In the round-up: Jenson Button says Formula One will find greater favour with fans once the drivers start to enjoy it more.
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Your daily digest of F1 news, views, features and more.
Drivers must lead love of F1 - Button (Autosport)
"When you see us (the drivers) loving it more, I think the fans will love it more, too."
New start procedure could be 'messy' at Spa (F1i)
"Teams have pointed out that the 2015-spec cars are designed to work with optimised couplings that are heat-sensitive and that removing the adjustability could lead to a spate of technical failures at Spa."
Rosberg hopes new start rules give him edge over Hamilton (ESPN)
"I like it because it gives me the opportunity to try and beat Lewis in that area,
Vergne: I have 'good chance' of Haas F1 seat (Motorsport)
"Let's say there is a rather good chance for me to end up with Haas. Then, as far as Formula E is concerned, that's too early to talk about it."
Beauty behind the wheel (Red Bulletin)
"Of course there was prejudice, along the lines of what’s that woman doing here? But between 1949 and 1953, I had a number of wins in a Fiat Giannini sportscar. In 1954, I came second in the Giro di Sicilia road race, at which point Maserati noticed me and in 1955 they gave me a factory car."
Interview with F1 Race Director Charlie Whiting at the 2015 FIA Sport Conference (FIA via YouTube)
Tweets
Backgammon. Beste Spiel der Welt! Backgammon with @MaroEngel Best game in the world. pic.twitter.com/Rn0W6FsbDo
— Nico Rosberg (@nico_rosberg) August 11, 2015
Congratulations to Andrew who was the first person to get 20/20 in the fiendish Name That #F1 Driver 2000-2010 quiz: http://t.co/hWzzxVPz5C
— F1 Fanatic (@f1fanatic_co_uk) August 12, 2015
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Comment of the day
After reading the second part of our Formula 3000 Memories series @Rjoconnell had this to say about the driver nicknamed ‘Look-how-bad-you-are’ by some during his brief F1 comeback six years ago:
It can’t be restated enough: Luca Badoer was so much better than his 2009 drives at Ferrari. He came in as a rookie in the same class alongside Barrichello, Coulthard, and Panis and won the title on his first try. Had his F1 career gone differently, he could have been Schumacher’s team mate in ’94 (tested for Benetton after Lola BMS folded), or taking Minardi-Mugen up into the podium in ’95, or substituting for an injured Schumacher in mid-’99. Or any combination of the three.
The modern-day equivalent would be Nico Hulkenberg bouncing not between Force India, Sauber, and a sub-par Williams team, but Manor, Caterham, and HRT.
@Rjoconnell
From the forum
Happy birthday!
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On this day in F1
Damon Hill won the Hungarian Grand Prix 20 years ago today, leading a Williams one-two after Michael Schumacher retired with an engine problem.
This was also the race which saw Taki Inoue achieve notoriety. Having stopped his smoking Arrows on lap 14, while Inoue tried to direct a fire marshal to his car a safety vehicle arrived on the scene and ran him over:
Meanwhile on the same day Williams announced they had signed Jacques Villeneuve, who at the time was leading the IndyCar championship, to partner Damon Hill from 1996, replacing David Coulthard.
matiascasali (@matiascasali)
13th August 2015, 0:09
Well, about the COTD, i guess it’s true what he says, that Luca was a great talent on some bad cars. But how many of this situations have we come across? Norberto Fontana beated Ralf Schumacher on German F3 and never got a chance to show his potential on F1. Alessandro Zanardi was astonishing on his time on Indy and flopped big time in F1. Pechito López is a really great driver who never raced on F1.. so, what would happen if we give the Mercedes to Marcus Ericsson, Roberto Mehri or Kamui Kobaiashi? would they be really far from Nico Rosberg’s times? What i mean is that F1 drivers, almost all of them are really really good drivers, all of them! some more than others, that’s true, but with a proper car i think most of them could easily fight for the championship.
Willem Cecchi (@)
13th August 2015, 7:55
Didn’t Fontana drive for Sauber in 1997?
Rodney (@)
13th August 2015, 8:10
Fontana performed very poorly in the Sauber (which wasn’t that bad a car in 1997). At Silverstone he pulled in to retire due to arm cramps – only for Peter Sauber to tell him to get back out there and carry on!
matiascasali (@matiascasali)
14th August 2015, 3:38
he was heavely pressed by jean todt to move away if a ferrari were near… knowing that for a driver, the psicological part is a big one, if he was a little weak, and a little nervous, with a pressure from the director of the most prestigious team… well, i think my knees will shake and my arms would cramp too…
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
13th August 2015, 0:14
I’m getting a little bit frustrated of the claims made by teams that find some technical thing too difficult. And it happens everytime.
Brace (@brace)
13th August 2015, 0:30
@fer-no65
Haha I was thinking the same! :)
As soon as FIA makes it clear that there is no going back to pre-Spa rules, they’ll figure it out in a second. Only thing they are scared is that someone else will figure it out better than them. As always, you’ll only hear losers complain about the rule change.
HK (@me4me)
13th August 2015, 0:45
@fer-no65, you’re spot on. I absolutely agree.
bull mello (@bullmello)
13th August 2015, 2:36
Oh how I wonder did drivers in the past ever function with only a motor, gearbox, accelerator and simple mechanical clutch to deal with at a race start.
Oh, and skill.
JerseyF1 (@jerseyf1)
13th August 2015, 11:00
@bullmello
I think this is missing the point. Their cars had only a motor, gearbox, accelerator and simple mechanical clutch and therefore anyone (including your or I) could get them off the line. The current cars are much more complex and have been designed to work with much more complex procedures (I don’t know about you, but I’d need a lot of training before I could pull away in one). Take those procedures away and they won’t work well. Give the engineers advance notice of the change and they will design clutches for the purpose.
If the teams were given a months’ notice that the cars now have to run on paraffin they would not work well – would that also reflect on current drivers being any less able than drivers of the past? I don’t think so.
The drivers of today are the best F1 drivers there have ever been (in the same way that in all sports everything improves over time), the cars and engineers are the best there have ever been. Making arbitrary last-minute rule changes and then pointing a finger and laughing at ineptitude could have been done at any time in F1’s history, it just happens to have become popular in the last few years (EBD, radio comms and now start controls).
bull mello (@bullmello)
13th August 2015, 18:56
@jerseyf1 – Agreed, good points.
Kind of my lamentation that could be applied to many things, not just this. It is partly the dichotomy of technology and progress vs. raw skill and simplicity that have led to this point in F1. The technology is amazing and desirable and should very much be a part of F1. I think the lament, for me, is when the driver aids become more important than driver skills. I appreciate the lessening of that aspect in standing race starts, but agree that this should have been undertaken between seasons with time for proper testing given the complex technologies involved.
I would also agree that F1 drivers are no less talented or skilled than drivers in the past. They don’t always get a chance to demonstrate that though with current regulations, technologies and driver aids. There is no way I could get in a current F1 car and simply drive around a track. I wish I could though. :-)
I hope for more interesting starts with the new regs, but I do not wish for any disasters or snafus as a result.
BasCB (@bascb)
13th August 2015, 6:40
Funny how that article starts saying that teams “fear it could prove to be unpredictable” as if that is something bad. Isn’t is what F1 has been trying to achieve for ages now (failing to achieve it).
IMO its quite possible that Spa will bring up some uncertainty and maybe even a few surprises. After that, we might see teams without simulators having a bad time, while the top teams rack up hours of start training in theirs, and we get back to being quite predictable within a race or 3.
Iestyn Davies (@fastiesty)
13th August 2015, 13:29
@bascb Just as long as we don’t get a huge start crash like 2012, it should be good!
Atticus (@atticus-2)
13th August 2015, 13:55
I believe only Sauber (and quite possibly Manor) are without proper simulators.
But I agree with you, generally speaking. Unpredictability is good, although take it into account that the teams’ interests and the fan interest in this regard is completely at odds with each other – teams love predictability and rightly so.
BasCB (@bascb)
13th August 2015, 17:45
yes, one of the things that makes it hard to get surprises in races is that the teams have become so good at preventing uncertainty (quality control prevents breakages, simulation irons out setup and strategies, training driver fitness and pitstop procedures etc) @atticus-2.
Its one of the fields where a company like GKN or indeed heathrow traffic control can learn a lot from a team like McLaren.
Strontium (@strontium)
13th August 2015, 0:41
Charlie Whiting hahahah what is life?
He claims to have maintained the fast flowing corner characteristics. What he means is replaced all the fast, long round corners with tight apexes and straights.
RogerA
13th August 2015, 1:56
These new start restriction’s been introduced mid-season is a complete & utter joke.
Having drivers going to the grid knowing there going to get a bad start if the settings are wrong pre-race & nothing can be done to fix it is just plain wrong & potentially highly dangerous.
What if you have the pole guy exit the pits knowing the settings are wrong & he’s likely to get away extremely slowly, How is that fair.. How does that benefit anything… Its certainly not safe or sporting.
Would we accept a situation where a driver was sitting on the grid knowing he had a brake problem that may see him struggle to slow down at turn 1 & he couldn’t do anything to fix it because of stupid over-regulation due to mid-year rule changes? Of course not so why should this situation with the starts be any different?
This isn’t the 1970s anymore, these cars are highly technical & as the pinnacle of the sport so they should be. Changing something mid-season with no time to test the new procedures let alone introduced revised components is asking for trouble. If they were intent on making these changes they should have waited until next year to give everyone time to redesign the systems & design components suited to the new procedures.
If we have a bunch of really bad starts, some clutch failures or start line accidents due to bad starts then F1 is just going to end up looking like a joke.
pSynrg (@psynrg)
13th August 2015, 6:26
Well said.
favomodo (@favomodo)
13th August 2015, 7:59
I like the idea of giving more responsibility and to the drivers. Let them drive the car, including the start. But, why they pushed this rule change mid-season, that’s something I don’t understand.
Let us just wait and see how this pans out. Than we can decide if this is worth a tweetstorm
ColdFly F1 (@)
13th August 2015, 8:07
Well to be honest that is exactly the same, and just as fair as:
– setting the car up for rain on Saturday and finding sun on sunday;
– putting less fuel in the tank and having a race without SC;
– moving to a top team, and finding they are way off the speed;
– receiving a 10 place grid penalty when your PU was destroyed by somebody crashing into you.
Life is never fair; at least here it’s the same for all!
Bookoi (@bookoi)
13th August 2015, 9:29
You’re getting a bit carried away with how big an impact this rule change is going to make. I fully expect the noticeable difference to be almost nil.
frood19 (@frood19)
13th August 2015, 10:14
i just want to see a bit of wheelspin!
Patrick (@paeschli)
13th August 2015, 10:10
I think it’s better to introduce this mid-season than at the beginning of 2016: now the drivers have a feeling of how it should be and will be able to adapt faster to the new rule.
spoutnik (@spoutnik)
13th August 2015, 11:48
The driver himself will be in charge of the setting of his clutch, it can’t be more fair IMO.
GT Racer (@gt-racer)
13th August 2015, 14:13
@spoutnik
No he won’t, The drivers won’t be in any more or less control as they were before.
The clutch settings will still be decided by the team & the driver will still be operating the clutch as they did before.
All thats really changing is that they won’t be able to change the settings once they leave the garage to go to the grid. Previously they would do a practice start at the end of the pit lane & change the bite point settings based in part off driver feedback to get a more optimal start.
From Spa if the clutch settings are wrong then they can’t make any changes so if they get a bad practice start they are going to get a bad actual start.
GT Racer (@gt-racer)
13th August 2015, 14:22
Thats actually a good point.
You are going to have cases now where a driver will leave the pits, Do a practice start & know that things are set incorrectly & will have to sit on the grid knowing full well he’s going to get a bad start & that they can’t make any changes to improve it.
ColdFly F1 (@)
13th August 2015, 17:27
I might be wrong (@gt-racer), but I believe after the 1st reconnaissance lap any car can come back into the pit (and I assume the garage) until 15min before race start. Thus the team can manually reset the bite point then.
Should not be a big difference to doing it 15 minutes later on the formation lap!
Bookoi (@bookoi)
13th August 2015, 17:37
There’s a small thing called data. It’s not just wild guesswork. The variances in these settings will all be within a small percentage. Nobody will be doomed to fall to the back of the grid by turn one.
Besides, it’s a setting on the car that the teams have to figure out for the race just like any other parameter. Nobody worries about a driver being impeded because they’re running more wing.
I do hope this change means we’ll see some drivers get less than ideal starts and some mixing of the order – the last two races have been great largely down to Mercedes poor starts – but all the talk of it being unfair or causing the next Spa 98 is just nuts.
GT Racer (@gt-racer)
13th August 2015, 18:07
@coldfly Wording of the regulations-
spoutnik (@spoutnik)
14th August 2015, 0:34
@gt-racer thanks for the explanation. However I still fail to see any unfairness. It’s a rule, like the others. Probably not the most brilliant, but let’s see?
LyndaGreen
13th August 2015, 2:01
i don’t like to see accidents & i don’t like to say this but i hope there is a big wreck off the line at spa so that the start rules are changed back to what they have been & the changes are put off until the start of 2016.
its clear from reading a lot of whats been said already about the changes that the cars are not designed to work the way there now going to have to & that this IS going to cause a lot of problems. putting drivers at risk just for the benefit of the show & some dumb unpredictability (its supposed to be a sport, not some unpredictable lottery; you don’t see this forced artificial unpredictability BS in any other true sport) or whatever simply is not right.
David-A (@david-a)
13th August 2015, 2:55
Love to see a ’98 style pileup without the ability to jump into a spare car… maybe Mclaren can win a race this season after all.
David Not Coulthard (@davidnotcoulthard)
13th August 2015, 19:27
@david-a Manor.
Patrick (@paeschli)
13th August 2015, 10:11
Let’s see the start before making judgements. I think the drivers will handle the situation just fine.
spoutnik (@spoutnik)
13th August 2015, 11:52
I doubt there will be any mechanical issues, they’ll adapt their settings to avoid any driver to blow his engine and it will just be OK. They only fear to be too conservative or that someone else nails it better.
Ed Marques (@edmarques)
13th August 2015, 3:17
The start procedure change is absolutely ridiculous.
If they wanted somenthing like it should go on only in 2016.
OmarR-Pepper - Vettel 41 wins!!! For Jules (@)
13th August 2015, 3:18
Looks like I have a clon!!! Hahahaha I’ll wish him a nice birthday!
BasCB (@bascb)
13th August 2015, 6:35
Haha, happy birthday to “both” of you then. And to the rest of the squad of people whose Birthday it is!
JCost (@jcost)
13th August 2015, 8:47
Happy b’day.
dragoll (@dragoll)
13th August 2015, 8:55
happy birthday, and wish your twin a happy birthday too when you see him next ;)
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
13th August 2015, 9:19
@omarr-pepper Did someone enter their birthday twice? Have a good one!
OmarR-Pepper - Vettel 41 wins!!! For Jules (@)
13th August 2015, 13:23
@keithcollantine now I remember. I submitted it 2 years in a row. Thanks!
ColdFly F1 (@)
13th August 2015, 15:59
And your birthday changed between those 2 ‘submissions’? ;) @omarr-pepper
PorscheF1 (@xtwl)
13th August 2015, 5:51
Good. C’mon Seb.
Philip (@philipgb)
13th August 2015, 7:53
I like the idea of a manual start with the driver controlling the clutch just like I do during a Traffic Light GP. But I suspect the rash way it’s been thrown in mid season is just going to create a starting lottery. The teams designed the cars a certain way according to the rules set out for them and then they’ve just thrown this into the mix, it should have been left until next year so the cars could be adapted safely.
dragoll (@dragoll)
13th August 2015, 8:58
I follow Taki Inoue on twitter, and I think he’s a great guy, but I must say, I laughed when I saw this live all those years ang, and it still makes me laugh every single time I see it.
goonerf1 (@)
13th August 2015, 9:00
For peak sake it’s just a coupling, hardly a feat of engineering. Just design a new one. If you can design such needlessly complex engines you can design a more heat-resistant coupling. Bunch of whiners seriously!
If you wait for 2016, we’ll get there and there’ll just be another reason why “something” can’t be done. “Costs” or “safety” are the de facto excuses atm. F1 is much better off grabbing the bull by the horns now, completely outlawing whatever it may be, and then maybe gradually retreating on it’s stance later.
Complex democracies do not work. That’s most of the reason why Formula 1 is in the mess it’s in atm. The FIA/FOM need to say to the teams, “this is the way we’re going, with this set of rules,” then they’ll either fill in the entry form or they don’t.
TdM (@tdm)
13th August 2015, 9:16
My concern with the start procedure is that they aren’t putting the skill back on the drivers it’s just another (slightly less obvious) gimmick. Starts will be random, sure, but this dice rolling approach to improving racing is plain stupid.
Wait another year or two and give them a proper clutch.
Patrick (@paeschli)
13th August 2015, 10:15
I love how everyone is bashing these starts without having seen one.
My take on this: nothing strange will happen and we’ll have a Hungary-like start with some people being of the line a bit quicker than others.
To the people saying these engines aren’t made to perform manual starts: if I remember correctly, Rosberg had to do a manual ‘start’ out of his pit-box during the race in Abu Dhabi last year. His engine didn’t explode.
GT Racer (@gt-racer)
13th August 2015, 11:10
I know there are a lot of people on the technical groups who are very unhappy with the new start rules, Not because there against them but because they were pushed through with no consultation from any of the technical working groups who actually understand what the changes mean.
Everything from the wheel, the paddles, the electronics, the engines, gearbox & clutch was designed to work under certain conditions & those working conditions have now been changed without any consideration been put into what the new conditions mean for existing parts/procedures or how difficult it is to suddenly change those parts… Especially given how changing some of them isn’t actually even allowed.
I was told 2-3 weeks ago that if this had been put before the technical people they woudl have OK’d the changes but put them back to 2016 so that everything could be specifically designed to handle the new procedures with plenty of testing of both components & systems done before the 1st race.
As it is they will be turning up at Spa having done zero testing of the new procedures running components & electronics doing things there not really designed to do & that is apparently causing significant concern with the people who actually really understand what the change really means to these systems/components.
There is also the spin thats been put on it by those who are claiming this is going back to manual starts with drivers more in control. For one even with the old procedures it was still technically a manual start & secondly the drivers are not really any more/less in control than they were before.
HK (@me4me)
13th August 2015, 12:11
@gt-racer, I fail to see the problem in that. F1 team seem to always want to delay changes so they can solve it in advance, but do they really need that much time? I say no, they don’t need it. They got some of the greatest motorsport engineers available, it shouldn’t be too difficult. The challenge is the same for everyone, and if they struggle let them struggle. If whatever minor change like this is better for F1, than I respect the FIA for pushing it through and get things done. F1 teams should be more adaptable.
GT Racer (@gt-racer)
13th August 2015, 13:58
@me4me Remember though that some of the components that will need redesigning cannot be changed until next year either because there integral to 2015 designs or because there part of something that is under a development freeze until the off-season.
10-15 years ago this sort of thing wouldn’t have been a problem as teams would have been able to make the changes freely & been able to go & test them to ensure everything was ready. Now there is development freezes, Multi-race engine/gearboxes & the test ban so there restricted in what components they can make changes to & have no way to properly test them.
There is a real risk that these changes are going to have a negative affect on things, Not just in terms of people getting bad starts or stalling but also on components been put through way more stress than they are designed to take & with some of those components having to last 5-6 races & been part of the engine/gearbox freeze there is a real danger than the full impact of this won’t show up for a couple races & we could get towards the end of the year with drivers having to take more grid penalty’s for changing engines/gearboxes & perhaps these parts outright failing on the grid leaving cars stranded.
For the record i’m not so much against the rule change been made, But having spoken to a couple technical people who really understand things I think making it mid-season is going to prove to be a real mistake. This isn’t just technical boffins upset there losing some toys, This is technical people who fully understand the knock on effects of the changes & exactly what needs to be changed on the cars, What can/cannot be changed now & how long it will take to make them.
HK (@me4me)
13th August 2015, 14:25
@gt-racer, Makes sense. I think we’re on the same page here. I agree if some parts are locked-in, and development is forbidden, well that complicates things. I’m not aware of specifically which items would be locked-in though, so if you could shed any light on that, please do.
I think you could argue that engineers who do see the knock-on effect further down the line would make the best possible effort to design these specific items robust enough right from the start (SPA) though.
GT Racer (@gt-racer)
13th August 2015, 14:37
@me4me There are elements of the ECU software that can’t be changed until 2016 but its mostly going to be components from the engine/gearbox (And therefore clutch) as gearboxes & engine’s are sealed to last the number of races they have to last with development heavily restricted.
Arnold Triyudho Wardono (@ernietheracefan)
13th August 2015, 15:02
Taki Inoue, F1 comedian
PeterG
13th August 2015, 19:02
to be perfectly honest i think those expecting/hoping the changes to what teams/drivers are allowed to do for the starts is going to lead to more unpredictable starts & therefore mixed up orders are going to be very disappointed.
if you go back to 2001-2003 they had launch control where all the driver did was hold/release a button to get great starts every time. that was banned for 2004 and everyone was hoping for what people are hoping for now (drivers more in control, more unpredictable starts & so on) yet nothing changed. it was the same when traction control was banned for 2008, we were going to see more wheelspin & bad starts & again nothing changed & everyone was getting away from the grid just as well as they did before.
i’m not expecting chaos, carnage or the order to be any more or less mixed up by the end of lap 1 as what we have seen during race starts to date.
i also cannot see how the changes can be called putting it more in the drivers hands or whatever as its all the same systems the have had before, there simply not allowed to alter the settings to optimise the clutch once they leave the garage.
SauberS1 (@saubers1)
13th August 2015, 23:02
I like this statement, but is this will be enough?
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
14th August 2015, 2:51
The starts business is a ridiculous mid-season change. I guess these changes are mid season just too see if the concept works, before the teams invent something new to achieve the same feat. In the end I couldn’t care less how F1 cars get started, they might as well run up to the cars and counter intuitively press a start button. Fix the racing, let the rest loose.