Today's F1

[Manselton Jack]

The safety advances have been massive but looking back on it there are still things that need looking at.
There's no way the armco should split like that, it's an unusual place to crash but that still shouldn't happen - race cars can go off anywhere after contact.
As ever there's a certain amount of luck as well, the med car was on the spot in seconds & the crew were instrumental in helping him out. If the accident had been further around the lap that wouldn't have been the case & the outcome could have been far worse.

What absolutely bewildered me is that they restarted the race in exactly the same way! Stroll then went upside down not long after.

I know it's part of the attraction that everyone goes fast into that first corner, but there has to be some sort of change.

Just racing drivers doing what they do. Especially in F1 the first lap is by far the best chance of making up a few places so there's always that risk - that part is never going to change.

 

[JustJack]

What absolutely bewildered me is that they restarted the race in exactly the same way! Stroll then went upside down not long after.

I know it's part of the attraction that everyone goes fast into that first corner, but there has to be some sort of change.

Just racing drivers doing what they do. Especially in F1 the first lap is by far the best chance of making up a few places so there's always that risk - that part is never going to change.

I understand that but a rolling start, after the usual formation lap, would be better, in my opinion. Nothing changes drastically position wise, and it's much safer.

20 odd cars into the first corner is madness.

 

[MrSwerve]

Just racing drivers doing what they do. Especially in F1 the first lap is by far the best chance of making up a few places so there's always that risk - that part is never going to change.

I understand that but a rolling start, after the usual formation lap, would be better, in my opinion. Nothing changes drastically position wise, and it's much safer.

20 odd cars into the first corner is madness.

It’s even safer if they don’t start at all. Standing restarts are something that most/all of the drivers and fans wanted and that is why it was brought in. Strolls crash was absolutely nothing, these cars are easily flipped and designed to be safe in doing so.

Standing starts are the climax of the whole weekend, in a sport that is getting increasingly boring (this is coming from someone who has watched every race for the last 25 years and attended plenty of Grands Prix).

The crash looked horrendous, the fire made it look far worse than it was though. Piercing the barrier is the biggest worry. Great that he could walk away from that. Numerous accidents in years gone by where that kind of accident has decapitated the driver. The halo undoubtably saved his life, it could easily have been a Jules Bianchi kind of head wound were it not there.

The cars are simply too big and heavy with the hybrid battery systems at the moment...there’s far too much energy involved in these high speed crashes.

 

[Manselton Jack]

Just racing drivers doing what they do. Especially in F1 the first lap is by far the best chance of making up a few places so there's always that risk - that part is never going to change.

I understand that but a rolling start, after the usual formation lap, would be better, in my opinion. Nothing changes drastically position wise, and it's much safer.

20 odd cars into the first corner is madness.

No, rolling starts are just not F1, standing starts are part of the tradition of the sport & need to stay.
Rolling starts when it's really wet i can cope with but not otherwise and rolling starts can bring their own problems - just look at Mugello

 

[Manselton Jack]

I understand that but a rolling start, after the usual formation lap, would be better, in my opinion. Nothing changes drastically position wise, and it's much safer.

20 odd cars into the first corner is madness.

It’s even safer if they don’t start at all. Standing restarts are something that most/all of the drivers and fans wanted and that is why it was brought in. Strolls crash was absolutely nothing, these cars are easily flipped and designed to be safe in doing so.

Standing starts are the climax of the whole weekend, in a sport that is getting increasingly boring (this is coming from someone who has watched every race for the last 25 years and attended plenty of Grands Prix).

The crash looked horrendous, the fire made it look far worse than it was though. Piercing the barrier is the biggest worry. Great that he could walk away from that. Numerous accidents in years gone by where that kind of accident has decapitated the driver. The halo undoubtably saved his life, it could easily have been a Jules Bianchi kind of head wound were it not there.

The cars are simply too big and heavy with the hybrid battery systems at the moment...there’s far too much energy involved in these high speed crashes.

I agree with just about all of that & that comes from someone who's marshaled at a number of Grand Prix!
Hopefully the delayed rule changes will help but as long as we've got the manufacturers pumping in loads of money we're stuck with overweight complex hybrid cars.
The halo undoubtedly saved his life so to all of us who thought it looked terrible & shouldn't be on an F1 car (like me!), we were wrong.

 

[MrSwerve]

It’s even safer if they don’t start at all. Standing restarts are something that most/all of the drivers and fans wanted and that is why it was brought in. Strolls crash was absolutely nothing, these cars are easily flipped and designed to be safe in doing so.

Standing starts are the climax of the whole weekend, in a sport that is getting increasingly boring (this is coming from someone who has watched every race for the last 25 years and attended plenty of Grands Prix).

The crash looked horrendous, the fire made it look far worse than it was though. Piercing the barrier is the biggest worry. Great that he could walk away from that. Numerous accidents in years gone by where that kind of accident has decapitated the driver. The halo undoubtably saved his life, it could easily have been a Jules Bianchi kind of head wound were it not there.

The cars are simply too big and heavy with the hybrid battery systems at the moment...there’s far too much energy involved in these high speed crashes.

I agree with just about all of that & that comes from someone who's marshaled at a number of Grand Prix!
Hopefully the delayed rule changes will help but as long as we've got the manufacturers pumping in loads of money we're stuck with overweight complex hybrid cars.
The halo undoubtedly saved his life so to all of us who thought it looked terrible & shouldn't be on an F1 car (like me!), we were wrong.

That’s awesome, thanks for giving up your time for us to have our sport!

Nice to see there are other Motorsport/F1 fans here. I have started threads in the past but they have been poorly responded to...so I haven’t bothered since! :mrgreen:

It’s a shame it takes a near-fatal crash to have a multi-pager on the topic.

 

[Dr. Winston]

I still enjoy watching the sport but they do need to cut budgets and/or allow teams a bit more technical freedom. If you only allow a narrow set of regs then teams with a bigger budget can go all in to max those out and force smaller teams down the field. If one of the back marking outfits came out with something like the Brawn double diffuser now it'd probably get banned before the season started.

Maybe a package of options. Spend what you want but only within a narrow spec. Have a lower budget but be free to be more innovative. We need to get back to a situation where the big car companies can showcase their tech, but a privateer team like Williams can also compete at the front.

 

[exiledclaseboy]

Good to see that something finally made Formula One interesting for a few minutes at least.

 

[Darran]

Good to see that something finally made Formula One interesting for a few minutes at least.

Innit? Jobbie would race em all now he’s passed his test. :lol:

 

[Manselton Jack]

I agree with just about all of that & that comes from someone who's marshaled at a number of Grand Prix!
Hopefully the delayed rule changes will help but as long as we've got the manufacturers pumping in loads of money we're stuck with overweight complex hybrid cars.
The halo undoubtedly saved his life so to all of us who thought it looked terrible & shouldn't be on an F1 car (like me!), we were wrong.

That’s awesome, thanks for giving up your time for us to have our sport!

Nice to see there are other Motorsport/F1 fans here. I have started threads in the past but they have been poorly responded to...so I haven’t bothered since! :mrgreen:

It’s a shame it takes a near-fatal crash to have a multi-pager on the topic.

Yeah, in general there's a limited crossover of fans between football & motorsport, no idea why because I love both!
If I could afford to race I would but marshaling is the next best thing.
Last GP I did was Silverstone 2019, didn't volunteer this year because the original date coincided with my daughters intended (now rearranged!) wedding.
I've volunteered for next year so just hope things are more 'normal'

 

[Darran]

That’s awesome, thanks for giving up your time for us to have our sport!

Nice to see there are other Motorsport/F1 fans here. I have started threads in the past but they have been poorly responded to...so I haven’t bothered since! :mrgreen:

It’s a shame it takes a near-fatal crash to have a multi-pager on the topic.

Yeah, in general there's a limited crossover of fans between football & motorsport, no idea why because I love both!
If I could afford to race I would but marshaling is the next best thing.
Last GP I did was Silverstone 2019, didn't volunteer this year because the original date coincided with my daughters intended (now rearranged!) wedding.
I've volunteered for next year so just hope things are more 'normal'

Was Brian Johnson there?

 

[Manselton Jack]

Yeah, in general there's a limited crossover of fans between football & motorsport, no idea why because I love both!
If I could afford to race I would but marshaling is the next best thing.
Last GP I did was Silverstone 2019, didn't volunteer this year because the original date coincided with my daughters intended (now rearranged!) wedding.
I've volunteered for next year so just hope things are more 'normal'

Was Brian Johnson there?

Spectating? Probably, difficult to tell in a crowd of 130K !
I've marshaled a few meetings when he's been racing, last time was Castle Combe when he was racing a Mini, Chris Rea was driving in the same race

 

[MrSwerve]

That’s awesome, thanks for giving up your time for us to have our sport!

Nice to see there are other Motorsport/F1 fans here. I have started threads in the past but they have been poorly responded to...so I haven’t bothered since! :mrgreen:

It’s a shame it takes a near-fatal crash to have a multi-pager on the topic.

Yeah, in general there's a limited crossover of fans between football & motorsport, no idea why because I love both!
If I could afford to race I would but marshaling is the next best thing.
Last GP I did was Silverstone 2019, didn't volunteer this year because the original date coincided with my daughters intended (now rearranged!) wedding.
I've volunteered for next year so just hope things are more 'normal'

Hope you get the gig!

Yeah, it’s really strange in terms of people liking motorsports and football. I barely know of anyone who likes both.

 

[Manselton Jack]

Yeah, in general there's a limited crossover of fans between football & motorsport, no idea why because I love both!
If I could afford to race I would but marshaling is the next best thing.
Last GP I did was Silverstone 2019, didn't volunteer this year because the original date coincided with my daughters intended (now rearranged!) wedding.
I've volunteered for next year so just hope things are more 'normal'

Hope you get the gig!

Yeah, it’s really strange in terms of people liking motorsports and football. I barely know of anyone who likes both.

Should do, it's always oversubscribed but I've always got in as a flag marshal.
One of the lads who does Pembrey is a Cardiff season ticket holder (nobody's perfect) & the bloke in the East stand sitting next to me used to run a Ford Mustang in sprints so there's a few of us

 

[Darran]

Was Brian Johnson there?

Spectating? Probably, difficult to tell in a crowd of 130K !
I've marshaled a few meetings when he's been racing, last time was Castle Combe when he was racing a Mini, Chris Rea was driving in the same race

Fantastic.
Funnily enough it was 9 years ago today that I gave a bottle of whisky to Robin Zander which he took back home to Florida and shared with Brian Johnson.