2016 Japanese Grand Prix - Suzuka, 07-09 October

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The simple solution would be to sack the stupid overtaking of the lapped cars and to close the pits. Like this the SC can collect all cars within one lap and come in one lap later on incidents like we saw last Sunday.

well, we had that a couple of years ago, didn't we?! And it let to the Piquet incident in Singapore, as it opens the door for "team strategies", like it also happens in IndyCar occasionally. And furthermore, even without the cheating aspect, it potentially makes the outcome of a race totally random, which (in my opinion) is not really what F1 stands for

[Mandrake]

If I remember correctly Bianchi crashed on the intermediate tyre.

And the conditions werent that bad. His death was a result of a tremendous bad luck. Anyway the proccedures to reléase a crashed car needed to be changed. Now we have the VSC and things seem to work better.

Agreed. The VSC was a brilliant idea.

Funny how the VSC is now perceived a brilliant idea when it was already around for ages in other race series proving to be working very well (Full Course Yellow anyone?).

In fact, there are multiple versions of not using a SC which are all better than what F1 offered......

[basti313]

The simple solution would be to sack the stupid overtaking of the lapped cars and to close the pits. Like this the SC can collect all cars within one lap and come in one lap later on incidents like we saw last Sunday.

well, we had that a couple of years ago, didn't we?! And it let to the Piquet incident in Singapore, as it opens the door for "team strategies", like it also happens in IndyCar occasionally.

I do not think the current rule changed anything on that. If you stay out until your opponents pitted and crash the other car then you will have the same. And as we do not have refueling anymore the effect is not big if you try it with pitting before the SC.
In fact, with the refueling ditched, the reason for not closing the pits is also removed as the main reason was cars running out of fuel for removing the closed pit rule.

And furthermore, even without the cheating aspect, it potentially makes the outcome of a race totally random, which (in my opinion) is not really what F1 stands for

Every SC makes the race a bit random. At the moment the once staying out long profit from the SC. We saw it in Malaysia with Button, who got screwed by pitting one lap before the VSC. But F1 wants more pit stops and mixed up grids...so the simple rule change would be to close the pits. In later stages of the race the leading cars have a fair and earned advantage by not letting the lapped cars overtake.

[ChrisDanger]

Press Conference Schedule

Thursday, October 06, 15h00 hours local time (06h00 GMT)

• Fernando Alonso (McLaren)
• Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
• Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)
• Jolyon Palmer (Renault)
• Carlos Sainz (Toro Rosso)
• Pascal Wehrlein (Manor)

Friday, October 07, 16h00 hours local time (07h00 GMT)

• Bob Bell (Renault)
• Luigi Fraboni (Ferrari)
• Yusuke Hasegawa (Honda)
• Ayao Komatsu (Haas)
• Paddy Lowe (Mercedes)
• Pat Symonds (Williams)

[SameSame]

If I remember correctly Bianchi crashed on the intermediate tyre.

And the conditions werent that bad. His death was a result of a tremendous bad luck. Anyway the proccedures to reléase a crashed car needed to be changed. Now we have the VSC and things seem to work better.

Yes, I wonder why there were so much talking about his death in the wrong direction. The car went flying under double waved yellows as he passed the yellows much too fast like any other car. One year later the double yellow got not strengthened, but even more ignored. I do not think this is a respectful way to deal with it.

And I think the VSC is not really useful. Other racing series have something similar for single sectors. What is the reason for a VSC for the full track? And we should not forget how the VSC was born...it was introduced, because stupid rule changes were leading to much too long SC phases.
In my point of view they just need to shorten the SC phases again. The simple solution would be to sack the stupid overtaking of the lapped cars and to close the pits. Like this the SC can collect all cars within one lap and come in one lap later on incidents like we saw last Sunday.

So far the VSC has worked quite well in my view, it is way shorter than a safety car and even though it makes for less exciting racing it is more fair. Another thing is that the safety car is simply too slow. The cars struggle to maintain tyre and brake temperatures. I cannot for the life of me understand why the use such a slow road car as the safety car.

Closing the pits would be more unfair than keeping them open I think. But I agree that just a certain sector or few corners can be controlled instead of the entire track, especially with the technology and communication they have available to them.

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Every SC makes the race a bit random. At the moment the once staying out long profit from the SC. We saw it in Malaysia with Button, who got screwed by pitting one lap before the VSC. But F1 wants more pit stops and mixed up grids...so the simple rule change would be to close the pits. In later stages of the race the leading cars have a fair and earned advantage by not letting the lapped cars overtake.

mmh, I'm not sure, how much did Button lose in Malaysia, one position maybe, if at all?! With the rule change you propose, Ricciardo would have dropped from 1st to last basically (provided he still needed to stop - not sure if he did need to, it's just an example)

[Manoah2u]

Regarding the SC starts, i agree though that that part has nothing to do with JB17, let me be clear about that if i somehow from my side off wrongfully gave that image. I do however see elements in place that were atleast similar to the JB incident. And yes, JB did have a huge part himself in the incident, but the simple point was that if the race had been stopped early, and an indication was that several drivers for several laps kept complaining on drivability and visibility, the incident never was neccesary and that is imho the main cause in the JB incident.

Apart from that, yes, the VSC is a brilliant solution and it works absolutely flawless. I thought the idea was interesting but i held little believability to it at first but it has absolutely proven to be working superbly, so as long as a VSC gets implemented, then a repeat of that incident should be brought to an absolute minimum.

[ChrisDanger]

The boys from Red Bull in Tokyo.

[Manoah2u]

what the hell is that supposed to be?

[ctdrftna]

That retro jdm boso style

[SR71]

http://www.motorsport-total.com/f1/news ... 00505.html

Liberty already spicing things up. Loved watching the drivers meetings in the Senna movie. Hopefully the broadcasters take advantage of this new opportunity.

[Vasconia]

It seems that a wet qualy could be quite possible but chances for a wet race are decreasing.

[zac510]

I've spent the last few days in Mie just near the circuit. It poured down yesterday as the typhoon passed over the west of the country but today is nice, albeit windy. The Japanese websites say light rain on Saturday and cloudy on Sunday. Probably windy both days and temps in the low 20s.

[Schuttelberg]

As a fan, I really enjoy the driver's press conference on Thursdays. I like Hamilton, but he was really unprofessional and disrespectful towards the media and the fans today. His answers were vague and seemed to care less about the questions. He kept asking people to go to his Instagram account to see how he feels and for the full duration was on his iPhone. I rather hear from some other driver who doesn't disrespect my feelings. I know how to use Instagram and other social networks, but I don't tune in to the DPC for nothing.

He's become a superstar but instead of telling us how 'blessed' he is like a PR Robot, may be he can show the fans some respect and humility.

[iotar__]

As a fan, I really enjoy the driver's press conference on Thursdays. I like Hamilton, but he was really unprofessional and disrespectful towards the media and the fans today. His answers were vague and seemed to care less about the questions. He kept asking people to go to his Instagram account to see how he feels and for the full duration was on his iPhone. I rather hear from some other driver who doesn't disrespect my feelings. I know how to use Instagram and other social networks, but I don't tune in to the DPC for nothing.

He's become a superstar but instead of telling us how 'blessed' he is like a PR Robot, may be he can show the fans some respect and humility.

Outside of track so who cares, that's the problem for people paying him (Mercedes) and buying it (crowd). Awkward "mind-games" are OK too but outright lies are something different. Thankfully journalists are doing the job for him this time with questions and titles like that "Rosberg not worried over engine failures deciding title" (http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/rosbe ... le-835334/). How about "team-orders deciding the title"? Forgot to ask Hamilton that?

Rosberg has suffered a number of mechanical issues throughout his Mercedes stint, including an ERS failure that denied him an outside chance at the championship in Abu Dhabi in 2014 - but he has been largely unaffected this year

F1's pseudo journalism at its finest. The fact that author lists ERS in AD '14 but not:
- A. new engine failure in Monza, B. old engine failure in Monza, C. pedal failure in Russia, D. engine problems at the start in Suzuka = four problems in 3 consecutive races, deciding '15 championship
- or servicing substance contamination from Singapore '14 is very telling.

Secondly "largely unaffected" '16 is another outright lie, even if limited dishonestly to only technical problems:
- in Austria Rosberg lost more points than Hamilton in Spa through a combination of factors that included suspension failure, grid penalty and brake problems. BTW wouldn't that be the perfect place to repay Monaco team orders considering he was quicker (including SC erasing the advantage) even though the lead was through pitstop/strategy. It was undercut, tyres and timing of pitstop favouring Hamilton instead.
- Canada - combination of dirty driving, punctures and fuel problems that were connected to them
- Spain + Monaco - costing more than Malaysia through crash, lack of grid penalty, team orders and huge lack of botched pitstop
- gear-box in GB and so on including penalties, bad pitstops, bad iphones and weird strategy.