F1 Grids - New way to do it

I agree that would be fun to watch but, at the same time it would be very scarey for the driver.

Jim

 

How could you stop sandbagging during qualifying to get pole?

 

Intresting idea but not very practical. Two SAs on the front row? Half the field would be crashed out at the first corner with Sato starting up front. I wouldn't mind seeing something along the lines of the GP2 series. Reverse the points finishers for the pole. ie. 1st=8th starting position at the next race.

 

I think the idea here is to eliminate qualifying all together, except for the first race of the season. After that, you start in reverse of where you finished the previous race.

Could not then a championship be won by the driver that finished consistently in positions 5-10, by taking it easy and making sure they would always be near the second 25% of the grid?

I can see this in closed body racing, but in open wheel road racing I would think there is a danger to more than one or two fast cars trying to pass the entire field. It has been fun to watch when Michael or Fernando come up through the pack, but to see 5-6 cars doing this could be disaster.

 

This nice for show. But F1 is sport. And faster car&driver should win, not try to fight thru the field to entertain the crowd.

 

I agree that there needs to be a way to get the cars to pass on the track, but like Ron said, it sounds somewhat dangerous to have all the fast cars in the back. I think the only way we're going to see more passing is if there are more aero restrictions introduced.

 

You may be right, that all professional sports are really just entertainment, no longer true sporting events.

But I still love it.

 

They use that in World Touring Car Championship for the second race of each meeting. The races are about 45/50 minutes long (not pit stop) and guess what? The best cars/drivers combinations usually come to the front by mid-race! But there are casualties during the scramble for the first few laps, when slower cars don't move aside fast enough for the hard-chargers.
To spice the process, WTCC gives weight penalties to the winner of each race. Gradually, if you are too successful, you may have to carry up to 65 kg (hope I'm right) of ballast.
Is it what is needed in F1? I doubt it. Why penalise success?

The only think I would personally like to see abolished in F1 is the standing start, and replace it with a rolling start (like Indy?), purely for safety reasons; if someone stalls in the 2 or 3 front rows at the start, he may be hit by the chap coming from the 12th row, in full acceleration and doing already 150mph! Years ago, Renzo Paletti died like that, but FIA never learned.

 

I've never liked the idea of inverting F1 grids. First, it's contrary to the spirit of competition. Second, there is far too much disparity between the front and back of the grid in terms of equipment and talent. Many of the tracks have vulnerable first corners, which makes pileups more likely. On the occasion where front-runners have started in the back, they tend to slice their way up front quite easily, and in surprisingly dull fashion. I'd rather see a quick Ferrari and Renault fight each other from the front than watch a Ferrari pick off obviously slower cars. What's the point? No, they should just s**tcan the whole fuel-load mystery issue and allow teams to do what they want, give them the cars back after qualifying to work on them some more, and go racing the next morning.

 

Ricardo

 

Thanks for the correction Gilles27. You are quite right.

Anyhow, my point was that nothing seems to have been learnt from this tragedy.
Am I the only one to worry about that?

 

Hemingway once said something to the effect that...there are only three true sports, auto racing, bull fighting and mountaineering, all the rest are mere games ...

 

Interesting point. And thinking about it, I guess I am surprised that, in all these years, we haven't had a major rear-ender that I can recall. I've sat along the starting grid a few times, and it really seems like a miracle that there hasn't been a serious startingline incident. On a note, the sad irony of Paletti's accident was that he rear-ended the stalled Ferrari of Didier Pironi in Montreal, the same weekend that they dedicated the circuit after the recently-passed Gilles Villeneuve. I remember reading somewhere that there had been a lot of finger-pointing and accusations about the ineptness of the rescue efforts. And actually, if someone can shed more light on this, I seem to recall that it was felt that Paletti should have survived had he been reached in proper time. I hope someone knows more on this.

 

Depends on how you define major. JJ Lehto stalled and was hit hard enough to throw debris over the fence in San Marino 94. There were a few injuries in addition to leading up to the later tragic events

 

Hypothetical..

If youre doing poorly (ie. not going to get any points for the race) wouldn't it turn into an ugly "who can finish last"???

I recall a car video game I played back in the day that gave last place first start (reverse order) and if you werent doing well, you were better off to just finish last

 

What i meant is F1 at least still pretending to be a sport. Or there other options that could make show more exiting like:
1 - during the race - each team will run one car clockwise and one counter clockwise - great entertainment, spectacular crashes guaranteed.
2 - when race starts - first lap should be done on a bicycle - when driver done with first lap - he can switch to a his car - great entertainment, more emphasis on drivers abilities, less mess in first corner.
3 - Nascar type - safety car every 10 laps.

 

Friday Practice
Saturday

1 hour practice
1 hour qualifying (0ld way light and fast)
20 minute qualifying race


Sunday

grid based on finishing positions of saturdays qualifier

This would bring the very fastest cars to the front of the grid then on saturday see if they have race pace to keep it up

 

If you put aside any supposed favoritism by stewards or the FIA, F1 is a level playing field. Or at least as level as any other major sport.

Sure those with the biggest budgets have an advantage, but such is also the case with baseball or the EPL. Those teams with the biggest budgets can shell out the cash to find the components required to win. This may be a star forward or a full scale wind tunnel, it doesnt matter.

In F1 everyone is given the same regulations. Every one builds there cars on a perfectly level playing field. Then they show up for the race weekend, and everyone gets to practice and everyone qualifies at the same time. From here on out, you earn your own advantage and make use of it during the race.