Baku 2016

[AndyL]

Dear Baku,

Your venue is excellent.

I approve of this street circuit because it looks visually stunning and is fun for drivers.

+2

I think this is probably my favourite new circuit since... I don't know, Istanbul probably.

[The Black Knight]

I agree it's not really a valid comparison. It's true that back in the day, when a driver lost 3rd gear or something, they just had to accept it and drive around the problem. But imagine if the team had got on the radio to Senna (or whoever) and said "the gearbox will magically fix itself if you do one simple thing, but we're not going to tell you what that is." It would have driven Ayrton just as mad as Lewis was on Sunday.

Yeah it would have alright. It was a ridiculous situation. The issue is with this formula is that you can't have it both ways. You can't expect someone to evaluate a couple of hundred switch positions and race around an issue at the same time. It's a different skill sets required for each.

I think we have to leave go of history and stop wishing that the days of drivers magically driving around issues are gone. It can still happen, now and then, but figuring out a switch position isn't the same thing as that and doesn't contribute anything to the entertainment value of F1.

If people don't want to leave go then the rules have to be changed to make the less complicated and more about driving which, unfortunately, is something the 2017 rules don't do!

Either that or let the sport evolve naturally and stop meddling with it. And, most importantly, stop bitching about what we do have all the time. People love to complain.

[The Black Knight]

I think this is probably my favourite new circuit since... I don't know, Istanbul probably.

Really? I'd definitely say COTA is mine!

[Starter]

I think we have to leave go of history and stop wishing that the days of drivers magically driving around issues are gone. It can still happen, now and then, but figuring out a switch position isn't the same thing as that and doesn't contribute anything to the entertainment value of F1.

Why bother with drivers at all then? It used to be a contest between drivers, now it's a contest between tech guys back at the factory. Just drive the cars by wire and save all the salaries and egos involved with jellyware in the cockpit.

[AndyL]

Really? I'd definitely say COTA is mine!

That is one of the best for sure, but at the moment, Baku just edges it over COTA for me.

[Bagwan]

Yeah it would have alright. It was a ridiculous situation. The issue is with this formula is that you can't have it both ways. You can't expect someone to evaluate a couple of hundred switch positions and race around an issue at the same time. It's a different skill sets required for each.

I think we have to leave go of history and stop wishing that the days of drivers magically driving around issues are gone. It can still happen, now and then, but figuring out a switch position isn't the same thing as that and doesn't contribute anything to the entertainment value of F1.

If people don't want to leave go then the rules have to be changed to make the less complicated and more about driving which, unfortunately, is something the 2017 rules don't do!

Either that or let the sport evolve naturally and stop meddling with it. And, most importantly, stop bitching about what we do have all the time. People love to complain.

I think we should remember that the teams do know that they can't relate much info to the driver , and thus have designed things to be as simple as they can be .
They know he's busy .

It was a little easier for Nico to figure out , as he had changed a setting , saw a result , and quickly realized he should change it back .
For Lewis , it was different , as he had been in the mode from the start , being he had started farther back , so it wasn't , perhaps , as immediately obvious .

But the team gave him instruction to put his head down and figure it out , which he duly did , making it obvious that he knew he was in the wrong mode from the very start .

It was a short term panic , and an understandable one , given the limited number of laps left , with a rival getting away , and a team mate cruising .
It was a simple fix , which he figured out .


This seems to be just another way you can build a fast car that can lose you the race .




One thing I mentioned before , though , that I still don't understand , is why Lewis said "I didn't do anything . It just fixed itself ." after the race .

[henners88]

One thing I mentioned before , though , that I still don't understand , is why Lewis said "I didn't do anything . It just fixed itself ." after the race .

Only Lewis or the team can elaborate further on that.

It was mentioned that Rosberg had been stuck on this setting in the past so had previous experience of correcting it.

[Nitrodaze]

It was a little easier for Nico to figure out , as he had changed a setting , saw a result , and quickly realized he should change it back .
For Lewis , it was different , as he had been in the mode from the start , being he had started farther back , so it wasn't , perhaps , as immediately obvious .

But the team gave him instruction to put his head down and figure it out , which he duly did , making it obvious that he knew he was in the wrong mode from the very start .

It was a short term panic , and an understandable one , given the limited number of laps left , with a rival getting away , and a team mate cruising .
It was a simple fix , which he figured out .

If you watched the race on sky, you would have probably noticed the overhead shot of Hamilton trying to sort out the issue. I think his first attempt was to change the setting to position 6 but the car switched itself to setting 3 which did not solve the problem, then he attempted again to switch it back to position 6, then the car switched to another position on its own (possibly position one). Then Hamilton just gave up and left it. But the car subsequently changed to a position that solved the problem.

From seeing that, l wonder if exactly the same thing was going on in Rosberg's car. If so, l really wonder how he was able to sort it out with the overriding actions originating from the car. I think there was more going on there than meets the eye.

[Bagwan]

Only Lewis or the team can elaborate further on that.

It was mentioned that Rosberg had been stuck on this setting in the past so had previous experience of correcting it.

True . But strange , no ?

And , true , but there must have been some logic to it as he did figure it out .

[Bagwan]

If you watched the race on sky, you would have probably noticed the overhead shot of Hamilton trying to sort out the issue. I think his first attempt was to change the setting to position 6 but the car switched itself to setting 3 which did not solve the problem, then he attempted again to switch it back to position 6, then the car switched to another position on its own (possibly position one). Then Hamilton just gave up and left it. But the car subsequently changed to a position that solved the problem.

From seeing that, l wonder if exactly the same thing was going on in Rosberg's car. If so, l really wonder how he was able to sort it out with the overriding actions originating from the car. I think there was more going on there than meets the eye.

That's a whole lot more info .
Interesting that the car will change switches of it's own accord .
Where did you get that ?