John's Debate! - The 90 Minutes of Le Mans?
If Magny-Cours was no longer host of the French Grand Prix, would you want to see F1 at the Bugatti Circuit? Do you think Bugatti Circuit would have the facilities and such to provide for a Grand Prix in this day and age?
Le Mans Bugatti has the facilities alright, but for Formula 1, it's just bland - it's even boring with MotoGP and sportscars, and if you take a look at the layout, it's all high-speed curves, which are a killer for F1 cars in traffic: We'll have less overtaking than at any other dedicated track. They'll probably built a new circuit from scratch - Bernie's after Paris, with either a street-circuit or one in Disneyland. For some reason, the idea of Donald Duck in a McLaren scares the **** out of me.
Okay, maybe I didn't explain the situation very well. He was using a low-er downforce setup on his car to keep up on the long straight leading to the Adelaide hairpin but has said to the pit radio that his car was oversteering and was hard to drive. He had the pace because he was light on fuel, but after that first pit stop, he was clearly struggling and lost time and was the same after his second stop which Webber was able to leapfrog him.
Better now?
Webber was able to leapfrog him, twice, on strategy alone - he stayed out two more laps on both stints, but was definitely slower in the third and final (therefore, equally-fueled) stint. The only thing Alonso (as well as Piquet, Hamilton, Kovalainen, etc) struggled with was overtaking the slower car ahead - Webber in this case. He was all over his diffuser for quite a few laps, and had he not run wide into that hairpin, their order could've remained the same for another 20 laps. Yes, he and Piquet oversteered occasionally, but that's a trait of the R28's design itself, similar to the STR2 of last year - a suspension and chassis issue - and fixing it by adding rear downforce is the wrong engineering approach. That's why the suspension was updated for Barcelona, and another update is scheduled for Silverstone.
(remember, both Renault did have a high speed trap. Almost matching the top team and as well all know, they don't have a powerful engine)
They may not have quite the power the Ferraris have
at the moment, but even then, it's not by more than 20hp. Remember, when Adrian Newey had to pick engines for Red Bull and Toro Rosso, he got offers from both teams. He stated in an interview that the choice wasn't very difficult, because the differences were minute - small differences in the torque-curve, and that's it, and that he then picked the Renault because of the packaging-requirements. That choice was made after the freeze - and the only ones that updated their engines
after the freeze are Ferrari.
Renault have quite the aerodynamic department - their R25 and R26 produced the most downforce in the field, probably - and their R28 design is quite well adapted to low-downforce circuits. They probably did run a little less downforce than other teams - notice how Piquet pulled away at every straight, even from the slippery McLarens - but it was obviously within the reasonable amount required for Magny Cours, otherwise they'd run in trouble in the fast corners, which they didn't.
Anyhow, this race should be remembered for a long time as it will be the last race here (unless Bernie
lied about not racing here) and hopefully there will be a good replacement for this circuit..... there has been a few good races here, but unfortunately this years race isn't as much "exciting" as it was back during the Schumacher era......
It's already been reconfirmed to host the French GP for the next two years, so it's not the last.
I'm sorry, who? Is this someone on GT5
?
Wiki's page.
also. Just an assumption on my behalf
