F1 Discussion! How do you remain a fan?

[Guest]

I saw a thread on Pelican discussing the last race and it prompted me to vent. I find F1 enormously frustrating. Why can't the rulemakers produce a series with overtaking - real overtaking on the race track - and real "wheel to wheel" racing.

This was my post in the context of changes to F1 rules:

"Rev Limit is one of the tricks that Bernie/FIA is missing. Its a sure fire hp limiter and easy to monitor because the acoustic signature attaching to revs cannot be changed. This is how the teams currently spy on each other to determine who is pulling the greatest revs. Decreasing the engine size just decreases torque and limits sideaways potential.

The aero rules are IMHO just plain stupid and make it impossible to really race. The last 9 laps were a perfect illustration. Schumi could not even get a wheel alongside Alonso in a car that was at least 2 seconds a lap faster. A car with an arguably better, certainly equally, talented driver. The FIAs latest aero changes have made things even worse than last year with the raised front wings being more affected by turbulence. I also find the multiple little winglets and wing extensions on the cars plain ugly - they should be banned straight away in the interests of aesthetics if nothing else.

Why not have a "control" front wing? The rest of the cars would retain their personality but limiting front downforce would effectively limit rear downforce if the package is to remain balanced. In conjunction with this the front tyre width should be decreased - primarily to lengthen braking distances. Has anyone else noticed the dramatic increase in front tyre size compared to say a 1980s F1 car? Maybe steel brakes as well - as carbon brake tech has never successfully transferred to mainstream cars (only Porsche/Ferrari ceramics have made it and they are very different to F1). The teams argue "safety" to push back aero limiting suggestions like these but the cars and tracks have never been safer. The FIA should mandate a slightly bigger driver safety cell to counter the safety argument.

All these changes would create a race series with more overtaking where real driver skill would be more of a determining factor.

I am a "died in the wool" petrolhead and yet I skip watching many F1 races. How can that be? I should be a number 1 fan but I just can't be bothered when I know that the vast majority of the overtaking will be in the pitstops. The legendary F1 drivers of the past would turn over in their graves."



Feel free to join me in venting - or indeed take the opposite view.

RB

 

[Guest]

Why not have a "control" front wing?

This would probably only work if the F3000 (or whatever it is called nowadays) system of identical cars, just different settings, was introduced; the noses of the various companies in F1 are too different for a control part to be used.

More racing would be a good idea, but, without going too far backwards (cloth helmets, no seat belts, front engined (with the fire risks et al), where would we stop ?

 

[Alan_Armstrong]

I'm with Richard here....dont have a quick fix, but in modern times, Mansell /Senna/Piquet come to mind, where real racing took part
it's nothing as spectacular now as it once was then. Maybe a straight forward fix
now would be to ban refueling...(for next year) then both car and tyres must fight it out
without the scullduggery of fuel load, which IMHO doesnt spice up the action...when Schummi can gain 9 places through re-fueling????

 

[Chris_911]

They must get Ferrari in line with the other teams re testing.

Rules are one thing, but the ridiculous amount of testing that Ferrari can get away with will always give them an (unfair) advantage.

 

[Guest]

I used to be an avid fan, but I hardly watch it now.

I'm hoping that A1 GP will be a vast improvement or at least give F1 a kick up the backside.

 

[Guest]

I also find the multiple little winglets and wing extensions on the cars plain ugly - they should be banned straight away in the interests of aesthetics if nothing else.

I go along with most of what you say, but this one stretches my support a bit []

So what you are saying here, is that only "aesthetically pleasing" cars are allowed to race. And just who defines what is "aesthetically pleasing" []

Devils Advocate

 

[Guest]

ORIGINAL: Chris Hughes

I also find the multiple little winglets and wing extensions on the cars plain ugly - they should be banned straight away in the interests of aesthetics if nothing else.

I go along with most of what you say, but this one stretches my support a bit []

So what you are saying here, is that only "aesthetically pleasing" cars are allowed to race. And just who defines what is "aesthetically pleasing" []

Devils Advocate

The FIA has done much stranger things in the past!!

The "aesthetically pleasing" comment was tongue in cheek. The suggestion was in the context of "less aero aids = a good thing".

 

[Laurence Gibbs]

Perhaps i'm in the minority here but I think that the racing is "starting " to get a bit better this season.Sure it's not mansell and senna but it is getting better. There have been some good ding dong battles this season which is a big improvment on last year.

 

[sawood12]

I agree that things are starting to get better but I can't see the improvement being sustained because the FIA are barking up the wrong tree. I would make 3 changes:

1) Limit/greatly reduce aerodynamic downforce
2) Return to emphasis on mechanical grip - return of the big wide slick tyres
3) Get rid of refueling pit stops and force drivers to overtake on the track

This way drivers could get up close to eachother and have half a chance to overtake and it would cheapen F1 since the teams wouldn't be spending so much money on expensive wind tunnels and aerodynamic research and could spend more money testing. No sport was ever improved by limiting testing or training. How else are the teams to improve their performance and become more competitive?

I'm not a fan of standardising equipment. For me half the appeal of F1 is the technical battle across the teams. But instead of limiting testing hows about setting a limit on the amount of money teams are allowed to invest in development. This would force teams into deciding to either invest a greater proportion of money on chassis development instead of engine development so you would get a mix of cars that were either fast but couldn't handle or the other way round.

 

[Guest]

The problem, as others have noted, is that a reliance on aerodynamic downforce means no overtaking, since you can't get close enough though the corner to overtake down the next straight.
Therefore, you need to reduce downforce.

I also reckon that the most interesting driving comes when you have more power than grip.
Therefore, I would return to turbo cars, since vast amounts of torque make you go sideways and are hard to judge.

I would give each team a fixed amount of fuel, so how they used it was up to them. This means you can turn the wick up when you want to overtake, but then be forced to back off to conserve fuel.
Since getting loads of grunt becomes quite easy, even the lesser teams should be able to compete.
You could add some handicapping system it you liked, based upon fuel allocatation, where lesser teams got a bigger allowance.

I'd make them manual, so that you can over rev the engine and miss gears.
I would also have less sophisticated brakes (ban carbon) to lengthen the braking distances.

I'd also limit the number of hours they can spend in a gym and make them all go out drinking the night before the race. So that they wouldn't take it so seriously and they would develop some sort of personality.

If all that failed, I would have fifty 1 lap races over the weekend, since the start is the only interesting part.