Evgeniy Kustov: We were deprived of additional intrigue at the finish line, but what’s the advantage?
Thus, the FIA announced that from 2025, fast laps will not be encouraged in any way in Formula 1. But often the destination of a bonus point for the fastest lap was the only entertainment in the last laps of the race. , faced with competition only in the form of a fight for eighth or ninth place conditionally. Is it bad that at the end there was some action, some uncertainty? This is an additional tactical struggle, it is a risk in the form of a potentially failed pit stop, it is an intervention as unexpected as the one Ricciardo had in Singapore. After all, these are nervous radio negotiations, when the team convinces the leader not to take risks, he remains silent and then puts purple sectors on the old tires.
Did someone just make a free pit stop, running a long delay, and get an extra point? Well, one point is not so much to drastically change the course of the fight in the championship, but rather that there is a risk of errors in the pits and some kind of action.
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Artificiality? Listen, any rule is artificial. Why does Formula 1 have this particular points system and not another? Why exactly such restrictions on technology, costs, etc.? It doesn’t seem to me that a bonus point for the fastest lap is the most unnatural thing in F1, which urgently needed to get rid of.
And even in the story of Ricciardo’s fastest lap at the Singapore Grand Prix I didn’t see any serious problems. Firstly, I naively believe that this was RB’s farewell to a deserving driver after all, and not Red Bull’s cunning tactics. Secondly, if the problem is an order from the main team, then perhaps we should combat the root cause with one owner for two teams, and not with points for laps.
Again, you could change the rules a bit and still award a point to the driver in the top 10 whose lap is the fastest among those getting points. And such an operational ban seems simply a nervous reaction to Singapore. Unfortunately, typical of Formula 1.
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Dmitry Zakharchenko: the extra point was initially unnecessary
The desire of the organizers to make the fight in Formula 1 more diverse and richer is commendable. But not all ideas in this direction will necessarily benefit the sport. This is a bonus point: did the race improve much? Has there ever been a time, apart from the recent Singapore Grand Prix, when anyone was really interested in the fate of the best lap? When did this notorious better circle really influence anything?
The best lap of the race itself is a dubious achievement. The fastest laps are achieved by the drivers in qualifying, but in the race everyone constantly drives a few seconds slower: they save tires, fuel and the life of the power plant. The best lap in the race was always for the one who fights for a higher position and is forced to attack, not for the one who is actually faster. Until 2019, no one specifically fought for this circle, for what?
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What kind of variety did the extra point for fastest lap bring to racing? In most cases, this point was scored by whoever had enough of a lead for a “free” pit stop. The leaders try not to take risks and, almost against the will of the wheelhouse, decide to suddenly attack on the last lap. In the last five years there has been no such thing that this bonus point has somehow intensified the fight for the title, and this is for the better. Wouldn’t it be strange if the fate of the championship was decided by the fastest lap?
This bonus point became a sort of side quest to the main plot. The awarding of this point, as practice shows, depends on the situation and not on the actual strength of the opponents on the court. So what is the benefit of this rule for sports? The logic of the sport is to identify and reward the strongest, and the best lap bonus in its modern form does not correspond to this logic.
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