Formula One - 2016

The best way to deal with a grey area is to make it black and white

Perhaps. I would have thought it was doable, but I dunno.

Interestingly, according to James Allen:

https://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2016/07/common-sense-prevails-as-f1-abandons-complex-radio-ban-rules/

> The onus is now on the TV production team, which is controlled by F1 commercial boss Bernie Ecclestone, to avoid broadcasting messages where the engineers are coaching the drivers in how to drive, which fans dislike. That kind of message has always been part of the engineer’s job as long as radios have existed, but the messages were just not broadcast before. One leading 1990s driver told me tonight that he was ‘constantly coached’ via radio and none of that was ever shared with the public.

So the other big issue are driving limits. They have talked about them this morning- where the teams want to expand the driving limits a lot.

I hate that.

I'd rather seem them put gravel in place of the curbing, or something to slow the cars down as soon as they put a tire on it. As an autocrosser, exceeding the track limits have penalties. Plus, I don't like the idea that cars are going faster by not keeping to the track.

So we GRM'ers can creatively come up with an idea to slow the cars the cars down and not be unsafe. Some high drag material, perhaps.

I don't understand why anyone needs to come up with any solution,the track edge is defined by a white line.....going over it anywhere means you've exceeded the track limits.

Now if I could solve the real problems in the world I'd be onto something.

Put small puddles or slick material on the other side of the white line.

Not enough to wreck, enough to ruin corner exit.

AGAIN- a really fun start to the race. Some great close racing without touching.

So Nico forces another driver off the course, just like he tried to do with Hamilton. And all he came up with were excuses....

Nice to see Mercedes make a mistake and cost him a few more seconds in his pits for that penalty.

BTW, love the relaxing of the radio rules. With the way the race actually plays out, there's something interesting to listen to.

So Hamilton has some grid penalties coming up to finish the season.

Both Spa and Monza are fast tracks that allow some good passing- seems as if both of those would be good times to take the penalties. He's started from the back and finished on the podium this year already, so it's possible.

Interesting to note that most of the news about that were a month ago- and he's been able to use what he has without penalty quite effectively.

Anyway, this looks to be a really big factor in the question IF he can bring in the 3rd championship in a row.

For the rest of the grid- Haas has stayed pretty stable and not improved. Sauber has gotten worse. FI has gotten better, Williams is up and down, Renault went down and is clearly finding pace. McLaren/Honda, well- sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. They seem to be the only ones struggling with fuel consumption, so that's clearly a solvable problem that doesn't need a rule change. And most important, Ferrari has dropped behind Red Bull, one has gotten closer to Mercedes, the other has gotten farther away.

Great race all the way through. IDK about Rosberg penalty being consistent with what other drivers did today. Alonso left no room for someone and I think another pair had the same push off track need to watch replay. Maybe Rosberg went too deep before turn in compared to others.

I race in a series that has a different set of organisers/stewarts every weekend and it suffers in the same way with lack of consistency.

With all of F1's money why don't they hire a clerk/race stewart etc to bring some stability to the race incident calls?.

I found the opinions regarding Nico's move bizzare,heard it said he shouldn't have been penalized to help promote passing attempts.I can't see how having a car on the outside of you in a corner is any different then running down a straight,if you head to the edge of the track and force the other driver give way or leave the track how can that be an accepted practice in any forum of motorsport?.

I don't remember a penalty when Hamilton did it to Rosberg in Canada.

Adding to my comment above I do believe Rosberg deserved the penalty.

JimS wrote: I don't remember a penalty when Hamilton did it to Rosberg in Canada.

It seems to me Lewis actually turned the wheels in that incident

kevlarcorolla wrote:

JimS wrote: I don't remember a penalty when Hamilton did it to Rosberg in Canada.

It seems to me Lewis actually turned the wheels in that incident

Yeah Hamilton just understeered badly in T2 and T3 in Canada. As I said then if he was just pushing Nico off T2 then why give up a few seconds to the leader in T3.

Rosberg may have assumed that Verstappen would try to over under him like most tried to do. Rosberg did try from quite a ways back. Maybe part of why he went so deep. just out braked himself but after that mistake you need to leave room. It was a hail Mary pass. Sort of like Ricciardo on Vettel in Spain was it?

I think the penalty was perfect. It basically gave the place back to Verstappen, but allowed Rosberg to continue to fight. Had he been a little less aggressive, he could have passed later in the lap without forcing another driver off the track.

This is another side of the track limits being white lines, I think. If there was a concrete wall there, Rosberg probably wouldn't be so eager to push other cars into it. But all that happens to the victim is a little drive around on different colored pavement. If there were real berms and the other car took damage, either the FIA would have to penalize hard or Rosberg would meet a little "accident" whilst walking in a poorly lit area of the pits. The same thing happened in a WEC race last weekend as I noted before.

I don't think there should have been a penalty for this, if there was then there should have been other penalties for similar infractions early in the season. I don't know how many of you listen to BBC 5 Live or watch the UK Sky feed, but everyone there felt that this was a two part issue. First Max made a late move under braking which is a no no that has apparently been talked about many times in driver briefings and by the senior drivers (Button, Alonso) then Nico pushed him wide. No penalties were given for the Austria incident, so why now. I think F1 needs to get away from this guest ex-F1 driver stewards at each race couple with a couple of locals who are given the position as a jolly from the FIA and go to a constant team of three stewards who are the same from race to race and season to season.

Also no one has mentioned the fact that the stop watch broke in the Mercedes pit meaning that Nico's 5 sec hold became an 8 sec hold. If that had happened to Hammy the world would have be in uproar about the team deliberately sabotaging Hammy in favor of Nico.

In reply to Adrian_Thompson:

??? Nico did get a penalty in Austria. Didn't matter in his placement, but it was 5 seconds as well.

And I did mention Mercedes faux pas in the pits. I thought it was amusing. 9 posts above yours. IMHO, it's about time that Nico sees the same pit errors that Lewis has.

For Max to even make the corner, he would have had to driven into Nico. Is that what you think should happen if that should not have been a penalty? Curious.

In reply to Keith Tanner: The way I saw it play out is that, Max turned in early to block Nico. Nico, was pissed so he took away the apex from Max. The moral of the story is the governing body will intervene, so feel free to do double moves as long as you are not Nico. This is probably across the board for racing, but there is no etiquette in racing because you have the big Leviathan over your shoulder making decisions that effect the race and outcome. Nico wasn't stripped of any points, but Max is going to continue to do double moves and bait people into penalties. Nico was clearly faster. I always felt that Beaux Barfield, understood that, when he was in indycar and now back in IMSA.

And, on a different note, Pirelli and Ferrari have started testing the wider tires for 2017:

Man, those things are wide!!

-Rob

Nico didn't take the apex away, he forced Max off the track.

Maybe this is the beginning of legit penalties for dangerous maneuvers. It's gotta start stone time, and no matter when it does there will be complaints that it's a change. Of corse, this is a sport that reveres Senna and his deliberate destruction so it'll never go away completely.

Max is being marketed by the F1 team as the second coming, so he's going to have to hurt someone before he gets his weenie slapped.

In reply to Keith Tanner:

Maybe. They commented a lot of Nico's pole after getting a best time during a double yellow.

I think that actually could have been legit. The track was drying so fast that the rest of the lap was quicker than anyone else, and I think the telemetry shows that he did slow. But a less aggressive driver would have assumed his fast lap was over when he saw the flags.

From what I thought I heard, he was the only one who set a personal best in the sector of the double yellow.

Legit or not, it started a conversation about the issue. That's the important part.

Just like some solid discussions about driving off the track, too. (I think they need nice and furry, but sticky, carpeting- something that slows them down a lot- and I see no problem with it wearing the tires a little more)

I don't even see the hint of tracks left by nearly locked tires causing him to run straight to avoid a lockup,I heard it said that he did everything he could and that he was at full lock on the steering.

Those people fail to mention that didn't happen until he was a bus length ++ past the normal turn in though.