Which Fuel and Tyre Format was best?

[ZakspeedYakspeed]

Imagine Lewis shaking his head as two poor chaps run round, taking the tyres off, putting them on, and then fill him up with gas (dropping the odd wheel nut in the process).

Not to mention the three bobbies chasing a burglar in a black mask, who is being chased by four showgirls around the car and a confused old bald guy who is trying to cross pit lane... no wait... that was Bahrain....

 

[Bill Boddy]

No fuel or tyre stops, the tyres to be made as hard as possible. The reason there are so many marbles these days is because the tyres are made soft to force pit stops, using very hard tyres means fewer marbles and more chance to go off-line without it meaning two slow laps to recover.

 

[The Artist.....]

Bill Boddy. I can understand where you're coming from, but this sort of racing often becomes rather processional!

 

[johnnoble1990]

What I'm not sure of Bill Boddy is what you are trying to achieve by getting rid of marbling. You make it sound like you are trying to improve overtaking, but it was the Pirelli tyres' short life that lead to much of this overtaking we're getting now. If we get rid of the tyres then there may not be marbles off-line, but no one would be going off-line anyway as races would be the usual procession.

 

[Incubus]

Hmmm... then again much harder tyres mean decreased levels of overall grip and therefore increased braking distances. Which means more overtaking.

 

[jez101]

In 2005, tyre changes were not allowed and we had rocks for tyres.

In 2005, we saw a record low number of overtakes.

justsayin...

 

[sportsman]

Incubus
Not really.The braking distance is longer but it is a self cancelling advantage.

 

[Incubus]

True but they also had re-fuelling a very different set of aero rules to what they have today. And the very fact that they were actually forbidden from changing tyres (as opposed to not needing to) might have persuaded one or two from even attempting an overtake, knowing the penalty from a lock-up might prove irreversible.

 

[Bill Boddy]

In 2005 they did not have hard tyres, they had tyres which just lasted. I am talking about one set of tyres being capable of almost lasting a weekend.

johnnoble1990 have you noticed how cars on equal tyres cannot overtake because of all the marbles on the circuit? No marbles, overtaking possible.

 

[johnnoble1990]

johnnoble1990 have you noticed how cars on equal tyres cannot overtake because of all the marbles on the circuit? No marbles, overtaking possible.

I personally think the equal tyres are the reason people can't overtake. In races as tyre wear and marbling gets worse, number of overtakes go up?

 

[The Artist.....]

The way I see it, with superhard tyres, there will never be any degredation - and as such, this will mean that there is another performance differentiator which is equalised (With super-hard tyres, EVERYONE would have the same quality tyres, no matter how well or badly they look after them)!

In order to get overtaking, we require performance differentiators (Not least as it is difficult to follow cars due to the aero issues!)

As such, you can have rock-hard tyres, but only if you provide a different performance differentiator, and possibly get rid of all aero influence!

 

[Mezzer]

It seems a bit like we've swung from the proverbial wooden clogs to shoes made of banana skins. Personally I just want something a bit more in the middle.

 

[Bill Boddy]

johnnoble1990 according to Frank Dernie (ex-Toyota aerodynamicist) the overtaking problem is 50% tyres and 50% automatic gear boxes.

http://refraction.co.uk/blog/2010/03/28/are-aerodynamics-really-f1s-big-problem/

 

[Mezzer]

... 50% automatic gear boxes

Ah, the joys of an overtake due to a missed gearchange, I'm showing my age by missing them ...

 

[johnnoble1990]

Bill Boddy That's an interesting point. I guess in lower forms of racing there are a multitude of reasons for overtakes that no longer exist in F1.

 

[sportsman]

There a several manual seamless shift gearboxes available which eradicate missed gear changes completely.
http://www.zeroshift.com/
http://www.hewland.com/svga/tmt.html
It is available with the more conventional manual selection option.
In the last 15 years I have never missed a gear using a sequential change gearbox.If you select the correct gear ratios then clutchless changes are very simple.

 

[Hamberg]

I prefer no refuelling, the fuel adjusted grid drove me a little crazy. However I'm largely indifferent to it in comparison to the ridiculous compulsory tyre rule. Give them the equipment and let them choose I say!

 

[landogeorgelewis1]

I prefer this version of F1 with no fuel stops and just changing for tyres. I used to cringe at fuel stops when i'd seen cars catch fire and doing it this way is a hell of alot safer and faster.

 

[Speshal]

Never before noticed the chap at 37 seconds legging it into the garage....

 

[Viscount]

To be honest no option will please the masses, even in GP2 where cars are supposed to be the same, the best/most financially secure teamd win the most. I just think Pirelli need slightly more durable tyres in addition to mo refueling & we'll have the optimum Formula 1. Though not everyone will be pleased.