Nono... You want two tires. You want a ridiculously sticky tire that is dead after ten laps, tops. And I mean tops. If you use it in qualifying out-flying-in, then you get 8 laps of grip for the race, but after that they are toast. Fragile, super-high grip, with an eyeblink lifespan. Then you want a 40 lap mileage tire, designed to come into season in the second half of those laps. Make it impossible to run the entire race on one stop, but don't require two stops. You want to compel the teams to make two stops, but you don't want to deny them the opportunity to make a risky strategy call by trying to get it done in one. Continue to require both compounds be used in the race.
So is every other motorsport event on the planet. Bringing back refuelling doesn't fix anything, the core rules of the sport are messed up they need to fix those 1st. I'm glad refuelling was removed so the *******s that run the sport see how boring they have made F1 and how much they rely on pitstops and weather for exciting results.
The fact that it is a business run by profit oriented people is one reason that we may see some changes soon. According to a number of reports the powers that be were quite upset by what they saw yesterday and talks are scheduled.
I was actually looking forward to this race to see how this no refuelling thing pans out. Last i checked, a bunch of Fchat members said this was probably the best rule change, just like the 80s and early 90s. But after last weekend's Bore-rain race, it's quite clear they really messed up the rules. The design of the cars and the tracks just don't favour this rule. But then again, this all being said after just 1 race... I say, lets wait for a while, let the team develop more aggressive strategies, and see how it pans out. It was just the first race. Naturally, most teams would opt to be more careful.
I like that everyone is on an even playing field for qualifying. My favorite years were when qualifying was a one lap and done affair, no parc-ferme. Trim em down, put vapors in....and see how fast you can go. then there was the race strategy. I still love F1, but I hate cost saving measures when, really, they are increase margin measures.
Looks like damn near everyone behind the ropes is wanting to do something now except for Bernie: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/82162 http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/82185 http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/82186 http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/82180 I can't open this link as I'm not a subscriber but it's titled: How to make Formula 1 exciting again http://www.autosport.com/subs/login.php?r=http://www.autosport.com/features/article.php/id/2677&type=feature&id=2677
Film Poster Synopsis; Your mechanical bits are sorted. Your driver is seasoned. You'll change your tires. Unless something goes terribly awry . . . You'll finish in close to the position you started.
While I agree, the problem there was looking at an empty track for an hour of the 90 minute qualifying session - That sucked! I don't mind the Q1/2 and 3 "fix" for that, particularly as they're now on fumes in Q3. As to parc-ferme, they've definitely gone too far - Damn, I don't think you can change anything anymore - Rear wing angle, ride height, everything is frozen. OTOH, they did it because the top teams would basically build a qualifying car with small brakes, small tank and so on which got rebuilt overnight into a very different race car. Surely, there must be some compromise in the middle somewhere? [We *always* used to take some wing off for the race for example "back in the day".....] Cheers, Ian
everything is better than what we are saying actuay...dul race that one in Bahrain!!!! The fuelling stops woud give something more to tell about that one!!! Strategic race is better than a boring race...
Agree. After all, it's the World Drivers Championship, and not the World Refuellers Championship. And it shouldn't become the World Tyre Fitters Championship either!! F1 existed for many years before refuelling or tyre changes and was also better for it. There should be no pit stop for tyres as well, or at it they should be only allowed for safety reasons, with a 20 secondes mandatory period for each stop. That would reduce the personel around the car, and the Team budget with less staff on the circuits too. Why can't tyre companies make tyres that last a whole GP as they used to? I suggest that if people find F1 GPs too boring or processional, they are watching the wrong sport. Try basketball instead!! Look at 1960s GP, with Clark, Hill, Stewart, Rindt, etc... there were not plenty of overtaking, nor did the sporting authorities then interfere so much with the races. It was clean good racing, of the kind I would like to see again without some people obsessed with SPECTACLE interfereing with the proceeding. If a good driver has a good car, just let him romp away ahead of the field, and don't invent some handicap to make him trip. It may be what NASCAR spectators want to see, but F1 is on a different level.
I remember quali to be one lap after another in the 80's. Reverse order from the times in practice. Yes, they were essentially quali cars and race cars. Supposdly in the turbo era, they would tune the cars to put out close to 1,400 hp for the quali lap and then detune for the race.... them boys were on the edge.
+1 If you want overtaking, go watch the taxicabs. +1 What a lot of people who keep harking back to "the golden days" have either forgotten and/or never knew, is that there may have only been 3-4 cars on the same *lap* at the end.[Sometimes less!] *Overtaking*! Forget that! Just staying on the same lap was an achievement for many years...... Cheers, Ian
I think they change the rules every year on purpose and for a reason; So that each year we get to see who has created the right package to those new rules rather than one manufacturer (think red) perfecting one set and thus dominating the sport. This is why they limit testing as well. I remember the no stop years. You talk of boring. A Ferrari fan back then even I was bored, winning and all. The more variety and variables the better. Back then the Hare always won. I now like to see a clever Tortoise win sometimes.
Indeed! I remember it well. [1400 may be a little high, but certainly over 1200!] The motor would only last for a couple of quali laps, but man they were *fast*! IIRC, it was at one of the Long Beach GP's that the head of Ford Motorsport (?) looked at some telemetry and realized they were *never* using full throttle! However, while they were fast, there still wasn't any overtaking...... BTW, the "single car qualifying" set-up also sucked IMHO. I think the Q1/2/3 setup is about the best we can hope for today - At least the fans get to see some cars going round.... Cheers, Ian
If its a drivers championship alone (which it isn't) lets have Soap-Box Derby rules and insist that the driver design, build and wrench the car himself
Bernie's latest comment is that the teams shouldn't be involved in the rule making. I don't think they were the ones who went to aero grip over mechanical grip years ago. The sport has been struggling with that decision ever since. You can't pass if you don't have the grip during braking and cornering, and if most of the grip comes from aero you can't get close enough to the car in front to attempt a pass. That decision was made worse with the use of grooved tires that reduced mechanical grip even more. I would love to see them get rid of the snowplow on the nose of the current cars and dump the double diffusers. Also widen the track to what it was before. Best yet, make the cars look like the Gurney Eagle. Now that was a great looking car.
Agreed. In the past overtaking happened because one car was supremely faster than the other. They weren't dueling back and forth like in some B movie. If you consider the Lotus, HRT, and Virgin teams, there was a lot of overtaking yesterday. As far as refueling, why not leave the cars the way they are - capable of a full race load of fuel on board - but let the team decide if they want to refuel once, twice, thrice, or just start on a full tank?
....but it's the only thing we have at the moment, or perhaps a mandatory 2 stop rule. Bahrain has never been one of the more exciting tracks, but the updates didn't help and the lack of refueling certainly didn't help either. I can see how a casual fan wouldn't get it if that race was his intro to F1.
Just let them choose if they want to refuel or not. Leave it up to the teams and don't publish their fuel amounts and there will be another layer of intrigue and great disparity on the track at various times. I'm not necessarily promoting disparity but that is what enables passing.
Since the teams can't redesign the cars making the refueling optional would work, but it will take a while to set up the rigs and arrange their transport.
