Gotta slow down the Bulls….

Perhaps Red Bull should lobby the FIA that Mercedes' magic switch is a safety issue as well. After all, accidentally hitting a switch caused all brakes to lock and nearly take out another driver! So dangerous!

 

A far bigger concern is how mercedes managed to spin a car in the pit lane? The excuse losing time on pit exit in free practice what utter BS Bottas should be serving a one race ban

 

Horner sounds wrong given what Toto has stated below. Interesting...........

Ferrari: FIA should talk with F1 teams rather than issue technical directives
By: Luke Smith
Jun 26, 2021, 5:16 AM
Ferrari sporting director Laurent Mekies believes the FIA should sit down with Formula 1 teams and discuss issues instead of sending technical directives that come “out of the blue”.
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The FIA issued a note earlier this week announcing a clampdown on pitstop procedures in a bid to slow them down after some teams raised safety concerns.

From the Hungarian Grand Prix onwards, F1 teams must ensure that the response of the car being lowered from its jacks and released from its pitbox are based on human reaction times instead of using automated systems.

The move was welcomed by both Mercedes and McLaren, but Red Bull - the fastest team in the pits this year - called it “disappointing”.

Speaking about the new pitstop technical directive, Mekies said that while it would not “cause any difficulties” for Ferrari, he was surprised by its timing, and felt it would be better to discuss issues first.

“It is certainly a little bit coming out of the blue, I would agree with you,” Mekies said.

“I think without the discussing the circumstances, I think for sure, it’s probably better moving forward if we have a chance to sit all together and to work these things out with the FIA and with the teams, as opposed to be a bit caught by surprise in the middle of the season with a TD.

“Ultimately we understand why that is, but it would probably be nice to sit down and to see what it is first.”

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Laurent Mekies, Racing Director, Ferrari, in the Team Principals Press Conference

Photo by: FIA Pool

The pitstop clampdown is the latest in a series of technical directives that have been sent out recently by the FIA, following action over rear wing flexibility and tyre pressure levels after events in recent races.

Red Bull chief Christian Horner indicated that Mercedes may have been behind the push to slow down pitstops, saying: “If you can't be beaten, then obviously the most logical thing is for your competitors to try and slow you down and that's obviously what's happening here.”

But Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff made clear the team had not directly pushed to slow down pitstops, simply enquiring about a possible system it could use to help speed up its processes.

"We enquired with the FIA on a safety mechanism, which is related to a system that we were using, and whether that could be optimised,” said Wolff.

“That happened, I would say three or four weeks ago. It was a technology question. So did that trigger anything else? Maybe. I don't know. But this is the question we've asked.”

 

Next they introduce a minimum pit stop of say 3 seconds ? im really sick and tired of the bs micro managing by the FIA

 

Only the FIA knows..........

 

I would be in favour of that. I want to see a drivers' championship, not a pit crew championship.

If pit stops were neutralised, teams would think twice about having extra tyres change.

In fact, the whole race shouldn't need a tyre change.

 

This is the whole point, a car should be able to run the whole race on a single set of tires if that is the fastest way to run a race...........
..........excepting for mandating the crap tires by FIA on Michelin..............

 

What a load of tosh. A safety mechanism? I think I'm right in saying that since RBR has used this system they've been among if not the safest pit team.

Why don't they simply introduce a rule thaht for safety reasons, the title must be won by a Mercedes. Much easier.

 

It’s one stupid new rule after another. What the h-ll?

How are they going to monitor that every team’s every pit stop’s every sequence is executed in not less than the mandated minimum time?!! Absolute insanity.

In the meantime, what’s happening with the clamp down in front wing flexing? Nothing.

 

The only way to enforce it is to wait until a team complaints and the FIA will have to post race do a frame-by-frame check to see if the difference adds to the thousands of a second. Post race penalties galore. That's what makes F1 truly exciting, no?

Front wing flex? FIA oddly silent on that. Theyy took action within days on the rear wings, tyres (never mind that, despite finger pointing, Pirelli sneakily is putting a tougher rear tyre in for testing next week!), and of course now pitstops. Front wings though? Nah...FIA is busy (counting money, presumably).

 

The kit-car series show already exists for your pleasure. It's called IndyCar.......

This is Formula One (actually was; it's already been watered down), the pinnacle of auto racing.

 

Your forgetting that you already have a Drivers Championship......along with the Constructors (teams) Championship.
Surely you don't believe Merc's/Hamilton's domination rests solely on their pit stops.......

The tires I agree with. Worked great prior to mandating tire changes. Choices of compounds, choose your strategy, and come what may.

 

I want to see races won by car and driver, not by by blokes handling airguns.

These days, with hardly any reliability issues, and cars so close performance wise, the competition is about tyre strategy and pit crew reaction time during the stops.

I blame pit stops for altering the character of GPs. Racing occured solely on the track before if you remember.

Clark, Surtees, Stewart and else didn't win thanks to pit stops; there were none !!5

 

COMPLETELY agree! Which is why I also felt that the original comment regarding standardizing pit stop equipment was absurd!

Kevin

 

Spec harder tires that last complete race. And eliminate tire compound change during race. Lets have racing, not pit strategy.

 

Would possibly save money as well.

 

Perhaps they should issue a TD specifying these momma's. It would make them think twice about pit stops!


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It's not absurd at all.

No more than racing depending too much on strategy, pit stops, and airguns skill to win championships.

Years ago we didn't have all these artifices, and we had real racing.

 

I agree with you.

But in the setting where you're forcing pit stops already, it is up to each team to make them as fast and accurate as possible. Until the powers that be decide you're making life a bit uncomfortable for the anointed ones.

Kevin

 

Not really.

There are series where pit stops are also mandatory, and their time is neutralised; each car has to spend a set minimum time in the pit.

This to avoid teams having to spend silly money on expensive equipment, or having a large pit crew.

It works well.

 

And let's have Dallara build the teams identical cars too, ala IndyCar. Everything will be "fair" for all, eh?

Heck.....let's just hand everyone a trophy and go home.....no need to spend all that money traveling and racing to see who's the best.

This is the kind of thinking that's destroying all of racing.

 

Mercedes influence is so obvious it turns the FIA simply ridiculous...but it's ok, just goes to show how hollow the championship has been since 2014....

 

Absolutely correct. F1 is about no-holds-barred competition. A winner who found an edge over the losers. Well, it was, and based on suggestions like these it's still headed in the wrong direction.

 

You are confusing everything on purpose.

Tyre changing isn't racing, but it has now taken a prominent part in the outcome of races.