Keeping Track
Last year, a driver was only supposed to use one engine for two races. If his engine blew up and he needed a fresh one, a penalty was imposed. Personally, I found it quite hard to keep up with this. Was the driver on his first or second race with his engine? Would he be forced to back off in the closing stages, coasting to a points finish? Was he more or less likely to break down this time around? Is it a penalty, or did the problem occur in transit?
I tried to keep a record, but in the end, I didn’t feel it mattered that much. At the beginning of every race, ITV commentator James Allen would explain the ruling to us anyway, point out anyone affected, and Martin Brundle would pick up on those who were managing their engines.
This year, however, it’s all gone a little bit crazy. Now we have to keep an eye on the engine and the gearbox. We need to remember who is going back ten places and who only five. We need to count two rounds for the engines and four for the gearboxes. And worst of all, the first engine breakdown is a freebie, no penalty at all.
The FIA say they will monitor the first engine breakdown and make sure it is a genuine failure. I don’t see why. If a team wanted to waste their freebie on switching an engine just because they feel like it, that’s their choice. When one does break down, they’ll wish they hadn’t.
The point of my discussion here, however, is to decide how best to monitor this silly situation. To a certain degree we can still rely on commentators, but I’m in a position this year where I need to know.
I’ve been thinking about how to track the long-life components for a week or so now, and the best I can come up with is a spreadsheet. Drivers names down one column, races across the top. Each race has a column for the engine and one for the gearbox.
Print.
My high-tech plan for the season is to scribble a number one for the first race for each component, then a two for the next one (three’s and four’s as needed). I know, it’s quite ingenious, isn’t it? The FIA would never be able to think up anything quite so innovative.
Sarcasm over though, this is yet another layer of added complication for the casual fans, especially the new ones. It takes a certain level of dedication to devise a chart and religiously keep it up to date. You see it with football fanatics all the time. But the new or fickle armchair motorsport supporter isn’t going to be able to keep track of who is where and what they’re doing and more importantly why the fastest guy in Saturday’s qualifying is starting from P16 because he blew his engine and gearbox on his in-lap.
Long life components are fine for the purpose of keeping costs down, and reducing the sport’s environmental footprint. But the other side of the coin is the risk of alienating current fans and increasing barriers to entry for newcomers.
March 14th, 2008 at 7:49 pmme said:
seeing as the teams are using excel as part of secu package, it seems like you couldn’t have picked a better tool for the job.
my bet is mr. james allen is doing exactly the same.
March 14th, 2008 at 9:02 pmClive said:
I have a much better system that saves all the record keeping and calculations, all the sweat of the brow and consumption of grey matter. I just ask Alianora…
March 14th, 2008 at 9:08 pmSteven Roy said:
http://formula1home.com/forum/weblog.php?w=5&previous=5
Record keeping is Alianora’s job. She does better than anyone. The link above is a post on her blog this week on how to keep a chart. It seems a simple thing to do but she lists all the factors to be recorded.
March 14th, 2008 at 9:09 pmChristine said:
Yep, she’s describing what I’ve done. Should have just read that in the first place. Would have saved some brain cells.
March 14th, 2008 at 10:35 pmIan (Growler) said:
You could just look at the scruitineering reports on the FIA website (media centre / press info, scroll down to bottom - not up yet for Oz as the “Official Grand Prix weekend” doesn’t start until Practice 3) you will see something like this one from Brazil
http://www.fia.com/resources/documents/389413863...
March 14th, 2008 at 10:47 pmme said:
damn good call sir. much appreciate that link.
March 14th, 2008 at 10:55 pmIan (Growler) said:
I find it interesting to see how many parts the teams are replacing with FIA permission under parc ferme conditions………….maybe I should get out more???
March 14th, 2008 at 10:57 pmChristine said:
Ian, I have just had the exact same realisation.
I’m looking at this FIA Technical Report going: “Why haven’t I seen this before?”
And me says: “You’re not interested in things like that.”
‘Cept it appears I am.
I need to get out more too
March 14th, 2008 at 11:03 pmme said:
you’ve so changed.
March 14th, 2008 at 11:32 pmIan (Growler) said:
Maybe you could organise a “Sidepodcast Rehabilitation Day Out”…..I should be free sometime after Brazil, but before winter testing starts again.
March 14th, 2008 at 11:37 pmChristine said:
You mean, like, outside?