I don't believe they changed it; I think the comments related to the technology of the cars. The properly sorted cars have been taking it flat-out for years, but apparently now it is not as hairy as it used to be!

 

During the Spa race (and others) the TV commentators mentioned how for instance the 10 spot grid penalty messes up the race strategy with the driver always passing a slow car then pitting only to pass the same car on the track again.

Just to throw it out there, but why does the lapped or slow car have to give way to the fast one? When did this practice of the lapped car moving over start? As long as the slow car isn't blocking, why not make the fast car pass like any other pass? It would make it difficult for the front runners for sure. Maybe make the race more interesting. I don't think the greats would have had as great a career they had without the blue flags helping them.

Can you imagine what would Monaco look like? :impatient
Everyone stuck behind Sakamoto

 

Blue Flags (you are being lapped get the hell out of the way) have been part of the rules of motorsport since the early days.

You are NOT at liberty to move out of the way if you are legitimately ahead though.

Recently (in the last 20 years) there have been refinements to the number of blocking moves you can make if you are obviously slower, but these are not related to blue flags.

 

Interesting fact about our friend Sakon Yamamoto. According to one of the Speed guys, Sakon has never scored a point in any racing series.

 

Yes, despite 85% of the field representing the best of the best, a long standing problem in F1 has been the presence of the the occasional pay driver with pockets far deeper than talent.

At least he's better than Ide . . .

 

Here's another post regarding McLaren.

http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.aspx?PO_ID=40767

Funny enough I'm passing along the perspective of a driver who greatly disappointed me . . . so I wouldn't consider his words or this article as gold.

Interesting, nonetheless in the scheme of things.

 

Looks like it's official.....Speed to "stock cars."

Speed joins ARCA series in US

 

Damn. I was hoping he'd at least go to Champ Car or IRL.

 

So, Nascarp will have Monty, Villy and Speedy then ?????

 

Agreed. This is disappointing. Hopefully he won't make a career of it?

 

I wonder how he'd do in ALMS?

 

Quite well, although I'm not certain whether he could find support in the fashion that he may already have become accustom.

Would like to see him in that series, though.

 

Let's see...........who's disgruntled lately and with the season winding down....hmmmm. FRED!

 

I read some pundit's speculation yesterday saying everyone thinks Fred will end up back at Renault next year but he'll probably end up partnering Kimi at Ferrari.....

I think most of us would confidently say Fred probably won't go to NASCRAP, but other than that the vote is still out.

Ok Mr. Pundit, so just how would such a team work? Who would be the #1 on that team? And which of those guys would be happy as the #2?

Silly season; just one of the entertaining aspects of F1.

 

I would be very surprised to see a Kimi/Fred Ferrari team next year. If anything, I would expect the top teams to revert back to their past strategy of having a dominant #1 driver and a subservient #2 driver.

Think about it. If either Ferrari or McLaren had an MSchu/Rubens kind of line-up this year, their lead driver would be running away with the driver's championship while their competitor was splitting points between two #1.5 drivers.

 

I can't ever remember a top rated two car team, that didn't have a disaster in the making, with both drivers being "equals."

 

Off topic, kinda... Anyone here have a PS3 and F1 Championship? It's an amazing game and fills the gap between races quite nicely.

 

I've got the game but not the PS3. Been putting it off because I fear the addiction.

Oh well . . . I should surrender

 

LOL..........just got both this weekend !

My PS3 name is scottinbend.

 

I caught the ITV broadcast of Belgium and in the pre-race show they had a very interesting interview with Ron Dennis.

As I have done such a thorough job ragging on the guy of late, I thought I should fairly report that I was taken by the sincerity and complexity of the man in this interview.

 

Well Fuji was fun. Gets my vote for the most insane race of the year. We came so close to having a podium of drivers that haven't ever HAD a podium, or at least not for a long while.

I guess Ferrari is getting away with starting on the intermediates. Didn't get the word my a**.

 

Anybody think Ron Dennis might have timed Alonso's stop so that he came out behind traffic? Payback can be tough, eh Alonso?

Rookie WDC this year? Looking like it might happen.............

I also wondered about Ferrai's "nobody told us" defense, but I also think 4 pit stops and in essense starting from the back was penalty enough.........Kudo's to Kimi for making it from the back to third with 4 stops when everyone else did the race on one.............

A lot of people were down on Vettel (inclucing Vettel himself) for taking himself and Webber out, but I wonder if the Hamster didn't call it right.........these guys were brake checking constantly, maybe Weber brake checked and Vettel just couldn't see him?

Anybody else think the Hamster is getting just a little full of himself? In the post race interviews he was subtly dissing Alonso, then next thing he's comparing himself to Prost and Senna.............I freely admit thats he's having a great year and showing some terrific skills, but.......................

 

ehh Ferrari only hurt themselves, the battle for second was hoot to watch at the end though!

 

I'll second that.

 

I know there are a lot of Alonso haters out there. But I wonder how I would feel, if I had been helping, and developing a young guy, only to figure out that I have been grooming my replacement. IMHO, that's why Alonso's been acting pissed off. McLaren squeezed him dry, and he saw the writing on the wall.

The Alonso haters won't buy it, but it explains a lot to me.