Spurious electronics... Ban the lot.

Apparently it has to do with road relevance (bull****, of course).

Strangely, I think paddleshift could stay. But get rid of the rest...please.

 

Why not carburettors like in Nascar not so long ago?

Formula 1 has to move with the times. I think it would be ridiculous to have more advanced electronics in any cheap city car than in the pinnacle of motorsport.

 

To OP : Ferrari mechanics should road test a car after setting the PIS on the F1 clutches of road cars so in a way the drivers today are just doing the same

The point about road relevance of the electronics is that even very basic small cars like Vauxhall Corsa now have self-parking kit (for example) so it is reasonable for some to be installed at the pinnacle of motor sport

There is a question of where to draw the line but F1 does not need fiddling at the edges it needs a much more basic rethink and, perhaps controversially, I believe today's power plants with all their KERS and electronics have a very clear connection to the propulsion systems of many cars from i8 to Prius and have resulted in huge reductions in energy consumption for both F1 & Le Mans cars and so can form the basis going forward

 

In that case, let the cars be self guided.

 

In an ideal world, they would be.

Yet, as it seems that many people still thinks that this sport is about drivers, I think that cars can be designed to leave a lot of room for human interaction without removing the electronics.

Actually I think that the complex electronics add some challenge to the driving as they have to push a lot of buttons and at the same time work with the steering wheel and the pedals. If they didn´t have any help from the pit, they´d also have to keep an eye on lots of parameters too, not just oil temperature and pressure like in the old times.

 

Agree with this. I think that it´s ridiculous to ban ABS, something that it´s in all cars these days, but allow cars to almost drive themselves at the race start.

 

Yet, my cheap city car has anti-lock brakes and traction control. Shouldn't those pinnacle of motors[port guys have the same high tech stuff on their cars.

Obviously, the F1 gods have decided to pick and choose which advanced electronics to employ. I think the talk about road car relevance and advanced technology is a bit self-serving. When they want to use such technology, it is OK. When they choose not to, it's bad.

Just as they profess to be all about efficiency, they continue to ignore diesel technology which is far more eco-friendly than petrol powered engines.

 

ABS is fine for F1, I think, just like some form of traction control too, but not the sophisticated launching software they have.

I think ABS should be introduced for safety reason (what else), it may have prevented poor Bianchi to be on life support for a year now.

Drivers shouldn't have so many option buttons on their steering wheel, I think, but made to set up their car in one configuration only for the race.

Regarding the wish some have to ban power steering, that may be fine, but some also want larger tyres.
Power steering was allowed in F1 to compensate for the added physical effort to steer a car with large doughnuts; if you make them even larger, but without power steering, cars will become undriveable!

 

Well, that really is leading technology. If the FIA and F1 think their series is all about technology, self-driving cars should be their ultimate focus. There is a growing segment of the population that is looking forward to the day when they can play Words With Friends while their car drives them to Grandma's house. Maybe the way to attract them to the "sport" is to jump on the self-driving bandwagon. Then the Apple v Microsoft v Google battle will replace Ferrari v Mercedes v Honda. Are you an Apple fan or PC? iPhone or Android?

 

Saw a TV program where an Audi was self guided on the track. Not as fast as a professional driver (yet) but did manage to just beat the auto journalist (who probably drives like many of us). Just a matter of time and money before they can beat the pros. The ultimate driver safety program.

 

I agree I can't stand these new clutches that allow for basically perfect starts every time. It's taken the drama out of the start of races.

 

Tell that to Hammy!.....

I reckon maybe 50% of the field get it "right" at the start. Someone nearly always almost stalls. Many others lose a few places - Dear old Mark was the master of moonwalking at the start! Others benefit.

Always been that way, hopefully always will be. They're a long way from having launch control. [Because it's banned of course.]

As for ABS & TC - Please, no! Like everyone else, I feel terrible about what happened to Jules, but even that's [a freak accident] not a reason to allow ABS IMO.

Despite all the "clever" electronics, it's still the world drivers championship after all.

Cheers,
Ian

 

It's increasingly the IT world championship.

 

Or the world strategy championship!

I hear you, I really do. I wish I (or anyone, come to that) knew how to fix it! Saying "ban aero", or "bigger tires" or whatever is, as many have said, just putting lipstick on the pig.

Cheers,
Ian

 

How can F1 justify banning ABS, when it is compulsory on ALL cars and Motorcycles on sale now? (in Europe at least)

It's the same for traction control. It is now mandatory for cars above a certain degree of performance - even Cobra made in Germany MUST be equiped with TC.

F1 cannot have it both ways; promote very advanced technologies on one hand (aerodynamics, energy recovery system, throttle and braking by wire, etc..) and insist on banning others like ABS, TC that are common on everyday cars.

It's obvious that the rulemakers are steering F1 in the completely wrong direction. Cars are allowed to have steering wheels like Playstation consoles with a myriad of electronic aids, but then a basic safety device isn't allowed, because "it's the world drivers championship, Sir" WTF !!!

 

Of course. Since the 90s or so the allowed techs in motorsport are chosen arbitrarily: they need to keep a balance between the technology and the drivers, who for many customers still are the stars of the show.

Not exactly: diesel reduce CO2 emissions but produce other pollutants more dangerous for human health. In some cities there are plans to ban all diesel engines.

 

F1 cars should be the fastest on earth, not necessarily the most technically advanced, and certainly not the most "relevant." Just because a certain technology exists in another species of automobile doesn't mean its use in F1 is imperative.

 

More tire
More power
Less aero
Fewer artifices (silly tire rules, fuel consumption, pit stops, etc)

Oink!

 

The latest Diesel technology on recent cars takes care of the particules you are talking about, but obviously cannot be retrofitted to older vehicles.

So, instead of encouraging motorists to buy the latest generation of Diesel cars, politicians are using a sledgehammer to ban ALL Diesel vehicles regardless in some cities.

Politicians out of touch with reality... what's new here?

 

They also forget that a given quantity of diesel has roughly 20-25% more energy in it than the same quantity of petrol., resulting in 20% better mileage merely on the physics. And diesel requires less energy to refine.

Ethanol, the darling of the eco set, goes in the opposite direction. 20% less energy than petrol and it requires more energy to produce it than it contains. Plus it cannot be delivered via pipeline, like the vast majority of petrol and diesel. Ethanol must be shipped in a tanker.

 

+1

 

What's the point?

Take two identical F1 cars, one with "spurious electronics" fitted and one without.

Give both cars to the same driver to test one after another and note the lap times.

I'll pretty much guarantee that the car with all the "spurious electronics" on-board will urinate on the car without them!

That's the point!

As for banning this "junk" because it takes away driver skill, then shouldn't you also ban semi-automatic gearboxes and go back to manual gearboxes only? - A major driver skill used to be the ability to master a manual racing gearbox and heel n' toe gear changes.

Shouldn't you ban car to pits telemetry that can help tell the driver if his car is failing and how to get around the problem? - Another major driving skill used to be the ability to read and understand the health of your car just by driving it without someone reading it's every little change.

Shouldn't you ban in-car radio's that can be used to give the driver advice during the race? - Drivers have it too easy these days, what with being told when to push, when to pit, what issues there are with the car etc., etc.

At the end of the day, technology moves on and F1 being the animal that it is makes full use of the latest technology in order to go as fast as the rules allow (and sometimes as fast as the rules don't really allow!)

 

Even with DPF, diesel engines produce particles that some studies show as highly carcinogenic and not all of the soot is eliminated. Also there are some secondary issues derivated from the refining process of diesel and its additives. In Japan they don´t have old diesel cars as it never took off there and still they´re using hybrid petrol or even hydrogen when they want to get eco-friendly.

Of course, when talking about ecologicness, neither diesel or gasoline can´t compare with hydrogen, but let´s get real: people is complaining about these hybrid petrol engines, imagine what the purists would think about diesel or hydrogen in F1.