Round 19: Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

rua1972

frostie500 wrote: »

The main issue with F1 this year was the tyres being too stable, bring back a tyre war and the performance profile of the tyres changes completely giving us greater wear rates and more challenges with strategy. Doing something like that would actually be beneficial, aero changes are yet to work for increasing overtaking but look at Canada for what can happen when tyres force drivers to attack the race in different ways

I think Bridgestone played it too much on the safe side with the tyres. On ly exception being the Canadian GP. In monza Vettel changed to the harder compound in the last lap of the race, having done all the previous laps on the soft. Hopefully Pirelli will make a bigger difference between the compounds.

thewheel2.0

Every time I bet against Vettel he proves me wrong, I keep thinking that young head on his shoulders will crack under pressure. Flawless race when it counted...I'm now converted.

Also I'm raging over Alonso I couldn't hate him anymore after that race, you wouldn't see Massa at that crap:rolleyes:

EvilMonkey

VW 1 wrote: »

Works well in the A1 GP series, surely more chances for overtaking, and having to react to your opponent using the boost wont be bad for viewing purposes?

Yeah where is A1GP now?

The car behind can adjust its rear wing and blast by on straight line speed while the car in front can't do anything to defend.

Imagine Alonso had this in Abu Dhabi He would skip by Petrov, and because the Ferrari is faster quickly go off up the track with no chance for Petrov to respond. Catch Rosberg and do the same.

If Red Bull had it all season any time they were stuck behind Ferrari's/ McLaren's wait for the straight blast past then never be caught because they have the fastest car anyway.

Overtaking is supposed to be hard it is F1

amacachi

Turbos with no pressure limits, let there be a risk/reward for extra power.

supremenovice

Should have followed my own advice...:(

G-Money

The cool BBC video that played at the end of the coverage last Sunday.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsyOgYjrV8I

amacachi

The one they had last year was excellent too, saw it again on the Red Button last week. Since ye've no excuse now that the F1 is over I advise everyone to watch the NASCAR this weekend, last race of the season and if either of the top 2 drivers win the race they'll almost certainly take the title depending on qualifying points, gonna be awesome!

Myrddin

grandmaster wrote: »

The cool BBC video that played at the end of the coverage last Sunday.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsyOgYjrV8I

It's like the ending of a nine month long movie, & an absoloutely enthralling season that entertained the whole way, or at least the vast majority of it :cool: Roll on March '11.

Regards the change of tyre manufacturer for the next season, are we sticking with the narrower front tyres seen this season? Or will we see the wider one from '09?

Iron Hide

I'm sure tis the narrow ones next season as well. Theres a good few new rules and regs coming in (KERS, adjustable rear wing etc...) plus Bahrain is dropping the new section that was there this year.
Hopefully Mercedes can up their game a bit and and give the possibility of having 8 drivers in with a shout of winning each race.
I'd love to see Hulkenberg have a seat for next season as well.
Plus keep an eye on Lotus, Renault engines and Red Bull supplied cog-boxes and hydraulics.

frostie500

I really love the part at 1:04 with Hamilton against the wall, its a great image of a champion knowing that his hopes were pretty much over with his Suzuka crash. These end of season montages can be a bit tiresome at times but this one is fantastic and really shows loads of the moments that made this the best season in years

lord lucan

BBC's end of season programme is on Saturday at 13.00 on BBC 1.

G-Money

frostie500 wrote: »

I really love the part at 1:04 with Hamilton against the wall, its a great image of a champion knowing that his hopes were pretty much over with his Suzuka crash. These end of season montages can be a bit tiresome at times but this one is fantastic and really shows loads of the moments that made this the best season in years

I loved the slowmo of Schuey's powerslide in Singapore.

rua1972

if you can't get enough, here's another one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMTHSclMKis

G-Money

BBC Formula 1 review tomorrow at 1pm on BBC One.

I'm not trying to knock ITV as they gave us coverage of our sport from 1997 until 2008 but I think it's fair to say, the BBC's coverage is head and shoulders above ITV's.

I love the BBC's coverage, I hope they get to keep F1 for a long, long time.

Myrddin

grandmaster wrote: »

BBC Formula 1 review tomorrow at 1pm on BBC One.

I'm not trying to knock ITV as they gave us coverage of our sport from 1997 until 2008 but I think it's fair to say, the BBC's coverage is head and shoulders above ITV's.

I love the BBC's coverage, I hope they get to keep F1 for a long, long time.

Agreed. No ads & the whole team is so proffessional & entertaining (Obviously excluding Leggard, and for me DC comes across as so dry & pompusly arrogant).

GTE

EnterNow wrote: »

Agreed. No ads & the whole team is so proffessional & entertaining (Obviously excluding Leggard, and for me DC comes across as so dry & pompusly arrogant).

Though I think their little productions are way too overdramatic and can be cringeworthy, like the one where Eddie Jordan was narrating something to do with how the battle will be won or lost in Abu Dhabi.

Or Zane from Gonzo doing the countdown of the races.

Besides that its quite good.

Cookie_Monster

I've mixed thoughts about it. Most of the coverage is quite good and not having ads is great.
Legard is **** though and some of the stuff is a little overdone at times. There is also a massive over reliance/usage of red bull, I'm sick of looking at and listening to Christian Horner's smugness all the time.

I'd like to see a little more balanced buildup involving teams other than the top 4 too

Myrddin

bbk wrote: »

Though I think their little productions are way too overdramatic and can be cringeworthy, like the one where Eddie Jordan was narrating something to do with how the battle will be won or lost in Abu Dhabi.

Or Zane from Gonzo doing the countdown of the races.

Besides that its quite good.

Ah Eddie is cool, he's got a bit of personality & humour and although he can sound a bit in love with himself sometimes. For me DC is off putting, can you imagine that narrative done by him?

The no ads kills all evil though :cool:

frostie500

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

There is also a massive over reliance/usage of red bull, I'm sick of looking at and listening to Christian Horner's smugness all the time.

I'd like to see a little more balanced buildup involving teams other than the top 4 too

The one thing I would say about the use of Red Bull is that the vast majority of major stories throughout the season revolved around that team. I found throughout the year(especially the opening half of the season) that nearly everything I wrote was about how they had cost themselves a race or were staring at losing the title for one reason or another. As a result I'd find it hard to be critical of the team featuring so much in their coverage.

BaZmO*

How can anybody criticise the BBC for featuring too much coverage on Red Bull? Eh, didn't they win the Contructors and Drivers Championship this year? Plus they're based in the UK, and the two man guys are English. There's always gonna be some bias when you take all that into account.

Cookie_Monster

I assume BBC have Coulthard on it made it a prerequisite to feature them as much as possible, certainly seemed that way. If it was all about the English team they'd have been on about McLaren much more

EvilMonkey

BBC is ok not fantastic, no ad's and no James Allen makes it.
I hate all the non F1 filler stuff they do, Jake goes racing etc...
Not enough coverage of the midfield teams, too much Lotus, Red Bull(understandable), McLaren. Not enough Ferrari, Sauber, Torro Rosso, Force India, Renault, Williams.
Too much focus on themselves as the entertainment rather than talking to more teams, engineers drivers. The consent comments on EJ's clothes and in jokes between them is annoying sometimes.

losthorizon

frostie500 wrote: »

We had KERS last year and it was used mostly for defending positions, admittedly though only a handful of cars used it consistently but it didnt add anything to the "show." These measures were brought in as a kneejerk reaction to the Bahrain race and after a cracking season it's hard to see why the FIA are once more making changes. The main issue with F1 this year was the tyres being too stable, bring back a tyre war and the performance profile of the tyres changes completely giving us greater wear rates and more challenges with strategy. Doing something like that would actually be beneficial, aero changes are yet to work for increasing overtaking but look at Canada for what can happen when tyres force drivers to attack the race in different ways

Or just get rid of pit stops completely! (except in the case of rain)

Myrddin

losthorizon wrote: »

Or just get rid of pit stops completely! (except in the case of rain)

Are you kidding? The lack of refueling was the only single bad thing in this years season. No pitstops would simply mean whoever qualified pole would win the race (based on average), so Vettel would be a double world champ by this time next year Ah no, joking aside, it's always touted as a 'team' sport, and the pit crew play a massive role in a gp even though it's normally only a few seconds. Doing away with that would be a step backwards from an entertainment point of view.

losthorizon

EnterNow wrote: »

Are you kidding? The lack of refueling was the only single bad thing in this years season. No pitstops would simply mean whoever qualified pole would win the race (based on average), so Vettel would be a double world champ by this time next year Ah no, joking aside, it's always touted as a 'team' sport, and the pit crew play a massive role in a gp even though it's normally only a few seconds. Doing away with that would be a step backwards from an entertainment point of view.

I dont agree. Pit stops make drivers more cautious and less likely to try a pass. Why try a pass when you can wait for a pass in the pit? Its motor racing for goodness sake. Also with the degradation of tyres during a race I think you would get much more overtaking. Finally for those attending a race trying to keep track of who is where with pitstops going on is actually very difficult. Its easy when you are watching on TV but not so when a spectator.

frostie500

The one thing about not refuelling that i really like is that if a mechanic has a problem with the wheel nut or the wheel sticks coming off and 0.5s is lost there is actually the potential for punishment. With fuel stops the limiting factor on time spent in the pits was the amount of fuel added, now the limiting factor is the human element of the stop

TheChrisD

losthorizon wrote: »

I dont agree. Pit stops make drivers more cautious and less likely to try a pass. Why try a pass when you can wait for a pass in the pit? Its motor racing for goodness sake.

Then maybe F1 should start doing NASCAR/IndyCar-style throwing out the safety car for every little minor on-track incident?

Couple that with a tiny fuel tank that would need 3 stops to go the distance, and there you go, strategy abounds!