Racing In 2012: Exciting Or A Lottery?

[Massa 0]

Wait... there are other forums?

Yes, there are, but lets just say my IP address is not exactly welcome at most of them.

[Rainmaster 7]

Yet you're a mod on this one, I'm not sure if that means something has gone incredibly wrong here or incredibly right.

[Quiet One 15]

Yet you're a mod on this one, I'm not sure if that means something has gone incredibly wrong here or incredibly right.

I'd give you a hint, but then my IP would not be welcome in here...

[JHS18 0]

Yet you're a mod on this one, I'm not sure if that means something has gone incredibly wrong here or incredibly right.

It's sort of like crashgate in a way isn't it? The unlikely victor through suspicious means...

I'm not sure where I'm going with that so I'll leave it there before my IP isn't welcome here either. Poor thing.

[LabradoRacer 2]

I believe it's a lottery. An exciting one, yes, but still a lottery. You could be the best driver, be a master at setting up the car to extract the maximum out of the tyres, capable of making the tyres last all day, but if the track temperatures are a little out of whack on race day, your efforts go out of the (operating) window. It doesn't make sense to me to have cars have the same set-up on qualifying & race day.

I believe Jenson Button's recent bemusings (is that a word?) does bring out the lottery-ness of this season.

[LabradoRacer 2]

What's this IP thing? Internet Porn?

[Quiet One 15]

Different constraints, and different challenges to which the drivers/teams have not yet adjusted is no lottery.

Small operating window for tires might be something better or worse, but is there and if teams/drivers cant adapt is their loss, not a random act of god. Alonso lost his battle against PM because he was too confident on his knowledge about when to attack and when to pull off while taking the best care of his car. Well, the sudden drop off of the tires caught him off guard and the hunter suddenly became the prey. There's a lesson to be learned there. If he learned it he will do better next time. If he doesn't, he will be battling against Schumi at the back.

Same goes for everybody else. Among the most needed skills this year certainly "adaptability to new conditions" should be supreme.

[AleHop 0]

I agree with 9 out of 10. ^o^

FFS!!! I have no emoticons, can't quote, let aside multiquote (would be like orgy?)!!!

[Massa 0]

Niki Lauda thinks the general public wants to see the World Champions winning.

http://www.gpupdate.net/en/f1-news/279326/lauda-hoping-for-more-f1-consistency/

I can tell him:

1) I don't.

and

2) Three World Champions have won races. Another guy who has won races in old F1 also won. I am not sure what this perceived problem of "unknown" guys winning is. The only "unknown" was Pastor Maldonado, who drives for Williams, which is a very known and popular team.

I hope the tires get even worse and the results get even weirder. I want twenty different winners and an off-season of debating whether or not Charles Pic was a worthy champion.

[dribbler 6]

DispelIing the myth that this eason is a lottery; actually beleive we can already say with confidence that there are only four drivers in contention for the title. Please feel free to remind me of this by year end. I will eat my own hands if I am wrong (thus stopping me from typing any more stupid predictions). The drivers are, Fernando, Lewis, Mark and Sebastian.

That's not a lottery, it's actually quite predictable but with the added bonus of some unpredictability through the year!

[HandyNZL 1]

I think you should also include Rosberg in that lot. I think as Merc tries to improve for Schumacher, that Rosberg will be the unintended beneficiary of a better car, and thus, continue to podium and win races, thus giving him an equal shot at the title.

I agree though that we won't see anyone in black and gold taking the gold.

[dribbler 6]

I think you should also include Rosberg in that lot. I think as Merc tries to improve for Schumacher, that Rosberg will be the unintended beneficiary of a better car, and thus, continue to podium and win races, thus giving him an equal shot at the title.

I agree though that we won't see anyone in black and gold taking the gold.

I do not believe that Mercedes will improve at the rate needed to put them ahead of the others.

[HandyNZL 1]

But do they need to? Macca seem a little, shall we say, lost...Red Bull a bit hit and miss, Ferrari is a one man band, and Lotus...well, they're just Poochie and Poochie always fades away....

[Quiet One 15]

We still haven't seen enough to make any educated guess. First races everybody was taken by surprise by the 2012 Pirellis. Lots of mistakes, most of which won't be probably repeated. Last race was Monaco, hardly and indicator for anything. Actual season starts now. The only difference is that teams will have their morals affected by what transpired in the past races. Usual candidates are all within range to take a shot at the lead. Montreal is special, but it still gives a better indication of whats to come than Monaco.

Lewis can easily become the predicted "natural candidate" for WDC in just 2 races, Jenson too. RBR is right there. the Poochies and Mercs are still in the hunt, with the usual caveats. I don't think this looks like such a weird scenario, even after all those unpredictable races the championship looks reasonable in numbers.

Of course, if Kimi keeps being disappointed because he "only" achives podiums and leaves, if Button keeps dragging his feet instead of getting up and fighting using the skills he has and the car he has. If Lewis is more interested in why people drops debris on his head and his "Lewis Brand" instead of overcoming the setbacks of his car and dragging it to victory like they must. If Macca resorts to the "headless chicken" policy a la Ferrari; if Webber keeps his momentum, if Vettel understands that by growing as a driver he is going forwards, not backwards, even when the results are not winning every race in a non-chalantly way, they can all give a shot at the WDc as was expected since the beginning.

Alonso, the Poochies and the Mercs can all be the "surprise winners" given some other factors work out for them. But even if any of them becomes the WDC it would not come as SUCH a shock.

[AleHop 0]

Having both drivers in the fight is a good sign and a big advantage. I think Vettel is 1st WDC candidate. Webber 2nd. Hamilton 3rd.

Teams and drivers are getting better with the tires and there'll be less room for surprising winners in the coming races, let aside new ones.

We'll still have some new winners to make it 8 or 9 different ones in a single season. Wow! Hamilton, Raikkonen or Grosjean are my candidates. And Schumi, he proved he still has the speed in him. He might win. It'd make 10 different winners!

The next 4 or 5 races will make things clearer. Some new names might find room in my list of candidates for the WDC but that's how I see it ATM.

[Quiet One 15]

Hamilton is definitely due a win by now. Kimi is not too far away. Grosjean is even closer, performance wise, but of course, money is usually in the ones with more experience.

[dribbler 6]

Having both drivers in the fight is a good sign and a big advantage. I think Vettel is 1st WDC candidate. Webber 2nd. Hamilton 3rd.

Teams and drivers are getting better with the tires and there'll be less room for surprising winners in the coming races, let aside new ones.

We'll still have some new winners to make it 8 or 9 different ones in a single season. Wow! Hamilton, Raikkonen or Grosjean are my candidates. And Schumi, he proved he still has the speed in him. He might win. It'd make 10 different winners!

The next 4 or 5 races will make things clearer. Some new names might find room in my list of candidates for the WDC but that's how I see it ATM.

I agree with every word.

[AleHop 0]

A new winner we have. Hamilton deserved it. A new name for my list of candidates I have. Alonso is officially fighting for the championship. Vettel is still 1st choice, Hamiton very close 2nd, Alonso a bit further down is 3rd with Webber 4th.

Let's see what happens in Valencia. A new winner is possible but unlikely.

[Argento Reloaded 1]

The main problem is cars are quite similar in performance at least in a few laps. So many teams are taking decisions "close to the edge" and you know when you´re close you cal fall down -as Ferrari today or Kimi in Spain -I guess.

[Rainmaster 7]

The championship now reads: Hamilton, Alonso, Vettel. If this season is a lottery it appears to have mysteriously favoured the three best drivers on the grid

[F1 FANatic 1]

I have to say I have not watched the last 3 races. Really no need to any more. watch quali and catch the highlights later.

I started watching Canada and at about lap 20 I thought to myself:

If only we had refuleing again and tires that were capable of being called world class. I used to love watching in the bridgestone michilen days and trying to keep track of fuel load and lap counts on tires. I used to love watching people fight 5 or 6 laps for a pass and trying at 3 different corners.

Today what do we have? We have tires that 1) are increadibly hard to understand by the teams, which just means that it is hit or miss if you can get them to work 2) that even if you understand them fully, their operating window is so small it is like trying to hit a pinhead with a darts dart at 3,000m so it is hit or miss even if you know what you are doing and 3) that fall off so quickly that if you stay out even one extra lap you might as well be driving a ford focus on track. If you look at alonso's last few laps, you could have had anybody drive the other cars on track and they would have passed him. The blind man who laped the top gear test track could have beaten Alonso in those last few laps.

And don't get me started on DRS. The dumbest invention ever. If we had had DRS in 05 and 06 we would have never had the amazing races at Imola we had those years. We would have seen Michael pass Alonso after 2 laps in 05 instead of those great last 10 laps and in 06 we would have had Alonso pass Michael in 2 laps instead of having 10 great laps at the end sitting on the edge of our seats.

[Massa 0]

Yesterday, I found myself getting excited that cars were getting close and then saying "ah he'll just wait for the DRS zone and blow by." This is the first time I've felt that way. I give Hamilton credit for at least ducking out and looking to get past Alonso twice before the DRS zone, and obviously the best car/driver won so it wasn't some weird fluke. Still, I think I've grown tired of DRS.

I always liked refueling and the tire war and everything, but I'd be fine with the current tires with or without refueling and without DRS. Great races were really great in the 2006-2008 for me, but bad ones, damn, they were really awful. So having something (the tires) helps. Having everything (tires, DRS, KERS, whatever) is too much. Even NASCAR doesn't have that many gimmicks and they crossed over from sport to TV show decades ago.

[Rainmaster 7]

DRS sometimes reminds me of Rossi's battles in MotoGP, "no, you take the corner first and lead onto the straight". I think these kind of games are quite funny, and it must be accepted that there is a strategic element to them. For every Alonso v Schumi at Imola you lose you also lose 3 awfully processional races, and gain some other good battles. Nostalgia sets in very quickly.

Races are much less processional now, strategy and tyre management play a bigger part than recent years (but have always played a big part in racing), but the result of different strategies also means putting the hammer down sometimes, rewarding pure speed (see: Hamilton this weekend). The best skill and preparation still yields the best results, that seems clear from the standings with the usual suspects all present and correct. In short: I don't see too much of a problem.

One thing I do agree is not ideal, or is at least worth discussing, is how quickly the Pirelli's drop off and to what extent.

[Massa 0]

I agree about nostalgia; as I said, the bad races were really awful, compared to bad races this year that are still watchable. 2009, 2010, and 2011 were really rough for me. I'm watching a lot more in 2012 so I'm obviously enjoying it more. I just find that for me personally, DRS has grown old, while the tires and strategies are still exciting and fun.

[Quiet One 15]

DRS at Montreal was overkill. Without it you would have probably had pretty much the same final grid, I personally dislike DRS because it improved little for the show itself (Pirelli tires are the big factor) and came with a whole bunch of incomprehensible rules about detection zones, DRS activation and such that probably scared more people away that was drawn by the few extra overtakings.

Still, it is no deal breaker for me. The season is still exciting, the good ones (car/driver) are still up in front at the end of day. It is more a matter of fine tuning than a matter of I'd rather watch badmington than this.

It will never be perfect for each one of the millions of followers. I miss refuelling and although I am slowly endearing with the show of the silly tires, I still can't feel comfortable with the conecpt itself, but it is close to satisfy most of them than to bore people to death. If I have to choose a season failing like 2012 or failing like 2004, I will always choose the former.