Alan Henry's view on where F1 should go
Discussion
As always with Alan, a well-reasoned piece. No hyperbole, no histeria...
http://www.mclaren.com/formula1/blog/alan-henry/do...
http://www.mclaren.com/formula1/blog/alan-henry/do...
This is whistling in the wind. There will be no changes until there is a change at the top, and even then there is unlikely to be any leaps in the dark.
The whole ethos of F1 is short term. F1 is up for sale and those who control it now are like an owner selling a second-hand car. It's been taken to be valeted, those dents that would cost too much to repair have been hidden and the chap is telling everyone that it is a classic and that its value will go up year on year.
There is no great plan, not even succession planning. All that is of concern is the viewing figures, and they can be glossed over with a bit of spin.
The new owners, when they eventually appear, will then have all the problems of F1 revealed and they will be hit with the dilemma of whether to do more of the same but in a different colour or to go all radical and risk everything they have invested. I have little doubt which it will be.
Would you buy a second-hand car, or business come to that, from a chap whose honesty has not so much been questioned by a judge but destroyed, and who had to pay a fortune to buy his way out of a criminal court case?
'Yeah, it's a lovely little runner,' says the ex car dealer.
The hope is that the new owners come into F1 with their eyes open. At the moment it would appear to be a buyers' market. If there was a queue of people queuing up to buy F1 then I think it would have gone a year or so ago. But it didn't. One wonders is it is over-valued in the eyes of the potential purchasers. It will take a lot of money to take over control and perhaps buy-to-rent is a better option.
The whole ethos of F1 is short term. F1 is up for sale and those who control it now are like an owner selling a second-hand car. It's been taken to be valeted, those dents that would cost too much to repair have been hidden and the chap is telling everyone that it is a classic and that its value will go up year on year.
There is no great plan, not even succession planning. All that is of concern is the viewing figures, and they can be glossed over with a bit of spin.
The new owners, when they eventually appear, will then have all the problems of F1 revealed and they will be hit with the dilemma of whether to do more of the same but in a different colour or to go all radical and risk everything they have invested. I have little doubt which it will be.
Would you buy a second-hand car, or business come to that, from a chap whose honesty has not so much been questioned by a judge but destroyed, and who had to pay a fortune to buy his way out of a criminal court case?
'Yeah, it's a lovely little runner,' says the ex car dealer.
The hope is that the new owners come into F1 with their eyes open. At the moment it would appear to be a buyers' market. If there was a queue of people queuing up to buy F1 then I think it would have gone a year or so ago. But it didn't. One wonders is it is over-valued in the eyes of the potential purchasers. It will take a lot of money to take over control and perhaps buy-to-rent is a better option.
Alan Henry said:
After all, the best races have become famous because they each have their own special unique selling point: Monaco is legendary because it’s the street race, and it carries a glitz and glamour that no race will ever equal; Singapore is the night race.....
Sorry, he lost me at stating Singapore as one of "the best races"But never mind that, what is mclarens agenda at publishing this? (It's F1, there is always an agenda).
As much as re-introducting non Championship GPs would be fun and offer up a chance to try new things, it wouldnt happen.
The calendar is already full, most of the teams broke, and CYC would think it dilutes the show.
Of course there may be arguments FOR it, such as lower grid teams selling one off drives and bigger teams trying new drivers, but I doubt the plan would get very far.
Which is a shame, because who wouldnt be interested in one off events at Imola, Kylami, Watkins Glen, Paul Ricard etc?
The calendar is already full, most of the teams broke, and CYC would think it dilutes the show.
Of course there may be arguments FOR it, such as lower grid teams selling one off drives and bigger teams trying new drivers, but I doubt the plan would get very far.
Which is a shame, because who wouldnt be interested in one off events at Imola, Kylami, Watkins Glen, Paul Ricard etc?
LaurasOtherHalf said:
Sorry, he lost me at stating Singapore as one of "the best races"
He didn't. He was pointing out it had its own little niche.Some of the ideas he notes I like. Qualifying points would be fine (especially if worked in with reversed grids
) and points for fastest lap would be good to see back.I'd be happy with split races too - why not run them alternate ways round the track.
The key thing, though, is that they need to be consistent with the application. Just dumping double points on the last race is dumb in the extreme.
What I'd really like to see is the opening up of the rule book. It's become way too restrictive.
Plus the dumbing down of circuits in the name of safety. Circuits are bland. Even the old school ones have been denuded.
Esseesse said:
I completely agree about the Prime and Option comment. I'm a fairly keen (technical) follower of F1 but cannot remember at any time what compounds the words Prime and Option are an alias for.
Its racing lingo.prime = hard
option = soft
I remember I first heard it in IndyCar tyre wars from the the mid 90s and must've spread to F1 when it eventually had a tyre war.
entropy said:
Esseesse said:
I completely agree about the Prime and Option comment. I'm a fairly keen (technical) follower of F1 but cannot remember at any time what compounds the words Prime and Option are an alias for.
Its racing lingo.prime = hard
option = soft
I remember I first heard it in IndyCar tyre wars from the the mid 90s and must've spread to F1 when it eventually had a tyre war.
It sounds like one tyre compound (prime) is the ideal tyre, and the other (option) is the less ideal one that must be used at some point anyway. For all I know at any one time the soft or the hard one could be 'prime'.
I think it would be really interesting and truly prove who is the best driver and which is the best car if something like this was done:
- The drivers we not signed to a team and drive a different car each race.
- Instead they are signed to and paid for by the Championship (FIA).
- At the start of the season drivers are allocated the car they will drive at each event, obviously at random but ensuring everyone get to drive the best & worst cars an equal number of time.
It obviously would never happen, but would certainly be very interesting on both championships!
- The drivers we not signed to a team and drive a different car each race.
- Instead they are signed to and paid for by the Championship (FIA).
- At the start of the season drivers are allocated the car they will drive at each event, obviously at random but ensuring everyone get to drive the best & worst cars an equal number of time.
It obviously would never happen, but would certainly be very interesting on both championships!
Bradgate said:
Points for pole and fastest lap are a complete no-brainer. I have never understood why they didn't do this decades ago.
Drivers did used to get a point for fastest lap, but never for pole (I think).Also, back in the days when reliability wasn't as good, only the best results counted in the drivers' championship (eg 11 out of 16 races in 1990).
Hard to tell with F1 fans, some of them would probably hate the idea of someone sewing up the championship on a Saturday because it's not pure enough. but it'd be one helluva qualifying session
I did read Henry's article but I'm bored almost to death of people who have an opinion on how to miraculously 'fix' F1. Even threads like this descend into people sprouting off about their own ideas that they imagine are foolproof. It'll only be next week before there's a new thread about some miracle idea to make it more pure and perfect.
Now someone will be along to tell me how I mustn't be a true fan because I don't foam at the mouth every time the FIA change the rules.
I did read Henry's article but I'm bored almost to death of people who have an opinion on how to miraculously 'fix' F1. Even threads like this descend into people sprouting off about their own ideas that they imagine are foolproof. It'll only be next week before there's a new thread about some miracle idea to make it more pure and perfect.
Now someone will be along to tell me how I mustn't be a true fan because I don't foam at the mouth every time the FIA change the rules.
Esseesse said:
entropy said:
Esseesse said:
I completely agree about the Prime and Option comment. I'm a fairly keen (technical) follower of F1 but cannot remember at any time what compounds the words Prime and Option are an alias for.
Its racing lingo.prime = hard
option = soft
I remember I first heard it in IndyCar tyre wars from the the mid 90s and must've spread to F1 when it eventually had a tyre war.
It sounds like one tyre compound (prime) is the ideal tyre, and the other (option) is the less ideal one that must be used at some point anyway. For all I know at any one time the soft or the hard one could be 'prime'.
Esseesse said:
I know it is, and I have probably read that before, but it's not obvious so I'll forget. This is the point... I'm interested to the point where I have read about what Mercedes have done to make a more powerful/efficient engine, I remember the flex Ferrari wings a few years ago, I remember the engine configurations over the more recent years and that Jensons dad always wore a pink shirt to races but if you ask me what is prime/option exactly I'd have to say I can't remember. Needless complexity.
It sounds like one tyre compound (prime) is the ideal tyre, and the other (option) is the less ideal one that must be used at some point anyway. For all I know at any one time the soft or the hard one could be 'prime'.
Can't say it has ever bothered me.It sounds like one tyre compound (prime) is the ideal tyre, and the other (option) is the less ideal one that must be used at some point anyway. For all I know at any one time the soft or the hard one could be 'prime'.
Geek-speak bothers me more. Its not wheelspin, its traction limited.
You don't 'out drive' the car anymore, its 'transending' the car now - another example of Mark Hughes trying to be poncey with the English language and the world of racing.
skinny said:
i'd say less mad than when we had the spectacle of a car coming in for fuel but not changing tyres, and 4 guys with pyrometers on each corner.
Or aggregate race results following a red flag eg. 1994 Japanese GP: Alesi & Mansell dogfight but technically not for position; inferior timing & scoring compared to today.zac510 said:
I did read Henry's article but I'm bored almost to death of people who have an opinion on how to miraculously 'fix' F1.
There are plenty of people who may have an opinion that I would have no time for, but Alan Henry's is not just any old opinion - in my view it comes from someone who has plenty of experience, is not stuck in a particular mindset and has the ability to talk to many in influence in the sport so may well have got some ideas from high places. He may be writing for McLaren but I don't see him as a puppet.As Derek Smith said earlier there are other things which need to change, but with pressure from the right places, not just saying it is wrong but genuine suggestions for positive change one has to hope that attention may be paid. Unfortunately I haven't heard any positive suggestions for change from the person who is most in need of making them - Bernie Ecclestone - and he has largely been negative about the sport recently.
Gaz. said:
Prime = harder tyre for the race, Option = softer tyre for the race. For the season supersoft = red, soft = yellow, medium = white and hard is orange. Which is stupid as Jam Butter Bread Knife was much easier to remember when the hards were silver instead of orange.
The Hard was changed to orange to make it easier to distinguish from the Medium on TV. And for most people in the pit lane who tended to struggle a bit sometimes.Jam, butter, bread, knife...? I see where you're coming from but, erm, wow. You can replace knife with marmalade, perhaps.
Prime and Option have always seemed fairly obvious to me. Prime is the supposed to be the solid, consistent performer, while the Option is a bit faster but a bit more risky due to wear and deg. But it would be better to call them just Hard and Soft. You could change the compounds through the year as happens currently to suit different tracks, but retain the same sidewall colour so the public doesn't get too confused: say just red and yellow. It may make production a little tricky though, as the Medium and Soft would need to be produced in separate batches with two different sidewall colours.
Non-Championship races sound like a great idea. They could potentially become more popular than 'normal' races if the rules were relaxed, eg, less intensive FIA scrutineering, drivers loaned to other teams, local teams participating, trial new ideas (DRS can be used anywhere during the race, refueling), etc, etc.
There are so many ideas that people have for F1 but no-one will try them because they may potentially favour one group of teams over another and with the pressure of the WDC and WCC, no-one will take that risk. However, with non-Championship races the pressure is off and F1 can try something different.
The calendar is already quite full so I would suggest we turn some current races into non-WDC/WCC events.
There are so many ideas that people have for F1 but no-one will try them because they may potentially favour one group of teams over another and with the pressure of the WDC and WCC, no-one will take that risk. However, with non-Championship races the pressure is off and F1 can try something different.
The calendar is already quite full so I would suggest we turn some current races into non-WDC/WCC events.
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