rjsa wrote:I overstated my case here and stand corrected. The V6 is way betten than the L4, but I'd like to see free revs. After you watched the 20K RPM V10s live it's been downhill all the way.
That is debatable. Your preferences. Others have different preferences.
And that's a bad thing. We are not the ones driving, we are watching in search of thrill, and mule kick engines are more thrilling.
With that kind of nostalgic backwards philosophy we could as well watch the 16 cylinder monsters of the 1930s. You have got to move on and address today's issues to keep F1 interesting to technical fans and the real world.
I guess you should review what you've written here. Tyres increasing downforce and downforce improving engine performance... nah.
If you quote correctly and think about it my comment will become clear to you. Performance is always dependant of the way that tyres and aero convert the available engine power into performance. Engine drivability also plays a role as I have pointed out. And performance simply is not limit less. There are limits that sensible people do not consider exceeding.
You see, the business of F1 is the one of intertaining people and convincing them to buy things they don't need. None of this is rational.
I neither see F1 limited to just the entertainment function nor do I have such a narrow view of the business case. F1 is also sport, excitement, passion, drama and a show of engineering prowess. It can promote a lot of positive things that are useful to society and the fans. Sporting and work ethics, canalizing the thrill of racing in a fashion that's acceptable, promoting road and track safety, promoting worthy technologies and useful products.
Those who pay the bill (by freely lending their eyes to be rented to advertisers, the sponsors) are really not concerned with the engineering side of anything, neither the rational behind things. They (we?) want thrill. Not playing chess against the computer or running matlab as a hobby.
It appears to me that you have a too narrow perspective that isn't shared by all. There are plenty of people who prefer to pay rather than have to endure advertising. Other stake holders like the engine manufacturers also sink big money into F1 and they want a reasonable return and then there are the teams who have twice agreed to the turbo engine plan. There are many people with more than a puerile thrill seeking perspective who have a stake in F1.