I remember teams bringing upto 4 chassis to a race, but I don't ever recall a time they would ever change between qualy and race unless there was a problem. Regardless of how good your manufacture and assembly capabilities are, if you change a chassis you have yourself a different car. To race with a chassis that was not setup in qualifying would be absolutely crazy and I can't believe anybody did that by choice.Chuckjr wrote:I'm just curious, but what does it cost to "replace a chassis" these days? It seems this action is avoided unless there is something very wrong with the car or it's totaled. Is this avoidance to change because of cost or another reason? Years ago they would bring 4 chassis to a race weekend and often change them, if I remember correctly, between quali and race. Why is it so rare now to do it--change a chassis at any point during a season?
In short, changing a chassis is always a big deal. Even stepping into the T-car back in the day would be avoided unless absolutely necessary because its an unproven car.
Cost surely will come into it as well. I'd guess that an F1 tub is by far the most expensive chassis component to develop and also to manufacture. To build a tub to existing drawings would still take a 6 figure sum I'd guess.
