The Future Of F1

Izumi do you have selective reading. this wasn't me it was martin Brundle, I thought it was worth sharing. because who wouldn't want to see Hamilton v Verstappen arguably the 2 best on the current grid. 1 who has dominated the old guard & 1 who could dominate the new guard in equal machinery.

also these rumours have some meat to them according to well placed people in the paddock

Mind you, still all wishful thinking. I do not necessarily saying it's you who is disseminating these rumors, but I know some people who do speak Spanish and Dutch, and supposedly they saying home media are promoting their boy into a better seat. Verstappen is rumored to have some kind of a clause which lets him to get out of his contract, but whether he will have a seat to go to is another matter.
 
He's quick but not a great yet and there's some fair competition in other nearly there cars who could be cheaper and grab the chance
 
Formula 1 has morphed to the point that I find it very hard to give a flying you know what about it.

I know it isn't pc to say, but one of the things that first attracted me to the sport was the danger. I first attended races in 1962, and the first three circuits I went to were Spa, Rouen, and Nurburgring, all of which, I suspect, would cause today's drivers to soil their fireproof underwear if they were told they would have to compete on them as they were then. The element of danger was still sufficiently great in the early 70s that, when I got home from fighting for Queen and country in Viet Nam, I was still amazed that the drivers would take such chances. With today's Tilke tracks, with runoff areas big enough to land an A380 on, the element of danger has been so greatly reduced that, IMO, you face more danger on your daily commute.

Furthermore, it seems to me that today, the WDC is essentially meaningless, as the result is 99% down to the car. If you swapped the drivers of Mercedes with those of Williams, I am willing to bet that Hamilton and Bottas wouldn't be close to getting wins. I remember when Chapman introduced the monocoque chassis and Clark trounced everyone, the other teams didn't appreciate the advance. They said, essentially, that "Ah, well, Clark can win in anything". That has totally gone as well.

I believe that, the only was for F1 to survive is to make the drivers MUCH more important to the results. If that requires a semi-spec series, so be it. The sport existed, and, indeed, thrived without the manufacturers. It could easily do so again. What it needs are heroes, not drivers that are, essentially, inconsequential to the results as, IMO, they are today.

Nice post. I agree that the driver performance is what the sport really needs to be about, but I really don't want F1 to develop the characteristics of a spec series. They switched Indy to a spec series. Give me CART in the 1980s any day. People used to claim in the 1970s that F1 was kind of spec series (almost everyone had Cosworth engines, Hewland transmissions and Goodyear tires) but it was also the period of 6-wheel Tyrrell's, wing cars, ground effects cars, V-12 Ferraris, Renault turbo inline 4s, etc. They had both great racing and great innovation. I don't think the two preclude each other.

The problem in modern F1 is not the tech, it is massive budgets that some teams have that allow them simply overpower everyone else. It is the golden rule of motorsports....he who has the gold rules. I hope we will see some correction with this new limited budget cap. As it is it is only going directly affect three teams (Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull).

So when and where did you serve in Vietnam?
 
Only bring back refueling if......

- fuel tank are just large enough to do a full race distance

- fuel stops are not compulsory

- tyres stops are not compulsory

- fuel loads for the race are submitted to the stewards prior to the start of qualifying

- qualifying is run on low fuels and have influence on what a driver starts with in the race.
 
If they bring back refueling (and I think they should) it should be under a few conditions:

1. Fuel regulations should be designed so that 0, 1 or 2 stops are viable options at some or most races.

2. They should limit the number of pit crew to 6 or 7 (this would slow down all pit stops).

3. They should only allow refueling with gravity only dump cans.
 
I don't see how bringing back refueling will make F1 better, it will make it more dangerous and I thought we weren't supposed to be doing that. I read about it coming back and my first thought was just why?
 
Great
More overtaking while pitting.

I'm all a quiver.
Sign me up for Sky.


Are these people really that thick.
Close racing and punishment for getting it wrong is exciting.
Everything else is just crap.
 
It's all smoke and mirrors anyway. We and they know that the way to bring back close racing is to reduce the aero to F2 level. It's very simple but they don't want to do it. So they keep giving us all these other half baked schemes.
 
It's all smoke and mirrors anyway. We and they know that the way to bring back close racing is to reduce the aero to F2 level. It's very simple but they don't want to do it. So they keep giving us all these other half baked schemes.

But why don't they want to do it? Why don't they want to make the racing better? All these stupid schemes just annoy people and make them stop watching, it's supposed to be the pinnacle of racing, not how many gimmicks can we come up with?

I don't like to quote John Major, but we should be going 'back to basics' to get the racing right!
 
Agreed.
And going back to basics doesn't mean you have to dial the technology back.
I'm happy with the engines.
I'm happy with the safety cells.
I can live with auto boxes.

I can't live with racing via radio and an inability to get close because we're racing planes with wheels.

There's a really great plane racing series and they're in the sky; where they should be.
 
I don't see how bringing back refueling will make F1 better, it will make it more dangerous and I thought we weren't supposed to be doing that. I read about it coming back and my first thought was just why?
It was the big fuel injecting rigs that made it dangerous. If they go with smaller cans of fuel that have to be poured in (like they use in Indy Cars) it is a whole safer (and slower). As it is, they already have to pit at least once a race.
 
Angel because a lot of people make a lot of money from Formula 1 being the way it is right now so they don't want to change it. So they spray paint the wall dove grey when it used to be battleship grey and try and convince you it's a totally new wall.
 
It was the big fuel injecting rigs that made it dangerous. If they go with smaller cans of fuel that have to be poured in (like they use in Indy Cars) it is a whole safer (and slower). As it is, they already have to pit at least once a race.


Pouring fuel into a car with so many hot elements has to be dangerous on some level and I can't see it will improve the racing at all. It's just another gimmick to 'spice things up' that we don't need.

Oh and when you said the smaller cans which can be poured into the cars, in my head the image is some guy with a jerry can and a funnel. I don't think that's right though :snigger:
 
there are positives to it, drivers would be pushing on almost qualifying laps, which could produce more mistakes, more unreliability. also more variety on strategies

but we got rid of refuelling because it was getting dangerous with Massa in Singapore & Kimi in Brazil. of course most Famous of all (Jos) Verstappen in Germany, & there is cost of taking 20 fuel rigs around the world. F1 Budgets are already ridiculous need halving at the top 3 yet we are going make it more expensive, but like RasputinLives & Ant Davidson says this just yet another plaster where they avoided the main issue but mess around with minor issues
 
Oh and when you said the smaller cans which can be poured into the cars, in my head the image is some guy with a jerry can and a funnel. I don't think that's right though :snigger:

Well, the dump cans used in Indy Cars are bigger than a Jerry can and the refueling is relatively quick. I gather the pour hole size is limited. It is also dirt cheap. But, if they go back to refueling, they should not go back with the old F1 refueling rigs.

There is increased danger with refueling, but if they limited the sizes of pit crews the overall impact would be reduced danger.
 
Back
Top Bottom