The Start

Jack Baruth
by Jack Baruth

There is a majesty in Formula One that is rarely found elsewhere. This six-minute film documents that majesty in completely convincing, and satisfying, fashion.

The 2013 season promises to be enjoyable; Red Bull looks vulnerable and the move of Lewis Hamilton to Mercedes should be very amusing both for fans of close-run racing and those of us who look forward to seeing what Mr. Hamilton can accomplish without McLaren’s competence to back him. I’ll be cheering for Fernando Alonso to match Senna’s three WDCs myself!


Jack Baruth
Jack Baruth

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  • TomHend TomHend on Feb 27, 2013

    Joe Saward does a great job of covering the F1 season. He goes to every race. http://joesaward.wordpress.com/

  • Windy Windy on Feb 27, 2013

    My dad took me to several F1 GP races in the late 50s and early 60s and the cars were so beautiful with out all the advertising and graphics on them. The drivers sat up with the huge steering wheels and you could see them working so hard heaving the wheel back and forth and with the old fashioned helmets you could see their faces as well. I understand the need and I am in favor of all the advances in driver safety that we have today and I guess all that advertising covering the car and drivers suits etc helps pay for that... but I do wish we could do without it. The thing that bothers me about F1 today is the way that the rules are such a drag on progress. The rules about testing and how much cash that they can spend per team are the worst ones for me but if I ruled the world of F1 I would have just a rule on displacement and one that said the car had to fit into a box of a given size be open wheeled not weigh less than X and of course the driver safety rules... tires etc would be what you could afford to buy of convince any maker to build and give you. perhaps even have a formula that would let any sort of engine be used if it fit in the car and the car in the box and make weight.. Almost every form of racing has suffered since they capped lap times/speed for safety reasons... if the track/car/speed combo is too dangerous then do what you need to do to the car or the track to bring the risk to where the drivers are comfortable with it but do not limit speed as that is where the excitement is and seeing the speed get faster every year is something I miss the most... if it could have been don this way think how fast the card at the 24 hour races would be going today.... in the 50s and 60s the speeds went up every year in almost every sort of race... all sorts of different things were tried even jet turbine engines. . (Nascar ceased to be of interest when they stopped using real cars in the 60s but that is another area)

    • See 3 previous
    • Serothis Serothis on Mar 01, 2013

      @Numbers_Matching unfortunately, i'm of the younger generation so that was before i got into F1.

  • Matzel Matzel on Feb 27, 2013

    The days of 'run what you brung' are gone, but I would prefer to have refueling reintroduced to allow for more varied strategies. As far as the 2013 season is concerned: GO SEB & GO Red Bull!

    • CJinSD CJinSD on Feb 27, 2013

      +1 on the reintroduction of refueling. I was an F1 fan from 1976 until fairly recently, and it was reintroduced in 1994 because of complaints that the races were tedious processions. Apparently Max and Bernie had lobotomies and forgot. There are lots of things they could do to improve the racing that they don't even discuss. Getting rid of the front wings and freeing up the rules on floors and bodywork between the wheels would allow comparable downforce while letting a faster following car run closer to a leading car without losing as much grip, which is a big reason they don't pass. Or they could take the wings off and reduce overall grip, increasing braking distances and the opportunities for a driver to out-brake another driver into a corner. They could pair this one with a return to powerful engines, keeping lap times brag worthy while reducing cornering speeds and emphasizing driver talent. Reduced cornering speeds would reduce crash energy enough to compensate for any increases on straightaways. I don't have any love at all for the current tire rules, gimmicks like DRS and KERS, and the increasing frequency of safety car use. All of this is counter to the idea of F1 being a real competition and for me they combine to remove any additional legitimacy of a grand prix over a NASCAR road race. The tires are just about the worst of all possible worlds from a meaningful competition perspective. Soft slicks create marbles that only reduce passing opportunities which require skill. Managing tires makes viewing races as exciting as standing on the side of the beltway watching people go as fast as they feel they can without getting a ticket. How many passes this year were because the leading car was limping around on fragged tires? Where is the excitement in that? Once suppliers figured out how to make grooved tires with useful grip, the requirement of maintaining the grooves and keeping the tread from chunking dictated relatively hard compounds that didn't shed marbles and ruin the racing surface. With a single tire supplier, a slick tire could use a similar compound. Unfortunately, randomness is what the FIA thinks the fans are insipid enough to celebrate as competition. Engine management rules are another detriment to the sport. They don't save any money. Teams will always spend what they can raise. Engines that last 2,000 miles instead of 250 miles require massive development programs which take place behind closed doors. Where is the return for the fans? Not in watching practice, when the cars are parked most of the time to keep miles off the engines. This also applies to tire limits, which 'save' money by minimizing the time fans get to watch cars on track during a race weekend. Silly. Testing limits also keep cars off the track. Instead, the same money and more is spent on test benches, wind tunnels, and simulations. Yippee! That's just as interesting as when one could follow testing reports on line and local fans could go to the track, except for not being at all as interesting. The engine and gearbox durability rules are also there to introduce randomness to the grid. Once again, if randomness is what someone is looking for, F1 should not be catering to them. That's my view on the current state of a former sport that I formerly loved. Other series have as many problems and more, but I think F1 has been taken down from the loftiest heights.

  • Tifighter Tifighter on Mar 04, 2013

    I don't know what to do about Alonso anymore. He was the guy to take it to Michael/Ferrari which made him a favorite for me for years. Then he went to Ferrari. which is like having Ichiro go to the Yankees (or everyone go to the Yankees). Still, he's the most talented driver of his generation, and has been in the championship hunt into the last race nearly every season since the mid 00's. Let's see Vettel do that. Oh well, I'm a Sauber guy anyhow. Tschuss...

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