rec.autos.simulators

I thought so to until one of the Speedtv guys gave the rational,  the
more laps you run in the 3rd session the faster you go because of the
lowered fuel load, so each team is encouraged to run as many or more
laps then the other guys.  This keeps the maximum cars out on track in
front of the fans instead of them all waiting until the last 2 minutes.
  At least that's the theory.   I imagine monaco will throw a monkey
wrench into it...

The first session is to eliminate the wheat from the chaff and the 2nd
is to give TV time for the mid feilder's sponsors.....

Of course it's all for TV, what do you think timeouts are for in
Football and basketball, Hockey has TV breaks built in as well, they're
called penalties.

The one car at a time qualifying was like watching paint dry (or like
watching nascar qualifying)...

Actually think the FIA finally did some things right with V8s, more tires, and the new qual format.   Qualifying is now worth watching now even if it blows past some folks.

Wag


  > Are Bernie & the gang on ***? I'd repeat the new rules here, but they
  > went right over my head when the BBC just ran through them. I really
  > must learn to pay more attention now that watching F1 requires revision
  > notes.
  >
  BBC? ITV, surely?
  What it boils down to in the end is pandering to commercial TV.

  1. Qualifying is split into several "sessions" to allow TV companies to
  have long-ish commercial breaks without viewers complaining about their
  coverage being interrupted. (You think this is bad in qualifying? Wait
  until they bring out the pace car every 20 laps in the GPs so we can
  have more commercials!)

  2. The "best" teams are the only ones allowed on track in the final
  session, and that's where the top times are set. That allows TV
  companies from attention-deficiency-syndrome countries to show just the
  final session if they want.

  The ITV commentators themselves admitted that the "breaks" between the
  qualifying sessions weren't long enough to allow the teams to do any
  meaningful work or adjustments on the cars - obviously the format is
  just for the benefit of commercial TV.

errr....only ONE 'now' is needed.

Seriously though I think it is agood step to return to those exciting
qualifying sessions with traffic and multiple laps without the waiting
game for the lower runners to lay the *** down.

Cheers
Tony

So if the driver goes out and does a bunch of slow laps to burn
off gas, he won't get any gas to replace that used in those slow
laps. That's what happened to MS, and he refered to the "missing"
lap's worth of fuel as costing him the race. If he had had that
extra lap added in, he could have stayed out longer and Fernando
wouldn't have been able to beat him out of the pits that last
time.

Since drivers don't know ahead of time what the pole position time
is going to be, they have to drive moderately fast to get their
laps to count. Not the same as full out speed, but still, better
than just cruising around to burn off fuel.

--
  Darryl

So how do you think we get to watch sport on TV for free. Someone has to
pay.

Stop complaining and enjoy what your getting.

Andrew McP

Agreed, previous format was better, except for the "same tyres and fuel as
you start the race with"-idiocy.

Jan.
=---

cheers, uwe

--
GPG Fingerprint:  2E 13 20 22 9A 3F 63 7F  67 6F E9 B1 A8 36 A4 61

And by excluding the "same tyres and fuel as you start the race with"
means you DIDN'T like the previous format, you'd prefer a DIFFERENT
format.

So you saw it in person from Bahrain?

Unless you're bernie you tend to watch your races from TV and they tend
to have comercials that have to be sold based on audience count..

Last year's format: one flyer a piece as it offered equal airtime to all
teams and favoured the "excellent" drivers. Even HHF managed a competitive
time in the 12 lap format from time to time.

While I applauded the move to individual qualifying, I never understood this
twist the FIA chose to add to the proceedings. Qualifying is about pure
performance; if teams can put forward their preferred starting fuel levels
with this system of qualifying, this could have been implemented last year
as well.

The only other course of action, IMNSHO, is to legislate teams should
qualify, then start starting from the maximum amount of fuel allowed
onboard, as it's done in Nascar.

Jan.
=---

<Pauses to take medication... :-) >

Izzy, let's be serious here for a moment. Who paid when the BBC were
covering F1 in a much more viewer-friendly and professional way? Why
can't we go back to that system again? Why have we got to the state
where the TV companies are allowed to***around with the rules of the
sport so that they can make more money, at the expense of us getting
worse coverage?

Why should I not complain about something which is sub-standard and
could be so much better? Why should I be lazy and apathetic? Why should
I enjoy something that has been spoilt by greed and commercialism? Why
should I silently put up with my enjoyment of a sport being corrupted
and polluted by money-obsessed control-freaks, mainly from outside that
sport? (BTW Bernie 'rich-as-Malawi-and-Botswana-put-together' Ecclestone
is one example of a money-obsessed control freak who is INSIDE F1. It's
not all the fault of the TV companies.)

If you're perfectly happy with the way that big business and
commercialism are encroaching ever further into our lives, making us
watch adverts more and more, and trying to sell us things that we don't
want, then you're lazy and/or gullible.

And if you're so lazy and/or gullible that you just want to roll over
and take it up the rear, then fine. You do that. I hope it brings a
smile of pleasure to your face. If you can still look at yourself in the
bathroom mirror in the mornings, despite your lack of self-respect, then
that's great.

Me, I've got more balls than that. I don't like being pushed around. I
may not be able to win against big business, but I can sure as hell make
a lot of loud and vehement noise. And no-one has the right to tell me to
stop.