Marussia sees F1 popularity boost in Russia

F1 Fanatic Round-up

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In the round-up: Russian-backed team Marussia believe support for F1 is growing in Russia after the recent Formula Sochi event where Sergey Sirotkin also participated.

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Formula Sochi (Marussia)

CEO Andy Webb: “Every time we return to Russia we are thrilled to see just how much the fans here are embracing Formula One ahead of next year’s inaugural Grand Prix of Russia. The level of knowledge and interest is fantastic and this makes us especially proud to be the only Russian-owned team participating in the sport.”

Not as mean on the streets as it seems! (Toro Rosso)

Jean-Eric Vergne: “For both of us the race went wrong at the start. We both had some clutch behaviour problems and that compromised us badly. We both made poor starts and I went down to 15th place. Not easy to recover from there.”

Thoughts After My First Singapore GP (Places Races Blog)

“From the edge of the infinity pool I have one of the best city views in the world and as I gaze down on the streets being transformed from circuit to public highway in the aftermath of Sunday’s race, I cannot help but be staggered by the achievements of Sebastian Vettel in this year’s Singapore Grand Prix.”

Tweets

Comment of the day

The Felipe Massa Caption Competition attracted loads of great suggestions with some particularly good ones from Hotbottoms, Dinesh, Hamish, JackySteeg, Red Andy, and James.

But I chose this from @Hairs as my favourite:

Now remember, you go down the road, turn left, and the job centre is on your right.

From the forum

Happy birthday!

No F1 Fanatic birthdays today

If you want a birthday shout-out tell us when yours is by emailling me, using Twitter or adding to the list here.

On this day in F1

Happy birthday to Jochen Mass who is 67 today. Mass scored a single F1 win in the shortened 1975 Spanish Grand Prix.

During his last F1 season in 1982 he was involved in the accident at Zolder which claimed Gilles Villeneuve’s life, and another huge crash at Paul Ricard in which his car landed in a spectator enclosure, mercifully without causing loss of life. He pulled out during the next race weekend with injured ribs.

He enjoyed much greater success in sports car racing, winning the Le Mans 24 Hours for Mercedes in 1989. He was Michael Schumacher’s team mate for four races in 1990.

Image © Sauber

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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77 comments on “Marussia sees F1 popularity boost in Russia”

  1. I can’t help but feel there is a fair bit of double standards going on around this site. Many of the suggested captions for this round were very mocking in tone of Massa. I know it’s meant to be funny etc, but c’mon; how can you all deplore people for booing Vettel and then make fun of Massa, it’s pratically bulling (but no, it’s ok because it’s behind his back and he doesn’t hear it…). Both are pretty unpleasant, both are simply a person expressing their opinion. I don’t see the distinction in terms of disrespect to the driver. You can say Massa should toughen up, take it on the chin… but then so should Vettel (as he says he does).

    Massa has done his best, he doesn’t deliberately drive poorly half the time. He’s lost his job because he can’t deliver the results Ferrari rightly expect from their drivers. If you want to say he’s a bad driver then go ahead. You want to mock him publically as many here do, go ahead, it’s your right to free expression; but don’t then go and say people can’t boo a driver. It’s all free expression in my opinion.

    I’m not supporting the booing at all. I’m supporting people’s right to express themselves without criticism… and no, the irony is not lost on me. Maybe this comment is a bit unecessary I dunno. I just don’t like people beating up on Massa the whole time.

    1. Double-standards? On an F1 fan site? Never!

      Only my favourite driver is truly worthy! Your favourite driver is a pay driver, a hack, has no talent and has superior machinery!

      1. Chris (@tophercheese21)
        30th September 2013, 1:20

        ^ Lolwut?

        How has that got anything to do with what Nick was talking about?

        And now that I think about it, Nick is absolutely right! How can we say that booing is like the worst thing you can do, and then dish out all this mockery at Massa?

        Very true.

        1. Chris (@tophercheese21)
          30th September 2013, 1:26

          I know it’s all just a bit of fun for a caption comp. but it’s still a good point.

        2. Fairly sure @oblong_cheese was being sarcastic and probably agrees with Nick..

      2. What’s really funny is that by far the biggest double standard is his. He defends booing Vettel and objects to a few jokes aimed at Massa in virtually the same sentence.

        1. @jonsan If you read on you’ll see I said if people want to do either they should go ahead and do so. The double standard I am referring to is people here mocking a driver and then also jumping on the ‘real fans don’t boo’ bandwagon pedestal. I don’t see a distinction between disrespect via booing and disrespect via mockery.

    2. Most of these caption contests have captions that are in jest. There is a difference between making a joke about someone and attacking them. Sure, sometimes the lines will blur, but you can’t make comments in jest on the internet and public booing equal. There are very different moral questions one asks himself in those two situations.

      Besides, Massa has not been performing as well as expected of him; he has lost his seat with Ferrari and he and Rob Smedley have a rather candid relationship. These are topics that will find their way into a joke in this setting as they’re recent topics when it comes to the subject of Felipe Massa. It’s humor 101, really. ‘What’s the deal with Felipe Massa?’

    3. I’m 99% certain that Massa does not read this site and thus his feelings will be spared. All caption contests involve a certain amount of humor. And I don’t think a joke on a website is anywhere close to the same thing as fans booing at a race.

    4. Am I the only person who thinks that the “booing” has been completely over analyzed to the point where everyone says that it is the same people who boo Vettel at every race? And that it is the fans of Ferrari that are booing him because he keeps winning.
      Here’s what I think.
      He was never booed prior to the Malaysian GP. Ofcourse, we know what happened at the Malaysian GP. We see Mark Webber as a dying breed of F1, who doesn’t care about all the politics and is honest about what he does. We love him for that and we pity him for coming so close on two occasions to become a world champion.
      Sebastian stuck a nerve with each and every F1 fan that day. What Mark did earlier didn’t matter anymore. Sebastian had suddenly matured from the “annoying kid” into the mature man who shoves and bully his way to the top and he kicked off someone who most of us love, to the dirt, to do that.
      That is when people started to boo him. Not everyone does, simply because people have different of how to express their feelings on different levels. When I see him at the podium, I don’t boo him. But I, along with the most majority, do think “I wish someone else had won”.
      And then there are others who felt so betrayed by this actions, that their anger and displeasure comes out as boos.
      Are they Ferrari fans? Some of them are. But most of them aren’t! We are all haters, but we express ourselves differently. Ponder about this before going on a rant about the haters in F1.

    5. I sort of agree.

      The comments (Not just on here) about Massa when he announced his end with Ferrari really made me slightly ashamed to be an F1 fan. More so than the booing has done

      1. I feel that the mocking comments aimed at Massa have been at him specifically. For instance, this year we’ve had drivers that under-performed their cars just as much as Felipe has, such as Webber and Gutierrez, yet no one makes childish comments aimed at them.

        That still doesn’t change the fact that Massa is the most successful non-champion on the grid, though. ;-)

    6. @nick-uk it is a bit sad . But I think it was intended as humour . Anybody on the caption competition gets mocked at and that should be the case . Even if it were my favorite driver , i would try my best to come up with something funny to suit the circumstance . There is a difference between that and jeering when your rival won . Even if Vettel had been in the captions , then you can expect a barrage of comments ;-). We are not trying to undermine anybody here . I think the majority of us are normal people without any influence on motor sport ( bar a few ) . So , I can’t really point my finger at any of those great 24 people who drive a rocket round tracks around the world . Cheer up a little mate ;-)

      1. @hamilfan It’s not iscolated to the caption competition though. It’s all the time. No other driver attracts as many japes as Massa.

        1. No other driver attracts as many japes as Massa.

          Apart from Vettel and Alonso, of course.

    7. +1 Nick, nothing to add

    8. Yes, no, yes again. I understand where you are coming from. Personally I don’t respect massa’s because of the Hippocratic nature of his public views in contrast with his career choices. Nevertheless everyone deserves some respect, mockering is for the envious.

    9. We all deserve a mocking tone from time to time. There’s nothing wrong with having a little bit of fun and I don’t think we need to take pity on Massa. I’m sure he’ll be just fine. I’m sure he’s a great guy, but unfortunately he’s not a great driver and I’m honestly happy that he’s leaving Ferrari. Just like Smedley in that picture, I feel like dancing ;)

      However booing isn’t a mockery. Booing is saying “I don’t like you, get lost”. It’s hostile, rude and immature, especially if it happens after a great performance from a driver, during his podium ceremony. Sure, I will mock Vettel from time to time. Sometimes he deserves it, but open hostility is a different thing altogether. I don’t think it’s a double standard.

      I’m supporting people’s right to express themselves without criticism.

      Well, I’m supporting people’s right to express themselves as well as people’s right to criticize.

    10. I do not see a double standard.
      I do not recall seeing a caption proposal attacking Massa as a person. They make fun of his situation, or perhaps more precisely, they seek to find the funny in his situation. That is not necessary wrong, after all, many people find life easier if they can make fun of their own situation.
      This is IMHO very different from booing, that is a direct attack on a person.

      Incidentally, I feel F1fanatic has been fairly impartial, I remember “funny” captions concerning Vettel, Alonso, Hamilton and others. Massa is not getting a special treatment here IMHO.

    11. I don’t agree with your main point that poking fun by writing a humorous caption is equal to jeering a winner without a real reason.

      I really like and respect Felipe and while I didn’t write any caption I might have done, the same way I would do with my favourite driver Kimi or even Seb.

      I agree though that some if the captions were downright mean and that’s NOT OK in my opinion.

      I also believe that Felipe has been underperforming in the last years and another driver could do better. This underperformance however is Ferari’s fault in my opinion. If they had let him win Germany 2010 (or lose it Alonso on merit and not by the infamous illegal team order), he might have bounced back to his pre accident form as he showed in that race. I think that race demolished his morale and the best option for him would have been to leave Ferrari.

      If he happens to get a drive, I would wish him the best and I hope that one day he can pay his “debt” to Ferrari.

    12. @nick-uk I think it’s a fair point to raise. It is something I’ve had in mind before when running these Caption Competitions. But I don’t consider this a double-standard.

      The caption takes something that’s been in the news and makes light of it. It’s humorous and it’s not offensive.

      What Vettel’s getting at the moment is heckling because some people have taken a dislike to him. They are not articulating a point of view, it’s just mindless jeering. It is not light-hearted, it’s spiteful.

      And, of course, we have had Caption Competitions involving Vettel before – he’s fair game for mockery just as much as Massa is.

      1. @keithcollantine The jeering certainly has a valid origin. The fans can’t stand seeing one driver win. If it was a sole dislike to Vettel this would have started after Malaysia. Fans don’t have a base to be heard effectively with F1. People can post all they like in forums and on blogs but the global audience isn’t large enough to make FOM pay attention. We’ve seen in Bahrain and at Spa that track side protests are simply swept under the rug. Podium booing is something they can’t ignore easily or protect against.

        The issue FOM have is that what can they do? The regulations are changing at other teams have a great opportunity. It also asks the question; should they have to do something to try and stop one team dominating anyway? There are a lot of issue slowly merging into my argument here, but generally I think people should be free to boo.

    13. I am a fan of Felipe’s, yet still put an entry into the caption competition saying that he shouldnt let the door hit him on the way out.
      At the end of the day, if a driver I like is doing badly, I wont blindly support them, I will acknowledge their faults, have a bit of a laugh about them (and not take it too seriously) and look forward to them coming back stronger in future. Its all about being light-hearted about it.

      1. I’d just like to reiterate that the core of my original comment is not aimed at asking people to stop poking fun at Massa, but to be allowed to boo a driver if they want. Personally I don’t see how one is ok and the other isn’t.

        1. You’re all over the place here. I thought you were claiming that nobody was booing Vettel, that the boo’s were some sort of general protest against F1? (Which I think is quite absurd, but you should at least stick with whatever argument you’re trying to make)

          I’m supporting people’s right to express themselves without criticism

          .

          Nobody has a right to express themselves without criticism. Which has nothing to do with anything here – Massa is not being criticized for expressing himself, and neither is Vettel. The boo-birds are not “expressing an opinion”, they’re trying to drive a particular sportsman out of the sport. People making jokes on caption contests are not, for the most part, expressing an opinion either – they’re making jokes, a concept which seems lost on you.

    14. point well made @nick-uk. Its something we should all keep in mind that there is a fine line between funny and offending and a huge amount of somewhat funny can result in negatives too.

    15. Wel no, because there’s a difference between criticising a team for retaining a driver who doesn’t have the speed to justify his position there (that is almost defined fact) and booing a driver because he’s better than everyone else @nick-uk. That’s the distinction.

  2. I thought magnums and vodka was a shoo in for this one, myself. I’m glad it was one about the relationship between massa and Rob though, I always found them a cheerfully comedic setup. They’re very Morecambe and Wise, two crotchety old codgers who know each other like psychics and have nothing bad between them.

    That’s an analogy that won’t make sense to the non uk members of the site, but never mind.

    1. And members under the age of 50!

    2. The magnums and vodka caption should have won, and did win in my mind. The problem is that it could have been considered ever-so-slightly non-politically correct to an infinitesimally small portion of readers. And since F1Fanatic’s commitment to political correctness rivals the likes of McLaren’s PR department, that caption was doomed from the start.
      Sigh, the sacrifices people make because of an unfounded fear of a remote possibility of alienating the public…

      Job centre? Really?…

  3. Chris (@tophercheese21)
    30th September 2013, 1:14

    we are thrilled to see just how much the fans here are embracing Formula One

    Is it just me or is this said for every new GP?
    Pretty sure they said it with Korea, and that place is soulless, there’s hardly anyone ever there. Same for India, the first year was a success, but the second year was far less populous.

    1. There was one day where they said the same thing about Brazil too. And look how it turned out. I don’t think Korea and India are soulless. They just happened to be at the end of the calender year, by when the teams have figured out how to make use of the tyres. And that leads to boring 1 stop races. If you move them to the front end of the calender, they would have been praised as amazing Tilke masterpieces.

      1. I doubt that. China is a Tilke circuit which regularly produces great races (recently) early in the season, but nobody calls it a masterpiece, and many find it completely soulless.

        1. It might not be masterpieces. But it won’t be soulless either.

        2. I like China, it’s not typical Tilke, apparently designed to resemble a chinese writing character, it’s probably been Feng Shuid as well, those tightening radius and reverse corners provide an interesting challenge to the drivers.

          1. I like parts of it too, but that doesn’t make it a masterpiece, and I still think the place is soulless personally, plus fairly typical of Tilke. I find it hard to form a detailed opinion on Korea (I haven’t raced on the circuit in any game, which is a factor), but it certainly strikes me as the most visually bleak and depressing location in F1.

        3. Chris (@tophercheese21)
          30th September 2013, 3:41

          I actually really like the Korea circuit. I think it provides some decent racing, but the problem is that its just not the place for Formula 1. From the attendance figures, Korea seems very disinterested in it.

          1. You are not the only one. Good layout and nice racing for most of the time nut in similarity with Bahrain there’s something holding it down.

        4. The part about lacking a soul is a problem that stems from the country hosting the Chinese Grand Prix in the first place, not from the racetrack itself.

    2. I’ve said it before and I will probably end up saying it more often, seeing how new races are being introduced; F1 suffers from massive hubris. It’s not just Bernie, who has good intentions (in the long term) bringing F1 into a new country, but he, the FIA, local organizers and local government have seemingly missed any marketing courses, because they don’t know the first thing about market penetration and only point at each other when it goes wrong.

      My Bachelor isn’t in Marketing, but I’ve dealt with a lot of marketing subjects and theory. I am appalled at either Bernie’s, the FIA’s or locals’ efforts to both promote F1 and motorsports in general in most countries added since 2000. Most Asian countries that’ve joined barely have any motorsports going on; there are no other tracks, no touring car championships, amateur championships or what have you. But all of these things can be organized, there can be regional championships around the time F1 comes along, or get something like V8 Supercars, DTM, Super GT, WEC to open up for F1. Heck, the US probably wouldn’t want a dual header with Indycar or NASCAR, but there are plenty of interesting championships in the US.

      But typically, Bernie will go on to complain the organizer didn’t do their best, the organizer will complain about the cost, the FIA will be silent (despite having millions of (sub)committees that are to promote various kinds of motorsports in various regions) and the race will disappear.

      Honestly, if someone ever replaces Bernie, I hope it’ll be someone with the same entrepreneurial spirit, but with a tad more sense of organization. I didn’t expect there to be a Korean F3 now, but I’m quite sure the powers or Bernie, the FIA and local organizers/governments combined could have done a lot better for the Korean, Indian and Chinese Grand Prix than they have now.

      1. Yep . I don’t believe the guys who just say there is no interest or talent in India. Somebody has to take an initiative and setup a smaller feeder directly for scouting for f1 talent ( I don’t mean polo r cup or mrf cup etc etc ) series to identify talent and interest will follow . Unfortunately , nobody wants to sponsor people and the costs involved are too high . Otherwise , there would be a Vettel or a Lewis lurking in every country .

      2. The problem is Bernie doesn’t care, once he has bled the promoter dry there is no budget for promotion and prices have to be set so high that only people who are already fans will pay for them, meanwhile Bernie has the promoters money and sells the TV rights to a content hungry world.

      3. @hamilfan I think setting up something like a proper Asian series of F3, F4 or even karting could lead to great things. I do think setting it up in one country would not work at first, because of the lack of circuits. Here in the Netherlands we only have Zandvoort and Assen, but national championships often find themselves at Spa or the Nurburgring, which aren’t that far off our small country. But in Asia, proper circuits are further apart and I think you’d really need an Asian series, plus people who are willing to invest in karting circuits, local circuits and setting up teams.

        I wish there would be a group involved who takes the business model of racing (teams, drivers, circuits alike) of the UK, Germany, France and other European countries to Asia to show what can be done and how these countries end up getting people to the top of the motorracing world.

        @hohum Like I said, I think he has the right intentions, but simply believes other forms of motor sport will just sprout up because F1 is there. Promoters believe people will come because of F1’s international fame, but you don’t have to buy prime time TV commercials or huge airport billboards to promote a motor race. Heck, here we have DIY stores giving away free tickets to national races and Marlboro used to keep the price of a ticket to the F3 Masters to a minimum and had small displays at gas stations and tobacco stores.

        I think it’s hubris with a sense of carelessness, rather than really thinking ‘well, stuff it, I’ve got the money, I don’t care’; Bernie wants these countries to do well, so he can keep upping the prices, as opposed to offering them to have the GP for free.

        1. @npf1, I don’t think Bernie is looking “long term” mostly because shareholders are only interested in annual results and secondly because Bernie might believe he is infallible but he knows he is not immortal.

    3. @tophercheese21 – There is actually a market in Russia. There are a lot of followers, to the point where Haymarket Publications purchased a local motorsport magazine and rebranded it as Autosport Russia.

  4. Its very disappointing that Marussia as a Russian team has Chilton in the team and not Petrov. I know Max got money, but not that much. And Petrov would have bring New Russian fans and sponsors too. He is an exiting driver, and really nice guy. And i think much better driver than Max.

    1. I dont now why people think Petrov belongs on the grid. He had more than enough time to prove himself, and other than 2 or 3 decent performances in 3 entire seasons, he was rubbish.

      At least Max deserves a year or two in the sport.

      1. @todfod
        Rubbish in 2010? Absolutely, except for Hungary and Abu Dhabi.

        2011 and 2012? Not at all, he was able to match Heidfeld quite closely in 2011 and was only 2 points behind him prior to Heidfeld’s dismissal. Likewise for 2012, after initially getting thrashed by Kovalainen he turned the tables on his highly-rated teammate for the last 7 races of the season and crucially, delivered the result that saved Caterham from the clutches of Marussia that Kovalainen’s expected to deliver instead. Long story shot, he’s not the best driver but he would at least fare better against Bianchi than Chilton is. Of course, you can argue that Chilton is a rookie and that Petrov himself got thrashed by Kubica in his rookie year but the difference is that Bianchi himself is a rookie whereas Kubica has already proven he was one of the best drivers on the grid in 2010.

        1. @woshidavid95

          he turned the tables for the last 7 races of the season

          The last 5 races, maybe. But even then we have to exclude Abu Dhabi, where he didn’t do well at all. Also, his 11th place in Brazil doesn’t say anything about his talent, as the result was distorted by the weather and two safety cars.

          1. @MaroonJack

            For the last 7 races he outqualified Kovalainen 5-2 whereas it was 2-11 for the first 13 races; I’d say that’s a significant improvement, especially against a driver who brought the Lotus/Caterham to 12-14th place on merit quite a number of times when it should be no higher than 18th. So what if there were safety cars and rain in Brazil, the fact that he outqualified and outraced his highly-rated teammate should be sufficient evidence about his abilities.

          2. @woshidavid95
            Vitally outqualified Heikki in Singapore, but he lost position at the start of the race and never recovered. He also crashed the car during the free practice. We can safely say that Petrov didn’t turn the tables at the Singapore Grand Prix.

            Japan also went for Heikki. Both qualifying and the race. That leaves us with the last 5 races of the season, not the last 7. Out of these 5 only 4 went good for Petrov, because Abu Dhabi definitely wasn’t his weekend. So he had four decent weekends towards the end of 2012, after three years in F1. No, I don’t think it’s sufficient evidence of his abilities.

            Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think Vitaly is terrible. I think he’s average. And I don’t see why we should keep average drivers in F1.

          3. @MaroonJack
            If the alternative was Max Chilton, I’d pick Vitaly Petrov any day though. The way Bianchi outqualified him by over a second at Silverstone – His home Grand Prix – has got to be the worst of it. Besides, if there weren’t ‘average’ drivers, there wouldn’t be ‘top’ drivers; how else did Heidfeld and Fisichella make Kubica and Alonso respectively look phenomenal?

          4. @woshidavid95
            Maybe. But when you hire rookies it’s hard to know these things in advance. Just because Chilton shouldn’t be in F1, doesn’t mean that Petrov should come back. These are two separate issues.

          5. I thought it was simply that Heikki stopped getting those last few tenths at the end of the year, when it became apparent that he could not move up the grid and Caterham would not be paying drivers in 2013 from increasing costs in F1.

  5. Torro Rosso clutch problems! getting Dan prepared for his role next year, wouldn’t want him to think it only happens to the number 2 RBR, would we. ;<)

    1. In a contrived way, I hope Vettel suffers the grunt of the failures next year @hohum ;)

      1. @vettel1,” the grunt of the problems”, hmmm, must be the turbocharger.

        1. Indeed @hohum, very coincidental typo ;) Of course I intended to say “brunt”, although I’d like to say that were an intentional omen ;)

  6. That must be the smuggest ever opening to an article! (Thoughts After My First… by Jon Parker)

    He has some good arguments about Vettel not getting the recognition he deserves. I just wish another driver would challenge him, really get under his skin (the thought occurred to me while watching Rush…) Not necessarily a team-mate – it could be Kimi, or Nico Hülkenberg, or both Ferrari drivers at once.

  7. Interesting thoughts from Giancarlo Minardi regarding Vettel’s superiority: http://www.pitpass.com/50014/Minardi-questions-Vettels-Singapore-superiority

    He seems convinced Vettel’s car is equipped with some gadgets Webber´s car doesn´t have…

    1. Do you really find those thoughts “interesting”?

      1. I do find it interesting @aka_robyn. Its interesting to see what this pretty experienced guy suddenly comes up with, when he should know better!

        IMO Matthew Summerfield did a nice job of giving a far more sensible and founded analyses of why RBR have been as fast since the summer as well as why Vettel especially was so fast in Singapore.

    2. I forget who or where, but someone posted a rebuttal to Minardi’s words, which I found myself agreeing to. Vettel is smaller than Webber, which means the car can be smaller and lighter. Even that’ll make a difference, not to mention the characteristics of the car probably suit Vettel best.

      I don’t remember exactly what year (2004 or 2005), but Ferrari once accidentally built a car which suited Barrichello a lot more than previous cars and suddenly he found himself much closer to Schumacher than ever before. Newey and Horner have been pretty vocal about Vettel’s driving style and adaptability compared to Webber (who suffered from aerodynamic changes in recent years), so I think Minardi is doing the same people who complained about illegal parts on Schumacher, Prost, Senna, what have you, are doing; rationalizing their dislike of Vettel.

      Heck, I threw the remote when Vettel won the title in 2010 and last year, not I’m defending him online. I don’t even like the guy; but the media needs to stop having a go at Vettel’s performance.

      1. might have been Matthew Summers, I linked to his blog post about it above @npf1

      2. @npf1, I agree about the weight difference being a factor, even if it only means a couple of hundredths of a second per lap which initially was often the difference in Q3 between them, couple that with Vettels usual (not Singapore) practice of starting his final lap after Webber thereby giving him a target time allowing him to judge just how much extra risk is necessarry to secure pole, once on pole the clean air advantage multiplies the advantage several-fold.
        That being said I still find it puzzling that in 2010 there were so many 1st. corner battles between Vettel and Webber but since 2011 Webber has been unable to make an average start, let alone a good one.

    3. @roald The link to the original version of that article was posted by @oletros over the weekend – see here for more.

  8. I’d like to get Steve McQueen and Fangio in a room together and say “in your own words tell me what is wrong with Formula 1 today”.

    I bet DRS would be on the list. What do you guys think they would say?

    1. @coefficient

      pay drivers?
      marbles?
      mid-season tyre change?
      broadcast rights price?
      race tickets price?
      bernie?
      todt?
      booing?

      1. I doubt the top one would overly bother them as it’s always been a factor.

        1. It is, perhaps, the truth that dare not speak its name – that for all the claims of the past being more meritocratic, in reality sponsor cash has played its part in the careers of many young drivers. Even a great number of drivers lauded for their skills in later life often had their way into the sport smoothed out with cash.

          Do people decry figures like Arnoux, Tambay, Pironi or Prost for having their junior careers paid for by Elf and, in some instances, having their position in the Renault F1 team negotiated partially through Elf? Do we deprecate Moss’s achievements because he bought his way into the sport? Or Lauda, who paid his way into both Formula 2 and Formula 1 (twice in the latter instance)? The suggestion that the past was always more “meritocratic” is not one that I truly believe.

          Equally, for all the criticisms of boring and dull circuits today, it is hardly as if the sport didn’t have some poor circuits in the past. Who here talks with rapture about the Caesars Palace Grand Prix, a circuit routinely dismissed as one of the worst to have graced the calendar. What about the Detroit Grand Prix, given I rarely hear anybody talk fondly about that circuit? Nivelles-Baulers? Or perhaps the Bugatti Le Mans circuit?

    2. In addition to those already mentioned:
      1) crappy tyres
      2) tyres made crappy on purpose
      3) crappy new circuits
      4) crappy new countries hosting races
      5) not enough races in europe
      6) ridiculously large budgets
      7) too much aerodynamics
      8) orange juice on the podium
      9) lawnmower engines (2014)
      10) ridiculously high race hosting fees
      11) drivers not allowed to battle
      12) drivers penalized for very minor infringements
      13) ban on in-season testing (not necessarily in conflict with number 6 above)
      14) no kisses from grid girls on the podium
      15) lame podium interviews
      16) etc.
      17) etc.
      18) etc.

  9. @keithcollantine could the winner caption be eventually added to the caption article?
    For example it is hard to find which caption has won the ALO competition:
    https://www.racefans.net/2013/08/03/caption-competition-33-fernando-alonso/

      1. ok! nice thanks :)

  10. ***RIDICULOUS RUMANATION ALERT***

    I heard recently heard that RUSSIAN TIME want to enter F1 in 2015, fully backed by Russia and with a partnership with Williams, it has apparently been ‘confirmed’ by RT boss Igor Mazepa.

  11. I’m sure Marussia can see an increase in the popularity of F1 in Russia…from their HQ in Oxfordshire. :)

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