USGP Driver of the Day - VOTE NOW!

[John Addison]

All I know is F1 has got to do something about tires. All those guys can put on an awesome show when they get to race each other. But it only lasts a few laps cuz tires just cant take more than 3 laps fighting with each other. And so the procession ....

 

[Nick Hill]

All I know is F1 has got to do something about tires. All those guys can put on an awesome show when they get to race each other. But it only lasts a few laps cuz tires just cant take more than 3 laps fighting with each other. And so the procession ....

I don't disagree with your overall point, but I think it's much more about an overabundance of downforce than it is about the tires. Much too hard to follow someone closely (IndyCar has the same problem), so you get these silly gimmicks like DRS (and ptp in IndyCar, which I think is better than DRS but still pretty lame).

Set a maximum downforce restriction - that'll cut costs, set the engineers to work on tech with real world relevance, and improve the racing quality. Won't happen in F1 though - the big boys have too much R&D invested and, ultimately, aero is a huge factor in keeping the big boys big.

 

[formidable]

Sainz is, for me, the driver of the day.

New car, that is very different to Drive compared with Toro Rosso (more nervous), and he tested the car for a very short time.

The same for Hartley.

 

[GP20]

All I know is F1 has got to do something about tires. All those guys can put on an awesome show when they get to race each other. But it only lasts a few laps cuz tires just cant take more than 3 laps fighting with each other. And so the procession ....

Pirelli.

 

[gamer19]

It a sad fact that all people on podium this year have been from top three team.
Except that Stroll ...anomaly.
Which is almost same X-files size anomaly as that never solved Maldonado Spain victory.

 

[MoerasGrizzly]

Which is almost same X-files size anomaly as that never solved Maldonado Spain victory.

Nah, Stroll got the podium by virtue of not crashing. Maldonado...

 

[wombat999]

Verstappen obviously, brilliant race. Shame on the stewards for giving him a penalty. The whole free practice, qualifying and race, track limits were broken literally everywhere by everyone. And than THE move of the race.... Ah... who did it? That Verstappen boy? Oh, and he overtook a Ferrari? Well, let’s give him a penalty then. Inconsistent cucks...

Complete partisan rubbish!

 

[Coffer]

It a sad fact that all people on podium this year have been from top three team.
Except that Stroll ...anomaly.
Which is almost same X-files size anomaly as that never solved Maldonado Spain victory.

Biggest difference between Lance and Pastor being that, for a brief amount of time, Maldonado was absolutely incredible. Keep in mind that Senna crashed while trying to get out of Q1 while Maldonado put the car in 2nd and inherited pole when Hamilton was penalized. At least with Alonso you have the excuse of him being the only one getting upgrades for a long time that season starting from that very race, but Maldonado just utterly trounced Senna with an equal car and convincingly outdrove Alonso.

Stroll, on the other hand, mostly just cruised home. Yes, his pace was actually great for once compared to his previous races, but Massa would've won without his car failure. Unlike Spain 2012, Lance was also mostly up there because the race was a crazy mess and the track was good for the car, not so much through his own efforts like Maldonado.

And no, I don't find the podium stat to be sad in any way. It's not their fault that the other teams don't have anywhere near as much funding and thus can't compete.

 

[apex11]

I thought Kvyat had a good drive today, But sadly its too tale for him to be doing that now. He should have been driving like that all season. I think with SMP doing a full LMP1 effort next season as a privateer there is a home for him there... Although the Torpedo will have a lot more targets with the slower classes being involved too

Head says Max, but to be honest for me it was a toss up between the aforementioned Red Bull man and both Sainz and Hartley. Both "rookies" did a wonderful job considering the circumstances, but I've gone for Hartley due to the sheer lack of prep the boy had. Sterling job.

Remember seeing him all the way back in F3 and hair aside, the bloke has star quality. Would love to see him full time next season alongside Gasly, with Kvyat going where he deserves to be, some kind of Russian Lada championship...

Kyvatt 9th in debut, Hartley bumbled around at the back. Why do you dislike Kyvatt so much?
I'd expect ANY pro driver to get into a current F1 car and at least be able to bumble around at the back...in fact i'd expect any driver to be able to do that...

 

[apex11]

I really like Palmer, he seems to be a nice guy (which is not so common amongst F1 drivers) but Sainz showed us today what Renault can achieve when they have a qualified man behind the wheel.

I agree as Sainz is a better driver than Palmer but Palmer has had a 6th this year..

 

[Wise Man]

Very, very, very, very, very... asoasf Verstappen in any given perspective. Anyone disagreeing is either blind, a Verstappen hater or has never performed in any kind of sports competition ever. Going up so many places is what racing is all about. If he cut the corner or not, is only a matter of fourth or third. But what he did the whole race is just genious and exactly what motorsport fascination should be all about. Nikki himself, the god of F1 was utterly annoyed how stupid the stewards decided. Who the hell here thinks he knows better than him???

 

[apex11]

Nobody's really worthy of the vote, as they all performed within the limits of their respective cars. For pure skill, this was probably one of the worst races of the season. With the engine upgrade and the oil burning ban, Red Bull have a convincingly better car than Ferrari now, so even Verstappen himself is nothing to write home about as he was outperformed by Vettel.

Speaking of Verstappen, corner cutting is corner cutting. The very fact that people consider it to be a sign of brilliance is a tell-tale sign that this sport is going down the drain. At this rate it won't be long before the sport no longer features the best drivers in the world, but rather the best corner cutters and car hitters who drive to within 95% of their car's specification and nothing more.


There's nothing inconsistent about it - the only other car who cut that specific corner even once the whole weekend was Sainz, and he backed out of it and didn't overtake Ocon when it happened.

Track extending on lap 1 to gain no advantage whatsoever and corner cutting on the final lap to gain a full position are also worlds apart, as shown in the rules.

Lauda's also gone senile. Sad to see, but not the first such case, considering how much of an egotistic forgetful idiot Stewart is these days.

Absolutely spot on. Driver fanboys will hate you, but spot on...

 

[gamer19]

Biggest difference between Lance and Pastor being that, for a brief amount of time, Maldonado was absolutely incredible. Keep in mind that Senna crashed while trying to get out of Q1 while Maldonado put the car in 2nd and inherited pole when Hamilton was penalized. At least with Alonso you have the excuse of him being the only one getting upgrades for a long time that season starting from that very race, but Maldonado just utterly trounced Senna with an equal car and convincingly outdrove Alonso...

Why are you keep saying "Senna" !?

I really like Palmer, he seems to be a nice guy (which is not so common amongst F1 drivers) but Sainz showed us today what Renault can achieve when they have a qualified man behind the wheel.

Same here... I really like him. He's something like Hulkenberg. Only nicest.
Like Hulk on well mannered steroids, sort of.
But sadly seems like a time of good guys has pass...

 

[Coffer]

Why are you keep saying "Senna" !?

Because Pastor's teammate that year was Bruno Senna...? I know he was terrible and completely forgettable, but damn.

 

[ears]

I wondered if there'd be some kind of outcry in this thread about Verstappen's penalty, for overtaking outside the track limits.

But I thought 'no, because this is RaceDepartment, where a lot of the forum chat is about the club racing and leagues, where one of the most fundamental rules is around obeying track limits in the interests of fairness to all drivers.

I thought that, on this site at least, all the partisan Verstappen fans would understand that a move like that simply isn't legal and attempting to compare it to drivers running wide on the exit of a corner when they're not overtaking anyone is futile.

That's what I thought, anyway. Looks like I was wrong.

 

[Coffer]

I wondered if there'd be some kind of outcry in this thread about Verstappen's penalty, for overtaking outside the track limits.

But I thought 'no, because this is RaceDepartment, where a lot of the forum chat is about the club racing and leagues, where one of the most fundamental rules is around obeying track limits in the interests of fairness to all drivers.

I thought that, on this site at least, all the partisan Verstappen fans would understand that a move like that simply isn't legal and attempting to compare it to drivers running wide on the exit of a corner when they're not overtaking anyone is futile.

That's what I thought, anyway. Looks like I was wrong.

I just looked up a bit more information from before the race. Apparently Whiting confirmed that if you were to track extend in several places on the track, you would not be deemed as having gained an advantage. Those places just so happen to be turns 1 and 19, where the vast majority of drivers track-extended. He also said that you would only be deemed to have gained an advantage if 1. you gained an unfair amount of pace, or 2. you performed an overtake as a result of your move.

Unfortunately, the "fans" don't seem to have gotten the memo, even though it should have been obvious from the get-go that there is no significant time to be gained in the other corners. There's no inconsistency. There is only one other case that was in any way comparable, and that is Sainz cutting the same corner while behind an FI.

Sainz lifted and backed out of the move.

That's all that needs to be said.

For your sake, I think you'd also do well to avoid trusting the racing skills of a lot of people on here.

 

[ears]

I just looked up a bit more information from before the race. Apparently Whiting confirmed that if you were to track extend in several places on the track, you would not be deemed as having gained an advantage. Those places just so happen to be turns 1 and 19, where the vast majority of drivers track-extended. He also said that you would only be deemed to have gained an advantage if 1. you gained an unfair amount of pace, or 2. you performed an overtake as a result of your move.
.

Please could you provide a link?

 

[Coffer]

Please could you provide a link?

It was a quote on reddit that provided some sources. I can't access it now as it's blocked at work.

EDIT: Found a Sky link.

 

[Patrick van der Meulen]

I see some pretty wild interpretation of the rules. But the rules are pretty clear. It applies always. From the beginning of a race weekend till the end. And it doesn't make a single difference if it is in an overtake of qualifying or whatever.

This is what 2017 (april 30th 2017 to be exact) FIA F1 regulations says:

27.3 Drivers must make every reasonable effort to use the track at all times and may not deliberately leave the track without a justifiable reason.

Drivers will be judged to have left the track if no part of the car remains in contact with it and, for the avoidance of doubt, any white lines defining the track edges are considered to be part of the track but the kerbs are not.

Should a car leave the track the driver may re-join, however, this may only be done when it is safe to do so and without gaining any lasting advantage. At the absolute discretion of the race director a driver may be given the opportunity to give back the whole of any advantage he gained by leaving the track.

Either you enforce the rules, or you don't. You can't partially enforce them. And imho that's exactly what they did this weekend.

And guys... For real... Let's just have a fair and worthy discussion and don't ridicule each other for having an opinion you don't agree with.

 

[Coffer]

I see some pretty wild interpretation of the rules. But the rules are pretty clear. It applies always. From the beginning of a race weekend till the end. And it doesn't make a single difference if it is in an overtake of qualifying or whatever.

This is what 2017 (april 30th 2017 to be exact) FIA F1 regulations says:

Either you enforce the rules, or you don't. You can't partially enforce them. And imho that's exactly what they did this weekend.

And guys... For real... Let's just have a fair and worthy discussion and don't ridicule each other for having an opinion you don't agree with.

Once again, you fail to grasp the difference between an opinion and being factually inaccurate. The race director flat-out said before the race that track extending would be okay there, so the rule does not apply to any of the incidents where a driver briefly track extended. Yes, you absolutely can partially enforce them, as all the drivers were informed of this before the race. There's a significant difference between track extending with no advantage gained (Vettel being hit by Hamilton and thus having his exit compromised on turn 1, Bottas being repeatedly pushed off and hit by the idiotic Red Bull drivers) and cutting a corner to gain a position where there is otherwise no space (Verstappen on Raikkonen). Mindlessly quoting a rule that is always overridden by Charlie Whiting and whoever else is in charge on a particular race weekend, with the drivers being informed beforehand, is not going to get you anywhere.

And no, if the fans don't get that, it's their problem. The sport doesn't need to be more casualized than it already is. Hell, that's why we have all these new Dutch fans who speak before they think.