Car & Bike Formula1 2013 disscusion

[onlyravi]

Well put @prabs Indeed this year its even more boring because its all about preserving your tyres. Thats so stupid.... what about the race then?? F1 is supposed to be a racing event not a "Who conserves the tyres best thing" event. Now a days the races are not aggressive and not at all fun to be glued to the TV. Its even worse in free practices. No one even comes out on the track until the last 4minutes. To top all this Star Sports has these ridiculous Advt surrounding the screen and making the viewing screen smaller every 4th lap

Sometimes I even feel that FIA modified the regulations only to hurt the leading drivers of the current season so that its not a walk in the park for them in the next season with new screwed up regulations.

But even after all the crap... Vettel made the day for me. Specially the commentary where they said that Vettel could Pit and have a coffee and come back and he would still be at the front
This guy has such a passion of winning that he really plays every match to win... I love that.... He keeps on defying all pundits who said everything worse about him, his car gobbling tyres and what not.... but he just puts the best show

 

[prabs]

Indeed this year its even more boring because its all about preserving your tyres. Thats so stupid.... what about the race then?? F1 is supposed to be a racing event not a "Who conserves the tyres best thing" event. Now a days the races are not aggressive and not at all fun to be glued to the TV. Its even worse in free practices. No one even comes out on the track until the last 4minutes. To top all this Star Sports has these ridiculous Advt surrounding the screen and making the viewing screen smaller every 4th lap

I don't watch the practice times. Races and qualifying are getting so boring I can't even imagine how boring the practice sessions must be but I do read about them.

I see a number of reasons not to watch F1 on Star Sports -
Ads are one thing but Alex Yoong or Paula Malai Ali hardly do justice to drivers other than Alonso and Hamilton.
Alex was pathetic as an F1 driver anyone remember the Monaco incident?
Paula is annoying at best. Steve was not the only guy who deserved to get fired.
Unlike last year this year the commentary is borrowed from a source who are do not take a break. So last year we could rely on the commentators on what went on during the break but this year if you missed it you missed it.

Sometimes I even feel that FIA modified the regulations only to hurt the leading drivers of the current season so that its not a walk in the park for them in the next season with new screwed up regulations.

Grooved tyres benefited teams with good aerodynamic resources as grooved tyres were meant to slow down the cars but aerodynamic grip made up for that loss. Reintroduction of slick tyres meant more mechanical grip which would benefit the lower teams to close the gap between them and the front runners. Pirelli started introducing softer compounds and it either did the intended trick or Lewis simply imploded in 2011. This year the situation seems even more dire. I guess I will never ever see a race like Suzuka 2005 - Canada 2011 was a farce.

But even after all the crap... Vettel made the day for me. Specially the commentary where they said that Vettel could Pit and have a coffee and come back and he would still be at the front
This guy has such a passion of winning that he really plays every match to win... I love that.... He keeps on defying all pundits who said everything worse about him, his car gobbling tyres and what not.... but he just puts the best show

I think the problem here is Vettel gives credit to his team and everyone involved and Webber doesn't drive as badly as Massa does. Hence, some think it is just the car. Alonso on the other hand if he wins it is him but the team should improve because it is him who made the car win not the car. If he looses it is the car that caused him the victory, podium or points.
Vettel has improved immensely over the last few years and as much as I like Kimi I have to say when Kimi retires I might root for this driver. He had a few run-ins with other drivers on the grid while trying to overtake them but who in F1 hasn't crashed before?
No matter how much Alonso cries that last year he had a bad car I don't believe him. He had a good car. Vettel didn't have the best car throughout the season and also had a number of mechanical failures but he still came through. His drive in Abu Dhabi and Brazil were outstanding considering the type of pressure he was under.
If anyone thinks it is only the car and Newey then they are just fooling themselves.

 

[onlyravi]

@prabs on which channel do you watch the F1 races then? I dont think we have any other option in India apart from Star sports/espn.

 

[prabs]

@prabs on which channel do you watch the F1 races then? I dont think we have any other option in India apart from Star sports/espn.

I do watch it on tv. Last year at times I used to use Vipbox. Considering you will get the same feed and iirc there were ads on it too but they were far and between it makes little or no sense in using it. Another viable option is star sports hd and espn hd.

 

[onlyravi]

I do watch it on tv. Last year at times I used to use Vipbox. Considering you will get the same feed and iirc there were ads on it too but they were far and between it makes little or no sense in using it. Another viable option is star sports hd and espn hd.

By TV you mean the same Star sports right?
Will watching on HD channels be any better in terms of advt? If someone can confirm this then I can surely go for a HD connection.

 

[Renegade]

The duration of breaks is not more than 2 minutes and they show their own program promotions during that time, not ads. Watching on HD is definitely much better.

 

[bottle]

By TV you mean the same Star sports right?
Will watching on HD channels be any better in terms of advt? If someone can confirm this then I can surely go for a HD connection.

Close your eyes and get HD, watching sports in HD is a must I'm using Videocon and service is great

 

[onlyravi]

Close your eyes and get HD, watching sports in HD is a must I'm using Videocon and service is great

They(HD Channels) dont have ads in between programs or events?

 

[bottle]

They do but its never been more than a few mins or as many breaks as the regular coverage

 

[onlyravi]

They do but its never been more than a few mins or as many breaks as the regular coverage

With Star Sports SD the breaks are like every 9Laps and they last about 1.5 to 2 laps (approx 2min). Quality wise I am happy with SD broadcast.... One option is to d/l races and watch them but again that means waiting for 2 days which is not possible I am so eager on race weekends that I start watching the TV and hour b4 the events and wait for the races to start.... I think for now will have to live with the current setup...

Was reading one article about Italian Media's reports on Bahrain GP
Man.... these people are so extremists.... They can't even take a sport sportingly .... I agree Alonso's performance was great despite his bad luck but in F1 there is no place for ifs and buts... It is all about what works out for you and how you utilize the available resources be it environmental, technical or pure luck for that matter....

 

[prabs]

With Star Sports SD the breaks are like every 9Laps and they last about 1.5 to 2 laps (approx 2min). Quality wise I am happy with SD broadcast.... One option is to d/l races and watch them but again that means waiting for 2 days which is not possible I am so eager on race weekends that I start watching the TV and hour b4 the events and wait for the races to start.... I think for now will have to live with the current setup...

Was reading one article about Italian Media's reports on Bahrain GP
Man.... these people are so extremists.... They can't even take a sport sportingly .... I agree Alonso's performance was great despite his bad luck but in F1 there is no place for ifs and buts... It is all about what works out for you and how you utilize the available resources be it environmental, technical or pure luck for that matter....

Can you PM me the links to get the races? I don't mind waiting for 2 days to get a race if the race is a real classic.

What did you expect from the Italian media? You will get something similar from the Spanish media as well. If Narain Kartikeyan was a bit better or like he was in 2005 the Indian media would have gone bonkers during the Indian GP.

Sadly a regular Tata Sky user. Upgrading to HD means 2 more wires which means drilling again in the freshly painted hall not to mention the older wire was concealed which means visible wires which means raising the topic will get me killed by my Dad which means I will stick to regular Tata Sky which means ads ads ads... which means end of story.

 

[onlyravi]

^^ Thanks a lot for mentioning the two wire thing. I am currently doing my house and so will keep this in mind Just for future up gradation to DVR if I want
Sent you a PM.

 

[prabs]

@onlyravi - 2 cables more cables more i.e., 3 cables are only required for Tata Sky. Atleast this is what they told me. I was a bit baffled at their buffoonery and decided not to go ahead with it.

 

[onlyravi]

^^ No Its 2 only. One is for live telecast and other is for DVR functionality. For only HD without DVR only one cable can suffice. I am sure about this.

 

[prabs]

^^ No Its 2 only. One is for live telecast and other is for DVR functionality. For only HD without DVR only one cable can suffice. I am sure about this.

That is odd. This emoticon hardly does justice to how I am feeling at the the moment ->

 

[bottle]

Only using single cable here for my HD connection

 

[prabs]

Not much to be said about the last race the Spanish GP except that for the first time I actually enjoyed playing Galaga (Love Galaxian a lot more hence didn't like Galaga in past).

I wouldn't say the race was boring because of lack of overtakes but it was a race where no one wanted to rather couldn't attack.

I thought that Kimi with his 3 stop strategy against Alonso's 4 stop strategy would result in a close battle but it was far from it. Kimi couldn't push really hard in any of the 3 sprints and Fred nearly got a puncture. Vettel too had to allow Fred by.

There is now a talk of tyres being changed by Silverstone in June but will it be fair to teams like Lotus or Ferrari.

I didn't understand what happened to Perez he was doing well but was he hard on his tyres that lead to 4 stop strategy for him against Button's 3 stop strategy.

I still have no idea of what went wrong with Lewis's car but hopefully this is a one off. This is the time around which the Silver Arrows started becoming blunt last year.

 

[prabs]

Well looks like Kimi's string of podiums the interest for F1 on this forum too has disappeared not to mention the huge gaps between races.

Nevertheless I will share my thoughts here hoping some of you might come back.

4 tyre failures in 1 race and result of each could have ended in horror had it happened on a narrower circuit with very less run off area.

Lotus - I am not sure if it is the car, the strategy, the upgrades or Kimi himself is the problem. If he had pitted when the last safety car came out I don't think he could have moved up from where he would come out on the track like Fernando and Mark did. By not pitting we saw what was the result he was a sitting duck. I wonder why Romain was pitted before Kimi in the first round of pit stops and if he did why wasn't he asked to slow down and slow Fernando down with him. That would have been much better and useful than asking Romain to move over saying Kimi was faster when Kimi obviously didn't seem to be faster. I don't what good is consistency going to do when one has to stare at everyone's gear box.

Red Bull - Seeing Vettel retire made me sad considering the reaction he got from the crowd but it does make the championship battle a lot closer than it would have been otherwise. Mark Webber made a woeful start but an excellent recovery drive.

Mercedes - Nico so far seems to be doing an excellent job. Lewis needs to borrow some of Vettel's good luck charm. Oh wait Vettel needs it too especially after today. Lewis must have been gutted but did an excellent job for the team.

Ferrari - Didn't see the qualifying but heard they are suffering there but race pace was pretty good. Sad to see Massa's tyre failure considering the start he made. Fernando - I hate him for Santander saga which involved Kimi and Ferrari - clearly seems to be the best driver on the grid. His aggression and will on the track made him spectacular to watch.

Force India - Seem to be getting better and better with each race.

Toro Rosso - Vergne's tire failure was unfortunate. If Kimi isn't Red Bull's choice I am sure Daniel would be.

McLaren - They are focusing on the 2014 season so they aren't going to improve. Thinking on the lines of 2014 they should kick out their Alpha driver (Button) and hire a better driver.

Williams - Team Celebrated their anniversary with 4 Tyre explosions on 4 different cars of which none where Williams. Apart from that who cared?

Sauber - I bet the Hulk regrets his move now. Who is the other driver?

Caterham, Marussia - Where they there in the race?

 

[mathrisk]

I missed the most of the actions today (well those balloon pops ).
Just watched the last few laps - when Kimi was pushed back and back. And tough luck for Sebastian today.

 

[blkrb0t]

Seems to be a fun race today. Didn't catch the action; will download the footage to see the misadventures.