2011 Formula 1 Season Thread

Martin Brundle completely disagrees with the talk of "easily operated" modern F1 steering wheel.

There has been a number of occasions where he openly questioned the design of the steering wheel, and the sheer complication of learning/memorising the system menus. You have to understand that it's not as simple as a press of a button, but rather a series of buttons in a correct sequence to bring up different menus and fine adjustments. Try do that when you're blinded by the spray and travelling at 200mph. A gear lever will always be a gear lever, whilst pressing a combination of buttons could be extremely difficult in special conditions.

Remember Hamilton's fail moment in Brazil '07? That pretty much cost him the chance of winning the championship, yet armchair racers (not you) still say that pressing buttons is easier than changing gears. Ridiculous.

I agree with part of your statement. A manual gearbox requires a great consistency from the drivers, especially in the old days where a mis-shift could cost you a whole gearbox. Remember Nigel Mansell & Piquet in the Silverstone GP? yup, a simple mis-shift cost Piquet the race win. The part that I disagree is the claim that manual gearbox made the cars harder to drive than the current generation of F1 cars. It's complete bollocks.
 
Please don't mention Brazil '07, that brings out so many convoluted conspiracy theories. I agree with your point though, if anything, the simplicity of the manual gearbox allowed drivers to focus more on gaining time to the person ahead. Back then if a gear was missing the driver could just skip that gear, today that is more likely to turn into a retirement because they can't shift pass that gear and it certainly doesn't fix itself; a little observation that may not be true but to me it seems like a lot of gearbox problems lately is around 4th or 5th gear. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I remember hearing more about those gears failing than anything else. My point being that drivers can cope with not having 1st gear but not having a mid gear is debilitating and race ending with sequential boxes.
 
MadCow809 said:
Martin Brundle completely disagrees with the talk of "easily operated" modern F1 steering wheel.

There has been a number of occasions where he openly questioned the design of the steering wheel, and the sheer complication of learning/memorising the system menus. You have to understand that it's not as simple as a press of a button, but rather a series of buttons in a correct sequence to bring up different menus and fine adjustments. Try do that when you're blinded by the spray and travelling at 200mph. A gear lever will always be a gear lever, whilst pressing a combination of buttons could be extremely difficult in special conditions.

Remember Hamilton's fail moment in Brazil '07? That pretty much cost him the chance of winning the championship, yet armchair racers (not you) still say that pressing buttons is easier than changing gears. Ridiculous.
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I'd like to add Fisicho in the Ferrari in 2009. While the car was pretty crap, and adapting to the handling was most certainly a factor, I bet adapting to the systems and buttons of the new wheel didn't bring him any joys.
 
http://en.espnf1.com/mercedes/motorsport/story/45301.html?CMP=OTC-RSS

Mercedes yet to show true potential - Rosberg


Nico Rosberg has admitted Mercedes got pretty much everything wrong in Australia and has been working tirelessly since to avoid a repeat in Malaysia this weekend.

The Mercedes was tipped as a top-three runner at the end of pre-season testing, but its winter form failed to translate into success on the track at the opening round. Both drivers eventually retired from the race with crash damage, but it was clear that the car had not met expectations

"Australia was not a good start for us," Rosberg said on Thursday in Malaysia. "But there were a few issues in Australia, especially reliability, which we didn't get right throughout the weekend so that really hurt us. Also set-up wise, and that is mechanical, aerodynamic, everything, we just did not seem to find the right path on that, so a lot of effort has gone into making things better. We are a really strong team so we will get there."

When asked if he was worried that Australia's winner Red Bull might extend its advantage at the front this weekend, Rosberg added: "We don't even really know at the moment where we are compared to other teams, so we're going to concentrate on getting the best out of what we have and then we can start to think about where other teams are and what they're doing."

Rosberg has a good record at Sepang and is hoping for another competitive showing this time round.

"It is definitely a track I really enjoy. Just the characteristics really. There is a bit of everything here and also I have some great memories. I led my first race here, finished third last year in a Mercedes so it is always nice to come back here."
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Jesus... even though I got nothing against them and would like them to start winning soon, don't they get tired of saying their "true potential" is still hidden ?

Every race last season, every time there's a press conference.... their true potential is not with them... right.
 
Haven't every single team said they're gonna do better in Malaysia now? They can't all be on the podium or front row. :lol:
 
ahpadt said:
Haven't every single team said they're gonna do better in Malaysia now? They can't all be on the podium or front row. :lol:
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To date, I have never seen any team THIS insistent their true potential is "not shown yet".

Other teams say they may do better, should suit their car, etc.. but Merc goes on the "potential" word a bit too much.
 
at least it's not like McLaren's version of "true potential"... by bitching and moaning about RBR's front wing.
 
Red Bull should set up a "test your strength" thing outside their garage, with one of their wings bolted to the wall with a sign saying 'make it flex' next to it.
 
Topgearfanatic said:
Red Bull should set up a "test your strength" thing outside their garage, with one of their wings bolted to the wall with a sign saying 'make it flex' next to it.
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It should be coin-operated: "All the profits from this machine will be donated to the HRT survival fund".
 
Topgearfanatic said:
Red Bull should set up a "test your strength" thing outside their garage, with one of their wings bolted to the wall with a sign saying 'make it flex' next to it.
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that would be awesome indeed :lol:
 
^you want to make them bold spots? :D
 
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