Coulthard for the BBC. No revelations, but some interesting quotes from a former driver. "[T]he times the drivers are completely on the limit during a grand prix are a small minority. Sometimes they never are." "Humans react to feats of daring and part of that has been removed." BBC Sport - David Coulthard column: 'Slow cars disillusion F1 drivers'
Interesting. I like Brundle's thoughts on things for the future too. Wider wheels, lower ride height, wider rear wing, less complex front wings, and 1000bhp power units. That would be the quickest era in F1 indeed.
wouldn't be before time. Making F1 exciting again and putting greater emphasis on driver skill is not rocket science. Time for F1 to step up.
Excellent article about the current state of F1. It is so boring compared to 10 years ago. I was so bored watching Barcelona that I kept switching to youtube clips of of the 2005 season instead. Now those cars are incredible in every way!
No one cares for fuel saving. Tire management (debatable I guess but probably a good skill to have). Lift and coast shouldn't be a part of f1.
F-1 was the most interesting when you had fuel stops and a tyre war. they should be able to use as many tires as they want - but only limted to selected tires for the race... bring in strategy. as for Aero - active aero and active suspensions along with ABS, stability control etc.. all should be part of it - but you also have to open up the engine - propulsion systems. mulit cylinder turbo, non turbo, all electric, hybrid, turbine etc.. should all be alowed. limit the amount of petrol per Grand prix weekend. FIA delivers X amounts of fuel, and that is all you get. ( all cars have to have internal combustion as a part of their propulsion system)... FIA can control the cars from getting beyond drivers control by fitting them with a G suit and telemetry systems - exceed x g's and the car auto shuts down ... The other thing - I remember being in the pits in 1988 at Montreal - and when a car came in to the pits during the race - it was blindingly fast - they have to abolish the pit lane speed limit - or increase it to 100MPH. Limit the people in the the pit lane. sounds dangerous but it will be spectacular.
Cars should be more spectacular. with more difference between straight speed and corners. Cars should slide and be difficult to hold in corners. That should improve overtaking opportunities. To achieve that, I suggest an imposed limit to downforce (measured in a FIA wind tunnel) and reduction in tyre size. With a limit in downforce, teams could do away with all the aeros that disguise the cars, and go back to basic shapes. Let's ban pit strategy; no more pit stop and radio communication between pits and drivers. We want drivers to race, not to use tactics. They should be able to read informations from their dashboard and the pit signals, and not be coached from the pits by an army of strategists. If pit stop are necessary, they should have a minimum time period (say 30sec.), to avoid the current pit strategy system . That system already exists in some series. That would reduce the number of pit crew as well (2 mechanics, instead of 8 or 10!), and save money for the teams.
I don't think that expecting cars to go faster every year is realistic. If their design isn't reined in regularly by rule changes, cars would reach speeds beyond the tracks capabilities. Circuits would have to be redesigned regularly to improve safety, receiving extended run-off areas, and putting the spectators further away from the cars then come to watch. The circuits are too sanitised as it is now; the danger seems not to exist. Speed in itself isn't spectacular; it's drivers dealing with difficulties that people come to see. A F1 cornering on rails because of massive downforce and huge tyres is less spectacular to me than a midget where the driver is struggling with the laws of physics to stay away from the fencing! I like to see cars braking, cornering and accelerating distictly, with the visual driver input, and that doesn't exist anymore.
Hmmm faster pitlane speeds... I forgot what it was like to see cars racing in. Does seem pretty ridiculous the way it is now. Really no need to go that slow. Refueling would bring excitement back too I think. Really though... None of this will matter when half or more of the cars are getting lapped. At that level it almost can't be called racing. I mean who cares how fast or hard to drive a car is If its 8 seconds slower per lap or the team itself is literally saying they won't be competitive this year and stuff like that.
More power More tire Less aero No more contrived pit stops Been saying it for years. Now adding: no tire or "technology" gimmicks. F1, contrary to what many think, should not necessarily be the leading edge of technology. It should be the leading edge of SPEED.
I remember being at Silverstone - the old Pits in 1989 or 90 when Senna came blasting in for tires mid way throgh the race. it was amazing.. I was standing about 10 Ft away and the sound and just the breze was cool... but I agree there were way to many people in there during those days.. .I had no busienss being there even though i had an FIA Credential...the other cool thing was I was right next to Dennis Jenkinson... I remember him saying, he came in too slow!
I don't agree at all! Pit stops have no place in a less than 2 hours race. The excitment should be on the track and not artificially created by forced strategy like refuelling or tyre compound. As for increasing pit lane speed, that would go completely against all the safety measure the FIA has introduced. If pit stops are necessary (punctures, rain tyres, repairs, etc...) they should be timed to a minimum period (30 sec. maybe), to remove any advantage, and not bring competition and speed in the pit lane.
F1 should look as something difficult to master; now it looks too sanitised from outside. I am not saying it's easy easy, but it looks that way. Even teenagers with barely driving experience can reach F1 and achieve quite well, almost straight out of karting! You hardly see drivers fighting with their cars; they seem to be on rails. Taking corners is no drama, and if you overcook it, you go on the tarmaced run-off, rejoin the track in all impunity. Before, any indiscretion used to bring a penalty, in terms of damage to the car, at least, or even worse ... Compared to F1, you can see that in MotoGP the riding hasn't become so easy over the years, even with some technology. And when they mess up, riders get thrown out of their mount and feel the pain! BTW, MotoGP don't need refuelling or tyre change, nor do the riders receive instructions from the pits by radio. Banning the radio would literally change F1!! and at no cost...
What are you all talking about? We're constantly watching the cars drift and slide in the corners now. I can't tell you how many times in the last year that I've caught my breath when a driver starts to lose control of the car and then catches it mid corner. The only race this year that the people here at Ferrari chat claimed to be good was Malaysia. Is that because Ferrari won? Are all of you upset that Ferrari isn't on top? F1 is still exciting to me, just as it was exciting back in the Schumacher era. As much as I hated seeing Vettel win it was still exciting to watch in the 4 years Red Bull dominated.
I'd like to see pit stops and tire changes open. Regulate the rubber available, but allow the teams the ability to choose which compound they want to run. No required changes or requirement to use multiple compounds. As few or as many tire changes as you'd like. If you want to regulate the quantity of gas available, fine, but let the teams fuel that set quantity in any formula they wish. One stop, no stops, seven stops, whatever the team thinks will allow it to finish the race the fastest. Mark
Disagree. A flat can take someone out of the race completely, or a tangle with a back marker. Better to have a pit stop to keep predictability at a minimum.
I agree with Coulthard, the cars are just too slow. The top GP2 cars could qualify ahead of the Force Indias and Manors. The GP2 cars are more entertaining to watch and sound much better. Was listening to an interview on BBC earlier this week and they were interviewing one of the younger drivers and he stated that the difference from Renault 3.5 to Formula 1 was not much at all. The cars are slower, not physical to drive, sound pathetic and the races are not compelling. I watched the last race with the sound off and was busy talking with my family instead focussed on the race for the first time since I started watching Formula 1 in 1974. The last 2 races have been snoozefests, I hope Canada can throw it's typical wild card to spice things up. Maybe 2017 will be different when we are supposed to get the 1,000 HP PUs. This fuel efficiency formula is just not compelling to me.
There would be no prohibition against a pit stop for a mechanical problem or tire failure. What William and I are talking about are pit stops made necessary by artificial rules concerning tires (such as we have now) and fuel (such as we used to have, and currently have in a different form).
The question isn't absolute speed. There's no question that with the right spec F1 cars could be far, far faster than the tracks they run on. The problem is that the cars now have to be driven under their existing capabilities. There will always be implicit technical limits but there's no need for arbitrary ones. Give them enough fuel and tires that aren't designed to fail and we'll be well on the way to exciting racing. Allowing teams strategic options in compounds and fuel loads would add interest.
Now even the drivers are complaining . Who exactly is happy with F1 now? Other than Bernie? I don't know of anyone.
The existing technical regulations and the ban on testing have certainly been effective in making the cars more competitive and keeping the rich teams from achieving dominance...... *cough*
