How to 'FIX' F1

[davehenrie]

It is very simple really. If the Season starts on April 1st, then only release the technical regs on March 1st. Then allow possibly only one update for those lagging behind. First 6 teams must hold. lol!!!

 

[Terry Rock]

That is simple...
Stop looking at it as a 'green' sport. It never will be.
The environmental component can be helped by adjusting the race calendar.
Take out all the gimmicks....DRS, MGU, etc...
Give them enough fuel to race for two hours straight and let the teams make the decision as to whether they want to under-fuel for weight savings.

 

[Pete Conway]

You could allow for refueling if you were to have removable tanks and a minimum time for changing them, then a light car might just make up time on a non-stopping car, and if we allowed for compounds that are the same right through to the canvas (so to speak) we would have a tyre option too... added to NO RADIO things could look more mixed up

 

[davehenrie]

Take out all the gimmicks....DRS, MGU, etc...

Couldn't agree more.

 

[jgf]

First - lighten up on the rules! F1, much like Indycar and NASCARE, is gradually becoming a spec series. Yes, every team builds their own car, but when the regulations are so draconian they are all building identical cars. How long before, like those other two series, if you were to paint all the cars white, with no logos, you couldn't tell them apart during a race. F1 was much more interesting when you would see one team with a turbo four, another with a V-6, or a V-8, V-12, a flat 12; when, at a glance, you could identify the car.

Second - the FIA should not be designing the tracks, or even mandating a laundry list of what they want. Let the individual venues design and build what they want, within certain safety boundaries; then, F1, bring your cars and drivers there and show us what you can do.

Third - drop the dead end technology. Hybrids are going nowhere, never have. The only hybrid power that has found a place is diesel/electric locomotives, and that is only because the locomotive is a small portion of the train it pulls; and gearboxes to reliably transmit such power to the traction wheels are impractical. Hybrid aircraft were functional but impractical. Hybrid autos are a stop gap measure until batteries and "gas stations" are available to make electric autos feasible. ERS falls into that category; yes it works but is an automotive dead end - is the added weight, cost, complexity, and maintenance worth it? In a similar vein, drop the gimmicks; DRS is like Indycar's stupid "push to pass" - a cheap distraction from actual racing.

Ultimately F1 should stop showing off its money, power, and fancy, but useless, technology and concentrate on racing.

 

[Antony Snook]

First - lighten up on the rules! F1, much like Indycar and NASCARE, is gradually becoming a spec series. Yes, every team builds their own car, but when the regulations are so draconian they are all building identical cars. How long before, like those other two series, if you were to paint all the cars white, with no logos, you couldn't tell them apart during a race. F1 was much more interesting when you would see one team with a turbo four, another with a V-6, or a V-8, V-12, a flat 12; when, at a glance, you could identify the car.

Second - the FIA should not be designing the tracks, or even mandating a laundry list of what they want. Let the individual venues design and build what they want, within certain safety boundaries; then, F1, bring your cars and drivers there and show us what you can do.

Third - drop the dead end technology. Hybrids are going nowhere, never have. The only hybrid power that has found a place is diesel/electric locomotives, and that is only because the locomotive is a small portion of the train it pulls; and gearboxes to reliably transmit such power to the traction wheels are impractical. Hybrid aircraft were functional but impractical. Hybrid autos are a stop gap measure until batteries and "gas stations" are available to make electric autos feasible. ERS falls into that category; yes it works but is an automotive dead end - is the added weight, cost, complexity, and maintenance worth it? In a similar vein, drop the gimmicks; DRS is like Indycar's stupid "push to pass" - a cheap distraction from actual racing.

Ultimately F1 should stop showing off its money, power, and fancy, but useless, technology and concentrate on racing.

F1 is not Spec racing if it was i would loose intrest. You have Ferrari, Mercedes and Honda. They are are the shared maufacuters (Renault has no privater team) So why is it that a privateer is of the pace of a factory team. Airodynamics are off. Yes at a distance cars look the same but under the microscope it is a different story. Fine small intricate things make the car different and mean a big deal in performance or lack of performance.

 

[Antony Snook]

The Problem in F1 is the FIA lack the leadership of the old days of Max Mosley and Bernie ecolstone. They are letting teams have to much say and manipulate the sport. This is why we cant get a straight answer as to weather Andretti will come in. The teams are building walls to prevent that even though the FIA Agree. Teams will show up at the start of the season with a modified version of last years car. (Bar Mercedes who will have to rebuild from scratch) And the upgrades and so forth will come in by Europe as they are close to factory. The big teams wont be able to haull lots of parts to the opening rounds. In reality a car is evolved throghout the season. (Bar small teams on limited development budgets) There should be a limit on how much a team can build. And how much they can drag to the race. Or limit upgrades to certain tracks. It makes no scence a team that is fast bringing upgrades in just for the sake of pulling away from the opposition. Maybe have team's request upgrades to FIA and use data to verify the need for the upgrade.

 

[jgf]

F1 is not Spec racing

It is becoming a spec series.

If I draw up plans for a bookcase specifying height, width, depth, and number of shelves and doors, then take those plans to a dozen cabinet shops I will get a dozen different cabinets, all will "fill the bill". But if I specify what wood, what hinges, what type of screws, what finish ...then I get a dozen identical cabinets.

FIA can specify, for example, a 4.5L engine, they do not need to specify it must be a V8 or V10. They do not need to specify weight of connecting rods or thickness of gaskets. When regulations become too specific everyone builds the same thing; eventually engine parts will be interchangeable between cars.

I have nothing against spec series per se, if they were designed as such from their inception. The old IROC series was great, just didn't have enough races. In SCCA the SRF is one of the most popular classes, and those cars are a blast to drive. But neither F1 nor Indycar nor NASCARE were meant to be spec series, though all three are being regulated into such.

 

[Antony Snook]

It is becoming a spec series.

If I draw up plans for a bookcase specifying height, width, depth, and number of shelves and doors, then take those plans to a dozen cabinet shops I will get a dozen different cabinets, all will "fill the bill". But if I specify what wood, what hinges, what type of screws, what finish ...then I get a dozen identical cabinets.

FIA can specify, for example, a 4.5L engine, they do not need to specify it must be a V8 or V10. They do not need to specify weight of connecting rods or thickness of gaskets. When regulations become too specific everyone builds the same thing; eventually engine parts will be interchangeable between cars.

I have nothing against spec series per se, if they were designed as such from their inception. The old IROC series was great, just didn't have enough races. In SCCA the SRF is one of the most popular classes, and those cars are a blast to drive. But neither F1 nor Indycar nor NASCARE were meant to be spec series, though all three are being regulated into such.

So why did Aston Martin use digital imaging technoloy to copy Red Bull and Mercedes. It is not easy to do but they did it. If the regulations where simple they would not have to invest money into this form of copying.

 

[Antony Snook]

It is becoming a spec series.

If I draw up plans for a bookcase specifying height, width, depth, and number of shelves and doors, then take those plans to a dozen cabinet shops I will get a dozen different cabinets, all will "fill the bill". But if I specify what wood, what hinges, what type of screws, what finish ...then I get a dozen identical cabinets.

FIA can specify, for example, a 4.5L engine, they do not need to specify it must be a V8 or V10. They do not need to specify weight of connecting rods or thickness of gaskets. When regulations become too specific everyone builds the same thing; eventually engine parts will be interchangeable between cars.

I have nothing against spec series per se, if they were designed as such from their inception. The old IROC series was great, just didn't have enough races. In SCCA the SRF is one of the most popular classes, and those cars are a blast to drive. But neither F1 nor Indycar nor NASCARE were meant to be spec series, though all three are being regulated into such.

NASCAR as mutch as i like it it is a spec for each car manufacturer. Chevorlet, Ford and Toyota. If one of the manufacuturers gains a advantage that can be proven by data they get aproval to alter Airo. Usualy a chainge in roof height or wing size. At the end of the day by the end of the season all cars look and seem identical. But in NASCAR teams bend rules and cheat to get an advantage. Spec racing leads to cheating. The NASCAR teams have to determine setup and usualy coppy that from other teams. INDYCAR is a Dellara chassis and you pick the engine and gearbox to put inside it like in Sportscar racing. But it has never realy impressed me to watch a bunch of clones. You might as well go to field and watch a bunch of sheep as the farmer mouves them from feild A to field B.

 

[Antony Snook]

First - lighten up on the rules! F1, much like Indycar and NASCARE, is gradually becoming a spec series. Yes, every team builds their own car, but when the regulations are so draconian they are all building identical cars. How long before, like those other two series, if you were to paint all the cars white, with no logos, you couldn't tell them apart during a race. F1 was much more interesting when you would see one team with a turbo four, another with a V-6, or a V-8, V-12, a flat 12; when, at a glance, you could identify the car.

Second - the FIA should not be designing the tracks, or even mandating a laundry list of what they want. Let the individual venues design and build what they want, within certain safety boundaries; then, F1, bring your cars and drivers there and show us what you can do.

Third - drop the dead end technology. Hybrids are going nowhere, never have. The only hybrid power that has found a place is diesel/electric locomotives, and that is only because the locomotive is a small portion of the train it pulls; and gearboxes to reliably transmit such power to the traction wheels are impractical. Hybrid aircraft were functional but impractical. Hybrid autos are a stop gap measure until batteries and "gas stations" are available to make electric autos feasible. ERS falls into that category; yes it works but is an automotive dead end - is the added weight, cost, complexity, and maintenance worth it? In a similar vein, drop the gimmicks; DRS is like Indycar's stupid "push to pass" - a cheap distraction from actual racing.

Ultimately F1 should stop showing off its money, power, and fancy, but useless, technology and concentrate on racing.

F1 is a testing ground that goes to road car technology. F1 use the 1st ABS brake system that is on all modern road cars. Company's that make cars are looking into electric and more economically friendly technology. I believe in the future there will be a highbrid system that has a electric motor that can power front wheels. A problem of F1 cars is wheel spin on launch and the fix is to have power run through front wheels. This can be a motor that activates in low gears to help car. When car is in a brake zone or turn it harvests and charges batery (You see lights on wing when this is done) What if a electric motor kicked in and powered car during harvesting. Making the car front wheel drive and the Turbo V6 V4 or whatever comes next powers cars in top end power. And the knowledge from this is relevant in the road car market.

 

[jgf]

F1 is a testing ground

-that banned four wheel drive
-that banned turbine engines
-that banned Wankel engines
-that banned active suspension
-that banned active aero

 

[Antony Snook]

-that banned four wheel drive
-that banned turbine engines
-that banned Wankel engines
-that banned active suspension
-that banned active aero

These idea's where banned becuse they where hard to regulate. Or some teams lacked the finace to develop a good enough system. That was the case with active supension. Small teams had bad systems that did not work well and they had to pull out. But the bottom line a manufacuter can use F1 as a test bed for technology. Like the paddle shifter electronics can go into a luxury car. Otherwise you are developing technology with little to no use in the road car market. The old men that run the FIA don't like technology but it is useful for road cars and other forms of racing . A V12 engine on a formula one car would be of little use to the car market and the manufacturer wont have use. The bottom line a small angine is better for weight distribution and batter for car control.

 

[davehenrie]

The bottom line a small angine is better for weight distribution and batter for car control

Then they should make the dang cars much much smaller too! These Cigarette boats they call Eff One are often the main culprit. With smaller narrower cars, Monte Carlo becomes a race again. DRS fades away. Drivers drive instead of managing cars & systems.

 

[Kenneth Jurmann]

First of all F1 needs to get BOPed. Then get rid of all the rules. Then costcut to 1 million a year. That way manufacturers earn money doing F1, that attracts more manufacturers. That way all the 1000s of employees can become more responsible at different teams. One championship on each continent and once a year the best from around the world do a gokart race in Paris-Berci. lol.

 

[jgf]

Otherwise you are developing technology with little to no use in the road car market

Which is much of F1 today. It may be quite impressive and highly technical but is of little relevance to the cars you will be driving next year or ten years from now.

A V12 engine on a formula one car would be of little use to the car market and the manufacturer wont have use

Ferrari might disagree with that.

 

[jgf]

Then they should make the dang cars much much smaller too! These Cigarette boats they call Eff One are often the main culprit. With smaller narrower cars, Monte Carlo becomes a race again. DRS fades away. Drivers drive instead of managing cars & systems.
....

From an article in Motorsport magazine-

"The longest car that Mercedes makes isn’t the luxury S-Class saloon or eight-seat V-Class people carrier. It’s Lewis Hamilton’s title-winning W11."

"....a modern F1 car has almost in doubled in size compared with its predecessors from two decades ago"

And driving an F1 car has degenerated from knowing how to handle a car to memorizing how to tweak a dozen buttons and knobs to optimize the handling on the fly for each section of track; soon the teams can just replace the drivers with onboard computers. No wonder the races are so stale, you cannot effectively pass someone when it requires retuning the car just to pull out of the draft of the car ahead.

 

[jgf]

some teams lacked the finace to develop a good enough system

That has been true over the years, not just F1 but every racing series. Even if limits are placed on how much each team can spend per season it does not negate the vast advantage of years of research and experience the more affluent, well established teams will have.

Thus banning something because the smaller teams cannot afford it does nothing to "level the field", it only stifles creativity.

 

[Antony Snook]

Then they should make the dang cars much much smaller too! These Cigarette boats they call Eff One are often the main culprit. With smaller narrower cars, Monte Carlo becomes a race again. DRS fades away. Drivers drive instead of managing cars & systems.
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Boat racing is a whole new thing. I have watched F1 Boats and they make a big wake (Water disbursed around the hull) And you cant run a rival boat in it. As you need still water, the bottom line boats are spread out or they will crash into each other.

 

[Antony Snook]

From an article in Motorsport magazine-

"The longest car that Mercedes makes isn’t the luxury S-Class saloon or eight-seat V-Class people carrier. It’s Lewis Hamilton’s title-winning W11."

"....a modern F1 car has almost in doubled in size compared with its predecessors from two decades ago"

And driving an F1 car has degenerated from knowing how to handle a car to memorizing how to tweak a dozen buttons and knobs to optimize the handling on the fly for each section of track; soon the teams can just replace the drivers with onboard computers. No wonder the races are so stale, you cannot effectively pass someone when it requires retuning the car just to pull out of the draft of the car ahead.

Yes i agree with you the best place to overtake is into the braking point for a turn. When car is slow and floor is raised of the ground for grip and suspension. But the car in front just has to block you forcing you into track limits. Or go for the harder tricky inside line which throws you off. The car in Front will have the racing line and best grip so they put a passer at a disadvantage. But thinner cars and less grip may mean more track limit vialations as you need to work harder to keep car on track. Or car will be slippery and make a tighter line. You need to go to a track with a modern F1 car and a car from the 80's and a car from 90's to see how it looks. But technology is growing fast and we know more about it than we ever did. Maybe we need to look more into the circuits and making them better as i think the car is out powering the circuits we run on.