Topic: Aussie GP 2016

[Ultra]

Rain and wind during the first two practice sessions make it hard to get a read in the performance gains and losses of 2016.  As expected, the Mercedes looks tops with Lewis Hamilton topping the timesheets in FP 1 and FP 2.

Stay tuned.....

[Carnut]

Have all the Autopuzzles members made their predictions?
There are of course bonus points available for getting things like who's on pole right..

I'm a bit disappointed we can't all see other peoples' teams though..

[nicanary]

FWIW I predict a Rosberg win. Lewis will do something to force his own retirement. Vettel will be a close second.

There will be three people on the podium, and champagne will be sprayed. The winner will conduct doughnuts to please the imbeciles in the crowd. Many baseball caps will be visible.

Do you reckon if we had an AP whip-round we could raise enough to buy the sport back from CVC? I could raise £50 or so, there must be that much down the back of my sofa.......

[Otto Puzzell]

FWIW I predict a Rosberg win. Lewis will do something to force his own retirement. Vettel will be a close second.

There will be three people on the podium, and champagne will be sprayed. The winner will conduct doughnuts to please the imbeciles in the crowd. Many baseball caps will be visible.

Do you reckon if we had an AP whip-round we could raise enough to buy the sport back from CVC? I could raise £50 or so, there must be that much down the back of my sofa.......

 

[Allan L]

Do you reckon if we had an AP whip-round we could raise enough to buy the sport back from CVC? I could raise £50 or so, there must be that much down the back of my sofa.......

As it isn't a willing seller, we might have to stump up rather a lot.
If we owned it which drivers would we hope to keep?

[nicanary]

Do you reckon if we had an AP whip-round we could raise enough to buy the sport back from CVC? I could raise £50 or so, there must be that much down the back of my sofa.......

As it isn't a willing seller, we might have to stump up rather a lot.
If we owned it which drivers would we hope to keep?

I was rather hoping we could hand the sport back to its rightful guardians - the motor sport authorities.  How did it come to this? Everyone seems to worry about rising costs, but that's all down to F1 being owned by commercial enterprise.

It's like  handing over a community credit union to a bunch of hedge fund managers. Everything is now in $billions - fees to take part, drivers salaries, development costs, it's all gone mad, and it's seemingly too late to go back to sanity.

Meanwhile...... the new qualifying format looks an abject failure. Will it conveniently disappear for the next round?

[Paul Jaray]

New qualifying format worked for me...it kept me awake the first 2 rounds but it's definetly inappropriate for the 3rd round.

[Carnut]

I blame Bernie!

New qualifying format worked for me...it kept me awake the first 2 rounds but it's definetly inappropriate for the 3rd round.

That's what I thought too.
What I couldn't understand was why Q3 petered out with 4 minutes left.
We were promised an exciting finish with the last 2 battling it out to the end for Pole, but it didn't hppen.  Why didn't Rosberg try again? No fuel? No tyres?  I thought it was a terrible anti-climax and far worse than the usual finish to Q3 of recent races.

[nicanary]

Just a thought - Bernie & Co. have hinted from time to time about having races where the fastest cars start at the back, and generally about mixing-up the field to make it more interesting for the fans (I hasten to add that this is much against my personal will). How about only one practice/qualifying session with all entrants going out whenever they feel like it?

That way there's a chance that one of the faster cars will have problems with setting-up or get caught in traffic or whatever, and the grid maybe wouldn't be so predictable. I know it won't ever happen, because longer quali sessions will result in more people paying their cash to get in, and of course it's all about the money.

I'll tell you what I'd like - a WDC with all these hotshoes in 1960s Formula 3 "screamers". No aero, skinny tyres (NOT degradeable) and some sort of spec-Holbay downdraft motor. Now that'd be a sight to see. You could always hand the Constructors' Championship over to the WEC boys.

I'd just like to add at this point that I'm honoured to be the host of this site, and I don't want members to think I'm being unnecessarily petulant with my attitude to 2016-style F1 racing. They're still technological marvels, and the drivers still have skills most of us could only dream about. Personally I think the guys who run it now are going further and further up a cul-de-sac, obsessed with trying to provide a spectacle to please everyman, forgetting the true enthusiasts and the ethos of what GP racing should be about.Something really drastic is required - a sort of year-zero when all formulae stop and are replaced with more basic machinery which are fun to drive and fun to watch. The cost-savings would be universal and thus would attract more entrants.

Just saying......

[Ultra]

Up the cul-de-sac indeed. 
High rate of speed
Carbon fibre brakes to heed
Fail to see their need

Leaders lead Owners spend
Another one bankrupt again
Rarefied air, dizzy up there
On it speeds to judgement's despair

[Carnut]

How about only one practice/qualifying session with all entrants going out whenever they feel like it?

Isn't that exactly how it used to work before all this Q1, Q2 and Q3 business?!
Bernie also suggested having hose-pipes spraying water on the track to make it more interesting too, something I've suggested many a time in jest!  Along with traffic-lights and comlpusory stops for a cup of tea...!

[nicanary]

How about only one practice/qualifying session with all entrants going out whenever they feel like it?

Isn't that exactly how it used to work before all this Q1, Q2 and Q3 business?!
Bernie also suggested having hose-pipes spraying water on the track to make it more interesting too, something I've suggested many a time in jest!  Along with traffic-lights and comlpusory stops for a cup of tea...!

Now you're getting as bad as me! I really would like the F1 management to start treating it as a sport and less as an entertainment.

I seriously believe that the whole thing needs a radical rethink. All the teams are moaning about cost, all the race organisers  are having problems raising the franchise fee, all the "solutions" we see or hear about are just sticking plasters over arterial bleeding. CVC regard it as a cash cow (and fair enough, they're in the business of making money) and whilst they still own it (and don't forget there are long-term plans to float F1 on the Singapore(?) stock exchange) this attitude won't go away. Bernie,what have you done?

My suggestion isn't completely a joke - very basic cars would bring costs right down even if the major car makers wouldn't like it. They could turn to the WEC - after all they are more akin to road cars.

(BTW I have modified my previous post - I used the term ground-zero when in fact I meant to say year-zero. The product of tiredness, an old man's brain and a poor quality Merlot (the usual fruity undertones are more like a strong tang of cloves - I don't have a nasal blockage than you very much). The term ground-zero was coined 14/15 years ago in tragic circumstances, and should always be used for one thing only - my apologies to our American members for my crass mistake.)

[Carnut]

Bernie,what have you done?

Made a gigantic sum of money, that's what.
Isn't he Britain's third richest man, beaten only by the Rausings and the Duke of Westminster, who owns most of Mayfair, Kensington and Belgravia?

[nicanary]

Bernie,what have you done?

Made a gigantic sum of money, that's what.
Isn't he Britain's third richest man, beaten only by the Rausings and the Duke of Westminster, who owns most of Mayfair, Kensington and Belgravia?

I've forgotten the actual process by which he became the Supremo, but I think he was sold the rights for £1 (or was that Max Mosley?).
I've certainly never forgiven the FIA for allowing him to copyright the terms F1 and Grand Prix. It's one thing to try and modernise and make profitable the sport as it was, but to commandeer words which are part of everyday vocabulary is another thing altogether. No other organisation can use the words Grand Prix in association with a motor race - it's madness.

The alternative to taking over the sport for £1 was to buy a lottery ticket. I think he made the right choice.

What saddens me the most is that BCE is a real enthusiast. He loves motor sport. He used to drive, he owned teams, he has a world-leading car collection, he would be heart-broken to not be involved. Did he really expect it to turn out this way? I sometimes wonder whether it just snowballed away from him, and he hasn't got the guts to admit it. He once attended the Monaco Historic meeting, and was in the paddock looking at all the F1 cars from the days when he was team principal at Brabham, and was clearly enjoying himself far more than he does at a current GP meeting - he turned to his companion and is reputed to have said "this is what it was like before I f***** it up...." If it's true, that says it all.

[nicanary]

FWIW I predict a Rosberg win. Lewis will do something to force his own retirement. Vettel will be a close second.

There will be three people on the podium, and champagne will be sprayed. The winner will conduct doughnuts to please the imbeciles in the crowd. Many baseball caps will be visible.

Do you reckon if we had an AP whip-round we could raise enough to buy the sport back from CVC? I could raise £50 or so, there must be that much down the back of my sofa.......

I wasn't far out - Rosberg did win, and Vettel was nearly second, if it wasn't for that moment on the grass. Hamilton didn't retire, but yet again he made a mistake. Clutch control of all things, the first thing I taught my daughter on the local school car park.

I haven't watched a GP for its full length for at least a couple of years. I thought I'd do it this year just to hold my head up in AP company, but I fell asleep 2 or 3 times, and must have missed about 10 or 15 laps. There's just nothing about it to hold my attention.

Nota bene - you will never get close racing until you get rid of aerodynamic assistance. I want to see groups of cars all up each others' rears, all weaving for gaps, all relying on the skill of their fellow racers to stay safe.....

[Otto Puzzell]

Finally found out who was behind this past weekend's qualifying mess...