Formula 1 2006 Season

This starts on March 12th in Bahrain, with a driver shuffle & smaller engines.

One personal disappointment is that it looks like Spa will be axed

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/moto...ne/4632126.stm

- I think Bernie gets upset if the fans enjoy a race, too much

[MovedGoalPosts]

Perhaps I should be surprised that there have been no comments on this thread in nearly 2 months, despite there now having been 2 races.

Or perhaps, having seen part of the latest procession, F1 far from being a spectacle has become too complex and costly for it to show relevance to Mr Average. In fact that's the point there just does not seem to be any real unpredictability as to what is likely to happen, and it's the foregone conclusion aspect that is a turn off.

Originally Posted by Rob C

Perhaps I should be surprised that there have been no comments on this thread in nearly 2 months, despite there now having been 2 races.

Or perhaps, having seen part of the latest procession, F1 far from being a spectacle has become too complex and costly for it to show relevance to Mr Average. In fact that's the point there just does not seem to be any real unpredictability as to what is likely to happen, and it's the foregone conclusion aspect that is a turn off.

I entirely agree, the technology is fascinating, but when race results hang entirely on strategic use of that technology, it ceases to be a sport. Once again the immortal phrase, 'driver x has the faster car, but is finding it hard to overtake'

I used to be into it but like above it's got to techinical for me, the drivers no longer have a say, it's all down to pit stops and all that, it was ok last year when they could only use 1 set of tyres per race, what needs to be inplemented is gear changes with the drivers hands, none of the automatic gear shifts.

Our Jenson got poll today and i hope that he can win win his first Grand Prix

[Gareth]

I'd like him to, but I woiuldn't put any money on it. Don't get me wrong, I like Jenson, but I can't see him winning... although he's got more chance of doing that than Coulthard, who couldn't even win if he was the only driver on the circuit!

What a great race that was, loads of action, shame about JB though...

[Hom3r]

I think that the decision to stop JB just before the finish line after that spectaular blow up, will cost them at the end of the season.

I loved F1 when it was on the BBC, but ever since ITV have taken it the coverage went from 1st class to z class.

I mean adverts that last 3-4mins that add up to about 25mins of ads during the 90 min race that a 3rd of the race taken up by ads.

Thank God I have Sky Sports and I can watch A1GP.

[andygrif]

The decision to stop him short of the line will save them a penalty placing in three weeks, so whilst it wasn't very sporting, it was a good strategic decision.

That said, JB proved yesterday what I've been saying for a couple of seasons now - he's a good driver, very fast, technically brilliant - but what he's not is the better than people like Kimi and Alonso. Kimi's amazing overtaking move on Button was and inspired bit of expertly calculated risk-taking and that's why Button will probably never win a GP.

Great race yesterday, some rather good exits too!

Originally Posted by andygrif

The decision to stop him short of the line will save them a penalty placing in three weeks, so whilst it wasn't very sporting, it was a good strategic decision.

That said, JB proved yesterday what I've been saying for a couple of seasons now - he's a good driver, very fast, technically brilliant - but what he's not is the better than people like Kimi and Alonso. Kimi's amazing overtaking move on Button was and inspired bit of expertly calculated risk-taking and that's why Button will probably never win a GP.

Great race yesterday, some rather good exits too!

Yes, the choice was a guaranteed 10th place yesterday, versus starting at best 10th at Imola, in 3 weeks. I was initially surprised he didn't coast over the line, but can see the reason for the decision to pull over.

Regarding the race, it was ok, I thought, but some strange anomalies - why was Fisichella so much slower than Alonso, how come Barrichello still can't get used to the Honda, why were the teams struggling so much with their tyres?

It will be interesting to see if Ferrari can improve at Imola, otherwise it looks like a battle between Renault & McClaren for the title.

[sherer]

been enjoying the new season so far and even though Renault have won all the races there has been excitement in each one

still not sure on the final bit of qualifying burning off fuel for 10 laps at the start of the final 20 mins is hardley exciting

shame for JB yesterday but as soon as the race started he was on the back foot and it got worse and worse.. if Fisi hadn't stalled he wouldn't even of led a lap

Schuey crashing was nice to see and then he went into the wrong garage too

also interesting to note how much slower the car was without the bendy wings

still like to see abit more overtaking and but less technology on the cars

looks like the Torro Rosso's might be protected about by the other teams due to there V10s

Also in case no one knew Coulthard got 8th after Speed picked up a 25 second penalty after the race

[ian@huth]

The new qualifying system is far better than the previous one particularly if you attend the qualifying session. One car going past on its own every couple of minutes was hardly worth the cost of admission for the day. The burning off of fuel in the final session is puzzling though. Why not just let teams nominate their starting fuel load before the session and run on near empty for that last session as they used to do. I would like F1 to introduce the push to pass system as being used in A1GP and the USA.

[sherer]

the reason for the burning off the fuel bit is as follows

Qualifying is designed to work out who is the quickest car and have that car starting at the front going down to the slowest car at the back.

If the cars start in that order then they tend to finish in that order as the quickest car at the front pulls away.

As such the FIA and Bernie have tried to make it so that we have qualifying but don't have teh quickest car at the front.. hence all this fuel strategy stuff.. they knew the fuel would have to be burnt off during the session hence the 110% lap rule

my own opinion is that either you have qualifying and you have the quickest car at the front.. or you don't want the quickest car and the front and have ramdom grids.. random grids means no qualifying and pull them out of a hat or a Porsche Cup race of something.. trying to force the two together has led to about 5 different formats in the past 3 years which just hasn't worked

[Matth]

The simplest solution would be a return to the old qualifying, but with a time limit for using the laps to prevent the old wait-out situation, where only the minnows go out first.

Saw the qualifying once, don't think I'll bother again.

The fuel burn idea is just stupid, since it means they just waste time, and no longer have to balance "running a long first stint" with the qualifying penalty of the extra fuel.

Alternatively, to give the leader more of a challenge and keep it closer, get rid of qualifying and start in reverse championship order.

[Orior]

A mate of mine says about formula 1 "What a waste of fuel."