Backmarkers and Virgins
Tuesday, May 11, 2010 at 09:33AM
There is a lot of talk about the problem of the three new teams being too slow and dangerous to pass. There was a request to split the Q1 session in this weekends Monaco GP, but we all know the potential problems that raises. It rains for the second group, or someone drops a bunch of oil, and the second group are all complaining.
The commentators speculate that these F1 drivers are not used to slow traffic, unlike their Endurance racing counterparts. These guys are the best there is, so how can that be? In endurance racing there are separate classes with large speed differential, but they all race their own race. The slower classes do have to be aware of who is coming up behind them, but basically they keep racing. The poor guys in Lotus, HRT and Virgin have all been brow beaten that they are somehow not worthy to be out there and they should just stay out of the way. That leads to situations where Hamilton is exiting the pits with Vettel at full bore in the main straight, and a "backmarker" desperately trying to hide, except he is right on the line at the apex of the corner basically parked. If he had just stayed on his race line the guys could have sorted it out, as it was it was nearly a disaster.
You drivers out there feel free to correct me, but I was always taught that if you are being overtaken stay on the race line at your speed and let the fast guy go around, at least he can predict where you are going. At the moment the fast guys have no idea where the slower guys are going to be when they get there, but it is usually in the wrong place. Let's stop complaining about them and let them race their own race.
Talking about Virgin, both cars finished this race, even though only one had supposedly the new larger fuel tank that would get him to the end. Did Di Grassi run around slowly enough to save that much fuel or is there something else behind the supposed fuel tank problem?
McLaren confirmed it was a rim failure and not the tire that sent Hamilton into the barrier, but it does not seem to be related to stones from the gravel. Loose wheel nut a possible cause, similar to Vettel at the Australian GP?
The commentators speculate that these F1 drivers are not used to slow traffic, unlike their Endurance racing counterparts. These guys are the best there is, so how can that be? In endurance racing there are separate classes with large speed differential, but they all race their own race. The slower classes do have to be aware of who is coming up behind them, but basically they keep racing. The poor guys in Lotus, HRT and Virgin have all been brow beaten that they are somehow not worthy to be out there and they should just stay out of the way. That leads to situations where Hamilton is exiting the pits with Vettel at full bore in the main straight, and a "backmarker" desperately trying to hide, except he is right on the line at the apex of the corner basically parked. If he had just stayed on his race line the guys could have sorted it out, as it was it was nearly a disaster.
You drivers out there feel free to correct me, but I was always taught that if you are being overtaken stay on the race line at your speed and let the fast guy go around, at least he can predict where you are going. At the moment the fast guys have no idea where the slower guys are going to be when they get there, but it is usually in the wrong place. Let's stop complaining about them and let them race their own race.
Talking about Virgin, both cars finished this race, even though only one had supposedly the new larger fuel tank that would get him to the end. Did Di Grassi run around slowly enough to save that much fuel or is there something else behind the supposed fuel tank problem?
McLaren confirmed it was a rim failure and not the tire that sent Hamilton into the barrier, but it does not seem to be related to stones from the gravel. Loose wheel nut a possible cause, similar to Vettel at the Australian GP?
Reader Comments