Auto Racing Discussion Thread

[heywoodu 15,141]

8 minutes ago, LDOG said:

F1 is a load of shit, 95% car 5% driver and you can only get in if you are from a rich country and have a sponsor willing to pour millions into these old men's bank accounts.

 

95% car, 5% driver. Well that would fit right into JM Lopez' alley then, seeing as without that insanely good Citroën he'd probably never even have come close to the WTCC title, let alone 3 of them  

 

Apart from that, only 5% coming from the driver is of course quite untrue, because if that's how it would be, there would rarely be any difference between two drivers of the same team

 

And last but not least, "having a sponsor willing to pour millions into it" goes for some riders, not for all. There are actually riders who are there because of their talent. It's not like in most other classes sponsors aren't needed. 

[LDOG 2,418]

hace 14 minutos, heywoodu said:

 

95% car, 5% driver. Well that would fit right into JM Lopez' alley then, seeing as without that insanely good Citroën he'd probably never even have come close to the WTCC title, let alone 3 of them  

 

Apart from that, only 5% coming from the driver is of course quite untrue, because if that's how it would be, there would rarely be any difference between two drivers of the same team

 

And last but not least, "having a sponsor willing to pour millions into it" goes for some riders, not for all. There are actually riders who are there because of their talent. It's not like in most other classes sponsors aren't needed. 

 

Never said Lopez was good, I didn't even mention him in my post. But anyway, he could have been the best driver in the universe and still wouldn't get into F1 because no private money whatsoever is put into sports in this country. F1 is more about the "show" than any other motorsport class.

[heywoodu 15,141]

3 minutes ago, LDOG said:

 

Never said Lopez was good, I didn't even mention him in my post. But anyway, he could have been the best driver in the universe and still wouldn't get into F1 because no private money whatsoever is put into sports in this country. F1 is more about the "show" than any other motorsport class.

 

If he, or any other driver from any random nation, would be 20 years old and driving the hell out of everyone in series like GP3/GP2/F3, he would have a very decent chance of being picked up in one of the development programs that multiple F1 teams have (like the Mercedes program or the Red Bull program)

 

The few drivers that are in F1 mostly because of money are those that aren't that talented. Even Manor nowadays has two drivers that are both very talented and actually deserve a place in F1, unlike Minardi that was going around with drivers like Zsolt Baumgartner, Gaston Mazzacane, Tarso Marques, Nicolas Kiesa, Alex Yoong and those kind of people. 

 

And besides all that, motor racing is a team sport, of course it matters for which team you're driving, just like Cristiano Ronaldo won't win the Champions League if he plays for my town's team in the 6th amateur division in the Netherlands  

[LDOG 2,418]

hace 23 minutos, heywoodu said:

 

If he, or any other driver from any random nation, would be 20 years old and driving the hell out of everyone in series like GP3/GP2/F3, he would have a very decent chance of being picked up in one of the development programs that multiple F1 teams have (like the Mercedes program or the Red Bull program)

 

I'll believe this the day I see a F1 driver from a broke country   It's all about money. The indonesian driver was replaced by a french because his government stopped financing him lol. Argentina had a lot of drivers in history and we have had 0 since 2001 (our big economic crack) what a coincidence.

[heywoodu 15,141]

1 minute ago, LDOG said:

 

I'll believe this the day I see a F1 driver from a broke country   It's all about money. The indonesian driver was replaced by a french because his government stopped financing him lol.

Yet even so, Haryanto isn't very talented, whereas Ocon is one of the most talented drivers around

 

And that first part has nothing to do with F1. Getting into motorsports is a costly hobby, so yeah, you're not gonna see a ton of drivers from Lesotho, Niger or the Central African Republic in the sport. Not because F1 needs money, but because the entire sport is costly to begin with (it's not like you get a good kart to compete with for 10 dollars).

 

If some driver from Niger would somehow get the money to start a motorsports career from a young age (including karting), and would be driving the hell out of the competition in the "talent classes" (like Verstappen did in F3, like Vettel did even more in Formula BMW and like Vandoorne did in GP2), I have no doubt the F1 teams would be very much interested, seeing as what they want is talented drivers. 

[LDOG 2,418]

hace 2 minutos, heywoodu said:

Yet even so, Haryanto isn't very talented, whereas Ocon is one of the most talented drivers around

 

Yes, I was using that as part of my point, since Indonesia is a fast-growing economy. He only got there because of the $$$ and as soon as it stopped he's out.

 

I don't even mean countries in utter poverty. Obviously no one is going to take car racing in Central African R. I'm talking about Argentina/Uruguay or the smaller european countries. With all respect Argentina has a much bigger car racing culture than Mexico, Venezuela or Colombia, yet...

[heywoodu 15,141]

47 minutes ago, LDOG said:

 

Yes, I was using that as part of my point, since Indonesia is a fast-growing economy. He only got there because of the $$$ and as soon as it stopped he's out.

 

I don't even mean countries in utter poverty. Obviously no one is going to take car racing in Central African R. I'm talking about Argentina/Uruguay or the smaller european countries. With all respect Argentina has a much bigger car racing culture than Mexico, Venezuela or Colombia, yet...

Colombia only had one driver in F1 relatively recently and he happened to be insanely talented as well  

 

Don't get me wrong, it would be cool to see a talented Argentinian in F1 as well, but my main point is that it all doesn't have so much to do with F1 in itself, but with motorsports. It's fun that Argentina has a big racing culture, but then the big young guys there should move over to Europe or another place where the F1 teams will actually see them race. That's the part that costs money and is much more difficult than when a very talented driver is already driving in F3/GP3/2. 

[Federer91 2,796]

F1 calendar remains the same for 2017 with Germany, Canada and Brazil with question marks for further confirmation. It's too much for me. 

[heywoodu 15,141]

How many "obscure" former F1-teams do you guys recognize?

 

http://wtf1.co.uk/quiz-can-name-obscure-formula-1-teams/

 

I scored 7/10, although to be fair, one of them was just a lucky guess  

[Dmitry 92]

7 hours ago, heywoodu said:

How many "obscure" former F1-teams do you guys recognize?

 

http://wtf1.co.uk/quiz-can-name-obscure-formula-1-teams/

 

I scored 7/10, although to be fair, one of them was just a lucky guess  

6/10 with 1 or 2 lucky strike.