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Engineers, not racers, are the true drivers of success in motor sport

economist.com

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Re: Engineers, not racers, are the true drivers of success in motor sport

#31

I mean this in the most respectful way: Can someone please explain the allure of watching F1 race on TV? I honestly sat down with a few friends and we watched Kimi Raikonnen but it was not a lot of action in terms of overtaking and drama - it was mostly inching forward and making time. I fully understand and appreciate the amount of skills that go into driving an F1 car, but what is in for the spectator?

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Re: Engineers, not racers, are the true drivers of success in motor sport

#32

I mean this in the most respectful way: Can someone please explain the allure of watching F1 race on TV? I honestly sat down with a few friends and we watched Kimi Raikonnen but it was not a lot of action in terms of overtaking and drama - it was mostly inching forward and making time. I fully understand and appreciate the amount of skills that go into driving an F1 car, but what is in for the spectator?

Presumably you saw Gasly win a race, yes? If you haven't go and watch it, if that doesn't excite you don't bother

Re: Engineers, not racers, are the true drivers of success in motor sport

#33

I mean this in the most respectful way: Can someone please explain the allure of watching F1 race on TV? I honestly sat down with a few friends and we watched Kimi Raikonnen but it was not a lot of action in terms of overtaking and drama - it was mostly inching forward and making time. I fully understand and appreciate the amount of skills that go into driving an F1 car, but what is in for the spectator?

Same with NFL. I understand the sport is interesting, exciting, and has complex strategies. However, why do people care about which team wins? The players are traded freely among teams, and all teams are owned by the same business. So for example the San Francisco 49ers have very little to do with San Francisco, except for the name. If the San Francisco 49ers win, it has very little to do with San Francisco. The Econ…

And yet the fans would still burn the city down if they won, regardless of the actual relation.

Re: Engineers, not racers, are the true drivers of success in motor sport

#34

I mean this in the most respectful way: Can someone please explain the allure of watching F1 race on TV? I honestly sat down with a few friends and we watched Kimi Raikonnen but it was not a lot of action in terms of overtaking and drama - it was mostly inching forward and making time. I fully understand and appreciate the amount of skills that go into driving an F1 car, but what is in for the spectator?

You're supposed to get super drunk and eat snacks and shout at the TV and talk about life and stuff with your friends. Gambling can also help to alleviate boredom.

Re: Engineers, not racers, are the true drivers of success in motor sport

#35

I mean this in the most respectful way: Can someone please explain the allure of watching F1 race on TV? I honestly sat down with a few friends and we watched Kimi Raikonnen but it was not a lot of action in terms of overtaking and drama - it was mostly inching forward and making time. I fully understand and appreciate the amount of skills that go into driving an F1 car, but what is in for the spectator?

Pretty much every popular somewhat global sport has levels of nuance, detail, backstory that will take some investment in time and interest for you to become familiar with. If the sport doesn’t immediately draw you in, don’t feel you have to keep watching in hopes that it eventually does. This is my current thesis for global sports, especially those with an audience as large as F1’s. “There’s something they get out of it that I can’t see .. and would never see because I don’t have the time to invest in it”.

Re: Engineers, not racers, are the true drivers of success in motor sport

#36

Mostly because modern F1 is more less about driving and more about optimzing fuel consumption, tyre wear, pitstop strategy and KERS. The driver is merely a pilot doing what is instructed over the radio, unlike the V12 , V10 era where the driver had more autonomy.

> The driver is merely a pilot doing what is instructed over the radio I think this severely understates the skill of some of the highest paid athletes on the planet.

Not taking away anything from the drivers. All of them are exceptional and possibly the best on the planet. That said, when you are racing over ~20ish races , as a team, it pretty much boils down to long term strategy and tactics.

Kevin Schwantz and Wayne Rainey were 2 epic motorcyclists in the 90s. Schwantz had more individual wins, but it was Rainey that had more championships titles, because he was more consistent in his races and made fewer mistakes (Even Schwantz admits this in an interview)

Re: Engineers, not racers, are the true drivers of success in motor sport

#37

I mean this in the most respectful way: Can someone please explain the allure of watching F1 race on TV? I honestly sat down with a few friends and we watched Kimi Raikonnen but it was not a lot of action in terms of overtaking and drama - it was mostly inching forward and making time. I fully understand and appreciate the amount of skills that go into driving an F1 car, but what is in for the spectator?

The current rules have made the sport a bit boring. A result of the current regulations is that the better you build your aerodynamics, the more turbulence you create behind your car, which means the harder it is for another car to follow closely behind you, which means less over taking.

It also doesn’t help that one team currently has the best car by a very significant margin. They also have the best driver, and the two teams that were closest to them have fallen further behind this season (one significantly further behind).

The midfield battles are actually still quite exciting though. Those cars are a lot closer together in terms of performance, and if anything happens to one of the top 3 drivers, you can see somebody fighting for a potentially career first podium. Which is why the TV coverage will barely cover the front of the pack in most races, because the front 3 cars typically spend the whole race driving at the end of each other dirty air without fighting each other at all.

This post is very highly subjective though. This year you have LeClerc making the Ferrari (which is widely regarded as a very bad car at the moment) actually look good, and his team mate (4 time world champion Sebastian Vettel) is making it look terrible. It’s been the same story at Red Bull with Verstappen and all of his recent team mates. You’ve also got the best and worst team running the same engine.

As a side note, Kimi is currently driving one of the worst cars on the grid, so you probably wouldn’t expect much excitement from him.

Re: Engineers, not racers, are the true drivers of success in motor sport

#38

My guess is that as technology progresses, engineers are going to become the "main drivers of success" for many other industries as well: the airline industry, the automobile industry (self-driving cars) and so on.

Do you think engineers haven't been involved in building aircraft and automobiles until now? They've been the "main drivers of success" since the beginning of those industries. If you mean software engineers, I think your point is only partially valid. There is room for improvement in other areas as well, such as controls, aerodynamics, energy, materials to name a few.

I meant, they're going to become MORE the drivers of success. Not saying they haven't been drivers at all, I meant their role is going to become more and more important.

Re: Engineers, not racers, are the true drivers of success in motor sport

#39

Mostly because modern F1 is more less about driving and more about optimzing fuel consumption, tyre wear, pitstop strategy and KERS. The driver is merely a pilot doing what is instructed over the radio, unlike the V12 , V10 era where the driver had more autonomy.

Explain the gulf in performance between the car that Verstappen is driving and Albon.

Re: Engineers, not racers, are the true drivers of success in motor sport

#40

I mean this in the most respectful way: Can someone please explain the allure of watching F1 race on TV? I honestly sat down with a few friends and we watched Kimi Raikonnen but it was not a lot of action in terms of overtaking and drama - it was mostly inching forward and making time. I fully understand and appreciate the amount of skills that go into driving an F1 car, but what is in for the spectator?

Same with NFL. I understand the sport is interesting, exciting, and has complex strategies. However, why do people care about which team wins? The players are traded freely among teams, and all teams are owned by the same business. So for example the San Francisco 49ers have very little to do with San Francisco, except for the name. If the San Francisco 49ers win, it has very little to do with San Francisco. The Econ…

> The players are traded freely among teams Yes, this happens more often than in the past, but there are still many players and staff that stay with an organization for an extended period of time (e.g. Tom Brady and Bill Belichick).

> all teams are owned by the same business What do you mean? Each team has a different owner.

> So for example the San Francisco 49ers have very little to do with San Francisco, except for the name' In many geographical regions, you grow up watching the team that is closest in proximity. e.g. I grew up in rural western New York State and I grew up watching the Buffalo Bills because they were the closest franchise despite being 100 miles away.

The name is just a semantic. Would you be happier if the 49ers were called the "Northern California 49ers"?

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