Initial thoughts

forzaminardi

Actually watched a race for a change, or at least most of it :-)

I'd really appreciate feedback from those who went to watch the race but it seems to me that F1 cars are just as loud as the Porsche cup now.

Am I the only one who thinks the Toro Rosso and Force India noses look a bit like this



I also nominate the Williams for best looking car

SuperRoo

No, the Porsche cars are louder. The V8's sounded great compared to F1. F1 sound is quiet. TV makes it sound a little louder, but in the flesh it's disappointing. You can hear the turbo sound, but no scream.

Team principles say that the fans will get used to it. Not this one. I first heard a Ferrari V12 in Adelaide in 86 and the sound hooks you in.

I'm afraid if the noise is not addressed then F1 will become a TV only sport because fans will not bother. I have already decided that that would probably be my 21st and last GP in it's current guise.

After talking to a few fans, it seems I am not the only one.

forzaminardi

I remember the first time I heard an F1 engine scream at Monza. If what you say is true it's a real shame for the sport (yet another one)

minardirule

Certainly the engine sound on TV is extremely disappointing, but the race was actually reasonably entertaining I thought.

Great drive by Bottas and Magnusson and a real shame for Riciardo to be disqualified after his podium, fairly anonymous race for TOIT, definitely in need of more pace.

Agreed that Williams Martini have the livery of the year and seemingly good speed.

manlio27

Fully agree on Williams being the livery of the year, along with Lotus, of course, even though the disastrous results make even their livery look duller.
Love McLaren's livery as well.

Re noise: I've been to 8 races and the noises used to be a sort of sexual experiences, much of F1 thrill for the fans is taken away without those noises.

Re Ferrari: I just think they are mediocre, fullstop. Not to be able, for 5 years, to give a winning car to one like Ferdy Alonso means the team is just not at the right level. I really hope Alonso to leave at the end of the season. The car seems same as last year, just a 5th position car, both in practice and in the race. And mind you, Bottas and Massa without their crashes would have ended in front of Alonso as well. pretty surprised by Toro Rosso's performances instead.

Re Ricciardo: to be clarified, but his second place gave me some suspicion from the beginning. If he consumed more fuel than he should have, he has to be disqualified, let's see the appeal.

Overall: more and more a championship of engineers, where the drivers themselves have now to be engineers, and where they seem to be supposed to drive as slow as possible instead of as fast as possible. If things really turned out to be so, I think this new rules will not last long.

viges

Reasons to be cheerful: Williams, Macca, proper racing, more power than grip, opposite lock, sideways, yessss.

Reasons to be gloomy: the noise. Max genuinely did not believe fans gave this importance - a measure of how far removed the grandees are from the grandstands. The noise should be thrilling, literally thrilling. You never forget the first time you heard an F1 car although I think my son might. I shall have to take him to an historic race!

viges

Brundle:

''I'll never forget as a kid approaching a track with F1 cars already circulating and feeling incredible anticipation and excitement. Sadly some of that is missing now watching live, although at least the TV can pump it up a little.

PistonBroke

FYI on the Flow meter . . .
http://www.racecar-engineering.com/news/2014-f1-fuel-flow-meter-finally-homologated/

Lease

The Race
Watched it on TV. you have to say it was pretty interesting. With the cars being harder to drive it was clear that the drivers had to rely more on finesse and that was nowhere more noticable than in Magnussen's start. such a long long time since that happened.

The whole thing looked a lot more 80s in fact. Pretty cool.

The ease of rosberg's win was a bit ominous. If the rest of them are behind by 150bhp as some are suggesting, then this will only get worse on the more flowing high speed circuits.

Dumb mistake by Bottas, and I reckon judgement ought to be reserved on that individual for the time being.

The DQ
Rules are rules and that's the way it goes. As an observation though, the FIA put themselves into a corner with the 'no tolerance' bit when dealing with a device that has proved itself to be unreliable. On a broader note, using flow meters as an absolute - be they ultrasonic or mechanical - is fraught. Temperature, vibration, EMF, any amount of things can interfere with the readings. They are good to get you near the mark, but to use them in the way that they are being used - let us not forget that the flow rates they want to ploice are very low absolute volumes - is in my mind the equivalent of pissing on a live electricity cable just because Mythbusters showed that you wont get electrocuted.

The Noise
Meh, I'm in the minority. The noise of F1 live is just painful to me. Let's face it, you have to wear plugs or muffs to avoid physical discomfort. If I can lean on Douglas Adams on this point, I am reminded of the Intergalactic rock sensation Disaster Area.

The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy notes that Disaster Area, a plutonium rock band from the Gagrakacka Mind Zones, are generally held to be not only the loudest rock band in the Galaxy, but in fact the loudest noise of any kind at all. Regular concert-goers judge that the best sound balance is usually to be heard from within large concrete bunkers some thirty-seven miles from the stage, whilst the musicians themselves play their instruments by remote control from within a heavily insulated spaceship which stays in orbit around the planet - or more frequently around a completely different planet.

I like the sexy sound of the V6 on the telly, but clearly, I am not in the same corner as most people. This is becomming a real issue and i expect that the FIA or more possibly the teams, will do something about it.

SuperRoo

I repeat, the sound on TV is amplified to the sound at the track. I am not advocating that they go back to the big bangers, but there must be a way to improve the sound. Believe me, many fair weather F1 fans will not go to the races if this part of the spectator mix is not addressed.

If Bernie can drag himself out of the lawyers office for long enough he will see a line of GP promoters at his office door wanting to get out of their contracts.

I thought the racing was great. But at the track having a beer, it took a few minutes to realise the F1's were out. They were like a louder version of formula ford.

It was when the speed challenge race was on where it was chalk and cheese. The speed challenge pits a Merc C63 (driven by Mick Doohan), Vs a V8 (driven by Craig Lowndes), Vs last years Red Bull F1 (Driven by DC). I have not seen so many people happy to see DC before.

It may be noise to some, but its a marriage of speed and sound to create the atmosphere. Sort of like sex, you always remember your first time........





[Edited on 18-3-14 by SuperRoo]

Lease

................or the last

Stan

I don't really care that much about the sound. I have never visited more than one race a year, so the TV broadcasts are most important to me. It's just sad that new fans will not get the same experience many of us had at our first F1 race. I vividly remember the 2002 Belgian grand prix. Trying to figure out where my ear plugs went was the first thing I did as Anthony Davidson flew by.

But being selfish, right now I prefer racing over the sound of the engines.