Eric Boullier questions Red Bull radio transmissions

[Maximiliano]

deleted

 

[Ken Hughes]

I have been an F1 fan since the days when James Hunt was battling Niki Lauda around the tracks. Races then were exciting, dangerous, unfortunately, but exciting. Then came the period where McLaren and Williams were the dominant teams. I used to think you could put a trained monkey in a Williams or McLaren and it would bring it home on the podium. Then Williams hired Heinz Harold Frentzen and proved me wrong.

We've seen advances in race car technology translate into our every-day road vehicles. ABS, traction control, computer controlled engines - yet the cars that developed these, for want of a better word, "safety" systems, aren't allowed to use them. The only change I agree with is the banning of launch control - if you can't move off when the lights go out, get out of the sport.

It seems that the FIA has gone power crazy - aided and abetted by the poison dwarf. Double points in the last race! Why? Abu Dhabi can buy the last race of the season! Why? You can only have x litres of fuel, fair enough, but you can only burn a maximum amount of y litres per hour! Why? If I want to burn a large amount of fuel in the early stages of the race, and lean the engine out towards the end, why shouldn't I? If I get it wrong, I'm out of fuel and out of the race.

The FIA should stick to safety regulations and ensuring the cars are built to the same standards. Forcing teams to use tyres that are not suitable for the track (softs in Singapore, for example, when super-softs were obviously ideal) is ridiculous. If the FIA wants to give teams an opportunity to mess up by having an enforced pit stop, fine. But just say, "you have to have at least one tyre change, we don't care which tyres you use" - I can't think of any track where you could none-stop a race.

Between the FIA and Ecclestone, the sport is going downhill faster than Max Chilton on a good day. Oh yes - let's get rid of "Pay To Drive" drivers too. If you can't afford to pay your drivers, get out of the sport.

End of rant.

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

Pay To Drive drivers are as old as the sport it self and not exclusive to F1 either. In all forms of motorsport the drivers are paying for their seats

 

[Ken Hughes]

Pay To Drive drivers are as old as the sport it self and not exclusive to F1 either. In all forms of motorsport the drivers are paying for their seats

I agree - but it doesn't make it right.

Do you remember the old guy who used to pay pre-Stoddart Minardi $1m just to drive in one race a year? Italian supermarket owner, I think he was.