2020 challenge: Italy x 2 discussion thread (Sep 6 and 13)

The race between stops was quite good, I was expecting some paint sharing but not the havoc we actually saw. Crashjean reacted like a spoiled child suggesting the people at the front wanted to kill him. Interesting thought but doubt anyone had time to think of let alone act out the plan. I see we have to reinforce the legal theory that the person hitting the car in front is responsible. The driver at the front sets the pace and the rerst have to react to that.

One of the fundamental aspects I liked about Mugello was the flow of the circuit, and the relatively quick laptimes. People (including me) talk about turbulence and the braking distances, both of which unquestionably harm the racing. However, I think circuit design is something that has got progressively worse.

Why is the racing always good at Interlagos and Montreal? Because the layouts are simple, there aren’t unless corner sequences to deal with. The drivers can attack the same opportunity in barley a minute’s time on any given lap. Compare that to Abu Dhabi, which has two sectors which are impossible for overtaking, with silly artificial chicanes and 90-degree corners. We need circuits with fewer corners, and circuits that flow.

With the restarts, it’s a tricky one. Only Mugello and Baku have a very long pit straight, where the lead driver can exit the final corner with a serious chance of being overtaken into turn one. Maybe Interlagos is another track too. So really, Bottas had to go at the last possible second. Otherwise he would have been swamped into turn one.

I think two improvements can be made. The leader supposedly can’t weave or brake erratically. But this is never clearly defined, what constitutes to a foul in this regard? European open wheel drivers love to aggressively brake and weave under Safety Car, it’s just what happens. I would outlaw weaving and sudden braking on restarts. I would also stipulate a minimum speed to be maintained on the pit straight itself. I think this would avoid a situation where the leader trundles along, doing absolutely nothing wrong according to the regulations. Drivers behind would more or less have to stay in-line.

V8 Supercars has gone through a lot of different restarts. They have finally nailed one that works. No weaving or sudden braking, with 80 kph maintained by the leader. With F1 cars one could say that the minimum speed could be higher, maybe 120 kph.

The issue of the Safety Car lights has been strange. With most restarts, race control must know if a restart can be initiated with a lap to go. At best, drivers need a half a laps notice before a restart. Drivers need to visually see that. With other forms of racing, the lights go out with a lap to go. It’s like with the red flag light at Monza, it just wasn’t very clear. The pits being closed could have been a more serious situation, but the lights were located on the outside of Parabolica, out of the driver’s field of vision. It wasn't even clearly red. Improvements can be made, I think difficult Grands Prix can be managed more effectively then certain incidents at Monza and Mugello were. Part of the issue is that F1 doesn’t have many restarts, red flags or the closing of pitlane. F1 should use this as an opportunity to review procedures and add clarity.

I think from 2022-onwards we might have a lot more of this, with more closer and competitive racing. That will lead to more contact and Safety Cars.