Making F1 More Exciting

"dontbethatguy" (dontbethatguy2) 01/18/2015 at 15:20 • Filed to: Formula 1

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According to !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! on racer.com, good 'ol Bernie and Pirelli are talking about widening the tires used on the cars to make the races more exciting. I dont really understand how making the tires wider will make the races more exciting. How about less restrictive aero rules? How about longer races requiring teams to refuel during the race- adding another wrinkle to the already intense strategy required during the race.

Or how about the 12 hours of the Nurburgring (Nordschleife).

TopSirloin > dontbethatguy 01/18/2015 at 15:24

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Or how about heat seaking turtle shells and spin inducing banana peels?

this is not matt farah's foxbodymiata > dontbethatguy 01/18/2015 at 15:25

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As I understand it, wide slicks not only look more dramatic, they make the cars less reliant on downforce which makes passing easier. They also follow cambers more and break away less predictably. Unless assisted, the steering would also be heavier and more likely to fight the driver (where is your kart racing record now Verstappen!)

In general they would make the cars both faster and harder to drive

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > dontbethatguy 01/18/2015 at 15:31

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Its a start. How about making it possible for drivers to push the whole race. No more charging batteries and buttons. Let the endurance cars help road cars, they are not open wheel and are looking for power and economy to win. F1 should be high tech but not at the expense of flat out racing, thats what its for if you ask me. See Mark Webbers comments on the current racing.

TheHondaBro > dontbethatguy 01/18/2015 at 15:38

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Make it more like WEC: it should be about the tech and the team, not the drivers. I swear in 2014 it was a soap opera.

dontbethatguy > TopSirloin 01/18/2015 at 15:46

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Every team except the pole sitting team should be given a single blue shell to use at their discretion.

TopSirloin > dontbethatguy 01/18/2015 at 15:47

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Nice, keeps it from getting out of hand. Very strategic.

dontbethatguy > TheHondaBro 01/18/2015 at 15:49

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It was really only a soap opera between the Mercedes drivers. I think longer races like WEC with fuel stops would certainly add excitement to the on track product.

Shoop > dontbethatguy 01/18/2015 at 15:52

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This might help

http://m.autosport.com/news/report.ph…

Biased Plies > dontbethatguy 01/18/2015 at 15:57

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Less restrictive aero rules would let the most well funded teams gain bigger advantages and make the cars even more aero-dependant, which would make passing even more difficult. The logic behind the wider tires is increased mechanical grip making up for a reduction of aerodynamic downforce/aero dependance, allowing cars to follow closer through corners (not losing as much downforce/grip in the dirty air of another car) and improving the on-track product.

When in-race refuelling was last part of F1, the standardized fuelling rigs we're quite unreliable and were too prone to affecting the race as a result. Re-adding refuelling doesn't add to the spectacle if you ask me. Formula 1 is supposed to be pinnacle of motorsports; the best, most technologically advanced cars and the best drivers, minimal interference from other factors like fuel strategy and the variability of the fuelling rigs. The current rules accomplish this well enough, in my opinion.

I think the biggest problem is that right now, drivers can't push continuously on the tires because they will overheat, basically fall apart and lose all grip or 'fall of the cliff' as the commentators like to say. What F1 needs is a tire that is designed to wear, as Pirelli was asked to do, but without the heat sensitivity of the current rubber.

Jesse Shaffer > dontbethatguy 01/18/2015 at 15:59

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They're talking about going to 1,000 hp for 2017. The torque available from the ERS is available very early in the rev range, so the cars need a little more grip in order for the drivers to actually use all of what they have now in some slower corners - so add a couple hundred more hp and you'll likely pick up some extra torque, too.

They're also looking in to less restrictions on aero, something the design chiefs are constantly bitching about.

Jesse Shaffer > TheHondaBro 01/18/2015 at 16:00

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Modern F1 has almost nothing to do with the drivers. Stick any pro in the RB cars from the last four years - they'll net a championship. Stick any pro in the w05 - championship.

tromoly > dontbethatguy 01/18/2015 at 18:13

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That wallpaper is in the rotation on my desktop, and for a while it was the background on my work computer. Never fails to get a few comments from someone new to the image.

DrScientist > Biased Plies 01/18/2015 at 23:38

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agree with your first para completely.

as far as refueling, i thought the elimination of refueling in race was a safety consideration. i admit to not knowing many details, as i only began watching f1 in earnest 2009. would reintroduction of in race fueling be considered an "unsafe" move?

also, i agree with your last point on the tires. i imagine what they are attempting, is to design a compound that when "pushed" can reliably provide a 40 second advantage over the life of the tire (or whatever the pitlane delta would be). this would allow teams to decide whether to push for one stint, get new tires, and still be ahead of those who take the conservative route.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > dontbethatguy 01/19/2015 at 12:19

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I loathe the blue shell.

But it sure feels good to get hit with one and still be in 1st afterwards!

Biased Plies > DrScientist 01/19/2015 at 22:20

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Safety was definitely a part of that decision as well, yes, I should've probably mentioned that. There were a couple of dangerous incidents before they removed it last, where a driver took off with the hose still connected to the car (whether due to being released too early or the fuel-man being unable to remove the hose from the car), sometimes resulting in a fire when (I remember Raikkonen and/or Alonso having this happen most recently).

I remember the issues with the reliability of the fuelling rigs most vividly so I mentioned that first and foremost. The rigs would regularly fail during a stop (no fuel would flow, a second unit was kept in every garage as a standby), the nozzle would get stuck in the car or wouldn't engage the filler neck properly and thereby not engage the fuel flow. All of these problems would affect race results regularly and I still think it was the best option to eliminate that factor from the races.

Agreed, that should be the goal of the tires. They should be designed to be able to be pushed like that and survive (thermal degradation wise that is, a driver should still be able to overdo it and wear them out too fast to negate the advantage gained).