Rosberg ‘not sharing all information with Hamilton’

F1 Fanatic Round-up

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In the round-up: Nico Rosberg says he is withholding details about areas where he is gaining a performance advantage on his team mate Lewis Hamilton.

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Rosberg: I keep race secrets from Hamilton (The Telegraph)

“Sometimes you are not going to put it on the table, and say, ‘Look here at what I’ve done’. If I find a little bit of an advantage somewhere then I’ll keep it to myself.”

Silvestro just a ‘marketing move’ (ESPN)

Sergey Sirotkin: “At Sauber, we have a third pilot, Giedo van der Garde, a test-pilot – that’s me – and there is the sponsored racer [Silvestro], the person whom they are helping to reach the level of F1, which is, I think, rather more of a marketing move. I do not take this as something to be afraid of. Let’s see what will happen next.”

Raikkonen hurt by perfect storm (Autosport)

“It’s really about how the car handles, what I prefer, and the way the tyres work. It’s a combination of that.”

Saison 2014 (Canal +)

Simon’s snapshots #5 (MotorSport)

[Nigel] Mansell had spent the first part of the season notching top-six finishes in the British F3 Championship, at the wheel of a rented works March, but now he had the chance to give the new Honda-engined Ralt RH6 its race debut, in the sixth round of the European F2 series at Silverstone. And just two months hence, he’d be starting his first Grand Prix, at the wheel of a Lotus 81B in Austria.”

Porcine Maquillage (The Buxton Blog)

“With double points, the chance of a shock and perhaps undeserving result in the championship now awaits, too. Not content with throwing open the championship to a last chance lottery, now with the race result a gimmick in the form of standing safety car restarts can also replace something earned with something blagged.”

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Comment of the day

There was almost a sense of disbelief when it was confirmed yesterday standing restarts will be introduced in 2015:

It’s so depressing. Who’s coming up with these ideas?

Not only do the people who run the sport not bother to listen to the fans – they almost seem to go out of their way to do the complete opposite of what the fans want. It seems that the sport is fixated on attracting casual fans and believes that these fans want to see constant overtaking (no matter how artificial) – hence DRS and standing restarts.

They don’t seem to grasp that not every single race needs to be a thriller; just like how not every football match can be as thrilling as, say, the famous United-Real Madrid ties of 2003. It makes you appreciate the great races all the more for having witnessed a few average or below-average races.

What’s more, trying to make a race exciting through manufactured means is never going to sustain long-term interest in the sport. Apologies to use a football analogy again (it is the World Cup after all) – but imagine if FIFA shortened the length of the pitch, made the goals bigger and mandated that each team could only play 2 defenders. There’d be goals galore but I for one would lose interest very quickly.

I feel like F1 is reaching that stage now.
@Bpacman

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On this day in F1

Heinz-Harald Frentzen won an exciting, rain-hit French Grand Prix at Magny-Cours 15 years ago today.

Mika Hakkinen claimed second from 14th on the grid, while pole sitter Rubens Barrichello fell to third.

Late on the race Michael Schumacher fell from fourth to fifth when he was overtaken by his brother Ralf:

Image © Daimler/Hoch Zwei

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99 comments on “Rosberg ‘not sharing all information with Hamilton’”

  1. See, the race on the ‘on this day in F1’ had no double points, safety car restarts, DRS or wang noses and it was still exciting.

    1. @craig-o They had no DRS because the aero rules at the time didn’t practically force cars to leave a horrendous trail of dirty air in their wake

      1. What a win for Jordan. brilliant

      2. weeeeell, i’m not so sure about that. In that time, the overtakes were fairly rare, and when a car got to close to the other tail, will loos any downforce..

      3. Daniel (@collettdumbletonhall)
        27th June 2014, 1:08

        Dunno about that. We had refuelling which took away from the passing that wasn’t particularly easy in the first place. The downforce was a lot lower in the late 80s.

      4. Actually they did, Cars have always left a trail of turbulent/dirty air behind them even before they had wings.
        In the old days it was just called the slipstream & its what allowed the old slipstreaming races at Monza.

        As to Overtaking in 1999, It was just as difficult as it is today & like today the main cause was always put down to the turbulent air.

        The 1999 French Gp was more exciting than others that year for 2 reasons. The grid was mixed up due to a dry/wet qualifying & it started to rain heavily mid-race.

        1. Overtaking today is not as easy as it looks. Unless you have a car thats clearly a good second faster, passing with DRS open has proved to be difficult. Back in the V10 and 05 to 08 V8 era, slim streaming was prevalent, but we did have those horrendous Trulli trains as well, and this is where DRS has become effective. As we’ve seen, on certain tracks, its impossible for quicker cars to pass to slower ones, DRS gives you a relatively easier chance to pass .
          I would prefer if more of a KERS boost system from before was employed as opposed to DRS, it makes more sense.

          1. You’re totally right. On some circuits DRS of KERS just has to be there to create any overtaking opportunity. Back in the late 90’s and early 2000’s everybody was complaining about the lack of overtaking. This was partly due to the tracks and partly due to the cars. Now we have (boring) tracks where you can overtake, and cars wich have DRS and KERS.

            One some tracks like Bahrain, China, Spa, Malaysia, India, Korea, Silverstone and Austin DRS is totally useless because you already can overtake there without DRS, so that makes for highway passing. But on other tracks like Hungary, Monaco, Singapore, Austria, Spain, Melbourne and the old Imola DRS makes good sense, because it gives you at least an opportunity to pass, where in the past it was almost impossible.

          2. @jaymenon10

            Back in the V10 and 05 to 08 V8 era, slim streaming was prevalent

            No it wasn’t. I know because I watched it.

            Slipstream began to die out in the nineties aerodynamics became more efficient meaning drag was reduced. Then the imposition of rev limiters made it even harder for one driver to gain from being in the wake of another car.

    2. I campaign against DRS because I think its implementation is misguided. What it creates is a disparity in the relative performance of the two cars, which is unsporting.

      What should be done is having a WSR-type DRS: simply 500s or so per race which you can use wherever and whenever you want. That would be much better I feel.

    3. Also, you’re failing to recognise that a lot of the reason why there was little overtaking was because of refuelling. That wasn’t a factor in 2010, and overtaking levels increased to late 80’s levels instantly.

  2. I yearn for a time where the view of the World Champion is respected again.

    I have had no problem with any champion currently on the grid during their time in the post in terms of etiquette or mass appeal. However, if it is to be believed that these men grew up watching the same sport as we did, feeling the same emotions, why are they not willing to speak out individually or collectively against some of the proposed insanity? This is, after all, an era where we have the most champions on the grid ever.

    I simply believe that if I were privileged enough to represent the sport and saw significant measures continuously implemented against the heritage of the sport and above all the fairness of the competition that I would speak out regardless of the penalties imposed upon me. I understand the teams are responsible for a number of the proposed changes and would want to limit the driver’s opinion but that frankly is not good enough and would not deter me. I’m thinking of Senna and Lauda in their prime seeing some of these rules implemented and reacting in a way that at the very least expresses the opinion of the fans. Perhaps, if the drivers had been more vocal on DRS this trickle of nonsense would not have escalated to the 2014 Formula farce flood.

    But by far the worst part of this for me is that the sport is now deliberately making decisions against the fans and against its better judgement to benefit nobody. Not only that, I didn’t see this coming. Teams folding, poor circuit design and even degradable tyres I could justify to myself and predict but I simply cannot see where this madness will end.

    1. Oh please, do you really think anyone cares about the heritage of the sport? There’s going to be a race in Azerbaijan for gods sake. Fact is the only thing that matters is money, and if you think any driver would jeopardise their income, or race seat, you’re mad.

      1. How is Azerbaijan less deserving of an F1 race than Abu Dhabi or Malaysia? Sure, I’d rather have certainty that Silverstone, Monza, Spa, etc. will stay indefinitely; but the fact is, more than half of the races on the current calendar are undeserving of their spot if the ‘heritage’ of the sport is taken into account.

        Singling out Azerbaijan is ridiculous.

      2. excuse me? why are you belittling Azerbaijan? it is a country with human beings just like your country. if it is a true world championship they need to go around the world to as many countries as they can, not just to snobish Anglo-Saxon countries full of ignorant people like yourself Dan Brown. Maybe you should visit the country, you may find it is fantastic and you wont make such ignorant remarks.

      3. @danbrown180 All I’m trying to say is that if I found myself in a position of influence and watched some of these decisions being made – as you point out for purely financial reasons – I would make some form of stand. The sport has become so out of touch with its core fan base and cannot boast a single contact point between fans and rule makers. F1fanatic is about as close as it comes for uniting the fans and it continually draws in negative votes in polls on DRS, double points and standing restarts.

        Personally, I cannot see Ferrari sacking Alonso or Mercedes sacking Hamilton for pointing out the double points and standing restarts are not the issues of the day for the sport. If I were earning upwards of £30m a season I would also take a slap on the wrist and a fine to give the fans a voice in some issues regarding fairness of the competition.

        I agree with you that heritage has long since been replaced by the desire for revenue but that does not justify nonsensical decisions or drivers and teams seemingly siding with the FIA regardless. The most probable reason there is no opposition is because the teams are in such a financial stranglehold because the cost of F1 is simply stupidly high and completely unsustainable. Moreover, I don’t see this improving with vocal opposition from those in power in the sport.

  3. Again with the rule changes; the rules will never be perfect.

    I hold many ‘unpopular opinions’ about motorsport; I like DRS, I like high downforce I like the idea of double points (Maybe not at one specific race but I digress). It’s the same in all other series I like. I really like the way the new Gen 6 car races. I find the DW12 very attractive etc. In the same vain the next guy may hate all the things I like in racing.

    Yes, I am only one person and it does seem that the majority of die hards don’t like the new rules. But there aren’t *that many* die hards. When making the rules package; they have to think about the bigger picture. I sure it’s not one guy sitting in a room and pulling ideas out of thin air; it’ll be a group of people toying around with ideas and coming up with the final rules if they seem them as a good fit. Maybe it wont work, but maybe it will; who knows until it’s given a chance. Things need to be tried before they can be dismissed.

    I know I’m going to be attacked for this, but it is my opinion and I will stick by it. For example; I will defend DRS, Pirelli the Gen-6 and the DW12 til the death, because they are big factors in what I like, But the voice of the fanbase is to kill them and forget about them.

    1. Daniel (@collettdumbletonhall)
      27th June 2014, 1:06

      You only have to look on Facebook’s Sky and BBC F1 pages where there are less die hards and people are pretty up in arms about it. I have friends who were casual F1 fans but since 2011 they have been going off it completely. They’ll check the result but they won’t watch the race anymore and I can’t blame them.

      1. I’ve been watching F1 for over 30 years (yes I”m a geezer) and I’m heading in the same direction. Each time a crazy set of rules are introduced my interest wanes a little more and I think the 2015 rule changes will send me to checking the results only. Fortunately I still have MotoGP and DTM for my main racing fixes.

    2. A tad off topic, but I didn’t realize NASCAR fans hate the Gen 6 cars. As a NASCAR fan living in Hungary in Eastern Europe, I’m kind of separated from the ‘mainstream’ fan attitude towards NASCAR (I don’t really follow fansites, just the official one and Jayski with the occasional ESPN/Fox articles thrown in the mix), and I love the new cars. I think they made racing much more enjoyable and pure with those rather classic plate races and the abolition of sideways looking cars.

      For F1, I’m rather on the opposite side – people say, NASCAR fans has to love gimmicks, because of all those cautions and mystery cautions in particular, but I think that’ not quite on. OK, mystery cautions are, but most of the others are thrown just because of the comparatively short tracks and no run-offs on ovals, meaning almost every accident, every debris gets onto the track. So it’s a kind of well-founded nature of things.

      Now for F1, the double points isn’t such a thing. It the complete opposite: picking out a round on arbitrary ground and awarding double points for its results… It’s the same with DRS. It’s simply anything but going by the principle of equal footing, of equal opportunities in general. (Cautions are not there to reward somebody, e. g. for being behind another car; they do, but not specifically.)

      For Pirelli, yes, they’ve done it right, I think. It’s that American approach of Paul Hembery and the F1 team again. Tyre fall-off, strategy revolving around it in the absence of refuelling, and a ‘gimmicky’ scheme considering manufacturers could easily produce tyres by now which last the whole race, but crucially, it’s an element which affects everyone the same way in general, like cautions. It does reward some and penalizes some, based on tyre management skills e. g., but not specifically.

    3. I sure it’s not one guy sitting in a room and pulling ideas out of thin air – @cstonehouse
      Having worked in large and respected corporations in which I was part of teams charged with developing and/or analysing proposals to improve capacity or performance, sometimes it is one guy sitting in a room pulling ideas out of thin air, usually to the exasperation of the group that thought it was put there to develop sound ideas collectively.

      Things need to be tried before they can be dismissed. – @cstonehouse
      They sure do. In high stakes operations they also need to be “tried” before they are implemented, through modelling, analysis and consultation.

      Contemporary F1 isn’t the kind of place where consensual decision making works. Its success has been built by an autocracy, and its autocrat is now both in decline and more invested in short term value than long term value. Expect more silliness.

      1. It’s often a small room with a large amount of porcelain and that’s not thin air he’s pulling ideas out from

        1. jon aspinwall
          27th June 2014, 15:06

          +1 omg hahahahhaha

    4. @cstonehouse – Even if I disagree with you about these new rules and maybe some of the older ones, I respect that you are willing to express a contrary opinion and explain your reasons. I realize the FIA is not obligated to explain anything, but it would be nice if there was some kind of discourse to explain how these seemingly arbitrary decisions came about.

      It was only after some time had passed that Bernie came out and said the double points for Abu Dhabi was his idea and that he wanted more. I wonder if he will come out later about these new rules and say the in race restarts were his idea too.

      The only bright spot in the new rules is the attempt to do away with the ugly protuberance noses for 2015. Trouble is, the protuberances were a result of poorly written rules for 2014.

      My concern with the in race restarts is safety and fairness. I hope to be proven wrong.

    5. You’r welcome Carrick, nice to hear the opposing POV, you are actually the 2nd. rule-positive F1F I have read today and no doubt you potentially could be watching F1 for many years after I am dead and gone. I just wonder how F1 will survive by attracting 2% more fans, if in the process they lose 98% of the current fans who still prefer F1 to be a sport combined with technology rather than a spectacle contrived for non-enquiring minds.

      1. OmarR-Pepper (@)
        27th June 2014, 16:14

        maybe 2% of occasional fans is much bigger than 98% of die-hard-fans-who-can-quit-watching-f1.

    6. @cstonehouse I’m very glad you posted this. I actually was in favor of the standing restarts, but I was afraid of posting my opinion and reasoning on the original page with the proposal and ensuing confirmation of the rule. While I do not agree with you about double points, I appreciate your willingness to write a totally opposing opinion from the angry majority.

      P.S. The DW12 is actually a pretty decent looking car, but any qualms about its looks were over for me when I saw how well it raced on street courses, road courses, and ovals alike. Same for the Gen 6 car (I assume you mean NASCAR Sprint Cup), the racing has improved notably this year in particular.

      1. never be afraid to have your say Travis.

  4. There must be some hidden agenda. I mean, they can’t seriously think these are good ideas? I’m really starting to think that some of them are trying their best to ruin F1. Maybe to devalue it and then purchase it back from outsiders. I can’t see any other reason. Except some short term, money-grabbing angles, which are not at all unfamiliar in F1 unfortunately…

  5. Chris (@tophercheese21)
    27th June 2014, 1:26

    Re: COTD
    +1 Spot on.

    The Indian Govt. is 100% correct. Formula 1 is no longer a sport. It’s simply entertainment.
    What a joke.

    RIP.

    1. @tophercheese21
      Haha Despite all the nonsense made by Indian Politicians they understood this thing much more earlier than lot of experts does

  6. I remember being so proud when Jordan won and hearing the Irish national anthem at the end, something that i’ll probably never experience again as an Irish F1 fan.

    1. Why not? Make a team yourself! Make F1 better and you’ll automatically hear the Irish national anthem everywhere.

      1. Chris (@tophercheese21)
        27th June 2014, 5:01

        If it were that easy, everyone would do it. lol

  7. OmarR-Pepper (@)
    27th June 2014, 2:04

    Let me mention a couple of things about how I see F1 now:
    – All February I was claiming not to see a single lap of F1 this year because of the rules. I have t accept that I didn’t resist the temptation to see the races. I haven’t seen a full race yet – most of the races I have seen the 4 or 5 first laps and the 4 or 5 last ones. A couple of times I saw about 20 laps in total.
    – I was just hoping (delusionally) the rules to improve, the teams to improve and catch up Mercedes (let me tell you that as a bad fact about me, I haven’t seen the races mostly because Vettel isn’t winning :( ), but about the rules… Well, this is it I guess. Bernie is trying to destroy the sport or what is left of it.
    No more 5 laps. This is it.

    1. @omarr-pepper Sad to hear. I guess you’re not the only one – I’m getting closer to that point myself too.

      1. just go’s to show and i believe it is why half of the complaining about F1 is from Vettel fans,
        it is such a shame you cant just take it as it is a race,
        i have never heard so much complaining ever,
        the complaining now has the sport trying to improve the show which will never happen till each and every ones favorite is winning,
        just unbelievably crazy, what happened to good old sportsman ship,
        i am a Kiwi and love McLaren as the team was started by Bruce McLaren,
        yet i can handle Mercedes winning, i love this sport for the entertainment not my Favorite driver team winning.

        1. OmarR-Pepper (@)
          27th June 2014, 14:04

          @lethalnz if you take the effort to track my comments even before the winter tests (when Red Bull was terrible) you can see that what I was saying those days was totally independent of who was my supported driver. What I mention about Vettel not winning now is just a side note. Remember I also like Dan Ric, but what is ruinning the races is the set of rules, and a hunch that Abu Double will leave us withan “unfair” champion.

    2. Oh how conveniant for you are not watching when Vettel is not winning. Thanks but he as won enough thanks. It is a joke he is a 4xwc when Alo has 2 and Ham has 1.

      1. OmarR-Pepper (@)
        27th June 2014, 14:06

        Dan right?
        I was about to explain my point of view to you, but it’s better to do this when the other person is just listening to himself
        And for goodness sake get an account so we can make sure you at least got the message.

      2. He actually went out and won 4 titles, so it’s not up to you to judge what is a joke and what isn’t.

    3. Actually, I think you are missing a great season so far @omarr-pepper. But I do get the feeling that its like F1 going out with something good to remember it for, at least for me.

      1. I was expecting the worst this season and was even playing around with the idea that if things didn’t improve then it would be my last season. Instead it turned into a very good season, mostly down to DRS being less effective and the racing being tighter, but also because of a titanic scrap between to evenly matched competitors. It’s honestly been fascinating to watch, and occasionally thrilling.

        It’s a real shame then that I rediscover my passion for F1 and the FIA potentially snuff it out, again.
        I didn’t go to a live race in 2013 and I hadn’t planned to go this year(because I thought it would be utter tripe). However, I was 100% going to a race in 2015. I was even considering dropping thousands on Monaco. At worst I’d go to Spa and finally sit at Eau Rouge and walk the famous circuit. I now might have to put my financial issues to one side and try to push something through this year Incase 2015 turns into a farce.
        These are issues no sports fan should have to deal with. Love or hate football, at least they don’t change the rules year to year.

  8. I thought mandatory standing re-starts was really stupid and then I re-read the article and discovered double stupidity, the safety car rolling re-starts will be used for accidents IN THE FIRST 2 LAPS, exactly the period when a standing re-start can make sense.

  9. Is Lewis planning on using Webbers excuse for not winning WDC ?

    1. When I saw the picture I immediately wondered if he is going to try Tennis next.

    2. @hohum I just came from Brazil and I’ve been in the football world in the last couple weeks, did I miss something? Has Nico already won the WDC?

      1. @jcost Webber broke his leg in 2009 and was said to be suffering from it when racing in the 2010 season.
        egarding the picture, Lewis is wearing a helmet, but the path he is riding on looks bumpy and dangerous. Should he fall there, he could sustain a nasty injury don’t you think? ;-)

        1. @jcost,@gdewilde, yes I was referring to a bike accident, not seriously writing Lewis off, Webber confessed to having injured his shoulder mountain-biking after losing the WDC in 10. I hope you didn’t get bitten in Brazil JC.

      2. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
        27th June 2014, 14:48

        @hohum It’s business as usual – Lewis has DNF’ed, the back of his car wants to be in front, the pitstops are slow to the point that they must wonder if Lewis’s positioning is the cause and the team is doing its best to help him win by making sure there’s a car between him and Rosberg…

        Other than that, Lewis is doing fantastic:-)

  10. On a positive note, those Canal+ “On Board” videos turn a mediocre race into something really interesting…. makes me wonder how much better a live race could be with a better director.

    1. @mtlracer
      I don’t know why the FOM guys are so anti-innovation, it took them a while to introduce the IndyCar style side camera. They could have done a better job marketing the sport around social networks, using for example Facebook,Twitter, Google….. to make the sport more accessible to the fans. Oops, i forget that they have to pay it and share some part of the sport’s revenue to the social networks. I’m wrong again they’re not so anti-innovation, Bernie and partners are so greedy !!!!!

    2. @MtlRacer, I agree those on boards are great! I think the engines sound great and it would make great viewing if they switch to side by side on boards during a pass in the race. Why do broadcasters have to muffle the sound for TV? Sky sounds a little better than NBC, but nothing compares to the raw audio from these on boards.

    3. The second lap of Vettel was comic, especially how the car sprung to life after he stopped. The Bottas overtake of Rosberg on lap 1 was also nice, wonder why he had that much more speed though.

      1. I’m guessing gearing and less wing/drag. They could be a threat again at Spa. Well pretty much any high speed track.

    4. That video by Canal+ is just mesmerizing. Awesome, awesome stuff.

  11. Oh dear, a Rosberg “controversy” uncovered just in time for his 29th birthday (today), when he has a 29 point lead over 29 year old team-mate Hamilton!

    1. @alexf1man Amazing statistic!

    2. Lewisham Milton
      27th June 2014, 16:31

      When do we start calling him a “veteran”?

  12. I don’t think simona’s tests with sauber are a pr thing. Suzy’s practise runs with williams defenately are just that. She has never won in anything she has driven and yet she gets to test the 2nd fastest F1 car just because she is woman. Good women drivers like Danica would blow him out of the water and Simona would blow them both out. Not to mention simona is 25 while suzy is already 31.

    F1 needs women drivers but at least try to get drivers who have proven their speed and don’t just get to drive round because of their looks.

    1. If anything, when Sirotkin complains that Silvestro is a “sponsored racer, the person whom they are helping to reach the level of F1, which is, I think, rather more of a marketing move”, many would feel that sentence more accurately describes Sirotkin…

      1. I was thinking the same thing. He’s not F1 calibre, the results just aren’t there

    2. F1 needs women drivers but at least try to get drivers who have proven their speed and don’t just get to drive round because of their looks.

      Drivers like Simona really @socksolid. Agree that Suzie is not likely to ever race and be better at it than either Bottas or Massa.

      1. Wolff almost definitely won’t ever race for Williams, but who’s to say she won’t find an F1 seat elsewhere? Gene Haas knows all too well the commercial benefits of having a female racing driver…

        1. @jackysteeg, might come with a top engine deal too!

    3. Danica? She won one race, in a field where half the cars didn’t turn up!

      1. Still better than Susie.

      2. Jean Alesi drove for ferrari and benetton in his prime, and he never got more than one victory. I don’t think the numbers on Danica were so relevant…

        1. OmarR-Pepper (@)
          27th June 2014, 16:06

          @matiascasali depending on what numbers you are talking about. Don’t forget that if you google her name, there are more links to her model sessions than to her interviews or stats,

          1. And if you google Pocho Lavezzi, you’ll find some erotic pics of a great football player. I think it’s quite misleading judge a person upon the google results..

        2. Well said. I was going to say: automatic sexism alert.

          How many male F1 drivers never won a lower series? How many never even won a senior race before F1? How many male drivers bought their seats? We don’t criticize them or suggest that they didn’t deserve their place *because they were male*.

          I bet the next woman in F1 will be successful – she will attract a lot of sponsorship, and more cash means lower lap time.

  13. Rosberg hiding info doesn’t seem to hurting Lewis’ pace.

    And he still owes us those 2 DNF’s on reliability.

    1. @jason12

      And he still owes us those 2 DNFs on reliability.

      Doesn’t work that way!

      1. It will when they introduce a rule for it.

        1. Oh dear, they will, won’t they? They will at least discuss it as a way to improve the show; They’ll scrap the double points and make equal-retirements the new thing. It’s funny to think about these things and laugh about until they actually do it. We wouldn’t have thought, ever, about double points, it just seemed and sounded stupid, and yet somehow, someone thought it would be a good idea. Why not give double retirements a shot? Maybe in the last couple rounds we’ll only have 12 cars starting the race and Bernie will be happy with less cars on the grid.

          1. @bullfrog they used to have a rule for it, but they called it ‘dropped scores’

          2. OmarR-Pepper (@)
            27th June 2014, 16:11

            @gicu @bullfrog They will introduce a new rule about it, with the excuse of “reducing costs”, sopmethiing like this:
            “FIA: 5.24 In order to reduce costs, the first race there will be a WCC standings, so the second race, the WCC leader won’t show up. The third race, the 2nd team in the WCC won’t show up, until all the teams have missed a race.”

            Imagine if you are so unlucky to have pre-ordered your tickets to see your favorite drver / team, only to discover it’s their turn to be absent that very race!!!

        2. They have and it’s called double points.

          It’s perfectly reasonable to think that the double points scenario could exist to counter Lewis’ bad luck in terms of reliability. Indeed, it could fix a scenario, where someone like Rosberg could win the championship without being the better driver over the cause of a season.

      2. Yep, Hamilton could pick up another 2 and Rosberg could finish every race this year.

        1. @celicadion23 Thank you, someone who isn’t hung up on the nonsense Law of Averages in a 20 event calendar lol! Always refreshing to see someone with a bit of common sense

    2. Yeah, was just thinking that. Rosberg isn’t ahead because he’s faster than Hamilton. I doubt Hamilton needs his tips on tiny lap time gains.

  14. These new rule changes have encouraged me to go and see an F1 race for the first time. I had been considering going to Monza this year, but hadn’t fully decided. Now i realise i have to go because if i wait another year F1 may have become a complete farce. Kudos FIA – see, they’ve already increased their ticket sales.

  15. I think the “4 engines a year unless we have over 20 races” rule is a ploy to get the teams on board with having more races.

    All the teams were against the proposed 2014 calendar with 21 races on it, because logistically it would exhaust the teams. There are currently 23 races scheduled for 2015. The teams ordinarily would say absolutely no way to that, but if the FIA dangles a carrot in the shape of an extra engine per year in front of them…..

    1. @celicadion23
      +1 Spot on !!!
      The FIA as always said it is for cost cutting, knowing the fact that teams can develop new PU for 2015, imagine how much money manufacturers like Ferrari and Mercedes will spend in R&D to make their PU more reliable and to maintain performance at the same time. I imagine that an engine that can only lasts for 2 races is cheaper than these PU.

      1. yes, but it sends a quite awful message for the manufacturers. It’s like mercedes claim to be the powerful but less resistant engine, killer PR, right?

    2. I think they will rethink the “4 engines per season” after the public realise that the last third of the season has become a farce with half the field getting penalties at every race.

  16. Ok i just noticed this on the BBC article on standing restarts:

    “The safety car will be retained to control the pace of the field while any accident damage is cleared because it provides a commercial benefit to F1 – Mercedes pay to provide the safety and medical cars”

    Why not just scrap the safety car and have the track filled with cheerleaders wearing Mercedes outfits? Would serve the same purpose and better yet, it saves fuel so goes along with the environmentally sustainable image of the sport.

    1. (apologies for my loose usage of the word ‘sport’ there.)

    2. They could just use the grid girls. Even better yet, they could use the WAGs and just wonder about the track in team apparel. People in the stands would cheer for a stoppage just to have Nicole Scherzinger pop-up the pit-lane and sing a tune. That way, everyone’s happy, environmentalists, fans and the damned cameraman always filming them inside the garages.

      1. Not Nicole Please…. Lewis will whine that this is another strategy by Mercedes and Rosberg to distract him from the race….

  17. The funny thing is everyone itching and complaining will be watching F1 for decades to come no matter what. If anything, they’ll just go on a hiatus for a year or two then come right back. Most of the fans complaining are doing so because their team/driver is losing. The rules/regulations are just a front for venting their frustrations. When Lewis Hamilton jumped on the scene, he gave F1 a much need boost in popularity and viewership. Ironically, if he was to go on a tare like Vettel for 3-4 years, he could turn off a huge chunk of viewers. The guy is that polarizing in the F1 community. Or maybe his detractors are just louder than his fans.

    I’m not a fan of the standing start re-start for next year, but then again when was the last time we saw a F1 car stall on the grid? I’m not completely onboard with double points for the last race, but I get why they are doing it. It not only keeps the championship fight all the way to the end, but also keeps the money fight all the way to the end. All points paying positions are doubled not just 1st. If you’re a midfield team you could gain or lose a few million pounds from Bernie based on your Abu Dhabi result. So you have to keep developing the car and fight just as hard all the way to the bitter end. No more riding off the current season to focus on next season with 5 races or more to go like we’ve seen in the past.

    1. Australia? Bianchi I believe?

  18. Great rule changes as always.. thank you FIA for the great work.

    Really .. the only thing that FIA needs to do is to put an electronic limiter in the car that will be controlled by the Race Director so if a car is faster than anyone else the behind car will get extra boost till it catches it. It was in the 1st racing Electronic Games in 80’s in pubs etc and i really dont understand why FIA hasnt think of it till now.

  19. Will Buxton has pretty much nailed it.

    I do not have a problem with standing restarts as such, I am rather worried about the approach of FOM, FIA and the big teams. Do they truly believe that rules like this will improve TV ratings? I would not be so sure.

    If TV ratings and ticket sales are indeed falling, then one should understand why it is happening instead of just coming up with random ideas and hoping that they are going to improve the situation. Are the ticket prices affordable? How many fans are ready to pay for watching F1? What will happen if several teams go bankrupt and we have a 14-car grid after a few years? Ecclestone, Todt, Wolff and Co should not avoid these (and other) uneasy questions and recognise that cheap gimmicks cannot solve fundamental issues.

    I can understand why those who run F1 treat it as a show and want to outperform X Factor. I just do not think they will succeed in doing that – at least, not if they keep going the same direction.

  20. I would gladly trade K.E.R.S. and D.R.S. for some exciting N.O.I.S.E.

  21. Of course Rosberg will not be sharing the info to lewis. Who know when Lewis will Tweet them to the entire world !!!!!! LoL

    Looks like lewis has one more thing to Whine about now !!!!

  22. Dennis the menace (@)
    28th June 2014, 2:50

    I love Sean Kelly’s Tweet! Well said.

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