Christian Horner: F1 needs to be flat-out from start to finish

(by Nate Saunders espn.go.com 6-10-15)

Christian Horner says F1 "needs to be a flat-out sprint race from start to finish" after the drab Canadian Grand Prix led to criticism about the current spectacle.

On top of Mercedes recording an easy one-two, the Montreal race was dominated by drivers being told to lift and coast to preserve fuel. The predominance of the one-stop strategy also limited entertainment as the Canadian event failed to live up to expectations.

After the race, Horner said there are multiple issues F1 needs to address to improve the show.

"I think we had more downforce a few years ago that abused the tyres a bit more but I think one-stop races are not good for F1 - you need to have two-three stops - and that's important," he said. "We have tyres that are just a bit too conservative. I think the other thing that's not good for F1 is fuel saving - it should be a sprint race and 'lift and coast' doesn't belong in a sprint race, that's not the message F1 should be putting across."

Pressed on whether he had a solution, Horner replied: "Shorten the race by five laps or whatever it is. Either a bit more fuel or a bit less distance, but it needs to be a flat-out sprint race from start to finish."

The Red Bull boss thinks the radio messages telling drivers to lift and coast give fans a negative impression of F1.

"Of course it's the wrong message. If you're a fan sitting at home, you don't want to hear that, you want to see the guys going flat out, racing each other, and I think it is something we need to take on board and react to. It sounds like coaching if they're telling them where to lift and how much to lift - they might as well get in and do it!

Horner believes Pirelli has gone too conservative in the time since the criticism it received following the 2013 British Grand Prix, which was dominated by tyre blowouts.

"Managing the tyres is more about how the driver is using his right foot - he's not lifting at the end of the straights, so I think that's an easier issue to deal with. Pirelli did go too far if you think back to Silverstone 2013 and I think, as a result of that, their reaction was that we've ended up with a pretty conservative tyre, and the changes that were made over the winter, going into this year, went a bit more conservative again. The tyres that we had last year were, probably, about the right balance for strategy and degradation."

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http://espn.go.com/f1/story/_/id/13056630/christian-horner-says-f1-needs-flat-start-finish

Mclaren MP6/P

http://nathandearsley.blogspot.co.uk/

 

'2056, Cancer is cured, Formula one piloted by Navigators is the pinnacle of motorsport once again. In a bid to go back to thier roots and hopefully regain previous dominance as seen during the Senna / Prost times, Mclaren have turned to their classic Marlboro racing livery powered by Honda. The MP6/P's development has been a long one, original prototypes where developed and tested by human drivers dating back at far as the early 90's ( secret heritage photos can be found ), but were deemed too radical for track design at that time, boasting a hybrid of an electric four wheeled system mixed with full on combustion drive at the rear, these prototypes although having very simple aerodynamic design had incredible low speed traction.

 Body design purposefully primitive to punch a non turbulent flow of air out of the rear boasted overtaking opportunities, but in return would have unpredictable results within heavy breaking overtaking manoeuvres to the delight of onlookers.'

 

Slowly coming around to the new car

Sebastien Bourdais' road and street course aero kit Chevy

I have made my opinion known from the start, I have not been sold on the new Dallara chassis. I've called it a "joke", "ugly", and a "POS".

However, I have to admit I am starting to warm up to the new car........slowly.

If it can somehow keep the costs down, if the "aero kits" are consistently tinkered with and improved upon, if it provides competition between Chevy and Honda, and if it creates good racing with the little guys at times fighting up at the front, then I am all for it.

I think we have seen that so far this year with 7 different winners out of 8 races, with Chevy showing a superior car to Honda, and with Juan Pablo Montoya coming from 30th position to win the Indy 500 thanks to "tweaks" made to the car during the race, I am becoming a believer.

I am not completely on board yet, I think the rear bumpers need to be done away with for road and street course races seeing as they provide no protection against wheel-to-wheel contact since they break off at the slightest touch. They are completely useless and do nothing but provide work for the clean up crews since they are constantly out picking up pieces which slows the race down and frustrates the fans.

I can see a benefit however for the rear bumpers on oval races. If they improve the aerodynamics, which I think they do, then we can see higher speeds on ovals but at the same time we are getting a safer car.

Stefano Coletti's oval aero kit Chevy

We still have a long way to go but I can see progress being made, I just hope it is not too late.

I'd like to see IndyCar succeed, even after all the negative things I have said over the years. But my love for open-wheel racing in America trumps the past and the open-wheel war that is over. I am on board with the new as long as they don't repeat the stupid mistakes of the past.

Working with the new car and making improvements is priority #1 and I can thankfully see that happening.

Marco Andretti's original street course Honda



Carlos Munoz' modified street course Honda in Detroit

List of race winners half way thru season

March 29th - St. Petersburg - Juan Pablo Montoya
April 12th - Louisiana - James Hinchcliffe
April 19th - Long Beach - Scott Dixon
April 26th - Alabama - Josef Newgarden
May 9th - Indianapolis - Will Power
May 24th - Indy 500 - Juan Pablo Montoya
May 30th - Detroit 1 - Carlos Munoz
May 31st - Detroit 2 - Sebastien Bourdais
June 6th - Texas -
June 14th - Toronto -
June 27th - Fontana -
July 12th - Milwaukee -
July 18th - Iowa -
August 2nd - Mid-Ohio -
August 23rd - Pocono -
August 30th - Sonoma -

Interesting to note thus far:

3 drivers have finished in second place twice;
Will Power (St. Petersburg, Indy 500)
Helio Castroneves (Louisiana, Long Beach)
Graham Rahal (Alabama, Indianapolis)

4 drivers have finished in third place once;
Tony Kanaan (St. Petersburg)
James Jakes (Louisiana)
Charlie Kimball (Indy 500)
Simon Pagenaud (Detroit 1)

2 drivers have finished in second place once;
Marco Andretti (Detroit 1)
Takuma Sato (Detroit 2)