I love F1 - I've watched it since the mid 80's and I'll defend it until the end of days. But Renault need to die in a fire for what they’ve done to my favourite motorsport; those awful wet-fart turbo engines that they forced into the sport. Renault can't even compete with the very engine they forced everyone to use. Red Bull have threatened to leave F1 because of the appalling state of Renault. If Red Bull leave, Ecclestone should be looking to sue Renault, not Red Bull.
It used to be that you couldn't get near an F1 circuit without earplugs. In Singapore this year, I could comfortably watch from 6ft behind the fence without ear protection. The Porsche Cup and Touring cars sounded better than the F1 cars. I don't care what anyone says - the sound of F1 cars absolutely IS part of the draw of watching it on TV and seeing it in the flesh.
The turbo engines were introduced in an effort to green up the F1 image. I don't get it. F1 doesn't need to be "green". The only way a motorsport is ever going to be "green" is if we shut down all the teams and stop racing completely. F1 is supposed to be the pinnacle of racing, the motoring tour-de-force. Screw being green. Bring back refueling, bring back multiple tyre manufacturers and for the love of your chosen deity, bring back some decent engines.
2 comments:
Having watched F1 only on TV I can't really say anything about the loudness factor. But the way the cars sound has indeed changed.
Each year there will be better teams than others, be it the engine, the chassis or both. Red Bull has hurt this season due to the engine. True. In the recent past they were on top. I guess that's more frustrating than being constantly at the back (e.g. the low budget teams).
What about the Honda team? There must be some serious anger management being employed there :D But I think they will try to improve for next year.
So why should Red Bull quit? Just because they can't win anymore? Isn't that a little childish?
I agree that F1 doesn't need to be green. It's roughly 20 cars going round for 90 minutes. The 30% decrease in fuel consumption will not save the planet. The fuel-flow restrictor needs to go. They already have a limited volume tank. Let the team work around with that variable.
The hybrid system is interesting from a technical point of view. But it's creating a big enough problem for the smaller teams. Not only because they can't compete with the top players (that was true also in the normal-aspirated era), but more so because of reliability. That brings down the number of cars racing each weekend (e.g. Alonso retired in the first lap, having started with an already known problem; or some cars not being able to even start). But, there's a lot of hybrid solutions in the Le Mans series. So maybe going hybrid was the way to go for F1 too.
Different tyre manufacturers might also bring a little show back. We don't need F1 to save money on those either.
But the refueling, I don't know. That was taken out also for safety reasons, not just to restrict fuel consumption.
My guess is that F1 will always change. So we might get better seasons than others.
(The Austin race was really interesting, so not all's lost on this year's bunch either:) )
I disagree. There's a reason why F1 isn't as loud as previous years and that's because the new engines have been made incredibly efficient. A lot of people think more noise equals more power but it's the opposite. It means the engine is wasting its energy in sound and not power. The less energy you get your engine using in sound, heat, vibrations etc. means more energy is being used towards power. That's the whole point of the MGU-H and MGU-K; they're recovering some of the energy being lost. So doesn't this sound like something the pinnacle of Motorsport should be doing? Trying to get the most out of an engine and squeezing every last drop of what it's got to give?
I agree that the new engines aren't as loud but they really aren't as quiet as people make it out to be. I've been to a couple of F1 Grand Prix's now with the new engines and they're not as loud but it's not exactly equivalent to a mouse fart. I can also agree the older engines sound better but I prefer the technological step with the newer engines which leads me to my next point.
Motorsport plays a huge role in the technological development in the automotive business. It gives a reason for manufacturers to push the boundaries, to develop systems and to develop newer, more powerful and more efficient systems to gain a competitive edge over they're opponents. A side effect of this however allows the technology to trickle through the automotive world which results in our everyday vehicles to gain the same technology. This is why I think the technology in Motorsport should be relevant with current automotive systems.
I do agree however with Renault building poor engines. I do find it annoying as well with other engine "suppliers" being unwilling to supply engines to Red Bull despite it being their very jobs to do so. They obviously aren't willing to do so as they're worried Red Bull would beat them with their own engines. They're essentially forcing Red Bull out of the sport as well as four very well talented drivers.
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