Quote:
Originally Posted by schteve_d
I've mentioned earlier but I am a new fan just getting into the sport. I've dabbled before but this is my first season as "a fan". I don't like the battery management aspect of the sport. I think this is pretty new? I'd like to hear from some longtime F1 fans what they think of it.
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It is new but batteries have been around for a while in F1. While a significant change it’s also an evolution of previous hybrid technology.
Like a lot of F1 fans in a perfect world we’d have much simpler V8 or V10 engines that are loud as #### and produce that wonderful sound that harmonizes with my soul.
Since we can’t have that, my number one priority is entertainment. It’s only 1 race but that was fairly entertaining, especially the first half of the race. If the current formula produces entertaining races, then I could care less how much battery management is involved.
That being said, battery management feels like it takes away from the pure driving aspect of F1. Except the 2014 hybrids had batteries. Cars since 2010 had KERS. Not to mention tire management and fuel management have been part of F1 forever. To me, what the driver is managing doesn’t matter all that much. It’s part of the job.
Some drivers have said the cars aren’t fun to drive and the battery management takes up a disproportionate amount of time and effort. Lando said he didn’t notice Kimi’s cooling fan on the track because he was staring at his steering wheel. Once again I sympathize a bit and would love pure racing but let’s not pretend that these steering wheels and cars weren’t already massively complicated.
Fans have pointed out this lame that the cars lose power at the end of straights and have to harvest but any change to prevent it would involve limiting energy output and would slow down lap times, which are already much slower than the last regulation set.
At the end of the day, it’s not the formula I would have designed but as long as it’s entertaining then I don’t really care what’s involved for the drivers.
Reduce electrical power output, keep it as is, I don’t really care what’s involved I don’t even care that the cars are always faster than the last gen. My enjoyment isn’t based on lap times being 3s or 5s faster. F1 is the pinnacle of Motorsport by a decent margin and being a few seconds slower won’t change that.
If they race good, look good and sound good then I’m happy. Right now they look great, sound ok and race….? Not sure yet.
And just for fun here’s the chainbear video explaining what changed in F1 this year. Great for understanding how the battery changed and how the drivers use it.