Formula 1 2021

[PhilJ W]

Verstappen won the sprint.

[Gareth Collier]

Nope, sprint races don't work for me. A seemingly pointless marketing exercise rather than a sporting decision.

You 'qualify' without actually qualifying then race to confirm your qualifying which is then what counts in the record books. Pole decided on how well your car launches at the lights and in the run up to the first corner.

 

[Jol Wilkinson]

F1 on C4 to be retitled the Christian Horner Show? I know DC has a close relationship with RB, but things are getting a bit too cosy.

[RJS1977]

I agree - I found that rather underwhelming. Once Max started pulling away from Lewis, that was it - race over (although of course there were some minor changes of position further down, but apart from Perez's spin, nothing that's really going to affect much tomorrow).

 

It seems to me there's a lot more for drivers to lose than to gain. Yes, Alonso gained a few places (and of course Max gained a significant one), but Lewis lost a place off the start, and Charles and Chico both lost a lot.

[StuAllen]

Well I’m enjoying so far, Alonso’s first lap was impressive. Thought it was interesting to see how much the tyres were wearing. Think the drivers were going for it and making it interesting. Yes Max and the Mercedes were driving away from the field but Bottas on the softs was being reeled in as they dropped off.

 

 

[EddieB]

Still undecided, but I reckon that the Sprint Races are great for the paying spectators - an additional spectacle for those attending the whole weekend.  They don't get the benefit of TV on-screen graphics.  Rather than simply watching the timing screens, they can actually see the grid order being decided before them.

 

Much to consider, though.  A Sprint means that the whole grid gets free tyre choice to start the race - something that was often an advantage for those qualifying just outside the top ten, over those who just made it in.  Perhaps that's fairer through the grid - but increases the advantage of "dominant" teams. 

 

I presume that any and all grid penalties - whether "earned" from a previous race, exchange of components, during free practice or in the Sprint itself - will be applied to the final grid positions (i.e. post Sprint).

 

I'm not sure what flexibility applies within the "parque fermée" rules following "pre-qualifying".  Surely sometimes there must be a necessity to work on the cars?

 

Maybe a good idea for circuits such as Monza, where the battle to "get a tow", has led to some rather silly qualifying sessions and some missing out on starting the final lap of qualifying.  

 

 

[Bulleidboy100]

Based on the sprint, it looks like Max's race win tomorrow - by about ten seconds - give or take.

[Andrew P]

I DO NOT BELIEVE IT.

Russell hit with three place grid penalty for Sunday’s British GP after Sainz clash in F1 Sprint.

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.russell-hit-with-three-place-grid-penalty-for-sundays-british-gp-after-sainz.4j19GLVkG9qvr3KcFVj3hh.html?fbclid=IwAR3E7qr0XuHN9ZIr7o-3-DMhhOqW2E3gVS_5ZQwi9IM96__vHJQFSy9lbH0

[Andrew P]

Lewis Hamilton Credits Trainer Angela Cullen for His Incredible Outing at British GP Qualiying.

https://www.essentiallysports.com/f1-news-lewis-hamilton-credits-trainer-angela-cullen-for-his-incredible-outing-at-british-gp-qualiying/?fbclid=IwAR1Xq8YqdPAxSVjjhyeydzlpYpGAVnaW3oU3N3HRC4Zt_5bWMzXoA9lXIWg

[Steadfast]

I quite like the idea of the sprint race, and it was good to have a rave where they could go flat out for the duration. It adds action for the fans and ads TV time for the advertisers.

What I'm not keen on is the whole jumble around is this qualifying, is it a race? 

Other series that have a mutli race weekend use qualifying to set the grid for race 1, and the result of race 1 to set the grid for race 2.

Qualifying yesterday didn't create a pole sitter, but the person who would start in first for the qualification sprint race. Several times the commentators had to correct themselves. All seems a bit convoluted, and potentially confusing for a more casual viewer.

Surely qualifying, sprint race and feature race is a simpler way to title it? And if they don't want the sprint to detract from qualifying, use the result of qually to select the grid for both races.

 

Jo

[New Haven Neil]

I thought it was crepe.  Simples.

[friscopete]

Looked like a tyre test to me .They ought to make a sprint tyre to last the distance.

[john new]

So much better today than yesterday's usual processional yawn fest of quali. The  silly thing though, not having FP2 before quali - one assumes due to need for cash through the gate.

[Andrew P]

What has George Russell got to do to get some luck.

 

Leading for Merc last year, and a cocked up Tyre Change.

Back out to re take the lead and a puncture.

Pipped by Alonso in Austria.

Plus a few other cases where he has had some dreadful luck.

 

Now a Grid penalty for what looked like  a racing incident at Silverstone when Qualifying 9th.

 

[Grovenor]

13 hours ago, Steadfast said:

Other series that have a mutli race weekend use qualifying to set the grid for race 1, and the result of race 1 to set the grid for race 2.

Seems to me that's exactly what they are doing. Although there was some funny terminology, what was wrong with "pole for the sprint! as the result of the qualifying?

Edited July 18, 2021 by Grovenor

[Steadfast]

11 hours ago, Grovenor said:

Seems to me that's exactly what they are doing. Although there was some funny terminology, what was wrong with "pole for the sprint! as the result of the qulifying?

I guess that's what I was getting at, but you've phrased it much more neatly! The weird terminology also seems to devalue the sprint race.

 

Jo

[ejstubbs]

11 hours ago, john new said:

one assumes due to need for cash through the gate.

 

Who actually benefits from that?  Does the ticket revenue go to the circuit owner - and god knows they need it, given the amounts that they have to pay to get a GP run at their track - or to Liberty Media?  If the former I'd suggest that, rather than muck around with a "B feature" race, they don't try to extort unsustainable amounts of money from the circuit owners in the first place.

 

You may guess that I'm not a fan of these sprint races.  I find them especially grating since F1 fundamentally is a sprint formula - or at least it was, back when the idea was to get in the car and drive it non-stop from start to finish.  The rot began in the 1980s when the teams - and Brabham, I'm looking specifically at you - first started to use 'strategic' pit stops, after which the series owners (er, remind me who that was again?) began to make them more or less essential, supposedly to make the racing 'more exciting'* by, er...forcing the drivers to stop racing at least once during each race.  As the saying goes: "you couldn't make it up".  Except that they did make it up, and they still are making it up - as they go along.

 

 And don't get me started on DRS...

 

It's really little wonder that more and more people are drifting away from F1 towards more "traditional" styles of motorsports i.e. those which don't rely ever more contrived rules and regulations bolted on to the fundamental idea of driving a car fast round a track, in order to create a "spectacle".  Maybe a move back to free-to-air TV would drain some of the excess cash out of the sport and trigger a re-think as to what it is really supposed to be about.

 

* Something that they've failed to achieve ever - because they're trying to solve the wrong problems.

Edited July 18, 2021 by ejstubbs

[friscopete]

F1 used to be a spectator sport in the sense people arrived at circuits ,usually by walking miles ,paid their money and watched a rarely exciting motor race or two,got high on Castrol R and dodgy fuel   ,got soaking wet or sun burnt and went home happy .Circuits got done over by Ecclestone and  greedy teams

 It all that changed as  TV took over and Bernie fleeced the circuits ,sold their soul to raise two spoiled daughters.Its really more like an American stadium experience now. The public still love their racing  but its nothing like it could  be .

Edited July 18, 2021 by friscopete

[Oldddudders]

Corporate entertainment and making the sport high-profile and classy rather than for anoraks has rather changed things. Not least in how circuit-owners have chosen to invest. Silverstone's financial woes are not from making things better for the ordinary punter. The disgusting tv intro with each driver required to adopt a humiliatingly aggressive pose, as if they were gladiators, really revolts me - these are small men with thick necks! 

 

The sprint race was a non-event, just 17 laps of the full race as it will be today, with a comparable finishing order. I do not see Merc winning any time soon. People were bored with Merc dominance, which followed Red Bull dominance in the Vettel era. Now it has flipflopped back again. Rich teams do it best. Except Ferrari!

[PhilJ W]

Something to debate.

https://www.gpfans.com/en/f1-news/67560/should-f1-pursue-the-sprint-race-weekend/

[Hobby]

This:

 

"Brawn has said he will listen to the comments of those that really matter."

 

Says it all... It certainly won't be the fans...

[woodenhead]

I liked the fact that grid order was determined by it for today, but it all came down to the start - Verstappen jumped Hamilton and Alonso launched himself into 5th and then held everyone up with a lot of weaving.

 

I was reading that it has though for the drivers removed some of the sparkle of getting pole, because you do it twice and it also starts to damage the statistics on most poles etc.   Verstappen also mentioned they still need to manage tyres so it's not flat out like qualifying, though they would throw in fastest laps towards the end.

 

Jurys out I think

[PaulRhB]

13 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

with each driver required to adopt a humiliatingly aggressive pose, as if they were gladiators

How the world has changed in the last two thousand years. Then you had rich people exploiting the masses with lavish games where the glitz hid the machinations of power  

 

ok there’s less lions but still plenty of horses! 
 

45 minutes ago, friscopete said:

The public still love their racing  but its nothing like it could  be

Unfortunately I don’t think without the corporate powerhouse it would stand much chance at all now. The complexities of a global series are huge now and the fight is on on emissions. This is one area where the publicity machine is delaying the baying from outside the sport with assurances on new fuels and research that will benefit all. 
 

20 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

The sprint race was a non-event, just 17 laps of the full race as it will be today,

Agreed, apart from lap 1 with Lewis and Max, and Alonsos charge they missed! It was pretty much over. 
Even Merc’s attempt to jump Max with Valterri as a mobile block failed rather spectacularly. I have to admit Horner’s comment on ‘throwing Valterri under the bus’ made me smile as it was one time the smugness was justified. 

[rocor]

19 hours ago, RJS1977 said:

 

 

It seems to me there's a lot more for drivers to lose than to gain. Yes, Alonso gained a few places (and of course Max gained a significant one), but Lewis lost a place off the start, and Charles and Chico both lost a lot.

 

Charles Leclerc was 4th in practice, and 4th in the sprint race?

[Pete the Elaner]

14 hours ago, john new said:

So much better today than yesterday's usual processional yawn fest of quali. The  silly thing though, not having FP2 before quali - one assumes due to need for cash through the gate.

 

So what was the point of FP2?

Find a good race setup? No, the setup was fixed before quali.

Drivers were doing 25+ laps in FP2 though. I guess they were trying to find out more about tyre life.

It seems to be asking a lot from teams to turn up & dial in the best setup after just 1 hour of running.