Fresh diffuser rules row

F1 Fanatic round-up

Posted on

| Written by

In the round-up: exhausts row, Hamilton sees the stewards and Lightning McQueen is booted from the paddock.

Links

Top F1 links from the past 24 hours:

Tempers blow hot in F1’s latest engine dispute (BBC)

Renault’s rivals object because the French engine company has now been allowed to have a 50% throttle opening when the driver is entering the corner.”

Saturday verdict over diffuser issue (Autosport)

“Whiting will decide overnight if further action needs to be taken, and the teams will be informed before the start of final free practice about the FIA’s view on the matter.”

British GP – Conference 2 (FIA)

Martin Whitmarsh: “As I understand Renault’s throttles are 50 per cent open under braking and I think that is probably not what most of us expected coming into this event. That’s been a little bit of a revelation that we gathered during the course of the sessions today and we are trying to understand what we have to do.”

10% rule: Full analysis (ScarbsF1)

“The unreported events at Silverstone this afternoon are fairer than the picture being painted by the teams and the media. Its true that Renault were given their greater throttle opening, but also Mercedes were given their fired-overrun, but these dispensations have been given to every engine manufacturer, so Ferrari could have more throttle opening or Cosworth could develop a fired overrun. As I understand you can one but not both of these options, so no 50%-open with a fired-overrun.”

Critical stage of the race for future of F1 (FT, registration required)

Bernie Ecclestone: “I used to control more than I do at the moment because we’ve let things go a little, but to other people we’ve become too democratic. I still think that if I wasn’t around you’d need someone who was going to run things a little bit like I run things.”

Silverstone’s bright new future puts punters in the dark (Daily Telegraph)

“Silverstone yesterday laid the blame for this on Bernie Ecclestone’s Formula One Management, which reversed the intended configuration of the pit garages, which would have seen the slowest teams behind the wall, to please corporate guests.”

Byron Young on Twitter

“Very amused that Lightning McQueen got kicked out of paddock by Bernie but won through and is back again. So Hollywood.”

F1 Fanatic live Twitter app

“An encouraging day – despite the wet” (McLaren)

Lewis Hamilton: “The reason I went to the stewards was to discuss the correct usage of DRS in wet conditions: the rules don’t clearly state whether you can use DRS on slicks in wet conditions, which is what we did this morning. The stewards just wanted to understand so that they could tighten the wording of the regulations for the next race. I also suggested a couple of tweaks to make the regulations clearer and safer, so it was quite a useful visit.”

Is Lewis the man? No, he is petulant, surly in defeat and deluded by a sense of entitlement (Daily Mail)

“He is still a man-child: prone to petulance, surly in defeat and deluded by his own well-developed sense of entitlement.”

Fast on the track and faster off it: Is Lewis Hamilton losing his grip? (The Guardian)

“Lewis Hamilton appears to be demonstrating, week by week, that the decision to cut himself free from his father’s guiding influence is having a questionable effect on his career.”

Rubens Barrichello on Twitter

“Watching a 1980 F1 at Brands Hatch on ESPN Classic… fantastic.”

F1 Fanatic live Twitter app

Scot who outshone Vettel ready for the race of his life (The Independent)

“I’ve only raced here once, because I went racing in Europe very young, so I suppose my biggest memory here was driving an F1 car on the national track as part of the British Racing Drivers’ Club/Autosport Young Driver Award some years back. The track layout has changed a lot since then.”

No minister: why governments steer clear of investment in F1 (The Times, subscription required)

“‘We stopped going to Westminster cap-in-hand,’ said Stuart Rolt, the chairman of the British Racing Drivers’ Club, which has backed the development of Silverstone with 40 million of its own investment. ‘There was a time when we tried very hard, but we decided we would have to look after ourselves.'”

Follow F1 news as it breaks using the F1 Fanatic live Twitter app.

Comment of the day

The F1 2011 preview prompted fresh debate on realism in F1 games. Torg said:

I hate the way people try and brand stuff ‘arcade’ just because it doesn’t meet exactly the same level of realism as, say, iRacing.

So F1 2010 might be missing out on a few features to make it feel as authentic but this doesn’t mean it falls into the ‘arcade’ category. With all assists off and simulations on the game does a brilliant job of creating a realistic feel and is by no means a walk in the park to master.
Torg

From the forum

Cyanide has some complaints about the site which I’ve responded to here.

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 Sakon Yamamoto who is 29 today!

Image © Renault/LAT

Author information

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...

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

81 comments on “Fresh diffuser rules row”

  1. I don’t like to imagine what other people think, but if I were Lewis I can see why he gets frustrated. So many stories and they all go with the LEWIS IN TROUBLE angle, if someone wrote an article like that about my working AND personal life I’d strongly advise them where to publish it.. The guy drives cars. Leave him alone.

    Can see why Kimi won and left.

    1. Very good point. There’s a great line from the John Adams HBO miniseries, spoken by Benjamin Franklin (though I don;’t think it’s a historical quote):

      It is perfectly acceptable to insult a man in private – he may even thank you for it afterwards. But when you do so publicly, it tends to make them think you are serious.

      Public criticism is to be expected and dealt with in this day and age, but when it keeps coming, half the time just to sell column inches, no wonder the lad gets hacked off.

      1. Nice quote Icthyes.

    2. What has the poor boy done? Nothing. This story is going on forever. He hasn’t raced in two weeks, how can he have made something wrong?

      1. He breatheth! How dare he…

    3. Ah the Daily Mail… what a piece of ____

      1. Making Di Resta look like a god and putting down once again the most talented driver there country ever had.
        I have the feeling that if anyone is racist against Hamilton is not the Spanish or Italian fans who have other reasons to hate him or the stewards that are just incompetent but the British press that just want him to disappear and stop winning over their nation’s white boys.

  2. “He is still a man-child: prone to petulance, surly in defeat and deluded by his own well-developed sense of entitlement.”

    Read: “We think we know what’s best for Hamilton, even though we don’t actually know him, and since he’s ignoring our attempts to do him a favour and have him join Red Bull, we’ve decided to resort to petty character assassination because his stubbornness means we don’t get the journalistic scoop that we want.”

    I’m sorry, Keith, but I don’t understand why you include stuff like this in the round-up. It’s written by a tabloid, so we know there’s no truth in it. And if there is truth in it, if Hamilton is being a “petulant, surly man-child deluded by his sense of self-entitlement”, it doesn’t make any difference – the tabloids are still using it to push an agenda. The best thing we can do is ignore them.

    1. I don’t understand why you include stuff like this in the round-up

      To show the views of different drivers put forward by mainstream media.

      Like it or not, it’s bought and read by a lot of people and influences their perceptions.

      1. To show the views of different drivers put forward by mainstream media.

        I hardly think the tabloids qualify as media considering they fabricate things rather than report them. I could understand this article if it were an opinion piece out forth in The Times – but it’s not. It’s a tabloid trying to turn public opinion against Hamilton because Hamilton is not doing what they want him to do in joining Red Bull. They’re not influencing peoples’ perceptions, they’re trying to give that perception to the public so that they can come back and say “Well, see, Lewis, this is what the people want and you’re ignoring it”. If you go through and read every article about Hamilton’s recent difficulties and leave out the tabloid articles, there’s nothing there. There’s no story beyond Hamilton having a bad run and getting frustrated by it. Everything else is just words put into peopels’ mouths by tabloids with an agenda.

        1. Everything else is just words put into peopels’ mouths by tabloids with an agenda.

          You’ve only just noticed this? Unfortunately there are so many sheep in this world that the media to a certain extent dictate what the views are of common society. Global warming being a good example of this.

          We don’t agree on much PM, but this I do.

          1. You’ve only just noticed this?

            No, I haven’t. I’m just pointing out that tabloids report their own opinions and agendas as news for the sake of influencing people to believe what they want them to believe. Usually to sell more papers. They’re very good at it, because they’ve been doing it for years. They’re leeches who profit off other peoples’ misortune and misery. I just don’t think tabloid articles should be included in the round-up because they have no real pull, and by reposting and discussing them, all we are doing is giving the tabloids exactly what they want. They want to create that hostility towards Hamilton because it creates more drama. It piles more pressure on Hamilton to perform at a time when he needs to relax and get back to basics. The likely result is that Hamilton will experience more frustration, which will show in his race results, and the tabloids will have a field day as they fight fire with firewood. They’re the only ones who win here.

        2. PM, after reading several of the pieces on Hamilton linked to in the round up, I fear I must have missed the one you read, for I completely fail to see your “translation” in them.

          What I see are thoughts about how this extremely fast, promising and mature character of a racing driver we saw taking the GP2 championship and then get into great shape in F1 somehow got lost in feeling to be targetted and unhappy.
          And talking about different aspects that are influencing what he does and thinks.

      2. I’m with Prisoner on this one. Two or three days ago we have a round up with this title:

        “Hamilton: Villeneuve and Mansell ‘should keep opinions to themselves”

        There some guys in the comments sugesting that this was a misquote.

        I’m getting used to read the round up with this kind of title about Lewis here.

        Anyway, you, Keith, could find some positive articles about Hamilton in the same Telegraph that you linked above:

        “…Everyone is having their digs. “Grow up”, even his admirers demand. Eddie Irvine sees a man “who’s lost the plot” and Niki Lauda thinks his driving could end up killing someone. Yet the more the critics berate him, the more dismissive appear his “I don’t give a toss” ripostes.

        So here is the flip side. Imagine F1 without Hamilton’s combustible blend of genius and daring and arrogance and charisma. Imagine it without the sort of bravura drive which saw him triumph in Shanghai three months ago. His only win of the season but what a thing of beauty.

        It was instructive wandering into the other motorhomes to see the other main acts go through the motions. Vettel, nice boy, teutonically earnest, assuring the cameras the title is not over and no one believing him; Michael Schumacher looking fantastically unimpressed while being questioned about faded glory; Fernando Alonso, all dull worthiness but never cracking a smile; Jenson Button, lovely bloke, but all charm and no edge.

        Hamilton, love him or chastise him, is a more fascinating subject than the lot of them. Even at a time when Vettel and Red Bull are turning the championship into a magisterial procession, it says much that everyone seems more consumed here about him. The sport is still mad about the boy…

        LINK: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/motorsport/formulaone/lewishamilton/8626281/British-Grand-Prix-2011-Formula-One-still-mad-about-the-boy-Lewis-Hamilton.html

        Like it or not, it’s bought and read by a lot of people and influences their perceptions.

        I’m still waiting to read here – a dedicated site about F1 – something about Lewis difficult times.

        1. Thanks for posting that link, it has some nice observations and a balanced view on Hamilton.

          I agree on the point that every driver has bad times and it makes them grow. Just look at Button being the next big thing, then “just playboy kid” and back to stardom.

          Also to an extent Hamilton is going through the same type of Shock Alonso must have felt in 2007, with this young bloke Vettel beating him for youngest WDC, beating his win count and getting youngest double WDC AND back to back as well as being beaten by Jenson Button, something he surely expected as much as most of us would not be happening.

          I must say, personally I am relieved that the sport is turning back to normal, with talents getting their first experience in cars like the HRT, or Sauber, Williams and Force India as this prepares them a lot better for some of the harder lessons in life they are bound to get when moving from winning everything in the junior series to suddenly being a great driver amongst the best 20 drivers of the world!

  3. streetfighterman
    9th July 2011, 0:57

    lol @ comment of the day.

    Yeah sure, you can select a few things and you’re “in an F1 race”. Doesn’t change the fact that the physics is arcade.

    1. I think you completely missed the point.

      1. streetfighterman
        9th July 2011, 1:33

        You would think that. But I didn’t. what “comment of the day” says is that it doesn’t fall under the arcade category because it’s hard to master with all assist off.

        Just because a game is hard to master doesn’t make it not arcade.

        Codemasters aim for mainstream. Sure it might be a good game. But it’s arcade.

        1. Oh yeah? Your mom is arcade! ;-)

        2. Codemasters aim for mainstream. Sure it might be a good game. But it’s arcade.

          Codemasters aim for the mainstream because they know most people who buy the game will be casual gamers. They’re not looking for a hardcore expeirence, would probably be turned off by it, and vastly out-number the proportion of fans who would only ever play in hardcore mode. By bowing to your demands and making the most realistic game possible, all Codemasters would succeed in doing is in driving away gamers.

          This seems to be a concept that a lot of hardcore fans have difficulty grasping: you are not the only people Codemasters are making the game for.

          1. What’s the big difference between arcade and not?

        3. Ok. But I hope you’re not insinuating the hardcore sim games are just like the real thing either, because they are not.

        4. I’d actually say that “arcade” games can be harder than “proper” simulations.

          If you’re driving a racing game, you probably are interested in racing/driving, so you know what to expect from a car or a race. There are certain rules, both in driving and racing. In arcade game, these don’t have to necessarily be followed. For example, the AI can gain an unfair advantage just to keep the player busy. In a “simulator”, if you are fast enough, you drive away from the field.

          Plus, a console can never have a proper simulator, because 90% of the users will drive it with a pad :P

          1. Plus, a console can never have a proper simulator, because 90% of the users will drive it with a pad

            Honestly I don’t think that whoever drives with a pad isn’t a sim-racer. I find it harder to post a challenging time on the board and it takes much more time to master.

            For me regarding racing games like F1 2O10 there are only arcade players. The game cannot be placed among the arcades.
            Even if you give a perfect sim-racer of a game to an arcade player he’ll keep getting cars crashing them onto walls and in the back of serious players.

          2. Disagree. If it’s a proper simulation of driving in F1 I’d expect there to be about 24 people who can master it. That’s got to be more difficult than any arcade scenario.

    2. You really seem to have a bee in your bonnet about this don’t you? For someone that clearly likes to show that they love games (by having streetfighter in your name) you certainly seem to know very little. F1 2010 is not even close to arcade, it is not a true sim either but that is not a bad thing. It is certainly closer to sim than arcade.

  4. I thought Yamamoto was older for some reason. Maybe he is older but he’s so slow he’s only just made it to 29? Okay that was too easy.

    Jonathan McEvoy well, his opinion is entirely legitimate (and believe me I sympathise with parts), but I did a bit of digging. Look at these parts of his article:

    That’s why when he was dissatisfied at McLaren, he went straight round to Red Bull to speak to their team principal Christian Horner to discuss a move…

    He might, we should note, have remained loyal to the team who nurtured his abilities rather than hawked himself about to the next fast ride on the scene…

    You wonder whether Fuller is really what Hamilton needs. He might make him big in show business, and in the States, but does he understand the machinations of Formula One’s political black arts?

    Compare it with an earlier article of his:

    Why should he stay if McLaren fail to equip him with a championship-challenging car for the next decade?

    Take his father-manager Anthony…He and Hamilton Jnr would walk out of McLaren’s polished-glass sliding doors at Woking tomorrow if a deal that suited them was available…

    Formula One is a cut-throat business. Is anyone seriously suggesting that Hamilton, so ruthless on the track, would rather slip down the field than wear red?

    So in the earlier article he’s suggesting there’s nothing wrong with moving to a better outfit and his father would be wise to encourage that. Fast forward to today and it’s petulance and entitlement and bad strategy from his management.

    As is too frequent with opinion journalism, the stance changes to suit the story. And though his opinion is valid, it’s hard to respect a journalist that does that.

    1. The terrible quality of tabloid journalism is what drives me to write.

      http://iamdanthomas.blogspot.com/2011/06/bad-journalism.html

      1. I literally lol’d when I saw the photo! That’s a good article, thanks for sharing.

          1. nice read thanks for posting it.

      2. You should see some of the stuff that people on forums write.

      3. The terrible quality of tabloid journalism is what drives me to write.

        Well, good news: News of the World is shutting down after the phone-hacking affair. That’s one less place for toxic filfth to spew forth from. And it also robs Murdoch of a way to try and influence the commercial holdings of the sport.

        1. Unfortunately I have heard that the domain name Sunonsunday.com has already been registered, so be prepared for one Murdoch rag to be replaced by another. The king is dead, long live the king…

        2. If someone wants true stories there’d be better reading off a Harry Potter book than the News of the World…good riddance.

    2. Maybe he is older but he’s so slow he’s only just made it to 29? Okay that was too easy.

      I can’t believe I just read it ;)

  5. Yes, there is a fresh diffuser row, which seems to have gotten lost in ‘Lewis World’ somehow.

    Apparently it will all be sorted before FP3…That’s the diffuser row, not Hamilton’s pent up frustrations.

    Back to ‘Lewis World’.

    1. indeed, i thought it would get more attention here…

    2. The new diffuser row is entirely the fault of the FIA. The whole idea of freezing engine tech is ridiculous and even more ridiculous given that they seem to be able to hide performance changes behind a veil of reliability fixes…. Either freeze the tech or don’t but if it frozen then their is no way to allow new manufacturers in as they will by default have broken the frozen tech rule!

      What a complete farce…. Unfreeze the tech and while they are at it if they are going to change rules mid season then they need to allow some in season testing.

      1. Yes hard to get people interested in technology when there are celebrities to be rubbished or praised, but I find it fascinating that Mercedes (McLaren) can argue that burning fuel in the exhaust pipe whilst off-throttle is a normal function of their engine and increased exhaust gas-flow is a purely incidental minor benefit, while at the same time arguing that Renaults leaving the butterfly valve half open but stopping fuel injection is purely to gain an advantage with increased exhaust-flow. Apart from the obvious similarity with the way diesel engines have used fuel flow entirely to regulate “throttle” I myself have used the technique in some of my old bangers that tended to overheat going uphill on a hot day, turning of the ignition and flooring the accelerator going downhill to cool the engine and incidentally help the brakes. I am sure this one will run and run.

        1. Yeah, I am pretty sure, and have thought so all the way since these teams mentioned reliability issues, that they are fielded at least in part for the wish to keep their downforce creating advantage for their cars while taking every opportunity to get the others advantages banned :-(

  6. That Mail article is appalling journalism of the highest order. Nothing new then, from that filthy rag.

    1. Exactly, 90% of their content is made up out of thin air to suit their point of view! I have read articles claiming how appalling a particular game is (which is fitting with their anti games view) and the review is clearly made up as they mention things that do not exist in the game!

      However the Sun, Mirror and all the other tabloids are just as bad. why on earth do people buy them?

  7. is there any sport other than motorsports that changes rules mid-season (never mind mid-event)? with as precious little variety and innovation as f1 allows (ross brawn called them cuckoo clocks) it seems the organizers and participants can’t accomplish much other than undermining each other and themselves. absolutely pathetic. put me in charge, what’s the worst that could happen?

    1. fullthrottle
      9th July 2011, 2:57

      Oval circuits.

      1. Oval racing isn’t bad, it can be very entertaining in fact.

        The worst that could happen is to decide the grid by a random draw with numbers written on tyres. Not like any American motorsport would be dumb enough to do that…

        1. Because of the nature of oval races, with high incidences of overtaking, the organisers probably figured that grid positions would have little influence over the final racing order. It’s an idea that is good in theory, but very poor in execution. They’ve since changed it.

  8. I follow F1 since I was a little boy…and I am no longer one.. I remember F1 was not so boring!
    I cannot understand why we need to tweak rules in the middle of the championship unless safety is a concern.
    The modern F1 is created around a climate of austerity and it is ok to have rules/solution that curb spending.
    Does all this changing of rules, policing save money?
    If it does, please some one explain it to me.
    Wouldn’t be easier to keep the current rules about engine and g-boxes/year, monocoque design fixed, fix amount of fuel/week, what ever else has been fixed and and leave the rest to teams and individual geniatlity?
    My opinion is that all these rules, rule modifications, cesuring of driver opinion are killing F1.
    Few years back, “I had to watch” the race live; now live or recorded don’t make a difference to me…
    Any one out there that feel the same way I feel? or am I just getting old?

    1. i’m getting there pal. I would have dropped most plans to watch the race live…… then the ferrari-schumacher thing happened…. i still started watching the race live, but would spend more and more time out of the room doing other things.

      Now with far too much emphasis on aerodynamic grip, making passing without gimmicky wings very hard, with slim tracked cars and small engines (might be better when turbos come in) i’m getting less and less “die hard”

  9. i had a pretty pessimistic view of f1 2010 before it was released, and i was right. a year later, codemasters has done little to assuage my doubts over them being able to properly construct a ham sandwich.

    1. It is the best F1 game I have ever played! It has some issues many of which seem to be being fixed for 2011 but it is still a good game.

      What exactly is so bad about it?

  10. The moronic psychoanalysis of Lewis continues. The standard of sport journalism has never been lower. Armchair psychologists, hyperbolic fluff pieces and incorrect reporting are just some of the few problems affecting the industry.
    Lewis can’t win–if he were all smiles and all encouragement all the time (as he was most of 2009 in a bad car) the media will probably slate him for lack of killer instinct and force of will.

    Roll on Silverstone, can’t wait to see Lewis shut the idiots up with a good result.

  11. Just allow cold blowing. Everyone can be given the same allowance.

    This can be easily be adopted by Mercedes to reduce engine and crank stress. This replaces the need for hot blowing.

    1. or ban all blowing, and hopefully we will get some mechanical failures…… spice things up.

  12. Hey, dont go too hard on the press. What I know about the the press is that they will pander to their readers’ prejudices. Tabloid or “respectable” that’s what all of the them do. Is Hamilton really “ still a man-child: prone to petulance, surly in defeat and deluded by his own well-developed sense of entitlement.”? Or is that what people want to think of him?

    Lets look at the LH facts, he is young, good looking, an F1 driver, carries his wallet in truck with him, dates a dream girl. Worst of all, he had achieved success immediately and easily. There were no sweat, blood and tears: ala Nigel Mansell. People are bound to hate a guy like this because noone should have it that good, come on! People are gonna think he is a spoilt brat, no matter whether he is actually one. “At least I’m not a spoilt brat like him” is a comforting thought for ordinary people like us. Deep inside, it will be more frustrating if he were actually a nice person as well.

    1. I have to disagree.

      Jenson and Vettel are prime examples of being young, wealthy & successful without the ugliness.

      Lewis unfortunately has gone over to the dark side.

      1. But the dark side has cookies to offer… How can one refuse? :-D

      2. Evidence for this?

        Jenson was criticised heavily in his earlier years for being regarded as not ‘paying his dues’, and plenty remarked on Vettel’s ‘crazy’ hand gesture after the collision with Webber last year.

        Everyone just remembers selectively what they want to prove their preconceived opinion – it’s human nature.

      3. I beg to differ.

        Jenson has had 10 years (of growing older while not in a competitive car!) since he arrived. Were you aruond at the start of it, when soon after he landed, he was said to be a playboy only interested in the glamour, his fast cars and his yacht? Doesn’t sound so pretty. Guess he calmed down and had time to think waiting for that BGP01.

        Vettel is now on a high of being WDC in the fastest car, intent and likely to defend his title. Last year he did show he wasn’t so nice with his teammate at least, now that’s just not a factor. Furthermore, he has been Red Bull molded since a long time, to be fun, honest and open. He is good at it. It might fit him, but it also makes him, to me, rather bland.

        All of them could be nice guys in private, but we just don’t really know how they really are.

      4. Really? you truly believe this? Button was not in the limelight so much in his early career, Vettel was appallingly behaved last season, yet Hamilton gets crucified for crashes which on reflection were either caused by other drivers or were just bad luck. Would you rather no one attempted to pass?

        The best racing drivers are always the most controversial as Senna proved… Mainly because they are always fighting for position and also the eyes are always on them.

  13. polishboy808
    9th July 2011, 5:43

    I don’t see why Hamilton is getting so much hate for what he’s done. I mean, he gets in the car, he always performs well with the occasional crash (I wouldn’t call them crashes, just racing incidents), and then goes to the media and speaks his mind. Who are we to tell him he can’t do that? I think more drivers should be like him, because if all the drivers came out and called people racist, insulted racing legends, and then wrecked half the field, F1 would be much better….

    Alright I’m glad I got that outta me….

    1. I don’t see why Hamilton is getting so much hate for what he’s done.

      Because tabloids thrive and scandal and sensationalism. If there is no drama, they’ll go and blow things out of proportion so that there is.

      1. Sorry, thrive on. That sentence should read “tabloids thrive on scandal and sensationalism”.

      2. Or… Maybe it’s because he’s said a series of silly things in the last month…

        There WAS drama, so they used it.

        1. Yes, there was drama. The operative term being “was”. Everything else has been fuelled by the tabloids, even after the story is over. Like I said, if you read everything except the tabloids, there’s no real story there. Everything since Montreal has simply been a reaction to them.

        2. You know, just two years ago, maybe more recent, we had media and oodles of, mainly British, former drivers complain all of the current drivers were bland robots towing the party/team line without personality. That clearly didn’t give good quotes.

          Now teams and drivers try to be more open. Briefly it was seen as a good thing, but all too quickly, the (British?) media feels the need for milking that drama, as PM alludes to.

          That’s also, in my opinion, what happened in 2007, then with HAM in the role of good guy, ALO in the role of bad guy, with a role as evil stable-master for Ron Dennis to boot.

          I’m quite convinced that the problem isn’t really the actors so much (not saying they are angels) as it is those that wish to tell the story.

          1. Which leaves us to ponder the role of the actuall consumers of that drama presented.

            Isn’t it the same as with prostitution? It will always exist as long as there are paying customers?

  14. Hatebreeder
    9th July 2011, 6:53

    Is it just me or lewis hamilton is the most popular F1 driver? :P

  15. Adrian Morse
    9th July 2011, 6:57

    I suppose with the British GP this weekend, the tabloids had to write something on F1, and rather than write about something actually happening at the weekend, they decided to roll out some old Hamilton stories (breaking news: Hamilton cuts himself free from his father!). No wonder F1Fanatics occasionally complain about the frequency with which Lewis is in the headlines.

  16. Aren’t we getting sick of this whole Lewis Hamilton hublaloo already? I mean, its the British GP, the circuit has some great new stuff, there’s a whole lot more happening, where is all that? I can understand what the tabloids are doing, their mainstay is the bunch who need some scandal or sensationalism to make their sorry day more interesting, so I (or anyone who considers themselves serious about F1) should not give a monkey’s about what these darned tabloids write or don’t write. Let them do what they’re doing, when has it affected the actual goings on of the sport?
    Giving them much attention on a dedicated site like this is somewhat stupid to be honest.
    Lewis has been the centre point for many a ugly/silly press and that’s partly because of his own actions but isn’t that what makes every F1 driver different? Just let him be!
    I don’t think there’s anything he hasn’t done to prove what a fantastic driver he is, so what if he started off in a top car and had success straight away? Why be bitter that he didn’t have to struggle like hell to win?
    Jenson may have had the tag of a spoilt brat but remember how long it took him to win races and a c’ship. Vettel is pretty much enjoying what Lewis did when he started, so does that mean we get bitter about him too? The RB and Vettel domination is a different story though.
    The sport evolves with time and so does everything else. Thing change, nothing’s permanent.
    British tabloids have been like that since time began, nothing too surprising or new about it. Have you even seen what the American or Indian tabloids do? You’d most certainly throw up!
    Keith includes those in a round-up just to inform people what’s been going around in other parts of the media (reputable or despicable). That’s it. Discussing about it and raving about that stuff is just a waste of time.

    1. Vettel doesn’t get the same treatment as Hamilton because he isn’t as outspoken (or Red Bull have a very proactive team of press officers who make sure he can’t say anything!), but instead he has an army of commenters on F1 posts saying that he can’t overtake and only wins because he has the fastest car.

      Hamilton has his personality attacked, Vettel has his ability attacked: swings and roundabouts…

      1. To be honest, it wasn’t that much of a difference last year when Vettel was deemed the “crash kid” by many (I agreed with that at the time as well, since then he has improved).

  17. OTBD ban, what OTBD ban RBR now are allow to run more then they were before the ban, what a joke. Hope there more to it becuase if I understand that correctly no point watching F1 until 2014

  18. Should of read the whole article, however it seems RBR got what they wanted and to some extent so did Merc. RBR could easily have more of an advantage now but equally it could still go the other way.
    As I original stated months ago, this wasn’t going to be enforceable and its not, more than 10% of throttle was normal even in 2009.

  19. Keith, there is a small issue with your site this week: when I enter your site, a box appears, which says: ‘Internet explorer stopped working’. Can you solve this issue?

  20. Massive round-up!

    I agree with the comment of the day, too. There’s plenty of options for sim enthusiasts already.

  21. I’m with Torg on his COTD. I play with all assists off and it is brilliant, especially having to squeeze the throttle coming out of a corner, very rewarding indeed.

    Great blog from Andrew Benson. It’s been a while since we had petty squabbling of that calibre.

    1. Me to. Not that I play it much, but I think its a very good game.

  22. The teams and the FIA had a TWG meeting at 11.30 (UK). The outcome of which is, as yet, unknown.

    Hopefully it will be cleared up once and for all, otherwise there may be protests from another team after the race on Sunday.

  23. So DJ Yamamoto is playing the music at the Virgin party tonight to celebrate his birthday. Make it a memorable one Sakon San.

    Certainly he is now making a more worthwhile addition to the grid at the turntables than he did in last years HRT!

  24. @comment of the day: codemasters last year F1 game isnt hard to master, the physics, the handling is so boring I can drive with my eyes closed; I understand not every racing game needs to be hardcore simulation, and there are many other titles that are mixing sim and arcade better than F12010 is doing it (like Shift games, or even Codemasters own Colin McRae Rally games). Besides, its not only handling that makes a racing game somewhat realistic: its also AI and rules implementation, and those are done by CM very poorly; how can you say it creates realistic feel when the AI is cheating, there is no safety car, you cant do proper strategic battles through pitstops (because you cant control your car in the pitlane and the AI has priority while doing pitstops), you cant even race the AI properly (forget about chasing someone, or running away from the car behind – even if you think you are doing it – its all fake; even CM themselves have said it was a mistake to use AI from Dirt in an F1 game).
    F1 2010 is a failure that CM cant repeat with F1 2011.

Comments are closed.