State of F1 and sport today

[Bloodwych]

I'm a big formula 1 fan, but todays race really is highlighting some negatives about modern F1.

I'll start on the positives though - Kovalainen's accident. That car went from 140 mph to a dead stop without dissipating ANY energy from flying car debris or rolling. The fact he has come out with so little apparent injuries is an absolute miracle and a testament to the safety of F1 today. I'm sure his internal organs might have a few issues so it's still too early to tell that he's fine, but all signs look good.

When I saw his car buried and how abruptly it stopped, I feared the worse. I also couldn't believe how it dug itself into the tyre wall - that looked dangerous and I was cursing its design. Then when I saw the nose damage, I was sure his legs would be broken. But no, the tyre wall did its job in the way intended. Unbelievable!

My big concern is what if a Honda with those stupid dumbo wings on the front had the same accident? One of those wings could have gone straight into a drivers helmet upon impact. I hope they're banned by the next race on safety and visual grounds.

Now onto the negatives. The cars, as if we ever thought possible, are even worse at overtaking this year. Anyone who tries it ends up crashing 75% of the time and in some cases cars a second a lap faster have to sit 5 seconds behind a slower car because they lose grip when trying to close. What we had was a precession of cars with the same gap between each one. Boring to the extreme. F1 have done a bad job of car design regulations for a long time now.

Then we come to the drivers attitude. Did you see them on the podium? Earlier ITV had a feature showing drivers from Stirling Moss's era, where drivers were all friends, joked around, “chased crumpet” and celebrated in style. They worked hard and played hard and it was great to see.

Today we have corporate toys throwing their toys out the pram, rarely happy for anyone other than themselves. Those three on the podium with the champaign were totally devoid of creating any kind of celebration atmosphere. A little false smile here and there for those who didn't come first and for the most totally ignoring one another. I want human emotion and reactions back in F1, not this.

F1 isn't alone in this. Many other sports just don't have that natural feel of humanity and spotsmanship anymore, replaced by false, deliberate and careful actions combined with selfishness. Why have we allowed business ethics to turn our sports into "professional" lifeless corporate playgrounds? Sport should be full of life and thunder, personality, emotion and passion. Sport should be run first and foremost for the people, not the accounts departments bottom line or business image.

We have gained much from the past, but we've also lost touch with what it's like to express true humanity in the sporting field. As society becomes more developed and ethical, we also lose a large part of what truly makes us feel human.

[AlexJ]

It was Barcelona though, usually (along with Hungary) one of the worst races of the season for overtaking and action. What is it, something like 8 consecutive seasons where the polesitter has gone on to win the race? In any case the current regulations book on aerodynamic design has been thrown into the bin for next year. Basically any winglets or bits on the cars are banned and rear wings are simplified which should make for less problems when they're in turbulent air:

http://img293.imageshack.us/img293/2135/pedrozx8.jpg

Earlier in the season when Rosberg got a podium, Hamilton seemed genuinely happy for him. I wonder if perhaps the accident of Kovaleinen was in the back of their minds so they didn't want to appear to be too happy on the podium today.

[Bloodwych]

True Alex and I hope it does change things. I'm probably over-reacting as it is that time of day just before heading into another week of work, a time when I'm most cynical (I don't always think like this!), but I can't help feeling something is amiss in sport today and F1 just reminded me with the contrast between old and new (the Stirling Moss feature ITV showed us Brits). It's not even nostalgia on my part, as that era was before my time.

You have a good point about the accident, but I'm sure they were told over the radio what we heard on TV - that he was fine.

The racing, the attitude and the atmosphere is just so sterile, like at a work office. Predictable, professional, yet ultimately dull.

I hope F1 can get a little life back into it. I want to see doughnuts being permitted on the track at the end of races, drivers getting a lift back on rival's cars, fans handing drivers flags to hold up high on the parade lap. A little unsafe and unsavoury for the men in suits, but us fans thrive on such actions!

[AlexJ]

I hope F1 can get a little life back into it. I want to see doughnuts being permitted on the track at the end of races, drivers getting a lift back on rival's cars, fans handing drivers flags to hold up high on the parade lap. A little unsafe and unsavoury for the men in suits, but us fans thrive on such actions!

I believe the drivers would love to be able to do celebrations etc. on their victory lap (Massa did so in Brazil a few seasons back) but sadly the rules say "all cars must proceed on the circuit directly to the post race parc fermé without stopping, without overtaking (unless clearly necessary), without receiving any object whatsoever and without any assistance (except that of the marshals if necessary)." - it's apparently so that TV times run smoothly. They've even stopped them from celebrating with their teams before going onto the podium. I don't really see what 5 extra minutes of celebration would do, the safety car must have added 10 minutes to the race time today. MotoGP allows burnouts, riders to carry flags etc. with no problems.

[Buleste]

I think the reason Kovalainen's car didn't get slowed down by the gravel trap is that gravel traps work fine if all 4 wheels are oin the ground but when his wheel blew it lifted his whole front end and started a front to back rocking motion as he was going through the gravel trap so that little of his momentum was dampened.
As for the FIA and their regulations i would love for the FIA to go to :sick:Ferrari and McClaren and say design your ideal F1 racing car. No regulations other than the money is coming out of your pocket. Then see what they come up with.
I hate all the regulations that have come in. F1 used to be the spawning ground for new technologies that we now see in our own cars but now thats not going to happen because of all the controls. Last year they had all sorts of driver aids and the better drivers had the confidence to overtake. This year most overtaking manoevers end in an accident so the regulations have destoryed any safety they were supposed to improve.
As for the celebrations i think Hamilton is just pissed off that Ferrari are doing so well when this should have bneen his year. I'm just glad that Alonso ended nowhere after his tantrums last year.

[Tiago]

It was Barcelona though, usually (along with Hungary) one of the worst races of the season for overtaking and action.

Sorry Alex, but it's not true. Hungary it's a very slow and tight circuit, that is very difficult to overtake (we had some exceptions piquet and senna gave a great show in the 80's) but wit Barcelona is very different. Barcelona has a big strait and it's large in more then half of the circuit. It has 2 point here they can overtake.

the "hard" circuits for overtake may be:
hungary
monaco
canada
Melbourne

the rest are not so bad...

[Harrison]

I totally agree that F1 is no where near as fun as it was in the past. The 60's right through to the 80's were great times for the sport, with innovation constantly being developed in the technology inside the cars, and the drivers taking their lives in their hands and taking real risks in the cars.

Due to the regulations all cars now are very close mirror images of each other. Remember the 70's especially, then the first turbo cars and 6 wheelers were around. That was the best time for me. But even the 80's and early 90's were great, with the cars more powerful and some true battles fought on the track.

It is because all of the cars are being forced to be the same that we have the current situation of them all being too closely matched with no unique benefits from one over another in different situations on the track.

Next year could see a return to some better times for the sport. As already mentioned most of the extra aerodynamic parts are going to be banned, meaning the cars will not be as stable and stuck to the ground, but in return the FIA are reinstating the slick type giving a lot more mechanical grip back to the cars. This could in theory see a lot more grip when cars are following each other and less instability due to air turbulence. End result could be closer battles and more overtaking. That is the hope anyway.

As for the drivers themselves. Very true. Compared to the drivers of the past today's drivers are becoming driving machines, without much activity outside of their job role. Boring and clinical. But I think this is more down to themselves than an regulation change. They are now sportsmen who have to train and try to be at the peak of physical fitness. Years ago they still had to be fit to endue racing, but not to the level they are these days.

[Buleste]

I think the worst personalities in F1 have all been Finnish. All that driving on ice etc during the winter has created some good drivers but destroyed their personalities. Raikkonen being the worst. His personality is so dull it acts like a black hole sucking in all other personalities and not allowing any to escape. But in some way it's inevitable that personalities have gone as there is so much money involved the drivers have to be profesional but also because there is less danger involved the attitude of "live for today for tomorrow we may die" has left the sport. As for next years rule changes we'll see. But at least it'll be back on the beeb.

[AlexJ]

I think the worst personalities in F1 have all been Finnish. All that driving on ice etc during the winter has created some good drivers but destroyed their personalities. Raikkonen being the worst.

Hakkinen was the exception IMO - he had a very dry sense of humour at some of the post-race press conferences.

I've just seen a close up photo of the Kovaleinen accident - very scary, the barriers shouldn't do that. FOM's TV pictures yesterday cut before impact on the onboard and only showed the impact from a high angle as they weren't 100% sure Kovaleinen was OK. They defintely need to look at alternatives to tyre barriers (SAFER walls or something)

http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/636/vc8170427091024x768wx5.jpg



Sorry Alex, but it's not true. Hungary it's a very slow and tight circuit, that is very difficult to overtake (we had some exceptions piquet and senna gave a great show in the 80's) but wit Barcelona is very different. Barcelona has a big strait and it's large in more then half of the circuit. It has 2 point here they can overtake.

the "hard" circuits for overtake may be:
hungary
monaco
canada
Melbourne

the rest are not so bad...

I counted two overtakes in the race yesterday, and the 2007 race report suggest similar. I can't remember a single good race there for years. Canada and Melbourne have thrown up good races the last time they were run there despite being parkland tracks. Monaco doesn't provide much overtaking but the close barriers make it a skill to watch (and plenty of incidents usually). Barcelona & Hungary are definitely in my bottom two tracks.

[J T]

I heard that away from the track environs Raikkonen is a real booze, drugs and bird hound, a real party animal. But he is boring on the TV conferences though.

I like watching F1 but haven't really paid much attention to it this year. Still, good news that it's going back to BBC soon, eh? If only for 'The Chain' which surely they HAVE to bring back.