Two horse race already?

[raphael123]

It must be said that I would prefer to see 8 different teams win in a season to make it more interesting. Maybe we need the reverse grid system to liven it up a bit.

I HATE that idea!!

[555-04Q2]

I HATE that idea!!

So do I but the current format is...ummm.....well....not providing us with true wheel to wheel racing. I can play follow my leader in my driveway at home. Here these guys have 300 km/h + cars on a race track and they dont/cant overtake. Give them insentive to pass, put a couple of Super Aguri's in front of them for 10 laps without a blue flag.

[ShiftingGears]

So do I but the current format is...ummm.....well....not providing us with true wheel to wheel racing. I can play follow my leader in my driveway at home. Here these guys have 300 km/h + cars on a race track and they dont/cant overtake. Give them insentive to pass, put a couple of Super Aguri's in front of them for 10 laps without a blue flag.

Yeah but instead of screwing up the idea thats worked for 70+ years that you earn your position at the front of the grid with the reverse grid gimmick, the FIA instead needs to do something about the technology in the sport, such as the winglets, narrow cars, grooved tyres, etc etc.

Gimmicks like reverse grids are bandaid solutions that won't solve the problem.
It isn't the format, its the technology.

[raphael123]

I agree with theugsquirrel here. It's not the fact the fastest start first and the slowest start last that stops overtaking, it's the technology and aerodynamics of the cars.

If all you want is wheel to wheel racing there are many other formula's which can provide you with that.

Also I think it'd be wrong to penalise guys who do the best jobs.

Reverse order grid really really really would be a last resort thing!! Similar to that of the weight theory, where if you win, weight is added to your car, until you stop winning. They have it in BTCC, and though it has made the racing exciting, it's been manipulated, fabricated in a way. I would much rather it like it use to be!

[ArrowsFA1]

Gimmicks like reverse grids are bandaid solutions that won't solve the problem.

I agree 100%

Perhaps Max could explain sometime why, when the FIA change the regs so frequently, they do nothing about aerodynamics He wants to cut costs and yet teams build more bigger and better wind tunnels which only succeed in making the cars butt ugly and stifle the racing

[555-04Q2]

It isn't the format, its the technology.

F1 has been technology driven for a long time. We used to get overtaking in the old days as you know even with technologhy in the sport. Technology combined with safety issues are the reason for the lack of real racing. Get rid of Bernie, Max, the GPDA and aero packages and, POOF, we will have overtaking again.

[F1boat]

I agree 100%

Perhaps Max could explain sometime why, when the FIA change the regs so frequently, they do nothing about aerodynamics He wants to cut costs and yet teams build more bigger and better wind tunnels which only succeed in making the cars butt ugly and stifle the racing

Actually I love the form of modern cars. I detest that this form is hidden, however, hidden under various...things, which grow from the car like tentacles.

[aryan]

I wonder whether once comes a day, when early 80s come back - a five horse race! Oh, we can only dream about it at the moment...

Two reasons I can think of.

Until the early 80s, teams had extremely poor reliabilites. There were teams which were fast but unreliable (taking it over the limit), and slower cars with more reliability. Sometimes faster cars won, sometimes they broke down and others won, hence you had multiple contenders in terms of championship.

Since then, reliability has improved year by year. There was a race (I think Monza 2005) in which there were no DNFs.

The second reason IMO is that until the early 80s, the regulations were rather loose and teams had more room to think out of the box and implement alternative designs, so the cars were very different from each other. Some of these cars performed better on some circuits, others on other circuits.

Since then, the rules have virtually fixed the mechanical underlyings of the cars, so all cars nealy perform equal on all circuits. The only variation most of the times is only in terms of aero, hence you have the current situation where all of the field is within 2 seconds a lap of each other, and 90% of that difference is made up of aero.

Just my 0.02 cents, I am not old enough to have actually watched the 82 or 83 seasons.

[F1boat]

BTW before judging that the fight will be only between McLaren and Ferrari, let's wait till Spain. In the beginning of 2005, Renault seemed to dominate, followed by Toyota and Ferrari, but then McLaren created a monster.
After the huge brake after Bahrain, we might see BMW or Renault improving their pace, or McLaren or Ferrari losing too much ground - so it still could be one-horse or 4-horse race. Unlikely to happen, but possible.

[wedge]

Until the early 80s, teams had extremely poor reliabilites. There were teams which were fast but unreliable (taking it over the limit), and slower cars with more reliability. Sometimes faster cars won, sometimes they broke down and others won, hence you had multiple contenders in terms of championship.

The 1980s was when teams started messing with ECU and experimenting with hydraulics. Quite naturally in the 80s and 90s there were loads of transmission and hydraulics failures.

Mansell absolutely hated driving the first of the Williams with Active Suspension and Semi-Automatic Gearbox. He thought it was completely useless because it was they very unreliable and kept braking down, whereas Patrick Head wanted Mansell to persevere with it so they could develop the system.

It probably wasn't until the mid or latter half of the 1990s that the transmission became ultra-reliable and its been the last 6/7years that flappy paddle gears are becoming standard on 'normal' road cars.

I agree 100%

Perhaps Max could explain sometime why, when the FIA change the regs so frequently, they do nothing about aerodynamics He wants to cut costs and yet teams build more bigger and better wind tunnels which only succeed in making the cars butt ugly and stifle the racing

Have you seen the IRL cars? They have an interesting aero-package.

They are butt ugly, but it should be where F1 should be. More drag for bigger holes in the air.

But F1 is supposed to be the pinnacle of technology. There are elitists like Ron Dennis who want to keep it that way. The manufacturers have an enormous stake in F1 these days, why should they work with inferior technology? I suspect the manufacturers would rather walk-out and then where would F1 be?