Sirotkin: 2013 was “worst season of my life”

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In the round-up: Sergey Sirotkin, who is likely to race for Sauber next year, says his recently-completed season in Formula Renault 3.5 was his worst so far.

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Sergey Sirotkin: I don’t feel any pressure (Crash)

“This was the worst season of my life; I was very unlucky. Every time I would say, ‘tomorrow next time’, we always say this but it never comes.”

Anthony Davidson says motor sport is missing ‘fear factor’ over safety (The Guardian)

“We don’t want to see fans get injured or drivers get injured or killed but the drivers should get punished. On some modern circuits its pathetic when you see drivers going off the track and nothing happens.”

RAC launches clash with Formula One partners (The Telegraph)

“Tom Purves, the RAC chairman and former chief executive of Rolls-Royce, wrote to FIA president Jean Todt to demand further details about payments totalling ??14.4m [12.2m].”

Indian Grand Prix began much before F1 cars landed (Economic Times)

Video of preparations for this weekend’s race.

Tweets

Maldonado describes recent “rumours” about his relationship with Williams as “completely false”.

Snapshot

Former F1 driver Timo Glock catches up with Lewis Hamilton at the DTM season finale at the Hockenheimring yesterday. The rain-hit race saw Glock score his first victory since his final GP2 start at Valencia six years ago.

Comment of the day

Nico Hulkenberg has won two of the last three Driver of the Weekend polls and many of you want to see him in a better car:

Nico Hulkenberg has been a bright spot in this increasingly predictable season of Vettel and Red Bull dominance. Not that this is the fault of Vettel or Red Bull, they are simply doing their job exceedingly well.

To see Hulkenberg racing with three world champions and doing so well is certainly a glimpse of more to come. Best wishes for him and the team that will be wise enough to sign him for 2014.
@Bullmello

From the forum

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday to Imre Pardi!

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

Two drivers won the world championship on this day in F1 history and both did it by beating Alain Prost.

Niki Lauda beat his McLaren team mate to the title by the tightest-ever margin of half a point at Estoril in Portugal in 1984.

Whereas Ayrton Senna took the title in deeply controversial fashion at Suzuka in 1990, crashing into Prost at the first corner:

Image © Renault/DPPI

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...

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77 comments on “Sirotkin: 2013 was “worst season of my life””

  1. I really feel for Sirotkin. He’s put in some very strong performances this year, regularly dicing with – and sometimes getting the better of – Antonio Felix da Costa. But he’s been let down by an unreliable car or has been on the receiving end of some bone-headed moves by other drivers. I think he’s a genuine talent, but this is not reflected in his results on paper.

  2. What a race that was which Glock won! I’m really glad to see him making the most out of the opportunity that the DTM gave him to keep up his racing career, after being dumped by the Marussia team.

    1. Indeed. DTM really is a top series, with so many talented drivers and very good racing and interesting tracks. Wish Timo the best for next season and maybe he can fight for the main prize.

    2. WilliamB (@william-brierty)
      21st October 2013, 8:32

      @toiago – I genuinely believe that if you offered Glock an opportunity to return to F1 for rear end team, he’d turn it down. What is the point of mucking about at the back of an F1 race when you could be winning in the DTM; a series I respect almost as much as F1. For me, Glock is looking like a title contender next year in the DTM.

    3. Glock is great man, just as he dedicated his win to Maria de Villota. He was emotionnal and I was too. Super bloke!

      1. What a great win for Glock! Good for him!! :)

  3. Can’t say Sirotkin is wrong about his season; just this weekend he retired from well into the points; holding off A.Felix da Costa in race 1, before his rear wing failed.

    Typical Crash.net comments, though. It’s not as if Sergio Canamassas or Johnny Cecotto jr. are joining a midfield team. I do think Sirotkin could do with more single-seater experience, but people are talking about Sirotkin as if he’s slower than Deletraz, clumsier than Inoue and more of a threat than Ivan Draco.

    1. Can’t say I disagree with you there @npf1, I don’t think we can judge Sirotkin until about halfway through next season when he has some Grands Prix under his belt. Similar to Gutierrez and van der Garde in a way, how they started off this season as whipping boys and have slowly gained in confidence and are now starting to at least give their teammates more of a challenge.

      1. I wouldn’t say Gutierrez is giving Hulkenberg a challenge.

        1. I’m not saying that either, just saying that Gutierrez is no longer embarrassing himself and is at least showing some kind of speed in the car.

  4. How does anybody know that a driver in their rookie season is going to be terrible? If your name isn’t Kimi Raikkonen, then I don’t want to hear you bagging rookie drivers.

    1. @troylongstaff – They don’t. They just assume he will be because he’s a) young and b) known to be bringing money to the team.

    2. Or Lewis Hamilton

  5. “There you go Timo…. I owed it to you!”
    LMAO…. I know, I know…. twisted joke… I couldn´t help myself.

    1. In 30 years time alot of paint will run again about the late 2000’s

  6. EU 8.3 million for travel expenses ! Who do they think they are? Politicians?

    1. That figure applies to all FIA staff over the course of a financial year. And the FIA is not just limited to regulating Formula 1.

    2. Todt’s campaign budget (apart from offering positions, its the way to buy the vote, I guess)?

  7. Question for gamers; Do your tyres give up after a dozen laps when you play F1 2013 ?

    1. @hohum

      Sometimes after 3 or 4 on COTA 25% races!!!
      You do get used to it and adapt though.

      1. @calum, fascinating, how exactly does it affect you, obviously you don’t slide of the edge of your seat ?

        1. Obviously you increase tyre wear through a combination of
          a) breaking too hard/locking up
          b) accelerating too early/wheel spinning
          c) driving through gravel traps

          At first you notice little slides when driving out of corners, you have to “box” straight away because one lap too many will cause your tyres to end up so bad that when you accelerate the car just does donuts, it can be totally impossible to get past 50km/h without spinning – and as a result your race is destroyed.

          1. So I guess you have to use your sense of sight rather than your sense of motion to achieve results, interesting, thanks.

          2. @calum Have they actually updated the tyre wear system, do you know for sure that the way you drive affects it? F1 2011 was the last one I played and for that the tyres would turn orange and then red if you just sat on the grid and didn’t move at all. It was based on a timer and ruined one of the most integral parts of the game. It was the greatest display of laziness in video game development I think I have ever seen. I haven’t bought anything from Codemasters since.

    2. Hmm maybe I should try F1 2013, if Valtteri approves it then it must be really good.
      Funny, I don’t remember any other drivers admitting they play F1 games, let alone play as themselves!

      1. I’m thinking of getting the F1 2013 for Christmas. I’ve seen quite a few videos on YouTube and it looks like a big improvement from F1 2012.

  8. I kinda feel for Glock, I think if things had gone his way a bit more he could have had some success in F1.

    I’m looking forward to seeing how Sirotkin goes, he at least seems to have the mental fortitude in place (notably unlike several current F1 drivers.)
    From the little I’ve seen of him I think I quite like him :D

  9. “This was the worst season of my life; I was very unlucky. Every time I would say, ‘tomorrow next time’, we always say this but it never comes.”

    Maybe the school bus changed routes?

    1. Sergey DiResta ?

      1. Hardly. Di Resta has had a spate of retirements that were down to driver error, like his off in Korea. Sirotkin, however, has suffered retirements that were down to other drivers’ errors – like when he got dive-bombed by Nato.

        1. Correct. DiResta simply has reached the ceiling of his F1 potential, and a lot of that comes down to his attitude.

          If its a mechanical retirement he blames the team. If he crashes, its because the team produced a substandard car for the weekend, and hes having to overdrive it.

          Your hands and feet Paul, learn to take it on the chin.

        2. “dive bombed by Nato” is this world war 3 ?

  10. I agree with Davidson that surrounding the circuits in cotton wool has gone too far. Sometimes it’s actually more dangerous than it was before – at Montreal, for instance, there’s now nothing stopping a driver who overshoots into turn one, where there used to be gravel. A driver suffering from brake failure down the start/finish straight would end up coming across the track at the second corner, straight into oncoming traffic.

    Apart from that, it’s ridiculous that drivers can gain an advantage by running wide (the source of many a contentious penalty over the last few years). If the surface was there to slow cars down, it would be safer and more sporting.

    1. Another example is the Spoon corner at Suzuka, Pérez hit the wall quite violently in practice, but probably he would’ve stopped if there was gravel all around.

      1. I think the solution they have at Paul Ricard is the best solution, they have rough/abrasive stripes, they will discourage drivers from pushing too much because they will damage tyres if the driver goes wide, and in the case someone has a failure, they will slow the car down more than a standard tarmac run-off would.

        1. It sounds good in theory, but in practice, it’s not even remotely possible. Paul Ricard’s run-off areas contain tungsten, which is extremely expensive. And given the amount that would be needed to add to all of the run-off areas on every circuit in sufficient quantities, there may not actually be enough tungsten in the world to do it.

        2. The car is so stiff that if they go over at a significant speed, they will actually lose braking performance and the propensity to become airborne increases, albeit just slightly airborne… I suppose with brake failure, that won’t matter though.

    2. I really think Davidson may be regretting his words. I wonder how he feels about this:

      http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/110646

      Does reading that increase the fun factor!?

      I understand the point about there being a reduction in the penalty from running off track but to reduce safety as a way to address the problem is not the right approach at all. Where do you draw the line when reducing safety. As far as possible until the next drive dies and then move it back a bit?

      One answer may be to penalise drivers after the event using one of the existing penalties that stewards have at their disposal. Always if all four wheels leave the boundaries of what is considered the race track and a time penalty applied. Regardless of circumstances.

      1. @psynrg I don’t think it’s a choice between penalising drivers and safety. Tarmac is not necessarily safer than gravel, as the examples of the first corner at Montreal and Spoon at Suzuka demonstrate.

        Recent events clearly demonstrate that motorsport can take nothing for granted in terms of safety, and no one – not even Davidson, scurrilous headline aside (read the article) – is suggesting that we should make the sport less safe. But there are other, equally safe ways of doing things that the tarmac run-off areas currently do, which don’t allow drivers to get away with running off the track, or even reward them for doing so. The runoffs at Paul Ricard, mentioned above, are one example.

        I don’t think using stewards’ penalties to perform what should be the function of the track architecture would be particularly popular, or without contention. After all, no one can accuse a gravel trap of being biased.

        1. @red-andy

          no one can accuse a gravel trap of being biased.

          Nicely put!

      2. Circuits being a bit more punishing and having barriers near the circuit which caused a death are not one and the same. I would say that Davidson is one of the best people to comment on this after suffering a terrible crash at le mans last year.

  11. Kimi Raikkonen also won the championship on this day in 2007.

  12. Bottas is showing his team-mate how it’s done again – that’s a nice way of saying this year’s Williams handles like a Playstation!

  13. Imo Sirotkin would be a good driver in F1 but I still think that going in so early is too risky. He will need a full season to get into it but if Sauber ends up in a position where they have to scrap for points then the pressure will be too high and they might burn his talent along the way. But we’ll see maybe it works.

  14. I don’t have clear memories of F1 before 1991 and since then I’ve always seen at least one pay driver lining up. Today, IMHO, pay drivers are better than years ago in terms of performance but – more often than not – they are degrees below the standard.

    What really worries me is the amount of pay drivers out there now, because their “share” seems to be increasing year after year. In fact, most drivers bring sponsors along with them, Alonso comes to mind, but it’s clear that FA could be picked to drive for Ferrari even if he didn’t have Santander behind while I doubt McLaren would pick Sergio Perez without Carlos Slim/Telmex/Claro backing.

    Sergey Sirotkin is on his way for a Formula 1 drive while the likes of Kevin Magnussen, Stoffel Vandoorne, António Felix da Costa, Robin Frijns, Filipe Nasr or Sam Bird or Leimer are not so sure.
    Felix da Costa still stands a good chance of driving for Toro Rosso in 2014 but there still are a palpable amount of talent being left out in favor of money. Maybe teams too believe that drivers make less a difference in Formula 1 than in feed series and guarantee money to build agood car is a safer bet but recent record of some back markers with pay drivers make me wonder if this approach is working for the teams because they still struggle to make any impact.

    1. Magnussen, Vandoorne and da Costa are all involved in programmes specifically designed to get them into Formula 1. Sirotkin just happens to be making the transition sooner.

      Don’t forget that Frijns had the opportunity to get into Formula 1 and turned it down. He’s also seriously mismanaged his approach, so it’s not like he’s a talented driver getting passed over in favour of a pay driver – he is at least partially the architect of his own situation.

    2. I think it’s about the gap: if your main competitor is a few tenths faster, then you want a top driver. If the deficit is a second or more, then you might be better of with money for development.

    3. Mclaren isn’t getting any money for Perez or Button, besides no money can fix this year car.
      However putting it this way why pay Drivers millions when you can get rookies that actually pay to drive for the team, some teams so far don’t have to deliver results so any driver will be the same.
      Sponsors are starting to own the teams and we will see now sponsors will ask for results, no wonder Honda is worried about making a mistake, say if a team makes a dog car with the money invested.

      It sounds much better to start your own team alla REDBULL which now owns part of the top F1 history, top teams council and 4 times WDC WCC in a row, well done Matezichs again !

      1. RBR was Jaguar, not a startup like Caterham and Marussia…

  15. WilliamB (@william-brierty)
    21st October 2013, 8:24

    Now that is the Timo Glock I always had the uttermost faith in! What a brilliant DTM race, and what a fabulous drive from Glock. I genuinely think I’ve been enjoying DTM more than F1 this year. The topsy-turby nature of each driver’s performances, the constant unpredictability, some great racing and fabulous professionalism of the drivers and team has kept me enthralled all season long. Make no mistake here, this is a massive achievement for Timo, because he has gone up against the world’s best GT, touring car, sportscar and single seater drivers, and the most professional teams outside F1, and taken victory in his debut season; truly a spell-bounding performance. I know the logisitcs of having to watch the series on YouTube and not a rather handy HD channel complete with Martin Brundle and Ted Kravitz makes it a little less appealing, but I promise you, I you enjoy F1, then give it a watch, because in terms of driver quality, professionalism and speed, it is easily the closest series to F1. In fact, this week’s homework for all those who haven’t watched DTM this year it to march yourself over to YouTube and to watch yesterday’s race.

    Regarding Sirotkin, I find that statement rather bemusing. What he is essentially saying is this…

    I am surprised that a series renowned for arguably producing the best young talent in junior categories of recent years has been so difficult. OK, I have been catapulted into an F1 seat in a manner that most young drivers could only dream of, but still, I would have imagined that I would’ve faired better against the drivers that are more experienced and talented than I am.

    Who knows, maybe he is being honest with himself by saying…

    What a nightmare. I’ve been catapulted into F1 waaaaay too early. And I’ve tried by hardest in FR3.5 to prove that I’m not ready. EJ and Brundle are going to eat me alive!”

    Nah, he’s just trying to say that he’s a better driver than he’s shown this year…(snort)…no, I’m sure he’ll do an excellent job next year…(chuckles)…

    1. I think you’re reading too much into his comments, trying to create a situation whereby Sirotkin thinks it’s a bad idea, thus proving your belief that it’s a bad idea, but this theory has only come about because you think it’s a bad idea in the first place.

    2. In fact, this week’s homework for all those who haven’t watched DTM this year it to march yourself over to YouTube and to watch yesterday’s race.

      I just did – quite a nice race. Glock should have done his first stop earlier though so he would’t have fallen behind Mehri. It still worked out in the end though.

      1. @mike-dee A Merhi win would’ve been as great as a Glock one for me, as Merhi started at the back!

        The free DTM on YouTube is awesome stuff. Now, if only they can find a better commentator than Andrew Marriott…

        1. @journeyer That’s the one thing that stops me from watching more DTM.

          I don’t want to be too critical because I’ve done a little commentary and it’s not an easy thing to do well. And to an extent what commentators people like can come down to personal taste.

          But with the best will the world I do think he falls short of the necessary standard. I know plenty of people who don’t like his style and it puts me off watching other series he commentates on as well as the DTM.

          1. @keithcollantine @journeyer – I agree Keith, he does rather miss the obvious, such as the fact Merhi changed to slicks for his final stint at the weekend thus explaining his mega pace in the final laps, but frankly, it’s better than having a German commentator, or watching the ITV highlights a week later and having to spend the whole week avoiding the Autosport website so not to ruin the result. It truly is great that one of the great motorsports is being made internationally available, and the versatility of YouTube makes it all the more accessible. Saying that, an ex-driver as a commentator would do the coverage a world of good. Is Susie Wolff any good at commentary, or that busy for that matter? What about Oliver Jarvis since he’s set for the sack from Audi’s top squad? Imagine how brilliant Jason Plato would be in the commentary box (OK, I do know he hasn’t been in DTM, but he is a touring car legend), although his BTCC outing would frequently clash with DTM weekends. Also I’d replace Marriot with the rather cynical and “proper” Martin Haven, with each of those values being things very close to my crushingly logical, analytical heart.

      2. @mike-dee – Exactly what I thought at the time too, BMW definitely didn’t make it easy for Glock, in fact I wasn’t so much “thinking it” as I was screaming it at the screen. Sometimes the strategy in DTM this year has been a bit lethargic and not the sector-by-sector reactionary stuff we get in F1…from a man that just praised DTM for its professionalism.

        1. I could see them delaying the first stop to be able to go on slicks if possible. In addition, they were gaining time on Spengler so it made sense to stay out. But once Glock had done a decent amount of laps – say 20-25 – and started losing time against Spengler, they should have come in and changed to wets again. After all, they still had to do a second stop where they could have switched to slicks if it proved advantageous.

          1. @mike-dee The only incentive to stay out was the fact that they were gapping Spengler. There was no need to wait for the track to enter slick territory, which is what they were presumably doing, because they would still have to get anther compulsory stop out of the way, and therefore unlike F1, would not have done one stop less. The optimum strategy for Glock was to stay out until Spengler started to lap faster, pit for another set of wets, monitor the pace of those that do change to the slicks and then decide whether the track was dry enough in the closing laps before their final stop. In theory Merhi should’ve won that race, and because BMW essentially dropped the strategic ball, I think a lot of the credit for that win lies with Glock himself.

  16. I’d you think about it, if it goes well for Sirotkin next year and probes to be an impressive talent he would have massive potential to have a great and very lengthy career. By the time he is 21 he would be an experienced driver entering his forth season!

  17. It’s too bad it took people so long to realise that Hulkenberg is a top driver. He could have been winning races (and championships?) if he’d had a proper car by now.

    He stole my racing heart when I saw him race A1GP in Zandvoort. Very impressive win in a difficult race with changing weather.

  18. Regarding the Davidson piece in the Telegraph, couldn’t agree more with what he says. I’ve been reading a lot about safety developments in the late 1960s, early 1970s recently and the thing that strikes me is that back in those days, drivers had to go to great lengths (for instance boycotting the Belgian and German GPs in ’69, ’70) to guarantee their safety. The governing body of motor racing didn’t want any of those safety measures: the fans regarded these death-defying warriors as heroes (analogous to former RAF pilots in WW2), so it wouldn’t make sense for the governing body to affect that image.

    Nowadays it’s the exact opposite: the FIA has some pretty stern safety requirements for tracks, cars, clothing and so on. Yet we have seen numerous occasions this year where drivers say it has become too safe, the danger aspect is gone and that makes the sport dull. We don’t worship current F1 drivers any more because we know that the likelihood of one of them dying is negligible. And that’s what’s killing the sport.

    The big problem is that there’s a paradox: as long as fatal incidents occur in F1, people (nowadays) demand more driver safety, but as soon as no one has died in a while, it becomes boring because these men have become professional drivers, not death-defying heroes. So we can never be content with the current state of safety measures.

    So basically there has to be a middle ground: from time to time, someone has to die to keep us interested. But as I write that sentence down, I realize that’s a shocking, horrible thought. I cannot possibly be happy with the safety measures in a sport if that means people die every now and then. But then again, if we make it a little safer, so no fatalities have occurred in decades, it becomes dull. That’s the paradox I was referring to.

    I would love to hear other peoples’ thoughts about this, because I’m not sure what to make of it.

    1. @andae23 I had the exact same thought. I think they just want to see people punished for mistakes (perhaps getting stuck in the gravel, or losing an inordinate amount of time at least). The asphalt runoffs don’t allow that.

      The way I see it, I’d rather it be too safe than too dangerous. Other than DRS, I’m pretty happy with the current state of affairs.

    2. the Telegraph

      The Guardian… you know what I meant :P

      1. Well, the author of the article claims that Davidson is referring to racing and not physical injury when he refers to the fear of punishment for an off-track excursion. So I think that your theory about the need for “occasional death” is taking the issue a few large steps further than anyone else has ventured. In fact, I see the argument in the article being “ultra safe tracks result in unsafe driving because drivers don’t have to fear any consequences of going off”.

        I think that a broken car and a ruined race strategy is a reasonable consequence for a major excursion, not serious physical injury. The excitement of motor racing is in the battles for position, not the prospect of blood and gore. I can understand being annoyed at the consequence-free runoff zones, but is anyone really seriously tuning out F1 because nobody dies anymore?

        1. I was fearing a reaction like this: of course no one wants to see a fatality. The thing is that this season, I’m not excited even slightly. It’s just lap after lap, nothing so far has given me any form of adrenalin. Yes, DRS and the tyres are mostly to blame for this, but in my opinion it’s more than that. F1 doesn’t force you to sit on the edge of your seat anymore. Compare it to an action movie: it’s not really exciting to watch if you have been told exactly how it ends.

          And yes, I’m taking this a step further than the ‘tarmac or gravel’ discussion because I think the problem goes much deeper than that. It’s a mentality, and I find it interesting to discuss if that should change or not.

        2. is anyone really seriously tuning out F1 because nobody dies anymore?

          If you rephrase question by replacing ‘nobody dies anymore’ by ‘F1 has become safer’, then I would guess so.

          1. @andae23, I enjoy these discussions too, so I hope I did not come across as reactionary or anything like that. You asked for opinions, so I gave mine. I do have to say that I find your stance on the issue to be a little confusing. Your first post says “We don’t worship current F1 drivers any more because we know that the likelihood of one of them dying is negligible. And that’s what’s killing the sport.” and “…as soon as no one has died in a while, it becomes boring”. But your reply states “of course no one wants to see a fatality.” I personally believe that anyone who wants to see “death-defying” needs to accept that witnessing a death is a real possibility and as such is a part of that type of entertainment. If nobody ever died, it wouldn’t be death-defying then.

            F1 is no longer death defying, and I believe that is an accomplishment that should be applauded. I’m not sure I agree that the general sentiment is that F1 is boring because of decreased danger, and I don’t think that this was the main point of the Guardian article either. I for one would not watch if there were drivers dying on a regular basis, my attraction to the sport hinges on the incredibly fast cars and the on-track battles. It’s true that I don’t worship the drivers, but I wouldn’t worship death-defying dare-devils either. I can appreciate the F1 drivers’ skills and enjoy the show, just like I appreciate the skill of football players and follow them every weekend (and hopefully tuesday-wednesdays as well!).

            I do agree that the huge tarmac runoff zones have resulted in the (unintended?) consequence of allowing drivers to make mistakes without it setting them back in the race. In that sense, the margin for error has grown too much. Imagine if Vettel’s excursion in Montreal had ended with him beached in a gravel trap – his only mistake in the race would have made a big difference in the championship standings. That sort of uncertainty would increase the excitement of the races for me, and I don’t believe that you have to compromise the safety of the drivers to achieve this.

    3. @andae23 Some really interesting thoughts, but I don’t feel that way. I’ve been following F1 closely only since 2006 so I didn’t have to live through the heartbreaking moments of seeing a driver die during the race of in the aftermath. I really admire the courage of the drivers from the past but I would not have wanted any one of them to die prematurely. I’m still watching F1 with real excitement because what fascinates me most is the ability of the drivers to go so quick and (almost) faultlessly around the circuit for almost two hours.

      But I see other telling signs of this sport’s (and many others) decline. In my opinion those are:

      1. Overcommercialization – it is true for many popular sports and its consequences are responsible for lots of things that make me start losing interest in F1. First, it’s the suboptimal choice of drivers – they don’t need to be the best of the breed, but they must have the right marketing value. Then there’s the PR talk – just count the ratio of ‘Vodafone McLaren Mercedes’ phrase in the number of sentences spoken by this team’s members. Dull. Boring. Sometimes lying (‘We let our drivers race’ – (c)2010 by Christian Horner). It also makes hard to become a driver’s follower because they can’t show their true personalities. Finally, the ever-growing calendar of races will surely at some point make me stop watching every race, and then stop watching completely or waiting only for the title deciders.

      2. Stiff technical regulations – they were meant to cut the development costs, but their by-product is throwing ridiculous amounts of money on exotic and rather unnecessary ‘inventions’ like F-ducts, blown diffusers and so on. I’d rather they spent that money on food and education of poor people in the third world.

      3. Some fans’ attitude – there are lots of people, especially on this site, who understand what the sport is about and how much it takes to win a championship, let alone three or four. They understand that mistakes happen, cars fail and the design may be flawed and it can’t be changed overnight. But there’s ever-growing number of 21st century youngsters who think that everything comes easy, everything can be bought and they’re always right. People who don’t want a proper (sometimes boring – and that’s normal) sporting event but a TV show, with fireworks, sprinklers and explosions. I was also really surprised by the fact how many people defended booing Vettel and claimed it’s normal for fans to do so. It’s football hooligans’ attitude. I live nearby a stadium, I’ve seen them, I’ve heard them and I’m not going to join that train.

      1. @phildick I agree, there are many aspects to Formula 1, and the danger is just a small part of it. In your enumeration you point out things I dislike about Formula 1 too, and I think these are a much bigger problem than the one I pointed out.

        If Formula 1 would first try to adress those problems, then we would have an exciting sport that revolves around driving a car as fast as possible – I guess it doesn’t need to be dangerous.

  19. In the comment of the day they guy says 3 world champions. There is 5 world champions in F1 at the moment. Unless comment of the day guy was referring to a particular on track battle with 3 world champions specifically?

    1. @jaymz He was referring to the three champions HUL was staving off for the race.

      1. @jaymz , @beejis60 – Exactly, thanks.

  20. That picture of Glock and Hamilton brings me unhappy memories of Brazil in 2008……
    Anyway, I am very happy to see Glock racing in a top level category, he seems to be a great guy and is a very good driver, and it makes me feel very sad to see so many talented drivers elsewhere while in F1 we had to suffer with not-so-good drivers having a chance just because they bring the wallet. Go, Timo!

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