Irvine slams current state of 'messy' F1

[Scott Webber]

Eddie Irvine, former driver for Jordan, Ferrari and Jaguar, has slammed the current state of Formula 1, describing it as a "mess" which "doesn't make sense."

The four-time race winner was in the Monza paddock for the Italian GP and spoke to the BBC after the race, in which he took the time to share his view on KERS and DRS.

"Now you've got the dropping wing, you've got the button to push to make you go faster, so if you can't overtake with all that s**t going on it's like ... I think it's a mess," said the outspoken Northern Irishman.

"You don't know when they're on the limiter, you don't know if they've got the EPS [He means DRS], what is it, the wing drops down, the button push. It's a mess, the formula now is a mess.

source: here

 

[Gary Corby]

He's right.

 

[David O'Reilly]

I'm not sure if Eddie is looking through nostalgia tinted glasses.
I watched him race quite a few times including live at Melbourne and it was in an era where there was precious little overtaking going on.
Most of it occured during pit stops when the in/out lap and pit stop decided who would have "track position". Once you had track position that was it. The aero influence was so great that a) you needed clean air and b) you left a lot of dirty air behind you. Cars would drive up to appr 40 metres behind and sit there until the pit stops.
I'm sure part of Murray Walkers contribution was the ability to be excited when nothing was happening. "Catching one thing-passing another"-remember? Overtaking at Monaco? Never.
I switched off (regretably) when Senna and Prost won everything in the Mclaren/Hondas. Same when the Williams active suspension car won everything.
This year we have 3 teams that can win races.
There has been more overtaking this seaon than in any of the last 12 years. There has probably been more this season than the previous 5 seasons combined.
Maybe it was more exciting from where he sat but from where I sit this is the best F1 season (for racing) in around 15 years.

 

[Luke McVicar]

Its clearly changed F1 from the boredom pit stop overtaking it used to be, wither or not its actual racing is questionable, but overall i would say its a positive.

The only thing messy i find about current f1 is the Contradictory stewarding.

 

[Chris Jenkins]

Nothing messy about the racing.
Like Luke said, the only messy thing this year has been the FIA's decision-making. Both with regards to penalties and regulations.

 

[Scott Webber]

Nothing messy about the racing.
Like Luke said, the only messy thing this year has been the FIA's decision-making. Both with regards to penalties and regulations.

+2, totally agree with you, the sport is alot more entertaining and it's making the racing alot more interesting now.

 

[Mario Knezevic]

Eddie is just jealous cause they couldn't think of something like that in his time.



But seriously, no. Formula 1 is not messy. When it comes to the rules and the 'Off-throttle blown diffusers' then it is messy but other than that, no. We've seen so many overtaking due to KERS and DRS this season and it should stay. Just remember that we will get the ****ty V6 engines in 2013. I believe.



It's Eddie Irvine after all. I don't mind him speaking his mind but complaining about something always.. Nah.

 

[Chris Butcher]

They new engines were delayed until 2014. Also, the rev limit has been increased from 12,000 to 15,000rpm

 

[Xosé Estrada]

It's old man talk.

I see the teenagers of today and find them uneducated and weird

 

[Gary Corby]

I guess I must be an old man then. I can't for the life of me see how magic passing buttons and tyres that are crappy-by-design do anything other than make the race worse. An overtake that relies on either is worse than no overtake at all. Of all the recent innovations, KERS is the only one that's valid, IMHO, and this all comes down to the illusion that lots of overtaking means the cars are racing more. They're not. Overtakes are happening because current regulations nerf the cars in random ways. If you want more overtaking, remove the wings, halve the amount of fuel, allow refueling if teams want, and permit any amount of energy harvesting.

 

[Luke McVicar]

Personally a good addition would be to allow 2 defensive moves that way the slower car has a resonable chance to defend and in tern make the race a bit more action packed, Schumacher and Hamilton had an epic battle last race but if it wasn't for how the track is designed Schumacher wouldn't of been able to defend in such a way that would allow him to keep he's position, it's how it used to back in the days of senna and Prost and allowed some epic battles that can still be told of today.

 

[Chris Jenkins]

I guess I must be an old man then. I can't for the life of me see how magic passing buttons and tyres that are crappy-by-design do anything other than make the race worse. An overtake that relies on either is worse than no overtake at all. Of all the recent innovations, KERS is the only one that's valid, IMHO, and this all comes down to the illusion that lots of overtaking means the cars are racing more. They're not. Overtakes are happening because current regulations nerf the cars in random ways. If you want more overtaking, remove the wings, halve the amount of fuel, allow refueling if teams want, and permit any amount of energy harvesting.

Its serious fuzzy thinking to suggest that KERS and DRS are "magic passing buttons".
If Monza is evidence that that's not the case then I don't know what is!

 

[Lewis Goodway]

KERS and Pirelli win! DRS Lose!

 

[Michael Brown]

Maybe if they reduced the benefit of DRS it would be better. It was designed to get cars alongside each other at the end of the straight, yet for the most part the chasing car flies past the other car. We saw Schumi get second place through a corner in Montreal, but lost out on a podium due to DRS. Yet at the same time, Hamilton couldn`t get by Schumi even with DRS in Monza. I don`t think DRS is necessary for every track.

 

[Ross Balfour]

I think Irvine is just looking to hit the headlines for the first time in a while to make people not forget about him, these functions make F1 more exciting - which surely is only a good thing for the sport?

 

[ufunacaoenn]

F1 have become more exciting no dought about it. But from an F1 drivers perspective, have overtaking become to easy for F1 drivers if we compare it with last year and many many years back?

There sure is a ton of strategies that you can build with the DRS, Schumi at Monza is a great example. But you show that in general Schumi was losing time but thanks to his top speed he had a very big shield allowing him to block more attacks then usual. This was the type of racing, fights and challanges the drivers faced from one year ago and beyond when they were trying to overtake. (or at least it sure does feel like it because now as quickly as you hear "(drivers name) is on the DRS zone" you know that he will make the move stick.)

 

[Terry Rock]

The sport has lost a whole lot with some of the 'artificial' changes. I say take all the silly strakes, take KERS and DRS off the cars and put refuelling back in. Let the guys race as hard as they can without all the silly penalties for simply racing.