Was about to say similar. Not a good look for F1 is it.
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AiâŚMax is not happy. He is comparing the new F1 cars with Formula E. A lot of energy management i.s.o. racing flat out.
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Yes, we want to see the fastest drivers, not the one who can conserve fuel and tyres, and now electricity. I suspect we may see a lot drivers saying they could have gone a lot faster butâŚ.
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Couldnât agree more, whilst the new rules may provide some electrifying excitement for the commentators, I wonder how it will be for a driver who after blasting past his competitor on boost has to then watch powerless as he is re-passed by the driver who saved a spark of electricity, and for this to happen again and again and again through the field and throughout the race.
In fact I wonder if all weâre going to get is canny driving until the last corner of the last lap when drivers unleash everything into a boosted power burst in an attempt to out drag anyone close by in a run to the line.
On a positive note I suppose that we should be grateful that the drivers donât have to pit and plug in for a recharge at half distance.
Letâs get back to those lovely noisy V8âs and wailing V12âs, a choice of tyre manufacturers and no fuel restrictions, ah memories. 
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It might be, as some of you fear, but until we see the cars racing, it is all speculation. Too many variables at the moment to work out which teams and engine manufacturers will have the best package. It might be that teams that are at the front in the first races will be out-developed as the season progresses, much as we saw RB turn a poor car into a driverâs champion contender.
Then there is the Mercedes engine controversy around compression ratio and the rules stating it is measured at ambient temperature. It is alleged that the engine can increase compression ratio when at operating temp, which is not currently against the rules, instead taking advantage of a loophole in them. Ferrari, it appears, has found a way to keep the turbo spinning for the race starts, so avoiding or at least reducing turbo lag. Will this lead to a protest? And other design features will likely emerge over the season that other teams believe are against the rules.
Youâre right, it is too early and there is far too much background noise to determine where everyone is.
Loopholes and differing interpretations of the rules all part of the fun of F1 and all the teams are looking at each other wondering who has found a loophole that is better than the loophole that they have found.
I have to laugh at the drivers who with straight faces state that other teams arenât playing fair and that teams must abide by the rules, all while their other face grins broadly knowing that their team has managed to find a gap that they can exploit.
In many respects how teams interpret the rule book is what gets them to the top, its taking a design to the limit (maybe a bit beyond) to extract the most performance out of the car and put their drivers at the sharp end of the race. All of this is not new, it has been going on for decades.
Roll on Melbourne and we can all see how drivers get on with the magic buttons in race conditions.
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F1 has hardly ever been about cars racing flat out all the time. Reliability of cars in many eras meant the best drivers who were gentle on their cars managing them to the finish line could often win over the fastest who ran their cars into the ground, including tyre wear. When they decided to include a maximum fuel load and no refuelling, it wasnât unusual to see the drivers who could not control their right foot run out of fuel at the end and the guys who managed their fuel won.
They have had to manage the amount of assistance from the battery and electric motor for the last 11 years. It is just that now the contribution of the electrical side is more important being 50% of the drive train power.
New rules to the aerodynamics and powertrain is a big shakeup and it will lengthen the gap between teams for a while until development evens the field more. It has ever been thus,
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I agree but in those eras drivers could floor it for the whole lap or a series of laps, chasing down the driver in front for example, but will the new cars with their need for energy recovery during each lap allow drivers to have access to full power at all times, I donât think that they will.
Hopefully the changes this year will make the racing exciting and not processional, not long now until we start to find out.
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Sure enough, history teaches us that when there is a big shakeup in the rules one team or a couple are likely to come up with what turn out to be a big advantage at least for the first half of the season. It could take longer for the whole field to bunch up again in lap times. it took a good 6 years or so for that to begin to happen with the introduction of the rules in 2014 bringing in the V6 and electrical hybrid drive train and other aero changes.
F1 cars have had the need for energy recovery at least since 2014 but essentially since the KERS was introduced in 2009.
Much of what you say is true but this takes car management at the expense of racing to a completely new level. Interesting to hear what Alonso, MV and Hamilton have said this week.
If you asked 100 F1 fans to suggest a set of regulations I would bet that not one would come up with this nonsense. I bet a poll of drivers would be no different.
I would love to be proved wrong but I suspect the regulations and driver frustrations will be the main story this year.
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It may indeed but people forget the outcry before the 2014 changes when the V6 engines were introduced and the âsound of F1â was lost. It is also worth remembering the changes are not just powertrain but a lot of aero differences too.
Fans may not come up with âthis nonsenseâ but I rather suspect it would just be a different kind of nonsense, retrograde or stagnation.
Drivers are important and they always have to adjust to the new rules just as the engineers and designers have to. Many complained when the narrow track cars and ribbed tyres came out as it went against their driving style but they adapted. Drivers are not the be all or end all they are part of the team there are plenty of others in the wings who would love to race. Hamiltonâs comments about it being to complex for F1 fans to understand could be right but I donât think all fans understood the previous technical regulations and how much the race was regulated for energy and tyre wear either.
Drivers will complain when the changes do not suit them but they may not be completely wrong and F1 may have to adapt and simplify in coming years too. They have also done this before when trying to find optimal qualifying spectacle and experience for instance.
Due to the costs and time required we are unlikely to see major changes to the technical basis of the cars this year or potentially the next. Everyone really needs to not allow themselves to get hyped up by a sports press that need to sensationalise to get clicks we need to see what actually happens. Many people really disliked the 2014 rule changes when they came in but in the last few years they gave fans some of the closest racing seasons ever. But it took time to get there.
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If you asked 100 F1 fans to draw up the next set of regulations youâd have 100 different set of regulations.
Big engine. No electric motor. One wing at the front. One wing at the back. No winglets. There, sorted.
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Too many regs!
Max Car size (length, width, height) then do what you want!
Maybe, but you wouldnât get this one.
You might get one that is worse
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Every new rule set brings up new problems for the drivers and the team to deal with. They always have and no doubt will again with this rule set. This means I am going to reserve judgment until the racing starts, and even then, I wonât be rushing to decide.
Martin Brundle, made some interesting comments about lift and coast not being new in F1, whilst accepting it hadnât been a feature in F1 qualification until this rule set. He went on to say that back in the days of unrestricted turbos, when he was driving in F1, the qualifying engines would start the lap with up to 1300HP and lose up to 400HP by the end of the lap, plus the tyres they had then were only at their best for about half a lap. Talking about how difficult it was to manage and how Senna did it best.
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Senna was excellent at driving fast in changing conditions, be that the car or the weather and very smart. One of the greatest ever and peerless in his era for ultimate speed. However, Prost (The Professor) managed to win championships in the same era by being almost the direct opposite of Senna, calmly managing himself, his equipment and pacing his race. They were equally focused and ruthless in winning, but took different routes to do so.
Prost was very good indeed.
I remember watching many races where Prost would seemingly be going backwards as drivers went past him, only for Prost to reel them back in the second half of the race, in the latter stages he would be fighting for the lead in a car whose tyres had been nursed at the beginning leaving some life in for the end game whilst others were all but down to the canvas and struggling to stay on the black stuff.
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Indeed, showing car and race management has been a feature of F1 for a very long time.