The day F1 died (11th Update)
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| Ecclestone proposes to replace F1 with GP2 at 1/100th the cost and almost the same speed |
Further to what we reported yesterday that most GP2 cars would qualify for an F1 race now, comes a proposal from Ecclestone to replace F1 with GP2. The teams would operate at 1/100th the annual budget and be flush with 35 car fields. The races would be more competitive and the cars sound more like the old F1 cars.
Ecclestone insists the rumors he wants full control of F1 in his own hands are "nonsense". Perhaps the real plan is 'GP1'.
Told that support series GP2 is not only a vastly cheaper category, but also now with cars almost as fast as the 'green' F1, and certainly louder, Ecclestone fully agreed.
"Maybe we should turn GP2 into formula one," said Ecclestone, who already controls the GP1 trademarks. "It would certainly cost a lot less. We'd certainly have a lot more teams.
"So maybe what we're talking about is a 'super GP2'," he added.
04/07/14 And F1 cars are so slow now the top-13 GP2 qualifiers in Bahrain would have been fast enough to make the F1 race grid, meeting the 107% F1 rule. And if you take out the top two Mercedes cars (that are more dominant than Red Bull ever was) who have such a power advantage the other teams may as well stay home, 24 of 26 GP2 cars would have made the F1 grid. The day F1 died indeed!
04/07/14 Ferrari said it has received more than 50,000 replies to its online survey, claiming that 83% said that "they were unhappy with the new engine sound and speed of the cars." Guardian
Bernie Ecclestone said that the sport’s new petrol and battery power combination "has to change, even though the season is only two races old." Ecclestone: “I think we have to [change], for sure. I don’t think the way things are at the moment are acceptable to the public. People buying tickets come here and expect to see what Formula One used to be." Most F1 engineers and technical directors hail the new power packs "as the most exciting innovation in a generation." However, Ecclestone "is having none of it, particularly as the cars no longer emit the ear-shattering scream of the old V8 petrol engines, pensioned off last season, while fuel-saving strategies have become paramount during races." Ecclestone: “The engines are without doubt incredible, the amount of power they produce for the small amount of fuel, but I don’t think it is F1 business. They should do it in touring cars or something — not in F1" Sunday Times
04/03/14 Sergio Perez believes the lack of downforce in the new generation of F1 cars is having a detrimental effect on racing for both drivers and fans, F1 is just a borefest now.
Tire degradation was an issue during the race in Malaysia, while passing opportunities were at a premium, though Perez was forced to sit out after failing to emerge from the garage for the warm-up lap. Despite having a front row seat to watch the action Perez admits he was not impressed by what he saw.
"Malaysia was quite a boring race," Perez said. "F1 has changed a lot. There's less downforce in the tires, and although Pirelli is going really aggressive with the new harder tire compounds degradation is not really improving. It's because you are sliding a lot so you are degrading like it was a softer compound. The lack of downforce makes following the cars difficult. Also the lack of grip that you have on the grid is really a lot, and there's more torque. The pace that we saw compared to last year was amazing, in Malaysia it was really, really slow. The racing is more difficult these days."
"It's easier to make a mistake but it's not only that. It's the fact that you degrade the tires by sliding more, by following a car you lose a lot of downforce, so that makes things harder for us a driver to attack someone who is on a similar pace to you."
One of the most significant moments in Malaysia was Fernando Alonso using the advantage of fresh rubber and a different strategy to pass Perez's team-mate Nico Hulkenberg, something Perez believes will become a regular sight this season.
"With the lack of downforce you really need to have a different strategy to have any chance of a good move. For example, Fernando was on three stops compared to Nico's two and it was one of the few fights that we saw. We saw Williams as well on the same strategy [as McLaren] and it was more difficult for them to get past."
04/01/14 F1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone will not be surprised if Red Bull Team Owner Dietrich Mateschitz "carries out his threat to quit the sport." Mateschitz "has expressed his dissatisfaction with the way F1 appears to be going" following the fuel-flow row in Australia that resulted in Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo being disqualified and the raft of new technical rules. Money is not the issue, "it is more about fairness and politics in the sport." Mateschitz claimed there is "a clear line of acceptance from our side regarding this," but stopped short of suggesting the Court of Appeal case against Ricciardo's exclusion had crossed that line. With the introduction of the 1.6-liter V6 turbo-charged power units, "the cars have become slower and far less noisy, tarnishing the sport's appeal in the view of some observers." Mateschitz said, “Formula One should again be what it always has been — the ultimate discipline. It is not there to set new records in fuel consumption, or so you can talk at a whisper during a race and the greatest thrill is the squealing of the tires."
In London, Mark Hughes wrote negative comments made by the world champion, Sebastian Vettel, about the noise of the new hybrid F1 engines "have gone down badly with the sport’s governing body, the FIA." His comments "may have been ill-advised," given that his Red Bull team is appealing against its disqualification from second place in the Australian Grand Prix. Red Bull is scheduled to appear before the FIA appeal court on April 14 to argue that it did not break the fuel flow limit with Ricciardo's car. The FIA arranged a press conference in Malaysia "to explain the technicalities behind the subject and to state why the fuel flow regulations were, in their view, quite clear." Threatening to punish Vettel for his negative comments "could conceivably be used as leverage" by the FIA to convince his team to withdraw its appeal. Sunday Times
03/29/14
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| Bernie Ecclestone with girlfriend Fabiana Flosi |
Bernie Ecclestone said at Sepang this weekend: "Mr. Ong, the Singapore promoter, is here and he told me that if the public don't like the engines then they will definitely stop hosting the race.
"Ron Walker in Australia is not happy. The Americans are not happy. Here, they are well down on public tickets. People go to F1 races for the atmosphere and the noise. I am not happy with what we have but we have to deal with it.
"I asked Stefano Domenicali (the Ferrari team principal) if anything can be done about it. He said he would ask his engineers but it is probably too late now. I said we should get the engineers gold plated PlayStations and send them to a desert island to play with them instead of building engines that are great pieces of equipment we don't need."
03/27/14 The new F1 cars are so quiet compared to their 2.4-liter, 8-cylinder, normally aspirated predecessors that "spectators no longer need the earplugs commonly used amid the roar and scream at the pinnacle of auto racing." One visitor even likened the sound of the new engine "to that of a golf cart." This means "a business paradox" for F1. In order to attract car manufacturers and sponsors, it "has created a cleaner, more environmentally friendly engine system."
But in so doing, "it risks alienating fans attracted by the visceral excitement of racing enhanced by the heightened noise level." The move to develop clean engines was pushed through the series’ regulatory process by FIA President Jean Todt. But for F1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone, the notion of small, quiet engines "had long represented a potential nightmare." Ecclestone said after the Australian Grand Prix, "I was sorry to be proved right with what I’ve said all along. These cars don’t sound like racing cars"
For the Malaysian GP this weekend ticket sales are down by half over the corresponding week before the race last year. They have sold around 60,000 tickets through the start of the week and this is likely due the fact that the magic sound is gone from F1. The day F1 died is upon us. They came, they listened, they won't be back. Order the flowers and plan the funeral. The sport Ecclestone built into an empire has been destroyed by the mental midgets who think the paying customer wants race cars to be green and quiet. They are dead wrong and the customers have begun to pay with their feet, right out the door.
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| Vettel: F1 cars now sound like shit |
03/27/14 Having watched from trackside at the Australian Grand Prix following his early retirement, Sebastian Vettel says the current cars sound terrible.
"It is s**t," declared Vettel when asked what he thought about the noise of the V6 turbo engines.
"I was on the pitwall during the race, and it is better [quieter] than in a bar!
"I think for the fans it is not good.
"I think F1 has to be spectacular – and the sound is one of the most important things.
"I remember when, although I don't remember much because I was six years old, but we went to see the cars live in free practice in Germany, and the one thing I remember was the sound.
"[I remember] how loud the cars were, and to feel the cars through the ground as it was vibrating. It is a shame we don't have that anymore."
[Editor's Note: AR1.com has said for years that the sound of the race car is the single most element of fan excitement. It is why we denounced F1 and IndyCar's move to V6 engines. The old CART/Champ Car turbo V8s sounded awesome and the scream of an F1 engine was magic. That is all gone now, ruined by mental midgets. The 2nd most important element is the look of the car. What is that ludicrous blob of bodywork in front of the rear wheels of an IndyCar? Hideous.]
03/23/14 Red Bull Founder & Owner Dietrich Mateschitz "has joined the critics of F1's new rules and regulations," according to the SID. Mateschitz said that "F1 should again be turned into what it was: the pinnacle of motorsports." He added that F1 "is neither intended to set new gas mileage records, nor to have conversations in a whisper tone during a race." Mateschitz also thinks "it is completely preposterous that the series is almost a second slower than last year, and that the development series GP2 partially offers more motorsports and fight and almost produces similar times to F1, with only a fraction of the budget." SID
03/18/14
A sound comparison between 2013 and 2014 F1 cars on the pit straight at Albert Park as they complete the first lap. It's all downhill from here for F1. The mental midgets have out engineered themselves. They do not understand what the customer wants. They watched. They heard. They won't be back.
03/17/14 A reader writes, Dear AR1.com, If IndyCar had switched to screaming V12's as proposed on AutoRacing1.com years ago they would now be in position to replace F1 as the best racing series worldwide as race promoters yearn to get that 'scream' back. With Bernie Ecclestone on his way out F1 will be a ship without a rudder. He was vehemently opposed to keeping that signature sound. He has more intelligence than the rest of the paddock combined. F1 fans are going to stay away in droves and TV ratings will start to drop. I watched the race Sunday and won't be buying anymore F1 tickets. Being 'green' is great for passenger cars, but race fans come to be wowed, not put to sleep. Greg Daniels
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| Gone is the scream as fans scurry for the exits |
03/17/14 In Sydney, Mark Fogarty wrote it "might not have been the day" F1 died, but on Sunday at "an Australian Grand Prix that was lackluster by most measures, it began what could be a terminal illness."
The sound of the cars "was dreadful, the racing was somnolent and the spectacle completely underwhelming."
F1 authorities, along with the teams, have to "urgently address the failings of the radical new regulations that have neutered much of the cars' traditional visceral appeal."
The 57 laps of the Albert Park circuit "was the quietest F1 race in history, with the hushed drone of the new turbocharged 1.6-litre V6 engines barely troubling the noise meters." SMH
F1's new sound has "received the thumbs down from a few big names of motorsport," according to the AP. The switch to V6 turbo hybrid engines may "suit automakers, but some observers believe they've stripped away the sport's powerful sound."
During Friday's "testing sessions for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix," IndyCar driver Will Power tweeted he was "missing the scream of the old F1 cars."
IndyCar Owner and ex-Cart champion Jimmy Vasser said that the cars were "looking slow and ugly and that sound…." AP.