The FIA don’t give a damn, they promised Mercedes not to upset the AppleCart until 2021, and they won’t break that promise. Mercedes barracked them into setting the regulations just right, and when things don’t work, like the tyres, they harangued the FIA into telling Pirelli to change them. If they introduce a questionable part, what happens, it gets ruled legal/illegal, and at worst, is ‘advised’ not to run any more AFTER they have made the points they need for the championship. If ferrari introduces a part and Mercedes don’t like it/it seems like it gives ferrari performance, the FIA are all over the team, demanding tests, sitting in on private briefings, monitoring the car for the rest of the season making sure that the new ‘development’ part doesn’t work, and if it looks like it does work, they get it removed or adjusted so it’s not an advantage anymore. Anyone that thinks Mercedes isn’t a step ahead of the rest, and therefore their championships are down to the drivers and not the cars, are kidding themselves and should seek help. Mercedes have bought the championships they have won, no question, and their power politically means no one has a chance to overturn this with a soppy, ineffectual FIA running things.
Liberty are another big problem.... they are trying to make a show out of the most boring processions in the history of motor racing, instead of demanding action and ignoring Mercedes demands for special treatment like they do for Ferrari. I hear on this forum all the time about ferrari favouritism, the supposed veto, our historical payments..... where does it get us? ****ing nowhere, so why bother to argue against us all the time. We get historical payments because we are Ferrari, we are the team (not the results of course) but the team, the brand, the lifestyle, all of the rest want to be, including those dullard Mercs. Ferrari stand out, they have soul, the team an extension of one mans italian soul, that produces cars the pc crowd love to hate, that the EU would love to regulate out of existence to save the carrier bag or the ozone layer or something. We deserve to be treated a bit special. As per favouritism, that, IF it existed, was done for the show, to keep interest in a sport when it got boring previously, when the viewers needed a bit of drama, and it worked for us AND against us (the 2005 reg change that destroyed our engineering evolution that ferrari agreed to to help save F1 becoming boring and that put us back 15 years in development). Liberty should grow some balls and amend the rules, take away some of the inbuilt advantage of Mercedes for the good of the sport, which will automatically improve the show, and allow in season development and testing, it will still takes teams a long time to catch up, but those that want to WILL do it, and then we have racing to watch. At the moment, unless you are a Mercedes fan, you probably don’t watch the race to see who wins, you watch it to see Ferrari’s on the track and where THEY finish, but the result was decided before the engines were turned on for Practice
When discussing Mercedes, their edge does not seem to be in the power unit, because the other teams using it are doing terribly. (But then, of course, I doubt if their power units are up to the same spec as the parent team's.) So if you had to pick one aspect where the Mercedes car is superior to all others in the field, what one aspect would it be?
I would say that Mercedes is just better rather than having an advantage by FIA. More money. Look at Ferrari in the early 2000's. Shumacher winning everything was even more egregious. Todt, Shumacher and Brawn had enormous power in the FIA during that time. Mercedes has ruled the turbo hybrid era because they have much more development dollars linked to that technology. Simple really. It does make for boring racing but that's what you get with F1. There's a reason Nascar is so popular. Many may look down on it but you rarely have a bad time during any championship race. Plenty of overtakes and spectacle with a bit of drama.
Suspension IMO front & rear in correlation with their rake angle. They nailed those S3 corners at Catalunya. Monaco is going to be telling. Redbull WAS the favorite due to downforce and wheelbase, but idk anymore now. The SF90 and W10 are long WB cars.
I like it. Front wings that shatter to pieces from slight contact is neither progress or environmentally friendly.
Realistically the current cars aren't racing each other, either. Just lapping around passing time until a new set of regulations comes along.
nah, bias adjustment should always be a tool of the driver...but it should of course be cable operated. And no fly-by-wire brakes of course. Brake bias, and anti-rolls bars...that's all. All controlled by mechanical systems. Round steering wheel. No buttons. No radios. No telemetry or data streaming off the cars. All those dour techno-drones manning banks of computers back in the garage and the at factory - well, they should terminated with extreme prejudice For me, the ideal F1 car should be a super lightweight, analog jewelbox of a racecar - with a highly strung atmospheric engine ready to blow up if you only glance it the wrong way. I am not at all one for celebrating wanton waste and destruction - but I do think F1 should completely eschew 'relevance' and it's (disingenuous) preoccupation with 'driving technology forward.' I would much rather it become superfluous, anachronistic celebration of mechanical and driving artistry.
It started with the engine. When Ferrari was too busy arguing with Renault how many cilinders it should have, Mercedes had various concepts already running so they didn't care which config we ran in. In the mean time their car was already very good with thanks to Michael and Brawn (both of which let go after their work was completed). With the engine freeze in place, the rest of the teams had to get on Mercedes level of power....who was already working on their next engine as they had tons of data on how to improve. And so on. When the development freeze was lifted in a Mercedes approved ''token system'', Mercedes still never had to worry about someone getting near them...they could slowly improve their engine whilst retaining an edge. Where Ferrari went wrong is they focused on the engine so much recently that they forgot about the rest of the car. That's not the only thing wrong with them of course. Red Bull had a great chassis all this time which allowed them to get some wins and podiums. A necessary switch to another engine after both Ferrari and Mercedes where too scared to give them an engine (kinda can't blame them, but I do blame FIA/F1 for not allowing what is clearly a customer team free choice of engines). The choice was finally made but they would always be on the backfoot. Honda in all this time only had 1 team to get data from, with the rest of the manufacturers 3 teams. Even in 2018 Honda only had 1 team for Data, though with a closer partnership they managed to make a good breakthrough. Sadly the change of engine partners has meant different variables (mainly to do with heat) which led to chassis and aero adjustments....meanwhile, Mercedes have focused on improving where they lacked most: Chassis. And have now superseded Red Bull who have taken a step back due to the aforementioned problems. Due to the FIA being totally inept and dreadfully slow in finding a fix for any problem that arises, this has ultimately led to Mercedes dominance. Mercedes had their ear and for whatever reason, FIA and all others oblige to their every request. Take the wings issue for example. I and many others have been saying for years about the utter focus on aero complexity, and allowing it, is wrong and prevents any kind of decent racing. They finally came with their stupid ''delta vee'' wing which they where sure would fix any problems....I and others predicted it wouldn't fix it and we where absolutely right. It took over a year of meetings for them to discuss a fix....and what did they come up with? EVEN WIDER WINGS! Nothing is fixed still. The racing is dull. There is too much interference from dirty air. they made the DRS even larger and even that barely works. Frankly the only ''fix'' they had was lowering the temp in the tyre blankets which has led to an exciting opening lap in Bahrain. As soon as the tyres are really up to temp, the fun is over. Wahey, a whole lap of excitement after 3 years of meetings. What a result! The FIA needs to be run by someone competent and dictatorship style. These are the rules, don't like it? **** off then. We know you won't, and if you do, tough luck. Write the rules properly and someone will replace them. Keep the racing exciting. Get the fans excited. THAT is what will draw people to the sport. THAT will result in sponsors coming. And guess what? Making the cars loads cheaper to run, also means fewer sponsors are needed anyways, so the little teams don't fight to exist but can fight to compete. I'm tired and angry and the regime that's in place. The sport I love dearly, the only sport I truly love, is being destroyed before my eyes and I can't do ****. Because of idiots in suits that are more worried about satisfying Mercedes than look at the big picture. F1 is at a breaking point. And they ignore it. Whether it's incompetence or sheer arrogance, I don't know.
Excellent recitation. Mercedes entered the hybrid era with a leg up on everyone and the token system ensured that others couldn't catch up. Probably has something to do with money. Hey it's a start? Gee I like that kind of talk(Tim Conway, RIP) Me too. Bill France
I don't blame Mercedes for having done the best homework initially. I fully blame the FIA for not coming with a solution quickly. I said it way back in 2014....Mercedes advantage being so huge, they have to lift the ban. And when they came with the token system (too late), I said it was pointless because mercedes was steps ahead already, so any upgrade the rest made they'd still be far behind. It's like watching a slow motion car crash.
Appreciate your comments...it’s very familiar as it echoes the Fast Ian credo. ‘F1 isn’t easy, if you want to win, outwork them’.
Very good summation. You ought to send this to Liberty, especially that part about the bigger front wings making passing more difficult.
Cosworth didn't want it either...they saw straight away that they couldn't possibly afford it. FIA offered an option called the PACE engine or whatever the ****, a cheap alternative for teams...but they never build it. I wonder what the parameters where for anyone getting in? Was it under the current hybrid rules? Of course they didn't want back in. They can't afford it. It's a loss making exercise for all involved right now. The only way they can afford it is because it falls under R&D, and seeing as they're multi billion car companies, they can do it. But even Mercedes brass is getting fed up with the amount spend on engines. Make the engine rules so that companies like Cosworth can make money from it and they'll be there. If Honda isn't interested in making a hypothetical V10 atmospheric engine for Red Bull/Toro Rosso, a company like Zytek, Judd or Cosworth will be. So long they can make some money out of the deal they'll be happy to supply. F1 survived before with Ferrari being the only manufacturer (Mclaren isn't leaving either and these days are also manufacturers). Renault is a question mark, as it always will be whatever the regulations. Mercedes can huff and puff and is the one team I see most likely to leave. Red Bull won't. A cheaper formula is really quite beneficial to them in the grand scheme of things. So much so that if that happens the F1 team is a pure marketing exercise for them as it really will be a drop in the bucket for them. So long they'll be top 3 they really wouldn't care. They make money of it. Apparently now they're moaning that they've spend so much on the engines ''they can't go back''. You know what really sucks? F1 folding and them having no way of showcasing their stupid overcomplicated creations at all. Actually no, that wouldn't suck. Would be great.
Well, we just need to figure out a way to make that happen. I think that F1 should suggest passing on the current hybrid powerplant package to WEC, which is already running something very similar anyway. If Mercedes want to continue developing their powerplants, they can follow the package over to WEC, where they have unfinished business. (Remember the "flying circus" of 1999? They left Le Mans with their tail between their legs!) Then F1 will be able to run something the fans want to see, like a combination of normally-aspirated and turbo engines with a proper equivalency formula. Why didn't that work in the '80s? Because the 2/1 displacement formula favored the turbos. They need to go back to the 3/1 formula they used before 1961. And if all the other manufacturers leave, so what? If you wind up with Ferrari and a bunch of Cosworth-powered cars, that made for great racing back in the '70s! And if they want to stay relevant to today's environmental climate, they can still impose a maximum fuel limit which would probably limit RPMs and turbo boost but not seriously damage the racing. (Unfortunately, V-12s and perhaps even V-10s might be impractical in that case, but V-8s still make for good racing.)
Yep I fully agree. And said it for a long time. Let WEC be the place where ''road relevancy'' is developed. I don't see many people drive single seaters on the road, lol!
That's certainly the truth. Sports car racing is where technology relevant to passenger cars should be developed. F1 should exist just for the spectacle, without any real need to be environmentally friendly, though my suggestion to retain a maximum fuel limit would at least keep things in check.
I think the V8 engine rules where pretty good. Cheap to produce, no engine was so good that it was essential to win championships with and so on. Essentially the same rules such as fixed weight, piston/crank size, material use, rev limit etc would be where it's at. Back in 2008 the engine was 160K USD for a complete unit and would last 2 races, limited to 19000rpm. Modernize that with direct injection, add 4 more cilinders and cap the limiter to 16500rpm or so. ECU will be a control ECU and won't allow hideously complicated mapping. If those engines can't do 4 races whilst being pushed hard all the time I'll be completely amazed. Set a maximum cost of say 250K per unit. Allow a ''friday engine'', that's unlimited in engine miles and will not count to total engines used in the season. This allows for more running on the Friday (good for fans), more stuff to be tested out also, and no worry about using up another lap of engine mileage. Together with fixing the aero, where it'll be a whole lot less complicated and thereby much cheaper, and some parts standardization, we're on to a winning formula. Mercedes/Renault (even Honda?) throw a fit? tough. Let them. Red Bull won't leave as it'll be too great a money maker for them (with both teams). They'll likely even get their own engine made for just their teams, a true Red Bull engine (even if build by someone else). Ferrari will supply their usual subjects. Cosworth will supply others. It won't matter. And as soon as potential teams see that F1 will make sense business wise, that not only can they stay alive but actually make money, they'll come. I don't think any of them will be so disillusioned that they think they can compete with Ferrari and Red Bull at the top. And before anyone moans that it'll be a spec series...come on! give it up. Did you guys moan also when up till late 90s front wings weren't complicated enough? That the wings all looked the same? The majority of things that actually matter, will still be free.
Most of the drivers ARE tools! Hehe. Bloody pay drivers like stroll, *******s like Elton, wastes of a drive like Magnussen and Grosjean. Sack em, get rid of the pc crap and have some racing that has a bloody point to it.
