Button expects no change from 2016 tyre rules

F1 Fanatic Round-up

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In the round-up: Jenson Button says the complicated new rules on tyres for 2016 will not have a significant effect on the racing.

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Should Michael Schumacher’a family do more to keep his fans abreast of developments in his condition?

Have to agree with Manish Pandey on the Schumacher issue. Their family has suffered a tragedy, and they have no obligation to provide the media with column inches. They should be left in peace to deal with the situation as they see fit.

I’m sure if/when Michael recovers he will let the public know he’s OK, in the meantime there’s no reason to speculate.
@George

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42 comments on “Button expects no change from 2016 tyre rules”

  1. Good rules. Again.

  2. jessica probably wanted babbys. Jenson couldn’t provide…

    1. It’d be weirder if Jenson did have a line on babies to be delivered on demand.

      1. A line on babies???….

    2. I’m just amazed at the extremely light coverage this story is getting. If it was another world champion (3 times, maybe), this would be plastered all over the media, with gazillions of comments including all kinds of ridicule and insults. Very strange.

      1. Your right. If it was Senna people would care much more.

    3. more like she wants a man who can protect her and not sleep through a home invasion. ;)

    4. Reputable ancient alien theorist might said that since TAG Heuer no longer be a McLaren sponsor, there’s no way Button can find decent time to spend with his TAG Heuer model wife anymore.

  3. I don’t post a lot even though I’ve been a member for some amount of years, but I felt it necessary to +1 the Sauber article.

    It’s about time we see some shouting (or at the very least a post on a website) about the unequal distribution of money in the sport, the cartel based system of the big teams and Mr. E, and how the big manufacturers are strangling the competition by pouring in hundreds of millions of dollars annually while also cranking up engine supply costs, knowing full well the “minnows” of the sport can’t sustain that kind of spending. Now, I’m not positive that a budget cap is the right way to go, or if it’s even possible (hiding R&D across different parts of the corporation, etc.), but there needs to be some constructive conversation going on about this and what the possible solutions are. The letter to the EU was a step in the right direction but I question their reach into matters like this. Quite frankly I’d like to see Sauber, Renault(Lotus), Force India, Marussia, and Williams boycott until things are changed or at the very least negotiated upon. I know that’s not what a lot of the fans want, as we all want to see racing, but that right there is the reason to do it.

    1. Also, I wasn’t proud of how Sauber handled the driver situation earlier this year, as that was appalling frankly, but blatant demands such as this do deserve applause.

    2. I think a lot of fans would agree. I know I do. Though I agree with more equitable for all teams rather than absolutely equitable for all teams.

      And that many of them would also object to the extortion the teams are under every time they score a championship point.

  4. 1. Best COTD ever.

    2. I like it when drivers are truthful and not afraid of being sacked or black-marked for honest appraisals. Something only Champion drivers can seem to get away with. I love it. And hate other series that prevent such interaction and insight with Driver Conduct/gag order with silly rules/contracts/madates. Thanks JB.

    3. I’d like to read that report about Bianchi myself before weighing in.

    4. Wish list:
    I wish that the 2017 regulations had less wings not more to promote actual passing and the loss of control seen every time a modern F1 is following another. Then F1 could lose the DRS gimmick. When was the last time you lowered your rear wing to overtake on the street?

    I wish that the tyres were consistent and that they had wear rates the drivers would feel comfortably pushing on.

    I wish the power units would disappear and that F1 somehow returns to 1000hp+, high revving, sreaming engines and that the daft fuel flow regs are tossed out for ever. I do not care about fuel economy in a 2 hour sprint race.

    I wish McLaren will either nut up or shut up.

    Finally I wish you and yours have a great period of time between the solstice and the start of the next western calendar year.

    1. With regards to your wish that “the power units would disappear and that F1 somehow returns to 1000hp+, high revving, screaming engines” – F1 has never had any normally aspirated engines that have had a power output in excess of 1000bhp. And why is there such an obsession with high revving, screaming engines? Let me guess, you want the sport to remain frozen as it was in the 1990’s when you were growing up.

      1. Let me guess, you want the sport to remain frozen as it was in the 1990’s when you were growing up.

        I’m not saying Apex above fits this, but it is how many, many F1 fans seem to think. It was golden in their day, and it would be better if we went back in time.

        I have loved F1 for many years, but what I love best is that they keep moving. The current engine regs are up-to-date, relevant, and challenging. Personally, there are a few tweaks I would make, but overall they are where the sport needs to go.

        1. I’m one of those fans who miss the screaming engines.

          I live(d) a few km from an F1 circuit. I really miss that immense noise starting on Friday morning, which stopped the city and started F1 discussions.
          I miss the screaming sound when watching it on TV; and don’t understand why a sound engineer can’t resolve that (unless FOM/BE does not want it to be resolved).
          But when attending a race, it bothered me for 5 minutes, it kept me wondering for another 10, and after that I loved the fact that earplugs were no longer needed. Also now I’m amazed by all the other (tyre) noises I can hear, which reflect the amazing pieces of machinery these F1 cars are.

      2. anon, I think the V10’s were pushing 1000BHP towards the end of that era, if not quite there, and also were heading towards 20,000RPM. That was the magical bit for me, the revs………Oh, and the sound on the overrun………

        I agree with Apex Assasin that having any kind of fuel flow restrictions in a 2 hour sprint is plain daft.

        Interesting post @coldfly. I find the hybrid noise does not bother me on TV, but I was devastated when I attended a race live last year. I appreciate some people like being able to hold a conversation and hear the commentary live, but that is a travesty to me, people chit-chatting over an F1 event seems horribly inappropriate somehow. Just my view…

        Also an interesting post @drmouse. I see what you are saying, but I wonder whether F1 needs to perhaps accept that fact that part of its historical appeal for many folks was that it was awesome in the flesh. I accept that from a technological point, these hybrid cars are astonishing, but they are so underwhelming live. As I said in a recent post I made on here, when I was at the Barcelona race last year, I saw several people casually reading their race programs during the GP! Unthinkable with normally aspirated F1 cars on the circuit.

        I also find hearing squealing tyres to be bit embarrassing, sort of reminds me of boy racers in the supermarket car park!

        Anyway, best wishes regards to all, wherever you are in the world, over the festive season……..:)

        1. @paulguitar, the thing is, the idea of people being able to talk whilst the race is going on in the background is nothing new though. A little while ago, somebody had put up a clip of Berger setting a qualifying lap in the Benetton B186 from the 1986 Australian GP – even though he was letting rip with the full power of that engine, you could still comfortably hear the tannoy in the background announcing what the running order was and the noise of the crowd.

          1. Anon,

            Yes, that’s true, even the original 80’s turbos were pretty muted. I went to the British GP in 1988, and one of my most vivid memories of that is that year there was a mix of turbo and normally aspirated engines, and the difference in sound was immense, although the turbos were much faster, of course.

            As it happened, it rained hard that Sunday and Mansell was able to put in an incredible drive to finish 2nd in the non-turbo Williams-Judd, so the British crowd was very happy. He couldn’t keep up with Senna in the turbo McLaren though.

            Those 80′ turbo cars were pretty awesome though, despite the disappointing sounds, as they produced SO much power, and had a habit of spectacularly blowing up……I remember Nelson Piquet saying in quali he used to get wheelspin in 6th gear, in the dry………

      3. Lol, while i enjoy vintage f1 i grew up in the 21st century so nice try but take your wrong assumptions and silly comments elsewhere.

        And for clarity’s sake, the 3.0L V10s sounded awesome and made over 900bhp so try fact checking a wee bit. ;)

        1. Last I checked, 900 is less than 1000

        2. Apex Assassin, as RaceProUK notes, your original comment made reference to power outputs in excess of 1000bhp, which is wrong – the V10’s never broke through that mark (for example, Mario Thiessen has confirmed that BMW’s most powerful engine, the P84/5, had a maximum power output of 950bhp in qualifying mode, whilst Toyota confirmed in Racecar Engineering that they peaked at 930bhp in that era). Even your assertion that the power outputs of the V10 engines were in excess of 900bhp is only really true for the 2004 and 2005 seasons.

  5. For the tyre rule, why they insist on using at least 2 different compound? Why a team can’t go prime-prime or option-option-option? With the 2 compound rule, they basically averaging the tyre strategy, thus limiting the variation in the result.

    1. Especially with the amount of one-stop races we had this season. It’d be very interesting to see whether an o/o/o strategy could win from a p/p, even though we must admit teams probably find the right one one hour into friday practice anyway…

  6. Kimi was the most funniest of all in this Christmas song by Santander!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=34&v=Y_Bq3zBdUjU

    and Merry Christmas to all the F1Fanatics! Looking forward to another great year with all of you!

  7. While I fully understand the sentiment of the COTD, I thoroughly disagree.

    Yes, anyone has a right to their privacy. And the Schumacher family certainly has too. But one cannot just ignore that there are millions of fans worldwide who are interested in Michael and feel that you do not need to say anything, just like any no-body.

    Just compare the Button situation – a short press statement giving minimal info (still friends, no embarresment with any 3rd persons involved). Its enough to satisfy that crave for information and, but does not give away anything too private. Bianchi’s family also handled it well, giving a few updates somewhat regularly. It got them all the sympathy of the fans and none of the tabloids digging.

    1. @bascb I don’t really think Button’s marital problems are comparable, he’s still in the sport and getting this information out now saves awkward questions later. It’s not as if Michael just disappeared without a trace, his fans know what happened to him and his situation. If we get no more news, then just assume there is no significant change. Why should they need to drip-feed the public every few months with the same information?

      As far as Bianchi is concerned, I didn’t mean to imply there is only one way to deal with this, just that it should be their choice. His situation was slightly different too, as his prognosis was always worse than Schumacher’s.

      1. The issue is not very comparable, no. But the “solution” with regards to PR most defenitely is @george.

        Yes, it is the families choice to make not to share ANY information willingly. But then they do have to accept that their choice also means that inevitably people WILL speculate and try to find out about Michael once in a while. The reason to give some news, is to be left largely in peace because media and fans both know that IF there was something, they would hear it from the family and not have to pry it out of someone.

        1. I lean more toward them doing as they wish, which would seem obviously to keep it private and not release any information, perhaps because they feel that is what MS would want.

          @bascb I just don’t think that releasing some little bit of news would stave off the media. I think it would only fuel speculation further. We would only end up reading articles about what they didn’t say. Sure the odd author might come up with some speculative article to try for some headlines or what have you, even with the family remaining silent, but even if they simply publicly wished everyone all the best for the holidays and thanked everyone for their well wishes that would be something all media would report on as ‘newsworthy’ and they’d add their own twists on the story and there would be dozens and dozens of articles out there because a small door was opened.

          Who are any of us, and what right do we have, to insist they do other than they themselves wish?

          1. I agree that the family should do as they wish. And I also think that if they wanted to be smart about it, they would wish to do a news update once in a while, just to keep the outside world at check. Purely rational behaviour on their part it would be. (Sorry for the yodaism.)

        2. I think @ph voices it well in their comment below @robbie.

          I do think that most media, even a reasonable part of the tabloids, would respect their wish to be largely left alone if they would have something to give once in a while and feel that if there would be any significant change is his health they would get informed by the family.

  8. There were very few of us who queried the way the FIA report on Jules accident was released, however one was very highly qualified to do so. Doctor Gary Hartstein who was the F1 doc and who was trained by Prof Sid Watkins but apparently said a word out of place and was consequently let go and then persecuted by Todt and his henchmen. To be replaced by one of Todts cronies with no F1 experience and no handover period or training or even being allowed to speak to Gary,

    I invite you to look back at his blog and discuss the timings of events after the crash, the procedures and then look at the FIA rules on what should have happened vs what did happen.

    My own feeling is that in the two page report released. one hell of a lot had been left out, like tens of pages, which were never allowed to be seen.

    1. To be replaced by one of Todts cronies with no F1 experience and no handover period or training or even being allowed to speak to Gary,

      The doctor who replaced Gary Hartstein (Dr. Ian Phillips) was chief medical officer for Silverstonw & had worked alongside Gary for the British Grand Prix for over a decade.

      http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/21070418

      1. Dr. Ian Phillips isn’t the chief medic in F1 (which was the position that Dr. Gary Hartstein held), and Gary has a lot of respect for Ian and his capabilities in his position (and would probably prefer it if Ian held the prime post). The chief medic for F1 is Dr.Jean-Charles Piette, someone who hasd no prior motorsport experience and no evidence of comprehensive motorsport-specific training (the “no handover period” is understandable as Gary was fired and a replacement would therefore have had nobody to handover from). Gary is… …less respectful of Jean-Charles’ suitability for his post.

  9. Olgar Gunnerson
    24th December 2015, 10:57

    Interesting you chose an obscure foreign site with a minimal report to report the Bianchi story, when thejuduge13 had a more comprehensive coverage of the same topic in English

    1. I always try to quote the original sources of quotes which, as mentioned above, in this case is Auto Hebdo. This was not possible on this occasion as they hadn’t put them online at the time of writing.

      I therefore tried to reference a reputable, bylined source. It may be obscure to you, but it is one I’m familiar with. I also chose to refer to the quotes in their original language so anyone looking into the story from here could satisfy themselves that I had not misrepresented it.

      And while I do try to be as comprehensive as possible, don’t assume I’ve seen every story on every website!

    2. The “minimal report” is an extract from the original interview that AutoHebdo did. Most likely, thejudge13 is basing its comments on the full version of the interview, that is purchasable (in French) as part of the AutoHebdo #2043 magazine. As AutoHebdo is basically France’s lower-profile version of Autosport, I would say the source is credible.

  10. Regarding LH and NR…I too think the relationship is ‘sweet’. I think it is a great storyline to have these two childhood friends now be in this spot. We have seen the tension and the hard feelings, particularly when it is still the heat of the moment, and that’s how it should be.

    One gets the feeling they are just one swerve away from a ‘brawl’ yet I fully believe that unless something really extreme happens these two guys will remain friends after F1 and perhaps even after they are no longer teammates but still in F1.

    I’m just so grateful that Wolff understands this and I don’t believe he will break up this duo until it is simply time to, and not because of some rivalry issue that is understandable and I would add vital to F1 right now.

    This friendship/rivalry is the stuff movies are made of, and I think it’s great.

  11. although I feel for Phillipe Bianchi, and don’t wish that on anyone. It is natural for a father to side with his son and not accept “any” explanation of his wrong doing. No matter how convincing the evidence is, he will always question it.

    His son was the only person who had control of that gas pedal. I think the FIA investigation was transparent and considering all the teams have their own data on other cars, its very difficult to “make up”. Data clearly showed he was going too fast.

  12. I’m a bit confused by the Bianchi story. First of all, I don’t agree with Bianchi when he questions the validity of the FIA investigation because it has a conflict of interest (“Peut-on être juge et partie?”). The FIA hasn’t released the full report, but the conclusions and recommendations were posted on their website, which seemed very critical to me.

    The only point where there seems to be a bit of ambiguity is indeed: who is to blame? The report does not address this, but I don’t know whether the ‘accident panel’ would be suitable for making these critical decisions. That’s where criminal law comes in.

    From the link I posted above, conclusions 3 and 4 basically say: “the double-waved yellow rules were good, but Bianchi did not adhere to those rules, which resulted in him losing control.” Then it becomes a cat-and-mouse game: did Bianchi not respect the rules, or were the rules not enforced properly? That’s for the jury to decide, but to be honest I don’t see any other way than the FIA being cleared of charges. After all, Bianchi participated in a sport that has seen fatal accidents before, signed contracts that stated he was aware of the dangers, and then he simply didn’t follow the rules. No disrespect to his father, I can’t imagine what he is going through, but I don’t think he has much of a case.

    1. I would imagine Bianchi Snr will focus more on the fact that while Charlie Whiting recommended an earlier start to avoid the worst of the weather, his reco was ignored by the promoter and possibly the track owners.. It’s a whole can of worms but in the end, it’s all “mights” “ifs” & “possiblys”. I feel for Bianchi Snrs grief but I fear he is going down a road which calls for revenge rather than justice, at least that’s what his rather strong language seems to suggest, and at the end of that road, unfortunately there can only be further grief.

  13. Fudge Ahmed (@)
    26th December 2015, 0:33

    I am NOT a fan of Joe Saward in any way shape or form, quite the opposite actually however Pandey’s tweet was misdirected. Saward merely pointed out that the reason there is more clamour for information is because his family has released so little, he was not insinuating that they should be inclined to do so.

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