05

    Mark Webber’s crash has had the most youtube hits. Even more than the World Cup matches, which is impressive – http://bit.ly/9dV9J0

    Scary crash at Snetterton is horrible isn’t it :( He is very lucky he didn’t hit the bridge or the barrier.
    1. 

       W154
       30th June 2010, 10:38

       Couldn’t help but notice there were no nasty stains on his overalls as he got out of the car. I think if I went through a similar crash, my dry cleaning bill would have been horrendous!!!
13. 

    Charlie Watts
    30th June 2010, 12:43

    Thanks Whitty 123. Yea a boost makes sense, it’s probably too far back for a slipstream!
14. 

    fyujj
    1st July 2010, 23:55

    But the embryo of a wannabe driver that was in front of the guy should stay away of the racing tracks for a good time so he could reflect on what he did till he understood.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_wrjiTCpaI&feature=related
15. 

    beneboy
    2nd July 2010, 21:00

    A big thanks to Keith and the publishers of Autocourse !

    I think this may be the first time I’ve won anything since the egg and spoon race at primary school :-)
16. 

    Dave77
    16th January 2011, 5:13

    The Autocourse competition is closed but there

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