F1 2024 - News/Regulation change/Developments

Haas could get 276,000 hours and still be at the back of the field.......

 

Rolling advert and enhanced team value and Steiner is a TV star lol.

 

Haas doesn't have the resources to use its windtunnel and CFD hours.

 

Yes the FIA and FOM have better issues to solve for the sport than echoing lies from crap F1 biz journal. How about no more than 12 races. 2 teams that rotate every other race. Also lets increase the number of drivers as well. Say 4 rather than 2. They also alternate. Give more talent a better chance to drive. Why should their be only 2 drivers. Its a team sport right lol

FIA and F1 considering race-cap rule for all F1 personnel
https://f1i.com/news/496269-fia-and-f1-considering-race-cap-rule-for-all-f1-personnel.html

 

The FIA is seeking to simplify the floor plank component on F1’s cars by standardizing the element on the sport's next-generation 2026 machines.

The plank became a point of contention last October when Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc were disqualified from the United States Grand Prix for exceeding the components tolerated wear limits.

 

A lot of fuss about nothing.

 

Perhaps Ferrari could "borrow" some of their hours

 

The Calendar 'Crunch' will be felt fully this year. Even Max is not a fan. 24 is stupid. 18 per year max - 9 before summer and 9 after. Rotate various circuits etc.

Alonso: Triple-headers, not driving, will drain my F1 battery
Fernando Alonso says Formula 1's growing calendar and the inclusion of triple-headers will push him closer to quitting the series before he has any doubts about his driving ability.

 

What if they established a 30 race season and no teams showed up ??

 

We only really need 3-4 of the teams to show lol. The rest look nice as rolling advert boards to be passed

 

Too bad. We need more circuits not street 'event's.

 

Would be nice. They are interested but not willing to pour as much public money into the endeavor. Moto GP is doing well and they are happy for now.

 

With only 8 cars on the grid, Liberty would fail to observe the contract with circuits/cities.
Let's not forget than organisers pay up to $30 millions each for the privilege to host a GP.
I think the minimum is 16 cars.

 

The most limiting factor for real competition! "The field is closing up" lol. Max could have driven faster. Its over unless testing is promising, for too many teams. Such is F1 in the team value 'franchise' era.


https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/f1s-cost-cap-makes-fightbacks-more-painful-says-fia/10560453/

F1’s cost cap makes fightbacks more "painful", says FIA
Formula 1’s cost cap may have helped close up the grid, believes the FIA, but there has been a downside in it preventing troubled squads making swift recoveries.

Since 2021, F1 teams have had to operate under a budget cap limit which was introduced to put grand prix racing on a more stable financial platform.


The evidence of the past few years is that the grid overall has closed up, especially because previous big spenders have not had the luxury of throwing more money at added performance to help them pull clear.


But while a closer grid overall has been positive, one of the unintended consequences has been that teams are now more limited in making amends for mistakes with their cars – as they no longer have the spending power to invest in extensive revamps.


This has been especially highlighted this year when both Mercedes and Ferrari knew that their 2023 car concepts were no match for the dominant Red Bull RB19 – but were unable to make the kind of overhauls that would have been possible under open spending rules.


Reflecting on the impact of the cost cap, Tombazis said that the gains it had delivered had not been without some downsides.


“The problem with the financial regulations is, on the one hand, they do mean that somebody can't spend three times more than somebody else, which is good,” he said.


“But on the other hand, they do also mean that if you're behind somebody, you can't just throw everything at it and make an upgrade.


“In older times, some teams would occasionally start a season and be in a really quite bad place, because they would have maybe messed up the project or concept or whatever. They arrive and are humiliated for the first few races.


“I've been involved in such a situation, but then you just make a massive upgrade package for Barcelona for Canada or something, and you'd virtually redesign the whole car like crazy for three or four months and then be winning races during the season.


“The [current] financial regulations limit the amount of upgrades you can do. So, if somebody is further back, the recovery can be quite long and painful.”

 

Captain Obvious ...

Or Homer SImpson....

 

LOL

 

I dont see it nor do I consider that 'progress'. If I want Indy-Car I will watch it. Convergence as in only being .5 behind MaxBull than .8+ now. Thats not how it works Zak. Your in a losing team. In 26 we might have a conversation about convergence. Not now. 2025 hardly matter as well.

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/brown-f1-not-far-away-from-indycar-level-of-convergence/10560569/
Brown - F1 "not far away" from IndyCar level of convergence
McLaren CEO Zak Brown thinks Formula 1 is getting closer to an IndyCar level of performance convergence between its teams.

IndyCar is known for its close, action-packed races with Dallara-built cars that are largely spec outside damper development and having two different engine manufacturers.

It leads to very close racing, with top six qualifying shootouts on several road courses covered by three tenths or less.

In its 2023 opener at St Petersburg, there was a three-tenth difference between leading the first phase of qualifying and being eliminated in the group stages altogether.

F1 has had similar tight qualifying sessions in 2023, with the field being brought closer together thanks to the budget cap and teams converging on similar aerodynamic designs.

But while IndyCar has enjoyed seven different race winners across four teams, race day competitiveness has been a different beast in F1, with Red Bull winning all but one of 2023's 22 grands prix as Max Verstappen walked to his third straight world title.

According to Brown, who fields teams in both series, F1 is not miles away from reaching an IndyCar level of convergence as the current technical regulations carry on into 2024 and 2025.

 

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/fia-doesnt-see-need-to-intervene-over-bump-induced-f1-crashes/10561595/

FIA doesn’t see need to intervene over bump-induced F1 crashes
The FIA does not see the need to intervene in forcing Formula 1 cars to run higher next year, despite a brace of late season bump-induced crashes.

Author Jonathan Noble
Updated Dec 31, 2023, 11:15 AM

Accidents suffered by Lando Norris in the Las Vegas Grand Prix and Carlos Sainz in Abu Dhabi GP practice were both triggered by the cars hitting bumps on the track.

The current generation of ground effect F1 cars are especially sensitive to bumps because they perform better when running very close to the ground, and are typically set-up with very stiff suspension.

But despite the Norris and Sainz incidents, and teams clearly pushing things to the limit in running as low as possible, the FIA thinks it is not so troublesome that it needs to get involved on safety grounds.

The FIA’s head of single-seater matters Nikolas Tombazis says that ideally it would be better if cars ran higher, but equally there were limits as to when the governing body should interfere with performance matters.

Asked about potential concerns over bumps causing crashes, Tombazis said: “Well, we do need to make sure circuits, generally speaking, avoid features which may cause that.

“It's a thin line between if maybe there is the possibility for the circuit to sort out some features in detail, and where the teams may just need to raise the car a bit more.

“We obviously will try to fix these areas of the circuits.

Image Unavailable, Please Login
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-23, crashes out in FP2

“Are the cars too low? Yes, we would rather they were running a bit higher.

“But the inherent characteristic of a ground effect car is that it tends to have more performance running low. So that's something that I don't think we can easily avoid.”

Standard skid blocks

The need for cars to run super close to the ground for performance reasons triggered other problems for teams this year beyond the potential for incidents.

The disqualifications of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc from the United States GP because their underfloor planks had worn away too much showed how critical ride heights can be.

It also put a spotlight on the fact that it is time consuming for the FIA to check all car planks after each session, so some cars may escape scrutiny.

There has been talk in the past of a standard plank and skid block arrangement to help speed up the checking process, but this is something that teams have previously resisted.

However, the issue will most likely be put back on the agenda for the next rules cycles from 2026.

Tombazis added: “Sometimes we want to do things but we still need to go through governance and the teams need to vote for it – and we don’t have enough support. So, for 2026, we believe we need to simplify very much that area.”

 

A new major departure from the House of Ben Sulayem lol - https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/technical-director-tim-goss-latest-key-f1-figure-to-leave-fia/10563721/

Technical director Tim Goss latest key F1 figure to leave FIA
The FIA has been hit by another loss to its Formula 1 team with the departure of technical director Tim Goss.

The news comes in the wake of the resignation of sporting director Steve Nielsen last month, with both men having played key roles in the organisation.

Goss's departure is a major blow to the FIA as he had become a key technical player with a focus on the 2026 regulations, reporting to single-seater director Nikolas Tombazis.

Tombazis noted: "We are disappointed to lose a person of Tim's calibre from the organisation. Tim has played a major part in the technical department and has always operated to the highest level.

"We understand that his career is taking a new direction going forward and we support and respect his desire to pursue another path, and wish him luck for his future endeavours."

Goss worked at McLaren from 1990 to 2018 before taking up a role with the FIA, and is highly respected within the paddock.