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The stupid engine token rule will be scrapped for 2017!

And to be honest, what's the point anyway when you have four power units for +20 races? Might as well let everyone make evolution versions on the road as the teams would spend that money anyway on something. It's either on engines or on stupid winglet shapes. Which one is more useful for the manufacturers, I wonder?

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Dunno if this was posted yet:

The scrapping of the engine tokens is a good thing.

However I think that all of those who seem to think that this was the only thing keeping Mercedes on top & that the other 3 manufacturer's will now find massive gains to catch Mercedes are perhaps been overly optimistic & ignoring that this also allows Mercedes to spend more on developing what's already the best engine into been an even better engine.


It also seems as if Pirelli have agreed to make racier tyres that drivers can push harder for next year.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/35485572

Scrapping the tokens means manufacturers will be able to invest much more money in the engines, thus they'll be able to demand more money for them in a few years.

This is just leverage for the fact the engines have to cost less now for client teams.

Yea, I don't understand how this is part of the cost-cutting of customer engines. More development = more cost = cheaper engines? #MathsWithFIA

Formula 1 drivers 'happy' as head protection gets 2017 go-ahead
http://www.bbc.com/sport/formula1/35488050

So this might really be happening in 2017, though a lot still needs to be sorted out.

Can someone explain how that halo design is going to help against debris hitting drivers? It might help deflect the larger ones, but smaller ones can still hit their helmets.

Joke aside, list of drivers this device would definitely have helped:
- Justin Wilson
- Henri Surtees

List of drivers this might have helped:
- Jules Bianchi
- Felipe Massa

List of drivers that escaped their accidents just fine, but could have been injured by the halo caving into the cockpit:
- Fernando Alonso (twice)
- Narain Kartikeyan
- Alexander Wurz
- Pedro Diniz
- Jarno Trulli
- Derek Warwick
- Anybody else who ever flipped and digged into a gravel trap in history
- Anybody else who ever had another car cross over their cockpit

I trust that the FIA knows about these limitations, and that flimsy design is probably not the latest, but there is serious concern and if they have to go down this route I would rather see a full canopy like in F1 boats.

If I look at the forces in Bianchi's crash I strongly doubt this device would have survived the impact. Bianchi probably still got hit in the head hard and this halo thing might even hindered the extraction due to the damage to it

I agree. The halo-concept only seems to be designed for impacts from tires, but nothing else.

in their meetings they gather together and discuss "what can possibly make the cars even uglier?" and some dumb says "ah let's put something in the cockpit right in front of driver's vision. his head might be safe, but he'll lack visibility and we'll have drivers playing Maldonado every race"

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Visibility isn't an issue according to the drivers.

This.

Let's remember that driver's eyes (and heads) are rarely just pointing straight forward. Also watch this video, and other onboard videos for that matter, and watch the driver's hands which obscures forward view when the steering wheel is turning.

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Surreal to think that F1 may have its last season as an open-cockpit racing series. No matter what this year brings, it will be a part of classic era. I expect in 2030 there's nostalgia for 2016, as when cars were good-looking, drivers had some balls and F1 was still alive before it quickly collapsed altogether in 2020.
Well, there's always Goodwood Festival of Speed and Donington Historic Festival.

Hang on a minute JJ. How does introducing the halo mean the series is no longer an open-cockpit racing series?

The cockpits are still open. There is no roof above the driver.

When full face helmets were introduced did people of that era think that racing was no longer 'manly' and dangers were unnecessarily being removed? We're overstating the negative importance of this on the quality of the racing.

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BTCC Pick Em's Champion 2010
Formula Fun Cup Champion 2013
http://www.the-fastlane.co.uk

It's 'open wheel' series, not 'open cockpit' series...

Sad thing about that is; and also from Wikipedia

"Hattori raced in the Indy Racing League from 2000 to 2003. His best IRL finish was a 6th at Texas Motor Speedway in 2002 and he finished 13th in IRL points in 2001 for Treadway-Vertex Cunningham Racing. He led a total of 28 laps in his 26 series starts"

Just shows how weak that series was compared to CART at the time, if "Shiggy" could get regular point finishes. 2001 his results could even be described as unspectacular but reasonable.
9 top 10's in 18 races entered from 2000-2001.

Nice one Tony George!

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Surely they wouldn't introduce a 'halo' without testing and making sure it passes tests simulating something like Bianchi's situation?

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It even broke off the roll hoop which has been tested many times. If the halo would survive that it has to be bigger and stronger and probably adds a ton of weight to the car.

There are better and cheaper ways to prevent accidents like Bianchi's. Release the safety car and punish drivers who don't slow down enough when the yellow is out.

There is a culture of not slowing down under yellows, I mean who wants to sacrifice a couple of seconds to slow down?