(Re: Bridgestone/Ferrari bias) With more than one tire company in the game?
Especially when the FIA gets in on the collusion. Point of the matter is that when a supplier has a few teams, they're naturally going to favor the fastest one.
http://www.slideshare.net/GHHLLC/how-ferrari-and-bridgestone-stole-the-2003-f1-world-championship-presentation
I'm not suggesting a lowest price contract, but more a "best deal in exchange for exclusive", or something. Besides, if you're Michelin or Avon or Dunlop (or Richmond or Kelly, for all that), & your tires are in F1, do you really want the world, & especially the world's racing fans, seeing you making junk?
Oh! Well, we already know Michelin makes junk.
Yeah, when you phrase it like that, I'm in.
Fair enough. I'd take away the choice entirely, myself, but I see the value. I'd sooner get excitement with passing courtesty of design changes rather than pit stops.
I had been addressing the "theatre" aspect of the tyre selection. If some research could be done by someone in the FIA and/or FOM, to determine if viewership is boosted on the mandated use of two compounds, I'd love to see the findings. If it DID work, then I'd be for it, but yeah, it seems a bit silly. I'd rather let the teams figure it out during practice, which compounds they want to use in the race. Hell, I'd be down if they mixed and matched compounds if they noticed a significant difference in wear rates between corners of the car. I just don't see the FIA going for that last bit, though.
(Re: Issues w/ flying in to certain locations): Oh, why not?
Demand drives up travel costs, I was priced out of the 2012 USGP, and I was going to be driving from the Oklahoma City area. If I had to fly, I wouldn't even consider it. Driving, the only thing that kept me away was I had told my father that if I could swing it, I'd buy him a ticket for his birthday. By the time I had an answer from him, there wasn't a hotel for less that $500/night within 3+ hours of the track. My favorite memories of my life is a race with my father, so I wasn't going to tell him I couldn't take him and than go myself.
Indy, OTOH, is freaking AWESOME for driving in, and would have been cheaper for me to drive the extra 10hrs round-trip.
On that basis, Elkhart Lake is best. (I have a weakness for Watkins, myself, but that's the history buff in me: keep it where it started.)
Well, from ingress/egress, Indy is a no-brainer. I still haven't decided yet, but it's looking like Elkhart Lake will eventually get the gig, unless I can have a German-style setup where Indy and Elkhart alternate. I had a few good memories at Indy, and am only leaning away from it because a flat road course just makes me sad when I think about Spa and Interlagos. Even the Hungaroring, come to think of it... The terrain is the only redeeming quality, otherwise it's too narrow and too twisty.
Then again, my idea of a "perfect track design" involves several medium to long straights, followed by either fast sweepers or 90+ degree hard turns, with about 1 to 1.5km of esses and chicanes. Something where teams have to balance their setup, overtaking is possible, but driver skill in managing difficult turn complexes is also needed.
(I begin to think I should just shut up.)
Don't do that! Please, anything can help.
I don't recall that in Senna. It was more, "Give way, hell!" I always had a sense he needed to get a bit of maturity so he didn't break as much when he didn't absolutely have to. And I got the sense he was moving that way by '94--still a ways to go, but headed the right direction.
I just looked at it and thought, "Where can I give Mansell a highlight-reel pass to win a race on Senna, where Senna won't do something stupid."
Silverstone, being the team's and Mansell's home track, and far less animosity than w/ Prost, seemed like the only way to do it.
ITTL, the Senna-Mansell relationship is cordial, with a feeling of a coworker you want to do better than, and you think that coworker is pretty cool even though he gets on your nerves from time-to-time, but is someone you'd never hang out with off the clock.
With Elkhart Lake getting a date, we will see the US Grand Prix making a reboot, next year.
Wait, what? OTL or a question about TTL?