The F1 Thread

[GordonS]

1 minute ago, Mr. Brightside said:

Good job Checo.

In fairness, Verstappen did the same last year at Hungary in much less wet conditions than today.

[vikingTON]

Utterly pathetic, this, for what would be the default conditions for the Fort William Grand Prix. 

[The Golden God]

Fucking get on with it.

[doulikefish]

Kimi will be loving sitting in the garage while this lot sit in the grid 

[Boo Khaki]

No wonder fewer and fewer people can be fucked with this mickey mouse series.

[doulikefish]

Max-its fine to race

Helps when you are at the front 

[vikingTON]

'The cars are not designed to race in these conditions'. Oh well I guess we'll just have to organise 21 races in fucking Bahrain every year then. 

[Leicesterlichtie]

Shall we set up a scalextric track In the stewards room and get the drivers to race from there.

[MP_MFC]

Wee bank holiday Monday race upcoming.

[doulikefish]

Hopefully the buses from Verviers station are dropping off and picking up in the Francorchamps which they normally do on the Fri/Sat but then on the Sunday they change to a field down by the entrance at Eau Rouge 

It will be a quagmire for the spectators down there 

[GordonS]

38 minutes ago, Boo Khaki said:

No wonder fewer and fewer people can be fucked with this mickey mouse series.

Eh? More people are watching it than ever and it's a classic season.

Drivers accept a certain level of risk but we're way beyond that here.

[Boo Khaki]

1 minute ago, GordonS said:

Eh? More people are watching it than ever and it's a classic season.

Drivers accept a certain level of risk but we're way beyond that here.

The current drivers have a lessened sense of risk because there is no payback for abusing track limits, and the cars are so robust that they walk away unharmed from even the big shunts. F1 has always run in conditions like this until recently, because the drivers accepted that you had to moderate your driving to account for the conditions. The only reason they are all whining about aquaplaning is because of this fucking nonsense whereby you can't alter the set-up of the car between sessions, so they're all in a dry setup instead of having the ride heights raised and wings cranked on. That, and these monstrosities are so overly reliant on aero downforce that running at half-speed is more dangerous than getting the pace car the f**k out of the way and driving at race pace.

It's not the fact they aren't racing that is mickey mouse, is the mickey mouse regulations that mean they can't and won't race in conditions like this, despite it never being a significant issue prior to ten years or so ago.

[doulikefish]

Perez can start "awaits the Merc seethe" 

[Mr. Brightside]

Stupid decision to do those two formation laps because now the time limit is also a factor.

[MP_MFC]

If they decide to do one more lap and call it a result then I’d be very close to packing this in.

[GordonS]

15 minutes ago, Boo Khaki said:

The current drivers have a lessened sense of risk because there is no payback for abusing track limits, and the cars are so robust that they walk away unharmed from even the big shunts. F1 has always run in conditions like this until recently, because the drivers accepted that you had to moderate your driving to account for the conditions. The only reason they are all whining about aquaplaning is because of this fucking nonsense whereby you can't alter the set-up of the car between sessions, so they're all in a dry setup instead of having the ride heights raised and wings cranked on. That, and these monstrosities are so overly reliant on aero downforce that running at half-speed is more dangerous than getting the pace car the f**k out of the way and driving at race pace.

It's not the fact they aren't racing that is mickey mouse, is the mickey mouse regulations that mean they can't and won't race in conditions like this, despite it never being a significant issue prior to ten years or so ago.

You've mixed up cause and effect. The cars got safer because the drivers stopped tolerating their death rate.

I'm not sure when they last raced in rain as heavy as this. It's easy to sit in your living room and say it doesn't look that bad, but I don't think that reflects what it's really like. Spa is also a less forgiving circuit that others, with much less run-off in critical places. When did they last race on a circuit like this, in weather like this?

Being heavily reliant on aero downforce makes them go faster. They should go slower because it might rain?

The main issue right now is visibility. They could just drive slower and stay on the track but if they can't see it's beyond a tolerable level of risk for most.

In any outdoor sport there will be conditions that will make it not worth it. Take the rough with the smooth.

[Leicesterlichtie]

If it does happen that they just manage 2 laps, it seems a farce to give out half points. 

With time ticking just run behind the safety car. Might help to disperse some water and give a slim chance for some proper racing.

[UsedToGoToCentralPark]

Have they got the rules of cricket mixed up with F1?

[GordonS]

Just now, Leicesterlichtie said:

If it does happen that they just manage 2 laps, it seems a farce to give out half points. 

With time ticking just run behind the safety car. Might help to disperse some water and give a slim chance for some proper racing.

If it comes to half points I could live with that, as a reward at least for qualifying performances.

Obviously it would be better to give them every possible chance to race.

[Boo Khaki]

5 minutes ago, Mr. Brightside said:

Stupid decision to do those two formation laps because now the time limit is also a factor.

The most ridiculous thing about it was they got on with it because the rain was expected to intensify after about 15 mins. So it was inevitable that the laps behind the safety car were going to be a litany of drivers moaning that they couldn't see, what on earth were they expecting when the rain got even heavier? As soon as somebody spun off it would be an inevitable red flag and we'd just be watching what we're seeing anyway. They might as well just call the race off as soon as it's forecast to actively rain on a Sunday afternoon because this happens every single time.