How to Make Formula One Awesome Again...

[PR3D4TOR]

For me:
1) Get rid of the MGU-H part of the power unit. It has no road relevance at all. These things are driven at the limit, high revs, either accelerating or braking. No cruising, no waiting in traffic. The heat recovery only works when there is LOTS of heat and this is never the case in normal cars usually. It makes cars expensive and basically one of the most fragile parts of the whole power unit is the MGU-H.

2) Bit less downforce, more mechanical grip: Better following, more overtaking, less "dirty air"

3) A bit naive (since i can only bring up the MGU-H removal argument in terms of cost reduction) but: Make F1 cheaper so that privateer teams can enter. So that Ford, Audi, etc. etc. may THINK of entering the sport. Now you have to have like 250-300 million Euro to be able to compete for the constructors championship

4) Let the teams choose which engines they wanna use: Of course with regulations to how many parts can be used, how much fuel is the absolute maximum that can be used. (maybe with refueling like suggested in the article by @Paul Jeffrey


I love Formula 1 and can't wait to get the new season started but there sure is HUGE improvement potential.

 

[Warlord_Gonagy]

View attachment 186659
Formula One has become a technological battlefield for major manufacturers with impressive technology at the forefront, but is it still great, and what would you change?

This is likely to divide opinions, and many will feel that the sport is in a golden age already and nothing needs to be changed. These are opinions, and like any opinion, none are right, and none are wrong. Just different.

Now in my personal opinion, and it is very much my own opinion and not an official RaceDepartment stance, I think Formula One is well and truly broken at the moment, very much to the determent of the on track spectacle and racing that it produces. Now before I go off on one saying what I think the sport should do to improve it, I need to elaborate a little on where I'm actually coming from...

Motorsport for me has always been about the sport, about the actual 30/60/90 minutes or whatever of action out on the tarmac itself. I care nothing for the technical side of things, I have zero interest in big manufacturers or outright lap time and top speed. For me none of these things matter, it is simply the action out on the circuit that I come to see, nothing more, nothing less. Racing. Pure, hard, close, fair racing. Simple.

Now take a look at other forms of motorsport for an example. I'll sight something like Caterham racing or Clio Cup. I know these aren't open wheel cars, but the example is still relevant. These cars have little to no downforce and few in the way of electronic aids. Just simple mechanical engineering and the ability to race close. This is good, this encourages cars to run nose to tail and side by side, almost every single race, which is good. Additionally they have long (ish) braking distances and solid and robust cars, without going lightening fast so everything is manageable from behind the wheel and a pass or a fight can relatively easily last for several corners, with both drivers in control. This is good, this is the exact opposite of modern Formula One.

Formula One in its current guise is designed to fail, right from the very core. Stupidly high speeds, high downforce, miniscule braking distances, practically no chance of driver error, lack of punishments for going off track... the list goes on.

So what would I do to make it great again? Well to be honest it is rather simple, and I will try and explain below:

Downforce - Remove lots and lots of it. I would engineer the rules to remove 75% of the downforce of current Formula One cars, and while I'm at it I would have it engineering in such a way that the cars are heavily influenced to produce considerable levels of understeer (where the front washes out and steers less than the driver requests). Why understeer you ask? Well coupled with a normally aspirated high torque engine, I would like it so the ideal and quickest way to drive would be to "steer with the throttle" and get the car sideways, cancelling out the understeer by using power to break traction at the rear and slide the car round a corner. Think any given lap by Ronnie Peterson as a reference.. Additionally front and rear wings should be spec units supplied by the FIA, designed to cause minimum disruption to airflow and thus increase ability to run closely together.

Engine - Normally aspirated, no turbo or hybrid / KERS etc. Also I'd have it open to V6, V8, V10 and V12, but limited to no more than X number of each type allowed on the grid each season. So in effect engine manufacturers would have to preference their chosen type pre season, and allocation be distributed out by the governing body. These engines would be basic mechanical engines with emphasis on excessive torque with no electronic throttle control, just a sweet right foot. In my vision due to the relative lack of complexity, this would open the door to customer engines the likes of Cosworth, Hart, Judd and other one man bad type of operations. Increasing variety, increasing supply and enticing variation.

Engines should be restricted by fuel allowance (not to the level where fuel saving applies of course), but enough to make it possible for example to go flat chat in a slower V6 but have to apply caution in a powerful V12. Think (although not a great example I admit) the 1995 Monaco Grand Prix, where thanks to rain Mika Salo brought home his V6 Tyrell in fifth positon due to not requiring a fuel stop, whereas faster V10 and V12 cars had to come into the pits. This sort of thing, where drivers can go for multiple strategies such as running the V12 rich and stopping for fuel 3 times, V10s stopping twice, V8s once and V6 straight to the flag, how exciting would that be?

Refuelling - As covered above, bring it back to mix with the engine size variety.

Gearbox - Manual 6 speed H pattern, no mechanical assistance. With lower speeds thanks to lower downforce and engines designed more for torque than top end, a return to manual H patter boxes and the need to take a hand off the wheel to shift would be possible, and bring back the magic possibility of driver errors and missed gears, increasing overtaking opportunities and adding another element of driver skill and spectacle for the viewer. Any true driving nut knows H pattern is far more engaging that flappy paddle shifters, and produces better racing and more spectacle.

Tyres - Open the rules to any manufacturer, but keep the compound hard as a rock. In my opinion tyres are necessary to keep the car off the floor, but shouldn't have any impact in the outcome of a race and shouldn't be a talking point during a Grand Prix weekend. At all. They should last easily for a full race distance, but a "joker" set that are quick but last for a maximum of 10 laps should be available, for those wishing to roll the dice..

Brakes - Get back to steel disks. Make braking distances super long so an out braking move doesn't have to be done in fractions of a second just yards from a corner entry. I want to see it become a challenge to slow down a car, and I want the deceleration zone to be extended considerably. Now I know it will be the same for all cars, so in theory just as hard as it is now, but with extended zones you have more time to get alongside, more time for both drivers to know where you are on track, and more time to out psych your rival. Getting alongside someone in a braking zone is half the battle to overtaking, and with extended braking zones, limited grip and manual boxes, it becomes much harder for a driver to hit the correct marks every lap, and thus more mistakes and more opportunities to pass.

Rules - Formula One should always be a single race lasting a substantial length of time (i.e. 90 minutes), and for me this shouldn't change in any amendment to the series. Saying that, I think it would be sensible to make Formula 2 as close to the main series rules as possible, however with maybe a few spec items such as engine (FIA developed and supplied). This would allow a promotion / relegation system where in the newly formed regulations it is substantially lower cost to race, so many more teams would submit an entry (think early 90's pre qualification sessions). The top 28 cars would qualify for the Formula One season, the bottom 28 for Formula Two. At the end of the season, the bottom, say 3 teams would be relegated, and the top 3 Formula Two teams promoted. Or something similar.

Tracks - Bring back gravel traps. When faced with a potentially race ending gravel trap on the outside (or inside) of a corner, drivers will tend to leave a little bit of a margin of safety out on track. This is good, this helps those super talented or brave drivers some wiggle room to rise above the rest of the field, and also increases overtaking opportunities when someone is willing to risk it all on the inside / outside of a corner when his rival is playing the percentage game. Plus I feel mistakes should be punished, which isn't the case at present.

I could go one forever with this, but this article is designed more as a community discussion point than listening to me ramble on... sorry I got carried away..

Ok folks, lets have your opinion below.....

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What would you do to bring glory back to Formula One? In an ideal world, with no limits, what would you change about the sport we love? Let us know in the comments section below!

The issue I have with this is that this is basically this season of Indycar with an H pattern box and different engines. The author makes some good points, but that sport already exists. F1's insane speed is the ONLY thing that differentiates it from Indycar. If you made all of these changes, I believe that F1 would be gone within a couple of years. Simply put, if you made all of these changes, what you have is an inferior Indycar.

So what would I do to improve F1? To improve the cars, I would make the front wings a standard part, to reduce dirty air and improve following. Every other part of the aero would be open to development. However, to keep the development aspect, I would allow the manufacturers to run ANY engine they wanted, so long as it fits and does not pose a serious safety risk. In addition, I would make the cars narrower to improve racing on some of the street circuits. DRS would be a thing of the past; KERS or any other system would be outlawed; either it provides increased power all the time or it doesn't happen(i.e. no push to pass; if the driver wants to overtake someone, he has to do it himself). As for safety, the cars would be largely unchanged in that regard (halo or not doesn't matter for the racing, but I would personally go with an aeroscreen). Also, refueling would be allowed again (to anyone who says that this is a safety risk, I invite you to take a look at almost ANY other major racing series and find out how often accidents happen with modern safety tech).

Tracks would be changed as well; going back to grass or gravel on the outside of turns, to prevent another Austin 2017. Aside from the usual "Remove X circuit, Abu Dhabi sucks", etc. I would move away from the FIA's obsession with street circuits. And finally, I would make the steward team the same for all tracks (i.e. one steward team that travels with the teams to every Grand Prix) to improve consistency.

 

[Nick Hill]

I'm enjoying reading these even if I disagree with a lot of them. One thing I've learned from reading many versions of this same thread: F1 means something different to everyone. When the popularity starts to wane, that makes a very tough (impossible?) challenge for the people in charge, because they are getting many different kinds of often contradictory feedback.

Obviously, I have my own opinions on what I think "perfect F1" would look like, but I think in reality it's a very organic thing. If you look back on all these different eras that different sets of people call "golden ages", none of those really came about by any master plan. They just sort of happened - lots of people tuned in and for lots of different reasons liked what they saw.

I'm not saying "eh, it's hopeless, don't bother with tweaks", just calling out the reality is you could tweak to your hearts content (and have logical sounding reasoning for said tweaks) but still fail to move the needle.

 

[Warlord_Gonagy]

I'm enjoying reading these even if I disagree with a lot of them. One thing I've learned from reading many versions of this same thread: F1 means something different to everyone. When the popularity starts to wane, that makes a very tough (impossible?) challenge for the people in charge, because they are getting many different kinds of often contradictory feedback.

Obviously, I have my own opinions on what I think "perfect F1" would look like, but I think in reality it's a very organic thing. If you look back on all these different eras that different sets of people call "golden ages", none of those really came about by any master plan. They just sort of happened - lots of people tuned in and for lots of different reasons liked what they saw.

I'm not saying "eh, it's hopeless, don't bother with tweaks", just calling out the reality is you could tweak to your hearts content (and have logical sounding reasoning for said tweaks) but still fail to move the needle.

Dude, that's deep.

Actually, though, you have a pretty good point there. F1 is something different to different people. I knew what drew me, was as a kid I was REALLY into karting. And hearing about something so insanely fast, I decided to watch it myself. The very first race I watched was Brazil 2008; obviously, I was hooked after that. I think that F1 is unique among motorsport just because of that ability to mean different thing to different people.

 

[Magnar Berset]

Strange article. Why make F1 more like GT racing? F1 have many followers, it doesn't need change. I agree with most of the points and that is why I watch GT racing and there is so much content that I don't have time for it all. Don't change F1. That will only ruin it for those who like it the way it is.

12 hours of Sebring just got available on youtube for free. Search for the Imsa channel.

 

[dud]

Strange article. Why make F1 more like GT racing? F1 have many followers, it doesn't need change. I agree with most of the points and that is why I watch GT racing and there is so much content that I don't have time for it all. Don't change F1. That will only ruin it for those who like it the way it is.

12 hours of Sebring just got available on youtube for free. Search for the Imsa channel.

Enjoyment when watching a repeated show, whether it is a TV series, a sport like ski racing, or a car racing series, depends on character development. Many of us have a long history of building useless knowledge about the cars in F1, the people, the drivers, the teams.

Giving that up for some random GT thing is not just difficult from a change perspective. The problem is that even if you wanted to you cannot build that pile of useless knowledge:

• Information about the cars is very sparse.
• Entire racing series around GT1, GT2, GT3, GTE and GTwhatnot appear and disappear with an astonishing frequency. I understand there is a single dude in charge of that, the name escapes me right now.
• The drivers are very exchangeable, and for the longer races you have more than one driver per car anyway.

Of course the good thing is that you don't have to rely on NBC or Disney to give you crappy coverage, but that is a US-specific problem.

 

[motoliser]

V8 v10 or v20 whatever mate... just give us back the engine sounds and stop making stupid tracks like Paul ricard.

 

[wombat999]

Actually, after reading most of the posts in this thread the only conclusion I come to is that Formula 1 is broken and can't be fixed.
Liberty purchased the whole traveling circus for one reason and one reason only, to make money and preferably a (very) fat profit.

 

[Warlord_Gonagy]

Actually, after reading most of the posts in this thread the only conclusion I come to is that Formula 1 is broken and can't be fixed.
Liberty purchased the whole traveling circus for one reason and one reason only, to make money and preferably a (very) fat profit.

I think F1 COULD be fixed, with the right people in charge. Whether Liberty are those people, well, that has yet to be seen. That being said, I don't actually mind the way it is right now to be honest. Yes, there are some things I would change (Obviously, I wrote a short essay about it), but the sport at its core is still interesting to me. Until it becomes a spec series, I and many others will continue to watch it. That being said, I think with Indycar on the rise, F1 will have to step up its game.

 

[Ghoults]

Aerodynamics:
No drs. Duhh! Goal is to have less downforce and reduce the effects of dirty air as much as possible. This change includes having simpler wing elements in the car because less appendages = less dirty air effect. Less elements in front wings. Wings are also made bigger but they still produce less downforce due to smaller angle of attack. Bigger area makes them less sensitive to dirty air. For rear wing make it single element. End plates outer side is standard but inner side is free to shape.

I'd also reduce a lot of the ground effect. Lots of people think ground effects is the path to close racing but it is not that simple. First of all the floor is more sensitive to the yaw of the car. The more sideways you get the more the floor loses downforce whereas with wings you may even gain a little bit of downforce for the first 10 degrees. Secondly the floor of the car is hidden so even if teams could build marvelous designs there we would never see them. Make the floor almost completely flat and smaller. Another thing about the wings is that the rear wing wake doesn't really create much dirty air as the wake is so high in the air. Whereas a powerful and highly efficient floor can create lots of dirty air that stays closer to the ground possibly harming the car behind a lot more.

As a whole the aerodynamics of the car also make the cars look unique. As such high level of aerodynamics design is preferrable as long as it can produce different looking cars while also allowing close racing. More research is needed to figure out the effects of the tire wake. If data shows that covering the front or rear wheels improves raceability of the cars siginificantly then some kind of wheel covers should be introduced. However f1 should look like openwheelers so special care needs to be take to keep that look. This technical direction would also allow f1 to explore wings mounted directly to suspension.


Chassis:
Set minimum and maximum car lengths. Car length should be shorther than the limousines of today. I'd definitely keep the halo. Obviously it needs to look prettier. I'd also take mirrors off the cars and put lcd screens in cockpit to give better visibility for the drivers. Driver cell standardized to 80kg with movable weights so tall drivers are not disadvantaged. No reflueling. I want positions to be decided on track. Not in the pits. And I don't like seeing cars on fire. If a team wants to run double brake pedal system like mclaren did then let them. I think things like that make driver skill more important. Allow weight jacker in car setting like indycar but it is full driver controlled. And weight jackers in all corners. So a driver can be the active suspension.


Engines:
3 liter engines NA engines or equivalent options in terms of speed. Power levels about 850hp. Introduce engine BOP (balance of performance). The goal is to make sure there won't be one single engine type everyone have to switch to but all kinds of engines can be competitive. This also encourages teams to try new types of engines in f1 (5 strokes, opposing pistons, wankels*, new valvetrains). 10 engines per season. All teams have to start the race with x amount of fuel and there is fuel flow limit. The goal is to prevent fuel saving in races. Also make the cost a 3 million per season fixed price with an obligation to sell the engine to 3 other teams if there are buyers. And make it that manufacturer can not introduce a new engine version unless BOP proves they are down on performance and they can only introduce an update once they are able to produce new engines for all their customers. More effort put into making the fuels more eco friendly. Keep the stock ECU.
* No you can not run 3 liter wankels

Getting rid of the hybrids would allow weight reduction of 100kg. So set minimum weight 630kg.


Gearboxes:
I'd love to see clutches and H-pattern shifters in f1 but I don't think that is reasonable. I'd keep the equantal gearboxes. Also adding gear sticks into the cockpits would mean making the cars bigger because the cockpits need to be bigger. Something like a sequental 5 or 6 or 7 speed box would be fine. No cvt gearboxes because they make the cars sound horrible.


Tires:
Switch to bias ply slicks. Put bigger wheels on the cars. I don't personally mind the 13 inch wheels but there is no point continuing to use that obscure tire size. Keep the tire sizes as is. Goal is to have oversteery cars. I want to see drivers fighting oversteer and not understeer. I don't mind pirelli introducing 200 different compounds per year. I just want the tire selection to be more unpredictable so teams can not number crunch everything to the last hundreth of tenth. 4 tire compounds per weekend with the one of the race tires only available in race for the first stint (you can not practise with that tire). You can mismatch the tires as you want. Even run different tire in each corner if you want to.


Race procedures:
Make car scrutineerings public with 4k live streams. After the race the top three cars are put on pedestal for photographers with their noses, tires and engine covers taken off to show off the tech. Let drivers switch their helmet designs as often as they want. It is beyond moronic that they can't change their helmet designs during the season. Improve the money distribution and throw the strategy group to the thrash bin. It is plain wrong that the tech rules of f1 are decided by top 5 teams who also get paid tons of money for that. F1 needs a strong boss and the manufacturers have too much weight now in the decision making process. Also if anyone mentions "road relevance" in any official f1 interviews he is given 10k£ fine.

 

[Daniel Pettit]

Its hard to make the cars slower as immediately Indycar and Super Formula jump in and they are quicker than F1. Even WEC cars would outpace an F1 car and don't think for a second they wouldn't jump on that from a marketing POV.

In F1 people will spend what they have. They key is to get them spending it on something that doesn't make their cars way way faster... namely aero. If I was in charge i'd do three things right away.

- Each team can enter up to 3 cars. All cars count equally for the constructors championship.
- Take the required parts list (what teams have to produce themselves) and rip it up.
- Remove the engine race-life rules and instead cost cap what an engine contract can be.

Then i'd sit back and watch them sort it all out.

Yes the teams will start to complain and moan about overhead and increased costs but that's just because they don't want to risk taking their valuable aero budget and spending it on something less guaranteed like a third car. The teams all have them anyway as spares at the track just in case. Also it allows a true customer car, which again I don't buy into the concept of lower teams not having the nous to run them. Finally it allows the engines to be run sensibly but stops the contracts becoming onerous.

the big issue with F1 and motorsport in general is that manufactures always want to spend their way to victory.

 

[ETandK]

My 2 cents worth,

From a pure racing perspective you only have to watch MotoGP to see how broken F1 is.

Look at the opening race last Sunday evening, look at the talent and charisma of the riders, multiple constructors and lastly Pit Babes!

F1 has lost the plot years back, they may as well replace the drivers with AI robots, it won't make much difference seeing that so much is Engineering dependent and controlled.

Ex-F1 fan..........

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

I'd love to see clutches and H-pattern shifters in f1 but I don't think that is reasonable.

As (almost) the entire world uses them in their road cars I would love to see H-pattern shifters return in F1 and see the artists at work with a stick again like in the good old Senna days.

 

[F_B]

lol @ all the 41 (so far) disagrees. Some people just don’t want to realize they’re on a sinking ship.

 

[Tberg]

I see mostly old farts here being stuck in the past. Let's hear it from the younger audience, how they see F1 today and forward.
I watch F1 solely because I have someone to root for. So to me, diversity in F1 is key, that it's a global thing, hopefully having someone that shows your flag or that you find exceptionally talented that you can't miss it. I also love when the underdogs surprices, or the leaders crash into each other (Mercs on Barca f.i.), and I tell you, it's all there in contemporary F1, just like it was 30 years ago when it was ALSO 1-2 teams ruling. I don't need to see people get hurt or die in F1 to make it great.
I couldn't care less for V12 or Hybrid, sound or not, I think it's great F1 is the pinnacle of technology and it should stay that way. So oldies, maybe you could let go of your fond memories how things should be, or it could forever make your eyes roll.

This doesn't mean that I prefer F1 cars or Tilke tracks over what was in the past, on the contrary.

 

[the_racer]

F1 must have more Road Relevance at lower costs to attract more Manufacturers (although I would like to see them on WEC to be honest).

More Manufacturers must equal to more competition, right?

 

[manu68]

Big question.
I was a big big fan and I quit totally looking/going at formula races.
Many reasons for that.
My personal opinion.

Allow fans to come back to the historical tracks:
It is bull..... to have races at singapour or china etc... It is for commercial purpose, but the history of Formula one is not there.
We need silverstone / nurburgring / watkinsglen / imola / kyalami,

Allow fans to buy tickets. No tickets above 50€ for the all week end, with possibility to move around the track (all tribune).

Free broadcast on public TV (at least one channel per country)

Great looking and loud cars with about no downforce (no appendice allowed). (see 1967)
Design open, except the global dimensions of the car and tyres.
Petrol limited to an average of 30l / 100km during the all race week end (refueling free) (or equivalent KW electricity) . It should be enough to build crazy cars . You make more laps during the week end, you can use more fuel. You stay on the pit , you can use less fuel. Big motor ? you are limited in the number of laps you could do
Small motor? make all the laps you want.
No communication with the pilot, no telemetry. (the pilot "feels" and explain to engineers)

24 races per year, 2 races per month
4 chassis per team and per season / 8 motors blocs / 8 gearbox
Number of pilot one to four per race, choice of the team


I may be totally wrong. I am not an expert.
What I feel is just that the fan must be on the side of the track, looking at good looking cars making a lot of noise, with pilots fighting and not robots at the wheel. The engineers should look at the car when it comes back to the pits and imagine what could be done to make it quicker, without much information except the feeling of the pilot.

The fact is that I don't see any interest in looking at the current Formula one.

 

[Erg]

Let the Formula E to become the full tech side of openwheel motorsport, bring back V10 engine to F1 and let the teams free on aero designs, tyre selections, fuel etc... So in that way F1 would be fun side while FE is tech side...

That's actually what I would do...

To be honest, F1 looks unnecessary to me day by day in its actual shape...

 

[F_B]

Actually I don’t think engines or sound are a problem imo. What F1 lacks is the real racing against each other, people want to see duels, overtakes (not drs ones), close racing. That’s what’s missing in modern F1.

 

[Enerjex]

A couple of things I'd like to see:
Engine - minimum v10, didn't mind the v8 but just didn't have the anger of the v10. The idea of multiple engine configs is also appealing though and may keep the environmentalists/sponsors happy.
Fuel stops - different fuel loads on different cars added an extra dimension, and a race could turn on it's head quickly. Tyre strategic alone doesn't offer the same variability.