Rate the race: Round 12 - Italian Grand Prix

frostie500

Not gonna lie...I ended up having a five lap snooze in the middle of the race!

decisions

2

I watched the minor final for a while, didn't miss anything.

I'm becoming more and more disinterested in F1 as the season progresses. I really hope the reg changes for next season spice it up.

I give it a 3 but had kimi and Lewis not been out of position it probably would have been a 1.

Frankie Lee

Water sprinklers are beginning to look like a better idea as time goes on. I'd imagine it will be a similar situation next time out with Mercedes instead of Ferrari trailing Vettel.

Myrddin

2

3 from me, it doesn't help when the race winner is usually decided the day before...but nothing of any real interest happened at all.

EB_2013

2

decisions wrote: »

I'm becoming more and more disinterested in F1 as the season progresses. I really hope the reg changes for next season spice it up.

Same here, I ended up flicking over to the BSB races on Eurosport which were miles more entertaining. Once Vettel gets in front I lose interest. The rule changes in the past seemed to have an immediate affect but after a while the racing becomes boring again.

steve_r

3

EB_2013 wrote: »

Same here, I ended up flicking over to the BSB races on Eurosport which were miles more entertaining. Once Vettel gets in front I lose interest. The rule changes in the past seemed to have an immediate affect but after a while the racing becomes boring again.

Yeah, I'd agree with that.

I gave it a 3. Another procession behind Seb. Few interesting overtakes.

Wanted to see that thermal cam in action and then PDR went and crashed

The frustrating thing for me is that that there are drivers just as talented as Seb, but the gap in machinery is killing the sport.

We're back to the bad old days of Schumi I think......

Autosport

3

4 from me, Di resta woke me up at the start and some nice overtaking from Lewis, Jensen and Kimi other than that Yawn fest, Would have been so much better if Kimi and Lewis were at the front and make Vettel earn his win.

Isn't it great to have durable, predictable tyres and "pure" racing?

11811

2

I also had a snooze in the middle... Was quite disappointing really, which is a pity as Monza is such a fantastic track. Worried that the past two "classic" races have been so dull.

Slutmonkey57b

2

Most of the beloved classic tracks are just as bad as the modern ones for processional racing. The cars are the problem, not the tracks.

Cookie_Monster

You're going to have to start to add zero as a poll option...

Cookie_Monster

Slutmonkey57b wrote: »

Most of the beloved classic tracks are just as bad as the modern ones for processional racing. The cars are the problem, not the tracks.

True, they need to seriously look at massive aero restriction and simplification and allow teams to claw back mechanical grip. The ground effect that the GP2 or 3 (I can't remember which race I was watching when mentioned) seems to allow for much closer racing without killing performance in the slipstream

who_me

(Devil's advocate here) but I'm not sure what you're all talking about. There was quite a bit of overtaking throughout the race, up as high as positions 2/3/4. It's certainly a pity (from an entertainment perspective) that Vettel is dominating, but it's not much different from Schumi dominating before, or the McLarens or Williams in eras past.

I'd bet there was more overtaking in this race than in similar races 10-15 years ago. I wonder if there's an element of rose-tinted nostalgia going on here - remembering previous years as better than they were?

LIGHTNING

LIGHTNING wrote: »

I don't know I watched one of the GP2 races and it wasn't much better. Most of the action was due to either a)mechanical failure b)amateur hour driving

The first GP3 race had great action once they got through the silliness of the first few laps. GP2 is usually very entertaining in Hungary of all places as well.

Frankie Lee

who_me wrote: »

I'd bet there was more overtaking in this race than in similar races 10-15 years ago. I wonder if there's an element of rose-tinted nostalgia going on here - remembering previous years as better than they were?

But a few years ago overtaking was a skill, DRS makes it far too easy to overtake at the likes of Monza. It would be much better if Hamilton had to struggle behind other drivers for a few laps rather than cruise by on a straight line. A much shorter DRS zone needs to be implemented in future.

Slutmonkey57b

2

LIGHTNING wrote: »

I don't know I watched one of the GP2 races and it wasn't much better. Most of the action was due to either a)mechanical failure b)amateur hour driving

This is a big factor in modern vs. classic f1.

Technical retirements are rare.
Driver standards are higher (the backmarkers and pay drivers of yesteryear were significantly worse than those today, see chilton or maldonado vs taki or nakajima).
Car performance is more analysed, engineered and understood.
The driver has a lot of things to do in the cockpit but they're all more controllable and digital (masses of switches vs. manual clutches).

All these things add up to a formula which has fewer unknowns, fewer mistakes, and fewer human elements. Money and engineering took over, and they're less likely to go wrong. Things going wrong= opportunities.

Slutmonkey57b

2

Frankie Lee wrote: »

But a few years ago overtaking was a skill, DRS makes it far too easy to overtake at the likes of Monza. It would be much better if Hamilton had to struggle behind other drivers for a few laps rather than cruise by on a straight line. A much shorter DRS zone needs to be implemented in future.

A few years ago there was no overtaking at all, due to aero wash. Once the first lap (or corner) was finished, you could effectively switch off the race. DRS isn't perfect but it's better than seeing a top car 2 seconds a lap quicker in raw pace bottled up behind a midfield driver who has the laws of physics playing wingman for any overtaking.

ScumLord

steve_r wrote: »

The frustrating thing for me is that that there are drivers just as talented as Seb, but the gap in machinery is killing the sport.

I don't think you can discount just how good Vettel is. Webbers a good driver but he can't do the same thing with the car. I do think Vettel has much more of a challenge than schumacher had back in his day as there's a lot more better drivers in the field.

I thought it was a good enough race, there was plenty of over taking down the field, hamilton and Kimi put on a good show, Masa did fairly well. There's more to F1 than the top 3 places.