F1 Fanatic

I have been thinking about, HRT, Lotus (Fernandes) and Virgin, and am wondering what have they been doing. If look back to 1991 when Jordan made their debut and managed to score points regularly in 1991. Stewart, when they started in 1997 started scoring points in their second year. I then thought ok, its a different era and its now a much tougher and more competitive field and then saw an interesting statistic. Super Aguri even in 2007 started scoring points in their second year so why have the HRT, Lotus and Virgin been so far away from the points and on raw pace, indeed still sitting at the back of the field?

F1 is more reliable now and the teams get barely any testing time.

It’s so sad that gone are the days when F1 cars were allowed to fall apart as they crossed the finish line.

F1 is not a sprint race any more. With engines and gearboxes having to do multiple races, as well as the qualifying and practise sessions that go with them, F1 is a 12-hour endurance race discuised as a series of sprints.

Sure it’s money saving, which is I suppose what had to happen in order for the series to continue at all, and I guess it’s “greener” to appease everyone who doesn’t give a toss about motorsport in the first place, but it’s lead to a much more predictable set of points scorers and podium positions.

I struggle with the F1Fanatic Predictions Championship game now (so mush so that i’ve stopped doing it) but imagine trying to predict the top 5 in some of the races from the mid-90s (when I first started watching F1)…

1995 Australian Grand Prix. Pole was Damon Hill, and the race was won by Damon Hill. Fair enough, that’s a possibility, but only because Schumacher retired. But then Olivier Panis in his ligier and Gianni Morbidelli in the Footwork 2nd and 3rd?! And followed by Mark Blundell and Mika Salo in McLaren and Tyrrell. Most people would have got 0 points.

1996 Monaco Grand Prix. Nobody would have guessed Olivier Panis would win from 14th on the grid, beating Coulthard’s McLaren and Herbert’s Sauber to the top spot. In a race where only 3 cars crossed the finish line and barely a handful more were classified. And Schumacher stuffed it int othe wall on lap one, with Hill’s engine blowing at half distance.

1999 European Grand Prix – Stewart Grand Prix come from nowhere to score a 1st and 3rd, sandwiching Jarno Trulli’s Prost, having seen Heinz harald Frentzen start from pole (although he and Jordan were on a roll that season).

But stuff like this doesn’t happen any more with these bullet proof cars. Agreed, it would make a Lotus, Virgin or HRT point far more well deserved (although those points do encompass 4 more places, so maybe it doesn’t – Lotus could maybe scrape 10th on a lucky day, but never a 6th)

There used to be one or two shock victories a season, and a few more shock podiums and points scores. But not any more, and as a supporter of the underdog, that makes me sad.

Even if it comes down to Reliability and Money issues, Force India did an amazing job in 2009 within just second year of it’s inception, and that is not long time back.
As I jogged my memory, I also remember they were running 4th in Monaco in 2008 when Kimmi refused to apply breaks (Kimmi fans don’t bash me, this is not the point of debate anyway ;) ).
In short, all three newbies are definitely way off the mark.

Right, but in 2009, FI was nearly reborn wrt technology, team, partnership and management.

Right, but in 2009, FI was nearly reborn wrt technology, team, partnership and management.

True, but they already had a year’s experience.

I’m sure they will get better at making their cars.

As GeeMac said the only really new team to make their own chassis from scratch in recent times has been Toyota and they did have the budget of a medium sized country.

One rule that could be holding them back is the fact that a team does need to build the car. They can’t just buy a car like Super Aguri did.

I’ve always thought it was a shame the 2009 rules didn’t come in for 2010, might have have helped the new teams start a bit closer to the front.