F1 Fanatic

Robert Kubica has been quoted as saying this when asked his opinion of the adjustable rear wing:

“Why is it only now that people are noticing that overtaking is difficult? … I watched my first Formula One race in 1997, and there was not much overtaking then.” (ESPN F1)

Is is me or is he the first driver to have the same thoughts as most long term F1 fans? I thought I was reading a quote from Keith when I read this!

As someone said in the comments a few days ago, we only know about the best moments in f1 history.

Watching the Gilles vs. Arnoux battle makes everyone think it was like that the whole time back then, but apparently it’s as rare as the Kubica vs. Massa battle.

I was saying this a lot after Bahrain (which apparently had the most overtakes it’s ever had anyway, I think). Masses of overtaking has never been a staple of F1.

I am not old enough to remember the 80s or early to mid 90s F1, I only started watching every race in 2005, but I feel the only reason people see these older generations as better is because we only see highlights, the dullness is brushed aside. 2010 season, can be remembered now for Bahrain ect but in 20 years we will not talk about that, it will be things like Canada an Turkey. It’s like how the dull car park race in Las Vegas is not mentioned!!

I think fully adjustable front and rear wings would help though, just because they’d make the cars greener by drag cutting, an faster into the braking zones. This only the rear guy gets an advantage is ridiculous, completley artificial and quite unfair.
Fully adjustable wings, and KERS could make a real differance, as well as encourage more mistakes.

F1 can always be improved but at the moment, the competative nature of the teams isn’t making that too needed.

There’s nothing wrong with having V8′s – sure they don’t sound as good, but it’s the engine freeze and rev limit that’s the limitation, not so much the number of cylinders. I’m sure that without an engine freeze we’d be getting back towards 1000bhp and if that were the case then regulations would have to be stifled in other areas, such as aerodynamics…Now there’s a thought…

Robert’s right there. I think the level of overtaking is fine as it is, given the season so far represents what is yet to come, over-taking wise.

Whilst on the subject of improving F1, I still think drivers should be given more autonomy on how quick their car is. F1 seems a bit too spec-league for my liking at the minute, where the driver’s pace is largely determined by the car and the speed of the teams development against other teams. There’ll be a lot of talent further down the field which I can guess will either go unrecognised or short-lived.

While I think driver-adjustable bodywork will work well – and maybe turn out better than most people believe – I still think that there is one overwhelmingly simple solution which could create more overtaking and wouldn’t be against the spirit of f1. That would be a return to manual gearboxes (preferably manual sequential). While it might not create masses of overtaking, it would really make the difference between a driver who can maintain a perfect race and those who muck up. Can you also imagine one driver piling on the pressure to the one in front, who then makes a mistake, and so loses their place? I personally think those moments would be truly memorable!

Also not sure how much this would make a difference, but how about removing those rev counters? We saw how much trouble Button had with that at Spain, it would really mean drivers who can learn a true feel for the car would excel. If these 2 rule changes could be implemented (and would have these intended effects in the first place!) then there’d be more overtaking and driver skill would reign supreme -and isn’t that what formula 1 is all about?