F1 2023 - News/Regulation change/Developments

I don't understand the strong negative reaction against Sprint races.
Liberty tries to give the paying public more show for their bucks over 3 days, and people don't like it.
There are still details to sort out, but I think that multi-race GPs will go ahead in future.
I could see an alternative format, with 2 FP sessions on Friday, followed by another one on Saturday morning, with all lap times recorded to form the grid of the sprint race. Let's do away completely with the Qualif session that becomes a lottery because of the traffic.
The Sprint race on Saturday afternoon determines the grid of the GP on Sunday.
Please, no reverse grid !!!

 

There is a clear distinction between sport and circus. People want to see real instead of artificially created competition.

 

A concise and precise framing of this 'sprint' program that is simply not needed. Races sell out without it and easily. End the idiocy of this and it robs the teams of preparation to provide better prepared cars for racing.

 

I don't see why a sprint would be considered "circus", but a GP not. They are both races, albeit albeit of different duration.
The circus, to me, is the razzamatazz around GP, the attendence of celebrities, the majorettes, the parade, the lengthy drivers presentation, the national anthem, the grid walk, the aircraft flypast , etc ... That is the boring part, and one of the reasons I don't attend GPs anymore.
I don't consider sprints to be "artificially created competition". They are just races.

 

Instead of a reverse grid, have them run the race with the reverse gear in the transmission..................

 

That already has been tried and it didn´t work. Drivers didn´t want to risk having a crash and starting from the back, after the first laps they just cruised to the end. Also sometimes one got caught by a random incident in the first corner that wasted not only the Sprint but the Sunday race too. One thing I dislike of modern F1 is that problems are carried from one race to another: grid penalties for an engine that blew 4 months ago and so on. The Srpint race has to be independent of the Sunday race and have a worthy reward, that´s the only way drivers are going to drive balls out in a short race.

I´m more open to the reverse grid idea: at least we would see slow cars desperately trying to hold to their moment in the spotlight and top drivers cutting through the midfield to scrap some points.

 

Nope. Contrived racing is a joke. Reverse having sprints!!

 

At the moment, the Sprint format robs the teams and the drivers of 2 Practice sessions.
That handicap teams, mostly when then introduce upgrades. That's the main argument against it.
One solution would be to do away with the Shoot-Out and use the same Qualif session for the Sprint and the GP to recover1 FP session.
The reverse grid is a total gimmick, IMO, not really to be considered for F1.
But one thing I like is that F1 is tentative and tries different systems, rather than being "set in stone" , it's trial and error.
After all, so many different aspects have changed over the years. The game changer, was the ban on unlimited testing, which affected some teams more than other. I think that's what signaled Ferrari's decline in F1.

 

Personally I'm against Sprints. They can't test, have limited engines, limited budget and more and more GPs. Now they're adding more races in each GP.

Meanwhile, we had one of the the less competitive seasons ever with the most restrictive rules ever. I think that if they want more show they have to look elsewhere.

 

No, the main argument against sprint races is that a whole race weekend should build up to the actual (singular) race.

That becomes completely unnecessarily is you instead get rid of the sprint races.

Agreed.

More like 1 step forward (flat bottom cars) and 2 steps back {sprint racing, lack of development time.}

[/QUOTE]After all, so many different aspects have changed over the years. The game changer, was the ban on unlimited testing, which affected some teams more than other. I think that's what signaled Ferrari's decline in F1.[/QUOTE]

Along with McLaren, and Williams.

 

It could be, but I am not negative and prefer to get used to the idea that sprints are there to stay. The format could be fine tuned.
When I used to attend GPs, I hated the time cars used to spend motionless in their garages during the weekend.
With Qualifs, Shoot-out and Sprint, that's at least 3 hours they are forced to be on the track. That's what people come to see !
I follow other series which have 2 or 3 races by events, and people seem to like that.

 

Verstappen gets “no satisfaction” from F1 sprint wins
Max Verstappen has said he gets “no satisfaction” from winning Formula 1 sprint races and thinks the format should be shelved.

 

So, we should take our clues from Verstappen ?

 

Horner: F1's sprint parc ferme rules are a "joke"
Red Bull's Christian Horner feels Formula 1's restrictive sprint parc ferme rules are a "joke" in the wake of a controversial sprint weekend in Austin.

 

Well 1980’s week-end format wasn’t bad at all to my taste.
One free and qualifying session per day.
Best lap for the starting grid and warm up Sunday morning.

 

F1 needs to decide if it wants racing or spectacle. Racing would involve time to practice and setup car for max performance race and qualy. Spectacle is what sprint is now plus crap ideas they have been talking about. Reverse grid etc. RedBull comments are correct. Sprints don’t work, lack meaning and have ridiculous rules.

 

Yes, that was also the time of unlimited tests, and there were less GPs per seson.
So the conditions were quite different from the frenetic pace we have now.

 

Who is F1 though ? Liberty, the public or the teams ? They have conflicting interests.

 

Frankly this frenetic pace is just for money.
I fear people will soon be bored by this.
During decades GPs were remarkables because of their rarity ( 14-16gp per year).
Just imagine soccer or Rugby World Cup every year for instance..

 

I agree 100%, GPs have lost their exclusivity.
Of course it's for money, but F1 has been allowed to become very technical and needs lots of money !
When you hear about teams with massive installations, up to 800 staff strength, you can guess they need big budget.
Also, from their point of view, I guess more GPs give a larger coverage to their sponsors, etc ...
F1 is an industry now. I don't know where it goes, but the bubble is bound to burst at some point.

 

Leclerc's DNS reminded me of the age old question, do F1 cars really need to be controlled like computers?
The electronical system and all the sensors surely help making the PU's safer and more durable.

But these system/software issues also open up questions about safety dangers.
As an engineer myself, it was almost shocking for me to see/hear what happened with Leclerc's electronics system.
It was not the sudden shutting down of the system (can happen), but that with it both hydraulics and the engine completely shut off.
So the electronics control everything and there is no manual bypass in case of failure?
I'm sorry but thats just bad design and outright dangerous. A cars steering should always work no matter what, unless something mechanical broke.

 

The hydraulics failed...you lose hydraulics, steering becomes much more difficult. F1 doesn't currently have EPAS.

 

It was the electronics that controlled the engine that failed, and since engine shutdown, then the hydraulic pump stopped too, no? So electronics is still the Master of all, or am I wrong?

 

I thought hydraulics failed first (puff of smoke moments before he lost it) and then the CE failed on his trip back to the pit.

 

"It's a system issue where the system shut off the hydraulics and engine," said Vasseur.

"The result of the [issue] from the system we don't know yet because the car is not back, but it was more an electronic problem."

https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/ferrari-explains-what-caused-leclerc-pre-race-crash/

Fred atleast was pretty sure it was electronics. Maybe the hydraulic pump got stopped first by the system and then engine too as per some software protocol