F1 - General discussion and 2017

Congrats to montoya for winning his ROC debut!
Coulthard made it to the semis but couldn't deal the deal - he's got so close a bunch of times.
Vettel exited early
http://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12...owned-race-of-champions-champion-of-champions

Juan Pablo Montoya marked his Race of Champions debut in style as he was crowned Champion of Champions in Miami.

The Columbian beat Le Mans legend Tom Kristensen 2-0 in the final, showing his versatility by winning heat one in a rallycross car and heat two in a KTM X-Bow.

Montoya progressed to the knockout rounds after defeating Pascal Wehrlein and Petter Solberg in the group stage.

From that point on the former F1 driver didn't lose a heat as he knocked out Travis Pastrana in the quarter-final, Felipe Massa in the semi-final and Kristensen in the final.

"I'm over the moon. I'd never done this event before and my wife said 'I want to go you better race'," said Montoya.

"You go from a rallycar, to a buggy, to a KTM, it is amazing."

Wehrlein provided one of the scariest moments of the night as he crashed into Massa after the finish during the group stage. The German then rolled Polaris Slingshot SLR, but fortunately everyone walked away from the incident unscathed.

Defending champion Sebastian Vettel made a surprise early exit, losing to Helio Castroneves and Travis Pastrana in Group A, finishing the day with only a sole victory over Alexander Rossi.

The Ferrari driver will have a chance to redeem himself on Sunday when he partners Wehrlein for Team Germany in the Nations Cup.

Team GB will be represented by Jenson Button and the action is live on Sky Sports F1 from 4:55pm.
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Nations cup will be on tonight
 
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10 new rules for 2017
Date published: January 19 2017

Most F1 fans nurture a list of things they’d like to change about the sport. Andrew Davies has come up with his favourite ten, one of which dates back to the origins of the sport in the 1950s. They’re mostly aimed at increasing the jeopardy to drivers in a year where there might be a lot of following going on…

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1. Track Limits
If it’s possible to work out within millimetres whether a tennis ball is in or out of a service box at Wimbledon, then it’s possible to put the same technology to use judging whether a car has put a tyre all the way over the white line at the edge of the track.

Stick cameras on five critical corners and after a car has gone off the track limits three times, that’s a five-second penalty to be added at the end of the race. If a driver is on two-strikes towards the end of the race, then one slip-up could lose him places.

We’d like to remind the readers that F1 wasn’t made for gamblers, unlike bingo. When it comes to the best bingo websites, we would advise you to play bingo through BestBingoSites, as a site for reliable betting information.

2. No Dummy Starts After Friday FP1
The thing that really mixes things up in the order is when drivers get poor starts. It lost Lewis Hamilton the 2016 World Championship. Now that the drivers have been coached to manage the starts more themselves, poor starts are less frequent, and that’s because of all the practice starts they’re allowed in FP1, FP2 and FP3.
Limit it to FP1 only and see how they get on.

3. Brake Signals
With bigger tyres and more downforce for 2017, the cars are likely to be braking in a shorter distance than ever. Thus if we want more overtaking It is critical that drivers don’t move in the braking area. It was a rule that we saw beginning to be enforced at the end of 2016 with Vettel vs Ricciardo in Mexico.

To assist implementation of this rule there should be either an audible signal the moment the driver touches his brakes, or an on-screen telemetry trace from the onboard camera. Thus viewers can see in one shot whether the brakes are being applied as a driver changes direction. It might cut out a lot of the post-race wrangling, and we get a result when the cars are on-track, not four hours afterwards.

4. No Blue Flags On Wider Circuits
Drivers are getting lazier than ever about lapping backmarkers. On tight circuits where every tenth of a second counts it’s important they get out of the way quickly, but on four of the wider circuits – say Malaysia, China, Silverstone and Austin, let’s introduce a new no-blue-flag race and see how they cope.

5. No Pitting Under The VSC
Last year there were instances when drivers lost time and places because of the lottery of the VSC (Virtual Safety Car) coming out after they had made their stop and others taking advantage. The VSC was designed to hold drivers in position at a slower speed, but because of that slower speed, any pit-stop made under it loses less time than one made at racing speed. Thus from now on, no pit-stops (in dry running) can be made under the SC or VSC. We’ve been told that the 2017 Pirelli rubber is going to be more durable than before, so the tyres will last.

6. Monaco To Provide Overtaking Place
We’ve been told today how the FIA are going to insist on track changes for all circuits because of the increase in cornering speeds for 2017. So what is Monaco going to do?

One thing they could do is provide an overtaking place. If you extend the tunnel exit along that boulevard where the escape road is – the straight between the chicane and Tabac can become much shorter and give a decent chance to overtake. There IS space there, just a lack of willingness to adapt the circuit.

7. A Point (Or Two) For Fastest Lap
This has been suggested for years, and used to be in the rules when F1 started. When you get a single point for 10th place, there really should be points on offer for the fastest lap.

8. The Best 18 Races
Although he didn’t help himself with some duff starts, Lewis Hamilton should have been World Champion if he hadn’t had an engine failure while leading in Malaysia. Instead of amassing the scores of all races, select the best 18 from 21. This allows drivers to discount races where they had mechanical problems or got punted from behind through no fault of their own (as Rosberg was by Vettel, but happily managed to continue ). Again, this used to be part of the rules.

9. Drivers Manage Their Own DRS
Make the DRS available whenever drivers want… but only for 10 laps of the race. They choose the laps they want to use it. At the moment, drivers in danger of being overtaken can store up energy to give them a boost through the vulnerable DRS zones. By removing the knowledge of exactly when and where they are going to be attacked, this nullifies the effect of the DRS. The randomness introduces a bit of jeopardy.

10. Stopping One-Stoppers
Drivers who plough on through the race and eke out the life of their tyres with one stop don’t generally provide an exciting spectacle. In fact some might say they’re a pain in the arse. This rule is the most controversial of the ten.

Every team must pit for a minimum of two stops IF the winning car makes two stops. If Pirelli are making less degradable tyres in 2017 and it’s harder to overtake, then there might be a tendency for mid-grid teams to block the road and one-stop a lot.

Thus one-stoppers might be obliged to make an extra stop.

There is also the strategic element of the leaders being able to shake up the midfield by putting in a cheeky last-minute pit-stop obliging everyone else who hadn’t made one to follow suit.

This could even be extended so that teams have to match the winning car if they make three stops. Imagine the fun you could have late in the race if you were leading by a safe margin and had the opportunity to disadvantage rival teams by putting in a late stop. Everyone dive for the pits!

That would keep people watching till the end…

Andrew Davies
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Maldonado hoped to return in Rosberg reshuffle

Pastor Maldonado had hoped that the reshuffle that took place in the wake of Nico Rosberg’s retirement would open a door into F1. It didn’t.

The Venezuelan driver has been out of the sport since the end of the 2015 season after his sponsors, Venezuelan state oil giant PDVSA, were unable to foot the bill to keep him on at Renault.

Without a drive for 2016, the former Williams man vowed not to give up, saying he would be back.

However, talks with Sauber over a 2017 seat proved futile while he also failed to benefit from Rosberg’s shock retirement.

“I evaluated the options and I’m still considering all the possibilities about doing a proper professional programme – and of course F1 is one of the categories that interests me,” he told Motorsport.com.

“I had the chance to come back, but I only wanted to do it with the right conditions – not like the ones I had in my previous experience.

“After Rosberg quit, that could have created a domino situation that would have guaranteed me a good chance but things turned out differently.

“Alternatively, there was the possibility of going to Sauber – which is a good team, with a lot of experience, but has been having a difficult time.

“We decided in the end though that the conditions were not right to satisfy either side.

“It’s a difficult time for many teams in F1 – not just Sauber – because their choices are dictated by economic reasons.”

The 31-year-old has been linked to IndyCars in recent times while revealing that the World Endurance Championship and Formula E are also possibilities.

“I hear so many rumours about myself, but the news never comes from me,” he said.

“Last year I attended an IndyCar race, to which I was invited, and probably some have linked this visit to me racing in the series.

“At the moment there is nothing concrete, and in this case also I will only accept a proposal if I believe in its quality and that it can bring me the right conditions for a good season.”

He added: “I have looked at the full 360-degree spectrum of options. There is WEC, IndyCar as well as Formula E.

“But at the moment I have not agreed to anything.

“Until I find the right chance, I will stay quiet.

“Yes, I want to get back on the racetrack, but only as long as I can do it right.”
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Source
 
New F1 owners set for boardroom shake-up

The new owners of Formula One will unveil a boardroom shake-up next week that will include the departures of two of Europe's leading businessmen.

Sky News has learnt that Liberty Media Group has decided to part company with all of the existing independent directors on the board of F1's parent company, with the exception of Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, its former chairman.

The decision means that Sir Martin Sorrell, the boss of WPP Group; the former Unilever chief financial officer Jean-Marc Huet; and Chong Seng Kwa, the former boss of Exxon Mobil in Asia, will sever ties with F1 when Liberty's takeover of the sport is completed.

Donald Mackenzie, who has overseen the most lucrative investment in CVC Capital Partners' history during its decade in control of F1, will remain as a director, along with Sean Mahoney, who has represented the estate of Lehman Brothers on F1's board for the last three years.

News of the wider board changes comes hours after it emerged that Bernie Ecclestone, F1's veteran chief executive, would cease to have day-to-day control of F1, bringing the chequered flag down on one of the most remarkable reigns in global sport.

Mr Ecclestone has been offered the position of honorary president, although it was unclear on Saturday whether he would accept it.

It is not know if Ecclestone will accept the role of honorary president

Two of Mr Ecclestone's loyal lieutenants, the chief financial officer Duncan Llowarch and Sacha Woodward-Hill, who oversees F1's legal affairs, have been asked to stay on.

The boardroom and management changes are being engineered by Liberty Media in a sign of the new owner's determination to press ahead with radical changes to the administration of F1.

Sean Bratches, a former ESPN executive, was revealed by Sky News last month to be the frontrunner for a top commercial job, while Ross Brawn, the former Ferrari team boss, has been lined up to take on a key role overseeing the sporting side of F1.


Ross Brawn has been offered a new role within F1
Under F1's new chairman, Chase Carey, Liberty Media is preparing an ambitious overhaul of the sport aimed at connecting it with a new fan-base more accustomed to using digital and social media than it is consuming traditional media channels.

Mr Carey also wants to turn Grands Prix into more compelling events, which each have a Super Bowl-type appeal to advertisers and sponsors.

The number of races which take place each year is also likely to increase.

F1's new shareholders are said to have been surprised at the comparatively undeveloped approach to exploiting its commercial rights compared to other global sports franchises.


Chase Carey (left) will offer Ecclestone the role of honorary president
Liberty Media Group also wants to bring in F1's teams as shareholders in the sport, announcing this week that it would use a $400m private offering of cash convertible senior notes as part of a deal to issue shares to the teams.

Mr Carey said: "Several of the teams have expressed interest in investing and we have already begun productive discussions to make the sport more competitive and even more exciting."

The new F1 supremo is in talks with F1's constructors about altering some of the details of the planned share sale, including reducing the period over which they must retain their stakes.

A deadline for the teams to place orders for the shares is being extended beyond this month owing to their unfamiliarity with this kind of investment decision.

A small number of teams, including Ferrari, already have rights to nominate one director to the Delta Topco board.

Ferrari have the right to nominate one director to the Delta Topco board
Eleven constructors competed in the 2016 World Championship, but there are now grave doubts about Manor Racing's ability to participate in this year's series after the company which operates the team recently collapsed into administration.

Talks are ongoing about a rescue deal for Manor.

The latest developments come after Liberty Media voted to approve the deal, with the motorsport governing body, the FIA, also giving its blessing this week.

A Liberty Media Group spokeswoman declined to comment.
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Heavyonthemagick said:
If you find ROC boring then you'll find nations cup boring.
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Crappy little cars around a crappy little artificial track in a stadium is all I remember from the last time I watched it, London, I think it was...

How else do you describe driving some slow little beach buggy thing at slow speeds around a track that looks like it's made for a TV program?
 
Dave123 said:
Crappy little cars around a crappy little artificial track in a stadium is all I remember from the last time I watched it, London, I think it was...

How else do you describe driving some slow little beach buggy thing at slow speeds around a track that looks like it's made for a TV program?
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The world's top racing driver from different disciplines competing side by side on identical hardware, what's not to like?
 
Zyraz said:

10 new rules for 2017
Date published: January 19 2017

We’d like to remind the readers that F1 wasn’t made for gamblers, unlike bingo. When it comes to the best bingo websites, we would advise you to play bingo through BestBingoSites, as a site for reliable betting information.
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What is this, Click bait?
I thought they were a summary of new rules for 2017, not a wishlist with gambling links.
I stopped reading at that point.

PlanetF1 are never a reliable source anyway.
 
Was supposed to be tongue in cheek.

Should have probably used comic sans instead :p
 
It's not an official part of any racing circuit, it's a once a year fun event with short sprints. It's not meant to be anything else or even serious. I love it.
 
Heavyonthemagick said:
It's not an official part of any racing circuit, it's a once a year fun event with short sprints. It's not meant to be anything else or even serious. I love it.
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Clarkson drove ROC once :p

clarkson_kiario.gif
 
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