Spanish Grand Prix 2016, Catalunya - Race 5/21

Skeeter said:
I do laugh that this was considered a great race by most of us, even though I count a grand total of 1 overtake between the top 4 throughout the whole race! :p

For large parts of the race nothing happened. But we loved it. So what are we to conclude from that? People always say races with no overtaking are boring, but Sunday proved that isn't true at all.

I think that the big difference is that it was 2 different teams, rather than a single team, who were up front. That and the simple fact it wasn't Mercedes which people have just got bored of seeing win.

If you look at the stats, Spain was the most dull race all year, by quite a way.
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I said that earlier on in a thread too. Yeah it was crap from overtaking point of view but with everything that was going on it made for quite a good GP. I'd much rather if Barcelona or even Valencia never host a GP again though. Surely Spain can do better than that.
 
MooMoo444 said:
I think what made it exciting was that the top four were just seconds from each other.

It's not very exciting when Mercedes are 30 seconds down the road, unless those two Mercedes are actually attacking each other.

Sure, overtaking was minimal but they were at least close enough to try.
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Freakbro said:
Also on different tyres and strategies, so even though there was no overtaking, no-one had a clue who was going to win out of those top four drivers....each genuinely had a chance and that's what made it exciting. :)

We haven't had that for some time.
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That's exactly my point. It was a great race even though very little actually happened. Which means you can question people who claim F1 is boring when theres no overtaking.

It doesn't take much to completely turn people either. 2 Mercedes winning by 30 seconds is considered boring, but 4 cars winning by a minute was a great race! Ricciardo had enough of a gap back to Bottas in 5th to get a puncture, pit, and still retain his place!

So a race with no overtaking and the leaders finishing miles ahead of everyone else was a great race. Meanwhile other races with no overtaking and the leaders finishing miles ahead of everyone else are dull and boring...

Were a fickle bunch aren't we :p
 
this_is_gav said:
Of course, but there have been many great champions, some of them gentlemen champions, who didn't share that same mentality.
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Who, out of interest?

All the multiple champions I can think of shared the same 'win at all costs' mentality, because that's the mentality you need to be a multiple champion.

Nice guys don't tend to finish first.
 
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Skeeter said:
Who, out of interest?

All the multiple champions I can think of shared the same 'win at all costs' mentality, because that's the mentality you need to be a multiple champion.

Nice guys don't tend to finish first.
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Off the top of my head I would say:

Fangio, Clark, Hill (both), perhaps Brabham, Hulme, Stewart, Prost (if you're giving him the benefit of the doubt in 1989, though I personally don't), Hakkinen, Alonso (drives fair even if he can be ruthless off the track), Raikkonen, Button.

Of course some of those were of an era where you had to drive like a gentleman or you'd be risking your life, but I don't think anyone will claim that Clark, Hakkinen and Button were anything but gentlemen racers who liked the odds to be in their favour when making the majority of their moves.
 
I thought it was an absolutely brilliant race and the icing on the cake was something that either Crofty or Brundle said during the race "look you can see the top four in the same camera shot" I have to say, I laughed at that one.
 
Skeeter said:
Which means you can question people who claim F1 is boring when theres no overtaking.
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To me, I don't think it is overtaking that defines whether a race is good or not, it is uncertainty.

Increased ability for overtaking breeds uncertainty.
Reduced reliability breeds uncertainty.
Unusual tyre wear breeds uncertainty.
Bad weather breeds uncertainty.

To me, all of the above help to make a great race.

When a car is 15 seconds in the lead, with no known reliability issues, a sunny day, and the ability to drive well below tyre wear, it is a boring race.

In Spain, both RedBull and Ferrari have had reliability issues previously, and Ricciardo had tyre wear issues that could have happened to Verstappen, so there was no guaranteed finishing order, even though it actually finished in the order it had been for most of the race.
 
Skeeter said:
I do laugh that this was considered a great race by most of us, even though I count a grand total of 1 overtake between the top 4 throughout the whole race! :p

For large parts of the race nothing happened. But we loved it. So what are we to conclude from that? People always say races with no overtaking are boring, but Sunday proved that isn't true at all.

I think that the big difference is that it was 2 different teams, rather than a single team, who were up front. That and the simple fact it wasn't Mercedes which people have just got bored of seeing win.

If you look at the stats, Spain was the most dull race all year, by quite a way.
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Motor racing isn't just statistics.

There was a huge amount of drama in this race and lots of talking points. Rosberg's initial overtake, Hamilton coming back, the crash, the safety car giving everyone a chance to analyse the crash and argue about who was to blame, Button gaining positions from the start (that's a collector's item!), the growing realisation that this was going to be a 3 stop race, the changing realisation that some were sticking with a 2 stop strategy and that Max held the lead and others needed to take it from him etc etc.

Combine that with the fact that I nailed cooking a decant paella, sunk 8 bottles of Estrella during the race, and put bets on both Red Bulls to win just before the start then yes - it was an awesome race! I'm sure many others had similar experiences too.

Further proof that F1 doesn't need to be decent competitive sport to provide good entertainment. But it helps.
 
It was a great race because both Mercs crashed out on the first lap.


Also great because it was unpredictable - Ric looked nailed on to win - and would have maybe if he'd two stopped, if if had maybe he'd never have picked up that puncture, maybe he would.

It was a great drive by F1's youngest ever race winner, cool, calm, collected, super talented.

Kimi breathing down his neck on the last few laps was great, created a brilliant intensity to the end of the race.

Few decent overtakes in the middle of the pack, JB on Gut was decent.

Had a safety car which always creates a bit of excitement.

It wasn't the best race ever, but it was enjoyable and exciting.
 
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Was a great race to watch for me as I had a mate round who is a Die hard Lewis fun so first I was ******** myself laughing at Lewis getting done around the outside on the first bend despite him having pole then I was ******** myself laughing as Lewis crashed into Rosberg & they both went flying out. Then after the crash we spent the next 20 minutes of the race arguing about whose fault it was. :p My mate was all like Oh Sorry mate come round here arguing & I stopped him dead saying What the **** mate it's Brilliant it's the first time F1 has got my blood going for ages & ages. :cool:

Shame it takes a crash & 2 cars being taken out for it to get everybody buzzing about F1 again.
 
I think most of the races so far have been good largely due to the tyre choices. Wish Pirelli were more aggressive with the choices but otherwise much better than last season.

Monaco is going to be rubbish though.
 
Monaco's always rubbish. The sooner they drop it from the calendar the better. It might have a rich history but there's been no new history created for near a generation. Absolutely pointless track in the modern era.
 
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