filed in News, Opinion on Jul.05, 2010
Next year, the brain trust over at the FIA are going to try to make all the teams use these stupid flappy rear wings which will eliminate any racing and just provide artificial overtaking in straight lines. As we have long established, this is a ridiculously bad idea for many reasons: It replaces skillful racing [...]
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filed in News on Jun.25, 2010
Yesterday, the FIA announced that in 2011 F1 cars will have adjustable rear wings so that a car within 1 second of the guy in front can run with an adjusted down force setting, giving a 10mph straight line speed boost. I trashed this new rule on several grounds: It is stupid and gimmicky It [...]
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filed in News, Opinion on Jun.25, 2010
As we all know, USF1 were meant to be this great big American F1 sensation. They were going to design and build their car in the NASCAR heart of Charlotte, NC, get established American drivers to make the switch to F1 and do it all bankrolled by YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley’s money. Well, in the [...]
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filed in News, Opinion on Jun.24, 2010
Whenever the FIA brain trust gets together to figure out how they will keep the F1 teams on their toes, I generally cower in dread just waiting for the day that they pass the rule saying that all the cars must be run off of plutonium and drivers need third eyes. They can be that [...]
filed in News, Opinion on Jun.24, 2010
I don’t like the re-introduction of the 107% rule. I think it’s unfair, counterproductive and just plain mean. Still, in the interests of fairness, I’m willing to see if it would really have affected things all that much. In 2011, any car which finishes Q1 outside 107% of the fastest time will not be allowed [...]
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filed in News, Opinion on Jun.24, 2010
There are a whole host of new rule changes coming in for 2011. Most of these are about aerodynamics (adjustable rear wings and a ban on F-Ducts) and some other random bits and bobs that I frankly couldn’t give two poops about, but one new rule really caught my eye. In 2011, the 107 percent [...]
filed in News, Opinion on Jun.02, 2010
I’m confused. I know that isn’t exactly a rare thing with me, but this time I am really utterly bamboozled. Something really, really weird is going on between Force India and Lotus and for the life of me I can’t figure it out. First, you have Force India starting legal proceedings against Lotus, Lotus’ Technical [...]
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filed in News, Opinion on May.20, 2010
Four days after the contentious decision to dock Michael Schumacher 20 seconds for his last gasp overtake of Fernando Alonso, and about four months after it should have been addressed, the FIA has finally said that it will look to make the rules governing final laps starting under safety car conditions a little bit clearer. [...]
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filed in News, Opinion on May.18, 2010
I can only think of two other times in F1 history where I can sit down and, with a clear conscience, say that Michael Schumacher is in the right and I fully agree with him. They were at Imola in 1994 when he, as nothing more than a highly rated youngster, united the grid and [...]
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filed in News, Opinion on Apr.29, 2010
In the interests of fairness here, I am indeed a smoker. I’m not one of those militant smokers who believe it is their God given right as an adult to be able to light up in bars, clubs, restaurants, theatres, cinemas, planes and your living room, but I do believe that doctors should butt out [...]