2003 comments on new rules

[BebiF1]

Micheal Shumacher:
'I like the rules as they are,' the 34-year-old comments, 'but what you see at the moment is not the finished regulations for the year. They will change.'

Ron Dennis:
'Qualifying should be exactly that,' (old way) said Dennis, 'so it has lost much of its appeal to me and many others when you force teams to keep the same fuel level for the race.'
Dennis thinks this rule carries a 'safety angle' - 'How do the cars react to having 60-odd kilos of fuel in them overnight,' he quizzes.
'Will the fuel cells still function normally the following day? All of this is a concern, I think, to many of the teams.'

Juan Montoya:
'It's even crap on Fridays,' he adds of the session not hampered by high levels of fuel as each contender takes it in turns to pound in a hot lap.
'It's boring for the drivers,' the Colombian starts, 'who go first because they have nothing to do for the rest of the session, and they don't even have the shape of the grid to interest them.
'For the spectators it's boring too.'

 

[Tiger]

Well Mr JPM, I'm a spectator...I was at the Australian Grand Prix and I watch each and every race...and I would thank you kindly NOT to speak on my behalf!!!

I found the qualifying sooooo exiciting live...it was just great! Sitting there hoping for you to make one simple mistake, so you end up down the back of the grip...HAHAHA...yes JPM, it's darn FUN!

Qual is just one of the many new rules and it's about the only rule I actually like...the rest get a big fat PEFFFFT!! from me.

Bebi,
Thanks for the qoutes, but what are your thoughts?

 

[NateDogg]

How can driving an F1 car be boring? geezze JMP, you got 920hp @19000, you know your fuel load and knowbody else does, brings forth great stratage. I think its great for comp. If they do change mabey let em go fast friday and take an average of the two days or something.

 

[BebiF1]

Well my thoughts Tiger... would be that the Friday "provisional qualifying" would be what I call boring. It dont account to anything but what order you run the next day. You have to qualify to qualify. Doesnt that sound dumb? I think it should be like CART and the pole sitter from Friday get a point or something so its worth going fast. As far as Saturday, now thats a different story. I am a big fan of Jaguar, mostly Eddie Irvine, who left them, but still got a Jag shirt and hat. But anyways I almost was ripping the cushions off of my dads chair when Webber was so very close to taking pole at Brazil. I mean he was down first split, way up the second split and I was absolutley going crazy. If we would have been watching last years type of qualifying, in the last minutes, either Micheal or Juan got the camera on them to see who would take the pole. We would have never saw Webber's run. So I like the new way much better, one because we get to see every driver and every car and that way the attention isnt always on five time world champion but a little more on the small guys of the sport.

 

[SALEEN S7R]

At first I was against the F1 rule changes, but thats what happens when u have been watching a sport a certain way for a long time, u dont like change. But then after Malaysia I started to like it again, I mean its actually a bit of a lottery as to who will win the race, now theres about 6 possible drivers who can win races if u ask me, where as last year it was 2, or maybe 3 at a Maximum.

Beib, Im sorry but I dont agree with u on the qualifying score. On a Friday when the cars first go out for qualifying the track is dusty as it hasnt been used (ok the F3000 do and the other supports but its not the same). If u set the best time in the first qualifying that means u go out last the following day as we know. So providing the track stays dry on the following day the guys who go last have a big advantage as there is fresh rubber already on the track, F1 rubber I mean, not the stuff u get from the F3000 cars or Aussie V8's or Porsches, when the first guys go out they dont have as much grip as the guys who go out last.

U have to remember also that a lot of the changes have been made for the fans as well as the drivers, on Friday's it has traditionally been very quiet with only a few people going out for a couple of laps, now the Friday session is more important than ever as the F1 boys have less track time than they ever have done. So now they have to use both sessions for A: to get a good race setup, and B: so they set a good time and get to go out last on Saturday. Oh one thing, if u did give a extra point to the guy who went fastest in Friday qualifying as they do in CART that would make the points even more predictable, because MS or Rubens would simply set the fastest time, remember it isnt until Saturday that u need to sort out ur fuel loads for the race, so both Ferrari's could go all out on Friday and score a extra point. If every car ran 1 lap very hard on the same fuel load we all know who would most likely get the fastest time, or at least we know which Manufacturer would. Ferrari.

Still differnt people have differnt points of view, either way the new points system and qualifying system is working. As are the new rules as a whole, the FIA wanted to create close exciting racing again, and I think they have suceeded, nice job guys.