[Beano]

Yes but these days you don’t see this often, maybe a bit here or there, doing it pretty much the whole race would be challenging however F1 is no longer about flat out racing, more managing a very complex piece of machinery

[morini]

Yes but these days you don’t see this often

You see it every quali session.

Regarding the race management, yeah I agree it is crap. But mostly down to the FIA requesting tyres which fall off so badly performance over time. Besides, every era of F1 has had a race management element, just that this era is particularly bad. Not the cars or teams fault, it's the FIA's fault for wanting chocolate tyres to improve "the show". Give them tyres they can push on and the races would be better, but there would still be some element of management as that is a fact of life in F1.

[PapaofGags]

They are just so complicated now, Senna's car at Beaulieu had 3 buttons, on, off & radio, now even I can work that out! 

[NeilP]

There are many different perspectives on this whole situation of coaching but let me throw a different viewpoint to you all. It is a team sport. Do you not think the engineers, team management and strategists want the very best to me made of their efforts to win races. Just because they do not drive the car does not mean they want their efforts to be wasted or misused. I am sure in his own way Bono is just as pumped as Lewis is to win a race.

Look the 'old' days when there were very few driver aids have gone forever. The sport has significantly changed over time whether you think that is better or worst is your opinion and in honesty I can go both ways. I sure as hell appreciated those drivers who drove on their own with a beast of an engine alone in their cockpit.

That said I also appreciate the hugely technical aspect of the sport today and the immense amount of people, time and money invested in each team. It truly is a team effort and on that basis I have no issues with drivers being communicated with its not just about the guy behind the wheel.

[forzaferrari]

I agree on the coaching bit, to a degree. However, these cars are bloody complex and no normal human being would have the mental capacity to drive one flat out with or without a race engineer instructing them. It is quite possible to go the wrong way with it and then the teams would put all the decisions in the brain of the car rather than allowing a driver to make the difference. If you think adjusting all this stuff like brake bias, diff settings, strat modes, deploying ERS etc. at those sorts of speeds is trivial then I'd have to disagree.

Yes, the drivers shouldn't be told where they are faster / slower and where they can make up time. That they have to work out on their own. However, when to use certain engine modes (which is going away anyway, so it seems) requires engineering input. F1 is a technical sport and the current cars are incredibly complex. Too complex, some will say. Me, I like to see technology utilised to the max. Put it this way, theres no way you or I could jump into one of these things and drive it. Compare and contrast a 70's era car and I reckon we could (we'd definitely crash it but we would be able to drive it to a fashion).

Yeah of course they need to be walked through certain aspects due to the complicities of these machines but they are still being coached how to drive almost every corner and where they lose out/gain on competitors.....which kerbs to avoid, which button to hold for X seconds at X section of track, when to push & when to ease off......that is flat out coaching in my eyes and something I thought was to be done away with in recent years?

[morini]

Yeah of course they need to be walked through certain aspects due to the complicities of these machines but they are still being coached how to drive almost every corner and where they lose out/gain on competitors.....which kerbs to avoid, which button to hold for X seconds at X section of track, when to push & when to ease off......that is flat out coaching in my eyes and something I thought was to be done away with in recent years?

I think your beef is with the FIA to be honest. Again, this is a huge grey area but you are correct in there were changes which were supposed to remove the engineers telling the drivers how to drive the track. If the stewards don't enforce it you can hardly blame the teams. As Neil says, it is a team sport and what the teams are doing is trying to optimise performance by telling the drivers where they can improve.

Personally I am fine with engineers telling drivers "stay off kerb x" as that could be to prevent damage. TBH I've got no axe to grind with any of it, all the drivers on the grid could drive without any input from the team and it would make no difference. You would still see the same guys getting the best results. Nobody is gaining any advantage if they are all doing it.

[Beano]

Borrowed from another site I frequent. This (for me) at least generalises and for those of us less technically minded can relate too. It appears a solid article that we were discussing and it’s all relevant to Saturdays race!! Happy reading. It’s not new news but helped me 

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/151692...-it-banned

[morini]

It’s not new news but helped me 

Yeah, that's a good article but same info I already read as on f1.com.

I'm still not 100% clear on how it will work though, because they refer to the teams still being able to turn the engine down. I'm making assumptions here, but the way I see it is the teams pick a single mode for a whole event then any "in car" switch would only allow changing between that mode and a low power mode. I can't see any other way to interpret it really.

I am still of the opinion it will only really help Mercedes rather than hinder.

[PapaofGags]

I am still of the opinion it will only really help Mercedes rather than hinder.

Ok complicated as this is (quali modes) I've heard/read that this will rein in Mercedes on a Saturday but give them extra advantage on Sunday, so on Sunday the Merc pair could be even further up the road, with Max being the only one who can make a race of it at the moment, won't this make it even harder to be competitive, leading to less racing for the fans?

Not sure this is well thought out, time will tell.

As for the over complicated cars how about taking the sensors off for the race & let the drivers earn their money on race day?

[Beano]

I am still of the opinion it will only really help Mercedes rather than hinder.

Ok complicated as this is (quali modes) I've heard/read that this will rein in Mercedes on a Saturday but give them extra advantage on Sunday, so on Sunday the Merc pair could be even further up the road, with Max being the only one who can make a race of it at the moment, won't this make it even harder to be competitive, leading to less racing for the fans?

Not sure this is well thought out, time will tell.

As for the over complicated cars how about taking the sensors off for the race & let the drivers earn their money on race day?

find out on Sunday