US GP Austin

[Mike Harte]

Originally Posted by S griffin

It wasn't always the case, drivers back in the day knew their limits

As others from the F1 world have said on more than one occasion, Senna didn't; he had a firm belief that he was protected and that nothing would happen to him.

[flatlandsman]

Exactly, on another post I recall the Senna movie and listening to the team radio after he won in Brazil 91, and the scary, maniacal, almost demonic voice on that radio gave me chills. I immediately thought of Alain, imagine trying to drive against this, I thought of Suzuka 90 and instantly recognised this man, and instantly realised why Alain just gave up trying to reason.

[S griffin]

Originally Posted by Mike Harte

As others from the F1 world have said on more than one occasion, Senna didn't; he had a firm belief that he was protected and that nothing would happen to him.

No, you're right. For all his talent and excitement he bought to the sport, despite him being my first hero, I can't defend some of the things he did. Really quite sad some of the tactics he bought to the sport. Especially as he was good enough not to do that

[flatlandsman]

AS were Schumacher and indeed Max, it seems a recurring theme with these drivers.

[TrapezeArtist]

Originally Posted by Richard C

I know some drivers have said that they should race with the rulebook in their pocket, or that when they are racing they are focusing on that vs. the rules. I generally think that's a deflection tactic. Yes, rules can be made to be overly complex. But I also think these guys know exactly what they are doing. Yes, sometimes the heat of the moment gets the better of them, but they pretty much know where they stand with regards to the rules.

The rules are too complex, yet still fail to accommodate all the situations that happen. I would go right back to basics:

• The white line defines the edge of the track. Any part of the the car beyond the white line means the car is off the track.
• Driving "off the track" gets a penalty, unless caused by another driver.
• If two cars have an overlap (however small) drivers must leave enough room for the other car the stay within the white line, Penalty if they fail to do so.

I don't think you need much more than that.

For penalties, I would like to see some sort of penalty chicane set up beside the track. When a driver is penalised he must go through that chicane on the next lap. More severe penalties could be multiple trips through the penalty chicane.

[Richard C]

Originally Posted by TrapezeArtist

The rules are too complex, yet still fail to accommodate all the situations that happen. I would go right back to basics:

• The white line defines the edge of the track. Any part of the the car beyond the white line means the car is off the track.
• Driving "off the track" gets a penalty, unless caused by another driver.
• If two cars have an overlap (however small) drivers must leave enough room for the other car the stay within the white line, Penalty if they fail to do so.

I don't think you need much more than that.

For penalties, I would like to see some sort of penalty chicane set up beside the track. When a driver is penalised he must go through that chicane on the next lap. More severe penalties could be multiple trips through the penalty chicane.

I like the idea and at a high level those work. But you can document examples that don't. For example... I attempt a pass on the outside, I am not likely to make the corner, but I am overlapping the defending car. The natural racing line at racing speeds requires the defending racer to track out to the end of the circuit. This doesn't leave room for attacking car on the outside. Defending driver is incorrectly penalized under your rules.

So you add a rule that calls out the passing driver needs to be able to make the corner. And then you are off to the races to close any number of what some might say are edge cases, but also edge cases that drivers would exploit.

Richard

[flatlandsman]

They use a ride through lane in bike racing these days, it does work to some extent, but in F1 with things like safety cars you can easily make up any losses, you do not tend to get safety cars and stuff in bike racing so more of a penalty, but riders have taken a ride through and won races, especially in the lower classes