Watched F4 today...

F4?

 

which F4? US F4?

 

Are you sure it was F4? They're slower than F3 even...

 

Did you see Mick (Schumi Jr) in it ?

 

Somebody...again...what's F4?

I remember the F4 Phantom...

 

From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formula_4_United_States_Championship

Formula 4 United States Championship

The chassis will be provided by Crawford Composites, with a 2000cc Honda K20 detuned to FIA F4 supplied by Honda Performance Development, which will both meet the FIA price caps for Formula 4. The tyres will by provided by Pirelli, and will similarly be price capped.

So the lesson F1 should learn is that all of the cars in F1 should have chassis' made by a single manufacturer so that they are all identical, and the engines should all come from a single manufacturer so that they are all identical too?

In other words, F1 should become a one-make series to encourage closer racing - Is that the lesson?

 

Where does anything imply F1 should follow suit?

 

Post #1 (See the highlighted part!) :

 

I weren't talking about the poster. I was thinking about some intelligent source.

 

The point I was making is that the racing is so close in F4 because the drivers are all driving identical cars.

If F4 were run to the same principles as F1, i.e different chassis manufacturers and different engine suppliers, with the freedom to develop their aero packages pretty much as they like, then F4 racing would become just as strung out as F1.

If you let F1 teams run what they like, then you end up in a spending war where the riches teams spend $10 Million dollars on making the buttons on the steering wheel lighter, and accusations of teams cheating because they're running a secret development that others haven't thought of, such as Ferrari's predictive-Traction Control system that upset so many but was within the rules, or their flexi-floor that passed every test it had to, but still people tried to claim was cheating.

"Ah! - but you could put in a cost cap!" - You might say!

So now you're restricting the possibility of development again, so if Mercedes find something that gives them a second a lap advantage, no one else can develop their car to catch them up.

As for running different engine sizes - The way F1 development works, you'd end up with a situation whereby one engine type would have such an advantage that if you didn't have that engine then you're season was over before it began, or you'd have to spend $100 Million's trying to play catch up!

Added to that, you've got circuits who now have stricter noise limits placed on them than ever before, manufacturers who have no interest in racing 3.5 litre V12/3.0 V8 dinosaur engines any more, as they are completely irrelevant to modern times, and environmental campaigners who want an end to all petrol/gas/diesel motor racing!

You say the FIA should try to encourage closer racing - Why do you think they keep trying to restrict developments of the car?

THe FIA are trying to do the impossible - They're trying to make a multi-manufacturer racing series as stock as they can, but every time they make an effort to level the playing field, the fans start crying that it's their meddling with the sport.

So the fans start demanding that the restrictions are taken out of the sport, but history has already shown that when you do that, one of the teams comes up with something special and runs away with the Championship (Think Brawn GP).



Your initial point was that the racing in F4 was really exciting, and that: "F1 could learn something".

I've pointed out that the reason F4 racing is so exciting is the fact that no one has a car advantage, they're all identical, unlike F1 cars, and your response is that the FIA should allow F1 cars to become even more different to each other, with different engines, different fuel loads, etc., etc. etc. - Can you not see how that goes completely against your original statement about F4 racing?

I've said it before and I'll say it again, if you want F1 to be truly competitive and all about the drivers skill, the only way you will do it is by having them all racing in identical cars!

As soon as you have multiple manufacturers doing what they want in a racing series, then you're more likely than not going to have strung out races!

 

Probably something else as guiding an LT through London traffic, watch Shmee getting overwhelmed by a Formula 4:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1adl5ZvWbk