Ferrari Mailing List: F1 + rant-ish

[Rick (rolindsay]

Hey Gang,

Hopefully you're as excited about the upcoming F1 season as am I. Lots of changes in the cars and in the rules. Some are good, some are stupid.

Double points for the last race(s) is just stupid. An outstanding season can be upset by changes in fate or penalties, making the championships close to random events.

Changes in the cars are exciting. The reason for some of the changes is stupid. Nobody, NOBODY, believes that F1 is 'green'. Hell, the transporters use far more fuel than the race cars.

Small engines are interesting BUT, the great advantage of a small displacement engine is high revs - which are not permitted in the 2014 formula.

Finite fuel requirements are going to be the 2014 version of 2013's aweful tire management. Drivers will be restricting acceleration to save fuel, rather than driving to achieve passes. The top teams may have the cyber-umph to manage fuel automatically but the lesser teams may not have that advantage, thereby expanding the time gap.

And while energy recovery is a cool idea, brake-by-wire scares the bejesus out of me! Given how many times KERS failed last year, I wonder what will happen when ERS fails! Yikes!

I don't find the newest cars to be pretty, but pretty is second to performance. The issue that bothers me is when ugly is implemented to force poorer aerodynamic performance. 

And with all that whining said, I really wish I was going to Melbourne. I'm excited to hear the turbo engines - especially when the drivers lift. Waste gate spitting might sound really cool - assuming they use waste gates. That's wasted energy. I wonder if that is being reclaimed?

Anyway, bring on the red cars!!!

-rick

PS: Really glad Massa is doing well.