Formula E is coming to Berlin in May and the track is literally just three blocks up the road from me. Tickets start at €10, so if I'm in town I'll probably go check it out!
Wait, you're getting charged for admission? Admission to the Long Beach E-Prix is free.
It's not a street race as such, it's a course set out on an old airport up the street from here. There isn't an open area or streets near enough to see. 10 euro isn't enough for me to consider not paying just to check it out.
It's not a street race as such, it's a course set out on an old airport up the street from here. There isn't an open area or streets near enough to see. 10 euro isn't enough for me to consider not paying just to check it out.
It's certainly cheaper than a Formula 1 ticket which tend to be hundreds of dollars when I went to the Melbourne Grand Prix.
I happened to catch the qualifying yesterday, and the grid looked interesting. So I tuned in for the race, and was really glad I did! The weird tire choices, safety car, and Ferrari being not-shit made it into a fun show. It was the first time someone overtook Hamilton in a race (except when he had technical problems) since the beginning of last season.
WOO! Are they going to still start all the races full, though? I liked it when they filled up before qualifying, and then they put the cars in parc ferme until the race. Lots of strategy involved. Do you qualify on low fuel to get pole position? Then you can start the race on low fuel and get a fast start, but you'll have to refuel perhaps twice. Do you go into qualifying with a full tank, not get pole position, but then during the race you only have to refuel once and make up lost time? Somewhere inbetween? How many liters? Excite.
Yesterday we went along to the Berlin Formula E race. The setup was cool, and we nerded out about electric cars, they did a world record "most electric cars going around a race track" attempt. As it was so close to home we popped back for a rest after qualifying, and to pick up some folding chairs. That way we could relax and watch the big screens, or stand on the chairs to see more over the crowds and barriers.
While it was a fun day out, the race itself was the least interesting of the season so far. 20 cars started, 20 finished, with only one front wing of one car broken in the entire race. I'm not saying I want to see people crashing or getting hurt for no good reason, but a few bumps means that either the course is hard or the drivers are really going for it. I think the non-street course but with cars designed for street racing didn't really work out. The good thing is that they can build any shape track they want on the airport field, so next year I hope they make it a bit more interesting.
That said, buying a ticket was only partly for the race day experience. It's more of a vote for the future. Like saying "More of this kind of thing, please!"
I've been arguing this all year. With Honda clearly struggling to have a competitive engine in their debut year back in F1 and with massive reliability issues that have resulted in numerous "small" grid penalties, just revamp the engine and deliver it to the team and accept a massive penalty so you can get some testing done and find out if you are making progress for next year. From a game theory point of view, give up any pretense of championship competition this season and accept all penalties that are confined to this season but still let you race each week in order to accomplish the necessary R&D that will payoff next season and beyond.
The race today was the best all year, and Hamilton wrapped up his third championship. As if there was any doubt he would.
But Ferrari got a great deal with Vettel, and next year they'll have a decent car from the start. Mclaren werent shit, so there's hope for them next year, and they'll still have Button and Alonso. Verstappen is crazy good already, and it's going to be exciting watching him develop as a racer over the next few years too.
I guess my predictions of sitting out the season were unfounded.
Really starting to get board with F1 as the quality of the car seems to be superseding driver skill. Yeah Hamilton and Vettel are good but I feel they don't have a patch on Schumacher or Alonso. I suppose its a bit better when championships were decided half way through the season and races in the first lap.
I just read up on the qualifying yesterday. I knew about the new rules, but didn't keep up with any news on how it went until this morning.
It's incredible that a sport with so much money involved can be run so badly. Did nobody test out how this would go? Did nobody run a simulation? Did they not try out a mock session during testing? Didn't they give it a go with another formula first, to see what problems might come up?
Either too many people are in charge, or nobody is in charge. Sometimes the long history and the money involved can work against the best interests of everyone.
I don't even understand how they think this can be good for money in any way.
Ridiculously rich people who run things and have the power to make decisions are bad at knowing what normal people enjoy, or why they enjoy things. Same reason TV and movie executives are historically seen as villains who ruin good things.
I won't fault them for trying something new, the races over the past couple years have definitely gone a bit stale. They've already decided to scrap the new qualifying format for the next race.
That said, yesterday's GP was actually REALLY good. Solid racing through-out the pack, drama, and Mercedes won not out of pure technological superiority but due to excellent strategy.
Ha. I read about that, with other drivers complaining that when they made a mistake at the end of the race they got a time penalty, but Hamilton got away with it at the start.
Maybe moaning a bit much, I thought? Seeing that video... nope.
Ha. I read about that, with other drivers complaining that when they made a mistake at the end of the race they got a time penalty, but Hamilton got away with it at the start.
Maybe moaning a bit much, I thought? Seeing that video... nope.
People are saying he went so far out of bounds the Lakitu should have come to pick up his car and put him back at the start.
That's pretty cool, I find it interesting that the steering wheel changed in waves of complex and simple, like they realised. e.g. 1984 they tried a bunch of stuff on the steering wheel, probably got bad feedback from drivers and the wheel was switched back to a simpler form.
Nico is really going to retire so young? I remember back when he was brand new and they raved about how he scored higher on the aptitude test than any driver in history. Now he's just going to go out on top. He's three years younger than I am. Plenty of money. Just going to the "beach" with his family. Hope he doesn't disappear entirely, though. Other people have a lot to learn from this guy.
Comments
Which team did it best plus how each driver started using it efficiently. It's certainly cheaper than a Formula 1 ticket which tend to be hundreds of dollars when I went to the Melbourne Grand Prix.
So I'm happy to be 100% wrong on this one.
"Hey we can use a y-shaped flux capacitor to get 3% more fuel efficiency!"
"You can't use y-shaped flux capacitors."
"Ok well by changing the timing of our foo we can increase bar by a factor of three!"
"You can't change foo."
While it was a fun day out, the race itself was the least interesting of the season so far. 20 cars started, 20 finished, with only one front wing of one car broken in the entire race. I'm not saying I want to see people crashing or getting hurt for no good reason, but a few bumps means that either the course is hard or the drivers are really going for it. I think the non-street course but with cars designed for street racing didn't really work out. The good thing is that they can build any shape track they want on the airport field, so next year I hope they make it a bit more interesting.
That said, buying a ticket was only partly for the race day experience. It's more of a vote for the future. Like saying "More of this kind of thing, please!"
I've been arguing this all year. With Honda clearly struggling to have a competitive engine in their debut year back in F1 and with massive reliability issues that have resulted in numerous "small" grid penalties, just revamp the engine and deliver it to the team and accept a massive penalty so you can get some testing done and find out if you are making progress for next year. From a game theory point of view, give up any pretense of championship competition this season and accept all penalties that are confined to this season but still let you race each week in order to accomplish the necessary R&D that will payoff next season and beyond.
Way to go Honda/McLaren!
But Ferrari got a great deal with Vettel, and next year they'll have a decent car from the start. Mclaren werent shit, so there's hope for them next year, and they'll still have Button and Alonso. Verstappen is crazy good already, and it's going to be exciting watching him develop as a racer over the next few years too.
I guess my predictions of sitting out the season were unfounded.
It's incredible that a sport with so much money involved can be run so badly. Did nobody test out how this would go? Did nobody run a simulation? Did they not try out a mock session during testing? Didn't they give it a go with another formula first, to see what problems might come up?
Either too many people are in charge, or nobody is in charge. Sometimes the long history and the money involved can work against the best interests of everyone.
That said, yesterday's GP was actually REALLY good. Solid racing through-out the pack, drama, and Mercedes won not out of pure technological superiority but due to excellent strategy.
Maybe moaning a bit much, I thought? Seeing that video... nope.
http://deadline.com/2016/11/liberty-media-launch-streaming-service-formula-one-racing-1201850657/