Technical F1 Cars Too Easy to Drive at the Limit

snowy

Champion Elect
How the hell would they know? Since they never drive the bloody things at the limit!

Autosport reports that F1 chiefs are investigating how to make F1 cars more challenging to drive. They cite that we "the fans" are being turned off F1 because the cars appear to be too easy to drive at the limit.
They say "It is understood that the main areas that will be investigated are tyre grip, car dimension, and aerodynamic performance."

I believe all they have to do is is give them enough fuel to drive the race flat out and hard tyres, problem solved.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/116031
 
"Former world champion Alain Prost reckons that the time had come for cars to become harder to drive - so that a 'proper' F1 returned.

"I don't know what's going to happen with Max Verstappen, but it's true that he's going to be able to drive the car no problem," he told AUTOSPORT.

"This was absolutely not possible in our time - the cars were so difficult to drive."


Yes Alain, that's why the year you left F1 the FIA banned driver aids because.... oh' what was it?
 
And in how many of Prost's years in F1 were there driver aids? As I recall he won two titles win no aids (which is two more than Mansell can claim).

Do you really doubt that today's cars are loaded with driver aids?
 
My default position is to be against anything that makes the cars slower (with the exception of driver aids). If you want the cars to be more difficult to drive stick a V10 back in them or let them extract more out of the V6s, don't piss around with giving them shitty tyres and aerodynamics from the 60s.

Also, maybe champions from bygone eras shouldn't be complaining about how physical the cars are to drive in the modern era when some of them got away with driving half drunk and working their way through half a pack of fags after the race (yes I know this doesn't apply to Prost).

Perhaps this is a bit over the top but I hate the "let's improve F1 by making the cars worse" mentality. >:(
 
Last edited:
The problem I have with present-day F1 is that the cars are far more important than the drivers. The involvement of the engineers during each race shows that the driver's abilities count for less in determining the championships than ever before.

To me, that is a huge loss.
 
It's the current tyres that are shitty, not those from previous eras.
Tyres of goneby ages could last a whole race. Current tyres crumble to dust and shed marbles everywhere after 15 laps. Which is shittier?

There is a difference between "ground-breaking technology" and "totally irrelevant technology", and soft-as-shite tyre rubber belongs firmly in the latter.
 
SF, tongue in cheek my friend.

It's certainly the case that much progressed engineering combined with (except maybe in Ferrari's case so far this season) very drivable engines, combined with far less overall grip means physically the cars are easier to drive than a slip-slidey 50s car, or a monstrously powerful 80s turbo, or a glued to the track early 2000s neck breaker, but how you would make the cars 'harder' to drive is a tough one without "DRSing" (please add to dictionary) the situation.

Nevertheless, I certainly don't agree with the statement "The involvement of the engineers during each race shows that the driver's abilities count for less in determining the championships than ever before."

We've seen some fabulous, and equally awful, displays from drivers up and down the grid just recently. IMHO the driver adds an awful lot in 2014, hey Sebby, hey Iceman. (preceding 4 words = more tongue in cheek!)

I'll leave the team element and the engineers involvement for another thread.... (its a team sport)
 
the cars are far more important than the drivers.

Been like that for decades and decades. Even great drivers simply cannot drag bad cars to Championships in Formula One. The WDC is almost always seated in the best car, and if not then there was likely reliability issues or other strange circumstances. The drivers themselves have been aware of this fact since the inception of the sport. Legendary drivers throughout history have always searched for the best drives because they know that's the best place to ply their trade. And it's also the legendary drivers that impress even when they're in inferior equipment. But they're not going to perform miracles either, if they don't have the machinery worthy of a title run, it just won't happen.
 
We've seen the cars struggling for grip and sideways more this season than any in recent memory. So the cars moving around and drivers struggling to keep the cars on track is not the problem. DRS is a huge turn off to so many and lapping to a schedule dictated by an engineer and fuel conservation is another that depresses anyone who loves speed.
 
And in how many of Prost's years in F1 were there driver aids? As I recall he won two titles win no aids (which is two more than Mansell can claim).

Do you really doubt that today's cars are loaded with driver aids?
Prost's titles in 1985, 86 and '89 were all without the benefit of driver aids...

The first driver to win with real driver aids was Nigel Mansell in 1992 - this was the first championship with semi-automatic gearboxes, first with traction control, active ride etc. Ever since then, every championship has been won with a car with power steering, every championship was won with semi-automatic (or in some cases almost completely automatic) gearshifts...
 
I do think F1 has to use much of the technology currently available to the average motorist and of course to innovate on top of that and showcase new technologies. The problem with making the cars simpler with fewer aids arguably makes it less relevant. I'm not sure we can ever go back to the 80s and the days of no driver aids. Then again, taking it to the other logical extreme we'd have driverless cars a la Google and that would be pants.
 
How things change.

When Lotus introduced the monocoque chassis, John Cooper was asked if he planned to build similar chassis. His reply: "No. The fastest thing about a monocoque is Jim Clark".

Nowadays, the answer to the question "Why are the Mercs so fast?" would be "because they have 100hp more than anyone else". Is that an improvement?
 
Last edited:
Describe "Easy to drive" I mean could I drive one of these modern F1 cars to the limit? I'm pretty slick on the 'ol F1 game with all the driving aids turned on...
 
Last edited:
Amazing that things can change in 50 years, eh Jo! :wave: Whatever happened to the monocoque concept anyway?:dunno:

"Why are the Mercs so fast?" would be "because they have 100hp more than anyone else".

Once again I'll ask you. Where is your evidence that Mercedes are giving their customers inferior power units? I find this theory ridiculous, in large part because it would be impossible to achieve under the current homologation confines.
 
You'd also have to point the finger at Renault and Ferrari for the performance of Lotus and Sauber KekeTheKing , they're doing far far worse than the Mercedes customer teams. Not to mention Marussia and Caterham, who must be supplied with a hamster wheel.
 
Last edited:
As cars have become quicker, regardless of the reasons why the drivers have needed a little help. What's wrong with that, if the powers that be had listened and taken notice we probably wouldn't have lost Senna and Ratzenberger.
 
Is it really the Cars have got too easy, or is it something more fundamental with the Sport?

Is this just the F1 organisation lashing out, as this season has been dull in regards to competition & the fans are voting with their back sides?

I'm wondering if F1 fear the 2015 season may be even duller with just 8 or 9 teams & some running 3 cars, also still with a dominant Mercedes (I can't see Renault/Ferrari catching up in 2015) & they know they need to be seen to be doing something.

Okay doing this may not make it cheaper to run F1 and I'm not sure how it'll make races more exciting, if that is the 'End Game' of all this.

Also you can't retro the cars to make them more difficult to drive as Technology will always supplant that, so very confused how F1 will do this and how it'll make the F1 spectical more entertaining for the fans?
 
Back
Top Bottom