So the chassis aren’t spec like the engines, interesting, I thought it was a pretty level playing field.
The engines are not spec either. Mercedes, Ferrari, Renault, and Honda all build their own engines to a set of rules (the “formula” in Formula 1), so the engines differ and there are better and worse engine packages, and ones that excel at some tracks and struggle at others. The hybrid era (since 2014) has basically been dominated by Mercedes. It’s been the strongest engine for the past 7 years, which is a large part of why that team has been so strong.
Very few things are spec in F1. It’s one of the most un-level playing fields in motorsport. Certain little things are supplied by a single manufacturer, but for the most part the teams are literally designing and producing every component down to the bolt. Next season there will be more spec parts to help keep costs down.
People have been advocating for some kind of cost cap system for years to help level the playing field, because right now the smaller teams cannot possibly compete with the bigger manufacturer backed teams who can out-spend them. So next season a large sweeping series of cost cap rules come into play that should hopefully help a little bit, though it will be interesting to see how they police that.
F1’s DNA is that it is the highest-level, most innovative and advanced motorsport, so I don’t think anyone wants to see it go to a spec series, as that will kill a lot of the fascinating parts of the sport, and probably make the cars less innovative and slower. Plus, if you want to watch close spec racing, IndyCar fills that quite nicely and is awesome in it’s own way because of that. The engineering and tech is part of what makes F1 cool, so some inequality between teams is to be expected. It just sucks to see some cars 2-3 seconds off the pace and the majority of the field getting lapped at some races.
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What do you guys think is more important to a team
The drivers championship, or the constructs championship?
I was going to say the team probably cares more about the Constructors, but historically, they enact team orders to win the Drivers Championship first before considering the Constructors. That’s probably because in the end, if the drivers win or finish high up, they are going to bring home plenty of points for the Constructors too.
Actually now that I’m thinking about this, in the beginning of the year before an established team leader is defined, they often will ask drivers to hold station and not overtake each other to preserve the result for the team. So maybe the answer is that they initially care more about bringing home points for the team until one of their drivers proves to have the upper hand and then they begin backing him for the Drivers title. At that point, winning the Drivers title is key with the Constructors title being a secondary goal.
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Historically the team championship was of big importance because of the prize money distribution. This is why to some extent you would often see team members cite its importance. There are also bonuses and that kind of thing within the structures of the teams.
However as the financial structure of the sport has changed under Liberty and there’s a more ‘even’ distribution of money, its crucial importance has diminished for teams somewhat.
The Drivers Championship has always been the one that brings the most ‘fame’ to a team and I think emotionally is the one everyone looks towards to win. I suspect now most teams would favour the Drivers’s title
Did you guys ever see this video, curious to hear your thoughts on his opinions. Interesting perspective for sure, being a new fan I can’t speak to its accurateness. Jermey looked pretty buzzed during the video, lol.
Jeremy, god love him, is a great entertainer. But he’s being a bit hyperbolic and crotchety. Lots of older fans have the same perspective that in old F1 “men were men” and they’ve got rose tinted glasses for the 70s, 80s, and 90s of F1. This video is also a few years old so maybe it’s less relevant, because this season has been a great one. The reality is that the sport was super dangerous during the period he’s waxing nostalgic about. I’d rather not have a couple of my favorite drivers die every year. Perhaps it was “more” exciting or perhaps it was just a different kind of entertainment.
I like the idea of drivers being fierce gladiators and letting them really have at it, but the cars are so stupidly fast now that some form of safety and preservation needs to be at hand and stewards are a necessity.
I do agree that the money grabbing by the governing body has lead us to go to some really dull tracks with no character and massive run-off areas that mean drivers aren’t penalized for mistakes and we have silly things like track limit enforcement. But equally, we still have the gems like Silverstone, Suzuka, Spa, Monza, Imola etc. where the cars are on the limit and the drivers are working hard. It isn’t necessarily the tracks’ fault that there’s no overtaking, it’s mainly the cars which are so aero-sensitive they can’t get near each other or they lose all downforce and grip. Then you get artificial aids like the DRS system to overcome those issues and the racing becomes a bit shallow. And we see that Australia and Abu Dhabi have reworked the layout of their tracks to improve raceability too, so efforts are being made.
That’s why next year’s aero regulations are exciting. You have the possibility of improved racing and the possibility of a shake-up in the order. Plus, it will be interesting to see if the cars actually race better, what tracks become more exciting as a result. Imola is a fantastic circuit to watch cars lap at, but it’s hard to overtake there. Perhaps with better cars it would be a better race.
Even at its worst, I still tune in every morning to watch. And the current era is far from the worst.
If you’re interested in learning more about different eras of F1, there are a ton of cool documentaries and films different times in the sport, the 70s especially, on streaming platforms.
Weekend of a Champion
The Formula One Drivers aka The Quick and The Dead
1976: Hunt vs. Lauda
Rush
Grand Prix
McLaren
Williams
Senna
Schumacher
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Donut attempts to answer a question that I’ve always wondered about with these bespoke and (two) of a kind cars: How expensive is it to repair?
Watching P2. Is it me or does the Saudi GP track looks very fast and dangerous with many high speed blind corners. The commentators are going crazy about the dangers of the track.
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Other than not liking concrete canyon tracks - I do like high speed tracks with no micky-mouse chicanes or slow speed turn bits. This fits the bill on that otherwise pretty well.
It’s a bit like SuperNats actually, in that you can’t see around the barriers real easily.
Should make for an interesting race, though yeah maybe a little sketchy with how many blind corners and the speed they’re carrying. They noted it will be tough to manage traffic in qualifying tomorrow.
The layout itself seems to be fun to drive, per Bottas… “F**ck this track is fun”.
Very large chance of wrecks and mayhem dictating this weekends qualifying and race. Should make it interesting to watch.
An 85% minimum speed for qualy might not be a bad idea to lesson the speed difference.
Yeah it does look dangerous but most of those walls aren’t concrete, they’re absorption barriers.
Quali will be horrendous, race will be interesting.
Is the next race this weekend? Had a busy week and I forgot to check. 
Yes, final practice is starting in 5 min.
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Quali starts in just over an hour. Lewis has got this I feel.
How come everything in F1 is given in metric, but tire pressures in PSI? Odd. Is that just a British thing with their mixed units?
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That’s a shame, no doubt gearbox penalty incoming too.
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