Who else thinks Formula 1 is a scam?

[direstraits]

I don't know about you, but it seemed to me 2 years ago, after Michael Schumacher kept winning race after race after race, that Formula 1 needed some breath of fresh air.

Once I went on walks in the park and a total stranger on his cellphone said, "What, go to Sepang to watch the race? Why, so that we can see the same bloke win again?" Yes, things in F1 is getting way too predictable.

There were a few things Mr E (too lazy to spell out his full name, and risk getting it wrong) could do to inject some excitement back into Formula 1. Here is a recreation of a checklist that he probably had stapled on his desk at work:
1. Hire more chicks, er, ladies to perform on the tracks as the cars speed by. Hazardous, but what's entertainment without a little risk?
2. Impose ridiculous rules that restrict engine changes and other technicalities previously allowed in an attempt to level out the playing field (oh, wait, we've already done that)
3. Ask everyone to license the Ferarri engines.
4. Tell Schumacher to lay low, swallow his pride for a season or two. For the good of the sport, you understand. So what if you get extend your record for consecutive podium finishes, if nobody turns up to watch you spray champagne? So restrain yourself for a couple of years. Relax. Then turn on the heat again when the prevalent feeling is that there are worthy others aspiring to your throne.

I'm inclined to believe Mr E chose option 4. What else could explain the timely drop in Ferarri's performance just in time for the new season two years ago? Coincidence? From being totally dominant, and completely out of the competitive picture the next season?

Schumacher says, "Alonso, that upstart, now has two championships!!! It's time to get mine back!" And promptly wins two races in a row.

Who thinks along the same lines?

ds

 

[Doug Johnson]

People focus on the drivers, but F1 really is an engineers series. The best engineered car usually wins.

By tweaking the rules, it creates the possibility that different teams will win each year, but usually the engineers with the most money will design the fastest car. I believe that Ferrari's recent problems were caused by uncompetitive tires.

Ferrari engineers seem to be back on track. Apparently, they are using a wing design that some people think is illegal, but hasn't been ruled illegal.

 

[muggle]

I am not a fan of F1. There are other racing series that I like much better. Even World Challenge has more exciting racing IMHO.

 

[denny]

I think the only way they could level the playing field is to give each of the teams a budget.

It would certainly be nice to see a Formula 1 race again, instead of just a parade.

 

[Doug Johnson]

I think the only way they could level the playing field is to give each of the teams a budget.

I've often thought the same thing. Lots of sports have salary caps.

 

[muggle]

I've often thought the same thing. Lots of sports have salary caps.

It is hard to regulate though. Car manufacturers do their own testing and then pass the info on to the racing teams.

 

[ions]

MS didn't lay low last year. Bridgestone did. Or Michelin completely outworked them.

 

[Doug Johnson]

It is hard to regulate though.

True enough, but where there's a will, there's a way and no manufacturer wants to be called a cheater.

 

[direstraits]

Yes, to an extent it's the machines. However, as Valentino Rossi proved very adequately, the driver has a major part to play as well. Someone would argue that MotoGP is more reliant on driver skill than Formula 1, but whatever the difference between the sport, I still believe driver skill is a huge part in the process of winning. That's why there are people who 'dislike' certain driver's driving style (like me - I dislike Schumacher's aggressive driving (no doubt that works for him), but I love Haikkonnen's cool predatory style).

Tyres played a part, yes. Played a technical part. I still believe there is another part as well - the driver's mojo.

I think any sort of attempts to level playing fields, if not done properly, comes across like a desperate attempt to make things interesting. I'm all for regulations on design and tyres and other technical details, but stuff like disallowing them from changing engines of similar specs after qualifying sessions seems to me like an attempt to hope and pray that Ferrari's engines don't hold out on race day.

ds

 

[SFG75]

I can see why NASCAR is appealing. You have jockeying for space, and who in the world doesn't look at the wrecks? Formula 1 is too........pristine for me. I don't want to watch some Italian pretty-boy racing around a corner and not be able to see a fender "push" from behind or something like that. It's too clean compared to NASCAR.

 

[muggle]

I can see why NASCAR is appealing. You have jockeying for space, and who in the world doesn't look at the wrecks? Formula 1 is too........pristine for me. I don't want to watch some Italian pretty-boy racing around a corner and not be able to see a fender "push" from behind or something like that. It's too clean compared to NASCAR.

Nascar, IMHO, is the most exciting racing going right now. This weekend should be a great race at Darlington.

 

[Doug Johnson]

Yes, to an extent it's the machines. However, as Valentino Rossi proved very adequately, the driver has a major part to play as well.

Engineers, simulation software and computers determine the set up. The gas pedal doesn't mean much, launch and traction control override it. The driver pretty much just steers.

Drivers don't even get to battle their team mate, because the engineers load one car up with fuel and run the other one light. I hate to sound like an old fart, but F1 was much more interesting when Gilles was sliding it around a corner without any help from a computer.

 

[SFG75]

Nascar, IMHO, is the most exciting racing going right now. This weekend should be a great race at Darlington.

Is this where Earnhardt Jr.'s car is decked out to look like his dad's? That would be something else to see, let alone, if he won.

 

[muggle]

Is this where Earnhardt Jr.'s car is decked out to look like his dad's? That would be something else to see, let alone, if he won.

His car was painted to look like his Dad's 2 weeks ago at talladega. Jr won last week at Richmond in a very exciting race. Darlington, known as The lady In Black, is always one of the best races and is a hard track to master. actually, no one has mastered the track. Guranteed, there will be a number of cars that go into the wall as the younger drivers don't show the respect that is needed at this track.

 

[muggle]

Start your engines: NASCAR on way to Montreal
Saturday, 13 May 2006
DAVE STUBBS, The Montreal Gazette

Stock-car fans can prepare to book their seats in high-octane heaven - NASCAR is within a few signatures of coming to Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in 2007.

The renewal of a 10-year lease for racing on Ile Notre Dame, a contract between the city of Montreal and motorsport promoter Normand Legault, is the final turn to be negotiated, one that's expected to be rounded in the next couple of weeks.

And when it is, Legault will announce that the NASCAR Busch Series will unleash 43 of its 3,400-pound Chevy, Ford and Dodge lookalikes for a fender-rubbing, paint-trading race on the Expo 67 island.

At the same time, Legault can formally roll out more details of his race-promotion company, GP F1 du Canada Inc., having signed a five-year extension of his deal with F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone to keep the Grand Prix running in Montreal through 2011.

The Champ Car World Series, which will stage its fifth annual Montreal race on Aug. 27, is the odd car out, unless it returns as a companion or support race to the NASCAR event, whose date is not yet known.

But that spot could go to the Indy Racing League, Champ Car's main competitor.

"We think that NASCAR could be as big as Formula One in Montreal, but with a totally different crowd," Legault said last night. "Fans wouldn't be coming from Tokyo or Paris, as they do for F1, but from the U.S. and other parts of Canada.

"This could be a huge event for Montreal. It would give us a tremendous window of visibility in the U.S., where NASCAR racing is one of the top television properties.

"And we feel it's a new kind of entertainment we can offer Montrealers."

It's no secret that NASCAR, North America's most popular and fastest-growing form of motorsport, has had expansion into Canada, and specifically Montreal, in its sights for some time.

Last year, the Busch Series, second only to NASCAR's flagship Nextel Cup series and contested by both established Cup and up-and-coming Busch drivers, moved into Mexico City, where it's been wildly popular.

On May 2, a delegation of seven high-ranking officials headed by Steve O'Donnell, NASCAR's managing director of events and operations, flew to Montreal for a five-hour operational visit to the racetrack.

Included in the group was Busch Series director Joe Balash, NASCAR vice-president of competition Robin Pemberton, and events, logistics, and timing and scoring officials.

O'Donnell hails Legault and his team and calls the circuit "a world-class facility, a challenging course in a unique setting, with access to a great city."

He says the track is essentially NASCAR race-ready, save a few things like the lengthening of pit road for 43 cars. That's an easy fix, given that the long pit exit beyond the F1 garages could be modified.

As for the tight Senna Corner and Casino hairpin? If you love NASCAR for the wrecks, buy your seats here.

"We were definitely impressed with the facility," O'Donnell said from NASCAR headquarters in Daytona Beach, Fla. "Montreal obviously is a great market. There's a possibility for (a race here) as early as 2007."

More than a possibility, in fact. Contracts have been drawn up, some signed and some needing only a signature or two.

Montreal mayor Gerald Tremblay fought in 2003 to keep the F1 race in the city when it was threatened by federal tobacco legislation. He's a man who values the millions of dollars that racing pours annually into Montreal's economy, and needs merely renew a lease between the city and Legault that's been largely unchanged since the late 1980s.

This year's F1 race, scheduled for the June 23-25 St. Jean Baptiste weekend, could promote the newcomer, with NASCAR drivers and show cars on site.

A veteran racer, probably Nextel Cup star Jeff Burton, would turn four or five hours of hard laps in a stock car early that week, on a fully race-configured track, to generate setup data and gain a driver's perspective of the circuit. This data would then be shared among all teams that would race here next summer.

NASCAR knows the potential of the untapped market in Canada, where many of the sport's Fortune 500 and lesser sponsors have commercial interests. Officials have been north several times, and typically, have done their homework thoroughly.

"We all agree that this must be a success from the get-go," Legault said. "For NASCAR, their first ever race in Canada has to be perfect. They're willing to help us in any way to stage the event to make sure it's a roaring success, and likewise here."

O'Donnell said this week that NASCAR would move on the project within 60 to 90 days. The sooner the better for Legault, who's eager to begin preparing and marketing the event and securing sponsors. And he's clearly excited about the day when, not if, he stages a NASCAR race.

"We have fans who've been watching F1 for 28 years, connoisseurs of racing," he said. "They have the top product in open-wheel racing, and we feel we'll be offering them something that's totally different.

"If Mr. Tremblay were to say tomorrow that the lease was done, I could announce it next week. Unless city hall decides it doesn't want racing on Ile Notre Dame, then NASCAR is coming.

"But it's the mayor's call. He's the boss."

 

[SFG75]

Awesome pic there muggle. Some of those drivers must have had a shiver up the spine as they thought the intimidator himself was coming up behind 'em.

Formula one racing was on abc today....I fell asleep.