TV figures Drivers more Visible for Viewers Start Number - Todt

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Originally Posted by markabilly

Neither have I, most of the time when the car and helmet is clearly shown with enough detail on the TV screen, but we follow the sport closely and I could see how the casual fan would have problems


could let drivers pick numbers like Motogp, where Nicky has always had his number 69. And we all know what 69 stands for!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Yeah, absolutely - I love the 69 ice cream - the one with the flake........ ;)

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Originally Posted by markabilly

Neither have I, most of the time when the car and helmet is clearly shown with enough detail on the TV screen, but we follow the sport closely and I could see how the casual fan would have problems

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I agree. To say of the casual viewers that 'they wouldn't be interested anyway' is to miss the point. That's just a cop-out.

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Originally Posted by UltimateDanGTR

I really wouldn't like this, each team should have a distinct, uniform livery for both cars. That's the problem with IndyCar and NASCAR, for the casual viewer it's hard to tell who is in the same team. However, like IndyCar large numbers should be situated on the rear wing endplates, as well as having them enlarged on the nosecone. Driver's names somewhere on the sides, either the sidepod or side of the engine cover would also be good, like Mclaren did a few years ago with DC and Kimi.

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But that was only done at races in countries where cigarette advertising was banned, of course.

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Originally Posted by UltimateDanGTR

I really wouldn't like this, each team should have a distinct, uniform livery for both cars. That's the problem with IndyCar and NASCAR, for the casual viewer it's hard to tell who is in the same team. However, like IndyCar large numbers should be situated on the rear wing endplates, as well as having them enlarged on the nosecone. Driver's names somewhere on the sides, either the sidepod or side of the engine cover would also be good, like Mclaren did a few years ago with DC and Kimi.

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The idea of giving away the rear wing endplates specifically for driver numbers (IndyCar style) I think is a great idea, not only would be beneficial for the TV viewer but more so for the trackside spectator who would have trouble telling each teams cars apart from a distance.

But I remember Maurice Hamilton mentioning it on 5Live last season to one of the teams who gave the response of "What? are you mad, that space is worth nearly $3million a season in sponsorship" So even though the idea is fantastic in principle, im not sure the teams (especially at the back of the grid) would be in favour of it

From what we've seen of 2011 thus far, Hispania, Virgin and Sauber all have loads of blank space all over them. For $3m someone could stick their adverts in a far more prominent position than just the rear wing end plates.

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Originally Posted by Hawkmoon

I don't think the FIA were being their usual idiotic self with that decision. F1 is a team sport and teams should be easily identifiable. Should different positions on a football team wear different jerseys? I don't think so.

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Sorry to disagree, but what a bunch of baloney and a poor analogy.

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Originally Posted by Hawkmoon

F1 can learn some things from US racing: large numbers, drivers/teams owning numbers, fan access to drivers etc, but seperate liveries for each car isn't one of them.

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You were doing until the last the last nine words. However, the numbskulls running F1 are incapable of learning anything from US racing because they are idiots to begin with and whenever they have attempted to adopt a US practice they usually screwed it up big time.

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Originally Posted by Rollo

When I think back to when I were a wee lad say back in those heady days of 1986, Ferrari, Williams, Lotus, McLaren, Osella, Tyrell, Brabham etc. all had prominent numbers either on the end plates of the rear wing, on the side pods or in front of the side pods. It was very easy to find every number on most cars.

Fast forward to 2011 and only Williams and HRT are really obvious anymore. Personally I like the idea of NASCAR where they have a minimum of 40 inch numbers on the doors. Even at 199.99mph it's obvious as to which car you're looking at.

If I was Grand Poobah and Lord High Everything Else, I'd make it mandatory to display competition numbers on the end plates of the rear wing in numbers no smaller than 300mm in height and obviously legible from at least 75m away.

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Got my vote too! Even I have trouble sometimes trying to remember who is yellow and who is red for each team. The average pundit channel flicking has no chance.

I actually really like the idea of having a drivers name on the front of the car in a contrast colour. Like Mark, Karun, Jenson etc. I think that would look great!

Remember a few years back when Macca did it? I think it was pretty cool actually.

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Originally Posted by Dave B

Is it just me then? In 30 years of watching F1 I've never found identifying drivers a particular problem.

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30 years of watching F1 is the give away there! ;)

I would think only maybe 20% of the audience is made-up of die-hards like us. That means you have 80% who probably don't know much past the first couple teams.

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Originally Posted by Hawkmoon

F1 can learn some things from US racing: large numbers, drivers/teams owning numbers, fan access to drivers etc, but seperate liveries for each car isn't one of them.

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Some of the most stirring moments in motorsport has been when a team comes across the line in a 1-2 or 1-2-3 finish.
The most obvious I can think of is the 1-2-3 finish by the Rothmans Porsche 956s at Le Mans in 1982. Equally the three GT40s in 1966 looks OK in black and white but in colour I think it's weird.

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Originally Posted by Dave B

Some better TV directing would be a start, instead of having so many cameras positioned at the end of straights looking at cars half a kilometre away. On such shots it's difficult to read anything on the car, let alone a number even if it were bigger.

It's also trivially easy to provide captions to identify which drivers are onscreen - my pet hate are the onboard shots where the car is obvious but the driver's helmet is out of shot.

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and cutting away from race action to show a car entering the pits. I don't know how many times that has annoyed me to death, just when something is about to happen, they cut to a car slowly making its way into the pits

and another annoyance; cutting away from action in the last lap to show the lead car strolling around for half a lap, then another half lap after winning showing him congratulating himself, only to cut back to the finish line and the announcer say something like, i guess driver x did not get by driver y.
most annoying