We attended the US F1 race this year........a month ago.

My F1 attendance has spanned 24 years; Sivlerstone, Hochenheim (old track), Magny Cours, Imola, Monza, Circuit Gilles Villeneuve etc.

This year SUCKED! period..........Bernie get the message.

 

It pains me when the commentators only give positive spins on F1. If Diifey, Hobbs and Matchet said "what an exciting year" one more time I was going to shoot my TV.

I think F1 has to stop looking for a deeper meaning and remember that this is entertainment. It's nice if they development new technology along the way but that should be secondary to the entertainment value.

Sent from my iPhone using Rennlist

 

The questioning of following F1 was aimed at the Alonso Fanboi.

I have been an F1 fan since the film Grand Prix came out. Being in Southern California it was a challenge. Rob Walker's pieces in Road & Track was my bible, as I was just a wee lad.

I was at the Long Beach Grand Prix when it was an F1 race. 1977 was my first.

F1 has not been that fun since Vettel started to dominate. Although seeing Hamilton mature before our eyes was great.

 

+1

 

I had a separate chats with Diffey and Varsha (I know he doesn't announce F1, but he still keeps tabs on it) about the F1 season. Lets be honest...they are being paid by a network to broadcast racing that 1) relatively very few people in the US watch, and 2) their network pays a lot of money to F1 to broadcast, so they need to be positive and upbeat....you don't bash the hand that is feeding you while also trying to gain audience.

But privately you could tell...with Diffey, he seemed to say..without saying...that this season has been tough to broadcast. They've had to be 'creative'. But he's is right about a couple things: the battle between Nico and Lewis has been entertaining, as has the battles in the rest of the field between Ferrari, Williams and Red Bull. Seeing some of the young guys in Riccardo, Magnason, Bottas has been good for the sport and shows promise for the future.

In the end, lets be honest....it all comes down to the sound. If the cars screamed like in the past, would we be complaining about fuel mileage, reliability, or even that Mercedes was running away with it? What about Vettel and Red Bull the past few years? They were unbeatable, but there wasn't the outcry there is now... Yes, I know the sound is the effect of the fuel regulations, but in the end, if they could find a way to wind them up to 18000 rpm and conserve fuel...would we all be OK with that?

 

FGL, we must be of the same vintage as I too grew up reading about F1 by way of Rob and R&T...

Went to the Austin race with my two boys, 28 and 30, who inherited the car gene from their dad and grandad. I've been going to races since the late 60's in the US (mainly Road America) and we've all done SCCA racing and shifterkart racing.

This was their first F1 race in person and my second (first Indy in 2000 was my first). First thing we heard on Thursday before the pit walk was the safety car doing hot laps- sounded pretty impressive, kind of like an old Trans Am car.

Seeing the cars up close, along with the pits, occasional driver etc was pretty neat and the COTA facility is very impressive (yeah Texas knows how to do it), but the sound of the cars was disappointing, though somewhat better in person. At Indy, MS went by us (only car on track) and we had to reach for the earplugs!!

Was also very obvious from our vantage point at turn 19 the speed and pace difference between qualy and the race thanks to that STUPID fuel restriction!! Sounded like they were short shifting the whole race.

Porsche Supercup race sounded better and the race itself was better...

Overall, the experience was great but I sure missed the sound of the "old" F1!!

 

I hear you about biting the hand that feeds you and hoped that might be the case. Hobbs is usually the only one who goes slightly "off script" from time to time. Maybe being an older guy he has more security and says what he wants. Its refreshing to hear about your conversations with them.

For me it isn't just the sound. I do want them to race and race flat out the whole race. Conserving tires and fuel has always been a part of racing but not to the degree it is now.

Is the rev limit part of the engine regulations that Mercedes would have to agree to be changed or is it just the hardware components? Upping the rev limit and giving them more fuel, and fuel flow, would go a long way toward making things better.

 

I missed your response, so here it is.

Apologies if I don't let hatred run my life and call it as most here see it.

Maybe I need to ask you, do you get paid to hate Alonso. Were you in love and had your heart broken?

Long enough to be able to hold conversations (back from Senna days)

Yes, actually, I go every yr to Montreal and skipped this yr due to family reasons. How many races you watch every year in person?

 

The rev limit for the engines currently is 15,000RPM and I'm sure the engines would sound better if they got anywhere near that. The functional limit is closer to 12,000 or 12,500 because of fuel flow. They are indeed short shifting the engines because there is no more power to be had higher in the rev range, just more pumping losses and overly lean engine mixture. Ditching the fuel flow restriction would go a long way to improving noise and racing.

 

I would think the rev limit of 12-12.5k has more to do with fuel burn or being able to get a certain average. As you go higher in the rev range, the fuel flow increases, which would throw the average off.
For the 1st time that I remember, f1 is turning into a complete turn off. Too many limitations. Miss the 20-21k redline of those V10's.

 

If that were the case, they would rev them to 15k to pass and in qualifying.

 

I am not 100% sure so I will have to check. My understanding on the reason they cannot run higher revs is because there is no refueling and you are given only a certain amount of fuel which has to last through qualifying and the entire race. I will look for some supporting docs either way.

 

You are correct. Due to fuel flow limits, there is no return in going past the 12k rpm limit. No further gains would be seen. Thanks for the correction.

 

He has. I've seen him there. Drank too much Diet Coke afterward.

 

I was under the impression that the engines were capable of much higher revs but were merely limited by the fuel flow rate.