How to Make Formula One Awesome Again...

Nice. Can you give a motorsport example in which the blue or green line is actually faster than the red? Maybe a clip or two?

Your suggestion desn't even hold water for MotoGP, where multiple lines are possible, yet don't actually aid much. Nevermind high-aero car racing.

One way to make F1 great again, even if just on paper because it goes against its core present politics, is to identify what made it great in the past and what makes other forms of motorsport great. I would say competitiveness should rank among the most important ingredients. First way you do that is by enforcing a realistic budget cap for all the teams. Not 300 million euros. Bring it down to 50. At the moment one single engine costs around 14 million, and you need a few during the year.

Quote:

An IndyCar complete with chassis, engine, transmission, brakes, and tires costs about $3,000,000. A top tier Formula One car can cost as much as 50 times more. Formula One teams never disclose their actual costs, but numbers north of $200,000,000 have been bandied about in the sport for years.
https://gas2.org/2016/05/28/difference-indycar-formula-one-money-lots/

Hand in hand with reducing budgets should be making regulations truly complete and exhaustive for once, and stop leaving holes open for teams to exploit. Maybe FIA should hire a few engineers that can actually think at least as much as a team engineer. These two things can ensure that the range between the least and most powerful engine on the grid and worst and best chassis/aero aren't where they are today, where you can have a gap of 5-8 seconds in qualifying. Seconds. Comparatively, the full indycar grid fit inside 2 seconds at Watkins Glen in 2017.

You want overtaking? No need for retarded push to pass buttons and DRS to bring people to their feet. Arnoux and Villeneuve proved that pretty well, Senna and Mansell too, and there were probably a few others that did in the last 60 years. And cars in their respective seasons surely didn't have the level of aero of a present day f1. Aero always tends to reward the most powerful engine on the grid by allowing that car to run even more downforce, thus making it faster around the track and even more difficult to pass. FIA surely know that. And there's a good reason why ground effect got banned when it did.
The track that uses this concept currently is COTA.
It is meant to aid overtake. Check the race hightlights from the USGP to see the dives.
Lucas and Tilke are friends.
 
I think you can make this very easy: almost completely open the spec. It's gotta have four wheels and a driver (and provide a good safety standard for said driver), but only impose one limit: per race fuel allotment.

The first season is X kg - build the fastest car you can that can do the race distance on that allotment. Then you start bringing that number down over the years - gradually reducing the max fuel allotment down to zero.

I think the engineers would go wild and we the fans would be the beneficiaries! Theres no doubt this scheme would again put F1 at the forefront of automotive innovation.
 
I think you can make this very easy: almost completely open the spec. It's gotta have four wheels and a driver (and provide a good safety standard for said driver), but only impose one limit: per race fuel allotment.

The first season is X kg - build the fastest car you can that can do the race distance on that allotment. Then you start bringing that number down over the years - gradually reducing the max fuel allotment down to zero.

I think the engineers would go wild and we the fans would be the beneficiaries! Theres no doubt this scheme would again put F1 at the forefront of automotive innovation.

i'm trying not to laugh , but it's quite hard.
don't be offended i f you were serious.
But this is serious buiseness, we need serious ideas.
come on man , my nephew could have made a similar proposition, and he's eleven....

" FIA Annoucement ": New F1 regulation for 2020
"You can make the car you want, guys ! no limits ! every one is great ! we are a family ! woooohooo! ".

man...
 
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i'm trying not to laugh , but it's quite hard.
don't be offended i f you were serious.
But this is serious buiseness, we need serious ideas.
come on man , my nephew could have made a similar proposition, and he's eleven....

" FIA Annoucement ": New F1 regulation for 2020
"You can make the car you want, guys ! no limits ! every one is great ! we are a family ! woooohooo! ".

man...

So, should I put you down as a "no" then?
 
I think you can make this very easy: almost completely open the spec. It's gotta have four wheels and a driver (and provide a good safety standard for said driver), but only impose one limit: per race fuel allotment.

The first season is X kg - build the fastest car you can that can do the race distance on that allotment. Then you start bringing that number down over the years - gradually reducing the max fuel allotment down to zero.

I think the engineers would go wild and we the fans would be the beneficiaries! Theres no doubt this scheme would again put F1 at the forefront of automotive innovation.
This. F1 should be about bringing cutting edge innovations to the automotive industry. Although I wouldn't necessarily agree on bringing fuel down to 0, those are the kinds of challenges I want to see in F1.
 
Some interesting thoughts in among some highly impractical ones.
FWIW I'll throw a couple of mine in.
Engines: Any number of cylinders up to 12, capacity 3.0L N/A and 1.0L T/C, with a fixed fuel allowance as the old Group C (1980s) for ALL cars. All exotic and possibly toxic materials such as beryllium banned.
Minimum weight should be based on the number of cylinders. (as per the original 4 stroke MotoGP regulations)
Fuel: 100 octane unleaded, no additives, none, nada, and as mentioned above, a fixed allowance per car per race. A single supplier is not an option, competition between manufacturers is a good thing.
Transmissions: Up to 8 ratios and perhaps automatic, the weight of the said transmission must be combined with the power plant.
Aero: Back to basics, flat bottom means just that, the entire undersurface from the front and rear points must be flat, in other words from the nose to the tail no aero modelling!
Front and rear wings limited to a single plane fixed surface, maximum width and depth specified, a single trim tab (aka 'Gurney Flap') front and rear also width and depth specified, with no 'extras' attached to these or any other surface. Think something along the lines of the 1979-1980 Williams FW07 minus ground effects.
Suspension: Adjustable within certain restraints, ride height (must be a fixed minimum), rake, softness/hardness only can be adjusted from within the car, any major changes can only be carried out by pit crew when the car is stationary.
Electronics: NO communication between driver and crew with the exception of safety warnings, exceptions would cover yellow flag cautions and safety car alerts. Absolutely NO DRIVER COACHING!
Basic ECU driver control allowed on board.
Rubber: Hard, Soft, Wet and Really Wet! Multiple suppliers a must! Competition between manufacturers is a good thing. Tyre width needs to be reduced by perhaps 10% and sidewall heights raised, with certain requirements for sidewall strength included.
Venues: A return to more traditional circuits and the demise of 'Purchased' events is vital, a Formula 1 Championship lacking (for example) a French or German Grand Prix makes a mockery of the true DNA integral to the sport. Traditional venues and Nations should receive a discount for running their events, 'newcomers' who buy their way in can and must be made to pay heavily.

There is much more to say on the subject but 'Formula 1' today is a farce, the supposed 'ecological' research touted by the participating manufacturers is hypocrisy of the highest order.
 
It's simple, a much higher mechanical VS aero grip ratio in mechanical's favor.

Also, allow the teams to choose whatever number of cylinders and cylinder angle (eg. 60 degrees, 110 degrees, etc.) they want. As long as they all stick to the total displacement limit, why can't one team run an 82 degree v8 while another runs a 120 degree v12 or v10?

Naturally aspirated because Formula 1 is supposed to be a sensory experience and right now cars just sound like very loud vacuum cleaners. Turbos kill the sound. Even the Turbos from the 80s couldn't compare to the naturally aspirated engines but, compared to now, at least the 80s Turbos roared like beasts, not mention popped, gurgled, spat fire, etc. but the turbo engines of today are none of that, they are just bland in every way (besides technically but 9 of 10 people couldn't care less).

Cars need to be wider, they are very narrow right now. The 2017 rules only made the suspension width wider, the car bodies are still very narrow which makes them goofy looking.
 
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How about F1 stop being overly greedy and reduce the cost of entry, secondly this also relates to my first point, come back to FREE TV not premium sports channels. In the long run the fan base will wither away.
 
It's always interesting to see these forum subjects as people's opinions are always so wide ranging, but it's fun to see what motorsport fans want.

The one thing that occurred to me last night was the F1 model itself. NASCAR and Indycar for example are geared for entertainment. This years Indycar was based upon what fans wanted. Then Dallara was given the job of trying to create a car that produced the goods.

The issue F1 has is it's more a business now than ever before. That's not to say Indycar or NASCAR is not serious motorsport but F1 is dominated by the manufacturers to a much larger extent.

Some of the blame of course must lie at Bernie's door but also John Todt who comes across as being an easy walkover whenever the manufacturers want something done their way.

As mentioned a few times on here already. The manufacturers are in this to promote their brand and image and to show off what they can do technically.

The current crop of cars are incredible technical marvels, but does your average F1 viewer care about this though? Probably not. They just want to see their driver or team win.
 
I generally approve of what you are saying here with the rules you have it would take it more back to the 1970s in terms of things but that was when men were men and no silly BS with electronics happened, all the stuff now is kids play make these cars a handful to drive and also what about wheel base too that should be limited too
 
I think all this comparison with American series is not useful. The problem is that F1 is much more interesting for sponsors, so a lot more money flows in.

As a result you will always see F1 cars optimized the heck out of. You cannot make the "problem" go away that sponsors are willing to put 10x the money in.

The way to go for enabling lower budget teams and have more variety IMHO:
  • Every aspect of engineering must be driven into a zone of diminishing return for investment very quickly. Right now that doesn't work for the power unit. The team that was ahead once stays on top because they get the same return for future investments. You need to lower the return for further investments of teams that are on top already.
  • Makes aero and chassis relevant again. Right now the opposite problem is true in aero and chassis: everybody is in a point of very low return for investment. Even the most advanced teams employing Adrian Newey cannot change the car in a way that it makes a scratch in the engines' dominance.
  • So you need to allow more freedom in aero and chassic again, and you need to put some restrictions on power units, and those must be restrictions that allow new ideas.
  • If you do it right people can pick whether they want to invest in engine or chassis. Right now they cannot. Investment in chassis are useless, investments in engine are not likely to give you an on-part engine.
  • As I said earlier, some electronics should come back. They are cheap and can make a difference. Ride high leveling in particular will also enable the aero people to do better things, and make things safer because new aero won't make the car take off unexpectedly.
 
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Formula One has become a technological battlefield for major manufacturers with impressive technology at the forefront, but is it still great, and what would you change?

This is likely to divide opinions, and many will feel that the sport is in a golden age already and nothing needs to be changed. These are opinions, and like any opinion, none are right, and none are wrong. Just different.

Now in my personal opinion, and it is very much my own opinion and not an official RaceDepartment stance, I think Formula One is well and truly broken at the moment, very much to the determent of the on track spectacle and racing that it produces. Now before I go off on one saying what I think the sport should do to improve it, I need to elaborate a little on where I'm actually coming from...

Motorsport for me has always been about the sport, about the actual 30/60/90 minutes or whatever of action out on the tarmac itself. I care nothing for the technical side of things, I have zero interest in big manufacturers or outright lap time and top speed. For me none of these things matter, it is simply the action out on the circuit that I come to see, nothing more, nothing less. Racing. Pure, hard, close, fair racing. Simple.

Now take a look at other forms of motorsport for an example. I'll sight something like Caterham racing or Clio Cup. I know these aren't open wheel cars, but the example is still relevant. These cars have little to no downforce and few in the way of electronic aids. Just simple mechanical engineering and the ability to race close. This is good, this encourages cars to run nose to tail and side by side, almost every single race, which is good. Additionally they have long (ish) braking distances and solid and robust cars, without going lightening fast so everything is manageable from behind the wheel and a pass or a fight can relatively easily last for several corners, with both drivers in control. This is good, this is the exact opposite of modern Formula One.

Formula One in its current guise is designed to fail, right from the very core. Stupidly high speeds, high downforce, miniscule braking distances, practically no chance of driver error, lack of punishments for going off track... the list goes on.

So what would I do to make it great again? Well to be honest it is rather simple, and I will try and explain below:

Downforce - Remove lots and lots of it. I would engineer the rules to remove 75% of the downforce of current Formula One cars, and while I'm at it I would have it engineering in such a way that the cars are heavily influenced to produce considerable levels of understeer (where the front washes out and steers less than the driver requests). Why understeer you ask? Well coupled with a normally aspirated high torque engine, I would like it so the ideal and quickest way to drive would be to "steer with the throttle" and get the car sideways, cancelling out the understeer by using power to break traction at the rear and slide the car round a corner. Think any given lap by Ronnie Peterson as a reference.. Additionally front and rear wings should be spec units supplied by the FIA, designed to cause minimum disruption to airflow and thus increase ability to run closely together.

Engine - Normally aspirated, no turbo or hybrid / KERS etc. Also I'd have it open to V6, V8, V10 and V12, but limited to no more than X number of each type allowed on the grid each season. So in effect engine manufacturers would have to preference their chosen type pre season, and allocation be distributed out by the governing body. These engines would be basic mechanical engines with emphasis on excessive torque with no electronic throttle control, just a sweet right foot. In my vision due to the relative lack of complexity, this would open the door to customer engines the likes of Cosworth, Hart, Judd and other one man bad type of operations. Increasing variety, increasing supply and enticing variation.

Engines should be restricted by fuel allowance (not to the level where fuel saving applies of course), but enough to make it possible for example to go flat chat in a slower V6 but have to apply caution in a powerful V12. Think (although not a great example I admit) the 1995 Monaco Grand Prix, where thanks to rain Mika Salo brought home his V6 Tyrell in fifth positon due to not requiring a fuel stop, whereas faster V10 and V12 cars had to come into the pits. This sort of thing, where drivers can go for multiple strategies such as running the V12 rich and stopping for fuel 3 times, V10s stopping twice, V8s once and V6 straight to the flag, how exciting would that be?

Refuelling - As covered above, bring it back to mix with the engine size variety.

Gearbox - Manual 6 speed H pattern, no mechanical assistance. With lower speeds thanks to lower downforce and engines designed more for torque than top end, a return to manual H patter boxes and the need to take a hand off the wheel to shift would be possible, and bring back the magic possibility of driver errors and missed gears, increasing overtaking opportunities and adding another element of driver skill and spectacle for the viewer. Any true driving nut knows H pattern is far more engaging that flappy paddle shifters, and produces better racing and more spectacle.

Tyres - Open the rules to any manufacturer, but keep the compound hard as a rock. In my opinion tyres are necessary to keep the car off the floor, but shouldn't have any impact in the outcome of a race and shouldn't be a talking point during a Grand Prix weekend. At all. They should last easily for a full race distance, but a "joker" set that are quick but last for a maximum of 10 laps should be available, for those wishing to roll the dice..

Brakes - Get back to steel disks. Make braking distances super long so an out braking move doesn't have to be done in fractions of a second just yards from a corner entry. I want to see it become a challenge to slow down a car, and I want the deceleration zone to be extended considerably. Now I know it will be the same for all cars, so in theory just as hard as it is now, but with extended zones you have more time to get alongside, more time for both drivers to know where you are on track, and more time to out psych your rival. Getting alongside someone in a braking zone is half the battle to overtaking, and with extended braking zones, limited grip and manual boxes, it becomes much harder for a driver to hit the correct marks every lap, and thus more mistakes and more opportunities to pass.

Rules - Formula One should always be a single race lasting a substantial length of time (i.e. 90 minutes), and for me this shouldn't change in any amendment to the series. Saying that, I think it would be sensible to make Formula 2 as close to the main series rules as possible, however with maybe a few spec items such as engine (FIA developed and supplied). This would allow a promotion / relegation system where in the newly formed regulations it is substantially lower cost to race, so many more teams would submit an entry (think early 90's pre qualification sessions). The top 28 cars would qualify for the Formula One season, the bottom 28 for Formula Two. At the end of the season, the bottom, say 3 teams would be relegated, and the top 3 Formula Two teams promoted. Or something similar.

Tracks - Bring back gravel traps. When faced with a potentially race ending gravel trap on the outside (or inside) of a corner, drivers will tend to leave a little bit of a margin of safety out on track. This is good, this helps those super talented or brave drivers some wiggle room to rise above the rest of the field, and also increases overtaking opportunities when someone is willing to risk it all on the inside / outside of a corner when his rival is playing the percentage game. Plus I feel mistakes should be punished, which isn't the case at present.

I could go one forever with this, but this article is designed more as a community discussion point than listening to me ramble on... sorry I got carried away..

Ok folks, lets have your opinion below.....

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What would you do to bring glory back to Formula One? In an idea world, with no limits, what would you change about the sport we love? Let us know in the comments section below!
 
Paul, You pretty much nailed it!
Longer braking distance, engines without hybrid tech (leave that to F E.) Tyres that don't leave marbles so that a driver can move off line to make a pass, no aero frilly bits all over the car and as you said spec. wings.
IMPO hybrid has killed P1 and will kill F1 too!
 
Formula one has been broken for a long time IMO. Personally I am happy watching it (casually) for what it is, but I am way more excited for IndyCar, Aussie Supercars and the various Sportscar championships than f1 these days. Liberty has some good ideas for how to grow the sport, and they have some terrible ideas too, but I would say, somewhat controversially, that the main thing that f1 should do is to let Ferrari and Mercedes walk out the next time they threaten to. No team should be able to hold the betterment of the sport hostage, not even the mighty Scuderia Ferrari
 
If one would look at it from a different perspective then the new F1 TV app might make things interesting (in the mean while) since you will the one in total control of the content.... Who to watch and when....Create your own view (More than one driver at a time or a live view and a driver at the same time).
And as a plus, subscribers will be able to watch live races of F2, GP3, porsche supercup.

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/...-a-live-grand-prix-subscription-service.html#


Since we usually do not pop up in every race, we are all today stuck on what the producers think is interesting so we are not in control on what or how to watch and this is sometimes boring.

If i’d keep the same prospective, then the sport should be fair to all, having no budget or resource limit is impossible for smaller teams so something could be done to prevent that.
 
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I am no one to complain primarly about sound, but this aspect is why fuel-regulations basically drop out already. The best race engine is one tuned to max power. That's why all engines after 2006 sounded **** (excluding the unlimited 2006 V8s from that that potentially revved up to 22,000 RPM, until dropping it to 19,000 in 2007) and Le Mans isn't the best example either.

It's actually really hard to flesh out good rules and consider all negative and positive effects it could have, that's also part of why it takes long for the FIA to change things. But it is easy to point out maximes in the rule making process.

I just think Formula 1 needs to focus on a more open construction field, less penalties during the races (even things like the Grosjean bump from Interlagos last year, it was a damn driving error) and stop trying to work on overtaking or cutting costs. None of these things ever worked and it did not result in favourable things.
 
When it comes to overtaking, IMHO nobody can help coming up with a good set of regulations other than the best aerodynamics engineers.

And those will tell you that whatever they come up with will show weaknesses for a couple seasons. That's just realism. Given the help from computational flow analysis letting them suggest rules that help overtaking would be a huge step forward compared to everybody else.

FIA would have to either hire them, get them on loan from the teams, or something along those lines.
 

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