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Autosport and its reversed grid obsession


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#1 JHSingo

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Posted 09 January 2017 - 18:55

I see once again that the topic of reversed grids in F1 is written about in "Autosport Plus".

http://www.autosport...rsed-grids-work

 

Not the first time this has been written about either:

http://www.autosport...ds-too-quickly/

http://www.autosport...1-reverse-grids

http://www.autosport...m/feature/5812/

http://www.autosport...m/feature/6154/

 

Every time this gets brought up in fan polls etc, the overwhelming response is that people are against it - as noted in one of those topics. So why does Autosport keep bringing this topic up? Out of touch with readers, or simply running out of ideas?


Edited by JHSingo, 09 January 2017 - 19:17.


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#2 Risil

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Posted 09 January 2017 - 19:17

Pat Symonds always used to bring it up in the Motor Sport magazine podcasts too. I reckon there's a lot of support for it among F1 insiders. Perhaps sadly.



#3 bobellsmore

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Posted 10 January 2017 - 17:17

Of all the fatuous ideas that have been promoted to "improve the show", reverse grids surely are the least daft.

 

I would take yesterday's ideas a little further to improve the "purity" of the racing (at least the way I look at it  :)). I intensely dislike messing about with "qualifying" -- reverse grids render it meaningless. We want to make Saturday meaningful for fans – have a race. Scrap FP3 as well as qualifying and replace them with a bog-standard 2 hour/200 mile race of absolutely equal status to Sunday's race. Double the number of races for relatively little extra cost – what's not to like?

 

I am a total anorak, watching all of FP1, FP2 & FP3 ever since I retired more than a decade ago but would very happily swap that for the benefit of watching the top drivers racing through the field – and twice in a weekend to boot! I don't know about you, but I come alive when I see Max or Lewis or Sebastian etc. racing through from the back. I never did buy in to Max Moseley's "it's like a game of chess" remark.

 

 



#4 JHSingo

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Posted 10 January 2017 - 18:10

I fundamentally disagree with the idea of reversed grids in F1. To me, it's like treating a gunshot wound with a plaster. It's not going to solve the problem.

 

You can introduce any artificial idea you like, but the problem of dirty air is hardly going to disappear over night is it? Overtaking is still going to be difficult on a lot of tracks...how would a reversed grid race at Monaco end? Probably with a Sauber driver winning. Is that really what you want?

 

I'd much rather the rule makers address the real issue and come up with a set of regulations that would allow for better racing. Cutting aero, rather than adding it, and significantly increasing power would be a good start.

 

I guess this is in danger of getting into racing comments area. I just wanted to point out the frequency in which Autosport writes about this topic, in the hope they'll stop banging on about it. :lol:


Edited by JHSingo, 10 January 2017 - 18:15.


#5 BRG

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Posted 11 January 2017 - 19:16

Not that I am particularly in favour of it, but why is the current grid system the 'natural' one and a reversed grd an 'artificial' one?   Where is it laid down that a race grid should be made up with the fastest qualifier on the pole position?  There are numerous ways to decide on a grid - championship order, alphabetical order, drawn at random, any of these three reversed, by fan votes, etc etc.  None of these is right or wrong, they are all equally valid choices.

 

British short oval racing has always used reverse grids and it always produces good racing.  Not something we would welcome in F1, I guess.


Edited by BRG, 11 January 2017 - 19:16.


#6 chunder27

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Posted 12 January 2017 - 07:48

It also sadly means that contact is inevitable.

 

In the contact formulas it is encouraged, but the same distances front to back have to be covered in non contact classes, and they end up being a very brutal affair at times with much flagrant rule ignoring and favouritism.



#7 Risil

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Posted 12 January 2017 - 14:01

Remember that this is the Website Feedback forum and comments should stay focused on things specifically related to Autosport.com

 

If you want to discuss the topic of Reverse Grids you can do so in this Racing Comments thread: http://forums.autosp...e-grids-merged/