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GPDA to meet, discuss ways of improving F1
The Grand Prix Drivers’ Association (GPDA) is to meet at this weekend’s Brazilian Grand Prix and discuss ways of improving Formula 1.
“We have not had a meeting in a while,” Daniel Ricciardo said. “We have GPDA tomorrow. [tyres] are a topic we are going to bring up. I think ideally the less pit stops you can do in a race normally the better your strategy is going to be, or the quicker your race time is going to be.
“If we feel we can get by on one stop we will drive to the pace of a one stop, and that is normally better than pushing for a two stop. This year for whatever reason that has been the way the compounds have been set up at the races. It is just managing a one stop and that is a quicker race.
“I don’t think anyone ever seems to be satisfied. They wanted a tyre we could race on harder for longer, and now we are nearly getting that. I don’t know how to have a tyre we can push hard on, that is going to degrade so we can still do a two or three stop, we will just drive slower like we are doing now.
“If we push hard on this tyre from the start, we’d do a two-stop instead of a one. But the drivers see that cruising on a one stop is going to be quicker, so we are doing what is best for the strategy.”
“Not only tyres ,” says Grosjean. “I don’t want to speak for everybody else but I feel we need to give our feedback and then maybe try to do a bit more because the race is not fun. P6 in Mexico is two laps down. How do you want to see a midfield car getting on the podium once or twice if they are already one or two laps down?
“The delta between the big and small teams is too big. The tyres being so complicated to understand and drive, if you don’t have the downforce you just destroy them, meaning you open the gap more…
“Some races we have been driving … The enjoyment is when you go out there and push and try to be able to follow the guy and overtake him, pushing hard or at least making him make a mistake so you get a chance. At the minute as soon as you get close you lose the downforce and overwork the tires. Singapore, Russia the first stint, Mexico, they were really not fun.
“It’s something we need to discuss with all the drivers and get all the feedback. We all may have a different point of view but then if we discuss it we will get to somewhere. In the end we are here to race, we know what we want and what we need to get good racing, so I think our feedback could be very helpful.”
F1 to ‘F1.5’ gap visualised
‘Ferrari line up move for Mercedes driver’
Pascal Wehrlein is the latest driver to be linked with a simulator deal at Ferrari, with Motorsport’s Italian branch claiming that the former Mercedes junior could be poached by the Maranello squad. Robert Kubica has also been linked with a development deal at Ferrari if he does not secure a race deal at Williams.
Alonso believes McLaren will be in a “better position” next season
“I think the car is definitely going to be more competitive next year. From July we’ve been testing experimental parts for next year. I think there’s a lot of optimism in the team with the direction the car took in the last couple of months,” Alonso said.
“We understood our problems. We know that last year the car was very competitive on the chassis side. We have the GPS to compare, we have our speed in the corners – I qualified seventh here and finished eighth, or something, so definitely the car 12 months ago was very competitive in some areas.”
Un-raced Toyota 2010 chassis (Prototyp Museum in Hamburg)
What’s left of the Toyota F1 car after they pulled the plug on F1, and the chassis that the denied 2010 entrant Stefan GP wanted to use and claimed it would have been faster than everyone else according to their windtunnel.
1) you want drivers to drive flat out? Considering that at no stage in F1 history has any team driven flat out from lights to flag.
Be it reliability, or tyres that needed careful consideration – such as in the 80’s – no era of F1 has had full chat racing.
Even the Schumi dominated years were stints of fresh rubber and light fuel tanks until after the final stop..
For 2019, implement a rule whereby the drivers have to use all three tyres compounds during a Grand Prix. Not rocket science obviously but eliminates this modern belief that only today’s drivers run to a delta.
2) so Alonso, who claimed throughout his tenure at McLaren that ‘next year’ the car will be competitive suggests once again that Woking will be competitive?
A chassis that is proven as class of the field ( 🤣 ) or at least up there, put a Renault in and hey presto, we have the third best Renault powered car… I’m certain that in 2014, using the Mercedes PU they were also abysmal. Just about vanquishing the almighty Force India in the Mercedes cup.
2014 was all down to the incorrect oil used by Macca (allegedly)
Never mind that Toyota, look at the Audi in the back! One sexy car
this is the way i watch f1 for the past 4 years. watch analysis. watch interviews. watch the formation lap. watch start. see who escapes the carnage of the first lap. watch the next lap for the pitstop repairs (if any). turn off tv. look at results on twitter 2 hours after. (or the next day)