F1 - 2015 Season!

We must have been watching a different race as I seem to recall Hamilton leading virtually the whole race and making an inspired tactical decision that cemented his win

It all changed on lap 20 when the Mercedes strategy team pitted Hamilton enabling him to take the lead. Hardly racing.

If Hamilton is such a great racer then why didn't he pass for 20 laps when he was driving the fastest car? Is it because the cars don't allow it? Bottas was unable to pass Massa for exactly the same reason.

Except that Rosberg did manage to pass Massa later on.

Later on when the weather conditions made the Mercedes far superior car to the Williams rather than the marginal differential there was during the dry racing...

No one knows if Lewis would have passed under the same conditions as by then he was out front.

Clue was the line in the first 20 laps the Mercs were comfortably keeping up with the Williams and knew that a possibly risky pass being attempted on track could be accomplished by smart use of  tyre changing pitstops. All part of the  tactics for (this) team sport.

I agree. OK overtaking is nice but the object is to finish first by what ever methods are available, pit stops being one of these 

You have to look back at the old Formula Ford and F3  for any thing like MotoGP, it's also easier to fit a bike in a space than a car.

Many people need to understand and accept that overtaking is why most people actually watch Formula 1. It is what makes the sport exciting. One team dominating gets boring very quickly. The Williams getting a good start is the reason why we claim that Sunday's was a good race. Pit stops are forced to try and introduce excitement because if they were allowed to use one tyre that could complete a whole race a lot of us wouldn't bother watching and it actually makes it into a team sport on Sunday.

This is irrelevant and is going somewhat in a straw man direction.

Formula 1 does not need constant overtaking, but it is the incidents (overtaking, accidents, strategy calls) that we talk about at the water cooler on a Monday.

Yes and the sport understands that it is boring which is why rules are changed or clarified.

Just go back three years when seven different drivers won the first seven races. Hamilton was leading at that time with 88 points but at the same point this year he had 151. A more exciting season this year is not.

I think my baseline issue is that the technology appears to have taken over. However skilful the drivers may be, the truth is they appear to be bit parts in a computer game which is about controlling resources and strategy, largely from the pit lane. Overtaking is not the whole deal, but you do have to ask why any top flight motorsport should need a contrivance such as DRS.

For me it is an accumulation. Tyres made of cheese that you must use even if they are slower, fuel-saving strategies, DRS, over-reliance on aero vs mechanical grip so that cars cannot pass, such inequity between teams the majority of whom have no chances of any success, Boring tracks in the middle of deserts. Ugly cars that break into a shower of fragments if they brush each other. Races that are effectively over at the first corner, time after time.

OK, I'll get me coat. However remember I was maybe not a 'fan' but a keen follower of the sport. I want to like F1.

I've been following F1 since the 70s and it has for some years been the only sport I regularly watch and follow between races.  There have been scores of races down the years which have been decided by a pit stop and/or changing weather and last Sunday's GP was no different. But the way everybody is crowing you would think it's the best GP ever staged and had millions of viewers fainting with excitement.

And that's the problem. It's become like Premier League. It's now getting to the point where you can't watch a race because the director is doing pan and sweep shots of the circut and the surroundings. It started in Singapore and now everyone's at it. I think I'll just be reading about it in the near future. Pulling weeds in the garden is getting more appealing.

Another aspect of the sport which also fascinated and entertained me was the politics, what people didn't say and the off track maneuverings. Now it's just stage managed padding. 

I read in Autocar that Silverstone got it's sell out by discounting tickets. I don't know if this is true but I see no reason why this would be falsely reported. I'm sure F1 will continue. I guess I'm just not suitable fan material any more. So it goes.

All F1 races are dull  because the outcome is determined by geeks driving laptops at the factories telling the drivers what to do.  The first thing that should happen would be to ban all radio communication between the pit and the driver; the second to ban any form of programmed launch control.

And by what definition is F1 the "pinnacle" of motorsport?

+ 1 to this 

I recall either last season, or maybe it was the one before where the Williams team won what I think was the Monaco Grand Prix, and this just so happened to coincide with Frank Williams 70th birthday. Now as a team, they had not won, or even come close to winning a race prior to this, or after it so how 'coincidental' and very convenient was that. Clearly something very fishy about the whole situation if you ask me, which quite frankly (pardon the pun) left me even more disillusioned with the sport 

Well there was I hoping for a Hamilton procession from pole to chequered flag and had to put up with probably the most incident packed race for a long time 

Fantastic  Hungarian GP. Full of drama and good to see the new young guns changing the usual line up at the end of the race. Should get more exciting with the new rules for the second half of the season. 

RIP Jules.

That couldn't have been Hungary surely?

Good race. Nice to see the Mercedes having to race. Good result for McLaren too.

Great scrappy race today and interesting to see where Ferrari go after the summer.  

Maldonado must take the award for the most accumulated penalties ever!

G

Very strange Singaporean GP. What happened to Mercedes? Are Bernie and Pirelli pulling the strings to make the end of the championship less predictable? Even the guys at Ferrari and other teams are absolutely perplexed at the lack of speed of the Mercedes Team. 1.2s a lap? 

Hmmm, a case of the outcome becoming predictably unpredictable?

Great driving by Vettel though, he's always in the game. He's not too far behind the leader board.

Pretty dull race though all the same.

steve