Ferrari Wants T-Car Back Into The Rules

I have to agree with Stefano. I'd much rather see a driver pushing the limits rather than backing off a bit in case of a crash. With testing limited to practice sessions for the most part, the teams will test during these sessions where they are going to need push their cars to the limit. Why punish a drivers race for that?

 

I think they have a very valid point. We already know our man Carlo was hugely disappointed to not see Fred in quali, and I'm sure that applied to many, if not most, of the fans in attendance.

It's a stupid rule IMO - You can have a spare tub (sans tanks and suspension etc) which you can build into a car as and when needed - How is that saving money? The guys are gonna work all night to achieve something that should already be in place.

As to penalizing a jockey for crashing, why? They've all crashed on occasion, it's just a question of luck as to when it happens and the result - If he'd done it Thursday, no worries, but as it was Sat am he was hosed.

Incidentally, Autosport reports the tub is totalled

Bring back the T-cars!

Cheers,
Ian

 

Theres a surprise.

 

Everyone agrees this rule is stupid.

Tell me how the fans, viewers, and sponsors of the race are benefitted by any racer not being able to jump into a spare car because of an accident -- self inflicted or otherwise -- in a warm up or first lap red flag situation.

It does not save money. The spare car has to be rebuilt anyway. It's just another stupid rule that makes no sense while it does not improve fan relations (remember .... it's supposed to be about US).

I would have said this no matter which driver crashed. Ferrari makes an excellent point that could not have been made until the situation finally hurt the race. The entire race I was saying to myself... I wonder how exciting it would have been to have seen Alonso challenging Weber.

 

Well lets face it the teams were dictated to, so I assume it was not up for discussion by yours truly.. cretin Mosley.

Thats why they got rid of him.

Sorry Ian..

 

Its a stupid rule... as are most of the rules in F-1 now days!

no testing, no spare cars, not free thinking, no tobacco sponsors, no access to drivers by the fans, not many classic european tracks - Spa, Zandvort, Paul Ricard, Imola, etc.... all this in the name of progress! seems like going backward to me.

 

I agree the rules in F1 are stupid, but if a spare car is allowed, the poorly funded teams will have even more financial problems. I actually would love to see F1 become more like the days of formula libre, but in today's world, no one could afford it..

 

Why would they have more financial problems? Would they just throw the damaged chassis away instead of repairing it for the next race? It's going to get fixed one way or the other. All the parts are there. The only difference is that they don't let the pit crews put it together in advance.

If the rule is abandoned, no one is forcing anyone to have a spare chassis. If they can't afford it, then just don't have one.

But, if you can afford it and you want to support the fans and your sponsors, you should be able to.

 

You're right, there's no cost savings in it. The parts are all there but aren't assembled.

IMO the rule is there to have exactly the result seen in Monaco. A faster car gets totalled and the driver has to start from the back instead of being able to qualify at the front. More artificial spicing up of "the show" by Max.

I say bring back the spare car AND bring back at least some limited testing during the season.

 

What about the engine? Is that another one gone or were they able to use it in the new car?

 

AFAIK, the motor & 'box are both good.

I doubt that's what he ran though - I guess they'd want to take a look before using 'em in another race.

Cheers,
Ian

 

+1

I'd love to see the T-car back. Just think about that this could be the title defining moment in a race towards the end of the season: One contender crashes in Saturday morning practice and his opponent gets the title without a fight during the race. Just stupid.

That said, I doubt the FIA will change their rule.

Lifting the ban on testing with e.g. a test day on Monday after the races would already help the newcomers (remember Alguersuari's debut?), but even such a mild rule change seems to be "too expensive" for the FIA.

Not in this climate where a Sauber drives around naked. Not gonna happen.

 

+1 Trouble is, it wasn't thought thru' properly - OK, it's easy with hindsight to see the flaws, but the idea of always finishing "under green" does have it's appeal..... (?)

+1 - I'm gonna bang on it again - Thursday prior or Monday after. [At most tracks of course - Monaco gets a "free pass" as always ]

Cheers,
Ian

 

Todt really does need to spray everything with a big can of Max-be-gone! It'll take years to undo all the backwards rules he put in place.

 

That rule is ridiculously stupid for the fans that want to see the drivers going all-out all the time. However it does annoy me that whenever something doesn't go Ferrari's way they want to change the damn rules.

Keep in mind they weren't complaining about it in Spain...

 

Let's hope it happens and that its only the first rolling back of Max's economy rules which are ruining the sport.

 

Yep. One only needs to look at American open wheel racing to see how making things "spec" ruins the sport...

 

"If we save any more money we'll go broke"

 

Definitely a silly rule. People don't pay so much of money, take the effort and time, only to find out one of the top drivers will be sitting out for the quali.

It's time to get back to the drawing board, FIA.

 

You do? Name the series with this rule.

 

Absolutely correct.
That's why the testing ban and engine/transmission rules have to be lifted as well.

 

non sequitur

RP's post was really just a rant about what would happen if the T-Car rules are changed, and isn't borne out by historical data. It was not reasoning about why T-Car rules need to be lifted. As such, I don't understand your lumping the engine/transmission rules into his line of reasoning. He didn't present a reason why any rules should be lifted.