Monday 23rd February 2015

Motorsport on Monday: 23/02/2015

F1 testing continues, and fears for the safety of rally spectators

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F1 testing wasn't always this high profile. In the olden days, teams would camp out at Silverstone for a few days and quietly pile on the miles, with drivers standing around in makeshift tents in between wearing huge overcoats looking chilled to the bone and longing to be back in Monaco.

Ferrari's prospects are looking up for 2015

Breakdowns were frequent, problems innumerate and, despite probably thousands of miles clocked up, the cars still rarely worked quite as they should have done by the time everyone decamped at the first race. Not so these days, though. Today, testing is strictly limited to 12 official days, so teams can't just throw money at running round deserted circuits for lap after lap. With fiendishly complicated systems to get their heads around, they have to run strictly regimented and fully planned test programmes, where almost every lap is driven according to an outcomes-led itinerary.

When it all goes to plan, like it is for Mercedes-AMG and, it seems, the Scuderia, you quietly get on with your business and intimidate the other teams, whose faces drop throughout the day as they realise just what you're doing. When it doesn't, as it isn't for McLaren, you have a few headaches.

A few very public headaches: because testing is now so concentrated, and because there remains a thirst for all things Formula 1, any stumble is leapt upon and instantly broadcast to the world. For day after testing day, McLaren barely completed a few laps: cue breathless 'McLAREN CRISIS' headlines. Over the weekend, Fernando Alonso suffered a fairly heavy off and, because it was severe enough to exceed a pre-determined level of G, a mandatory hospital visit was necessary.

More woe for McLaren-Honda

Enter paparazzi shots of him being loaded onto a helicopter behind sheets, and a whole load of extra headaches for McLaren (not least its ongoing search for new sponsors to fill the 2015 car's bodywork real estate). Chilling news stories of Alonso being helicoptered to hospital after a testing crash, such as that reported on 6Music when I got back in the car after lunch yesterday, are not ideal - yet avoidable.

There will be problems in testing, there will be offs and accidents - but teams almost seem surprised and irritated by the coverage, rather than embracing and explaining what's happening. Even McLaren-Honda racing director Eric Boullier seemed taken aback. "Inevitably, some media reports have sought to exaggerate the severity of the incident - it was just a normal testing accident," he said.

Do spectator attitudes need to change?

It's been criticised by some, but Lotus F1's innovative approach to social media, where plentiful info is tweeted in a cheery, jokey way, could teach others a lot. Open the doors a bit more, let down your guard, be less corporate and, who knows, those plunging TV viewing numbers might just be arrested.

WRC+: a plus
Thanks to all the PHers who steered me to the WRC+ app last week, in answer to my question about how to watch this interesting yet underrepresented sport. Once I'd got my head around the fact I had to pay for the best bits, I signed up, and am already enjoying what I was searching for last weekend. Best of all, a current deal means I've got a year's access for just £30. Given the amount of coverage it offers - and comparing it to the price of a live Premiership match - that seems pretty good value to me.

Safety report findings now being implemented

"Idiotic spectators"
I, and all other race licence holders, received an interesting email from the MSA last week: an open letter from MSA chief exec Rob Jones asking rallying spectators to not be so stupid. Spectator deaths on the 2013 Snowman and 2014 Jim Clark Rally led the Scottish Government to review safety on stage rallies; the report was published last month and the MSA is now working on implementing the findings.

But, said Jones, spectators are "ultimately responsible for their own personal safety. I am astonished and dismayed than an irresponsible minority... continue to display a wanton disregard for their own personal well-being". Apparently, YouTube clips and an image in Motorsport News from the Wyedean Forest Rally - of spectators lying on the ground next to the stage taking images - inspired Jones to speak out.

"Unless these few idiotic spectators concerned change their attitude immediately and behave responsibly, there will be no future for stage rallying in the UK. I am not talking about next year, or the year after; I am talking about right now." We have been warned.

[Images: LAT]

[RyanTank]

Discussion on the letter from the MSA has already started here - http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

and for those wanting to read the MSA letter a link is here - https://www.msauk.org/assets/stagerallysafetylette...

[richardaucock]

RyanTank said:

Discussion on the letter from the MSA has already started here - http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

and for those wanting to read the MSA letter a link is here - https://www.msauk.org/assets/stagerallysafetylette...

Thanks for the link, Ryan - as a marshall, it sounds like you see plenty of idiocy (and are perhaps on the receiving end of some sniping at times...). Hope the MSA letter makes 'em think.