collapse

* Welcome

Welcome to GPWizard F1 Forum!

GPWizard is the friendliest F1 forum you'll find anywhere. You have a host of new like-minded friends waiting to welcome you.

So what are you waiting for? Becoming a member is easy and free! Take a couple seconds out of your day and register now. We guarantee, you wont be sorry you did.

Click Here to become a full Member for Free

* User Info

 
 
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
Did you miss your activation email?

* Newsletter

GPWizard F1 Forum Newsletter Email address:
Weekly
Fortnightly
Monthly

* Grid Game Deadlines

Qualifying

Race

* Shoutbox

Refresh History
  • Wizzo: :good:
    March 05, 2024, 11:44:46 PM
  • Dare: my chat button is onthe bottom rightWiz
    March 03, 2024, 11:58:24 PM
  • Wizzo: Yes you should see the chat room button at the bottom left of your screen
    March 02, 2024, 11:39:55 PM
  • Open Wheel: Is there a Chat room button or something to access “Race day conversation”
    March 02, 2024, 02:46:02 PM
  • Wizzo: The 2024 Grid Game is here!  :yahoo:
    January 30, 2024, 01:42:23 PM
  • Wizzo: Hey everybody - the shout box is back!  :D
    August 21, 2023, 12:18:19 PM

* Who's Online

  • Dot Guests: 328
  • Dot Hidden: 0
  • Dot Users: 3
  • Dot Users Online:

* Top Posters

cosworth151 cosworth151
16143 Posts
Scott Scott
14057 Posts
Dare Dare
12983 Posts
John S John S
11253 Posts
Ian Ian
9729 Posts

Author Topic: F1 Christmas wishlist  (Read 1578 times)

Online rmassart

F1 Christmas wishlist
« on: December 15, 2021, 07:05:06 AM »
In another thread, Andy B suggested to start a new thread on what we want to see in F1 going forward.  For my part, I think most things are OK in F1 or there are attempts to improve them (eg ability of cars to overtake). But here are four things I would like to see changed (in ascending order of importance).

4. DRS
I understand the reason for DRS and hopefully the need for it will disappear. Right now it has the effect of often making overtaking too easy, with the defending car often having no chance. Get rid.

3. Qualifying
Personally I am not a fan of the current qualifying format. I might be in the minority here, but the format basically means there is no point in watching anything but the last five minutes, because it's too predictable.

I don't care much for Q3. I am not interested in seeing Haas and one other team eliminated and don't find it very exciting if they do get through. I mean good luck to them, but I've no interest in watching that on TV, if they even manage to show that part on TV.

In Q2 it gets a bit more random, but I am still not interested in who starts 11th and who 9th. Let's face it most people, well at least me(!), really just want to see the pole lap. They want to watch Max (almost) pull off the lap of the season in Jeddah. And we all know when that attempt will happen. The only bit of intrigue is the tire choices, but I find that annoying as well (see below) and anyway they are nearly always predictable.

Finally in Q3 rarely is the pole lap not set in the last 5 minutes as the track gets quicker and pressure builds as the clock counts down. Those I find exciting, but often confusing when there are 10 cars all trying to position themselves on the same place of the track with 2 minutes to go.

What I want is to return to one hour free for all qualifying - or failing that, the one attempt each which I think they had at one point a few years back. I don't like that so much, but it does favour those able to deal with the pressure.

2. Pit stops / tires
I am not a fan of strategy having a major impact on the race.  Apparently the reason for Masi's decision in the final race was to is to "let them race". But F1 clearly doesn't want this. Forced pit stops and tire choices are all about brining in some false randomness. If a team wants to run a whole race on hards, let them. Ideally don't even have different tires. Just one tire with continuous degradation, but which in theory should last all race.

1. Safety Cars / Red flags
I don't like the randomness this introduces. For sure if it is my favourite driver who benefits I am happy and if it isn't I am frustrated. But either way there is always a feeling that the outcome was false. If we want close racing, why not just bunch the field up every 15 to 20 laps. I find this annoying. And whilst it might have been needed in previous times, the virtual saftey car shows there are now other options. I for one hate seeing laps "removed" due to trundling round the circuit behind a safety car. This is not racing! But apparently racing is what the teams are so desparate for that Masi will go beyond the sporting code to ensure it.

I think I mentioned this already in another thread, but for me the biggest change they should make is to get rid of the safety car. If there is a need to clear something up safely, then red flag the race. Clean up the mess. Bring them out under a virtual safety car. Give them a lap to get into the same positions they were in when the red flag was called and get racing again. Whether you are allowed to touch the car during the red flag is up for debate. There are good reasons either way. Probably it will have to be allowed so that anyone who damaged their car during the safety car incident can get it fixed. But if one driver is allowed to touch their car, then they all should be.

So stop all these fabricated scenarios that bring the field back together and just let them race.

So there you have my F1 wish list. Merry Christmas!



Offline Monty

Re: F1 Christmas wishlist
« Reply #1 on: December 15, 2021, 09:26:23 AM »
It will be interesting to see how the new reduced aero cars perform.
For me I want evolution not revolution.
The first priority must be consistency!
Run F1 like all other motor racing series - do not change rules in an attempt to add 'spectacle'
Set track limits (the white line - please!) and then police them - hard!
Clearly confirm rules of engagement - when I raced we were told; imagine the white line is an armco barrier; if during an overtake you would have forced your competitor into the armco, the overtake wasn't legal. It worked then, why do we need stewards trying to interpret what was legal and what wasn't (inconsistently!!!) at every race?
Avoid safety car periods if at all possible. Virtual safety car periods are less damaging and if they do not provide a safe environment then red flag the race and restart.

If revolution is going to be considered then qualify normally but add reverse grid sprint races with meaningful points and without the result determining the grid positions for the main race.

Online Jericoke

Re: F1 Christmas wishlist
« Reply #2 on: December 15, 2021, 02:49:46 PM »
I would love to see 'car to car' radio.  Teammates able to coordinate directly, without going through (at least) 2 engineers.  In Jeddah Max would be able to say directly to Lewis he was letting him by.  There would be opportunity for driver to driver 'trash talking', like we see in most sports.  In F1 it's always in interviews or just a comment to an engineer that gets back to the driver after the race.

Also, allow race control to talk to the drivers directly.  Again in Jeddah, there were questions going back and forth, if Masi/Stewards could talk directly to the drivers, a lot of danger could have been avoided.  All other sports, the referees talk directly to the participants, why not in F1?

Offline Willy

Re: F1 Christmas wishlist
« Reply #3 on: December 16, 2021, 04:03:17 PM »
I agree with all rmassart's points and especially like the 1 hr free-for-all qualifying format that was around before this 3 stage snore-fest.
Even then with 1 hr it will still come down to the last 5 minutes as they all try to steal pole.

I also want to see refuelling come back. Yes, I know there were some accidents that occurred and considering how many refuelling stops were made compared to accidents, it was still very safely done. It adds another team strategy as they get to determine car weight from the start with fuel amount vs run distance.

I don't mind having a few tire options but don't force the teams to have to use different hardness as is done now. Let them run what they want when they want.

How about a minimum time for a pit stop, no matter what track they are on?  Say 30 seconds from when they cross a certain line leaving the track to when they cross another re-entering. This would even up pit times and take away the 2 second stop times they all strive for now.

I also agree with Monty as too white lines and track limits being enforced rigidly. No interpretation, if you cross you are penalized severely. If you force another car over you are disqualified.

Food for thought.
« Last Edit: December 16, 2021, 04:05:18 PM by Willy »

Online rmassart

Re: F1 Christmas wishlist
« Reply #4 on: December 16, 2021, 05:14:16 PM »
Personally I'm not keen on refueling because as far as I remember it simply reduced the a GP to 2 or 3 sprints on light load. I think the challenge is higher if drivers need to adjust to a varying weight of the car over the course of the race.

Regarding track limits, I agree that this needs to be implemented much more strictly, but there is still the problem of what happened in Abu Dhabi where Verstappen placed his car so Hamilton had no choice other than to slam on the breaks (and lose a number of extra places) or evade and cut the corner, even though Verstappen made the corner cleanly.

I really don't know how to deal with Verstappen. His overtaken is completely out of line with what most would consider good clean racing, but how do you define what good clean racing is. In the case in Abu Dhabi Verstappen approach to the corner was so narrow that he knew Hamilton had to evade, but of course in all close racing at some point someone has to give way... I sometime wonder if we need lines on the track to indicate the ideal racing line as well as some shaded areas either side of that in the corners showing you're room for maneuver if you are trying to overtake someone. It's probably getting silly, but Max might get a shock!  :D

Offline John S

  • F1 Legend
  • ****
  • Date Registered: Jan 2007
  • Location: Lincolnshire, UK
  • Posts: 11253
  • 11550 credits
  • View Inventory
  • Send Money To John S
  • Max for 3rd title! - to see more Toto apoplexy.
Re: F1 Christmas wishlist
« Reply #5 on: December 16, 2021, 05:44:03 PM »
My main wish is that the new gen of cars will spice up the field and give closer racing.

Sure DRS is a drag, but with the improvements in brake materials in combination with the re-gen harvesting from brake by wire most drivers can almost run into corners until the last minute never allowing anyone to get the jump without collisions. Something has to give an advantage to a slightly faster following car. Hey maybe these next gen cars will not have to rely on DRS so much & it can be more limited.

I personally like the dread of failing in each section of Quali, I'd like it to be 6 dropped in both Q1 & 2 leaving just 8 to fight for pole.
More jeopardy I reckon and less tripping over each other in the serious Q3. Important to keep the tyre choice for all runners outside top 8, helps mix up the mid field and stops front runners getting easy pit stop too soon.

I'd keep mandatory tyre change but allow teams more choice over which tyres they want for weekend. If a team wants all medium & hards - no softs- allow it, or any combo, save for having 2 types obviously.

When safety car used towards end of GP Race Director should add up to 3 laps of clear track racing, by lengthening GP if necessary. Yes this could mean cars will be short of fuel, they can make allowance of say 6kg of fuel extra to all cars and that weight is added to min weight after GP if no extras, or 4kg one extra lap then 2kg for 2 extra laps. Red flag finish if no hope of clearing things before last lap, no finishes under safety car pleeeeeease!!!!.

Would like to see a point or maybe 2 or 3 points for pole, all very nice having the legend of pole but too often, especially now we have sprints, the fastest car in quali is not on front of grid.
Knock back the win points to 24 or 22 if everyone feels a pole points will dilute championship totals.

With track limits I reckon we'll always have an issue until technology is fully implemented to add time by real time remote computer trackside monitoring, say 1 sec for each off rising to 2secs after 3rd off, to be added at pit stop or end of race time. Any offs that are not considered drivers fault can be cancelled by race control. Wonder how long a system like this would take to cure the roaming habits?     
« Last Edit: December 16, 2021, 05:47:31 PM by John S »
Racing is Life - everything else is just....waiting. (Steve McQueen)

Offline Monty

Re: F1 Christmas wishlist
« Reply #6 on: December 17, 2021, 05:59:19 PM »
Quote
Regarding track limits, I agree that this needs to be implemented much more strictly, but there is still the problem of what happened in Abu Dhabi where Verstappen placed his car so Hamilton had no choice other than to slam on the breaks (and lose a number of extra places) or evade and cut the corner, even though Verstappen made the corner cleanly.
Even in the most basic levels of Karting you are instantly penalised if you force another driver off circuit. I do not understand how Max has somehow become the driver that so many pundits and commentators suddenly want to excuse for driving that is completely unacceptable everywhere else! If not braking & not steering so the result will be a crash or the other driver jumps off the circuit out of a desire of self-preservation is now acceptable there will be carnage at every race!

Offline Andy B

Re: F1 Christmas wishlist
« Reply #7 on: December 17, 2021, 09:04:43 PM »
My thought's and wishes F1 2022 and going forward.
Track limits - The white line is the limit and not to be exceeded, a three strike rule brings a 10 second stop go, if a driver forces another over the white  line he receives the strike. If two tyres exceed the white line it's a strike.
Radio's - Stewards able to address all drivers but drivers cannot reply it's for instruction only not debate. Teams unable to speak to Stewards.
Tyres - Two tyre manufacturers using just one in not competitive.
Qualifying - One hour of running with the slowest dropping off every 10 minutes with a minimum number of laps to be achieved.
Stewards - A team of stewards for the season with guest stewards at each venue with at least 2 ex or current race drivers.
Safety car - Its better than stopping the race which is too disruptive but no unlapping of lapped cars.
Red flag - If for any reason a race is red flagged then no repairs or tyre replacements can take place if a repair or tyre needs to be carried out to remain in the race a time penalty equivalent to to entering the pits and having the work carried out and leaving the pits will apply.
Pole position - Is worthy of a point.
Fastest lap - Open to all drivers not just the top ten it should add a little more entertainment towards the end of a race and give the back markers a little much needed fame.
Tyre blankets - Banned from 2023 to give tyre manufactures time to deal with it, by having to get the tyres into temperature it'll add another tactic.

That is my Christmas wish list which I doubt any of it will happen unless I am in charge and if that happens you can all be stewards!

Have a Great Christmas. AndyB
Once you have retired every day is a Saturday!

Offline cosworth151

Re: F1 Christmas wishlist
« Reply #8 on: December 18, 2021, 02:12:38 PM »
I like your idea of one way radio from the race director to the drivers. That could be very useful. I've always like the idea that any driver can get the fastest lap point.

There are two things that haven't been mentioned that would be at the top of my list:

1. Dump the FIA. The whole idea that "only the FIA can hold a true World Championship" is so foolish, pointless, destructive and flat out silly that only the FIA could have come up with it.

2. Shrink the cars. Now that the cars have to a carry huge, heavy battery pack, generators, electric motors and enough fuel to last an entire race, they've gone from nimble greyhounds to Greyhound buses. Lack of overtaking, track limits violations and the like can be traced, at least in part, to the fact that the cars are now too big to fit on the track. This is made even worse at tight circuits like Monaco. (See pictures below)
“You can search the world over for the finer things, but you won't find a match for the American road and the creatures that live on it.”
― Bob Dylan

Offline Willy

Re: F1 Christmas wishlist
« Reply #9 on: December 18, 2021, 02:52:36 PM »
I really like all of Andy B's ideas.
And Cos hits the mark with the car sizes becoming huge and unwieldy.
Does F1 not need an overseeing body such as the FIA? Can it be scrapped?  Does it really do any damn good?


Offline John S

  • F1 Legend
  • ****
  • Date Registered: Jan 2007
  • Location: Lincolnshire, UK
  • Posts: 11253
  • 11550 credits
  • View Inventory
  • Send Money To John S
  • Max for 3rd title! - to see more Toto apoplexy.
Re: F1 Christmas wishlist
« Reply #10 on: December 18, 2021, 05:13:34 PM »

1. Dump the FIA. The whole idea that "only the FIA can hold a true World Championship" is so foolish, pointless, destructive and flat out silly that only the FIA could have come up with it.


Unfortunately the answer is a resounding NO, it's impossible!
FIA wholly own the rights to F1 and lots of other motor racing series then simply licence them out to commercial promotors. Admittedly in F1's case it a rather long licence, decades or even centuries to the present commercial rights holder.

The only way to have different governance is for the teams to form a breakaway series as once mooted by Ferrari & a few others.

Any new breakaway would also need to be called something else instead of F1, however Bernie closed off a lot of substitute names after walk out was avoided. Things like GP1 or Grand Prix racing, etc, etc have been trade marked to FOM - now Liberty present commercial rights holders to F1.

Think this also answers Willy's question too.
 
Racing is Life - everything else is just....waiting. (Steve McQueen)

Offline lkjohnson1950

Re: F1 Christmas wishlist
« Reply #11 on: December 18, 2021, 09:51:39 PM »
I like your idea of one way radio from the race director to the drivers. That could be very useful. I've always like the idea that any driver can get the fastest lap point.

There are two things that haven't been mentioned that would be at the top of my list:

1. Dump the FIA. The whole idea that "only the FIA can hold a true World Championship" is so foolish, pointless, destructive and flat out silly that only the FIA could have come up with it.

2. Shrink the cars. Now that the cars have to a carry huge, heavy battery pack, generators, electric motors and enough fuel to last an entire race, they've gone from nimble greyhounds to Greyhound buses. Lack of overtaking, track limits violations and the like can be traced, at least in part, to the fact that the cars are now too big to fit on the track. This is made even worse at tight circuits like Monaco. (See pictures below)

Isn't that wingless '67 (?) Ferrari beautiful? I wouldn't mind if they eliminated wings.
Lonny

Offline Willy

Re: F1 Christmas wishlist
« Reply #12 on: December 19, 2021, 03:35:23 PM »
I wholeheartedly agree Lonny.
The 60's wingless cars were much more beautiful.
It would be very interesting to see how a marriage of 60's design and 2020's tech might work with no downforce features.
I bet you would see a lot more passing as the cars would not create as much disruption in the air.

Offline Alianora La Canta

Re: F1 Christmas wishlist
« Reply #13 on: December 19, 2021, 08:44:17 PM »
Warning! Long post alert!

At this point, it's hard for me to take seriously any series whose governing body thinks it is acceptable to pre-select a champion (let alone several races in advance) and outright break the rules to make it happen (let alone in a way that endangers the lives of the drivers, including the driver they pre-selected, on two separate occasions), and then bully and lie to anyone who objects. The only person I've met who is not completely upset with F1 to the point of trying to avoid all mention of it is the vaccine observer I met today... ...whose entire knowledge of F1 derives from Netflix and social media, and has never attempted to watch an actual race on TV (live or highlights... ...though she knew a lot about F1 despite this, and we spent a good 20 minutes discussing a pro-vaccine video F1 released shortly before the final round).

Measures that will be needed for me to be able to take F1 seriously again as anything other than a liability to its participants:

1) Either replace the FIA altogether, or put an independent body above it in a supervisory capacity with power to prevent the FIA from doing its more dangerous/disreputable behaviours. I wish I could believe fixing the FIA's integrity problem (now potentially fatal to F1 as soon as early 2022) was as simple as replacing Michael Masi or even Jean Todt (the latter has happened due to a conveniently-timed election), but for reasons I won't go into here, I don't.

Replacement is viable if the EU breaks the monopoly, which is reasonably feasible if a court demonstrates what I have stated above - that the FIA was willing to endanger participants in its desire to be derelict in its duty (safety is the reason the EU has heretofore allowed the monopoly, per the 2001 settlement). This is because the F1 part could be split off the main element of the FIA and put under administration - not something the EU has done before, has never proposed before in regard to a sporting authority, but very much in its powers if it thinks lives are at stake and that doing so is the course most in the interests of those involved.

The FIA, of course, has the power to impose an independent supervisory body over itself any time it feels like it. It's just too drunk on power to realise the necessity of doing so in its situation.

(Note: I am assuming that whichever arrangement prevailed, the Liberty lease, thus access to the F1 name, would remain; to my knowledge, no legal cause exists for any judge to attempt to remove Liberty, only the FIA. I regard this as salvageable - provided 1) was done. Otherwise, the teams being allowed to walk and bill the FIA would leave Liberty with a whole bunch of nothing as well, since the teams would be in no way obliged to involve them in whatever - if anything - replaced F1 either).

2) Shorten the season - to a much more dramatic extent than I've previously advocated. It's clearly 8 races too long for the governing body, so the season needs to be shortened to 14 races or fewer (with no increase in intensity) until such time as the replacement governing body arrangments prove they can successfully govern for that length of season. Simply because all involved in NASCAR can do it does not mean F1 can, and at this point the governing body has shown it can't handle F1 for more than about 6 months of mostly-fortnightly races. No functional governing body, no sport.

(Note: once competence was demonstrated, a careful and gradual increase of championship length/intensity could be explored).

3) Ensure there is an effective route of protest is teams or drivers catch the FIA in misconduct in future.

Until these things happen, all other reforms are futile, and F1 will not be able to regain credibility. We've lost one championship entirely because of it (note that the pre-selection appears to have happened after Silverstone but before Spa, which is plenty long enough that both protagonists would have radically changed what they were doing in the presence of governance compatible with a sport in the legal sense of the word). I don't want to lose any more - nor do I want teams to walk out and bill the FIA, which as far as I can see, every single team, including Red Bull, is now entitled to do (after all, they signed up for a sport, not a pre-selection).

Assuming F1 manages to save itself by taking those three measures, here's what I think about the issues so far raised:

DRS - It wasn't needed in 2011, it's even more of an impediment to good racing now. Bin it.

Qualifying - There are two problems with qualifying: Q1 and queuing.

Q1: With two teams clearly behind everyone else at most races (but not always the same two), it tends to become clear most of who will be out of Q1 in the first 5 minutes. Single-lap and 12 minutes, with a minimum delta for out/in-laps in dry weather of best free-practice time +20% (otherwise the time is lost and the driver starts from the back of the grid; mechanical force-majueure will of course be accepted). Drivers whose lap was spoilt by a yellow/red flag may re-run, provided they return themselves to the pits. I'm inclined to also allow voluntarily aborting laps, provided drivers pit safely and don't swap to new tyres (drivers with punctures can swap to used tyres from practise).

Queueing: Q2's only problem is the queue. It's silly and I reckon the FP + 20% rule would help here. Oh, and a minimum speed: apart from Station/Loewes/Grand Hairpin and wet weather, no F1 car ever needs to do less than 30 mph on a green-flagged section of standard race track!

Q3 is a little different. You see, the powers-that-be are obsessed with sprints. If we cannot clear the obsession through the above measures, perhaps we can accommodate it by having a 3-lap sprint for Q3, rolling start from the pitlane in Q2 order?

This has the benefit of making the pole-sitter excel in a variety of disciplines, none of which acts as too much of a spoiler for Sunday.

(I don't like one-by-one as it favours whoever happens to be on track last on most occasions - barring someone messing up - sometimes encourages gaming the system and bored a lot of people. I'm happy with 12-lap, 1-hour qualifying but again, many people were bored).

Forced compound change (and indeed forced pitstop) is indeed silly. I liked Turkey and its "can they, can't they, make it on one tyre set" race. Drivers actually had to think, which is often something they don't need to do if forced to change compound by an artificial rule.

I think there are several possible solutions/partial-solutions to the cluster of problems around times when yellow flags aren't enough, and rmassart's is well worth testing. I think Safety Cars could be worked into a solution, but they don't have to be. More important is that there is a willingness to use the tools when there is appropriate amounts of danger, and that such occasions are handled well when deployed. Nobody needs another Canada 1973*.

(* - Short version for anyone who hasn't seen it: to quote F1 Magazine in 2003: "Canada 1973 was the first time a Safety Car was used in F1 and boy, did it show!" The race started and all was well until it rained. Eventually a collision between Jody Scheckter and Francois Cevert caused a Safety Car, a jolly Porsche 914 which former Canadian F1 driver Eppie Wietzes piloted. He eventually collected the car Race Control told him was leading... Howden Ganley's Iso Williams.

The only point on which everyone outside Race Control agreed on was that even Frank Williams did not think Howden was actually leading. Largely because he'd been lapped by this point. A large argument ensued. At one point, 5 teams were showing one of their drivers a pit board that stated they were P1, which was clearly impossible. A more credible order was eventually established, the race resumed and eventually Peter Revson was declared the winner. We'll never know who should have won (though Peter was at least a plausible candidate, unlike Howden).

Sadly, other high-level motorsport series seem to be heading towards "more spectacle", even when they discover this produces the opposite effect. (WEC, Formula E and W Series, I'm looking at you). There's a reason series with fewer cameras elect not to pull such stunts...

Don't impose rules one cannot enforce. By all means require entrants to give as much help as appropriate in doing the enforcement, but don't impose rules that aren't enforceable.

I think there should be at least 1 wheel in the white line at all times (standard international rule). All 4 wheels in the white line (standard British national rule) would also be acceptable. Both are easy to enforce with current tech if people wish to do so. I'm in favour of having 4 lights on the car which light up with infractions of "crossing the white line" (primary sensors for which should be in each wheel hub; the current centre line sensor plus corrective measurements can be used as a backup). Stewards would manually delete "false alarms" (such as times drivers were pushed off by rivals) and if all 4 are lit at a time, that would be a drive-through penalty. Stewards would be able to separately issue place-swapping instructions (with drive-through penalty if ignored), or flat issue penalties, for situations where an advantage was gained - regardless of the light situation. Hard to imagine Max shoving Lewis off the road if he believed he'd get a trip through the pitlane for his efforts.

Fixed rules of engagement matter. On several occasions, key rules were changed 3 times in the same weekend. Drivers respond to shifting incentives as best they can - especially if they sense they'll be given more leeway than others.

I've heard enough "car to car" radio in 2021 already (Leclerc's radio somehow picked up other driver-engineer combos in two separate FP3 sessions this year. Nobody involved was happy). I don't want drivers arguing with each other during races, it's tedious and would probably encourage bad behaviour that was inconsistently enforced (note that drivers don't have an option to turn the radio off, let alone mute specific voices, these days). A "hot button" from Race Control to all drivers would be a good move, and I'd cautiously accept Race Control -> driver with "acknowledge" button response (but no voice) enabled (the driver radios already have an "acknowledge" button that doesn't require voice). At this point, I'm inclined to take away all other Race Director communication with entrants, to avoid further backroom dealings...

Refuelling seems to be a concept that has become obsolete; the engines already run on less fuel for a whole race, plus margin for non-race elements, than some teams used for a single stint some circuits, and every year that becomes more the case.

The way to deal with Verstappen is to have consistent rules of engagement and strictly enforce them, on a strictly equal basis. Many configurations for those rules are possible, but the key for F1 is to pick one and stick to it no matter what. I think he deliberately acts in a manner that any sensible series would consider misconduct - but is only doing so due to responding to incentives F1 has provided for him (and him alone) to break rules. Max has been schooled in the F1 approach to rules, which as Eddie Jordan memorably said, goes "the set of rules in Formula 1 goes like this: you print them, and then you see how you can circumvent them, and you find a different way around the rules to make the car go quicker, hopefully, than somebody else, but always just about inside the rules and the law."

I think that if Max was given a solid, consistent set of rules, he'd dance on the line and occasionally fall over it, but no more often or severely than other F1 drivers with a high-risk approach.

I am against minimum stop times in F1 (unless it's literally for the amount of time stationary in the pits - that could be set to, say, 4-5 seconds without problems) because of the difficulties in accounting for the effects of others in the pitlane. I've seen a lot of unnecessary bother about this rule in series that have it (I'm thinking of Blancpain Endurance Series in particular).

I'd rather have races finish under Safety Car than forcing Race Control to either continue or red-flag - that's going to encourage too many restarts when it is unsafe to do so (simply due to knowing that waiting will cause fuel problems for the teams - no race director worth their salt wants to imitate the Formula E race in Valencia where half the grid ran out of fuel due to a badly-applied fuel removal rule, which is a different way of forcing teams to do more efficiency than originally advised by the rule-makers).

Multiple tyre manufacturers is fine, though I'm not sure how other tyre manufacturers would be convinced to join F1 until the governance proves itself again.

No fixed stewards. Too much scope for bias - that's how we ended up losing the "fixed steward" last time - the FIA deliberately picked one of the most reliable stewards they could find, with a reputation among the teams for fairness... ...and still that steward was caught being repeatedly biased against one particular title contender over the course of two seasons. Maximum changeover of stewards (it's not always been possible this year) is much more beneficial to ensuring fairness and justice. (We might even be suffering for having a fixed race director...)

Either don't unlap the lapped cars or unlap them all. Don't unlap some but not others. Probably needs to be a fixed rule of engagement one way or the other.

Red flag - repairs and tyre changes need to be allowed without penalty because otherwise, teams can and have sent drivers out without needed repairs and tyre changes, plus it disadvantages those who were going to swap them anyway (vs doing so under yellow flags/Safety Car or, indeed, under green-flag conditions).

I'm not a fan of the pole position point, but it has precedent and is compatible with a good ruleset.

Fastest lap for anyone is interesting but most likely, will only encourage pitting 2nd drivers in leading teams out of the points to sabotage a championship rival.

Tyre blankets have been attempted to be banned since 2008. I'm mystified as to how a successful ban has not yet been achieved despite considerable will in this direction from governing body and sole tyre supplier alike (every time they try, the proposed tyre turns out to be unusable in that format, thus getting vetoed on safety grounds).

Car-shrinking is a good idea, one I agree with, but difficult to achieve in practise. Worth investigating though.

I like wings, but please stop them from running beyond the wheels. (Maybe even stop them going in front of the wheels). Simplification is a good idea too.

If anyone wants my full opinion on the Masi call and why it was wrong, I'll put it in a separate post.
« Last Edit: December 19, 2021, 09:31:23 PM by Alianora La Canta »
Percussus resurgio
@lacanta (Twitter)
http://alianoralacanta.tumblr.com (Blog/Tumblr)

 


SimplePortal 2.3.6 © 2008-2014, SimplePortal
Menu Editor Pro 1.0 | Copyright 2013, Matthew Kerle