Hope You're All Happy Now

Hope You're All Happy Now

  May 18, 2007    MamaeyaYT

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I guess we've all heard the news by now. If anyone's still reading my posts, you'll know that I am vehemently against Max Mosley's plans for the future. But as I've said previously, I grow tired of tirades and diatribes against Mosley. So far I've tried hard not say anymore negative things about the sport of Formula 1 I've followed for so long. I am going to fail here.

My argument has and always will be that grand prix racing should be the pinnacle of racing technology. The art and science of going fast. However, I also hold that there should be sensible limits placed upon such technologies so that the driver plays an important role in proceedings and isn't relegated to being the monkey that steers the wheel.

Anything else is rubbish.

But I can see there are lots of things in the new proposals that should make a lot of people happy. I've read calls for limited aero development, increased mechanical grip, road and industry relevance so that you can think that your stupid hybrid MPVs and SUVs has some racing pedigree in it.

To satisfy such needs, you now have standard bodywork which cuts aero development to near zero at the cost of resembling a glorified GP2 championship. You're going to have boost buttons which really doesn't add anything at all in terms of action and excitement. And in the same vein, neither will bloody energy recovery systems.

Never mind that grand prix racing is now going to promote biofuels that are going to result in greater deforestation of the planet as third world countries scramble to take advantage of increased world demand.

Oh and isn't traction control due to be banned in 2008? Yes I thought so but they'll be back shortly. In addition, four wheel drive will make a return as well, ensuring that living tissue in the car actually is the monkey that turns the wheels. Brilliant!

All of this so that more manufacturers will come in and they can sell more cars and use F1 as the ultimate promotional tool. And so that we can attract more casual fans to the sport and hey Bernie and CVC can then make even more money. GrandPrix.com is going to be so pleased. But as more of these manufacturers come in, Minard-coolness is going to be even more confined to the past.

But hey, we all seem to have wanted it, so Max is now aiming to please. Funny. If road relevance is important, shouldn't the FIA be increasing the profile of and developing racing categories like rallying and touring cars? After all, they look uncannily like the cars you and I can drive.

If these new proposals are passed, then Formula 1 as we know it for the past 57 years and beyond will cease to exist. We should all mourn its passing but unfortunately I think many people will actually applaud it.

Rant over. Looking forward to the next instalment of the BTCC.

Update

I almost forgot. As if 2 weekend race engines aren't enough, now Max wants engines to last 5 bloody weekends! Oh the horror...

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Aero Developments

Aero Developments

  March 23, 2007    MamaeyaYT

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A good article appears on Pitpass explaining the various aspects of the current "moving floors" controversy. It provides a good explanation of the mechanics of these new aerodynamic developments without the need for the reader to have a degree in aeronautics.

Explained in this manner, what sounds like yet another infringement by the Ferrari team similar to the row over flexi wings, has been made to look, well, kinda cool. I'm actual a sucker for developments of this sort. Its a purely racing innovation, which is the one of the main points of Formula 1 in my opinion. That is to be the pinnacle of racing technology.

Rules of course are rules. And at the end of the day, we can all shout and swear at cheats but as we have seen in the past it really depends on what the FIA say. And we all know they tend to show favour towards Maranello. But also, as the article on Pitpass maintains, the FIA generally will not take any strong action unless new innovations result in a compromise of safety or results in an unacceptable competitive advantage.

I think we can discard the argument regarding unacceptable competitive advantage, for isn't that the job of the teams and the whole point of innovation? Besides, what is new today would have been copied by all teams tomorrow. That being the case, there is a question of whether innovations such as these compromise safety. It may not have a direct safety compromise (such as make the car dangerously unstable or put the driver at risk) but then the FIA are always trying to slow the cars down in the name of safety. Of course there is a risk that if and when these aero parts break (and some examples are given by the Pitpass article), the situation then becomes dangerous and poses a safety concern.

But don't you love it that despite increasingly oppressive regulations, the designers are still trying everything they can to innovate? Its a pity that most of these inventions are not visible to the naked eye. But far be it from being irrelevant to fans, as alleged by Max Mosley, they are actually a source of fascination of the sport.

A good article, with a better explanation than the one GrandPrix.com attempts to give and with less of GrandPrix.com's sweep this under the rug away from the public eye attitude. That belittles the public and assumes that they "can't handle the truth."

All in all, I hope the FIA does nothing and doesn't ban these types of innovations and long may it continue.

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Melbourne Qualy Notes

Melbourne Qualy Notes

  March 16, 2007    MamaeyaYT

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Despite a clear victory for Ferrari in the winter, qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix confirms what many have suspected. Its going to be close.

Ferrari

I would have liked to have seen Filipe Massa complete his flyer for the second part of qualifying. I would like to have seen how he would perform when its game time. Alas, his Ferrari would let him down. I suspect though that when the chips are down, Kimi Raikkonen still has that edge on him. But for sheer value for money, Massa seems like a rock bottom bargain. Massa paycheck being USD 8 million a year compared to Kimi's reported USD 51 million.

McLaren

In bloody good form I think. Alonso it seems has transitioned very well at Woking and showing the young pup just who carries the world title. Nevertheless, I am impressed by Lewis Hamilton for his very mature debut. Alonso is a dependable driver and you can bet that he is in with a very great chance in tomorrow's race.

BMW

The dark horse. Has been quick all winter and nice to see them translate that to big game performance. People have been impressed by their long run performance during testing and this should make these guys quite a dangerous proposition this weekend.

Super Aguri

The story of the weekend if you ask me. Both Sato and Davidson were considered surplus to the factory Honda team's requirements. And see here, they are both ahead of the works team. Superb! When it was first announced that from 2008, teams would be able to purchase chassis, this was the sort of situation that I had hoped would happen. Think RBM vs Schnitzer or Joest Racing vs Porsche or Team Green vs Ganassi. Its great to watch.

Now this won't happen every year or as this very season progresses I suspect. If we look back into the past, I think this is similar to the case of the McLaren MP4/17D of 2003. A year old design suitably updated turned good. But the difference is the MP4/17D had the whole winter. The new Super Aguri had its first run during the practice session.

But given Super Aguri's performance today, you can bet that Frank Williams and Spyker would have been on the phone to the solicitors even before qualifying had ended.

Oh and Clive? Its ahem... Sato not Davidson. But still I think Ant is doing a great job.

Renault

Rubbish. Losing Alonso is obviously hitting the Enstone based team really hard. Has been so all winter and so it is today. Say that Alonso is half a second quicker than Fisi on average, and Alonso is still driving the Renault. That would only put him fifth on the grid today and about a second away from Raikkonen's Ferrari. The car is suffering because it now runs on Japanese rubber. This is good if only to shut that perma tanned thrash talking gigolo up. He's been mouthing off during the winter against his former driver and his former driver's new team. Well, eat shit Flav.

Given that the engine freeze has started this year, the only way Renault will catch up is through aero and mechanical development. Well, if Flav and the FIA had their way, there would even be an aero freeze in the future. All very nice if your team is on top but if you want to catch up you're shafted. Well, the Renault is no longer on top and you can bet that Flav will not be so vociferous in his support for Mosley's madness.

Toyota and Williams

I'm a bit surprised by these guys. All weekend the Williams have looked quicker. But on low fuel qualifying they've proven quicker. Just what is up? We'd need to see what happens during the race but I suspect it should be a lot closer between Toyota and Williams. However, the factory team making it into the top 10 is totally unexpected. Lets see if they last the race.

Honda

Drop the cynical corporate paint job and call Aguri Suzuki. And start acting like a racing team again rather than simply another corporate department.

Red Bull

Inconclusive but I'm hoping Adrian Newey's design will come good as the year progresses. Still not as quick as the works Renaults but its close.

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