Ponderbox

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mario
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Re: Ponderbox

Post by mario »

Enforcer wrote:Palmer is so consistently poor that I'm wondering if Renault can't actually run 2 cars to the same level of pace and are focusing on Hulkenberg's car.

Hulkenberg's been in around the points every week and Palmer's propped the grid up. I know Palmer's probably not F1 champion material and isn't as fast as his team-mate, but I'm hard pressed to believe he's this bad.

I do agree that there may be something in the notion that, whilst Palmer isn't great, the difference seems almost a bit too big to be explained by that alone.

It is certainly the case that the Enstone outfit have, traditionally, had a very strict hierarchy within the team, with clearly defined No. 1 and No. 2 drivers. That has, in turn, tended to lead to a quite marked difference in the level of support that a driver gets within the team, with the lead driver getting quite significant privileges over his supporting driver.

We saw that exact situation play out only a few years ago with Grosjean and Kimi, where Kimi was the nominated lead driver and had the bulk of the teams resources directed towards him. That ranged from additional mechanics and engineers supporting his side of the garage through to being given earlier access to upgrade packages - there were many times when Grosjean had to run at least one upgrade package behind Kimi, and sometimes two updates behind him - as well as having bespoke development parts being produced just for Kimi, such as the lengthened wheelbase car that they tried out.

We also saw that, as soon as Lotus reversed their policy and began giving Grosjean more support when Kimi decided he would leave the team, Grosjean's performances improved dramatically - underlining that he might well have been held back quite significantly by the team.

Although that was probably the most extreme example, there have certainly been a number of other drivers, from Fisichella and Trulli to Kovalainen and Piquet Jr who have all complained that they were treated badly by the team and given nowhere near the level of support their teammates did.

Now, given that Renault went out and head hunted Hulkenberg for their team and made it clear that they want to build the long term future of the team around him, he is going to be their primary focus - especially given that Palmer was a long, long way down their list of potential second drivers, to the point where they might almost resent having to keep him on.

It may be that the new regulations aren't suiting him, but it may be that Palmer is also struggling to get to grips with the car because the team might have cut the level of support they have given him and focussed most of their support team on Hulkenberg.

By contrast, since Magnussen didn't really lead the team last year, I wouldn't be surprised if the team didn't concentrate their resources behind him in the same way and gave more even support to their two drivers - if he had a stronger support network behind him last year, that might be why he seemed to do better last year than he has done so far this year.
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Re: Ponderbox

Post by dinizintheoven »

To further heap misery on McLaren: I was thinking about Fernando Alonso's "GP2 engine!" outburst at Suzuka in 2015, and wondering if he might repeat his comments this year, as well as... what are the chances that Stoffel Vandoorne will set a slower time in qualifying at Suzuka this year than he did last year in Super Formula?

The answer: not very likely, actually - his best qualifying time of the three Suzuka rounds was 1'37.031, at the final race of the season, whereas McLaren's qualifying times for the "GP2 engine" 2015 Grand Prix were in the 1'35s. Will Stevens, incidentally, recorded 1'38.783 in the year-old Marussia. And surely, even with Honda taking a step back, McLaren will be able to beat 1'35s... right?
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Re: Ponderbox

Post by dr-baker »

dinizintheoven wrote:To further heap misery on McLaren: I was thinking about Fernando Alonso's "GP2 engine!" outburst at Suzuka in 2015, and wondering if he might repeat his comments this year, as well as... what are the chances that Stoffel Vandoorne will set a slower time in qualifying at Suzuka this year than he did last year in Super Formula?

The answer: not very likely, actually - his best qualifying time of the three Suzuka rounds was 1'37.031, at the final race of the season, whereas McLaren's qualifying times for the "GP2 engine" 2015 Grand Prix were in the 1'35s. Will Stevens, incidentally, recorded 1'38.783 in the year-old Marussia. And surely, even with Honda taking a step back, McLaren will be able to beat 1'35s... right?

Can somebody please remember to come back to this comment later in the year please? (I can't trust myself to remember!)
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Re: Ponderbox

Post by watka »

Given the changes in regulation this year to speed up the cars, it's likely that the McLarens will be well clear of Super Formula pace. Unless for some reason they decide to put Badoer in the car for a weekend.
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Re: Ponderbox

Post by Bleu »

Monaco will be a challenge for Ocon. After all there are not that many drivers who have gone to Monaco Grand Prix without any experience of the circuit. In this decade I count these five (and their results)

2011 Paul di Resta (14th/12th)
2013 Valtteri Bottas (14th/12th)
2014 Daniil Kvyat (9th/mechanical)
2015 Max Verstappen (10th/crash)
2016 Pascal Wehrlein (20th/14th)
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Re: Ponderbox

Post by dr-baker »

watka wrote:Given the changes in regulation this year to speed up the cars, it's likely that the McLarens will be well clear of Super Formula pace. Unless for some reason they decide to put Badoer in the car for a weekend.

Or Yuji Ide.
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Re: Ponderbox

Post by ibsey »

dr-baker wrote:It's the month of May, Senna and Prost are racing in Monaco while an F1 Championship winner prepares to compete in the Indy 500. Is it the early 1990s again?


I like your way of thinking sir. I like to pretend its still 1994 ;)

Currently reading Damon Hill's book at the moment (Watching the Wheels) and finding it really interesting. In it Hill admits how during that dreadful Imola 1994 weekend Senna was in the stewards bad books for various reasons. Firstly Ayrton's PR manager was told to let Ayrton know that he would be threatened with DQ if he did not go back on track when the Saturday quali session resumed after Roland's fatal accident. Ayrton didn't go back on track and the stewards (thankfully) decided to take no further action. Secondly Ayrton failed to attend the obligatory post-quali press conference. Hill states;

Again they let that one go but were back on race day, accusing him of commandeering a car to go onto the track, This incensed Ayrton, naturally enough. But rules were rules and the FIA were not prepared to make any allowances, even for exceptional people in exceptional circumstances.


Senna also forced his way into the medical centre to see Roland's body, which he was NOT supposed to have done. Had the stewards DQ Senna for any or all of these offences perhaps he may well have lived?

I know the above offences sound petty, especially given the circumstances, and even added together probably not enough to warrant a DQ for a driver. However Senna was given a 6 month ban (suspended sentence) for his post- Japanese GP fracas with Eddie Irvine the previous year. So bearing that in mind, I wonder if the stewards had DQ for Senna at Imola would it have been justified?
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Re: Ponderbox

Post by dr-baker »

ibsey wrote:
dr-baker wrote:It's the month of May, Senna and Prost are racing in Monaco while an F1 Championship winner prepares to compete in the Indy 500. Is it the early 1990s again?


I like your way of thinking sir. I like to pretend its still 1994 ;)

(Of course, Senna is not actually competing in FE anymore, but why let facts get in the way of an interesting point, eh! ;) )

ibsey wrote:stuff about Ayrton Senna at Imola 1994

For years afterwards, I am sure people would be saying how unjust and unfair that DSQ would have been, we would never be aware that Senna's life was saved by that decision, and now, your question would have been, what if he had been allowed to race that day? And nobody would say that he would crash and die within the first 10 laps of that race!
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Re: Ponderbox

Post by ibsey »

dr-baker wrote:For years afterwards, I am sure people would be saying how unjust and unfair that DSQ would have been, we would never be aware that Senna's life was saved by that decision, and now, your question would have been, what if he had been allowed to race that day? And nobody would say that he would crash and die within the first 10 laps of that race!


Good point. However for me it seems a bit of a interesting conundrum to ponder on. Senna perhaps did the right thing morally speaking in commandeering the car & breaking into the medical centre to see what was happening with Roland, on behalf of the drivers. However Senna did break the rules in undertaking this action, and as Hill says in his book, rules are rules,even in exceptional circumstances.
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Re: Ponderbox

Post by CoopsII »

Y'see that gap between the 2 and the 9, does it look a little like a racing car to anybody else?
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Just me? Or is that an intentional design?
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Re: Ponderbox

Post by dr-baker »

CoopsII wrote:Y'see that gap between the 2 and the 9, does it look a little like a racing car to anybody else?
Image
Just me? Or is that an intentional design?

Looks more like an aerial view of an aeroplane to me.
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Re: Ponderbox

Post by CoopsII »

dr-baker wrote:
CoopsII wrote:Y'see that gap between the 2 and the 9, does it look a little like a racing car to anybody else?
Image
Just me? Or is that an intentional design?

Looks more like an aerial view of an aeroplane to me.

Yeah, I see that actually but I wasn't clear; I meant the bottom half of what you're seeing.
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Re: Ponderbox

Post by dr-baker »

CoopsII wrote:
dr-baker wrote:
CoopsII wrote:Y'see that gap between the 2 and the 9, does it look a little like a racing car to anybody else?
Image
Just me? Or is that an intentional design?

Looks more like an aerial view of an aeroplane to me.

Yeah, I see that actually but I wasn't clear; I meant the bottom half of what you're seeing.

I saw that too to be honest... ;) Looks a bit like a 1980's IndyCar or similar?
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Re: Ponderbox

Post by CoopsII »

dr-baker wrote:I saw that too to be honest... ;) Looks a bit like a 1980's IndyCar or similar?

Nice one. I'm here thinking I'm seeing things (A FedEx van went passed the window earlier and I could've sworn there was an arrow in the logo) and you're winding me up. What sort of Dr are you? A Dr of mental torture?

I can't even look at you. :facepalm: See?
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Re: Ponderbox

Post by dr-baker »

I have been led to believe that points are being awarded for qualifying for the Indy 500. That means that I suspect that Alonso will score more points this weekend than McLaren's F1 team will score all season...
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Re: Ponderbox

Post by Meatwad »

dr-baker wrote:I have been led to believe that points are being awarded for qualifying for the Indy 500. That means that I suspect that Alonso will score more points this weekend than McLaren's F1 team will score all season...

Unless something really weird happens in the remaining races, that's a given. He got 34 points for qualifying fifth. By the way, the last time he qualified that high in F1 was at Suzuka in 2014.
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Re: Ponderbox

Post by UncreativeUsername37 »

At the start of a race, you have completely missed your braking point for the first corner, and will inevitably cause a crash. You can go straight, eliminating five drivers irrelevant to the championship, or you can swerve and eliminate one driver who is a championship contender. What is the better course of action?
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Re: Ponderbox

Post by AustralianStig »

UgncreativeUsergname wrote:At the start of a race, you have completely missed your braking point for the first corner, and will inevitably cause a crash. You can go straight, eliminating five drivers irrelevant to the championship, or you can swerve and eliminate one driver who is a championship contender. What is the better course of action?

Do a barrel roll.
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Re: Ponderbox

Post by mario »

UgncreativeUsergname wrote:At the start of a race, you have completely missed your braking point for the first corner, and will inevitably cause a crash. You can go straight, eliminating five drivers irrelevant to the championship, or you can swerve and eliminate one driver who is a championship contender. What is the better course of action?

Some might argue that we effectively saw how that would play out with Grosjean in 2012 at the Belgian GP, although it has to be said that he took out two potential championship contenders (albeit that Hamilton's chances were already relatively slim by then). Given that the stewards explicitly referenced the fact that he had taken out a championship contending driver when they came to handing down the one race ban, it would suggest that the latter option would have the potential for wider reaching repercussions.
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Re: Ponderbox

Post by CoopsII »

UgncreativeUsergname wrote:At the start of a race, you have completely missed your braking point for the first corner, and will inevitably cause a crash. You can go straight, eliminating five drivers irrelevant to the championship, or you can swerve and eliminate one driver who is a championship contender. What is the better course of action?

Depends. Am I a championship contender also? If so then I rehearse in my head my "It was a racing incident, there was no room, obviously I wasn't thinking championship at that moment" speech and breeze into my rival. If not then I think I'd go for the irrelevant drivers and brace myself for the ire my name would conjure up on here.
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Re: Ponderbox

Post by Wallio »

Random question for those of you based in the Old World, but how popular is Formula E? I only ask because I see many, many posts about it on here, and I know many auto companies have built cars for it, but it gets NO coverage over here.

I mean like none, zero ziltch. F1 and WRC are on TV and get blurbs in even the most backwards newspapers, hell so does Dakar but FE gets nothing, and has no TV coverage. It gets less ink than A1GP used to, despite us having a race last year (I think?) in Florida? looking up the series website theres going to be a race in NYC? How is this not news? Anytime anyone mentions the joke of a NJGP it gets press, hell if anyone even jokes about reviving the Meadowlands Indy race people swoon.

I don't get it, FE should be HUGE over here. Electric cars are very popular, there's a race in New York, and street races in general are very popular here (its the only reason Champ Car held on as long as it did), plus there is/was a very popular American team running in it (or has Michael dropped out?) but no, nothing.

EDIT: Plus it gets rid of the biggest killer of race tracks over here, noise. Honestly the series should be up there with Indycar on our radar.
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Re: Ponderbox

Post by Butterfox »

Not really known in here outside of the connaisseurs circle. But then, even F1 gets very little coverage.
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Re: Ponderbox

Post by Fetzie »

Wallio wrote:Random question for those of you based in the Old World, but how popular is Formula E? I only ask because I see many, many posts about it on here, and I know many auto companies have built cars for it, but it gets NO coverage over here.

I mean like none, zero ziltch. F1 and WRC are on TV and get blurbs in even the most backwards newspapers, hell so does Dakar but FE gets nothing, and has no TV coverage. It gets less ink than A1GP used to, despite us having a race last year (I think?) in Florida? looking up the series website theres going to be a race in NYC? How is this not news? Anytime anyone mentions the joke of a NJGP it gets press, hell if anyone even jokes about reviving the Meadowlands Indy race people swoon.

I don't get it, FE should be HUGE over here. Electric cars are very popular, there's a race in New York, and street races in general are very popular here (its the only reason Champ Car held on as long as it did), plus there is/was a very popular American team running in it (or has Michael dropped out?) but no, nothing.

EDIT: Plus it gets rid of the biggest killer of race tracks over here, noise. Honestly the series should be up there with Indycar on our radar.


If you asked 1000 random (standard poll sample size) Germans what they think about Formula E, they'd probably all ask "What's Formula E?"

I've only seen it once on TV, and that was only by accident. It gets eff all coverage that I've noticed here.
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Re: Ponderbox

Post by Wallio »

Fetzie wrote:If you asked 1000 random (standard poll sample size) Germans what they think about Formula E, they'd probably all ask "What's Formula E?"

I've only seen it once on TV, and that was only by accident. It gets eff all coverage that I've noticed here.



This wrote:Not really known in here outside of the connaisseurs circle. But then, even F1 gets very little coverage.



So that's two MAJOR car markets that it sees zero coverage in. What's the benefit to car makers then?
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Re: Ponderbox

Post by Salamander »

Wallio wrote:
Fetzie wrote:If you asked 1000 random (standard poll sample size) Germans what they think about Formula E, they'd probably all ask "What's Formula E?"

I've only seen it once on TV, and that was only by accident. It gets eff all coverage that I've noticed here.



This wrote:Not really known in here outside of the connaisseurs circle. But then, even F1 gets very little coverage.



So that's two MAJOR car markets that it sees zero coverage in. What's the benefit to car makers then?


You do realise this is still a very new series, right? It takes a lot for a motorsport series to get much notice outside of enthusiast circles - in my experience, the only series that other people know of are F1, NASCAR, and MotoGP. That doesn't mean that all manufacturer involvement in other series is wasting their time in Britain.

Besides, as a series focused on developing electric power, it has a great opportunity for manufacturers to research, develop, and test against each other the advances they make in developing such motors.
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Re: Ponderbox

Post by Butterfox »

Well to be fair, the south part is more autosport minded than the north. So neuville in WRC or D'Ambrosio in FE don't get coverage for the simple fact they're not Flemish.
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Re: Ponderbox

Post by tommykl »

I can't be certain about the current season, but Formula E was, at least for a while, broadcast on a minor free-to-air channel. As for WRC, I believe it gets a mention on a weekly sports show, but isn't shown live.
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Re: Ponderbox

Post by Wallio »

Salamander wrote:
You do realise this is still a very new series, right? It takes a lot for a motorsport series to get much notice outside of enthusiast circles - in my experience, the only series that other people know of are F1, NASCAR, and MotoGP. That doesn't mean that all manufacturer involvement in other series is wasting their time in Britain.

Besides, as a series focused on developing electric power, it has a great opportunity for manufacturers to research, develop, and test against each other the advances they make in developing such motors.


Oh I know, I'm just surprised its not more popular over here is all. It should really take off here. Its in what? Its 5th year? That's about what the Red Bull Rallycross series is, and that gets TV time (mostly tape delay, but still). It just surprises me is all. I can't think of a series with more manufacturer money in it that gets less press. Not since the FIA GT1 days anyway.
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Re: Ponderbox

Post by mario »

Salamander wrote:
Wallio wrote:
Fetzie wrote:If you asked 1000 random (standard poll sample size) Germans what they think about Formula E, they'd probably all ask "What's Formula E?"

I've only seen it once on TV, and that was only by accident. It gets eff all coverage that I've noticed here.



This wrote:Not really known in here outside of the connaisseurs circle. But then, even F1 gets very little coverage.



So that's two MAJOR car markets that it sees zero coverage in. What's the benefit to car makers then?


You do realise this is still a very new series, right? It takes a lot for a motorsport series to get much notice outside of enthusiast circles - in my experience, the only series that other people know of are F1, NASCAR, and MotoGP. That doesn't mean that all manufacturer involvement in other series is wasting their time in Britain.

Besides, as a series focused on developing electric power, it has a great opportunity for manufacturers to research, develop, and test against each other the advances they make in developing such motors.

I'll be honest, I have always had my doubts about the claims that motorsport can act as a useful test bed for developing consumer technologies, not least because there have probably been more instances of the technological transfer operating in the opposite direction.

That is particularly the case when you consider that the FIA still tightly control a number of key components, such as the battery packs, as a means of controlling costs within the series - it may work as a financial control method, but it does also limit the amount of development which can occur as a result.

With regards to coverage, in the UK Channel 5 did recently pick up the live broadcast right for Formula E. Now, in the past some of the races had been doing reasonably well for a minority race series, with some rounds in optimal viewing slots picking up around 600,000 viewers.

The more usual viewing figures are around the 300,000 to 400,000 mark at the moment - moderately low, but the figures have been on something of an upward trend in recent years in the UK at least.

However, the downside is that Channel 5 has a pretty low share of the UK TV audience - about 4% on average, which means that even some pay per view broadcasters (such as Sky) have a higher audience share than they do. That does have the potential to limit any growth in viewing figures in the future, unless the series were to jump ship to another channel with a higher audience share.
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Re: Ponderbox

Post by Butterfox »

I've searched and found that here in Flanders, we can get FE reviews at Eurosport NL. But that's it. No live broadcast. Seems eurosport NL doesnt broadcast a lot of motorsport anymore. (though thankfully they still do a yearly full 24 hour coverage at Le Mans) Nevertheless, Eurosport NL doesnt have a great market share in here either, with the exception of when the olympic games are on of course.
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Re: Ponderbox

Post by DonTirri »

I admit I don't follow media as much as I should (chalk that down to the fact that even mainstream media is incredibly clickbaity here) but AFAIK FE gets NO coverage whatsoever in Finland.

I'd imagine it'd change if A) They got a Finnish driver or B) they got a Finnish race.
I mean, as far as Sports go, we are nationalistic as bathplug. Hell, the one and only time we've got live Indycar/IRL/CART/whatever or NASCAR-broadcasts have been when a Finnish driver was racing there.
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Re: Ponderbox

Post by CarloSpace »

DonTirri wrote:I admit I don't follow media as much as I should (chalk that down to the fact that even mainstream media is incredibly clickbaity here) but AFAIK FE gets NO coverage whatsoever in Finland.

I'd imagine it'd change if A) They got a Finnish driver or B) they got a Finnish race.
I mean, as far as Sports go, we are nationalistic as bathplug. Hell, the one and only time we've got live Indycar/IRL/CART/whatever or NASCAR-broadcasts have been when a Finnish driver was racing there.

Kutonen (owned by Discovery) showed some FE races last season and what I recall at least some of them were with Finnish commentators. But does the public know what Formula E even stands for? Sadly, no but as you said if there was someone like Kovalainen racing AND battling for wins, it'd get some coverage in media.

But it's not a guarantee though... Toni Vilander/Markus Palttala/Jesse Krohn and other GT drivers are completely unknown to basically everyone despite their wins in WEC, Le Mans, USCC etc. One of the funniest examples of this was a in 2012 when Vilander won the GT class in Le Mans and rightfully was named the Finnish Racing driver of the year by the Finnish motorsport association.

The sports journalists didn't value Vilander's achievements however and he wasn't even nominated for the Finnish Sports Personality of the Year award while certain Kimi Räikkönen was and actually finished fith in the poll. It just saddens me that in Finland you are nothing if you aren't doing well in F1/WRC or MotoGP. All ther series and racing disciplines get next to no coverage or recognition :(
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Re: Ponderbox

Post by mario »

DonTirri wrote:I admit I don't follow media as much as I should (chalk that down to the fact that even mainstream media is incredibly clickbaity here) but AFAIK FE gets NO coverage whatsoever in Finland.

I'd imagine it'd change if A) They got a Finnish driver or B) they got a Finnish race.
I mean, as far as Sports go, we are nationalistic as bathplug. Hell, the one and only time we've got live Indycar/IRL/CART/whatever or NASCAR-broadcasts have been when a Finnish driver was racing there.

Something that was reinforced in the recent fan survey of F1 too, where about 93% of all of the Finnish respondents voted for either Kimi or Bottas. (Mind you, there were some other nationalities where there was a similarly heavy bias, such as the Dutch fans similarly voting en block for Verstappen (over 80%).)
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Re: Ponderbox

Post by dr-baker »

If there was a rule that said that current F1 drivers could attempt the Indy 500 (as they could from 1950 to 1960), but that any IndyCar points they scored at that event could transfer over to their F1 points tally, Alonso's 47 IndyCar points would put him 6th currently in the Drivers Championship, between the two Red Bull drivers, and would put McLaren-Honda 5th, between Force India and Toro Rosso. However, if the F1 points system were to apply to the Indy 500, rather than the IndyCar points system, Alonso and McLaren would continue to be having a pointless year.
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Re: Ponderbox

Post by solarcold »

I've read in an interview that some Bernie Ecclestone is upset with the way Liberty Media handles the sport, especially it's heavy reliance on social media and platforms.

I am also aware of a popular opinion that Formula 1 is becoming gradually less exciting because the element of "heroism" in F1 drivers is vanishing. Like "compare James Hunt, or Jacky Ickx with Lewis Hamilton or Sebastian Vettel!" Good ol' times, when the racers were our heroes, unreachable etalons of bravery and coolness.

People accuse bad sounding engines, whiny behaviour, safety advancements and so forth, you name it.

In my humble opinion, they keep forgetting the obvious factor of deheroization: ubiquitous social media presence and overall abundance of F1-related information.

Let me explain. Back in time, you could miss the race and see it's replay, still not knowing who won and thus still thrilled about the event, because you didn't have the instant reports in your newsfeed or (god forbid!) instant timing in your iPhone.

You were waiting passionately for the racing weekend, watching a race was a special event in itself, whereas in modern times it's just a bump in a never-ending stream of F1-related information. You couldn't just turn your computer on and watch any race you want anytime you want. F1 had magazines, occasional news reviews maybe, maybe some merchandize and races themselves. Information wasn't abundant, it was rather in deficite, I suppose, which made it valuable. Race weekends, drivers themselves, race results and interviews were simply more valuable emotionally because they were rather scarce.

Racing drivers, also, weren't at the distance of some keystrokes from you. You couldn't read anything they wrote instantly, they weren't broadcasting funny pics and emojis, you couldn't casually and directly comment your opinions in their posts. Drivers weren't just those guys from your newsfeed, who also drive fancy cars. Drivers were professionals of the most exciting sport ever, unreachable professionals, each of them unique and special a character. Imagine Niki Lauda tweeting "Some fun in monza today ;) ;) ;)" getting tons of comments and likes immideately? Imagine Gilles Villeneuve turning on his webcam and saying "Hello guys from Silverstone! Had a bad qualifying session today but it's okay points are distributed in Sunday..."
Some years ago, I chatted with Luca Badoer and Jean-Denis Deletraz, and it simply made me feel like they're more simple humans than heroes. Before social media, drivers were heroes, not part-time bloggers.

Overload of information and abundance of instant communication and fan reach are not beneficial for the sport. Like in many other aspects of life, social media is detrimental to F1. In a sense, I agree with Berine Ecclestone.
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Re: Ponderbox

Post by Bobby Doorknobs »

solarcold wrote:Overload of information and abundance of instant communication and fan reach are not beneficial for the sport. Like in many other aspects of life, social media is detrimental to F1. In a sense, I agree with Berine Ecclestone.

You (and Bernie, though I'm not sure of his reasons) are, of course, right in a sense. Even restricting ourselves to what's on TV, you get live gaps, number of pit stops, team radio, tyre compounds and all sorts of stuff, when at one time you might only have gotten the gaps as they looked at the end of each lap or sector. Personally I make a point of not watching pre- or post-race coverage these days, and I don't follow any drivers on Twitter (I think I do on Facebook, but I never really check), but that only achieves so much.

The mystery element has largely disappeared from F1 (it was already very pronounced before Liberty came along, they've made little difference) and, I'm sad to say, we'll never get that back. It's just a price we pay for better technology; this sort of thing happens with every new innovation from mechanised agriculture to new forms of social media. It might be for the greater benefit of humankind to turn our backs on social media altogether, but the amount of reliance that's now been placed upon it makes it impossible to do so.
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Re: Ponderbox

Post by CoopsII »

I agree with the previous two posts entirely and the dichotomy is that we're often told that F1 should be more accessible but with accessibility comes familiarity and so complacency. The genie is well and truly out of the bottle, though.
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Re: Ponderbox

Post by Aislabie »

I'm inclined to disagree, but that's because my interest in motorsport is a little different to most people.

I don't particularly like cars. What I do quite like are science, statistics and pretty colours. Therefore, I don't mind when a single team dominates (although I do prefer if that team is challenged, because then there's more excitement), I am rather busy in the BSMF (highly doubt I'll finish all of my alt-championships, but YAY SPREADSHEETS) and that I choose which team to support based upon whomever has the prettiest livery (which is why I remain a die-hard Caterham fan, even though they are tragically no more).

The more information the better - I can put it in my spreadsheets.
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Re: Ponderbox

Post by novitopoli »

It isn't just a F1 thing, though. Other sports, as well as politics, are following this path.
Social media lead to "famous" people trying to show themselves as near to the everyman as possible - which often means doing/saying stupid things people like.

On the other side, think about the memes we would have seen if Suzuka 1990 had happened nowadays...
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Re: Ponderbox

Post by Butterfox »

novitopoli wrote:It isn't just a F1 thing, though. Other sports, as well as politics, are following this path.
Social media lead to "famous" people trying to show themselves as near to the everyman as possible - which often means doing/saying stupid things people like.

On the other side, think about the memes we would have seen if Suzuka 1990 had happened nowadays...

we can still make historic F1 memes...
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