Season 12 - Small tweaks

To save us all some time I think I can safely assume we do not wish any changes in terms of fuel use, tyre wear or flag rules. The only thing that would make sense consider tweaking is race length. And I am ofcourse thinking of the balance between 1 and 2 stop strategy.

Race length
Last season the race was 62 minutes, and that gave us a majority of 1 stoppers, although often the 2 stoppers didn't look too bad either. Each minute we make the race longer it will benifit a 2 stop strategy (with 1-2 sec). I would suggest increasing the race length with anything from 1-5 minutes, what do you think?

Qualify format
Personally I liked the 7 min open qualify, it created variety of possibillities depending on track, and it rewarded planning and good ideas. But that is only my view, majority rules. (Bear in mind we cannot have a long lasting qualify due to our total schedule).

Any other things we should consider tweaking/changing?
 
I'm fine with that but i still give an alternate:

6 minute qualy in all tracks.
67 minute race.
Tighten up the schedule around the loose time we get.

Next option is the most controversial, i think...

I'm always in favor of cutting the official practice time with 5 minutes or so. It has the most leeway but we lose that neat time of day ending on double zeros. 19:55 practice starts sound very good compromise so that we don't end up stretching the end time. I'm not sure how our handstanding cousins down under organize their night, do you go to bed after or stay up? For us at EEST zone (am i alone on Eastern European Time Zone??) it just at the brink of getting some sleep if one needs to wake up early. I'm currently enrolled in online courses so that means my mornings look like this:


So any time works for me, but when i had early mornings, going to sleep after midnight after a huge burst of adrenaline is not fun... When we have our usual race at midseason, practice starts stretch as late as 20:10 if there are issues and then we may stay in practice for few minutes to talk/wait... At least trying to hit 19:55 could mean we would be starting at 20:00 ;) In my (ford) prefect world, practice would be 45-50 minutes with 12 minutes warmup, 6 minute qualy and 67minute race...

Edit: something radical.. What if we did practice starts earlier and then do a sort of post warmup/practice? That would mean splitting practice but hear me out:
Doing practice starts at 19:30 (or 19:45, probably better...) would allow reconnections to happen without waiting. It would allow a bit of freedom around that 20:00 mark. The event would roll out automatically when qualy starts, just like before.. We cycle sessions so many times just before qualy: that itself can cause issues. Those who have to talk, talk, those who join late get a nice wakeup and can do laps. The whole grid performing poorly at the starts making it longer and eating practice time: that's a penalty well deserved, i think they would need to fix these things at some point?.

The only thing with the current system is that nagging feeling that there's something that is not logical or efficient enough but i can't figure out what it is. And at the same time it's so well tuned that finding a flaw is hard. Which is good.

Hmm, this is just empty rambling but..
19:00 Practice
19:45 Practice starts.
19:50 Practice
20:00 Qualy etc..

I think i figured something, that nagging is because i wish qualy would start at a designated time and everything else is sorted before that. Not that let's sort everything out and then go to qualy. The stretch is at the wrong place when one wishes for a steady progression in the main events. I find it better to stretch before qualy, maybe so that the last lap in my mind before qualy is.. qualy lap. Not cold tires full tank race lap 1... That is it...
 
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I think i figured something, that nagging is because i wish qualy would start at a designated time and everything else is sorted before that. Not that let's sort everything out and then go to qualy. The stretch is at the wrong place when one wishes for a steady progression in the main events. I find it better to stretch before qualy, maybe so that the last lap in my mind before qualy is.. qualy lap. Not cold tires full tank race lap 1... That is it...

i think i get what your saying here, if im right thats actually a part that id miss, going from practise starts with race setup then straight to qualifying makes it a bit unpredictable, i know myself there was a few times last season id been flying in practise, then we done practise starts and then to qualifying it would be more unpredictable and id make slight mistakes i otherwise woulnt have done, im not saying it wouldve got me any better places on the grids but if i went straight from practising qualifying in practise session to qualifying for real my times wouldve been better as id have been more intune with the setup.
 
Big tweak:unsure:
One could replace practice and run qualifying session instead. No exercise starts. I think exercise starts is a bit overrated. It's pretty wild, but when the real race starts, we keep ourselves clean. There must be some psychological factor at play here;)
We save time if we skip practice and get a more representative starting grid.
 
Big tweak:unsure:
One could replace practice and run qualifying session instead. No exercise starts. I think exercise starts is a bit overrated. It's pretty wild, but when the real race starts, we keep ourselves clean. There must be some psychological factor at play here;)
We save time if we skip practice and get a more representative starting grid.

Fine for passing time from practice session to whatever needs extra minutes, but skipping the practice starts would be blood and tears at the first wet track, or tricky first corner.

The whole rest of the race (whether you race at all or not) pivots on what happens during the first 30 s. I don't think that spending 4-5 min there is time wasted.

I must say :thumbsdown: to that
 
I want to underline that the practice session (not start) is not part of the official event. Nobody have to be present during practice. Therefore taking time from practice and giving it to qualify is the same as extending the total event time.

Personally I do not think the practice starts are overrated. Although Valter is right that some drivers take too big chances in the practice starts, I am convinced that from time to time drivers (at least I) learn something from the practice starts that will make them safer in the real start (eg. suddenly discover that they cannot see their braking point if they are on the wrong side of track).

If the majority wants to swap the practice starts with more qualifying time we will do this, but I as Alberto will vote against this. Also it does not seem to me that the qualifying order have been much mixed up due to the 7 min open qualify.
 
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I want to underline that the practice session (not start) is not part of the official event. Nobody have to be present during practice. Therefore taking time from practice and giving it to qualify is the same as extending the total event time.

Personally I do not think the practice starts are overrated. Although Valter is right that some drivers take too big chances in the practice starts, I am convinced that from time to time drivers (at least I) learn something from the practice starts that will make them safer in the real start (eg. suddenly discover that they cannot see their braking point if they are on the wrong side of track).

If the majority wants to swap the practice starts with more qualifying time we will do this, but I as Alberto will vote against this. Also it does not seem to me that the qualifying order have been much mixed up due to the 7 min open qualify.
You are right Nicolai, practice session isn't mandatory. Still most drivers are there long before the "practice starts" begins. The short Q adds some extra spice, but slower drivers can more frequently get in the way of the fast guys if they make an unplanned extra attempt, and it can ruin both's lap. Then if unlucky a fast guy must start too far back. I'd like to have all of the faster drivers in front of me on the grid.

I'm not against practice starts, often very funny stuff. But if I have to choose between two alternatives. 10 minutes longer Q, or practice starts, I would go for longer Q.
 
Good arguementation Valter, I must admit I have only considered the qualify format from my own (1-2 sec behind pole) perspective.

But if I have to choose between two alternatives. 10 minutes longer Q, or practice starts, I would go for longer Q.
Sounds like a good setup for a vote :)

slower drivers can more frequently get in the way of the fast guys if they make an unplanned extra attempt, and it can ruin both's lap.
That sounds like the faster car gets in the way of the slower car and should be reported if it happend (so we can learn from it). You should never need to watch your mirrors when on a timed lap (unless you make a mistake). And quing up at the start of qualify should (more or less) guarantee you 1 clear run.

Having said all that, I know it is easier said that done, and I totally understand that it is easier for slower drivers to get in situations that compromises their lap.
 
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