Which is the only point I agree with you... They are using a Williams gearbox. But the rest is the same as always. It should work...
Yet it doesn´t. See my point?
Getting a car to leave the startgrid. Still, not a usual sight these days, but far from special. And the cars completed the race.
Great, they have finished a race. Last race they were not even allowed to compete. Yet they should fill up a spot in F1 anyways?
This is F1. F1-history is full of small teams trying the best they can. The history is filled with teams, hoping to get a big sponsor for just one season, to just be able to spend money that year - to show that they have potential. The history is full off small teams, with few employees, that is surprisingly good!
And where are these teams today? They are all gone because they failed because they went to F1 with less then half the money needed to actually participate in the championship.
It´s a bit like showing up to WTCC in a street car that does not work.
"well we can´t hate on them, at least they are not disrespecting anyone...."
Wrong, you don´t show up with a pajamas at a Nobel dinner. It´s just wrong. You get the funding, THEN you enter F1.
The main problem for the new, small teams are the tight regulations, the lack of cars that retire. With rules, this tight, the season is very static. It's no chance for small teams to shine in a single race the way they could before. It's much harder. And, when the field is... well... artificially thight. They look worse than they really are.
But then again, there are no chance to "do an Onyx" anymore. No more German GP 94-style. It's a hard life for the small teams. And with a red flag everytime there are any more than "inters"-weather. A Brazil 03 is gone also.
? Having tight regulations is the only way for these teams to keep up. Loosen the regs and soon we would find them 15 seconds off pace. Having stability is what they need. Virgin and Caterham have done it, HRT can´t.
3 years... Yes I think about it. 3 years was the time Honda had from 2006 to 2008, without making progress. 3 years... Ferrari... from 2010 to this year. Not exactly moving forward, are we?
Honda?
In 3 years, 88 races they took:
- 3 Victories
- 9 Podiums
- 2 Pole Positions
- 2 Fastest laps
Ferrari? You mean the team that came second in the world championship 2010?
You mean the team that came third last year?
You mean the team that just won the latest race in 2012?
Ahh that team, i´d say compared to any other team except Mclaren they are not too shabby.
Alonso is leading the championship so something they must have gotten right even in these two last races compared to the competitors.
Where are the Wins, Poles, Fastest laps, Podiums from HRT?
Minardi used 20 years. They had a place in F1, many are missing Minardi from the grid. They didn't have much progress either. Osella was in F1 for 10 years. And, I mentioned Onyx. nearly 2 years in F1. 28 DNQ/DNPQ. But, with more free regulations, cars could work very well on some tracks. With the right chassis, and engine. So, Stefan Johansson got a podium at Estoril, and even more points at Paul Ricard. In a car, that mainly, was to slow to even get out of pre-qual.
Minardi wasted money for 20 years. Why are they still not around? Because they realized they can´t afford to waste any more money.
Yea some crazy podiums and wins will happen when the universe align. That has nothing to do with regulations though.
It´s more of a circumstance-thing.
The regulations are still to this day wide open. You just have to find out the next big thing.
Red Bull´s proper diffuser blowing, Renault´s off throttle maps, Mclaren´s F-duct, Ferrari´s hole in the nosecone, Mercedes new F-duct. Red Bull´s flexing wings.
For these you need money. Not a question of tight regulations as they are open as a book even today.
My point with all this. Small teams do have a place in F1. They are often struggling. They are far behind. But still, throughout the history. Sometimes, they get a good season. Or a race. Sometimes, that season, helps them forward for more seasons. Sometimes... they just disappear after it (like Onyx). But it doesn't matter if they have one good race a year, or none. It doesn't matter if they just makes the races. They are doing the best the can, with the resources they have. There are many reasons to be in F1, but everyone is doing all they can to be better. Many are living the dream when they work in F1.
A last example of this is the old Pacific GP team. 35 employees... Yup, no more than 35 employees in a F1 team. The team principal, and team owners, slept in the office, in the driver seat of the truck, or even in portable toilets. Just because the money the team had, should be going to the cars, and that the mechanics should have some comfort at least.
It didn't work out more than two years. But these sacrifices, that determination to make it. Just to be in F1, to live the dream. That is what F1 is all about - Living the dream.
And my point is all these teams are nowhere to be seen today. If you want a good example of how to enter F1, look at Marussia or Caterham.
They have money. Because you need money. They can evolve with the sport, HRT can´t. This is why HRT will be out very soon.
Where is Pacific GP? They are gone because they could not get enough money to be in F1.
This is the fundamental problem. F1 costs money. Therefore you should actually have money if you want to stay in F1.
Don´t enter F1 if you can´t afford it, it´s simple really.
F1 is not "livin la Vida Loca" it´s a day in day out grind, if you want to be in F1 then do it properly or stay out.
This is Formula 1. Not Formula 3.
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