Sprint Race Parc Ferme Ideas

[SiLo]

After Lewis and Charles got disqualified from the US Grand Prix at the weekend, I was thinking about the parc ferme rules and what teams are allowed to replace under them.

I believe they are allowed to replace damaged parts with like for like replacements, which is fair in my opinion and has been in place for some time now. The FIA then report what parts teams have replaced to competitors.

The plank is not allowed to be replaced, however, with the sprint race and shootout being part of the parc ferme timelines, the cars are now doing about 90 minutes extra running on the same plank, which on a normal weekend gets replaced between free practice sessions if required.

I would like to discuss the idea that parc ferme is either opened up more on sprint weekends to allow setup changes prior to the race, or that the plank is something that can also be changed out depending on wear. It's possible a team could run cars that during qualifying and race are above wear requirements, but adding on the extra running are below those requirements. With the lack of practice sessions available during a sprint weekend, should they be allowed this flexibility?

We saw Red Bull sacrifice pace to be compliant, which under the current rules is the correct thing to do, but would we rather see teams running what is effectively closer to the normal weekend parc ferme rules, or force them to change their usual setup and operations to accommodate?

I'm open to ideas here and interested to hear what people think.

Another topic is all cars being measured for wear after the race because its very quick to do, rather than random checks.

[basti313]

Thank you for opening this up, I think it is a good thing to discuss. Especially as Park Ferme was always an idea to stop cost explosion and one hit wonders...both are not as relevant anymore as in the past.

But honestly, I think the plank discussion does not make any sense. It was a bad combination of an aggressive setup and a bumpy track. I see no reason, why this should trigger rule changes. The teams need to sort this out, this is their part of the game and for the spectator it is completely irrelevant. An allowed exchange would just end up in running the cars lower, there is no benefit for anyone.

Still I think the current Park Ferme rule is nonsense. A bad Friday setup just kills the weekend, it does not spice up anything. In contrast if they would simply lift Park Ferme and just do a Park Ferme rule on Saturday it would spice things up, give more tension and even more work to the teams in terms of getting the setups right:
- You would need to develop a Q and Race setup on Friday.
- You would need to tune this setup for Saturday.
- You try to nail the setup again on Sunday.

That would really put the success down to the ability to set up the car by the driver and his race engineers. I would love to see it in this way.

[SiLo]

Thank you for opening this up, I think it is a good thing to discuss. Especially as Park Ferme was always an idea to stop cost explosion and one hit wonders...both are not as relevant anymore as in the past.

But honestly, I think the plank discussion does not make any sense. It was a bad combination of an aggressive setup and a bumpy track. I see no reason, why this should trigger rule changes. The teams need to sort this out, this is their part of the game and for the spectator it is completely irrelevant. An allowed exchange would just end up in running the cars lower, there is no benefit for anyone.

Still I think the current Park Ferme rule is nonsense. A bad Friday setup just kills the weekend, it does not spice up anything. In contrast if they would simply lift Park Ferme and just do a Park Ferme rule on Saturday it would spice things up, give more tension and even more work to the teams in terms of getting the setups right:
- You would need to develop a Q and Race setup on Friday.
- You would need to tune this setup for Saturday.
- You try to nail the setup again on Sunday.

That would really put the success down to the ability to set up the car by the driver and his race engineers. I would love to see it in this way.

I agree with this really. I'd rather see parc ferme opened up on the saturday after the race for teams to make changes again. Limiting their setup doesn't help them.