If you really want to slow them dwn, just ban all the aero. OK, there is too much advertizing space.....on the aero Then just mandate a particular set of wings for the entire season with an FIA approved profile, and constructed by an outside company. OH, and get rid of the diffuser at the same time. No need to fiddle with the engine, brakes, electronics, trannies,...
Give them 100 kg of fuel for the whole race + 0.3 kg multiplied by the starting position number and cancel all other tech restrictions
I shouldn't have titled this thread "... the solution to slow F1 down ...", I should have just said to make it interesting again, as this thread has now become a discussion about slowing them down which was not my intention. Driver errors make interesting races and enable passing, with billard table smooth tracks the likelihood of a driver error is many times less than with a realisitically bumpy track, thus I suggest they stop spending what must be millions and millions "ironing" the tracks and let them age and develop bumps. Everybody wins as track owners save money and we see better races where the drivers have to work harder instead of going into a trance. Pete
Thing is this IMO, I like F1 for numerous reasons, and a fairly big one is the tech involved or advances made in car solving problems, and in theory this tech gets passed down to the road cars, which I also like the idea of. So it begs the question to me, yes I think we all can agree we like to see close racing down to the wire stuff, but not by going backwards with the tech to do so. Pete has suggested bumpy tracks, well I can see his point, and given driving on UK roads pothole ridden and with the like of bastrd speed reducing bumps, it may be not be such a daft idea, if the cars can find a answer to go fast over them... but not slow them down that is But I do not think it is the answer.
Street legal radial tires like we used on Formula Fords in Skip Barber Racing. They will chew you up and spit you out.
More mechanical grip. Bring back big fat tires, make the cars wider and limit aero downforce. As much as I would love to see manual gearboxes back they will never come back.
Am I the only one here that thinks F1 is interesting and exciting? The are plenty of cars passing cars on track, it's not always in the front of the pack but sometimes it is. F1 has always been this way, if a car is .5 seconds faster then the competition it will be 30 seconds ahead at the finish line (60 laps). Do you really want them to run nose to tail?
I see your point, but to be honest the paddle shift is a driver aid like TC, ABS, etc. The teams love it because there are no more missed shifts or shredded gear boxes. It takes away from the skill of the driver and computerizes it. F1 cars should not be easy to drive. The harder the better. Let the best DRIVER win.
Oh yes agreed best man win and yes hard to drive, I think that will nearly always be the case, just getting heat into the tyres is a job in its self. I think maybe the anticlimax of having a great track such as Spa after the break, and with the relative ease in which Vettel won ...well made folk wanting more from the sport.