Formula 1 - The Eco Friendly Motorsport!

[tongue_of_colicab]

Monaco and montreal are part street circuits thats why they arnt used the whole year because people need to get to work (or their expensive boat in case of monaco) on that road. Besides monaco isnt really that dangerous. The overall speed is pretty low and I cant remember the last time a real heavy crash happend at monaco.

Any track where a third of the cars crash off needs to be questioned.

Is it motorsports we are talking about or chess? Racing is about pushing the limit (atleast, if you are a real race driver, most drivers these days are just driving race cars and not being race drivers) and on some circuits that means if you push to hard you can hit a wall. To bad for you but thats racing. Thats just part of the exitement as a watcher. Will a driver push the limit to far? or can he keep on the limit the whole time? I dont think you can deny Montreal was a far more exiting race than anything we've seen this season.

 

[DJ12]

No, you are just being stupid. See, I can namecall too. Maybe next I'll call you fat and ugly.

About as accurate as the rest of you post. I didn't call you stupid, I said you were being stupid.

I have not said crashes make for a more exciting race, that has only came from your mind so I don't feel I need argue the point with you considering it has nothing to do with anything I've said.

As for the safety car, it made the race far more interesting, I don't particularly care if driver A lost the gap he had between driver B. Having the cars bunch up and be forced to race again was far better than the thought of having Hamilton finish clear by at least a minute, then second place being 30 second more clear of third. Being English I wanted Hamilton to win as much as the next guy, but I still couldn't care less about him losing his gap every now and again because of the safety car.

No one was killed, "seriously" injured and the race wasn't spoilt by any of the crashes as far as I'm concerned so I really cannot see why you are so concerned about the track and what you say FIA want, is exactly what I want races to be a test of driver skill not technology and that what we got.

There will be several races where more than a third of the drivers crash this year, even on tracks with those wonderful run off areas.

The number of deaths has been reduced because of the safety of the cars getting better, not the tracks. Look at Senna's death, the run off area actually contributed to it, if there was a gravel trap there he'd possible still be alive to this day.

 

[dizietsma]

The crash at Montreal was very reminiscent of Gilles Villeneuve fatal crash all those years ago, strange eh? Of course nowadays the consequences were a lot less punishing than for poor old Giles who was flung across the track into the catch fencing after being thrown out of the car.

As for track safety I actually think Monaco is more dangerous. Someday someone is going to crash in the tunnel and leave the car sideways only for one or more other drivers to smash into them at nearly full speed...... and that circuit really really is boring.

 

[Gubbi]

... Monaco

.. and that circuit really really is boring.

Indeed.

This weekend's grand prix was a fantastic race when the safety car wasn't on the track with lots of infighting and overtaking. In complete contrast to Monaco where there were two overtakes during the entire race.

Monaco is a complete joke.

Cheers

 

[tongue_of_colicab]

As for track safety I actually think Monaco is more dangerous. Someday someone is going to crash in the tunnel and leave the car sideways only for one or more other drivers to smash into them at nearly full speed...... and that circuit really really is boring.

I believe there actually did crash some people in the tunnel already. Drivers and teams arnt stupid. A driver probably wont crash into a car full speed if he sees the accident happen, and if he is to far away to see it happen the team will probably contact him before he is at the crash site, not to mention all the people that will be waving yellow flags in a matter of seconds. Not to mention the tunnel isnt a likely place to crash.

 

[DuckThor Evil]

I'm glad Kubica is ok. I have to say that on sunday when I was watching the race on live broadcast and the crash occured, I thought he died for sure, the crash was so brutal... Luckily the car bounced and didn't stop completely to first wall it hit. The angle was quite bad already, but luckily the impact wasn't as hard as it could have been.

Other than that it was the first race that something actually happened. Normally I hate safety car, because it can easily screw up the race for somebody and it always does it for someone. Safety car shouldn't have an impact on the race positions or on the gap between the drivers... however this season has been so ultra boring that anything that keeps me awake during the race is welcome...
Raikkonen has been so bad during this season that I'm loss for words...Thumbs up for Hamilton he's been absolutely amazing.

 

[dizietsma]

I believe there actually did crash some people in the tunnel already. Drivers and teams arnt stupid. A driver probably wont crash into a car full speed if he sees the accident happen, and if he is to far away to see it happen the team will probably contact him before he is at the crash site, not to mention all the people that will be waving yellow flags in a matter of seconds. Not to mention the tunnel isnt a likely place to crash.

It's curved, it is darker than outside, it leaves nowhere for crashed cars in front to spin off from....

It's just a matter of time I'm afraid.

 

[tongue_of_colicab]

Well they already race 30 years or so in monaco and even in the old days with alot more dangerous cars (both in handling and if they crashed) nothing happend so I think we can assume that its safe enough. And like i said, if someone crashes (wich happend a few times) that still doesnt mean all other cars will just slam into it at full speed. Drivers and teams arnt idiots, they know damn well whats going on at the track.

And in the end its still motorsport and that means there will always be some kind of risk involved, but the risk, even on ''dangerous'' tracks is pretty low. Its funny to see how people keep on talking about safety in F1 cars when you've got cyclists in the tour the france going downhill at 100Kmph with nothing more than a helmet and a thin shirt on a bike with very small wheels. You dont hear anybody complain how dangerous that is while falling of your bike at 100kmph sure is alot more dangerous than crashing at 200+kmph in a F1 car.

 

[Ike Turner]

Well they already race 30 years or so in monaco and even in the old days with alot more dangerous cars (both in handling and if they crashed) nothing happend so I think we can assume that its safe enough. .

Lorenzo Bandini in 1967...

 

[Snyder]

Karl Wendlinger in 1994...

 

[tongue_of_colicab]

Lorenzo Bandini in 1967...

Karl Wendlinger in 1994...

So that are 2 accidents in 40 races. My god how dangerous... Karl even recoverd totally and that in a car before the FIA intoduced all those safety improving features like higher cockpitborders. There hasnt been a heavy crash in over a decade so that pretty much means its a safe as its going to get remebering this is still motorracing.

I hate all those safety complains, F1 is alot safer that other motorsports. Go complain about motogp or something. Falling of your bike at 200Kmph with no protection besides your helmet isnt exactly more safe than a F1 car designed to protect the drivers body in a crash.

 

[Gubbi]

Monaco should be dropped, not because of safety, but because it's mind-numbingly boring. If you love racing you *must* hate Monaco.

Cheers

 

[sir doris]

Monaco will never be dropped, it means to much to the teams and the sponsors and gives F1 it's superiority and glamour. Even if there isn't much in terms of racing. Although hopefully this will change with the new regs for 08 - no TC and less reliance of downforce forcing reliance on mechanical grip.

Fingers Crossed

 

[Davros]

actually in 1955 ascari drove straight into the sea

 

[Nappe1]

Well they already race 30 years or so in monaco...

muhaha...
ahem, well 30 years for sure. But to be more exact, first Monaco Grand Prix was run in 1928 and it has been every year since. (during 2nd WW, there might have been pauses, but the whole racing thing was on halt after 1939 all way to 1945)

EDIT: and what comes to eco friendliness of F1, I think the rules are the most limiting factor preventing Honda and Toyota representing hybrid powertrain on F1 car. (and I do expect either one of these to show such a car even if it could not participate on races, but as an publicity stunt.) In case of using Hybrid powertrain, it's not so much about ecology, but fuel economy, efficiency and the huge torque boost you get having electric engine helping the combustion engine. (for example Lexus GS450h has 700Nm of torque coming from quite low tuned 4.5 liter V8...)

Also some "deep throats" are claiming that renault, cosworth and ferrari were so anxious to support this engine development icing for 5 years, because they do not have any alternative powertrain systems to compete with, if honda and toyota suddenly shows up with hybrids.

Who knows what's the real deal...

 

[Deepak]

Hamilton is on roll.......fantastic! A newbie is kicking everyone's a**es.

 

[tongue_of_colicab]

Also some "deep throats" are claiming that renault, cosworth and ferrari were so anxious to support this engine development icing for 5 years, because they do not have any alternative powertrain systems to compete with, if honda and toyota suddenly shows up with hybrids.

Who knows what's the real deal...

I wouldnt be suprised if that is true (thoug cosworth doesnt make F1 engines anymore right?). Especially for Ferrari it could be a big problem as their R&D for things like this could be relative small as they dont really need it for the market they are in. Renault, BMW etc could just use their knowledge and also apply it to their street cars, it wont really work that way for the scuderia.

 

[_xxx_]

Most components suppliers offer already nearly finished packages, so not that much R&D involved.

The problem with hybrids is that they don't give any benefits in F1 as of yet, nor do I know of any E-engine/components which would work in the F1 car with it's up to 20000 rpm.

 

[tongue_of_colicab]

Once F1 starts using hybrid engines I believe they wanted to cap the revlimit to 10.000.

 

[Bludd]

Hahahaha, what a hilariously awesome start of the 2007 European Grand Prix Nurburgring! 7 cars drove off in the first corner while the rain was pouring. Also, F1 newcomer Winkelhock went from p22 to p1 during that rainy start of the race. What a way to start a F1 career.

They red-flagged the race so it will be a restart in about 11 minutes (14:35 local time) with Winkelhock on pole.