18/08/2016
NEWS STORY
Not for the first time, Fernando Alonso admits to missing Formula One's 'good old days'.
While it is usually fans of a certain age who admit to hankering for the good old days, longing for a return to something similar to their own particular golden era, it is rare for drivers to admit such thoughts.
Some, their appetites whetted by the cars and drivers they used to watch as they rose through the ranks, or even those rare opportunities when promotional events or shows such as the Goodwood Festival of Speed allow them to drive the machines, get quite dewy eyed.
Along with Sebastian Vettel, Fernando Alonso is another of the sport's purists, and it comes as no surprise to hear him once again criticise contemporary machinery.
"I think we had a fantastic era with the V10s, the V8s, and sometimes safety had to improve and there were some changes to improve that," said the Spaniard, according to Motorsport.com. "But we seem always more happy with what we had a couple of years ago.
"I still love the cars, I still love the sport, and I still enjoy coming here," he continued. "But also, being honest, the last couple of years in Formula 1 the excitement, the show, has been a little bit worse with the turbo engines.
"Starting from the noise, the lap-times, the fuel saving, the tyre saving. I think the excitement of driving those cars is a little bit less," he lamented. "It's still not as powerful or as exciting as, maybe 2004, 2003 cars with V10 engines. I remember going to the first test, and after sixty or seventy laps I was very tired. Even at night, the head was moving because the neck was stressed so much. I couldn't sleep horizontal. Now, you go to the first test and do 160 laps.
"And also some regulation changes, some political changes, that didn't help," he admitted. "The sport in general, also the drivers, we feel that lack of consistency. The same with the radio communications, off, half, nothing, back to normal. The same with whatever, it seems that we are running in a loop. It's a little bit confusing for everyone."
Indeed, in terms of regulation changes, the two-time world champion chooses an example long-used by Pitpass, football.
"How many games there are that finish 0-0?" he said. "They are very boring, but they don't change the penalty area, they don't change to put two goalkeepers, no goalkeepers. They don't change every week. Because it's the sport."
For the most part Alonso is correct, the rules have remained static for as long as anyone can remember, consequently players and fans know exactly what the rules are, and the punishments.
However, in terms of the 0-0 analogy he is wrong, a game can end in stalemate but have been enthralling from start to finish, while a 6-0 'thriller' might have been as tedious as another Mercedes 1-2.
Furthermore, as fans in England witnessed this year, it isn't always the big teams who finish on top. Indeed, it is the unpredictability of football that continues to attract, that and the fact that the rule makers respect the core game and its fans and therefore opt not to meddle in order to create the show/results that best suit their own agenda.