Formula 1 2016: General Discussion Thread

wobbles

The whole concept of knockout every 90 seconds is based on a track cycling event. The event is pretty exciting as it builds and builds until there is only one cyclist left. It works great for this event as the laps are so short. I cant see the same happening for f1 as the laps are so long.

My take on the new qualifying is the slowest driver in that session is eliminated, 90 second gap, next slowest driver in session eliminated. That means Merc can post one lap and sit in the garage for the rest of the session only coming out again towards the end of q3.

They may have been better off assigning one lap as being knockout where all drivers must preform a lap, a cool down lap, another knockout lap etc. Slowest driver on that knockout lap is eliminated. This would really punish anyone making a mistake and really make everyone push. No split times allowed to manage pace. Yellow flag immediately cancels current knockout lap. Once green flag comes out next time over the start/finish line becomes knockout lap

eviltimeban

wobbles wrote: »

My take on the new qualifying is the slowest driver in that session is eliminated, 90 second gap, next slowest driver in session eliminated. That means Merc can post one lap and sit in the garage for the rest of the session only coming out again towards the end of q3.

Then won't Mercedes be the "slowest" as they won't actually be out on track and posting a time? My understanding is that they have to stay out, almost at full speed, during the session in order to remain in the running.

Frank Bullitt

The first test is out of the way, and the rumblings already look like a case of previous years.

Merc are cruising around and are still far and away the fastest, they haven't even remotely turned up the wick yet. I am afraid 2016 will be another silver year.

stevesxm

Gintonious wrote: »

The first test is out of the way, and the rumblings already look like a case of previous years.

Merc are cruising around and are still far and away the fastest, they haven't even remotely turned up the wick yet. I am afraid 2016 will be another silver year.

you sure about that ? i thought vettel was quickest of the meds overall before he did that soft run in the 22's. i think merc is going to be tough but i don't think its a foregone conclusion...

PopePalpatine

Would it be fair to say that this year's Ferrari could be even more tailored to Vettel's style than last year's? That's the one thing that gives me hope that Mercedes don't get it all their own way this year.

Frank Bullitt

stevesxm wrote: »

you sure about that ? i thought vettel was quickest of the meds overall before he did that soft run in the 22's. i think merc is going to be tough but i don't think its a foregone conclusion...

Both Massa and Alonso have said that Merc are the ones to watch. Ferrari were also doing short runs in testing, compared to Merc who did longer race style runs. They also topped up the most amount of laps as well.

Massas comments:

"Them doing so many laps is already a big warning for the season, along with what they did in the last two years and how they finished the season, and the car they have and with the same rules.

"It is a warning whatever the situation. What they're doing on the track definitely shows they're going to be very, very strong again."

Alonso:

"I think the Mercedes domination did not finish," said Alonso. "I think they are very, very strong.

"They are doing some interesting days ... with that amount of laps, it means you have very clear things so when they put the potential as well, they are stronger than ever …

Also in relation to relative pace between the Ferrari and Merc on mediums

As with 2015's early running, Mercedes certainly haven't shown their hand. But a a glimpse into their true performance can be gleamed from their fastest lap on medium tyres - Rosberg's 1:24.867 on Day Two. Ferrari's best lap on the mediums, set shortly afterwards, was just a tenth slower, but the caveat is that Mercedes were running on a much longer stint.

And Kravitz:

"The big picture is that the world champions are only getting stronger and stronger," observed Sky F1's Ted Kravitz. "While we see a fresh start from Ferrari, here are Mercedes, already the quickest, putting something brand new on their car every day."

I would love to be wrong and see a close season, but I don't think that will be the case at all.

stevesxm

Gintonious wrote: »

Both Massa and Alonso have said that Merc are the ones to watch. Ferrari were also doing short runs in testing, compared to Merc who did longer race style runs. They also topped up the most amount of laps as well.

Massas comments:


Alonso:


Also in relation to relative pace between the Ferrari and Merc on mediums


And Kravitz:


I would love to be wrong and see a close season, but I don't think that will be the case at all.

i just saw those times as well... oh well...

Frank Bullitt

stevesxm wrote: »

i just saw those times as well... oh well...

I'm with ya pal.

F1 will be just like he has been the last few years.

El_Duderino 09

PopePalpatine wrote:

Would it be fair to say that this year's Ferrari could be even more tailored to Vettel's style than last year's? That's the one thing that gives me hope that Mercedes don't get it all their own way this year.

I was looking at the testing times from last year and Mercedes didn't top the times very often.

Gintonious wrote:

F1 will be just like he has been the last few years.

You're probably right in terms of the championship. Ferrari might have closed up on Mercedes and the whole grid looks to have closed up a bit. Reliability looks very good. I had hoped that McLaren could score some good results if they were lucky with others reliability but it doesn't look likely. Even Haas looks to have been on top of reliability for a new team.

Charlie-Bravo

Well ok, if 20 cars (is it 22 with Haas?!) are on track for the first part of quali, on a track with an average lap time of 1m30sec, that'll have cars spaced out at 4.5 secs each. And in reality, there'll be the mix up of those faster cars being caught behind the mid-field and back-end cars who are also on hot laps. I can see a lot of mid-field teams getting either the benefit or loss from this the most. I think there's going to be a great mid-field battle this year with this new quali system and the overtaking that will happen within the midfield group during races.

Charlie-Bravo

Reports noe saying the new quali won't be used until Spanish GP due to software issues. A lot of people in the media saying it's a mess and a farce!

http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/f1-forced-to-delay-new-qualifying-format-until-spanish-gp-676021/

hotwhiskey

astrofluff wrote: »

Reports noe saying the new quali won't be used until Spanish GP due to software issues. A lot of people in the media saying it's a mess and a farce!

It will fit well so into F1. Just add anything new to stop the falling viewing figures. These people making these decisions need to take these off.

HighLine

astrofluff wrote: »

Reports noe saying the new quali won't be used until Spanish GP due to software issues. A lot of people in the media saying it's a mess and a farce!

http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/f1-forced-to-delay-new-qualifying-format-until-spanish-gp-676021/

That's just a mess. Typical idiotic moves again. For F1 to recover, Jean Todt needs to go and the FIA overhauled.

El_Duderino 09

astrofluff wrote:

Reports noe saying the new quali won't be used until Spanish GP due to software issues. A lot of people in the media saying it's a mess and a farce!

I'm not a software designer but I imagine they could organise that technology in a short period of time if they wanted to.

I wonder if the new quali is designed to distract from the fact that merc are going to run away with the championships again. Better to give the media something to criticise rather than have them bash the sport for being dull.

If they do introduce it mid season, it's bound to catch people out for most of the rest of the season.

Going Strong

I think the qualifying changes were pulled out of the team's collective arses to stymie Bernie's plans for a "Championship Penalty" where the leading drivers would be given mandatory grid penalties to shake up the grid. Utter rubbish ideas from all concerned.

El_Duderino 09

El_Duderino 09 wrote: »

I'm not a software designer but I imagine they could organise that technology in a short period of time if they wanted to.

I wonder if the new quali is designed to distract from the fact that merc are going to run away with the championships again. Better to give the media something to criticise rather than have them bash the sport for being dull.

If they do introduce it mid season, it's bound to catch people out for most of the rest of the season.

It's ****in pathetic tbh. Consider the electronics used in the early 90s with traction control and stability management and so on, it was real bleeding-edge stuff.
Fast-forward 20 years and they couldn't even have the DRS control-system tell the difference between a car ahead and a car a lap behind. Ridiculous.

Ghost Train

I don't see it as a big deal, delaying it till Spain. They never promised it for the first race, it really does seem to be a last minute change that FOM and Bernie have to change the timing for. Probably be enough going on during first few races that it won't matter much

Need plenty of rain this season, looks like Mercedes will be even further ahead. Could also do with Honda realising they forgot to tell McLaren how to connect up the drive-train properly.

guyfo

El_Duderino 09 wrote: »

I'm not a software designer but I imagine they could organise that technology in a short period of time if they wanted to.

I was thinking the same thing, with a billion dollar business behind them you'd expect that a modified timing system could be created within in a week and perfected within a month.

Harika

As coming from software development, you might think it will be easy to change this, but first I assume the code is in a state, then the original coders might be gone a long time ago, so new people need to get into the code, but even then they need to test the changes in 20 countries, with a lot of different systems, and this will take time, cause if e.g. Monaco cannot implement it soon enough, they will look foolish.

Jordan 199

This March it will be twenty years ago when Albert Park in Melbourne held it's first Grand Prix.

Cookie_Monster

guyfo wrote: »

I was thinking the same thing, with a billion dollar business behind them you'd expect that a modified timing system could be created within in a week and perfected within a month.

+1

I'm somewhat sceptical about the implementation being the issue, rather who pays for it and how much vs how quick

Mike Litoris

Jordan 191 wrote: »

This March it will be twenty years ago when Albert Park in Melbourne held it's first Grand Prix.

What! :eek: For some reason I thought it was part of the calendar longer than that!

That was Villeneuve's 1st race for Williams where he finished just behind Hill, the car filthy from Hill spewing oil. I remember it too well and now I feel old too.

joeysoap

Deleted User wrote: »

Need plenty of rain this season, looks like Mercedes will be even further ahead. Could also do with Honda realising they forgot to tell McLaren how to connect up the drive-train properly.

If it rains Williams should just pull into the pit lane and wait for the rain to pass if the last year is anything to go by. But I do agree to make it interesting we need something, otherwise it's a long boring season ahead.

Charlie-Bravo

Ted's Notebook last week had Pat Simmons interviewed, Simmons said that the new quali is an idea which is agreed between teams in principle and there are no regulations in place for the moment. Also the system hasn't been trialed to iron out all the bugs. I suppose it does take a little bit of time to develop this stuff as we're back racing in less than 3 weeks. Spain is two and a bit months away, and the next European race in Spain (excluding Russia of course) is sufficiently spaced to get all that done.

TheDoctor

I thought it was Hills car was filthy from Villeneuve's car spitting out the oil. He lead for most of the race if I remember.

donspeekinglesh

TheDoctor wrote: »

I thought it was Hills car was filthy from Villeneuve's car spitting out the oil. He lead for most of the race if I remember.

Correct, then he slid wide on the oil at turn 1 and Hill got by.

Irvine was third, which won EJ a lot of money in a bet with Flav. The balance was the other way by the end of the year...

Harika

donspeekinglesh wrote: »

Correct, then he slid wide on the oil at turn 1 and Hill got by.

Villeneuve slowed down as instructed by his race engineer Jock Clear, because he ran nearly out of oil, what would have caused an engine failure. The slide was after the pitstop where Hill got shortly in front but was overtaken by Villeneuve again.

Charlie-Bravo

Channel 4's Twitter page: https://twitter.com/C4F1?lang=en and their gif:

https://twitter.com/C4F1/status/703331131203166212

Class. :P

Going Strong

Ferrari now saying they're against the new qualifying system.

Something about breweries, piss ups and organisational failures comes to mind.

Cool_CM

Jordan 191 wrote: »

This March it will be twenty years ago when Albert Park in Melbourne held it's first Grand Prix.

Jesus, don't say that! I remember being allowed to get up and watch it (as opposed to my usual routine of sneaking down to watch). Must dig out the programme for it when I get home, my aunt was working near there at the time and I made sure she got both it and the specific flag that I had sent over a badly drawn picture of for my birthday

Frank Bullitt

Drivers had a meeting today about the new qualy format. And they are very much against it it seems.

Cookie_Monster

Gintonious wrote: »

Drivers had a meeting today about the new qualy format. And they are very much against it it seems.

Is that Rosberg whinging already :pac::pac:

Andrew76

OSI wrote: »

"Do we still get a trophy?"

Isn't there a new driver of the day 'award' being introduced? Voted on by the public I heard. I'd love to be able to sit in on some of those drivers meetings, see who says what etc.

Jordan 199

Andrew76 wrote: »

Isn't there a new driver of the day 'award' being introduced? Voted on by the public I heard.

There is indeed.

Harika

Jordan 191 wrote: »

There is indeed.

ORF had something like this already, it was as popular, as cold soggy fries, found below a wet dog.

flazio

Interesting coverage developments, James Allen has left his commentary role for BBC Radio 5 Live and Jack Nicholls, the Formula E commentator is replacing him. There has been a 5 live programme on with Jennie Gow, Jack and Tom Clarkson.

TheDoctor

Apparently the new qualifying will be in place for Aus. Might get up to watch that carnage unfold!

doodahump

Anyone here recommend a good spot? AM hoping to go to the British GP this year - club corner would be my first choice but damn its pricey - am visiting friends an hour away from Silverstone for a few days so would be remiss of me not to use the opp to attend my first GP.

mickdw

Caught a glimpse of the manor coming down the pit lane last night and I thought it was the Sasol Jordan.
Nice looking paint job on it to be fair.

Myrddin

Two weeks to go

TheDoctor

Love the usual pre season optimism for a new season.....


..... which usually disappears about 30 laps into the first race as the Merc run away with it!

Spudman_20000

Despite him denying it, Hamilton's driving style was affected by the changes to the tyre pressure rules towards the end of last year, and we saw Rosberg win the last couple of races. I don't think for a second that he lifted his foot off the gas once he had the championship wrapped up.

Will be interesting to see if Hamilton can adjust his driving style accordingly. I'm sure he can, but it might give Rosberg a better chance to maintain a challenge from early on.

I think Mercedes still have plenty of pace in their pocket, and didn't show close to their out and out pace during testing.

I can see Ferrari being closer, but not that much. Reports from testing say that their race pace looks good compared to Mercedes. With Vettel's consistency, hopefully he can maintain a challenge too, or least get in between the 2 Merc guys on a regular basis.

Myrddin

Spudman_20000 wrote: »

Despite him denying it, Hamilton's driving style was affected by the changes to the tyre pressure rules towards the end of last year, and we saw Rosberg win the last couple of races. I don't think for a second that he lifted his foot off the gas once he had the championship wrapped up.

I reckon Nico has it this year, he destroyed Hamilton toward the end of last year & if he can keep that up he's laughing

ScumLord

Spudman_20000 wrote: »

Despite him denying it, Hamilton's driving style was affected by the changes to the tyre pressure rules towards the end of last year, and we saw Rosberg win the last couple of races. I don't think for a second that he lifted his foot off the gas once he had the championship wrapped up.

Inflating tyres reduces the grip available, so he could have been thrown by that, I don't think he's the smoothest driver on the grid so it would affect him.. I think though, that if he starts out the year on the right tyre pressure he should be fine.

Himself and Rosberg are within a tenth of a second of each other so it could go either way, it will all be down to mindgames, whoever gets the early wins could get the advantage.

mickdw

Myrddin wrote: »

I reckon Nico has it this year, he destroyed Hamilton toward the end of last year & if he can keep that up he's laughing

I will believe it when I see it.
Hamilton would seriously lose it if he had no answer to rosberg week in, week out. It would be the teams fault of course.

Andrew76

Myrddin wrote: »

I reckon Nico has it this year, he destroyed Hamilton toward the end of last year & if he can keep that up he's laughing

That's a big if. Feck all use winning races when the title is already lost.

Hopefully there'll be no more "Lewis is the champ" type remarks out of him either - automatically seeing yourself as inferior that is.

AMKC

Can,t wait for the new season and to see if the new qualifying makes any difference. I think it could be interesting and we might get a mixed up grid more often but I also think they should have introduced it next year not this year.

Myrddin

Andrew76 wrote: »

That's a big if. Feck all use winning races when the title is already lost.

Very true. I'd be inclined to think though that he won those last few races out of merit, rather than Lewis taking his foot off the gas so to speak. The tire pressure thing could be the big game changer this season, it's all conjecture up until lights out though It'll be interesting to see how things go for the first few races anyway.

Hopefully there'll be no more "Lewis is the champ" type remarks out of him either - automatically seeing yourself as inferior that is.

Yeah that was unreal last year, crazy talk so early on in that season. I think he's up for it now though, given how he finished out last year.