2017 cars a bigger test of strength – Sainz

F1 Fanatic Round-up

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In the round-up: Carlos Sainz Jnr expects drivers will find next year’s cars much more challenging physically.

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Of the various technologies F1 has banned over the years, the outlawing of one particular innovation irked Sean:

The one banning that made me most annoyed was the mass damper. Not because it was wrong to ban it but they had to reinterpret and bend the wrong rules to do it. They determined it was a moving aero device because it affected aerodynamics. It wasn’t even in the airflow! There are loads of moving parts on an F1 car that affect aerodynamics in that sense, like duh suspension components. They haven’t been banned.

The mass damper was illegal because it used its mass to affects the car performance and it moved. The ‘mass’ was in actually ballast that was not fixed. There was already a rule to ban this and they didn’t use it.

Bizarre, but then F1 can always been a bit bizarre. That why we love it.
Sean Newman

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23 comments on “2017 cars a bigger test of strength – Sainz”

  1. If Red Bull can build a good car, Max Verstappen vs Daniel Ricciardo would be one of the best team mate battles I think we’d get at the moment. Dan is coming into his peak years and Max drives like he only knows how to set the dials to 11, which sounds pretty good to me.
    No idea which of them I’d put my money on as I think both could win a championship, if they had a good enough car.

    1. @beneboy Oh yes. Having them fight over a title sounds vastly more interesting than the current Merc-thing to me as well, probably both on and off the track. A bit more certain feeling both are giving their best and belonging to the best on the sporting-side, and the personality-storyline of “laid-back Smiler vs. impatient and pumped youngster” might make for more relatable entertainment as well.

      1. I agree entirely.

      2. “laid-back Smiler vs. impatient and pumped youngster”

        Seems to me Verstappen is a bit more laid-back than Ricciardo, but that podium finish did good for Ric.

      3. You’ll be moaning as usual because you don’t understand the game. One team always dominates. That is they do the job better and the goal is to win. There can only be one winner.

    2. Honestly people always expect high but that will turn out to be Vet – Web / Alo – Fisi / Schumi – Rubens or as latest Ham – Ros. The other one fights good but not just enough. I see Max – Ric in the same fashion with max beating Ric, i hope it wont be but i fear that will be the final out come once RBR started to have even better car

      1. Webber was never rated highly. Neither was Barichello. So who expected anything from those pairings? Fisichella was a bit of an unkown. Hamilton already was beating Rosberg in carting by quite a margin so not much else could be expected there either.

        Verstappen vs Ricciardo is of course an unkown still too, but for now they seem quite comparable. Although Verstappen is still new and after this season with Red Bull he will be better equipped to deal with the team and get the car set up properly.

        Ricciardo was better than Vettel so I doubt he will be completely blown away by Verstappen. Verstappen is keeping up quite well even being a rookie, so I don’t see him being blown away by Ricciardo either.

        This could be another Senna/Prost in the making. They are all smiles now when there is no championship at stake, but see how quickly the tide turned when Hamilton and Rosberg started fighting for the WDC. They were all smiles before too when they could only hope to win an occasional race in 2013.

    3. I’d rather an Alonso – Vandoorne battle, personally….

      …sigh. :(

      1. ColdFly F1 (@)
        23rd August 2016, 6:11

        As mentioned above a RiC/VES battle will be much like the WEB/VET previous battle (arguably with a stronger Aussie). And there was a lot of complaining during the WEB/VET years; how quickly we forget.

        The best battle in a dominant car would maybe be a ALO/HAM or if we want sparks a HAM/VES.

        What I want is a MER/FER/RBR/MCL battle with HAM/ROS/VET/…/RIC/VES/ALO/Vandoorne fighting for wins and titles.
        @selbbin, @beneboy

        1. @coldfly Whatever drivers you choose it won’t be exciting if they are in the same car.

  2. While I think its good when F1 need more physical demand, I fear that next year weight limit policy doesn’t allow driver to gain decent body mass.

    1. ColdFly F1 (@)
      23rd August 2016, 6:16

      From memory the minimum weight increase is more than what is needed to cover the new technology. And as teams constantly find places to shed weight, it might be slightly easier.
      @ruliemaulana

      PS: funny – Sainz JR lamenting “like it was in 2004”; he was 9 years old!

      1. Could be said over Max Verstappen in 2004 he was 5-6 year old but he remembers the F1 circuit clearly as a great playground :) Even then :)

      2. yeah, Carlos is clearly speaking from experience!

      3. @coldfly
        Haha. Maybe Carlos remember when he got bruises while using his realistic simulator at his 9th birthday back then :D

  3. If they wanted to make the cars more physically demanding, just take away the power steering.

  4. In regards to COTD, wasn’t that done just to irk Renault who were at the time in a far comfortable position and Ferrari were getting rattled? I also remember how Ferrari cried foul during Monza qualifying as well.

    1. It may very well have been. Nothing was ever confirmed, but the FIA did seem scared that Renault would run away with the championship after having a commanding lead of the championship at the halfway point of the season.

    2. @Sean Newman @neelv27 The mass damper ban as aero device is one that really stuck with me too, but this was of course in the wild days of Mad Max Mosley where arbitrary penalties to steer the championship or Mosleys ego was commonplace.

  5. For those who have an Autosport Plus subscription and who hate the constant moaning about the current state of F1 from all and sundry, I thought this was a particularly nice piece to read.

    http://www.autosport.com/premium/feature/7144/why-do-so-many-people-hate-modern-f1

    It was interesting to read that the great Denis Jenkinson had a go at naysayers who seemed to have the same MO as today’s anti-F1 brigade back in 1973.

    1. When you see 1/2 empty stands it’s a little crazy not to be a “naysayer.” The universe is telling you that there’s a problem when your fan base abandons your sport in large numbers.

      1. Half empty stands in Silverstone?

        Of course in Hockenheim the Germans won’t come. They are not interested in F1 when they don’t have a driver with pretty much a sure win. I’ve been to several races where they would actually leave the stands and go home if Schumachers car stopped during the race. Other countries which are not only coming for their own countrymen still have fine attendance fiigures.

        Besides the biggest reason F1 is losing it’s following is because hardly anyone still gets to see it on TV. Second reason is because races are being held more and more in countries that don’t care for F1.

        The new regimes where Ecclestone is selling his races to the highest bidders have no affinity with F1. So it’s not weird that hardly anyone goes to see races there. Even if they could afford the outrageous ticket prices.

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