OT: Racing 2015 (Spoiler Alert)

[pk500]

Another, less-recognized byproduct of limited testing: It makes it damn near impossible for a North American driver to land an F1 seat unless that driver heads to Europe at a very young age.

Wouldn't it be cool to see if someone like Graham Rahal, Josef Newgarden, Spencer Pigot, James Hinchcliffe or Kyle Larson could compete in F1? Won't happen because they'll never get enough mileage to learn the car and possibly show their speed to an F1 team.

The days of Mario and Gurney crossing The Pond to compete and win in F1 are LONG gone and never will return, at least while Bernie is alive.

[GB_Simo]

My sentiments, exactly and why no in-season testing is a JOKE. Leave to the FIA to constantly getting things wrong. The only thing they seemed to have gotten right was the current qualifying system.
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"The in-season testing ban was introduced for 2009 on the grounds of cost saving, the same excuse that’s led to the currently hugely expensive power units. In fact, most of the rules aimed at making Formula 1 cheaper or greener seem to have had the opposite effect. The lack of track time before and during the season is also a criminal waste of talent, most clearly obvious when you look at McLaren-Honda. The Anglo-Japanese squad’s problems might not have been solved with just a few days pounding round Silverstone, but one can assume that two of the best drivers on the grid might have been much more competitive last year with a relaxation of the testing restrictions."

http://en.f1i.com/magazine/38316-eric-s ... lwind.html

Honda could have tested every day (in fact, they probably are - is there a limit on dyno time in the current regs?) and still couldn't have fixed their issues because of the token system. That's a cost saving measure too.

Except it's not, is it? The budget is still the same; it gets spent on developing next year's engine instead of this year's, while the current power unit toddles around at the bottom of every speed trap achieving nothing beyond infuriating your favourite Spanish rum salesman. Everyone's about to spunk away fortunes on designing cars to new rules for 2017 as well, rules being shaped by teams and technical directors who've apparently decided that faster cars equal better racing despite every lesson of recent history saying otherwise. All of these, mind, are just symptoms of the real problem, which is that the sport, the participants and the notional governing body haven't got a bastard clue what they want F1 to be. The pinnacle of tech? Relevant to road cars? The fastest racing cars on the planet? A racing showcase? Affordable to all? It can't be all of them and, as far as the evidence in front of us says, is incapable of picking a priority.

Christian Horner has it right. Sod your Strategy Group, your TWG and your F1 Commission, have the governing body define a set of rules independently of the teams, stick an entry form in front of the teams and see if they want to sign it.

[GB_Simo]

Another, less-recognized byproduct of limited testing: It makes it damn near impossible for a North American driver to land an F1 seat unless that driver heads to Europe at a very young age.

You know your nation's F1 future is bleak when someone (I think it was at Motorsport.com) puts together a "5 US drivers for Haas to consider" piece that features a 15 year old, Colton Herta. The author might end up being on to something - Colton was very strong against a solid MSA Formula field over here last year - but his inclusion on that list has a touch of barrel scraping about it.

[pk500]

Another, less-recognized byproduct of limited testing: It makes it damn near impossible for a North American driver to land an F1 seat unless that driver heads to Europe at a very young age.

You know your nation's F1 future is bleak when someone (I think it was at Motorsport.com) puts together a "5 US drivers for Haas to consider" piece that features a 15 year old, Colton Herta. The author might end up being on to something - Colton was very strong against a solid MSA Formula field over here last year - but his inclusion on that list has a touch of barrel scraping about it.

I'm happy as long as the lists don't include Danica Patrick.