What is F1's vision for the future? Does one even exist?

Nice article. I couldn't agree more.

 

Bernie and his 'yes men' are getting old. Time for some new ideas.

 

Disagree with most everything. F1 and any sport for that matter is about existing to make money. It will change how and when the money needs it to change. Unthought article IMO.

 

I think he is right. the limitations on the cars - physical size and engine limits have dumed down the sport / show - what ever it is now -a -days.

I think today you can limit amount of fuel consummed - and restrict air - and impose a G limit lateral and horizontal and mandate that the driver is the only one to control any input to acceleration, deceleration and steering... let the teams innovate.

so something like the Redbull X1 prototype could work - imposed with all the g limits & safety measures.

mulitcylinder engines of any displacement good
active suspension good
traction control & ABS good
active aero good
hybrid systems & regenerative energy systems good
real time two way telemetry and intervention - good (engine & brakes, suspension)
full electric - turbine, wankle etc.. engines alowed only rule is they are powerd by liquid petrol obtained by the public in the country of the race.

with the amount of computer & digital oversight the FIA can watch the cars to see if they dont meet the mandated rules on performance... if they exceed the rules they are penalized and or excluded. voila - F-1 makes sense again as the pinnacle of racing.

 

I like yer thinking!

If you're going that far though, why limit g-loads? Put 'em in g-suits and let 'em at it! Their heads may want to fly off but I'm sure that's also solvable - Given enough money.

And there's the problem..... They pretty much all want to 'contain costs', and going down this path would cost *astronomical* numbers. They're the ones putting on the show, and they're still faster than anything else round a road course, so it's not all bad IMO. (OK, they're struggling right now, but they'll get there.)

I too would like to see a fuel flow rate restriction, minimum weight of car, survival cells and safety measures similar to today, and other than that you can do whatever you want. Big engine & no ERS? Sure. Little engine, big batteries? Sure. Turbo? Sure. Knock yourself out, just remember the max fuel flow is XXX.....

As for the Redbull X1 thing, gotta disagree there - To me, they've gotta have sticky out wheels! Screws the aero nerds all the time!

Also not sure on two way telemetry. Once the race starts it should be down to the driver and whatever onboard 'aids' are permitted..... Sure, road cars have stability control, ABS and the like, but I'm not sure F1 would be improved with such things..... I want a driving champion, and he should have to work at it.

While I'm meandering around, another question is when was F1 ever truly 'relevant' to road car tech? OK, we see a little 'transfer' of bits & pieces (the oft quoted paddle box etc), but in most ways (active aero is an example), F1 is archaic, stupid and not at all relevant to the real world...... And I personally don't have a problem with that, as long as they're fast!.....

Cheers,
Ian

 

I miss the variety of engines on the grid, the wild creativity of the Tyrell P34, etc. Heck I'm so old school I miss the old 9-6-4-3-2-1 points system, which I thought was perfect and still do. I also agree that the sport is over regulated these days and that "double" points is too artificial.

I don't agree, however, that F1 should embrace technologies which make for horrible processions. I'm thrilled that we have finally gotten rid of blown diffusers and hopeful that we'll see plenty of sideways action this year. I'm not in favor of driver aids such as traction control, active suspension, ABS, nor extreme aero in any form. I could not simultaneously gripe about the artificiality of DRS while supporting blown diffusers. It just does not make for good competition.

That said, I think we tend to romanticize the past and that with the sole exception of last year, the past few seasons have been very, very good.

 

Assuming these Brainiacs recognize the need in time.

 

I think from the late 70's to 1993 F-1 was relevant to road car production:

EFI
Turbos
Composite materials
Aluminum & carbon construction
ABS
Active suspension
Computerization of FI & ignition
huge increase is reliablity
Tire development
synthetic oil development - think of it in 1985 you had to change oil 3-4 x per year... today every 6 months some times for years????? crazy

All this came directly from F-1 racing and high end competition..... not to mention driver protection and restraints.

 

The problem with F1 is that rule makers have to constantly slow down the cars to compensate for the technical progress.
That's the contradiction of it.
So, it becomes very artificial.

Also, it's been an anachronism to allow so much money spent on aerodynamics when the open-wheels are imposed.

 

By opening up the regulations as is being suggested, you make the sport very vulnerable to cheating again!

The more you open up the rules, the more you open up the interpretations of those rules and the harder you make it to understand just what is within the rules and what is outside the rules.
It would be a nightmare for race stewards and scrutineering would take an age due to the various unique systems having to be checked out.

Suddenly you'd have clarifications being requested by other teams about all manner of new systems on cars, accusations/suggestions/suspicions of cheating going on, race results being brought into question, and complaints that drivers are only winning because of the technology that their team has developed rather than because their driver is that good.

The closest racing you can have in any race series is single model racing, where all of the cars are (as near as is practically possible), identical. No driver has a massive car advantage over the others and the racing is more about driver talent/race craft.

Open up the regulations and you open up the possibility of one manufacturer dominating the whole show!

In recent times we've had situations where certain teams have had a big performance advantage (think Ferrari in the early 2000's and Red Bull more recently), and the races have been declared boring!

If you want close, exciting races then the cars need to be made to rules than make their on-track performance as close as possible to being identical, to take away (to a degree), any car advantage.

Give the designers a free reign and suddenly you're into a race of who's got the best system on board their car rather than who's got the best driver!

 

Very true.

And also you have teams spending so much on technical staff that they have to accept drivers bringing sponsors buying their seat to finance the outfit.

F1 is very much becoming technical warfare; driving skills are taking a back seat.

I hope I am wrong, but that the way it looks to me now.

 

The problem with opening up the rules is the teams with big or unlimited budgets do what they want and the teams who don't have unlimited budgets tend to suffer.

I do agree that F1 is now too controlled.

For me, the engine should be unrestricted, but you only get x amount of litres per race, or maybe per mile, to allow for differences in track lengths etc. Fuel flow rate is up to the team. If a team wants to use electric motors then fine. Energy recouperation is fine, again what ever the team wants. This idea of allowing the use of electric boost in certain sections is stupid. The power of an engine should not be restricted.

The weight of the cars is way too restrictive, lower the minimum weight of the cars, it improves fuel efficency and will lead to innovations in materials and design.

No electronic aids at all, heck no electronics at all, except for the gear changing systems.

Brakes, anything the team wants, as long as it meets a minimum stopping force.

The future of F1 will not allow true innovation in it's current form, any new design is not allowed or is quickly complained about by other teams.

Over the years F1 has stopped being the place where new tech is introduced, now we are starting to see road cars that are more advanced technology than F1 cars, this looks likely to continue.

Neil

 

I don't see a problem with that.


If 2 or 3 makes have so much money they can dominate and just fight among themselves and 6 poor teams leave F1, so be it!! Maybe the dominant teams will be allowed to firld 3 or 4 cars, or sell to private teams.

Grand Prix had that problem pre-WWII, when Mercedes and Auto Union were richer and had more technology than the others (Bugatti, Alfa-Romeo) that they completely dominated racing. But who can say that it wasn't a good era? Some call it the Golden Era, with drivers like Carraciola, Rosemeyer, Varzi, Nuvolari, Von Brautitsh, Stuck, etc...

The problem at the moment is that to enter F1, a team need a staff of 300 and build the car themselves. It would be better if private teams were allowed to buy cars.

 

Indeed. Customer teams have been the norm not the exception throughout F1 history.

 

IMO-Innovation needs to return. Every time i see the 6 wheeled tyrell i get goosebumps. The designs of yesteryear are fantastic looking and mechanical. Just pure innovation and genius. This sport is so numbing now from a design perspective (hence the genital nose)

As for monetary dominance, put a cap on it. It has turned into every other sporting event like the Yankees, Cowboys, etc etc where money buys you wins.

 

I don't think you can legislate money out of F1, like in any other sport.
There will always be ways to overcome a budget capping.

There are other categories, formulae for those who cannot afford to play in the big league.

 

So nothing has changed regardless of the series if we are being honest. F1 needs a championship for the lower tear teams such as the old Jim Clark Trophy imo. The under funded teams do not receive the respect they deserve in my honest opinion and having their own WDC/WCC would mix it up and the winnings/funding can help keep the competition alive.

 

In effect subsidize the noncompetitive?

 

Sure why not? Let them have their own championship and build their teams, who would have imagined 10yrs ago that RB would dominate the WDC/WCC 4yrs in a row? I think there is a place for every team in F1 who has met (paid) for the chance to race/improve and build a team that could be the next Ferrari or McLaren.

EDIT, Did anyone really expect any of the new teams to be fighting for a win much less a top 10? Lest we forget all the behind the scenes turmoil (finances mainly) that have been a severe wart on their efforts. I see things differently than most but I just want to see some kind of support from the FIA regarding the new teams.

 

Red Bull didn't get to that situation by being subsidised by anybody!

When Matesitch bought the team from jaguar, he put his money where his mouth was and funded the team to recruit staff, technicians and bring it to the big league.

He didn't go begging to other winning team to finance his outfit.I think that redistribution of money in F1 to keep the uncompetitive teams afloat is just counterproductive and bound to fail in the long term.

The fortune of teams goes up and down. Teams come and go too. Williams was at the top once, and it is not now. REd Bull came from nothing and got the crown; bravo!

Maintaining poor non-performing teams on an FIA life support machine for too long also block the arrival of new enterprises in F1.

Maybe it should be the role of the FIA to determine if one or 2 teams that rank last two years in succession should be thrown out and their place offered to the best 2 F3000 teams? F1 has certainly lost a large number of teams and we don't miss them: Pacific, Life, Coloni, AGS, Martini, ATS, Zakspeed, HRT, Larousse, etc...

 

Guess I miss more teams than your "average Joe"?

Oh well.

 

Which teams do you miss?

 

I miss many of the old independents too but I don't see subsidies as the way to bring the new Hesketh to F1.

 

I don't mind the changes to engines, etc. but it bothers me when the engineers claw it back only to have the powers at be impose whatever new restrictions to slow the cars down again. Makes it so trite - the "thrill" of trying to get back to the performance level you were at. Goes against everything F1 is about.