I'm grateful that Alonso is going to be OK.

I don't begrudge rich folk having their party, and frankly, I don't think F1 is beholden to traditional tracks if people don't go watch there anymore. F1 is not a charity, and never was. That's reality.

What I do think needs changing is that F1 needs to stay at the pinnacle of motor sport, and to make that happen, the drivers need challenging cars, faster speeds, and more battles for the lead, fastest lap, and qualifying needs to have less emphasis on elimination rounds with more emphasis on a faster average speed. I think they should take the average of Q1~Q3 times to make up the starting grid. That way you're penalized for slow laps and for sitting out the session if the others are going faster.

The sport is ill.

Declining reputation of F1 in danger of reaching critical mass | Richard Williams | Sport | The Guardian

Quali just over now,
 

Found quali to be mostly just like before with some good drama right to the last second or two. Perhaps a bit understood by the fans, but...

Watched the british version with Brundle, Johnnny Herbert and others, and was wondering if anyone else saw it and I have a question. What did Alonso say to Herbert
about retiring?? They spoke and I missed it, and I don't think it was very friendly.

F1 News - Alonso hits back at Herbert comments

I think Herbert is a complete dolt. I have no idea why they keep him on air. The guy always looks lost and can't string together a cohesive sentence.

Fernando Alonso confronts Sky F1's Johnny Herbert over 'retirement' claims | F1 News

I was a die-hard fan from 1994-2011 or so. Watched every race religiously, and made an effort to go to races here in the US. I think my last care was in 2012, I went to the first Austin F1 race... that was still fun.

But after that season, the change to no refueling, the changes to restrict engines and aero, the fuel flow restrictions now and the tires being purposefully weak compounds.. it's all crap.

i haven't watched a single race in the last 3 years.

The technology in the cars is still amazing but it has peaked and just stayed there. There is no allowance for huge advanced in the technology. There is some uniqueness in each car's hybrid system but they even limit that in the regulations to the point where nobody really cares about it.

If the FIA were to roll-back the rulebook to roughly 1992 or so and just let them at it, we'd see a lot more awesome stuff happening. Sure, one team may just dominate, like Schumacher-era Ferrari... but even that was still fun to watch because of how damn fast the cars seemed.

I watch old races and see about the same as today, a parade until a mechanical issue. Only a handful of tracks actually had what was left in your mind going on. The thing is - you look back over decades of racing, your mind pulls highlights, and then compare it to one race. It will always look unfavorable.

On top of this, NBC's coverage is snorefest. If you ever travel in Europe and watch a race on Sky, you won't understand why people say its boring. They do an excellent job of putting you at the track.

US GP, and Brazil GP, are two good races to watch.

The racing looks good this year, still early I know, but I'm liking what I'm seeing. Race at Aus was great, and this Bahrain race could be another good one.

I like the look of the cars this year. Either they've gotten better to look at or I've gotten more accustomed to them. The Ferrari in particular is a handsome horse for sure, and I like the Renault, Williams, Haas, not so much the Red Bulls or Toro Roso.

Also some good new drivers, including newbie Vandoorne.

Here's to a good race tomorrow.

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Hybrid cars a great... for commuting to work... for F1? Not so much.

These are the cars that make my heart go pitter-pat!

Thank goodness for HAAS + Grosjean... And the Toro Rosso boys for entertainment... I am somewhat enjoying Tiffany (or whatever it was Weber used to call Nico) beating Hamilton for a change, not that I like Rosberg all that much but I enjoy Hamilton having to race and not being overly smug. McLaren resurgence in the making hopefully, while Force India and Sauber are in trouble and being threatened by Manor!!!

Still, on the topic at hand, I cannot believe they are sticking with that qualifying format. We've lost another 30% of each session now, where nothing happens becaue there's not time to give it another lap unless you already are on a flier... Bernie is the obstacle... needs another mugging...

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2015 style Qualifying is back !!! http://forums.pelicanparts.com/support/smileys/wat3.gif

Also, I don't think we're gonna see Sauber for much longer... Word is they are asking the swedish sponsors of their driver to pony up in advance to make payroll... And same with the brasilian sponsors of Nasr for the following month... And there is no Renault waiting in the wings like for Lotus last year ! Best case scenario is they get bought, but by whom ??? Certainly not VW...

Irony: Using this photograph in a thread about how F1 has been degraded as an example of when things were better.

When some entrants started putting the colors of paying sponsors on their race cars there was an outraged cry that the sport was being ruined by commercialism. Before that the cars were painted national colors with variations for teams.

Does anyone really think this discussion hasn't gone on as long as there has been F1 racing?

Best
Les

This is EXACTLY why I used this EXACT car. See, where I said thanks a lot Colin Chapman? He's the one that got us to where we are now, because this is where it all started.

SmileWavy

I think you're going to have to go back further than that to engine formula changes, displacement, turbos, narrow tires, fat tires, wings, etc.
Things change because somebody was complaining. Every time there is a change, somebody complains.
It's not just F1. Remember CanAm?Crazy wonderful race what you brung formula. Along came McLaren and almost turned it into a one marque race. Along came Porsche and, well you know the rest.

Best
Les

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1460138468.jpg

courtesy of sniffpetrol.com