In the round-up: Jean Todt says the FIA has made enquiries following recent fatal accidents at Interlagos.
Links
Top F1 links from the past 24 hours:
Todt happy with Interlagos safety (ESPN)
“We are aware of the incidents that occurred at Interlagos in another category. We made detailed inquiries about the cars [involved in the crashes], not the track. Everyone can rest assured that all measures will be taken to avoid repetition of such accidents.”
Formula One Fantasy – McLaren’s Jenson Button (Formula 1)
“I never liked these cars so overdone with electronics. I like a loud and fast engine – I would probably opt for bringing back the V10 engines. 850 horsepower – that was quite something!”
Interview: Daniel Ricciardo’s big adventure (GP Update)
“Saving the tires is one of the most crucial things this year in Formula 1. I’ve learned a lot and I’m quite happy with the direction it’s going.”
Kolles: No HRT Money worries (Autosport)
“I think that we are in a much better position than many other teams here in the paddock, and now we have to start to improve this team at full power, as quickly as possible. I know that people are impatient sometimes, especially journalists.”
“Great day today cycling with Alain Prost at a very special place, and he doesn’t hang around either!”
Via the F1 Fanatic live Twitter app
World rallying’s big dilemma (MotorSport)
“Former FIA president Max Mosley didn’t do a huge amount for the WRC, but now that Jean Todt is in office things may well change. He’s got a history in the series, having been a World Championship navigator from 1973-81, and the fact that he has already sorted a World Endurance Championship for next year can only bode well.”
“What does Romain [Grosjean] like to do on a Wednesday in August? Visit us in Enstone, of course http://http://t.co/bQkZJOt”
Via the F1 Fanatic live Twitter app
Enzo Ferrari in your own words (Ferrari)
Steve Matchett: “I did work for Ferrari during the great man’s time at the helm; was a Ferrari employee on the very day of his passing. To have worked for Mr Ferrari during his lifetime is amongst my proudest achievements, my fondest memories.”
F1 Minimal Movie Posters (Flickr)
“Formula One inspired movie posters designed by Russell Ford.”
Follow F1 news as it breaks using the F1 Fanatic live Twitter app.
Comment of the day
Former FOM employee GT_Racer on the use of team radio in F1:
When I was at FOM working on F1 Digital+ we did broadcast a lot of team radio live, especially on the pits channel where you would often hear detailed conversations between driver & engineer.
We used to get a ton of swearing back then and because we were pay-per-view we were able to get away with it to an extent. I remember [Juan Pablo] Montoya used to swear a lot on his radio:
When we brought back team radio broadcasts in late 2004 we did initially broadcast them live at times while also replaying some stuff delayed. There were a couple occasions when swearing made the broadcast and the various broadcasters complained to us about it which is why we went to delaying everything.
Teams also then started blocking our access which made us limited in what we could get however that’s now changed and FOM have access to everything.
While I no longer work at FOM I know that they won’t be going back to live radio broadcasts on TV any time soon because of the swearing issue. I know some would like to hear that but many do not, especially if there are kids watching.
There’s an argument to put them online although FOM at present don’t have the facilities to do that themselves as silly as that may sound.
Haven’t asked about if its still going ahead recently but I the plan was for FOM to make all radio traffic available to broadcasters next season so that they could put them online or use them in there own broadcasts.
GT_Racer
From the forum
Always a discussion worth having: why have there been so few women in F1?
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Adam Smith, HSVLVR and Pink Peril!
On this day in F1
The only world championship race at Pescara was held on this day in 1957.
Stirling Moss won for Vanwall with Juan Manuel Fangio three minutes behind and Harry Schell another three minutes adrift.
TommyB (@tommyb89)
18th August 2011, 0:06
Ah the good old days :/
Craig Woollard (@craig-o)
18th August 2011, 0:13
I watched a clip of Fangio the other day. Every single corner, on every single lap, was 100% spot on…
snowman
18th August 2011, 0:56
In probably Fangio’s best ever performance, at German Gp 1957, when a bad pitstop held him up he went on a run of really fast laps. Beating his own lap record by 6 seconds and his pole lap by 8 seconds on way to winning race against superior cars, and that at age 46!
No wonder plenty still consider him the greatest.
TheBrav3
18th August 2011, 2:31
This is gona get me enough stick to open my own orchid but….
If he beat his own pole time by an ammount of seconds when he really wanted to race, it shows you how lazy/not-on-it/not-pushing he was the rest of the time. It’s no wonder his car was not considerd the best if for the rest of the season he was just pootling around 5 or more seconds off the ultimate pace. Yes i realise drivers were more aware of their mortality but for all you know there were drivers in the field, on the limit every lap in cars that simply couldn’t do that kind of pace.
If you took a young fangio the exact one from the 50’s with his life and experience and put him in a 2011 redbull alongside mark webber and said this car is safe just push like hell. Mark would beat him simple as because mark like all current formula one drivers drive to the limit of the car and are used to that and nothing less. If you took fangio as a child and put him in a cart and the lower series and then formula one it might be different. The fangio from the 50’s however would loose to current formula one drivers.
Ok let me have it.
David-A (@david-a)
18th August 2011, 4:21
Maybe he took 6 seconds off his personal best because it was a long track. Like one called the Nurburgring Nordschliefe, where that 1957 German Grand Prix was held.
BasCB (@bascb)
18th August 2011, 7:06
@TheBrav3 – that prediction is pretty probalby coming true.
First of all, we are talking of the Nordscheife, so that amount of seconds is on a 7-8 minute lap.
And then, If we would put him up next to Webber, I think he would do pretty much what Vettel did in early races. Grab pole and then just manage the gap. It wins you races and the championship with less risk of accident or mech troubles so its the way of a champ.
If we consider his physical health and strength, modern driver would almost cerainly beat him, not to mention operating all the dials and buttons suddenly, but I wouldn’t say he would be completely useless.
snowman
18th August 2011, 10:25
@Brav3, it was a very long lap at the Nordschliefe. It was the most dangerous of all the tracks in a time when loosing your life on the track was a common thing. For that reason pushing the car to the limit was very different to today.
Its like the difference between walking a tightrope between two skyscrapers or two dog kennels. If he crashed he was dead, if you crash now it is very unusual to have any lasting effect.
As for would he be competitive today, it’s just like a completely different formula to back then. If you look at how good Jim Clark was across different racing series I tend to think him or Fangio could have hoped in a modern F1 car(one they could just drive without getting used to all the dials & buttons!) and after alot of practice be able to go quicker than most of the modern grid. Then again I could be completely wrong but we will never know!
One thing though, I definitely think if Fangio or Clark were born later and raced up through the modern formula’s the debate about who was the greatest would only center around those two.
Icthyes (@icthyes)
18th August 2011, 12:11
I think you’re right to a large extent.
Fangio’s fastest lap that day was 9:17.4, his pole position being 9:25.6, an improvement of 8.2s. Impressive? Of course, it is the old Nurburgring we’re talking about. And yes, he cut 48s off Hawthorn in 10 laps, 24 in the first two. But 8.2s represents a lap time increase of 1.5%. In a 90s lap of today, that would be 1.35s. Even the 24s figures is inflated, considering it was a 570s lap. Again, jaw-dropping but for different reasons than the number itself.
A great achievement but the numbers really don’t support the inevitable over-glorification in comparison to the present day.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
20th August 2011, 0:39
1950s cars were not only more dangerous, but also more fragile. A certain amount of caution was necessary to nurse them to the end. Quite a few drivers might have been faster over one lap but they’d invariably have to either slow down more than Fangio or deal with the fact that their cars would have broken thingimajigs long before the race finished.
Fangio was good at estimating how fast he could push a car without risking damage to it or himself, which meant he tended to finish races he started – and not have to give up places due to the need to limp back to base. He said himself “I try to win races at the slowest speed possible”. The natural consequence was that on the one day he decided to throw all caution to the wind, he had a huge margin in which to work.
Fixy (@)
18th August 2011, 17:35
You mean he went 6 seconds slower than the best he could do for most of the race? Not putting much effort in it ;D
snowman
18th August 2011, 18:36
Ya, what a slacker the 5 time world champion must have been.
If only the likes of Fixy was their to tell him to pull his socks up, he might have actually achieved something in his 8 year career other than just 5 world championships, winning nearly half his races and setting pole in more than half them. :)
snowman
18th August 2011, 0:11
I miss Montoya http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLuaWsSNgYk&feature=channel_video_title
Craig Woollard (@craig-o)
18th August 2011, 0:14
I love it when McLaren drivers swear for some reason… No other team just quite do it as well… (except for Mark Webber)
Deurmat
18th August 2011, 7:48
I love his “Ow deer” conversation :’)
snowman
18th August 2011, 10:32
“like a horse with horns”
Classic
snowman
18th August 2011, 10:34
“Ow deer”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heCsKujaxs4
beneboy (@beneboy)
18th August 2011, 10:30
I don’t :-)
Craig Woollard (@craig-o)
18th August 2011, 0:11
A largely dull day in Formula 1…
Fantastic to hear that both the Safety Car and the Red Flag have been confirmed for F1 2011. Another step to the game becoming as realistic as possible.
But when does a game get too realistic? Would you play a game which is identical to the teams simulators? I know I wouldn’t. I just physically would not be able to handle it, with G-forces and everything, and I’d get frustrated as my driving would not be up to the standard to even stand a chance.
It took me years to properly get the hang of Gran Turismo 4, and (as I didn’t get F1 2010) I don’t want to have the same frustration as I did with that. In fact, I only managed to win the World Championship on F1CE on hard difficulty with all driving aids off and everything last week. I don’t want the game to be too realistic that it’s impossible to play!
Alfie (@alfie)
18th August 2011, 15:58
The Red Flag is in F1 2011?! Why has nobody told me this..
F1CE is a very easy game once you have it for a couple months in my opinion, I won it on hard all aids off tw or three months after I got it.
Fixy (@)
18th August 2011, 17:46
I’m sure many people that wanted the SC will complain about it.
MVEilenstein
18th August 2011, 0:26
Fixed it for you.
BasCB (@bascb)
18th August 2011, 7:12
:-)
MVEilenstein
18th August 2011, 16:55
Just sayin.
Dane. (@dane-1)
18th August 2011, 0:45
The F1 movie posters are pretty funny. Especially the one with Massa wearing high-heels :)
BasCB (@bascb)
18th August 2011, 7:16
Really nice, the deja vu is nice as well as the cliffhanger one.
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
18th August 2011, 1:40
New F1 2011 trailer:
http://www.gamersyde.com/stream_f1_2011_gc_offscreen_trailer-22879_en.html
It’s mostly made up of moments from this year. And then Sebastian Vettel gives everybody the finger.
Dave Blanc
18th August 2011, 3:20
Wow. I want this game NOW!
Deurmat
18th August 2011, 7:47
Really? This is not what you get… I would like to see some actual gameplay first…
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
18th August 2011, 13:48
Looks good, a little more fluid than their last attempt. There’s nothing better than game footage however. We seem to getting less and less of that these days…
Burnout (@burnout)
18th August 2011, 4:54
Regarding GT_Racer’s COTD, does that mean teams can keep their communications from being broadcasted if they throw in an F-bomb with each transmission?
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
18th August 2011, 5:14
If they did that, they’d probably get fined. The transmissions are on a delay to allow FOM to filter out profanities, so I very much imagine that they could also censor it anyway.
bananarama
18th August 2011, 6:21
If we get everything, teams will simply use code for everything. RedBull do that anyway and it even makes sense because some code words will be clear and simple for the driver to understand. And if you want to push it you can use swear words as code. Its not nice and you might get a fine but might be worth it.
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
18th August 2011, 6:40
They’re not allowed to use code for everything. If a team is issuing orders, those orders are only legal if they are open about it. Which means no more “Fernando is faster than you”.
bananarama
18th August 2011, 11:57
Is that a rule that you just invented in your head? Who cares what people want, if I want to use code I use it (RedBull use plan a b c for different strategies they talked about in their briefings) and if its not allowed I’ll pay the fine .. how much can it be?!
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
20th August 2011, 1:01
No such rule exists in the rulebook. It’s advisable that a team can explain anything that’s being said down the radio, but only because being unable to do so could make the stewards suspicious and redouble the FIA’s efforts to nail that team on something else. Dodgy codes can only be the start of an investigation, not the end of it.
BasCB (@bascb)
18th August 2011, 6:52
Very happy birthday to Adam Smith, HSVLVR and Pink Peril (not using the Pink Pirelli one anymore I see, back to living dangerous :-) ), I wish all of you a great day today to enyoj it.
BasCB (@bascb)
18th August 2011, 6:55
And a bit of news for all of you hoping to see a Red Bull car on the streets of Austin, seems there will be no public event (they might still film it without public – might depend on counsel signing it off), but at least the car will be up for show in the city:
– via @StatesmanF1
BasCB (@bascb)
18th August 2011, 7:00
here is the link to their article http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/racing/entries/2011/08/18/red_bull_no_public_f1_show_car.html
Adrian Morse
18th August 2011, 7:12
If swearing is such an issue, why aren’t drivers encouraged to moderate their language a little? I can understand some strong language in the heat of the moment, but if you can manage not to swear in front of the camera, you should be able to on the radio too.
Also, PM, is it in the regulations that they aren’t allowed to use coded messages, or only for specific purposes (sounds like a silly restriction to me)?
BasCB (@bascb)
18th August 2011, 7:23
I think what PM is referring to is the ban on the teams coding, encrypting etc. any radio messages that was part of the agreement to give FOM access.
After all having access is not of much worth if its unintelligable.
As for not swearing when on camera – how about that if all messages of all sessions are available, making it not swearing for about the toughest 8 hours in the GP weekend, when driving the car in anger.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
18th August 2011, 8:27
There’s nothing in the rules which governs what they can say on the radio.
@HoHum (@hohum)
18th August 2011, 14:33
For instance ” I say chaps, that blighter Schumacher just took my wing off”
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
20th August 2011, 1:04
Probably because all the encouragement in the world wouldn’t necessarily make the drivers remember to watch their mouths at the critical moment.
There are some things that can’t be said over the radio (like a request to crash into another competitor) but all such things are equally against the regulations whether coded or not.
Martin
18th August 2011, 9:33
Anything work for security is perfect. In what may be in Formula 1 has very few serious accidents to the speed they go. What will make Massa in Brazil this year?
In November is also the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, but that we will see if I can watch live with Santander Formula Contest. Did you tried it?
Coefficient
19th August 2011, 14:40
Que?
PJ
18th August 2011, 18:33
Those movie posters look great, especially Downfall! :)
On a related note my store is back online, and while you can’t pick up F1 poster anymore, I am giving away “mystery gifts” ;)
http://pjtierney.bigcartel.com/
Jarv027
18th August 2011, 19:07
Refuelling didn’t add to the spectacle Jenson, we just seen overtakes in the pitlane. How boring!!!
Coefficient
19th August 2011, 14:42
He’s entitled to his opinion.
Jack Cowie
22nd August 2011, 13:11
That corner at Interlagos should never have had a tyre wall on the outside. It should have been concrete, and now they should build a NASCAR-style safer barrier.
damonsmedley (@damonsmedley)
23rd August 2011, 12:09
Best COTD ever. Thanks so much!