The Gravel Trap vs The Race

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Londoner
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The Gravel Trap vs The Race

Post by Londoner »

Evening everyone.

You may or may not have seen an article from those Autosport botherers The Race, where Edd Straw bizarrely takes aim at the 2010 new teams and our 1989 pre-qualifying heroes, all while decrying those calling for more teams in Formula 1. We couldn't possibly let this rest without some sort of response (and at least make more than a Token effort to garner some mainstream attention), and Klon has delivered a stinging rebuke via The Gravel Trap, which you can read right here!

Hope, New Teams and Young Talent - A Response to The Race
Fetzie on Ferrari wrote:How does a driver hurtling around a race track while they're sous-viding in their overalls have a better understanding of the race than a team of strategy engineers in an air-conditioned room?l
yannicksamlad
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Re: The Gravel Trap vs The Race

Post by yannicksamlad »

Thanks for this. Edd Straw's view needed to be rebuffed! How anyone can suggest that driving in F1 somehow doesn't have a point of it doesn't lead to podiums and glory is beyond me.
I started supporting Emmo in 1976 (3 points )....missed 75, 74, 73, 72...
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mario
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Re: The Gravel Trap vs The Race

Post by mario »

Londoner wrote: 11 Dec 2022, 19:45 Evening everyone.

You may or may not have seen an article from those Autosport botherers The Race, where Edd Straw bizarrely takes aim at the 2010 new teams and our 1989 pre-qualifying heroes, all while decrying those calling for more teams in Formula 1. We couldn't possibly let this rest without some sort of response (and at least make more than a Token effort to garner some mainstream attention), and Klon has delivered a stinging rebuke via The Gravel Trap, which you can read right here!

Hope, New Teams and Young Talent - A Response to The Race
It does seem that the general consensus of those commenting on the "The Race" website was to view the article in a similarly negative light, indicating that, even if those here might have a somewhat more niche view, there does seem to be a wider attitude that they do want to see more teams on the grid.

I suppose one question about the original article that could also be raised is why the focus was purely on the drivers, and not on the wider question of whether additional teams would be beneficial for the sport as a whole. Whilst there has been a traditionally somewhat narrow focus on the drivers, which seems to be narrowing even further under Liberty Media's direction of the sport, there is an entire team behind those drivers that is often overlooked.

Comparatively speaking, quite a few other motorsport series have seen a narrowing of potential avenues for those "behind the scenes", as it were, to make their mark. Most single seater motorsport series have monopolies on supply, and in particular Dallara has been able to put itself into a position where it has a near lock out on most series - and not just those run by the FIA either.

Tatuus, Dome, Mygale and Ligier do produce some single seater cars, but they are effectively limited to Formula 4 series and Formula Regional competitions, which sit between Formula 4 and Formula 3. Everywhere else is a sea of Dallara's - Indy Lights, IndyCar, Formula 2, Formula 3, Formula Nippon and Formula E - and that's before you even go into Dallara's reach in other motorsport series (given they're also one of the four monopoly suppliers in sportscar racing, meaning they've also got a slice of both the LMP2 and LMDh markets as well), and - of course - reaching into Formula 1 via Haas as well. Indeed, maybe the way in which Dallara has become such a dominant company in the motorsport sector might be worth an article.

In that sense, Formula 1 is one of the few series where there is still that uniqueness in terms of all teams being required to produce cars independently - sportscar racing is close, but even then the LMDh classes are all based around a standard chassis that is produced by one of those monopoly suppliers.

For now, at least, there is still that greater demand for differentiation between teams in terms of performance that does create something more interesting beyond just what the drivers do and creates room for engineers, mechanics, fabricators and more to create something unique. It creates ways for those individuals to make their mark or to do something unique that, even if only briefly, outfoxes the bigger teams or shows a clever solution to a particular problem - why should they not be able to have the same sort of aspirations as those drivers, and why should they not also be considered as part of the motorsport community?
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Re: The Gravel Trap vs The Race

Post by yannicksamlad »

Yes indeed! Good point. More teams = more opportunities for all those team members. There's enough money now we have some budget limits and all those races..
I started supporting Emmo in 1976 (3 points )....missed 75, 74, 73, 72...
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