How exactly does all of this fit in with the cost cutting which is constantly used as an excuse not to allow teams to use more than x engines, gearboxes, etc?
Bad move on safety grounds, let alone the dull truth that free-choice tires and refueling means we're back to all the changes in position happening in the pit stops. Thank goodness I have Formula E to watch instead.
What is supposed to happen is that one team will gamble on a long fuel run on a hard tyre while another team gambles on short sprints on a softer tyre and we get to watch a thrilling tactical battle unfold.
What actually happens is that all the various options are fed into a super computer using an app called "What's the fastest method". Every team will then do the same thing but the team with the most expensive super computer will be a few tenths quicker than the team at the back of the grid still using an Amiga 500.
If they bring back fuelling and free up the tyre regs they need to include an option not to pit for either. To pit shouldn't be mandated. In that way we could get a true strategy battle developing. As it is, it's always going to be when not if they pit and they end up covering each other.
Why don't we just race the cars in the pit lane? That'd save a shed load of money. They don't even have to move anywhere - just do repeated pitstops, one after the other. It'll be a bit like the Generation Game. Get guests in to help. Famous people. It'll make loads of money!
I wonder if Jos Verstappen is delighted to learn that his son may have a fire just as he did. It would be a new record, the first father and son to be BBQed whilst in an F1 race.
Unfortunately, to not pit when refuelling exists is not an option - as in order to be competitive, you end up building a car that doesn't have enough space in the tank to go more than about half distance! Furthermore, you are just so slow in the first period of the race, when your car is full of fuel that you fall very quickly to the back - remember that an extra 50kgs of fuel would mean that for a given engine power, the car would accelerate about 7% less quickly.