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But the thing is that the FIA has gone so far with engine freezes, removing aerodynamic freedom etc. that the whole field is covered by about 1.5-2 seconds. So now no-one seems to be able to pass anybody because the performance of the cars are all so similar. In trying to to spice up the on-track action action in Formula 1 they have, ironically, made it even more boring.

Back in 1995 the difference between a fast car (Williams) and a slow car (Forti) was an average of 7-8 sec. per lap at most circuits and even the top 3 teams (Williams, Benetton and Ferrari) had a big performance gap between the next few teams so if they started down the order, they could work their way through and they could be in the points by quarter distance.

Now if a driver gets a grid penalty or crashes in quali, then there opportunity of scoring points from 14th or lower is virtually zero unless there are dropouts (which there aren't cause the cars are too reliable), or a really lucky SC period.

Drivers don't simply climb through the field because they're plain faster as the speed difference just isn't there anymore. Even the fastest car on the track can't pass anyone if they start at the back.

There is a solution that may work but it is a bit extreme. To implement Champ Car's "No Blocking" rule. When a driver is in the slipstream, they can't pass because the drivers are too good at defending their positions. If a driver has lost a position, they should be good enough to get it back.

Wow. Just wow.

Guys, I've been thinking about this for a long while and I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on my ideas to improve...

Basics of main problems:
1. The cars can't follow one another through the turns because of poor mechanical grip and dependanncy on aerodynamics
2. Engine rev's max out for all teams due to limiters
3. Drivers not bothered about passing - too risky

Now here are my solutions:
1. Re-introduce skirts to the cars to increase mecchanical grip. However, to make them safer to use, introduce a NASCAR style 'flaps' concept to keep the cars on the ground in the event of an accident located on the top of the sidepods. They come up in the event off the car getting more than say 5 degrees from horizontal or whatever. This would give every car more downforce to follow another car through the turns.
OK, so I hear you say yes but the cars will then be going 10s per lap quicker...
So, lets slow the cars some more with also aiding overtaking...
Once you've got the skirts with flaps (there's a joke there somewhere!), you gotta lengthen the braking distances to reduce lap time too. So, you return the cars to steel brakes (cheaper) BUT, you increase the minimum weight of an F1 car to 800kgs. Cars will be heavier, won't stop as quick, and with skirts, downforce being lost won't be a problem and they'll be harder to get airborne in the event of a collision...

2. Engines: Simple, introduce push to pass button BUT with a diffference. Drivers get 2 presses per lap for 5 secs with 80bhp BUT, they cannot use the button at the same two points for their next lap - they must use it at 2 different points the next lap. How do the FIA implement this? Simple, if say a driver has used it between turns 7+8 and 11+12 on lap 34, on lap 35 he can press it at any point on the circuit except between turns 7+8 and 11 + 12 Same for the driver behind...
Also, removving the rev-limiter will enable the engines to stretch their legs but what should also be considered is reducing the flow of air into the air box above the drivers head by 50%. Similar to 1994 spec, as this will reduce power, not linit rev's and still keep cars at reasonable safe speed.

maybe go back to 1992 tyre sizes too?

3. With promoting interest from the drivers, I just agree that a point for most positions taken during a race (excluding during pitstops) would be great...

There just a few thoughts guys.

What dya think?

Max

As Brundle stated during the Japanese GP, back in the Turbo days you had 10 second gaps in qualifying. Passing is easy with such a massive performance gap. 10 seconds is a glass difference in some sports car racing. But you also have to add to that the difference in driver performance. Even back in 1998 we had drivers like Ricardo Rosset being considered good enough to warrant 3 seasons in F1. Go back into the early 90s and you had drivers like Taki Inoue. You just don't see drivers this bad in F1 anymore. The performances are so much higher.

We have better teams, better drivers, and a smaller field spread. That is going to hurt more than the current aerodynamic regs.

Edit: no points for passing. Thats silly. That means you could start last, pass 5 cars, finish 19th (26 cars possible in the future remember) and get more points than the car that finishes 9th.

If you want the drivers to take more risks, then how about not penalising them whenever 2 of them crash into each other. It seems that whenever we have an accident, somebody gets a penalty. Vettels penalty in Australia for example was a complete joke.

Well I saw it was a positive when neither Kovalainen and Sutil were penalised for their incident in Japan, lets hope that continues.

F1 was best when it wasn't such a spec series it is now. When cars were running different engine configurations, different tyre manufacturers and many compounds, etc... (and similar to what ellis said) it created a large field spread and meant cars could overtake.

Ah yes, the good old tyre war.

I hoped that the new tyre rule from Bridgestone would mix things up, but that only happened at Melbourne.

Push to pass would only work if they have a handful of chances to use it during the race. Like A1GP.

It also happened at the start of Monaco. They should not announce the tyre compounds until just before the race and there needs to be a large difference in the compounds because the cars handle just the same on whatever they are.

A control tyre means that every car will handle exactly the same whereas the tyre war would mean that certain brands would be better at certain tracks.

All the cars have roughly equal horsepower and without any aids from KERS, the slipstream effect is very small.



They should also have it a for a longer period per lap and the boost to be a larger amount because that's what they need.

The cars can't simply overtake each other in their current spec.

They just can't suddenly just ship in tyres the day before the race without costing a shitload of money. And for your second point, they have been doing that, just not for the majority of the European races.

And you're suprised?

Really? How do you work this out?

_________________
-Joe.
Atlanta United FC | Cincinnati Reds | Atlanta Falcons | Tennessee Titans

Simple solution:
[spoiler]Ban front and rear wings![/spoiler]

Yeah, every tire, regardless of brand, handles exactly the same. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight........



REAL RACING

Or get rid of KERS and allow teams to run any type of diffuser.

_________________
Ducks Angels Sounders Spurs

How come everyone here promote bigger performance gap?

Of course faster cars could more easily overtake the slower ones in the first laps as it has always happened, then the field will just spread so far apart that it will be just like the worst parts of 1996 all over again!

It will always be difficult to pass in F1. The best part of the show is not the pass itself. It is the build-up to it, the approach, the tension, the cars running very close to each other even at tracks like Monaco, with uncertainty about the winner.

The pass itself can be very boring and it just kills the tension by releasing the fastest car, and therefore increasing the gaps. Very rarely you can get 2 drivers to keep passing each other. So I'm very happy with today's 2 seconds apart, competitive field.

Maybe if the podium prizes were better like $10,000,000 or a Phil Collins CD instead of that Santander shite they might try harder.

Completely 100% opposite of what they should do.

Keep KERS but ban the dirty air creating diffusers, actually.




Maybe if last place was a Phil Collins CD, or the last placed constructor is forced to attend a Phil Collins concert, then they'd all try SUPER HARD!

Africa in the left speaker, Nickelback's 'I like your pants around your feet' in the right speaker.

I found this interesting statistic: