Spare Parts (F1 odds and ends)

RBR are trying to get a dispensation for Herta so he can get a super licence .

Alpine want Gasly , and RBR want Herta to take his place .

RBR. Are suggesting they maybe successful because of rule changes when covid hit .

Horner has said if they can’t get Herta , Gaeltacht going nowhere .

personally I don’t think they should mess around with the. SL qualifying requirements for anyone .

If it all goes through , surely that means Danny Ric is off ? The Williams seat is available but I would imagine they have someone lined up to replace Latino ? And much as I love Williams , they are a very long way from being truly competitive., so I doubt very very much that Danny would be at all interested .

As has been mentioned before if he moves to the US , they would Love Him !

What I do know is , that if he goes I will miss him

 

He's a multiple race winner in Indycar, of course they should give him a super license, the only reason not to is politics.

 

Amen... The fact that multiple seasons in Indy and multiple wins means less than some rich git who paid to do GP2 once upon a time is scandalous.

He totally deserves a chance in F1. Just preferably not with an RBR outfit. I'd hate to have to dislike him.

 

I’m not saying he isn’t good enough to drive in F1 , I’m saying he should have to get his SL just like everyone else .

And yes it is politics . It’s because the powers that be want an American Driver in F1 purely for financial reasons ( trying to make f1 big in the US ) that they are looking to get Herta in .

If they weren’t pushing F1 in the states , doubt we would hear of any US driver much .

FWIW. They will get him in , but it’s all because it suits the commercial people .

BTW . I am in no way dissing US Drivers

 

I think all records should move to a pro rata basis.

Wins per year totals over career.

Fastests laps per year divided by no of races

Wins in a season divided by number of races.

etc

Verstappen is now top 10 in laps lead in f1 history nah...... just far more race laps available to lead.

Verstappen up for most race ins in a seasons?

ascari 6/8 = 75%
Schumacher 13/18 - 72%
Jim clark 7/10 = 70%
vettel 13/19 = 68%

whats more impressive?

same for poles

fangio 55%
jim clark 45%
senna 40% of poles
Hamilton 33%

I just think the books are getting scrubbed clean of greats cos people have the luxury of more races in safer cars to deliver the inevitable.


Of all the records those with spectacular but tragically short careers (Clark and senna) or jsut plain spectacular and got out (fangio) in % terms clark, senna and schumacher appear consistently in the top.

Hamiltons longevity of wins he is at 33% wins from 300+ races. thats right next to clark who only had 75 races. thats how good hamilton is!

 

Good post , thanks .

It also reminds me of what Sir Jackie Stewart said , and that was that you can only really be compared to drivers of your era . A modern driver may well refuse to drive a car from Fangios era because of the dangers . Similarly what are the chances of Fangio even fitting into a modern F1 car .

It will get even more skewed if they get into 25 races a season .

 

The thing is.... it sounds morose or worse but theres several drivers in the current f1 paddock that would be dead in former times.

Alonso had a massive one in 2016 and i think there was another one as well.

Hamilton would have been killed by verstappen last year with that monza crash

etc etc etc.

the cars are so different in DF that a driver in the 70s v a drive rof the early 1990s ae completely different styles and a driver of the old school gear shifting variety verses the video game consoles of today.

Even the regs, vettel had 4 years of a run where everything suited him. he's never been the same since the regs updated. the same could be said of certain single time world champions who gave up once they grooved the tyres

 

It does need to change though, because right now IndyCar rewards fewer super license points than F2, which is ridiculous. IndyCar isn't an F1 feder series, it's a top tier series in its own right.

 

yep, and Jamie Chadwick will earn her super license before Herta.

 

If it needs changing , change it . Just not in the middle of a season .

And yes Indy car is a top series in its own right .

 

Kubica had a lucky escape in Canada , can’t remember the year though .

 

I'm not sure why timing of the change would make any difference other than to Herta being able to secure a seat. There's been plenty of times drivers have been fast tracked super licenses in the past when maybe the shouldn't. Herta has the experience, so imo he should be allowed to compete. Jury is out on if he'll cut it in F1, but he wants it bad... So I expect him to be decent.

 

Sorry .

If the rules to get SL points need changing to bring up to todays requirements , do it all in one go , if there more examples it makes it worse imho .

 

Two of those went on to become world champions.

There's a problem with the points allocations when it comes to IndyCar if you ask me, and see no problem fixing that. It's not like he'd be coming in with zero open wheel experience. At least give him a provisional or something.

 

Ya know... Selfishly, I'm fine with Herta not moving to F1. It would be a shame for him to get a seat in F1 but never get a top seat when he's capable of winning races in Indy, and if the stars align maybe get a shot at the title.

 

I think Jackie has it right, even the ratio based rules ignore the fact that we’ve had 20+ or so years now where for most of them F1 has favoured stability with teams gaining an advantage (Ferrari/Merc) and then being able to exploit that for multiple seasons, due to limited technology or rule changes. Conversely, back in the 80’s team’s competitiveness moved around significantly - largely due to significant technological steps - but this meant it was much harder for drivers to get into and stay in a dominant car for years at a time.

 

Wasn’t keen on this post, because I felt it was a bit biased, but I can’t talk about some of it so will let most slide...

I will take issue with the suggestion that the four Vettel titles were “everything suiting him” - the FIA repeatedly tried to peg back the RedBull and the blown diffuser technology, combined with some poor reliability in ‘10 meaning that two were very hard fought and one was dominance in the face of legislative opposition. It would be much fairer to say that the Merc/Ferrari winning streaks, were down to the Regs and team dynamics suiting one driver, and the Regulator being happy for that to continue/actively encouraging it.

 

I don’t watch much IndyCar, is Herta worth getting bothered over, or is this just a marketing thing?

 

Hard to say for sure. He can run hot and cold, but he has talent and really wants in to F1, which is fairly rare for an American IndyCar driver who probably has a guaranteed career for years to come there.

But... He's got some balls. Even though he ultimately screwed it up right at the end, his drive in Nashville last season was littered with unbelievable jaw dropping passes. He deserves more of a shot than some on the F1 grid.

It's always hard to tell with drivers coming from Indy, just given the nature of F1 which is always mostly dictated by the machinery at your disposal. He could come in and utterly fall on his face and regret ever wanting the move, or he slot right in and make a name for himself. I don't think he'll be a Zanardi at Williams though.

There are some Indy drivers I really wish that got a shot in F1 tho. Of the current crop, Dixon would have made an excellent F1 driver in the eras of car, tyre and race management. I wouldn't have minded Pato O'Ward getting a chance at Macca either. IndyCar drivers get looked down on a bit, but there is some quality talent there.

 

2008,just watched it on you tube. How`s the wife now by the way? I hope that she`s feeling much better.