In the round-up: Alpine technical director Pat Fry says F1’s proposed new sprint race format could prompt teams to try new tactics.
Sprint races may introduce new tactics
The extra races, which would take place on Saturdays at some grand prix weekends, could award championship points, which Fry said may lead teams to alter their tactics:On the chassis side of things or I guess the weekend side of things, it is going to be different. It’s certainly a one-hour session before you’re going to have to freeze most of your set-up. Downforce levels and all of that will keep us all on our toes, it should be exciting. Particularly now we’ve only got a one-hour session and into qualifying.
So it’s going to be different. I guess it puts the onus more on better preparation for it. But that’s the same for everyone, we just need to try and deal with it.
It’ll be quite interesting seeing how people race in each race or do you try and use both races as one to get what the best point score is, really? So I think there will be different tactics that people will be at least looking at. It’ll be interesting to see how much actually happens.
Quotes: Dieter Rencken
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Links
More motor racing links of interest:
Silverstone chosen as one of three venues to stage pioneering F1 sprint race (Daily Mail)
"Silverstone has been chosen to pioneer a revolutionary new sprint race at this year's British Grand Prix."
LVCVA to take legal action against Formula 1 race promoter (Las Vegas Review-Journal)
"The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority board of directors has authorized its staff to proceed with legal action against a Henderson-based promotional group intent on blocking the agency from hosting a Formula One car race."
The Conspiracy Threatening a $360 Million TV Deal (The New York Times)
"As a result, BeIN is considering walking away from the fight, and the league. The network, bankrolled by the Qatari state, has always absorbed losses from its right deals, but in recent years it has withdrawn from several of them and cut its staff amid a long-running, and costly, piracy dispute. It has allowed deals with the top leagues in Germany and Italy to lapse, and recently withdrew from one with Formula 1."
AT02 Hits The Track for 2021 (AlphaTauri)
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Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
|@RGrosjean shows off the fire damage to the helmet he was wearing during his shocking Bahrain Grand Prix crash.
"The tear-offs burned, the paint burned a little bit but the helmet didn't move at all. Very impressive work by all the people involved at Bell and so on."#F1 pic.twitter.com/lOD4rFF5bk
— RaceFans (@racefansdotnet) March 11, 2021
Here’s what’s on the menu for #F1 tyre testing from tomorrow in Bahrain: a feast of five different 2021 compounds and a prototype! Buon appetito.#Pirelli #F1Testing #Fit4F1 pic.twitter.com/lDFjXOuFt4
— Pirelli Motorsport (@pirellisport) March 11, 2021
Glitching to go. 👊🏁@LandoNorris chats us through his helmet plans for 2021 and gives an early glimpse of the new camo-inspired lid he’ll be sporting for #F1Testing in Bahrain. pic.twitter.com/SamVvTq34W
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) March 11, 2021
- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
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Comment of the day
It’s time for Bottas to show his teeth, says John:
He just needs to go all out this season. If he overdrives and loses his seat then so be it, but if I were him I would start to really take a different approach.
He’s too friendly with Hamilton, he needs to start prodding him a little like Rosberg was able to do. Don’t get me wrong, I know that’s not his character, but he needs to change something, ruffle some feathers, otherwise it’s just another ‘meh’ season that will lead to him losing his drive regardless.
I know a leopard can’t change his spots necessarily, but come on… show something this season please Valtteri!
@John-h
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S
12th March 2021, 5:57
Good. Give them points for a sprint race, and perhaps someone different can win some.
Or the championship can be decided sooner, and then F1 can try something different and useful with the remaining races – perhaps reverse grids, or success ballast.
Let’s get some racing happening, for a change. Try to enjoy the final few races of these awful aero regs.
ColdFly (@)
12th March 2021, 7:01
Most fans only accept mixed up ‘grids’ and short races if it is due to a late red flag.
And interestingly in such a case they rate it overwhelmingly with 9’s and 10’s.
Success ballast to me though is an ugly word and should not be used in any sport.
S
12th March 2021, 9:01
Most F1 fans argue against what they actually do want, which I find bizarre…
And I’d prefer it if success ballast wasn’t beneficial too, but, well… here we are. And we’ve been here for a very long time.
Balue (@balue)
12th March 2021, 9:14
@coldfly Yes it very ironic that most people want pure racing without gimmickry, then they love safety car and red flag races most of all like you say.
Tommy Scragend
12th March 2021, 11:13
A late safety car or red flag isn’t gimmickry, it’s just good/bad luck (depending on how you look at it) which sometimes creates an unusual race. Perhaps one could argue that safety cars are put out a bit too easily these days but everyone is much more hot on safety now, and that’s one thing that isn’t going to be reversed.
If the safety car/red flag was put out not for safety reasons but just to spice up the race, then it would be gimmickry. An unusual result which happens just because of circumstance is just that, an unusual result. Fine. If it happens because it has been contrived, then just no.
Balue (@balue)
12th March 2021, 15:28
But it is. There is much more of these than previously, but then I believe even Ecclestone said it was good for the show, and that would obviously not change with American owners.
Most SCs could easily be VSCs, and even after Red Flags (that should be extreme rare) the cars could be released from the pits with timed gaps to preserve the racing order, but that’s not what anyone wants. Even the ‘purist’ fans I bet.
I also bet there will be even more of these, to the point where it’s rare race without it.
ColdFly (@)
13th March 2021, 7:25
This Tommy is exactly what disappoints me, or at least is immensely inconsistent in my opinion.
Besides the fact that these luck/unluck creators are deliberately much more often used as mentioned by @balue, it is worse (in my opinion) to design a race where luck plays such s big role.
A sprint race is at least the same for all, and merely requires skill and strategy, which a sport should be all about.
Not accusing you, but merely the argument; this is one of the best examples of hypocrisy.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
13th March 2021, 1:48
@coldfly Fans like surprise. Structural attempts to cause surprise are the opposite of surprise.
S
13th March 2021, 4:19
@alianora-la-canta That natural element of surprise has largely been regulated out of F1 though.
And what little bit is left is being calculated and predicted in advance, and a solution is ready to go at all times…
ColdFly (@)
13th March 2021, 7:31
Sounds like a sprinkler comment to me, @alianora-la-canta.
Few real sports want to spice it up with these ‘structured surprises’ as it would ruin the fairness of what a true sport should be.
Read my reply above about ‘hypocrisy’.
Jere (@jerejj)
12th March 2021, 7:39
This whole time, Montreal, Monza, and Interlagos have been the three chosen for the sprint race experiment plan, so which one of these three would get sacrificed for Silverstone?
A weird article below, though, as nothing has really happened regarding Las Vegas. Some mentions came out in the last years of the BE era, but nothing concrete since, so weird that this kind of post suddenly appears.
Re the Alpha Tauri tweet: Even weirder to see the steering wheel blurred on the T-cam, LOL, albeit not at one part. Redundancy to an extent. The first time for me to note this on a view other than the eye/visor level.
Jonathan Parkin
12th March 2021, 8:46
If it happens will the race actually BE in Las Vegas unlike last time. The 1980’s race around the Caesar’s Palace car park was technically in Paradise not LV
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
13th March 2021, 1:46
@jerejj Interlagos is at increasing risk of not happening due to its COVID response, so I assume that one.
Jere (@jerejj)
13th March 2021, 13:52
@alianora-la-canta It could be at risk even more because of legal issues regarding the race hosting deal unless those have been settled by now.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
15th March 2021, 18:05
@jerejj That is true too.
Dave
12th March 2021, 11:38
Re Grosjean: Darn, that’s so terrifying…