91Èȱ¬

Excellent choices from Chandhok and Karthikeyan's aren't bad either.

I really like Chandhok and am very disappointed that Team Fernandes (aka 'Lotus') haven't given him a drive for this weekend. Considerng we was getting practice sessions during the year and looking better than Trulli at times I thought he'd be a dead cert for his home GP. A true shame.

Chandhok also clearly knows his F1 history and when he helped out during practice for 91Èȱ¬ radio he raised my enjoyment of the commentary. A lot of 91Èȱ¬ F1 reporters and presenters could learn alot from an actual fan like Karun. His passion, knowledge and delivery is highly impressive and he presents himself with true professionalism.

I fully ECHO JB's comments @1. I have a lot of time for Chandhok, he's extremely knowledgeable and well mannered - there's no agenda with hin, just a real passion for the sport. Much like us fans

No2Sky
No to F1/2
Yes to RTL+R5L

Great choices but why can't we watch it on the red button from Wednesday's like we used to be able to? I used to enjoy Wednesday nights on my own in peace watching the classic f1 after I had put all the kids to bed.

I've been hearing a lot about the New Jersey Grand Prix for 2013 (I know this is a bit off topic), and, frankly, I don't see why we couldn't have had a GP there INSTEAD of Texas. In Texas, it'll be really difficult to drag fans away from the traditional (and awful) sport of NASCAR, whereas the North-Eastern USA is about the only part of the country that gives a damn about Formula 1.

That said, I'd prefer it if we went back to the Glen than had a new street circuit just off New York, but whatever...

Oh, but I wonder if we'll be able to see the "amazing backdrop" of NYC live, or will we not be able to watch because the highlights will be at about 23:00 because this GP will be later than the European ones anyway?

NO TO SKY.

@ no. 2 - What is this RTL + R5L thing?

@5 If and when we loose F1 of 91Èȱ¬, we may be forced into exile towards the German (Well Austrian-owned) Satellite channel RTL who, despite ad breaks still keep the action flowing with cute picture-in-picture! And for the words to go with the pictures, untill and unless we're all fluent Deutche-sprechers by next year! we have Radio 5 Live. Unless that little merkin-wearing maggot hasn't robbed R5L of the rights too!!
No2Sky - period!!

@6 - ConscientiousF1Observer

I still believe that the 91Èȱ¬ have the rights to broadcast each GP live on the radio. Although I'm not sure how many will be on the standard R5 Live and how many will only be on R5 Live Sports Extra. What Sky have been able to steal though is David Croft, so you won't be able to hear him commentate through the radio from next year.

@6

Apologies. I should've said it has been rumoured that Crofty is off to Sky to be one of the two main TV commentators. Brundle is also being courted to make the move alongside him. But no confirmation as yet - although we F1 fans are now used to being kept in the dark about next years broadcasting.

@6, IMHO Crofty's no loss!!

What is the point of wasting peoples time asking for favorite GP's if you are only going to give us 2+hours to watch them.
This is just the 91Èȱ¬ trying to get us used to the rubbish coverage we can look forward to after thier behind closed doors (and borderline illegal cartel) deal with Sky.

Vote against it.

Some excellent choices, especially 1979! Interesting to see DRS described as 'all this nonsense'. I am inclined to agree that some aspects of the technology look like bodged afterthoughts, rather than a carefully considered racing and technological choice, and this comment adds weight to that.
I hope I can see the Indian GP on live 91Èȱ¬ next year, but as previous commentators have said, 91Èȱ¬ will only (probably) get to show it in 2012 if it turns out to be rubbish!
I want the full live coverage as per the original contract, not this farce with Sky!

NO TO SKY

Hmm well the latest two blogs open (this one and Sarah Holts) aren't showing on the F1 Blog page. I have tweeted Jake to ask him to prod the web team.

I always enjoy it when the team grab Karun for a show to help present, always comes across well.

No to Sky
No to F0.5
Yes to full season Live FTA on the 91Èȱ¬ (or if not C4, or even shared between 91Èȱ¬ and C4)
Shame on the 91Èȱ¬ for this deal and covering up by blocking FOI requests.

I know - looks like the Beeb are running scared from all the -ve attention and comments - 'ya makes ya bed...'!!

NO2Sky!!!

Any one notice that in the monaco F1 forum EJ went to speak to the Sky bunch whilst up at Red Bulls pool area and said he was going to talk to "next years employers"? Looks like the presenters knew long before it was announced contary to Jake Humphreys assertion....
Or maybe im wrong. Either way, CH4 would of been the best option.
Yes to torrents! haha

The 91Èȱ¬ should produce programming F1 for sky. (So sky gets virtually the same as the 91Èȱ¬)
That way everyone gets the same consistent high quality coverage, it saves money, and there is no bad blood.

@12 - Paul Davis wrote: "I have tweeted Jake to ask him to prod the web team."

Good luck with that. I have repeatedly asked him to tell the web team to stop posting his off-topic twits on the 91Èȱ¬ F1 homepage. He has constantly ignored this query and as seen at this weekend gone, where we had five twits posted on the homepage and they were all about his love for Norwich City (clearly not F1 related), he has not probed the web team at all. I can only pressume that Jake's ego is so big he wants his off topic twits posted on the F1 homepage. Poor soul.

His massive ego was also there for all to see when he was bad mouthing F1 drivers in his last F1 blog. He moaned that some drivers are dismmisive and condescending - clearly a pot and kettle issue right there. Someone should break it to him that he is a no one in the F1 circles and that his status is much smaller than his ego.

Sorry to go off topic here from the old F1 rights debate...

I'm really excited about the Indian Grand Prix. Myself and a few friends normally get together and I'll prepare some themed food for the event. I can't find anything too appealing for breakfast for the Indian GP so it may have to be full English.

The track layout look supurb; the drivers should have a thrill with some of the sections. The slow right-hander leading onto the long back straight will hopefully help yeild plenty of overtaking.

Although this is another circuit designed by Hermann Tilke, some of the F1 teams have had their input into the design, with the view being to aid overtaking. I understand this is the first example of this type of collaberation between teams and designers.

So the question is: Korma or Jalfrezi for breakfast?

Agree with the non F1 related stuff from Jake cluttering up the F1 tweets page although I'm sure its not his fault completely . I didn't even know Norwich football team existed until starting reading these tweets and to be honest couldn't care less about it or any other football team. Please whoever sorts this web stuff have some type of filtering process or just remove Jakes tweets altogether.

Good choices from both drivers, maybe a lot of the more usual's from Narain. Feel sorry for Karun not getting to race but there is a big amount of money on the line for Team Lotus finishing 10th so can understand their decision.

Oh ya and yes to RTL with 5live commentary and no to being ripped of by Sky to be bombarded with betting advertisements and breaks every couple of minutes in the build up and review after races and probably breaks during the race from 2013 on.

On topic - Good choices by Messrs Chandhok and Karthikeyan.

Off topic - Any news on when the 91Èȱ¬ will decide whether or not non-live races in 2012 will be shown in their entirety? How hard a decision can it be? Bernie said in Hungary they can show full races if they want to, so why the delay?

I, like others, would love to know if we are being completely short-changed in 2012 or whether we will at least see all of the races, in full, at some point in the day. Would love a response. Won't hold my breath!

The final 3 race before F1 is no longer free to air. Im not going to watch half a season next year. But hey we have radio coverage. Rolls eyes.

No To Sky

Shame on the 91Èȱ¬.

Is there a specific reason why the old blogs are displayed prominently on the home page and the two new ones are hid in the tweets section??

Do they get moved into the main area when they are closed to comments?

#21 - Blogs not being prodominatly displayed on the web page. I wonder if it's because the 91Èȱ¬ are starting to show signs of being slighty embrassed now, it might be that with their silence (bit like a child with their fingers in their ears, repeating 'I can't hear you, I can't hear you') they hoped we'd go away. But no, their silence only shows what a bunch of soulless, wet, childish, sellouts they really are. Grow some balls 91Èȱ¬ and be honest with the hand that feeds you, it's not that hard, and can in fact, be quite liberating.

No to Sky

Considering Humpries Tweet feed is called @jakehumphreyf1 you would think he would use it to only talk about F1, not that he knows anything about it.
And that picture of him next to his blog post on the front page how much of a complete A*** does he look? Who reads his blog anyway?

Oh and a huge NO to sky!!

I'd like to wish both Karun, Narain and everyone a very Happy Diwali (26th Oct!)

@17 supermarketpeople - a nice spicey omelette would go down very well (fried onion, garlic, chilli, coriander, garam massala - add the egg mixture ontop) yummy.

No to Sky!

Great choices Karun and sorry you didn't get a drive this weekend.

btw has anyone seen the new story today about the 91Èȱ¬ DG going up against MP's about the F1 deal in December. More info here:



Cheers

Great choices from Karun and his usual insightful explanations to go with them. Lets hope he gets a race seat back next year. If not, I hope we can hear him on 5live with anthonty again next year, I think he's really won a place in the hearts of the British public in the last 2 years he's been in F1.

@cleanlang thanks for the article, I really can't wait to hear the outcome of that meeting. Even if nothing changes to the deal, I'm really hoping someone at the bbeb gets more than a slapped wrist and big redudancy payout.

Really disappointing to see Karun missing out on a drive at his own gp. reminds me of other recent backstabbing activities!

good choices from both drivers, and a few new ones in there as well.

looking forward to the race this weekend, supposedly a really good circuit for great racing.

Sorry to go of the subject Since the sky offer was told things have started changing.I thought the changes were from 2012. the podcast have changed and only able to get the one after the race and not the preview.Sportsday is never on time.And don't know if anyone since they announced the sky deal that (Tania from sky team) lets bundle b4 her or with her.Before they used to argue and not cross each others ways.The f1 forum was downloadable before but now not a chance.Bernie will blame the 91Èȱ¬ and the 91Èȱ¬ will blame Bernie.Its a catch 22. No 1 will listen to the f1 fans. Last season il be watching. And don't think by putting no to sky will make a difference at all. The deal has been done and dusted. Nothing is going to change it.

choices so so, Japan 05 and spa 2000 are gettin so repetitive.

Brundle and Croft for SKY!!

I have received the response from the first part of my appeal: the Fair Trade appeal. . This response will be part of the General Appeal for which the response is expected in November.

@23 Kryten

'Who reads his blog anyway?'

Can't really answer that, but I'm not a fan. They always read like tweets without the 140 restriction.

As for his tweets on this forum... the people responsible for those are...


I agree with others, poor Karun. Still, fingers crossed, he may be commentating with Crofty & Ant. He's an absolute gem behind the mic (

(OK, I'll finish it here then)

He's an absolute gem behind the mic (

WTF!?

Blah Blah Blah....

No to Sky Yes to Terrestrial Yes to Transparency

No to Sky

That is all.

@31 Piet

Thanks for keeping us informed. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry about the 91Èȱ¬ response to you - so I got angry instead. I read it that they just don't care about their viewers, maintaining a 'dog-in-the-manger' attitude about keeping half F1 at the expense of other FTA broadcasters and fully expecting F1 fans to buy the SKY package, ignoring any monetary or moral difficulties viewers may have about that idea. Their statement about not advertising SKY or encouraging viewers to buy a SKY package is the laughable bit. Basically, the 91Èȱ¬ decided to treat their Formula One viewers with contempt. I'm hoping to scrap enough money together to buy a freesat dish by next spring, then I'll treat the Beeb the way they've treated me: by completely ignoring them and watching all the races on RTL.

Meanwhile, I'm looking forward to the next three races and looking back to Grand Prix past when I could watch without feeling that sinking feeling about the way the British fans have been treated by their national broadcaster.

Good race choices lads, your passion for F1 is evident.
@31 thanks Piet.

Interesting that the 91Èȱ¬ response comes from Mr Binning, seeing as the 91Èȱ¬ are binning live F1 coverage next year.

Also Mr Balbir Binning is the '91Èȱ¬ Compliance Officer'. Would that be 91Èȱ¬ Compliance as in...
1) The act of complying with a wish, request, or demand.
(Bernie and Sky demand full subscription F1, 91Èȱ¬ comply)
2) A tendency to yield to the will of others.
(Bernie and Sky will the contract to be broken 2 years early and 91Èȱ¬ comply)
3) Flexibility.
(Bernie wants Beeb flexibility so 91Èȱ¬ bend over...)
4) Displacement of a loaded structure per unit load.
(Hmmm, either displacement of 91Èȱ¬ Sport F1 money from 2012 and 2013 to reality karaoke talent show The Voice unit per unit, £20m for the rights, £1m for Kylie and so on.
Or, Bernie and the rest of them are loaded and need displaced ;)

Dear Andrew,

Some new classic races, pass on my thanks to Karun and Narain, forgot about Mexico 90 and thanks for Oz 86 and Sennas JPS first win. Plus I love Spa 2000 even though it's been before as I was at Eau Rouge watching Hakkinen's screaming Mclaren commited to taking down Schuey after being chopped the previous lap... wonder if 91Èȱ¬ will show Spa 2012 - Spa 2018?

Can you please answer a question and let me know when 91Èȱ¬ Sport plan to release details on their 2012 season coverage?

Following on from that question, I'd like to understand the specifics so can you please get someone at 91Èȱ¬ Sport to answer:

1) Which of the ten F1 races will the 91Èȱ¬ not be covering live or showing in full later that day?

2) Are 91Èȱ¬ re-signing Martin Brundle and David Coulthard, or is this part of the F1 cuts as well?

3) Do 91Èȱ¬ managment plan to make further year on year cuts to the F1 coverage throughout the duration of the deal?

4) Are 91Èȱ¬ doing red button F1 forums next year?

5) Can you confirm that if there are an odd number of races in a season, will the 91Èȱ¬ actually be showing less than half F1 races live?

I look forward to your response at your earliest convenience.

Yours sincerely, Stevie91Èȱ¬.

@31 thanks Piet.

How can they state they will not be promoting BSkyBs coverage, by showing half the F1 they are saying if you want it all your have to have BSkyB subscription?

Cannot wait for the Competion Commission to get its teeth in to this one its either the 91Èȱ¬ in the poo or FOA.

And as for the 91Èȱ¬ meeting it Public Purposes it seems its purpose is to annoy and ignore without any consultation the poeple who pay their wages.

Thank you 91Èȱ¬ for ruining a top sport for millions of hard working licence fee payers who either on finanical or moral grounds will not be able to follow the sport they love, you really don't get the passion F1 fans have about watching and following their sport, 'Beware the Ides of March'.

No to the Sky deal yes to a bit of decency and honesty

lotus should race karun in india lets face it hrt and virgin aint gonna beat em to 10th either way and even if they did lose 10th spot its only money us fans r gonna be losing money as of next year so why shouldnt anyone else

id complain more about the tv deal but no one cares about fans views at bbc hq no one cares at f1 hq either and sky are laughing their ass's off as they rub their greedy little hands with glee

@ 5 PT8475

Please have a look at these posts on Sarah Holt's F1 Blog; @16, @47, @48, @55:

/blogs/sarahholt/2011/10/the_glamorous_globetrotters_of.html

@10 Malcom
Please can you also have a look at the links and posts etc, that are refered to above!

@22 Johanna
Great Comments as usual....

@27 BlossomsF1
and to all other F1 Fans against this deal... see links to posts above....Thanks

@38 Stevie 91Èȱ¬ and @40 Innes
Welll said. I also have noticed, that you have been blogging on a regular basis and if you have not already joined us, then please do. See above links and posts..

The response from the 91Èȱ¬'s Fair Trading department couldn't have been anything else, really.

The only other option was for them to remove the extra wording and just admit that they screwed it up but this is the 91Èȱ¬ we're talking about so don't expect accountability from them.

Abolish the licence fee and let the people of our democratic nation choose whether they watch (and therefore pay for) the 91Èȱ¬. Power to the people.

How strange to see round steering wheels and hand gear changes!

I follow F1 from a distance, certainly compared to a number of the posters on this blog, and I want to ask one question - what makes you think Formula 1 should be immune from the 91Èȱ¬ cuts?

I know a large number of people who are annoyed that the 91Èȱ¬ have relinquished their rights to a decent number of Football League sanctioned live football matches yet you don't see the same sanctimonious attitude displayed by F1 fans.

And before you F1 fans try saying you are that much bigger, consider this - football is the most watched sport in the world and the football league is the most watched football competition in the world in terms of spectators at the ground so we are hardly discussing a minority sport here.

I personally would love to see the 91Èȱ¬ increase their sports portfolio, let alone maintain current levels, but given the current economic and political climate that simply is not possible so just ask yourselves, would you like the compromise deal that is on the table or Sky holding exclusive rights - what would happen otherwise because how often do Sky lose a bidding war for sports rights?

Seriously, you 'no to Sky' people... get a life. Writing 'no to Sky' on this blog is not some great act of rebellion that makes us all look on with admiration of your daring and intelligence. Write to the 91Èȱ¬/F1 formally if you care that much. Take it up with your MP. Don't clog up an interesting F1 article with your pointless one-liners.

@46

And your interesting contribution was?

@45 F1 van be cut from the 91Èȱ¬ budget but then they should let competitors like C4 and ITV bid for the full rights. Now they went behind everyone's back and made sure that F1 went to Pay TV.

I agree with Karthikeyan on Monaco 1984, but not the conclusion - Senna would have overtaken Prost, but Bellof (in a Tyrrell, from the back of the grid!) was catching Senna at several seconds a lap and would have been on his gearbox about 3 laps after it was stopped early - he would have won the race.

Excellent! A race I've not seen before. Good choices.

No to Sky, not getting a penny from me.

@45.

You commented "I follow F1 from a distance, certainly compared to a number of the posters on this blog, and I want to ask one question - what makes you think Formula 1 should be immune from the 91Èȱ¬ cuts?"

Good question............ in reality F1 cannot be immune from spending reductions, but:

The 91Èȱ¬ is blatantly protecting areas that serve less people than the 5 or 6 million viewers F1 brings in for every race, including for example Wimbledon tennis. The 91Èȱ¬ has decided unilaterally to protect funding for Radio 4 but to slash funding for Radio 5 Live, all without consultation, just as it did with F1 coverage.

Mainstream Olympic coverage is a must, but who approved spending tens of £ millions to provide saturation daytime coverage of every inch of the torch relay? They claim times are hard and then waste money away like there is no tomorrow. The £18m plus spent by the 91Èȱ¬ on management consultants in 2009 and 2010 could easily have kept F1 on air instead.

The 91Èȱ¬ is acting without equity and, because it is funded by public taxation deserves the spotlight throwing on how its management spend taxpayers money while ignoring the very same taxpayers. They shouldn't be allowed to have it both ways without any challenge from those who pay.

If the 91Èȱ¬ can keep Wimbledon and Radio 4 immune from cuts for its own purposes and with no regard for what viewers and listeners want, then it can ensure that F1 Grand Prix coverage stays fta until the end of the current contract. Yes trim the budget, reduce the number of 91Èȱ¬ journalists going to each race (count them it's scary) but to just sell out to a commercial organisation in a way that ensures licence fee payers lose out goes against every claim they make to be a public service broadcaster.

The 91Èȱ¬ could have let Ch 4 and 5 bid instead of handing coverage straight to SKY and ensuring that fta coverage would end.

Forgive the rant - either the 91Èȱ¬ is a public service and is required to act as such, or it goes commercial and the licence fee ends. This in-between management mish mash does no good for anyone and the failure to consult following promises to do so are a tad irritating ;)

Nice selection of classic races.

No to limited highlights.

No intrest in next season (or 2013 etc) if we cant see all the races in full and unintruted on terrestrial tv.

Yes to full reruns of all non live races.

Yes to Terrestrial tv.

One of the reasons they gave Sky the coverage



F1 is finished for me after more than a quarter of a century watching it on the box and going to many overseas races. I can't be bothered to watch it this year and I'm certainly not going to faff about with a satellite dish and a radio. Goodbye Bernie. I hope you are your obnoxious family are really happy with your obscene wealth. I deeply regret that I ever contributed to it.

So Wimbledon is snapped up until 2017. The clowns at the 91Èȱ¬ continue to throw OUR money away. A quote from the Wimbledon deal:

"We know that Wimbledon fortnight has a very special place in the hearts of the UK public"

What about F1 that has a special place in our hearts for 9 months a year? Get stuffed 91Èȱ¬.

No To Sky, Shame on the 91Èȱ¬.

Well well, aNOther TOtally riSKY decision by Lotus not to put their Indian driver in the seat for the Indian GP - what would the harm have been? Certainly makes more sense than taking Trulli out for that race earlier in the season!

really enjoyed the races this week, my only suggestion would have been to show last year's Bahrain GP for the long one, because presumably we haven't seen that yet? Doesn't really matter though, wasn't that good a race and all these ones were! YES TO SKY

From here:

"Barbara Slater, director of 91Èȱ¬ Sport, said: "The 91Èȱ¬'s first ever live sport broadcast was from Wimbledon and we are proud that our new deal means the longest partnership in sports broadcasting continues."

From here: /historyofthebbc/innovation/30s_printable.shtml

"1937 First sports commentary on British TV
Harry Mallin delivers the commentary on the occasion of an amateur England v. Ireland boxing tournament, transmitted by the 91Èȱ¬ from Alexandra Palace, London. It is the first live sports event to be transmitted on high definition TV in Britain."

Barbara Slater, getting it wrong once again. Delightful.

No to Sky. The select committee in December won't be the end of this, the 91Èȱ¬ will be held to account for the disgusting contempt they have shown to license payers, F1 and non F1 fans alike.

Moving away from the usual topic of discussion, I'd just like to say that whilst I am as intrigued by Senna as anyone else it is good to see someone (Chandhok) pick races based on the holistic quality of the overall event as opposed to just picking Senna's best drives, as Karthekayan seems to have done. He seems like a fan of Formula One in general as opposed to any one driver. As fantastic as Donington 93 was in terms of displaying Senna's driving prowess, I don't think anyone could honestly proclaim it a thriller. Some people forget there were other people on track apart from Ayrton between 1984 and 1994.

17. At 13:49 26th Oct 2011, supermarketpeople wrote:
Sorry to go off topic here from the old F1 rights debate...

I'm really excited about the Indian Grand Prix. Myself and a few friends normally get together and I'll prepare some themed food for the event. I can't find anything too appealing for breakfast for the Indian GP so it may have to be full English.

===

How about a kedgeree, a nice Anglo-Indian breakfast dish?

Agree totally with @1 Joe Blogs regarding Karun, a great guy who clearly loves his F1, and is knowledgeable and informative, and witty, too, always enjoy listening to him on Five Live, and watching him on 91Èȱ¬1!

Shame about him not getting a drive on Sunday, bit of a missed PR opportunity for Lotus in India.

No to sky, Shame on the 91Èȱ¬ (British Bunlgling Corporation)

What happened to Berger in this race?!

Ignore my previous post, they explain later in the edit that he stopped early for tyres.

Interesting to watch Senna's first victory in Portugal again. If that race was run now half the field would have got drive throughs and Senna disqualified at the end for taking his belts off :-)

Was nice to hear Karun during part of the FP2, pity he doesn't get to race in India, but as has already been said, priority must go to the full time drivers. He has some decent top picks, all of which I remember too.
No to Skytv, yes to FTA

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

Fantastic to see clips of races when the drivers were in control.

Unlike, say, the inaugural Indian GP's FP1.

The 5Live commentary team announce that the yellow flags have been removed (because of a message on their screens), and [presumably] Lewis Hamilton's team tell him the same thing.

So, instead of - as should be the case in any and every form of motorsport anywhere in the world - observing and taking account of the flags waved by trackside marshals (wheher correctly or otherwise), Lewis races round to set the fastest time of the session, but passes through a zone where yellow flags are clearly being waved.

Antony Davidson expressed the ludicrous (and dangerous) view - as has been oft heard from David Coulthard - that the driver could see that there was no danger.

That is not the point.

DRIVERS MUST - MUST - MUST OBSERVE THE MARSHALS' FLAGS.

Just because the drivers are relatively safe in their survival shell, they cannot show reckless disregard for others' safety.

If pit-to-car radio was banned - and drivers left to drive - then all information would be coming from marshals' flags and pitboards, and drivers would be left to drive. We would no longer have the risible sound of some drivers being told what gear to be in for a particular corner, and being talked round each lap.

Drivers should drive the races - just as did Senna, Prost, Mansell, and Schumacher of old - or we may as well all just watch Colin Murray's Driving Wars and see remote-control driving of cars.

Ban pit-to-car radio and all driver aids, bar: a pedal to go faster, a pedal to slow down, and a steering wheel to change direction.

I wonder wether Lewis is poorly, having watched his race talk after the last race
and now his problem today?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
@66. Guy Fox

"Ban pit-to-car radio and all driver aids"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The last 'driver aid' was banned in 2008, surely if you watch F1 you'd know this.

@68, Czar-Orac

You clearly have a different, and narrower, definition of "driver aids" than do I.

KERS is a driver aid, DRS is a driver aid, the ability for the driver to change engine modes (to PRE-determined settings, rather than as a function of altered driving style as in fuel-saving through short shifting) is a driver aid.

As I said, drivers' skills and abilities should be assessed through their ability to manage speed and direction (and, to a limited extent, fuel consumption), not through their ability to twiddle knobs and dials.

And while we're at it Guy, let's bring back the manual crank-start; open-face helmets, fuel-bladders and Av-Gas. Let's do away with seat-belts, they're just a driver aid in the event of an accident anyway and let's also remove armco and catch-fencing and allow spectators to stand by the side of the track.