How to Make Formula One Awesome Again...

[Matheus Machado]

So Paul basically wants to watch the fia world karting championship lol.

 

[Ole Andreasen]

Remove artificial overtaking aids such as DRS and KERS. It makes the F1 races look like a Mario Kart race.
And all the downforce crap too, and as someone else also mentioned - drop the pit/car communication during races. Let the people in the cars fight it out on track - and not the teams in the pit.

 

[Tbear]

• PRIVATEER TEAMS!

Where are Rob Walker and Lord Hesketh now that we need them?

 

[Erwin Sch]

Open cockpit
Live timing via a webapp, no login needed
At least 1 meter wide strip of grass or gravel at the track limits
Race starts at the top of the hour, scrap the pre-race ceremonies and politics

 

[NtsParadize]

"How to make F1 awesome..." here we go again. This is why F1 is going bad since too many years: trying to improve the spectacle. That came from DRS, Pirelli fast-wearing tyres, elimination qualifying and other gimmicks. And it is worse. Sometimes I'm glad that F1 don't always listen to the fans. They would turn F1 into Formula Ford.

 

[NtsParadize]

Sometimes I'm glad that F1 don't always listen to the fans. They would turn F1 into Formula Ford or

Lets bring back drivers who can drive without electronic help.

I agree with almost all of what @pauljeffry is suggesting, especially getting rid of all the down force and driving aids. OK ... maybe keep anti-lock brakes. But the rest of that crapola has got to go.

I think I would make engine displacement and number of cylinders unlimited and restrict everybody to sanctioning-body supplied pump gas ... and limit everybody to the same amount of fuel. Fuel injection is fine ... but no turbos or superchargers.

6 speed manual gearboxes only. And let's go back to cast iron rotors ... pad material can be open.

Most importantly, put limits on tire sizes, and everybody gets the same size. This is a rule I would love to see applied to ALL forms of racing. You limit speed with tire size ... NEVER put limits on horsepower and torque. HP and torque are tools a driver needs. NASCAR proved that a million years ago with restrictor plates. What a stupid idea THAT was. And, oh yeah ... NO MORE SPECIAL TIRES OR SETUPS FOR FOR QUALIFYING. Qualify the dam car you're gonna race with.

If they had limited tire size and fuel ... I think the old Can Am series would still be running. Read The Unfair Advantage and see what Mark Donohue had to say about the tire size wars.

It's a great dream ... and a very old one. But most race fans are more impressed with artificially fast lap times then they are in good driving.

ABS is banned since the end of 1993 and TC is banned since the end of 2007...

 

[Terry Rock]

Drivers get as much fuel as is needed to race from start to finish.
Oh! ...and lose DRS.

 

[Matheus Machado]

I also like "eco" solutions. Amount of fuel is ridiculous though in F1 while the amount of SUVs on the roads is increasing... I say restrict them to be "clean". No black smoke from an F1 exhaust. Put in some limits for the exhaust air and that's it.

I guess you also think that diesels are mandatorily more harmful to the environment than petrol because they don't emit smoke right? Not as simple unfortunately. If it was the case then we should just put some filters and we are good to go. (even though diesels emission control are just like that, just adding some chemical reactions to neutralize the smoke)
The way they put the rules is to focus on power efficiency which is the most effective way to reduce the environmental impact from combustion engines, whatever fuel is being used so they are on the right direction imo.
Not to mention the financial side. The fact we can buy cars (prius) which make up their price tag if you run long enough distances is already a good sign of motorsports pushing hybrid technology.

 

[Matheus Machado]

I would love to see cost classes in F1, would make for a realistic championship fight from all the teams depending on investment. Privateers will never be able to compete with manufacturers with the amount of (expensive) engineering applied to racing cars nowadays. Would also let the rules be more open as it won't make up for a really small grid due to teams reaching bankruptcy.

With that being said I think rules should be more open for development. I would like to see different approaches to a car like it is (was) on WEC with the completely different hybrid cars. I already loved the rule set of 2017 making the F1 cars again the fastest ever made until a new F1 appears, but if they could do that next step it would be awesome.

 

[Shadowoff]

Sometimes I'm glad that F1 don't always listen to the fans. They would turn F1 into Formula Ford or

ABS is banned since the end of 1993 and TC is banned since the end of 2007...

What about automatic clutch, differential power, or (I dont know whether the original author of the comment also meant this) electronic helps can also mean a motec, all the sensors showing temperatures and stuff, team radio and so on. ABS and TC had only been two out of a bunch of electronic helps a driver gets nowadays.

 

[Matheus Machado]

What about automatic clutch, differential power, or (I dont know whether the original author of the comment also meant this) electronic helps can also mean a motec, all the sensors showing temperatures and stuff, team radio and so on. ABS and TC had only been two out of a bunch of electronic helps a driver gets nowadays.

So they should let the engine blow because having a oil temperature sensor makes it too little driver dependent? No matter if they ban telemetry from cars, teams will get data on tests and measure whatever they need with off car equipment. Aside from paddle shifting (which can be completely non dependent of electronics as well) there isn't much electronically assisted in a F1 car today.

 

[Diogo Goetz Brand]

You could save us all the time to read this article by just saying "Make formula one good by going back to the 1970's".
Don't take this personally, but this article was just really poor. F1 needs to be more entertaining, and there probably are changes to allow for that, but all of that should happen at the age we are, not 50 years in the past.
Edit: Also, F1 was created to have relevance to road cars, and even though this is more and more difficult these days, at least they try it with modern engines and so on. So now you want 75% less downforce, steel brakes and H-Pattern? Good luck making the fastest cars in the world with those limitations. Even a few road cars would be able to beat F1 cars with such weird rules.

 

[erosshd]

Add battle royal races

 

[mantasisg]

Make downforce minimalistic, with less star wars science fiction going on.
Make wheelbase shorter, so it would be more alive, more twitchy.
And thats it you have a good looking and exciting to drive F1 car.

Minimise traction control, or let them race in actual rain.

Add success balast because F1 racing is the same like elections in Russia right now.

Throw political corectness into trash bin.
Don't show what drivers are doing immediately after the race it is depressing.
Bring back the girls.

F1 MUST BE SAVED BECAUSE THEY ARE KILLING WHOLE MOTORSPORT IF THEY ARE KILLING F1, AND THEY ARE DOING THAT

 

[OzBoz]

I think most suggestions want to go back to the old days which ain't the way things work. A lot of new stuff you suggest to get out was put in to make it also safer. A human life these days has a different 'value' than it had in the 70's/80's where a 'that's the risk of racing' still made sense. In the current era it's all about safety and a sport which involves dying people ain't going to be popular anymore.

A more realistic vision is the one of Alexander Wurz, he talked about the halo for ages and since the halo is there I like his argument that the current safety level of both cars and track is so high you could raise the top speeds till 400-450km/h.

That's a vision that fits my own feelings better than returning to the 80's. With such a higher top speed racing will be way more interesting to watch because there way less room for errors. It will also be way more demanding on the drivers and it might has a positive effect on the influence a driver has on the outcome of a race. Another thing he mentioned was the red flag, why have a red flag if cars are save as they are right now? Also a pretty valid point if you ask me.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a 44 year old fool and loved the cars from the 70's/80's but it was not all good. I'm a designer though so less ugly would be nice as well removing all those little Tupperware stuff. Just make a rule that an aero thingie has to have a certain amount of square cm

 

[Shadowoff]

So they should let the engine blow because having a oil temperature sensor makes it too little driver dependent? No matter if they ban telemetry from cars, teams will get data on tests and measure whatever they need with off car equipment. Aside from paddle shifting (which can be completely non dependent of electronics as well) there isn't much electronically assisted in a F1 car today.

The example of sensors for temperatures had been poorly chose and youre right that they are quite important. But stuff like fuel mapping, brake bias, the different settings for the electrical engine, cant they create one setup befor the race and just drive it? And if the braking bias is wrong for one turn cant they be more carefull braking into that corner? Isnt that what professional racing is about, knowing the track, car and setup and relying on your own to handle difficulties and to not have to rely on electric systems which allow you solve these problems by button clicks?

 

[Stepy]

F1 is dead and has been for many years, halo was the final nail in the coffin. The F3, GP3, F2 produce much closer racing.

 

[motoliser]

Bring back the engine noise and the 90's tracks at least! That should be enough.

 

[delpinsky]

- Drivers must concentrate more on the steering wheel to keep the car on track, rather than concentrating on it to push million of buttons.
- H pattern gearbox would be cool and would make things more technical.
- No driving aids , which means less electonics.

But I understand F1 cars must be the top brand of motorsport, in terms of technology and power, so there's no coming back I fear.

 

[Synystr7]

Make F1 like CART 97-99.

Lots of power. Lots of drag. Lots of ground effect. Up-Down sequential gearbox (get that hand off the wheel). One tire compound. Refueling.