It’s Formula 1, not a demolition derby.
In name only (my opinion). I really miss the ‘glory days’ of unlimited budgets, unlimited designs (remember the crazy shit they came up with? Six wheels, fans that would suck the car down on the track, sliding skirts). Every team had some kind of wild shit, and none of the cars looked alike. Tire Wars, refueling. Massive attrition and totally unpredictable. A lot more entertaining in my book.
But, hey. Nothing is as good as it used to be.
One of the most extreme examples of those days was the BMW “quali engines” of the turbo era in the mid 80’s.
A piddly little 1500cc engine that put out an estimated 1500bhp in maximum boost qualifying mode. It could last, realistically, for one lap before a re-build.
Like the group B insanity of rallying (which I was privileged and petrified to see at close quarters) it was never going to be sustainable but it was fascinating to see.
I’ve got a BMW e10 with that M10 engine those were based on. I’d love to wedge one, de-tuned to a mere, say 500 hp, into that beast.
Then promptly kill myself in it.
I mean, both the fan car and the Tyrell six-wheeler were banned after like one race.
The fan car was banned after one race. The 6 wheeler did something like 2 full seasons but just wasn’t any good.
The fan car was never technically banned. Bernie Eccleston (who was team principal of Brabham at the time) withdrew it in order to curry favor with the other teams during the early years of his power grab to take over all of F1. Or something like that…I’ll have to find a link to refresh my memory.
And the Tyrrell P34 ran for two full seasons. At some point after that, F1 rules were changed to only allow cars with four wheels. I’ve read about other teams that had six-wheel designs in development, but I don’t think any of them raced.
Ok, I stand corrected. Fan car was indeed banned, but for mostly political reasons.
Hold on now…
" The P34’s golden moment came in the Swedish Grand Prix. Scheckter and Depailler finished first and second…"
While it only scored one win, it did manage 14 podiums. Something many, many cars never have/will.
The concept was later banned for “movable aerodynamic devices”, but the car was withdrawn after its only race by Ecclestone, so the car itself was never banned.
Its failure was a refusal by Goodyear to further develop the 10-inch tires. The car and the concept were sound, and competitive, even with inferior front tires.
Then cars with more than 4 wheels were banned, mostly because March and Ferrari wanted to drive 4 wheels instead of using them for steering and reducing frontal area, and that wouldn’t do. Can you imagine 4 drive wheels putting power down? If they had made that work they’d have never lost.
Ironically, the 6-wheel March had all six wheels the same size. If that design had caught on, the tire manufacturers could have focused all their effort on a single tire.
I don’t feel like I’ve been a fan long enough to start the conversation about this season/first race of the season!
I’ve been saying for a couple years to whomever would listen: Any single weekend of F1 has more sporting drama than any month of baseball, or even any season of American football possibly excluding the playoffs. I certainly enjoyed the race this morning (evening, whatever) more than I enjoyed the Super Bowl. The Ferrari finish, Magnussen, Zhou, and Bottas’ drives and finishes, whatever is going on with with Red Bull power unit…
Also, after being really stoked for the Netflix show, I was really disappointed. There were so many things from last season I wish they had time (or chose) to cover. All in all it was a pretty flat season of the show as far I I’m concerned.
FYI, we’re over here now:
I’m only a couple of episodes in but yeah it’s a real bore. WAY too many long monologues about how important the season is, this may be the season, driver X has everything to prove etc… it’s like watching an hour long post-game interview from any American sport. Lots of platitudes and generic shit.
It’s a shame because the actual season ends in a very dramatic fashion so hopefully the last episode lives up to it.
Whew, glad Mick was ok. What a big crash. Saudi Arabia seems needlessly dangerous.
It does. Especially with missle attacks nearby! What an exciting track otherwise.
Glad I’m not the only one who missed the transition! For anyone else to happens along, there is a separate F1 2022 thread.