1. Bahrain GP

[Rick Edwards]

They need to do something quick or it will just be procession after procession, made exiting only by break downs and crashes.

To be fair hasn't that been the story of F1 for 20 years?

[ads_green]

Ditto....

If this is what F1 is reduced to...control tires, every car from the same body shop, can't do this, can't do that....

Rob

The clue's in the name... *formula* 1

But yes I do think it's too restrictive.

As for this budget crap - I'd like a Veyron but can't afford it. does that mean Bugatti should be forced to lower the price? hell no.

Everybody knows that F1 (hmm - maybe with the apparentt excption of USF1) is prohibitively expensive. If you can't afford to race then you can't afford to race.

But to encourage the more financially strapped teams I do think you should get points for other things than the race.

For example, fastest lap, actually finishing, points for qualy position etc...

..

[GordonMasson]

Great to see the Lotus cars out on track and all in all a fantastic result for them. Lets just hope they can continue with reliability and build on speed.

As for the race its self, yup I have to agree it was pretty damn dull… I even had a snoozette part of the way through… if anything that added to the excitement because I had to figure out where every one was and if the green and yellow boys were still running!

Should have stuck with Australia for the first GP I think… at least they are a bit more enthusiastic about their racing there!

Have a quick check to do on the Fantasy F1 results and I will post them later today… have to triple check the points because you just know that Kimbers will be moaning again about why he is so low in the rankings!

[Bibs]

This from Heikki on Twitter...

H_Kovalainen Seen a lot of comments about yesterdays race and how boring it was for spectators, I agree totally, we need to do something about it. Ideas?

[fmxa]

Bahrain is a shite long circuit though.

No kidding, boring, even more boring, and then even more boring than the first boring. I think this is the only race I record and skip through at 4X. I guess it's on the calendar to bolster Bernie's bank account vs give the fans something to watch, I mean compare Bahrain to Spa. Also agree with the no refueling being a bad idea (just adds to the boredom!).

I wish Bernie and the FIA would read some of this feedback before F1 turns into IndyCar.

[espritmania]

Good job it wasn,t raining.otherwise the manifold on the Lotus might have cracked??

The most exciting sport that I have seen for a while was the ski cross on the Olympics.

Edited March 15, 2010 by espritmania

[Advantage]

H_Kovalainen Seen a lot of comments about yesterdays race and how boring it was for spectators, I agree totally, we need to do something about it. Ideas?

Water splash.

Figure of 8 circuits.

Spikes on the wheels (Ben Hur stylee)

or, reduce the amount of reliance on areo so the cars don't have issues running so close to each other. The skinny front wheels were a start, but then these huge front wings have compensated. Reduce the front wing area by 25% and allow modest skirts to give the same amount of downforce without the tubulent air being a problem for the car behind.

Also, what about 'success' ballast? 50kgs for 1st, 40kgs for 2nd, 30kgs for 3rd etc.

[Kimbers]

Limits on downforce, like Graham says would be a step. How about points for fastest 10 times and then reverse the grid. Mandatory pace car upon any yellow flag incident would bunch them all together, like in Nascar.

How about not racing at boring circuits. Give us more like Monaco and Spa and less like Bahrain and Valencia!

"We have increased the points gap from first to 10th so drivers fight for the places..." Well I saw several drivers settle for their position!

[esprit350]

just watched the race this afternoon , recorded it on to a hard drive then played it back at 16x at times, so uninteresting, well done to Force Malaysia (Lotus? still not sure about that) but great start for a new team

[USAndretti42]

Yes it was a boring race but I think there has been a bit of an over-reaction to it because everyone was expecting more excitement after all the pre-season build up.

Previous attempts to reduce aerodynamic downforce have not been very successful but they could shorten the diffuser to, say the rear axle line and then mandate a minimum step height behind that. A maximum gearbox width would probably be needed to stop teams making the gearbox part of the undertray. That should reduce the rear wake and improve front downforce on following cars.

Won't happen this year, though. Or next.

[Kimbers]

Theres pretty much universal agreement that it was boring, with every driver and most teams complaining they get within a second of the car infront and it's like hitting a brick wall, you just can't get any closer. Several teams have proposed a mandatory 2 stops to make it more exciting (meh!). But I think it's more fundamental, more deep rooted. Every time they change the regs to reduce downforce (and hence the disturbed air behind the car) they find a way round it (rear diffuser, mclarens new airflow system).

They need to bloody grow a set and say "right thats it. No more changes, heres a basic spec that you have to stick to!" look at Nascar, even the angle of the bonnet is regulated so they are all similar.

I still think money needs to be limited as well. One of my best mates is a designer for one of the better F1 teams (mention no names here) and he said that they needed 2 adjusted parts for the race (to improve performance so they flew them out on a privately chartered jet. If they were limited they couldn't do things like that, they would have to race with what they have.

[ramjet]

Don't know how to use twitter so someone else can let Heikki know. If they want to make the race more exciting, how about him and Jarno getting up the front?

[robertcosta]

This from Heikki on Twitter...

Easy..get rid of that prat that runs F1.

[ramjet]

Ok. My two cents worth.

Limit aerodynamics. You can only make a car go so fast through the air, then you can't anymore. Sort of the Law of Diminishing Returns. Seems to be where the cars are at now.

Get rid of the ripple strip run-offs on the exits of corners to make the drivers stay on the track proper.

Get rid of the flappy paddle gearboxes and get a clutch and a gear lever back in the car. Make the drivers drive.

I presume refuelling got banned due to the pit lane incidents. Put refuelling back in, change to a fuel that doesn't burn invisible and make each driver and team aware that any incident that endangers any pit crew or other participant is an instant DQ and possibly loss of points.

No pit crew allowed over the garage line when a car pulls into the pits. Then the crew can move and the car can't return to the race until all crew, tools, wheels or whatever are back in the garage. The crew is already part of the race, add variables to them.

Put in chicken chicanes, like the ones on a scalextric track. That'll sort the men from the boys. (That's a trick suggestion)

[gghc87]

For a few years now I have recorded the Gp's then watch them back that way I can fast forward if necessary, which is sadly quite often these days. Never use to do this but hay that's progress

Good result for Lotus as such a young team, so they must be rightly proud of the result, but here's hoping onward and upwards.

F1 should be leading edge. Often wondered that their should be greater sharing of the tech. to keep the races competitive. For example a team comes up with new idea which it presents to the scrutineers. That team then solely uses the new tech for say 2 races giving it an advantage. The other teams can see the tech detail but not use it. After this the tech can be used by the others teams to balance the field and keep the racing level. This would hopefully encourage new developments on the way to still give teams the edge to win the title. Sorry in advance if this has already been tried/suggested.

[Simon350S]

Arm the grandstand with paintball guns?

That'd make for a colourful race

Water splash was an ace idea, I'd second that one..!

I love watchig the old F1 races where the cars are 4 wheels off the ground on jumps, that needs to be reintroduced, the guy in charge of Bahrain says there's a bump in the track that needs to be addressed, I say make it a feature and increase it's size so we can watch them jumping about, that'd be fun.

How about a stinger strip just after the jump so if they didn't go over it fast enough they'd puncture all their tyres?

A loose surface section could be good to, that'd mean they couldn't run super low cause they'd ruin the botoom of the car on the gravel.

Just a few thoughts, gotta be worth a try!

[mangel]

Hmm me thinks we're almost at the Clarkson comment about touring cars now.

"Set them all alight at the start then they either drive fast to blow out the flames or burn to death!"

I thought its was a pretty boring too but it is the first race in new cars with minimal testing so they all need to get in the groove, maybe it'll improve then!!

Thought Lotus did well though for their first race so well done to them.

Edited March 16, 2010 by mangel

[Gasman GT3]

Make it like Le Mans I say, F1, GP2, F3 & Formula Renault all race at the same time. Only 1 mechanic per side of the car who has to both remove and replace both wheels on that side of the car, maybe even 2 drivers per car who must both have a turn.

Also what about 10 points for the car that is the most fuel efficient, that should keep the greenies happy.

Edited March 18, 2010 by gasmangt3

[Simon350S]

A fuel allocation for each race would be cool, that'd make them develop better MPG engines and would probably limit the HP somewhat making the top speeds a little closer

This fuel rationing could be a great idea ya know! If the fuel allocation covered a race weekend in it's entirety then those who go out in the first qualifying session would have more fuel so could run max BHP setup for the race duration, those that make it through to the second and third qualifying sessions would have to turn down the mixture or they will not finish the race, this leaning off of the mixture would reduce their BHP and thus reduce the advantage they have over the slower teams by slowing them down somewhat!

ACE

Oooh, just had another fab idea!

How about a driver swap half way through the season?

Come mid season, all the drivers get swapped end on end based on championship positioning so the leading drivers drive the cars of those who are last and the trailing ones get to drive the front of grid cars. How cool would that be! The second half of the season would be so entertaining.

God, the decisions they'd have to make, do you nail it from the start of the season to get as many points as possible in a hope to keep your advantage at the end, or do you try to stay midfield in a hope to make up the defecit in the secon half by not having such a crap car!

I've always wanted to see what the real 'great' drivers could do in the bottom end on the grid cars, I recon Senna could have won in anything he drove, he was my god!

[theelanman]

thats like the good old days when drivers were contracted for races....

how about bringing back the 1.5ltr turbo v the 3.0 ltr N/A battles........

[Simon350S]

Those turbo units were nuts, at their peak they were producing around 1000bhp per litre!

The turbos were MASSIVE, imagine the lag, although the size of them, maybe it was impossible for them to be off boost as the inertia would keep them spinning for weeks after you turned the engine off!

[gghc87]

I liked the turbo days. The power could be turned up if required but at a greater chance of blowing the engine. So all a trade off but it produced some amazing races.

[toovo1985]

good return from Lotus to F1!!! Good looking car...and the best among the new teams!!! hope to see the car improve along the season!!! GREAT WORK!!!

[Paul C]

I liked the turbo days. The power could be turned up if required but at a greater chance of blowing the engine. So all a trade off but it produced some amazing races.

I think thats the truth of it Cliff: We have already seen the good days of F1

The variety of the stuff racing in historic races (like the silverstone classic) is of the like we will never see again.

If the drivers find it boring, the people watching find it boring, and the team comes nowhere...

Then give me a reason to sit for two hours and want to watch it.

[PierreLP]

If you want to watch exciting motorsport go and watch the Elise Trophy.

Don't show the F1 drivers this!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsXPUKrg1Mc

Edited March 18, 2010 by PierreLP