rule changes

Daily F1 News and Comment: Thursday 9th May 2013

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This page will be updated throughout the day FIA Press Conferences As always, we love to kick off the F1 race weekend with the mystifying event that is the FIA drivers’ press conference. Here are the schedues. Thursday, May 09, 1500 hours local time (1300 GMT) Fernando Alonso (Ferrari), Valtteri Bottas (Williams), Esteban Gutierrez (Sauber), … Read more

Vettel new pit radio messages, Ron Dennis and Lewis, Honda returns to F1 2014? Davidson 1st drive since Le Mans crash

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Follow thejudge13: Why not follow thejudge13 by email. Click on the button at the top right of the page to receive an email when (and only when) a new article hits the interweb.

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Lewis and Ron: I’ve taken a bit of stick on twitter for my Lewis was pushed” story and to be honest I can’t be bothered banging drums or justifying myself – and as Chris and erstwhile thejudge13 commentator pointed out, “we may be quibbling over semantics”.

I have said what I have to say on the matter, but what is worth of note is why is Big Ron still talking about it to CBI magazine and raising the issue again?

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Grosjean attitude win at all costs, Petrov confident of Caterham drive, Mercedes and Ferrari pass crash tests, Ferrari wind tunnel progreses, Kimi approves of 2013 DRS rules, Kimi says drivers do not make teams better, Maldonado most penalties in 2012

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Follow thejudge13: Why not follow thejudge13 by email. Click on the button at the top right of the page to receive an email when (and only when) a new article hits the interweb. WE REACHED 500 email followers in only thejudge13’s 15th week and just over 400 by twitter.

Grosjean attitude win at all costs: Romain Grosjean thinks he is ready to take a more mature approach to Formula One. He did of course have an abortive start to his career at the scandal ridden Renault in 2009, the young Frenchman gained a second chance with Lotus in 2012.

He clearly proved himself to be a very quick driver with 3 podiums by the middle of 2012, but as we know became the focus for media vilification following the dramatic events at the start of the Belgian GP – for which he received a race ban for Monza.

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Stewards back slapping, Vettel suit sells for $18,000, Gascoyne enters the danger zone, 2013-14 rules and who this helps, Austin want a new date, Turkey 2013 agreed

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FIA Stewarding: It appears that Charlie and the Stewards are feeling rather pleased with themselves with regard to the rather narrow topic of penalties. I hope we hear a little more on race management as a whole. Anyway here is the FIA release.

At a meeting chaired by F1 Race Director Charlie Whiting, the stewards praised the recent introduction of readily available real-time telemetry and added that the presence of former and current racing drivers on the stewarding panels has been a benefit. 

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Rules Damn Rules (Part 1: FIA makes historic changes)

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The old maxim, “rules were made to be broken”, has been somewhat ingrained in the DNA of F1 participants since time began.

It appears remarkable to some onlookers that this attitude is almost endemic within F1 teams. To them and others of course the Mclaren spy scandal and Flaviogate are examples of rule breaking that is completely unacceptable. Yet there will always be the run of the mill offences such as speeding in the pit lane, unsafe driving/pit release, blocking and a host of sins that are the ‘yellow card’ offences that we kind of expect.

However, its important not to lose sight of the fact that Formula 1 is a technological and development race every bit as much as a series of motor races, and it is this aspect of the sport that drives the DNA of the teams to develop the cars to the limit of the regulations. Which may be one of the reasons why someone appears to be always breaking the rules, but are the FIA changing the nature of this game?

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