I can appreciate a bit of tyre saving, but like hamilton said on the radio, ''i can't go any slower'' and u could clearly see it on all onboard shots drivers going extremely slow in the corners it is just going too far at the moment.
And what is interesting about artofficial DRS overtakes where the pass is done even before getting at the braking point?
Probably nothing, but Alonso's car is undergoing another 'deflection test' which would indicate it failed the first time around, according the BBC's Gary Anderson, hope not though - would be a shame for Alonso to win a home victory.
Hamilton has a qualifying car, watch someone who doesn't have, he won't struggle with tires.
DRS overtakes are perfectly placed. As already mentioned before those who get past before the braking point are those who passed a driver who is way off the pace. If you're two seconds slower than me, it's not really interesting to battle with you. If you're let's say 0.5sec slower, then it's more interesting and overtake is done in the braking zone and in cornering! That's why I approve this DRS.
Yes you get those, and too much at some circuits with really long straights, but what DRS gave us today was the chance for Kimi to attack Vettel when in the past he would probably never have gotten close enough. It's swings and roundabouts.
Yes you lose the battles between cars that are perhaps 2 seconds or more off each others pace (one car catching another at 2 seconds per lap). The gap closes and they DRS past with no hope for the slower driver to defend, but only because their outright speed advantage at that point negates a lot of the performance loss in the "dirty air" so they don't fall back once they get close.
When the cars are closer on laptime, like less than a second apart, DRS is the only way you'll get the chasing driver close enough to threaten a pass at most circuits, unless the car in front makes a serious error, which doesn't happen.
Too often this season DRS has been too effective, but at Barcelona it was pretty much spot on imho.
And race wasnt that interesting, as mentioned before the drivers were too busy watching their tyres. But was just a bit much this race, like Pirelli said they will work on it for the future races, its still better than Bridgestones in 2010 as a spectacle imo.
Really bored of these tyres now, and the DRS and the KERS, but mainly the tyres. The drivers rarely even defend any more because they know it's pointless, they just wait until they have more grip than the other guy at another stage in the race and breeze back past with the gimmicks switched on.
Nice to see Alonso get a home win but it wasn't an exciting race.
So when did racing stop being about driving what you got to its limit and judging the risk vs reward?
If you want to go flat out for 100% of the race but your tyres only last 8 laps, then I guess you'll just need to pit for fresh tyres every 8 laps then! The tyres are the same for everyone, so it's up to the teams to utilize them the most efficient and fast way.
The "what you got" used to be your car and your ability to drive flat out. Now "what you got" is the thinnest tyre operating window any racing series has ever seen.
Working within that is not only boring for the drivers it's completely random given the sunday track conditions cannot be accurately predicted until your're in it.
The "I cannot go any slower" totally showed how ridiculous the situation has become. Drivers must be so ****ing sick of those tyres..Flat out? 8 laps ? LOL. If the boys would drive flat out like they should the tyres would go out their operating window in half a lap and never come back.
Yes Deko it's always been about managing the tyres, but nowdays it's only about managing the tyres and strategy.
The thing that bugs me is the fact people at certain parts of the race drive the car at 80 % of it's limit. In the past u had the men seperating from the boys by going full trottle into a challenging corner, nowdays it's the one that saves his tyres best and has the best strategy that wins. I prefer the first.
Back in the day reliability was very very bad, pushing a car to the limits often meant breaking it.
People have lost sight of things I think, racing is about preservation, a race in itself is a strategy, do you see marathon runners going flat out from the start line to the finish?
I find it quite shocking that people think other than qualifying that drivers just went lights to flag just goin' balls to the wall. It's never been that and never will be.
Exactly why I'm looking forward to new engined from next year. Those things will need good amount of years to become all competitive and as much more to become bulletproof.
Don't Compare Reliability to this Tyre nonsense, those times at least the drivers where not driving around the track at 50% to make sure there engines didn't blow.
I would rather see reliability problems then this garbage because at least you knew at those times Technology was being pushed to its limit, it also added loads of Emotions when you saw random failures, this just makes you frustrated.
No series races with Tyres this garbage, and from a Driver point of view its probably 10 times more boring, i would expect this being LFS forum, people could relate to the drivers view.
When Will Buxton was doing his pre race grid walk he talked to Webber and he actually seemed pretty pissed about the whole tyre thing. I'd imagine it's frustrating for the drivers because it really takes things out of their hands. It's not about how fast you can run anymore, but rather whether or not your team can set up a car to save the tyres.
edit: Who knows though, maybe Ferrari's balls to the wall idea today will be adopted by other teams and things will be more interesting.
You're missing the point. Driving at 9/10 is garenteed to get you to the finish.
It's still about being the fastest driver. It just means that by being fastest you actually reserve some of your 1lap pace over the course of a race so you don't spend 60% of the laps in the pits. The best driver/team still comes out on top.
You are clueless...if you want preservation there's something called endurance racing.
Hungary 1998 :
"It didn't work at the start and I had to push like hell when Ross decided to go for the three stops. When he told me what I had to do, I said 'thanks very much'. It was like 60 qualifying laps in all, but it worked." -Michael Schumacher
"Michael always rises to the occasion. We started the race with an open strategy, but once we were behind we had to go for the three stops. It was a gamble, but then we had nothing to lose. I told him what he had to do and it was asking a lot, but he's done it before." -Ross Brawn
some reserve?? its about crawling, the best teams will come out on top because they can crawl faster, but still your not seeing anything close to what resembles racing when they are side by side.
What your seeing is a time trial, most drivers are now told to ignore what everyone else is doing and just focus on saving tyres, its not racing as far as Im concerned.
Wasn't Bridgestones just a time trial / hotlap fest? I understand your point with the current tire completely, but the "hotlap" era was no different, just the complete other side of the spectrum. It wasn't racing either, just a "lets see how close we can stay until pit stops start happening".
I'm fine with the tires as long as its 2-3 stops per race, but I would rather suggest taking out DRS to see the overtakes be put more into the driver's hands. Will it still have points now where someone is 2 seconds off pace because their tires are 20 laps old and someone else's are 3? Of course, but at least the person with 3 would have to work for it some and not just blow by them on the straight with hardly any effort.
Yeah I understand fully durable Tyres wasn't the best scenario but there has to be a middle ground, I honestly didn't find Pirellis 2011 tyres to be that bad, they where durable for most races and would spring a few surprises here and there, but it wasn't constant Tyre saving above everything.
The Tyres should atleast have an operating window of atleast 10 laps(at an average sized track) where you can drive at or close to the limit I think, where as right now they can never be at the limit as the tyres operating window will die out instantly if they do.
But how the Tyres are now with this Tyre saving and DRS I feel like FIA is trying to insult our intelligence.
Martin Brundle was right when he said the Teams shouldn't be deciding on the spectacle because they only cater for their own interests which is winning, there has to be another way they do this.
