In the round-up: Romain Grosjean says Formula 1’s complexity and sophistication is a vital part of its appeal.
What they say
Grosjean was asked whether the problems Haas endured during last season showed Formula 1 has become too complicated:It’s the pinnacle of motor sports. And every time you get to the top of whatever you do, it’s always going to be complicated. At the top of tennis, it’s complicated, [any] type of sports or whatever you want. Business, it’s always complicated.
So I guess if we do it, it’s because we love it. If we do it, it’s because we’ve got people that are willing to do it behind is. And it must stay complicated. It’s the way it is.
It’s the most complicated car on the planet, the fastest one. And sometimes, yes, it goes too far. But it’s also the duty of it, and development driving for the future of whatever we can see in other cars.
Quotes: Dieter Rencken
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Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
🔝What a finish with 🏁@Max33Verstappen and 2 Triple A Team drivers @3A_TouTouNer and @Daniel_312_ on @iRacing @PorscheSupercup pic.twitter.com/YVcD9zpsl1
— Triple A Esports (@esports_triple) January 25, 2020
Just around the block in #Maasland @VerstappenNL and @redbullracing are filming some promotional footage for @F1 in Zandvoort, how awesome! pic.twitter.com/cyGzNH5ApV
— Roy van Rijn (@royvanrijn) January 25, 2020
- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Links
More motor racing links of interest:
Renault lacked 'force' to make most of £15m investment (Autosport)
"When we were expecting to bring the car to the next level, it didn't really work. So we discovered that there was a sort of limit for the development of the car given the choices that were made in terms of overall philosophy."
'Too Early to Say' if Hypercar Will Be Eligible in IMSA (Sportscar365)
"IMSA President John Doonan echoed Neveu’s sentiments, stating that the BoP process 'will dictate' whether the ACO’s prototype and production-based Hypercar formula would also be eligible in North America."
Pierre Fillon On Convergence, 'It’s a Very Important Day For Endurance Racing' (Daily Sportscar)
"The next generation of LMP2 will be in 2022. So we need to develop what will be the future for the class but for sure, this will be the same chassis."
Castrol Toyota Racing Series Round 2 Race 1 Highlights (Toyota Racing Series via YouTube)
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Comment of the day
How impressive was Antonio Giovinazzi’s first full season in Formula 1?
I followed Giovinazzi’s early-(ish) career and he was impressive in F3 and GP2 (nearly won as a rookie against three-four year veteran, Gasly). However, I doubt he has anything to worry about from Mick Schumacher from a speed point of view (look at the relative performance in F2/GP2 year one). Perhaps the surname will be a problem or the ‘impression’ that Schumacher does better in year two.
Is Raikkonen a fair benchmark? At the risk of two-plus-two-equals-five, look at what Leclerc achieved in year one at Sauber, his results against Vettel in year one at Ferrari, and& Vettel versus Raikkonen: ‘is Giovinazzi’s performance anywhere near Leclerc’s’ is the real question. Add a few high profile clangers to the story (China 2017, was it?) and there’s work to be done.
Not George
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On this day in F1
- 45 years ago today Shadow driver Carlos Pace won the Brazilian Grand Prix at the Interlagos circuit which was named after him following his death two years later. Emerson Fittipaldi made it a one-two for Brazil in his McLaren
RB10 (@rb10)
26th January 2020, 0:14
but you shouldnt stay here
Ericglo
26th January 2020, 0:15
Other places are saying that it looks like a convergence in sportscars. I haven’t been a big fan of sportscars, but a unified car spec should do wonders to awaken my interest.
anon
26th January 2020, 11:54
Ericglo, from what has been announced, the proposed measures are only a partial convergence and any long term convergence won’t occur until the mid to late 2020s.
The Le Mans Hypercar class and the Daytona Prototype class are likely to still be built to different specifications, especially with regards to the hybrid element – Daytona Prototypes maybe having a standard specification low power hybrid system powering the rear axle, whereas the regulations for the Hyperclass are open to development (Toyota currently plans to use a development of their front axle high power hybrid system in their car).
Even the basic survival cell regulations are different – the Daytona Prototype cars will continue to be built around an LMP2 chassis, whereas the Hypercar class will continue to be built around bespoke survival cell rules (albeit that the LMP2 regulations have tended to follow the previous generation of LMP1 rules).
It is the fact that there’s not actually been a huge convergence in regulations that has raised the question of whether WEC Hypercars will actually be allowed to compete in IMSA events and whether any sort of Balance of Performance regulation can be brought in to make the two classes comparable in lap time.
I suspect that managing any sort of BoP is going to be a real headache – it’s been a constant point of contention in both IMSA and ACO organised events, with the current system that the ACO is using for the top class being especially heavily criticised right now for being overly complicated (a sliding scale based on points difference to the slowest car in the class). Right now, it looks more likely that the traffic will be one way only – LMDh cars could compete in WEC events, most probably the 4 Hours of Le Mans (where they will help fill out the top category, something the ACO’s been trying to do for years), but potentially not the other way around.
Right now, there are still a lot of problems to be worked out for any sort of full convergence to occur. The IMSA is known to be extremely concerned about potentials for cost inflation, and convergence towards the Hypercar end of the spectrum is almost certain to push costs up significantly for IMSA – the main reason why they’ve stuck with rules that make them LMP2 cars with a different body kit is because it’s cheap to run.
The cost element also raises the question of privateer entries – IMSA are much more supportive of privateer entries, and it seems that privateers are much more interested in the DPi regulations now than they are in the Hypercar rules.
The use of hybrid elements is also a point of contention – the ACO has pushed for hybrids in their rules more aggressively, whilst IMSA has found that support for hybrid powertrains has been much more variable amongst the manufacturers it has worked with (hence the idea of a small spec system that will be cheap and won’t be a performance differentiator).
It means that a standard unified specification across ACO and IMSA series probably won’t occur until 2025 at the earliest, which is when the current Hypercar and the IMSA Daytona Prototype rules will next be updated.
Ericglo
26th January 2020, 13:40
Thanks for breaking it down
Joss (@racerjoss)
26th January 2020, 19:02
Thanks anon, nice post
MEGATRON M12 (@megatron)
26th January 2020, 22:50
Excellent post, as usual.
MEGATRON M12 (@megatron)
26th January 2020, 22:46
Unified trash is still trash, bop is not racing, it is politics on wheels. The 24 hours of both Daytona and le mans are both currently trash.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
26th January 2020, 7:07
Grosjean does help f1 stay complicated.
JC
26th January 2020, 9:58
Usually in lots of little bits if carbon everywhere.
Balue (@balue)
27th January 2020, 7:38
@peartree lol
Jere (@jerejj)
26th January 2020, 10:26
Indeed. Thoroughly getting rid of the complicated-aspect is practically impossible.
Steve Rogers (@yossarian)
26th January 2020, 10:41
RE: COTD. Given Leclerc’s 3 year contract if a seat becomes available at Ferrari it will be at the expense of Vettel. Riccardo would be the exciting choice, but I think its clear Ferrari can’t handle two Roosters, so they’ll be looking for a number 2 driver.
As strange as it sounds, because of that being demostrably slower than Leclerc may be a plus for Giovinazzi. Though if I were Ferrrari I’d go for Perez as a number 2, have Leclerc with the pure pace and Perez as one of the best at making the alternate strategy work.
Jockey Ewing
26th January 2020, 14:48
And don’t forget that Ferrari has currently 5 academists at F2, including Mick Schumacher, so they will have a lot of choices in a few years. Imo Giovinazzi has very little chance against these 5 academists. Maybe he can stay at a midfield team if he improves, but beating 5 opponents of this nice roster for a Ferrari seat is too much for him.
MEGATRON M12 (@megatron)
26th January 2020, 22:57
The best driver that Ferrari has in its squad without an F1 race seat is hands down Wehrlein, who is easily better than GIO, LAT, GRO, MAG, OCO and KVT at his current experience level.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
26th January 2020, 12:29
F1 will always be complicated, but I think the tyres should have a much bigger operating window. I get that teams should try to get it spot on every time, but with these tyres, if you’re a little bit off, you’re completely out of it.
Balue (@balue)
27th January 2020, 7:37
Why is it that most, if not all, F1 drivers who do simracing are doing iRacing, widely regarded as the pinnacle sim, yet F1 has ignored this and instead made an arcade racer by Codemasters its official sim?
MacLeod (@macleod)
27th January 2020, 9:08
That is sponsor money but iracing is also promoted during the most GP. iRacing isn’t for the common people and Codemaster is. A Simulation rig is expensive while a logitech G29 is cheap.