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I wish the actual Formula 1 race shows would make more use of explanations and technical details. There's some mentions during the race by the reporters of some

I wish the actual Formula 1 race shows would make more use of explanations and technical details. There's some mentions during the race by the reporters of some aspects of the technology, but they could do a lot better before and after with animations etc. I watched this Top Gear video a while ago, showing one of their guys trying to drive a F1 car (and one of a slower league) around a race track, which is pretty tough if you're not trained to do so, because of the massive G-force in the turns. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9773pisjCSw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9773pisjCSw Compared to that, the race reporting often looks kind of dull and slow.

k-mcgrady 10y ago
What country are yo watching F1 in? In the U.K. I find there's a fair bit of technical content (obviously they can't do too much as a lot of people won't care).
- manarth 10y ago
  For context, which channel? I watch Sky F1, which provides a decent amount of technical context, but I don't know what content is delivered by Channel 4, or how it compares to Sky.
  - k-mcgrady 10y ago
    I was referring mostly to Sky. I'm sure BBC did a fair amount though, not really sure on C4. With Sky now including Pat Symonds I'm sure the amount of technical content will increase too.
  - AlecSchueler 10y ago
    Channel 4 coverage is brilliant, especially the technical side which is covered by Karun Chandhok. I actually watched the Sky stream live last weekend, and then tonight I watched the Channel 4 highlights as well purely for the coverage around the race. Having watched at least a few races from every season since 1979 onwards, I'd say Channel 4 is the best reporting team Formula 1 has had so far.
- elcapitan 10y ago
  I'm from Germany, but I usually try to get the British Sky streams, because it's way better than German reporting, yes. Still think they could do a little better. Not necessarily in addition to how it looks now, but maybe the visuals need to change as well. But from my understanding that's the same for everybody, just different voice-over.
Gracana 10y ago
Dunno about TV, but a good website for the technology side is http://www.racecar-engineering.com/ http://www.racecar-engineering.com/
robotresearcher 10y ago
That video you linked was very interesting. The car just doesn't work properly until it's being driven very hard. So the challenge for the beginner is to go fast right away. If you take it too easy, the tires and brakes are cold and don't work, and you'll crash. The amateur driver was much more experienced than most, and he really struggled.
- ericcumbee 10y ago
  There was an article where a Reporter got the chance to drive the old Honda LMP-1 car around Sebring. One of the things that I found incredible was in his briefing they told him he had to take turn 2 no slower than a certain speed. otherwise the Body Work would not create enough downforce and it would go off track.
ajholyoake 10y ago
As an ex-F1 Strategist without the data that I'm used to when watching races, I find this incredibly frustrating. The FIA is the source of any data that teams have about their competitors and this could very easily be forwarded on to the broadcasters. Given that the ownership of F1 has changed recently, there is a chance that this will be opened up at some point in the future. FWIW, I think that if broadcasters do manage to get their hands on the live timing in a numerical format (rather than on a TV screen) you could see them extracting more interesting stuff than the teams do themselves!
- elcapitan 10y ago
  Ex-F1 Strategist? That sounds really interesting. What did you do there?
  - ajholyoake 10y ago
    Mostly tried to bring some kind of rigour to the process of deciding strategies. The majority of the day job was spent persuading people that spreadsheets are not the way forward and implementing stuff in python with web front ends. I think most people would be shocked at how non-cutting edge the software is across the industry! Working during the races were fun when there was a genuine decision to be made however!
    - elcapitan 10y ago
      That still sounds like an amazing job. Thanks for sharing!

k-mcgrady 10y ago

What country are yo watching F1 in? In the U.K. I find there's a fair bit of technical content (obviously they can't do too much as a lot of people won't care).

manarth 10y ago
For context, which channel? I watch Sky F1, which provides a decent amount of technical context, but I don't know what content is delivered by Channel 4, or how it compares to Sky.
- k-mcgrady 10y ago
  I was referring mostly to Sky. I'm sure BBC did a fair amount though, not really sure on C4. With Sky now including Pat Symonds I'm sure the amount of technical content will increase too.
- AlecSchueler 10y ago
  Channel 4 coverage is brilliant, especially the technical side which is covered by Karun Chandhok. I actually watched the Sky stream live last weekend, and then tonight I watched the Channel 4 highlights as well purely for the coverage around the race. Having watched at least a few races from every season since 1979 onwards, I'd say Channel 4 is the best reporting team Formula 1 has had so far.
elcapitan 10y ago
I'm from Germany, but I usually try to get the British Sky streams, because it's way better than German reporting, yes. Still think they could do a little better. Not necessarily in addition to how it looks now, but maybe the visuals need to change as well. But from my understanding that's the same for everybody, just different voice-over.

Gracana 10y ago

Dunno about TV, but a good website for the technology side is http://www.racecar-engineering.com/ http://www.racecar-engineering.com/

robotresearcher 10y ago

That video you linked was very interesting. The car just doesn't work properly until it's being driven very hard. So the challenge for the beginner is to go fast right away. If you take it too easy, the tires and brakes are cold and don't work, and you'll crash. The amateur driver was much more experienced than most, and he really struggled.

ericcumbee 10y ago
There was an article where a Reporter got the chance to drive the old Honda LMP-1 car around Sebring. One of the things that I found incredible was in his briefing they told him he had to take turn 2 no slower than a certain speed. otherwise the Body Work would not create enough downforce and it would go off track.

ajholyoake 10y ago

As an ex-F1 Strategist without the data that I'm used to when watching races, I find this incredibly frustrating. The FIA is the source of any data that teams have about their competitors and this could very easily be forwarded on to the broadcasters. Given that the ownership of F1 has changed recently, there is a chance that this will be opened up at some point in the future. FWIW, I think that if broadcasters do manage to get their hands on the live timing in a numerical format (rather than on a TV screen) you could see them extracting more interesting stuff than the teams do themselves!

elcapitan 10y ago
Ex-F1 Strategist? That sounds really interesting. What did you do there?
- ajholyoake 10y ago
  Mostly tried to bring some kind of rigour to the process of deciding strategies. The majority of the day job was spent persuading people that spreadsheets are not the way forward and implementing stuff in python with web front ends. I think most people would be shocked at how non-cutting edge the software is across the industry! Working during the races were fun when there was a genuine decision to be made however!
  - elcapitan 10y ago
    That still sounds like an amazing job. Thanks for sharing!