Ignore “negative commentary” about F1 – Williams

F1 Fanatic Round-up

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In the round-up: Claire Williams urges F1 followers to ignore “negative commentary” about the sport following criticism of recent development such as the new qualifying rules.

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Comment of the day

A lot of people seem to fancy Rosberg’s chances this year. Sam is one of them:

I think this will be Rosberg’s year. I think because Hamilton has won the three world titles and emulated Senna he will have less motivation however Rosberg was on top form.

Also, I don’t agree with the argument that it was Hamilton’s failings that lost him the last three races because remember Hamilton wouldn’t have won in Russia if Rosberg hadn’t retired and the same with the USA if Rosberg wasn’t unlucky with the safety car (he had a ten second lead). Remember that he hadn’t won the championship by Russia and the USA (although he did win the championship there).

I think that the driver that will be the most dominant over his team mate will either be Vettel over Raikkonen, Grosjean over Guttierez or Wehrlein over Haryanto. If I had to pick one I would go for Wehrlein over Haryanto however.
Sam Stuart (@bluebill77)

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Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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46 comments on “Ignore “negative commentary” about F1 – Williams”

  1. I like Clare Williams attitude. It’s the most refreshing comment I’ve heard from F1 this season.

    1. @hare, Pistols at dawn ?

    2. I like Claire Williams.

      That’s it, really.

    3. ColdFly F1 (@)
      7th March 2016, 5:35

      It seems that Keith has put COTD at top of the round-up today @hare.

    4. Clever lady saying right things.

    5. I hope Claire is right in thinking Williams can take the fight to Mercedes and Ferrari.

    6. I don’t know how easy it is to like someone based on a snippet of a series of statements the person made.

      She may have a good personality but her support and vote of the new qualification system which has been overwhelmingly derided by the majority of F1 fans and drivers alike, leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

      So I wouldn’t use the word ‘like’ in this instance.

      If Bernie can get the flak, am I wrong in saying that she too deserves some flak for voting for ‘elimination qualifying’ and being proud of her support for the new system.

    7. Apex Assassin
      8th March 2016, 23:34

      I can’t stand it or her decisions. “Let’s ignore the people that make this sport profitable and popular. That’s the business model we should follow.” Brilliant. Might as well clone Bernie and name him Czar for Eternity.

  2. I have a great deal of sympathy for the plight of the independent F1 teams, however a policy of “let them eat cake” is no more likely to succeed today than it was in the 18th. century. If you are not part of the solution you are part of the problem.

    1. Stop.

  3. TV pundits and press people need to spin the negative news around to get something to talk about. Pirelli’s tyres was the best/worst example. Don’t want to name any names but only initials – M.B. – who often went over the line. F1 has many things going in strange directions but only being negative about the sport doesn’t really help.

    1. Martin Brundle?

      1. Yeah! what would he know?

        1. ColdFly F1 (@)
          7th March 2016, 5:39

          ridiculous. Luckily commenters here won’t repeat negative news around Pirelli tyres @hohum ;-)

    2. “F1 has many things going in strange directions but only being negative about the sport doesn’t really help.”

      @ Lauri
      Ok, we’ll just ignore the negative things and hope they will go away. In case you haven’t heard, the squeaky wheel gets the grease.

  4. To the Max !
    7th March 2016, 0:52

    It would be nice if Ocon gets some more time in an actual F1 car, I’m sure it will help out his development.

    I agree with Claire, F1 is rapidly becoming FW (Formula Whine) right now.

  5. Michal (@michal2009b)
    7th March 2016, 0:58

    If somehow F1 ends up with a competitive field this season we’ll get some respite from negativity. If not, it will get even bigger. It’s closeness of the championship and the cars that matters. I am not saying that will cure everything because F1 has many ills but at least that will create a more healthy atmosphere.

    1. @michal2009b, Certainly allowing car development throughout the season should go a long way to restoring the competitive balance.

      1. just get rid of DRS or half its effectiveness and everyone would be happy and we can go racing.

        F1 is it really that hard to solve!?!?!?

        1. A DRS removal alone won’t work, you are going to have a procession. Scrap the front wing with it and you’re done.

          1. RaceProUK (@)
            7th March 2016, 14:49

            You don’t need to scrap it, just get rid of the silly fiddly bits; that’s what’s causing the issues.

  6. I don’t share the same view about Hamiltons motivation as comment of the day, because I feel like Hamiltons goal and motivation is to equal and possibly surpass Vettel in number of championship wins. That I believe is his motivation for this year.

    1. Oh yeah…but emulating Senna was his driving dream for nearly 30 years. He had some serius passion behind that.

      Meanwhile beating Vettel does not seem to be very high on his bucketlist.

      Now if he had a dream of emulating MSC, the Rosberg would have nothing to worry about.

  7. If you ignore the ‘negative commentary’ about F1, then how are things going to change? How is the racing going to get better? It is a much worse thing to ignore the real issues the sport faces. That is destructive. Shortsighted comments from Williams.

    1. Well said @ambroserpm, without the negative commentary what would F1 be now, double points for the last race (and maybe any race that wants to pay extra), yellow flag re-starts, sprinklers, no improvement to the tyres, more DRS, reverse grids, success ballast, a single engine supplier ? The day I stop complaining about F1 being manipulated away from being an engineering and driving challenge will be the day I walk away from F1.

      1. ColdFly F1 (@)
        7th March 2016, 5:43

        @ambroserpm, not sure what’s shortsighted about this: “Williams deputy team principal acknowledged that F1 was in need of a revamp on many fronts, but its interests would also be better served if a more positive approach was applied instead of a negative comments.”

        1. +1

          No offense hohum but I tend to disagree with your posts on a regular basis.

          1. No offence taken @julianwins, each to their own, every viewpoint should be aired.

    2. @ambroserpm

      then how are things going to change?

      Most things needn’t.

      How is the racing going to get better?

      How is the racing going to get better?

      It’s good enpugh already.

      Or, let’s put it this way: Any of the proposed changes would only make the sport worse.

      It is a much worse thing to ignore the real issues the sport faces.

      Which is exactly what’s happening – the negative commentary originate from problems that were never there – the problems are either non-existent or are about to exist only because of the negative commentary.

      1. which is exactly what’s happening *despite the negative commentary

    3. @ambroserpm Thing is, we´ve had negative commentary almost exclusively for some months now. It is tiring, even where the critics are right. And it is in many aspects also completely redundant. A race would help.

    4. I don’t think we need to be negative about F1 at all to bring change. There are a lot of things that are still great, I think the racing has been pretty good for the past couple of years etc.

      The biggest issue remains much the same though – for example: http://www.blick.ch/sport/formel1/was-ist-da-los-frau-kaltenborn-sauber-hat-februar-loehne-noch-nicht-bezahlt-id4764257.html

  8. ColdFly F1 (@)
    7th March 2016, 8:33

    Happy 100th birthday BMW!

  9. Yeah there is no point for negative commentary really, everything is fine as it is except that they altered a well working qualifying where not even the drivers agree, they plan rules for 2017 to make faster cars without really think the main problem in this ERA which is the high dirty air that is produced from the front car so no one can pass and without altering at all the tyres where you cannot push more than 2-3 laps because the tyres get distroyed and final they will make the car heavier with more power without raising the fuel load.

    All that seem perfect in my eyes and whoever do criticism in this actions he is negative and has agenta….

    1. I forgot to mention that they can rethink the super-bonus-double-points-season-finale-extravaganza-bonanza for 2017.. there is still time.

      1. Evil Homer (@)
        7th March 2016, 13:24

        @bluechris
        Spot on mate! For those that have not read it ex-F1 driver Stefan Johansson done a great 3 part article for Motorsport.com, I think, saying if you increase the difference between lowest corner speed to highest straight speed (aka more mechanical grip to aero grip) the drivers will have to pick their braking and acceleration points better and the fast/top drivers will come to the top again like they used to do. Back in the 80’s and 90’s a great driver stood out over an ‘also ran’ more than he does today.

        Also listen to the drivers more than a team’s opinion. A ‘Strategy Group’ is 11 teams pushing ones agenda and as in life everyone can manage an argument to push ones point! A driver is essentially self-employed where they are hired for 2-3 years – I honestly believe drivers will always have the sports better future in view more often than a team will. A driver can get new employment if he doesn’t like a team, a teams culture harder to change. Just look at Alonso’s comments about Ferrari when he was there and when he left! Daniel is another example- he said the sport will be better on more mechanical, less aero- from a team that REALLY needs some aero! Dan seems certainly to be on the move next year!

  10. Talking about negativity, there’s an article on motorsport.com about the new tighter radio rules: this year drivers can’t be told what engine modes to use, their fuel status or what their brake temperatures are, stuff like that.

    There’s an amusing comment about how that means WE won’t know what’s going on with these now either (in fact drivers will have their screens, unlike us). Cars will be going faster or slower and we won’t know why.

    An amusing comment, negative, and all too correct. Baby thrown out with the bathwater.

  11. I think F1 is fundamentally a great sport…which is why people complain when it has become less than it could easily be.

    I’m sure Claire is speaking mainly of F1 insiders, and it starts with BE who started off the new chapter in F1 by calling the cars too quiet. Tires have been a problem, DRS is massively disliked, as has the perceived locking in of Mercedes’ advantage.

    There simply is a lot to complain about in F1 right now, and so much of it is easily tackled with the right motivation from within. And they’re working toward change for 2017.

    I understand complaining about the complaining when it is not warranted, but right now it obviously is warranted and change needs to occur…and thankfully is.

    I’m not saying I understand and agree with BE himself being the leader of the complaints, but I’m glad there is this movement for change. Much better racing is just a few tweaks away. Tires can easily be improved simply by mandating Pirelli thus…DRS can and should simply be dropped…aero can be ‘capped’ so that there is a bit more sway toward mechanical grip…engine noise is not enough of a problem to worry about as far bigger fish can be tackled as just described, for little added cost if any. I think that’s what’s frustrating and the cause of the surge of complaints. So much of the change that is needed is so easily employed and seems a no-brainer. Just simplify.

    1. Spot on @robbie, the reality is that we are not complaining about F1, we are complaining about the bad changes being made to F1.

  12. 10k-15k pounds for a helmet. I think this explains why F1 put a moratorium on changing designs – it more cost cutting, especially for the teams on the lower end of the grid ;)

    1. Jokes aside, I think it is a pure disrespect to the fans to change the helmet design. @uan

      1. @serg33

        perhaps it’s disrespectful, but if a driver is known for it (Vettel), then his fans probably enjoy it. It’s not like all the drivers on the grid were doing this all the time. Most of the complaining I heard was from folks like Brundle or Damon Hill.

        But beyond that, if you really want disrespectful, then it’s disrespectful to fans that a driver cannot change their helmet design to commemorate a specific race (many had special Monaco helmets made) or achievements (like Alonso with his helmet as the all times points leader back in 2012, iirc).

        I’d say the majority of fans enjoy those things, but there’s no allowance made in the rules.

        The worst thing are all the miscellaneous helmets on the grid today, especially the STR/RBR drivers. All seem to be the Red Bull logo with swirls of some sort on a blue base. Maybe the FIA should have a rule, in the same way that the cars have either a red or yellow camera mount, that each driver in a team must have a different base/design schema.

        1. @uan

          Although I am strongly against it, but Vettel changed colors, and not the helmet schema.

          I do not mind infrequent “celebratory” designs as long I can still identify the driver — like Schumacher in Japan-1998.

          I am glad that the non-sense of new designs is going downhill after is pinnacle in 2014, with Sutil being a good example of having completely new designs a little too frequently. I concur with both Brundle, Hill, and whoever else may have expressed their dissatisfaction with current design trends. Looking at F1 photos from 20 years ago, I can identify most of the field — including Brundle who has never been an F1 star, although his helmet (being any driver’s signature) is know for years. Nowadays, as an example, Verstappen has changed his helmet color from red to blue in his second season — this will only create confusion, especially years on from today. We know examples of drivers changing designs (Schumachers, Herbert, Button…), but they have done so only after they had established their initial design and it had become easily recognizable.

          These days, due to head protection standards, the helmets are not as visible as in the past; therefore, drivers should be even more disciplined and respective to F1 fans in order to keep the designs constant and easily identifiable.

    2. Not really, they have a new helmet for every weekend at least, anyway.

  13. Don’t worry Claire, you won’t be winning any races any time soon, unless Mercedes gives you the green light. Maybe Silverstone, maybe.

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