Soldato
I was going to put this in the China race thread, but decided to make it separate.
Dad and I got to talking about the race today in the pub this lunchtime. Usually produces some interesting ideas about how they could improve the show, and today was no exception. Some sensible, some silly, I'll leave you to make your minds up about which side they fall on.
1) Car construction rules - don't make the damned things standard. You want spec-racing? Go watch A1GP. Though, since they couldn't rustle up a full grid for the opening event I think we can take it as read that standard cars might not be the way forward. Similarly, no standard engines. That's just silly and it isn't Formula One.
Give the teams some real freedom. In the past, F1 has always punished the innovators in the end by banning the stuff that they come up with. Four wheel drive, ground effect, traction control, active suspension, fully automatic gearchange, ABS, launch control....all banned. Why should the manufacturers stick around if they can't use F1 to invent some cool ****? Why should the garagistes stick around if they can't use some spark of ingenuity to beat up on the big boys?
2) Fuel tank sizes. I've always said that they should never have brought back refuelling in '94 - it adds nothing except danger and the chance that something that is 100% out of your control will ruin your race. Take away refuelling, and you bring back some different race strategies that have been lost for quite some time.
Alternatively - make the tanks even smaller, so that teams will generally have to stop four or five times a race. If you can make your car frugal in order to go for the race on four tanks of fuel then you've just saved yourself the best part of 20 seconds. Or you can make your car very powerful and very fast but need to stop five or six times to refuel. Your call.
3) Qualifying. For the love of God, bring back the old style of qually. Two days, each with a twelve lap session. Cars running on the smell of an oily rag, i.e. no qualifying on race fuel levels. Fastest driver and car combo takes pole, rather than the one who is going to stop earlier than everyone else in the race.
No-one got penalised for blocking in qualifying back then. When Mansell got horrendously baulked by Olivier Grouillard, he had a quick gripe about it and then got on with his life. And the format allowed for stuff like all those wonderful qualifying laps that Senna used to turn in while everyone else looked on in wonder.
4) Pit stops need work. Whichever way you go - no refuelling or smaller tanks - they need serious work. Dad came up with an idea that had us both laughing - instead of each team having a pitbox, have just one. A single spot where cars can get tyres and fuel, staffed by track employees or a team that goes to each race. You'd have people queuing, sure. But it'd be much more fun to watch than the current system!
If you didn't do that, and retained pit boxes for each team, then make pitting more of a penalty. Reduce the maximum speed a good chunk, make the wheels held on with five nuts rather than just one in the centre (increases the chance that you'll get one wrong). Some drivers will try and make tyres last so they don't have to change them as often. Others will go like a bat out of hell and take the risk of a fumbled stop.
5) Bring back turbocharging. Adds another dimension - managing the boost. You can leave it with the wick turned right up, but you'll shorten the life of your car and use a lot more fuel. Or you can turn it down a bit, save fuel and use maximum boost only when you need to clear somebody.
Of course, turbocharging wouldn't be compulsory. Rather, it would be like the old equivalence formula - which was 3.0 litre N/A engines or 1.5l blown engines from '66 right up to the end of the turbo era. The turbo cars used more fuel and ate their tyres quicker, but they were more powerful. You could build a turbocharged car and deal with the fact that you'd have to make more stops (see #4 for how that would affect things) or you could build a non-turbo car, need less fuel and less tyre changes but be a bit down on power. Again....lets see some variance in the grid!
6) It should be illegal to be Max Mosley.
7) Seriously. Max has to go.
8) The race stewards should be a group that goes to each race in the calendar. They should have to explain, in detail and in public, every decision they take against a driver. Should cut down on a lot of the problems we've had this year with strange decisions and no explanation for them.
9) Customer cars should be allowed, but the teams wouldn't be eligible for the constructors championship.
10) The points system needs a damned good overhaul. There needs to be more incentive to take a risk and overtake someone rather than settle for a point or two less. 20-16-13-10-7-4-2-1 could work in that respect.
Also - one point for pole, one point for fastest lap of the race, one point for leading a lap and one point for leading the most laps. At least that way a driver who got pole, led from the off, got all the way to about three laps from home before someone stacked into him or the car broke would get at least something for having been the best on the day. Constructors points wouldn't include these bonuses, they would just go on the main race points - so if the driver was doing well before the car let him down, he might get some bonus points, but the car wouldn't since it broke and doesn't deserve any!
Right, that ought to do for now. All complete nonsense, or is there something in that lot?
Dad and I got to talking about the race today in the pub this lunchtime. Usually produces some interesting ideas about how they could improve the show, and today was no exception. Some sensible, some silly, I'll leave you to make your minds up about which side they fall on.
1) Car construction rules - don't make the damned things standard. You want spec-racing? Go watch A1GP. Though, since they couldn't rustle up a full grid for the opening event I think we can take it as read that standard cars might not be the way forward. Similarly, no standard engines. That's just silly and it isn't Formula One.
Give the teams some real freedom. In the past, F1 has always punished the innovators in the end by banning the stuff that they come up with. Four wheel drive, ground effect, traction control, active suspension, fully automatic gearchange, ABS, launch control....all banned. Why should the manufacturers stick around if they can't use F1 to invent some cool ****? Why should the garagistes stick around if they can't use some spark of ingenuity to beat up on the big boys?
2) Fuel tank sizes. I've always said that they should never have brought back refuelling in '94 - it adds nothing except danger and the chance that something that is 100% out of your control will ruin your race. Take away refuelling, and you bring back some different race strategies that have been lost for quite some time.
Alternatively - make the tanks even smaller, so that teams will generally have to stop four or five times a race. If you can make your car frugal in order to go for the race on four tanks of fuel then you've just saved yourself the best part of 20 seconds. Or you can make your car very powerful and very fast but need to stop five or six times to refuel. Your call.
3) Qualifying. For the love of God, bring back the old style of qually. Two days, each with a twelve lap session. Cars running on the smell of an oily rag, i.e. no qualifying on race fuel levels. Fastest driver and car combo takes pole, rather than the one who is going to stop earlier than everyone else in the race.
No-one got penalised for blocking in qualifying back then. When Mansell got horrendously baulked by Olivier Grouillard, he had a quick gripe about it and then got on with his life. And the format allowed for stuff like all those wonderful qualifying laps that Senna used to turn in while everyone else looked on in wonder.
4) Pit stops need work. Whichever way you go - no refuelling or smaller tanks - they need serious work. Dad came up with an idea that had us both laughing - instead of each team having a pitbox, have just one. A single spot where cars can get tyres and fuel, staffed by track employees or a team that goes to each race. You'd have people queuing, sure. But it'd be much more fun to watch than the current system!
If you didn't do that, and retained pit boxes for each team, then make pitting more of a penalty. Reduce the maximum speed a good chunk, make the wheels held on with five nuts rather than just one in the centre (increases the chance that you'll get one wrong). Some drivers will try and make tyres last so they don't have to change them as often. Others will go like a bat out of hell and take the risk of a fumbled stop.
5) Bring back turbocharging. Adds another dimension - managing the boost. You can leave it with the wick turned right up, but you'll shorten the life of your car and use a lot more fuel. Or you can turn it down a bit, save fuel and use maximum boost only when you need to clear somebody.
Of course, turbocharging wouldn't be compulsory. Rather, it would be like the old equivalence formula - which was 3.0 litre N/A engines or 1.5l blown engines from '66 right up to the end of the turbo era. The turbo cars used more fuel and ate their tyres quicker, but they were more powerful. You could build a turbocharged car and deal with the fact that you'd have to make more stops (see #4 for how that would affect things) or you could build a non-turbo car, need less fuel and less tyre changes but be a bit down on power. Again....lets see some variance in the grid!
6) It should be illegal to be Max Mosley.
7) Seriously. Max has to go.
8) The race stewards should be a group that goes to each race in the calendar. They should have to explain, in detail and in public, every decision they take against a driver. Should cut down on a lot of the problems we've had this year with strange decisions and no explanation for them.
9) Customer cars should be allowed, but the teams wouldn't be eligible for the constructors championship.
10) The points system needs a damned good overhaul. There needs to be more incentive to take a risk and overtake someone rather than settle for a point or two less. 20-16-13-10-7-4-2-1 could work in that respect.
Also - one point for pole, one point for fastest lap of the race, one point for leading a lap and one point for leading the most laps. At least that way a driver who got pole, led from the off, got all the way to about three laps from home before someone stacked into him or the car broke would get at least something for having been the best on the day. Constructors points wouldn't include these bonuses, they would just go on the main race points - so if the driver was doing well before the car let him down, he might get some bonus points, but the car wouldn't since it broke and doesn't deserve any!
Right, that ought to do for now. All complete nonsense, or is there something in that lot?
The first two - '50 and '51 - were both won at the last round. '58 and '59 were. '67 and '68 were. '81, 82, '83 and '84 were. '96, '97, '98 and '99 were. '06 and '07 were, making three-in-a-row for '08 (though '06 was pretty much done before Brazil since Alonso only needed a single point).
Thanks JRS