[Tech Issue] Will F1 be boring in 2014?

[Marbot]

Some team managers are worried that the racing will be too predictable if the cars continue to stop only once for tyres.

"It is a point of concern or discussion in the next couple of weeks, because we cannot have a situation where in order to be very conservative we will have races where there is not any thrill," said Domenicali, when asked by AUTOSPORT about the tyre situation.

Christian Horner, Red Bull. "I think you have got to get the balance, haven't you," he said.

"Austin was a low-risk race as far as tyres were concerned. A reasonably static race as well.

"So it is a matter of finding that balance. It is important to not give Pirelli too hard a time in trying to find the blend between degradation and reliability.

"But you have to be careful. You don't want all the races to be one stop.

"You want to have a blend of strategies and that is where the tyre is obviously a key factor."

Not all were worried.

Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn said: "I think there will be quite a lot of action from the cars next year.

"I don't think the reliability will be 100 per cent, so there will be quite a lot going on there.

"I think we have got quite a lot, at least for a year, going on with racing from that perspective, so I wouldn't worry overly about the tyres being more conservative.

"If the racing starts to settle down again then maybe we need to look at the tyres, but I have my suspicion we will have our hands full with the cars next year."

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/111439


http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/111378

Paul Hembery, Pirelli. "We have seen a few things that have made us think that we need to take a step back, and we would end up with a one-stop, which is maybe not what the sport wants.

"But somebody needs to tell us what the input is."

[Spritle]

Austin was snooze-fest because everyone was going for a one stopper and did almost nothing in the first stint to ensure that happened.

If fuel conservation becomes another factor along with tyre preservation, 2014 will become painfully boring. Unlike Ross Brawn, a blown engine on a competitor's car doesn't make a race exciting for me nor does some bloke in P10 benefiting from it. For me it will always be balls out, wheel to wheel to the limit charging no matter where in the order it happens.

How you make that happen is beyond me, but more tyre changes or more gimmicks isn't the answer either.

[davyboy]

The one thing they haven't mentioned is Vettel. He has gotten much better this year and is now head and shoulders above everyone else. There is no longer a fight for the lead and it's not inconceivable that this could be the case for many years to come ! You can have all the battles you want up and down the field but if the leader is always 30 seconds up the road people will switch off.

[Razor]

Simple, bring back fuel stops. If F1 wants to run "green", let them use ethanol blend fuels.

[alan1302]

Originally Posted by Razor

Simple, bring back fuel stops. If F1 wants to run "green", let them use ethanol blend fuels.

So was F1 an exciting overtaking fest of pure excitement when we last had re-fueling?

If it was it's not what I remember!

[nobster]

will F1 be boring in 2014?

can't be more boring then it is in 2013! Formula one has become Formula Yawn...

[Marbot]

Originally Posted by Spritle

For me it will always be balls out, wheel to wheel to the limit charging no matter where in the order it happens.

More Arnoux vs Villeneuve stuff.

Originally Posted by Spritle

How you make that happen is beyond me, but more tyre changes or more gimmicks isn't the answer either.

Budget cap.

Originally Posted by davyboy

The one thing they haven't mentioned is Vettel. He has gotten much better this year and is now head and shoulders above everyone else. There is no longer a fight for the lead and it's not inconceivable that this could be the case for many years to come ! You can have all the battles you want up and down the field but if the leader is always 30 seconds up the road people will switch off.

Yes. I'm also beginning to think that Vettel is in a league of his own. My opinion of him would actually go down if he gave in to those who think that he needs to move teams in order to prove himself as a 'Great'. But that's for other 'driver' related threads.

There is also a danger that Vettel and Red Bull will cause, or already have caused, the more fickle F1 fans to turn off and go and do something more interesting, instead. But that's also not got much to do with the generally 'static' racing that occurred at the US GP.

[Marbot]

Originally Posted by Razor

Simple, bring back fuel stops. If F1 wants to run "green", let them use ethanol blend fuels.

The idea that F1 cars should need to stop for fuel 2 or 3 times during a 2 hour race, doesn't exactly give the impression that F1 is trying to be "green", regardless of which kind of 'pump' fuel they are using.

[MarkG]

If we are talking boring with regards to race wins, and the championship fight then it's not so much Vettell, it's more that the dominant team has only one top driver, and like Ferrari, prefer to have a favoured driver(despite what Red Bull may say). Mark Webber made it non-boring in 2010 but faded away once the car was developed around Vettell and whatever other reasons.

McLaren was dominant in the late 80's but there were TWO drivers capable of a championship.

In more recent times when McLaren had a great car, you had Hamilton and Alonso, plus Hamilton and Button.

Many times over the many decades of Grand Prix racing, there has been a dominant car/team, but it's not boring if a team doesn't care which driver wins ( as in McLaren or Williams), but it is boring when the team with the best car operate with a favoured driver. The Scumacher Ferrari years of 2000 onwards were the worst ever period of GP racing in my view.




If one is talking boring with regard to the racing behind the race leader(s), then it is rare that it is completely boring, there is always something of interest. At other times though, it is rather boring when drivers are just toodling around because of tyre or fuel saving and operating under engineers' instructions.

[chris bailey]

F1 was never conceived to be entertainment. It "became" entertainment when the commercial interests became dominant (thank you Mr Chapman for starting that). It was entertaining from time to time, particularly in the late '70's, but all the pratting about with tyres/refuelling/DRS/drive-through penalties/strategies will not make it so. Love it for what it is, or watch NASCAR (which is proper entertainment).

Next year will be more interesting for all manner of reasons, mainly technological. Problem is, the man in the street, who the TV companies feed off, will not understand what's going on, most of the time. In which case, refer him to NASCAR.

Meanwhile, with Rory Byrne in charge of the 2014 Ferrari (conceptually, at least), I am looking forward to the best two drivers (SV and FO) going at it all year long. It certainly will not be a repeat of 2013. Seb will have to work much harder.

[jeast]

I think F1 will continue to be boring as long as they continue down this spec road with everything new and interesting being banned.

[chillibowl]

Originally Posted by Marbot

Paul Hembery, Pirelli. "We have seen a few things that have made us think that we need to take a step back, and we would end up with a one-stop, which is maybe not what the sport wants.

"But somebody needs to tell us what the input is."

in your opinion would more testing have made a difference for the US GP?

between the rain overnight and the heat and high track temperature it was always going to be difficult if not impossible to pick the right compounds to bring several weeks before the competition took place.

Originally Posted by chris bailey

F1 was never conceived to be entertainment...

good points and totally agree.

im also optimistic that next year will be better as well. that said it might be boring by the end as the teams figure it all out or shift focus to 2015 but i feel as though an exciting start is in order.

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by Marbot

Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn said: "I think there will be quite a lot of action from the cars next year.

"I don't think the reliability will be 100 per cent, so there will be quite a lot going on there.

I've become convinced that this is the key. Idiotic though it sounds, we need unreliability. For a few races at least - to throw up those absurd Maldonado-style wins and to give chasing drivers an ailing car to hunt down. Other than that, perhaps McLaren could offer advice to Red Bull in the canine department?

[chris bailey]

Reliability is one thing that is "spoiling the show". It's truly remarkable that very few car failures occur in the modern era. If you accept that every driver has a different level of mechanical sympathy, then there's clearly no benefit to be gained there any more, given that (most of the time) all the cars seem to finish. However, if you took away the pit-to-car telemetry and radio, mandated mechanical throttle and clutch operation and banned power-steering, then you'd soon see a very different picture emerging, as scope for mistakes would be vastly increased, as would the level of mechanical attrition. There's nothing like a missed gearshift to ruin someone's day for them........

[BSchneiderFan]

People keep banging on about Schumacher being the favoured driver at Ferrari, but the simple truth is he was faster than his competitors. (Yes, there was Austria 2002, which was a crass miscalculation, but he'd have won the title anyway.) Does anyone seriously argue that Irvine, Barrichello or Massa would have beaten him to the title but for Ferrari favouritism?

[paddy]

Originally Posted by BSchneiderFan

People keep banging on about Schumacher being the favoured driver at Ferrari, but the simple truth is he was faster than his competitors. (Yes, there was Austria 2002, which was a crass miscalculation, but he'd have won the title anyway.) Does anyone seriously argue that Irvine, Barrichello or Massa would have beaten him to the title but for Ferrari favouritism?

You've answered your own question there. All three of those were clearly chosen because they weren't fast enough to beat MS.

[Jordan 199]

Reliability bothers me so much. Everything in the race is a little too slickly done, which doesn't sit well when the same driver keeps winning. Of course we have midfield battles, but would that be enough to sustain us over another long season? This is the first year in ages where I've missed two or three races and not really minded.

I really hope next year is less straightforward. The driver moves are fascinating, and we have the new regulations, so we can always hope. I'm not sure what would mix the races up a bit; deregulation and budget caps might be sensible.

[GORDON STREETER]

Fit spikes on the wheel hubs !
On a more serious note TV coverage can never really show the amazing speeds that F1 cars actually go, especially head on shots with massive telephoto lenses. Obviously most people only watch it on the box so a lot of it will look boring unfortunately.

I have always said that the rules on F1 cars should be almost unlimited with the car having to fit inside a rectangular footprint with no restriction on engine size or turbo's, tyres or gearbox speeds, but a limit on fuel type and capacity.
That would make it more interesting and bring the clever innovators out !

[littleman]

F1 has become an over policed, over regulated, sterile, semi spec series of no particular interest. You can't argue with the principals of Health & Safety, or Energy Efficiency, but then again, only a true "Window Licker" can possibly get excited about it.

I fully expect 2014 to continue the trend.....even the drivers look like they're getting bored with it..........I certainly am.

[wolfhound]

One thing we are all forgetting is that next year we will have more powerful ERS. That should give drivers more options in terms of racing of where and when to use the stored energy.

[Aysedasi]

It just still sounds like the old turbo 'press to pass' idea to me - how far have we come? Once upon a time, race drivers passed each other by superior application of racecraft, not by pressing a button or opening a wing flap....

[Biscuits In A Red Bull]

I think there's a fine line to pleasing casual fans and keeping F1 on the radar, but keeping it as a pure motorsports series.

F1 2014 will not be boring. Even 2011 wasn't boring.

[Knowlesy]

Originally Posted by Aysedasi

It just still sounds like the old turbo 'press to pass' idea to me - how far have we come? Once upon a time, race drivers passed each other by superior application of racecraft, not by pressing a button or opening a wing flap....

KERS is a part of racecraft IMO. Everyone has it equally each lap and it is up to them when best to utilise it. I like it.

DRS is most definitely an obscene nonsense.

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

KERS is a part of racecraft IMO. Everyone has it equally each lap and it is up to them when best to utilise it. I like it.

Until it stops working and you're stuffed.

[migliacars]

To make it all more exciting just make them use a cheap 20/50 from halfords.

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rc...YrrbJcDvcyqKRw

It will slow everyone down
and make the engines unreliable
keep costs down

its win win