Opinion | How To Fix Formula One?

[Jach]

Fix Forums One... Just get rid of those foolish comments from those audience who have no idea about Formula One

 

[graham123]

easiest fix... let smaller teams buy last years cars from bigger teams.. save small teams hell of alot in dev costs and would be competative out the box closing up gaps, also big tyres small wings

 

[Linngor]

Let's go back to the V10 or V12 engines. Current engines are boring. If I want to see something adapted to energy saving and renewable energy, then I would look at Formula E.


If you want, leave the rest of the technology. It would be very interesting to combine it with real engines.

Also cars should be more shock resistant. They almost break just by looking at them.

 

[ironsheik316]

Bring back V10 engines, Hour long qualifying, Refuel and tyres during the race, give back the rights to a free to air channel, less rounds in the championship, there's too many of these countries with tracks that are so forgettable, no coms back to pits,

 

[graham123]

Just a thought...new countries wanting to host races must build a track from a list of now defunct classic tracks.

and what would you put on the list

 

[Turk]

F1 is a victim of it's own success and the state of the modern world. It will never be able to go back to what it was, those days are gone, it's just not possible, F1 needs to look forward and turn it into a sport that's fair, but still the pinnacle of Motorsport. IE: The fastest.

F1 developed from rich elites playing with their toys, it gradually got more advanced to the point you needed a team and business to develop the cars. The technology advanced to the point everything from the driver to the materials are pushed to their absolute limits. There's basically no where left to go.

The truth is F1 can't go back, it's simply not going to have the same levels of innovation, it's never going to be the spectacle it was in the past in the past (incredibly fast cars are all over the place, it's not a big deal anymore, it doesn't impress people) the engineers have already exceeded any reasonable safe limits. So I think everybody just needs to let go of the nostalgia, old F1 is a thing of the past, it just isn't possible to replicate those times anymore.

If it's to be a fair sport everyone has to be on a level playing field, even when it comes to pit crew and development staff. It's not fair a company like Mercedes can dedicate hundreds of people to a task and other teams might have to make do with half or less. People make a huge difference.

I don't know where the sport goes. It's almost easier for the likes of SRO and GT cars because they start with a consumer product and make it fit into the race series. F1 can't do that. They are restricted with what they can develop and if they do make something ground breaking it's deemed illegal and banned. So what's the point?

Maybe the time has come to just make it single series, and the sport decides how it's going to stay at the top speed wise. Teams can make suggestions and they all agree on what developments get implemented year to year, but every body gets the same update. Then at the very least it's a sport.

I wouldn't be completely happy with that, I like the development and engineering, but if the development is restricted and big improvements deemed unfair, it's hard to see what teams are gaining from pumping millions into development. They need to go back to scratch with F1 and figure out a way of making it work in the modern world, or it will completely die.



I wouldn't remove downforce either, in the past I've thought that would make the car more interesting, maybe even more fun to drive (for a sim racer) but professional drivers don't slide cars around anyway, so I don't think it will look much different to the viewer, just slower, and slower is bad for F1s reputation. There are ways of fixing some of the dirty air problems, and seeing what the new guys coming through like Max Verstappen can do it makes me feel like there's a generation coming that will be better able to control F1 cars with high downforce. F1 is the fastest because of it's downforce, I'm certain there's a way to engineer that downforce to work better for racing.

 

[Nick Hill]

I did end up reading Stefan Johansson's blog post - found here: https://stefanjohansson.art/pages/make-racing-awesome-again

I can't say I categorically agree with him across the board, but at the absolute minimum I have to say he has some good points and many others that have spurred me to at least reanalyze some of my beliefs about what F1 is/isn't.

I am in agreement with a previous poster - any proposal that starts with "they need to go back to..." instantly puts me on guard. That said...you can't let that trap you into never questioning anything or admitting to something being a mistake (or having gone too far).

In the case of aero...well, maybe it's gone too far. Stefan kind of got through to me the way he pointed out how aero really lurks below so many other complaints. The tracks are boring. Well, the tracks are that way because the aero makes it hard to pass unless the tracks are laid out that way. DRS sucks, but the racing is boring without it. Well, when you can't properly follow because of the aero wash, you need something like DRS if you want passing. Competition is too lopsided. Guess what the most expensive aspect of an F1 program is. The cars aren't powerful anymore. On and on.

Beyond that...if you really step back and look at it...how many of us really care about aero in a way that is proportionate with the emphasis placed on it within the sport? Those people are definitely out there, but I have a feeling it's a relatively small subset. I have certainly had the experience of heading over to Autosport mid season and seeing some "spy photos" or renderings of some winglet or slightly different angles fin or something and had to ask myself "what are we doing here, exactly?" If you are a real aero enthusiast, I'm sure that's a lot of fun...but, again, I really don't think most of us consider ourselves aero enthusiasts. Beyond that, how does aero the extreme we see it played out in F1 have any bearing on real life? For road cars (except for the most extreme supercars), it's all about drag. The downforce numbers are impressive but I think we have to be honest enough to ask "at what cost?" The cost may end up being the sport itself.

 

[rodrigoxm49]

When you talk about technology it's clear for me that you just don't like the F1 design, so you will never like F1 anyway. Forget about it. F1 is not about driver, is about team, driver and technology/development. All of these things, 33% each. The most beautifull thing on F1 is seen how close some car are with incredible different approach and how good the drivers can deal with the most advanced cars in the worl. So if you don't like F1, there's no problem at all, but there's absolutely no fix to be made to change this tripod. If don't like the F1 design, there's plenty other motorsport to enjoy. But this is how F1 works. And should never change. It's unique, it's what make F1 incredible the way it is and always be, the most know category (by very far) in motorsport. Very very very far.

The only thing they should do will be done on 2022 (should be 2021 if it was not Covid19). Venturi effect will help to make overtakes more likely or at least make cars much closer than than can be now since there's too much dirty air. But something need to be said. Old F1 have even more difference between the cars on the grid (5 to 10 seconds!!!!) and less overtakes (%) on non lapped drivers. Anyone can see old F1 racers. Nothing really different from what we see now, but more reliable cars and much closer cars in timing. Much more often GP was very boring than now. Much more. But people are too nostalgic to remember.

 

[Turk]

Beyond that...if you really step back and look at it...how many of us really care about aero in a way that is proportionate with the emphasis placed on it within the sport?

The problem is aero makes F1 the fastest motorsport. Take that away or reduce it and F1 cars are going to lose their pinnacle of motorsport badge because they can't go through the corners any faster than any other lower class of race car. I don't think removing aero will make things more exciting to watch because F1 drivers are never going to be sliding the car around, they'll just slow down and work with the traction they've got.

When you talk about technology it's clear for me that you just don't like the F1 design, so you will never like F1 anyway. Forget about it. F1 is not about driver, is about team, driver and technology/development. All of these things, 33% each.[/quote) Sure, but the development part has dried up to a trickle and isn't ever going to offer the advancements it did in the past. It's all minor tiny changes that are found by having teams of people sift through data to find minor tweaks they can make to gain minuscule advantages. From a spectators point of view there's nothing to see, we're never going to see a jump like the first time they started adding turbos or wings.

But something need to be said. Old F1 have even more difference between the cars on the grid (5 to 10 seconds!!!!) and less overtakes (%) on non lapped drivers. Anyone can see old F1 racers. Nothing really different from what we see now, but more reliable cars and much closer cars in timing.

The difference now is the cost, it's becoming way to expensive. Back then private teams could afford to take part and had the chance to innovate and develop a unique car. Now a team has to be backed by a multinational obscenely wealthy corporation, there's only a handful of companies that have the funds to enter.

 

[sparkmastertape]

I don't think removing aero will make things more exciting to watch because F1 drivers are never going to be sliding the car around, they'll just slow down and work with the traction they've got.

Drivers will always do whatever it is that makes the car go quicker.