Unpopular Motorsport Opinions

[toastet]

For me, the biggest issue I have with regards to Abu Dhabi is Masi's interpretation of allowing SOME lapped cars to pass the SC but not others.

There isn't a trace of consistency in that ruling.

That's what bugs the hell out of me with most classes in motorsport. Race Control inconsistencies.

Still crazy that with Danny Ric - the first not beeing let passed after the SC because he was the first one behind Max after stopping for fresh softs - would've decided the championship for Lewis in the event of a DNF crash between Hamilton and Max in the last lap. Lewis would've been P10 with the single championship winning point. All just to the fact Danny Ric didn't got his lap back and would've finished P12 instead of P10 behind Max & Lewis since not beeing allowed to unlap himself. Would've loved to have seen the raging bulls in person of Marko and Horner in this absurd scenario loosing the championship due to the fact not everyone has been waved by like on every normal day

 

[Liquid]

You can understand Hamilton's frustration. He drove a class race, almost snatching victory from the jaws of defeat he was so far ahead most of the race. It didn't seem likely after the season we had had that Hamilton would sneak it at the final round but his race pace was unreal. It's a very cruel twist of fate that on-track position made pitting for fresh tyres disadvantageous. An extremely rare occurance.

Masi has a lot to answer for. Everything about the climax was absurd but nothing about it was Verstappen's fault.

 

[Pete05]

Still crazy that with Danny Ric - the first not beeing let passed after the SC because he was the first one behind Max after stopping for fresh softs - would've decided the championship for Lewis in the event of a DNF crash between Hamilton and Max in the last lap. Lewis would've been P10 with the single championship winning point. All just to the fact Danny Ric didn't got his lap back and would've finished P12 instead of P10 behind Max & Lewis since not beeing allowed to unlap himself. Would've loved to have seen the raging bulls in person of Marko and Horner in this absurd scenario loosing the championship due to the fact not everyone has been waved by like on every normal day

Little 'Jack' Horner would have cried in the corner while Marko made threats about RBR & AT leaving F1.

 

[Com Fox]

The concept of "Number 1 is reserved for the defending champion" is outdated. Especially when it seems a less people are interested in it than before and just keep their regular number. I was actually surprised Max Verstappin is gonna use it for this season

Unless you want to make it a mandatory rule, I wouldn't bother treating 1 as a special race number anymore

 

[Peter.]

But they still did put on a show. I'm sure the Bridgestone teams would have complained because they were able to compete but that 'race' just shouldn't have gone ahead. It was correct to order the Michelin teams not to race but the event should have been rescheduled or outright cancelled.

To be fair, Bridgestone were prepared for that event and Michelin weren't. They tested and leveraged data from being/owning the IndyCar tyre supplier to know the banking and asphalt of the course was rougher than usual. For the good of the sport it probably was a farce, but it wasn't Bridgestone's fault that Michelin made an unsafe tyre.

I watched a video about the NASCAR tire war between Goodyear and Hoosier, and in that there was a regulation that said each manufacturer HAD to turn up to each race with enough tyres to give to the whole grid. Why wasn't that enforced in F1, and if it was, why didn't every team get forced to run Bridgestones for the round even if it gave them no points. There were still plenty of options to getting something out of the 2005 US Grand Prix. F1 doesn't seem to like rescheduling races under any circumstances once they've been to the circuit (Spa 1985 is the only example I can think of) with Australia 2020 being the only one I can think of being outright cancelled while at the circuit.

Belgium 2021 was a farce, but it was handled much better than that Indianapolis race hands down.

Doing this is kind of expensive, though. Also, F1 cars were and still are very carefully designed with the tyres in mind. Switch and swap among just compounds of the same tyre vastly alter the performance of the cars now.

The Bridgestone and Michelin tyres were substantially different in nature, and they were literally in a tyre war, so having their rivals have an opportunity to get a hold of both tyres would undermine the competitive advantage they were striving for.

 

[WiisardNic]

The concept of "Number 1 is reserved for the defending champion" is outdated. Especially when it seems a less people are interested in it than before and just keep their regular number. I was actually surprised Max Verstappin is gonna use it for this season

Unless you want to make it a mandatory rule, I wouldn't bother treating 1 as a special race number anymore

I'd say he grew up in a time where it was that way in Formula 1, and that's been the 'dream'.

In the future, I'd expect less and less drivers to do so, just like in MotoGP and Australian Supercars

 

[Liquid]

The World Champion should always be number 1 and these personalised numbers for marketing crap are a load of gimmicky, chintzy, tacky nonsense.

 

[MaxAttack]

The World Champion should always be number 1 and these personalised numbers for marketing crap are a load of gimmicky, chintzy, tacky nonsense.

I semi-agree, I do like personal numbers even if the NBA shows us they often congregate on a popular few (repeats like 33, 44, common luckies like 11, 7, 3), I think it's a nice addition to the sport as the driver has become less and less visible in the car and they've become more impersonal as machines -

I do think every champion should take #1 tho as it would put an extra layer of prestige on it if drivers can't pass up the honour in favour of not messing with their nice PR friendly number branding.

If anything I much more dislike the trend that every driver has to have a stylised monogram of their initials as if they were some sort of racing based Victoria and Albert these days.

 

[TheCracker]

F1 race car numbers have become so invisible on the car that identification during a race is almost impossible. We're practically at the point where they've become pointless.

 

[PeterJB]

The helmet designs are also becoming way too cluttered, and way too corporate to easily distinguish. The Red Bull helmets have zero originality behind them.

 

[MIE1992]

My unpopular motorsport opinion? Whenever I hear about a neat, new race car, I always think to myself, "Could this car come to Gran Turismo?" I don't even really watch motorsport, and I don't even watch the FIAGTCs anymore. I'd much rather try participating myself, especially in Gran Turismo. There's even a notable circuit in my state, about two hours from me, where IMSA races every year - Lime Rock Park. So I'm thinking that one of these days, I'll try karting there.

Otherwise, I don't really care about some glorified trust fund babies who were lucky enough to be born into super-wealthy families, and who usually start racing well before they hit puberty. There's only one motorsports story I could find myself seriously emotionally invested in: mine.

EDIT: Here's another one. I cannot understand for the life of me why people watch oval racing. As for the Indy 500, I'd much rather they use the infield course. I get that the ovals can vary a lot in banking, and even general shape, like an actual oval versus a tri-oval, and so on. But I just can't understand why would anyone want to watch NASCAR over other American series like those from IMSA, especially with recent memes regarding the current president not exactly helping the stereotype that NASCAR fans are uneducated hicks. Oh well, at least there's Matt "Empty Box" Orr. I respect Indycar more than NASCAR - at least they go for more than just ovals all the time. I might be more inclined to watch NASCAR if they actually went back to their roots, and let the "S" actually stand for "stock," complete with homologation specials, and raced at more than just ovals. But like I said earlier in this post, that's assuming I'd be inclined to watch motorsports at all. Maybe I'd prefer it to physically attend a local race, like the IMSA round at Lime Rock.

 

[Barra333]

The concept of "Number 1 is reserved for the defending champion" is outdated. Especially when it seems a less people are interested in it than before and just keep their regular number. I was actually surprised Max Verstappin is gonna use it for this season

Unless you want to make it a mandatory rule, I wouldn't bother treating 1 as a special race number anymore

The World Champion should always be number 1 and these personalised numbers for marketing crap are a load of gimmicky, chintzy, tacky nonsense.

I'm OK with the in-between we have at the moment. I like that the drivers get to claim a number that is theirs until they retire or give it up, but I also like that there is the option for the number 1 to be used by the WDC. I certainly wouldn't want to see it used by anyone other than the WDC.

Helmet designs are a mess now, and the worst part about the halo is that the helmets are mostly obscured anyway.

 

[Veinz]

I found George Russel kind of unlikeable as the season went on last year. I hope Lewis humbles him this year.

 

[Liquid]

I found George Russel kind of unlikeable as the season went on last year. I hope Lewis humbles him this year.

Why?

 

[McLaren]

F1 race car numbers have become so invisible on the car that identification during a race is almost impossible. We're practically at the point where they've become pointless.

Halos have made it a bit harder to even tell the cars apart by the drivers' helmets & that's only if you know whose got what. Last year or so, I've basically resorted to seeing who has a black & who has yellow on their antenna/camera feed(?).

Edit* I will say it hasn't helped with some of the really weird broadcast decisions they've made by super-zooming in on cars at times.

 

[Jimlaad43]

I did some Photoshop a coupe of years ago, but I maintain the stance that Halos should be a different main colour on each car in a team by regulation. So Hamilton has a black halo and Russell has a Petronas Green halo for example at Merc this year. Then the halo becomes much more useful for driver identification than helmets alone.

 

[Liquid]

I did some Photoshop a coupe of years ago, but I maintain the stance that Halos should be a different main colour on each car in a team by regulation. So Hamilton has a black halo and Russell has a Petronas Green halo for example at Merc this year. Then the halo becomes much more useful for driver identification than helmets alone.

That would be easier than the barely identifiable T-cam.

 

[McLaren]

I did some Photoshop a coupe of years ago, but I maintain the stance that Halos should be a different main colour on each car in a team by regulation. So Hamilton has a black halo and Russell has a Petronas Green halo for example at Merc this year. Then the halo becomes much more useful for driver identification than helmets alone.

Seems like Mercedes was almost right there with your idea in 2020 when Lewis was running a purple 'ring' on the inside of his halo & Bottas had the Petronas blue on the inside of his. Could've made your suggestion a perfect reality when they made colored the top layer of their halos with the blue instead of keeping the different colors for both drivers.

I'm assuming that was down to some marketing/uniform decision, though.

 

[Barra333]

I'm assuming that was down to some marketing/uniform decision, though.

Surely the marketing folks would be OK with it if the two colours used were contrasting "on brand" colours. Such as black/light blue for Merc, orange/blue for McLaren, purple/yellow for RB etc.
I feel like the bigger hurdle is the 'same livery' rule.

 

[mwoodski]

Surely the marketing folks would be OK with it if the two colours used were contrasting "on brand" colours. Such as black/light blue for Merc, orange/blue for McLaren, purple/yellow for RB etc.
I feel like the bigger hurdle is the 'same livery' rule.

As stated before - the Mercedes' have run not exactly the same colors on both of their cars before. The 2020 season saw differing strips on the inside of the halo to differentiate the cars. IIRC they ran different color numbers as well one year.

 

[Jimlaad43]

I did it in 2018, but here's the photoshops I did

It gets the point across, with the cars being contrasting it will not take too long for fans to learn which halo is which driver.

They also need to regular that the driver's name or number should be visible on top of the halo for the T-Cam shots, because the inconsistency across the grid with this is so annoying.

 

[WiisardNic]

Surely the marketing folks would be OK with it if the two colours used were contrasting "on brand" colours. Such as black/light blue for Merc, orange/blue for McLaren, purple/yellow for RB etc.
I feel like the bigger hurdle is the 'same livery' rule.

That’s true. But even in the late 90’s/early 00’s when we saw that this rule was really enforced, teams were still able to do things like have car numbers in different colours, I think Williams at one stage even did one of the barge board sponsors in different colours across both cars, and less subliminally, Renault and McLaren replacing tobacco sponsors with the drivers name. So I don’t think the “one livery” rule would be too much of a blocker in the end

 

[TheElbows]

I'll go one further - the F1 "rule" about identical car liveries is lame and stupid. Much easier and more visually interesting to have two separate cars - similar in scheme but different. You could even require the same core sponsors if you want.

The Indy cars used to do it, and even IMSA allows the various colour BMW's, etc. It would be easy to do. Red Bull could have one car in Red Bull livery and the other in Red Bull Sugar Free livery, etc.

 

[WiisardNic]

I'll go one further - the F1 "rule" about identical car liveries is lame and stupid. Much easier and more visually interesting to have two separate cars - similar in scheme but different. You could even require the same core sponsors if you want.

The Indy cars used to do it, and even IMSA allows the various colour BMW's, etc. It would be easy to do. Red Bull could have one car in Red Bull livery and the other in Red Bull Sugar Free livery, etc.

Yes, I 100% agree with that. I loved the concept of BAR fielding "two" cars back in 1999 when I was 8. Even more so now.

 

[Jimlaad43]

Sebring should be dug up and brand new tarmac laid down on the circuit. The final corner also needs a LOT of runoff added to it.

It's a brilliant layout, but the bumps are way too big and the crashes we've seen at the final corner are just waiting for something more serious to happen there. New tarmac and get IndyCar to race there. If F1 wanted to race in Florida, a relaid Sebring would have been much more epic than the new Miami circuit.

 

[toastet]

Due to the flat approach to Sebrings last turn I would guess you could even just move the wall straight to the edge of the track alternatively. Having a little bit space and then tyre barriers is still worse than a solid wall/armco directly beside the track.
There is still the bridge to the paddock which prevent a large runoff without getting rid of it. Also same for Turn 1 and more worse Turn 3. But they would have the space to make large runoffs possible. There is just no money available for resurfaceing and buidling tunnels or new bridges I guess.
Also we will see a lot of manufacturer entered very fast prototypes from next year on which will possibly faster and heavier than Indycars at Sebring in IMSA. So not sure if runoffs are that much of a problem for Indycar. Especially seeing them on other circuits in citys without runoffs or even Laguna or Road America which all do have close hard walls.

 

[Jimlaad43]

If there was enough money in Florida to build a whole new circuit in a car park under a stadium, there is enough to move a bridge and move a wall covered in tyres back 100m with proper tarmac or gravel runoff there. It's a great, historic layout which would work for F1 and Indycar racing, so I don't see why a tarmac layer and a few barrier reconfigurations is so much of an issue if it brings buggers series' and improves a surface which became too bumpy decades ago.

 

[toastet]

I doubt it would work in F1. Already difficult to overtake in GT cars. Just like most of the other old US tracks. That is the reason F1 didn't even think about them. Tracks are amazing but even with modern safety not very suitable for F1.
Building sth new even on a parking lot is sth totally different to renovating a old circuit. Finding investors for sth new like Miami is way more easy even it would cost 3-4-5 times the money.

 

[Tired Tyres]

The diffuser is the worst thing for motor racing, and should be banned.

 

[TheCracker]

The diffuser is the worst thing for motor racing, and should be banned.

If only for it to stop being a stylistic trend on SUV bumpers.