That's quite right. Who knows how many "developments" were scrapped in the dyno room. There is no point in a team burning tokens for small incremental changes. Either they hit it big or they keep looking for the upgrade that will make a difference. In some instances a new or improved design may require two or three other modifications to unleash its full potential, and some of those modifications may be prohibited. For instance, the "simple" act of splitting the compressor from the MGU-H could require the use of 3 or 4 tokens if it means changing other parts to support that upgrade. Then the team must ask themselves, is it worth it, or should we focus our efforts elsewhere. As always, whenever there are development restrictions, development is restricted. And there is no reduction in development costs, just in development realized.
All you have proposed is to replace one set of development restrictions with another. The appropriate place for regulation is at the design and materials level. Set a spec for basic design parameters and list materials that will not be permitted (because of cost or hazard). Then let the PU makers have at it. If at the beginning of a 5 year formula, one or two manufacturers miss the mark so badly that they cannot develop their way to parity without starting with a clean sheet, why prevent them from doing so. Any excessive costs will either be carried by the manufacturer or happily paid by the teams clamoring for their superior PU. Renault seem unable to introduce upgrades to their PU that have much impact on either power or reliability. Obviously Honda are in the same boat. If either of them are being held back by some inherently flawed design philosophy, under the current regulations, they should drop out rather than continue to throw good money after bad. If there is some contractual reason for them to stay, they should limit their spending to solving reliability problems to cut the cost of finishing last.
Done. [Along with many other things, primarily safety related of course.] Nothing. You can bet that Honda (for example) is spending *megabucks* right now!..... Wouldn't surprise me if it's many times Manor's *entire* budget. Cheers, Ian
Well, i think F1 is the only 'sport' where you are not allowed to do anything. No testing, no training, no development...nothing. And then you wonder why it's super boring week in week out. Nothing in F1 is appealing anymore. If you watch football, no matter who versus who, big team versus a small team, there's always a possible chance of the smaller team causing upset. This can't be said for F1. It's always default. Whoever starts the season brightly, will most likely dominate the entire season. I don't know..but these days, i watch the first 10 mins of the race just to see the start, and then i'm off.
You're comparing apples (a single game upset in football) to oranges (a team dominating the whole season). The small football team might win once (an 'upset')...but they are unlikely to consistently win throughout the whole season. Just like Seb upset Mercedes once this year...the 'smaller' team does sometimes win a race in F1...the strongest team typically wins the season, though.
The tokens impose another complex optimization problem on top of actual engineering. This should only have the effect of increasing cost.
Unfortunately, this whole engine formula and development embargo experiment has clearly failed. Time to fix the problem and throw out a set of regs that clearly don't work, for a simpler formula that does. Even a spec engine would be better than this as the biggest issue with the current formula is that half the engines don't even work, let alone generate sufficient power to compete. That's just wrong whichever way you look at it. If a supplier gave me goods which were unfit for purpose they would get taken for every penny. Clearly, in F1 that's ok. How bonkers is that?
Uh, they have a test this week, don't they? Ferrari have closed up almost half a second so far during the season. Mclaren have closed up almost 2 seconds on the front of the grid (when they can stay running). This is no different than when Ferrari was dominating the sport in the early 2000's, nobody else had a chance, not even the no2 Ferrari. It has been like this since essentially the beginning of f1, one team gets it right and dominates more often than not. If you want parity, watch Indy or NASCAR or some other spec series. Rose colored glasses are in full effect here.
+1 to all! This is not, nor hopefully ever will be, "spec racing". Or, even worse, the taxicabs where they change the rules every week! It's hard. Dominating it is even harder. Doff the cap and do a better job. Don't like it? Go and play in the minor leagues. Cheers, Ian
+1 But, over the course of the season, the "big" teams will come out ahead of the "small" teams. Generally Head down, arse up..... Cheers, Ian
My point is at least at those periods, they at least raced. And sounded and looked good too. These days, it's lift and coast, sounds horrible. There's nothing to look forward to. The testing, can it really help Honda and Renault? I doubt it.
If you think F1 races have been won by cars/drivers going flat out every lap you are deluded. The exception is probably Stirling Mosses Monaco win in 60 something ... There are always areas/times when/where they conserve, ie. No point pushing the car so hard it breaks. No point winning by more than 1 or 2 seconds. They always try to win at the slowest possible speed ... since 1901 until Nico's Austria win. Pete
Not true. In the early 2000s when tires were free and refuelling was allowed, the races were basically flat out sprints. Today's conserving is way more severe than it has been in recent memory. Fuel is conserved, tires are conserved, engines and gearboxes are conserved all weekend long. It's a bit over the top.
Yes, i'm not talking about going 100% from start to finish. But look at Mika vs Michael battles in the 2000s and you see what i'm talking about. That's pure racing.
Not true. They often were cruising waiting for the car in front of them to pit so they could put in a few quick laps and pass them. There was less car against car racing in those days. They just waited for pit stops instead of doing real passes. So again no full race long sprints. Never, ever. Pete
All that is required to have that is either: 1. No team orders at Mercedes and Nico to have some fire in his belly, or 2. Ferrari to be truly competitive with Mercedes, which they aren't. So I guess the current rules are not helping 2. ... Pete
