How Would You Change Formula 1?

[Just_a_fan]

1. Give the teams a higher share of the income from F1, particularly the lower order teams.
2. Allow greater freedom on the number of cylinders and how they're laid out to form the engine. Allow turbine or mechanical supercharging and rotary engines too.
3. Prevent exhaust blowing of the rear of the car for aero purposes. Exhausts must terminate at least 100mm vertically and 250mm horizontally from any bodywork. The exhausts must terminate with their axis pointing up at 15deg.
4. The FIA measures out the fuel for the race. Each team gets e.g. 100kg (or whatever we want initially) and they decide how they use it. No limit on fuel flow but once it's gone, it's gone. The teams choose their fuel strategy within that limit.
5. One tyre construction for the season. It'll be too hard for some circuits and too soft for others. Get over it guys and engineer your race accordingly. Increase the number of sets available for each driver. Inters and wets to remain as current rules.
6a. Free up the first 300mm of the floor below the sidepods. Allow a much greater maximum radius on the leading edge. This will allow the underside to make more of the overall downforce.
6b. Allow a large diffuser at the rear of the floor behind the sidepods but not in the central 300mm. This central 300mm section will be a mandated crash structure.
7. Limit front and rear wings to a main plane and a flap. Allow the teams to run them at whatever height they wish.
8. Allow active suspension systems. The current plank and stepped underside to remain.
9. No TC and no ABS/ESP systems. Anyone found trying to implement one of these will be thrown out of the season and any prize/"attendance" money withheld.
10. Allow each team 5 days of testing during the season on top of the current pre-season test sessions. They choose when they go testing. Must be at an approved circuit, not a team owned circuit. May be taken on the Monday after a GP at the GP circuit (this would help poorer teams as they wouldn't have to transport everything to another circuit just to test).

I had thought about suggesting success ballast as used in some championships. It's a bit artificial but no worse than e.g. DRS and it has the benefit of bunching up the drivers as the season goes on. No more run away seasons.

[MOWOG]

What an interesting thread. Hmmmmm.......

Here's one comment I agree with completely:

It's amazing how many of these are "I want it to be exactly the same as it was in the particular year I started watching it".

I started watching live in the 60's, and so I want to see cars like Jim Clark and Jackie Stewart drove.

I would favor much more innovation and far less aero. Open the sport to different engine configurations fueled by a variety of fuels. Set the parameters for size and weight, then get out of the way. Eliminate the supine driving position. Re-introduce actual gear change mechanisms. Outlaw carbon brakes. All of the above would put more responsibility on the drivers to drive the cars - a circumstance I strongly support. =D>

I also support giving more money to the lesser teams. It's stupid to make them compete on half the budget of the big boys - or less, in many cases.

Of course, none of this is going to happen. So let me propose something completely different, as Monty Python would say.

When I was a younger lad, I spent a lot of time racing sailboats. In the sailing world, there was an emphasis on one-design racing classes, where all the boats were the same, at least in theory, and the race win went to the best sailor. What if a similar mania should suddenly infect the open wheel racing fraternity? Why, there could be regional and national championships, culminating in a true world champion series at the end of the season. I think that would be wicked cool and ultra exciting.

Don't like that idea? OK, here's another one. Many sports have Senior divisions, where the old bastards get to still compete among themselves. What if there was a series consisting of cars that resembled those of Clark and Stewart and Gurney, et als? What if that series raced all over the world, at the historic tracks like Mosport, Watkins Glen, Brands Hatch, Zandvort, Kyalmi, Mexico City, Estoril and so many others that have fallen into disuse during the Bernie/Tilke era? How cool would THAT be? I think fans would flock to see races like that.

OK. Now back to your regular programming, already in progress.

[langwadt]

bigger wings , bigger tyres, more power

that would make the cars faster so from a safety standpoint that's not an option

[zeph]

Besides the fuel cap I mentioned in my previous post, I do believe aero needs to be restricted as well. Like someone else said, when you have a piece of wing the size of a credit card that costs a million bucks, I think it is time to review the rules.

I believe that a fuel cap would effectively change manufacturers' approach to aero anyway, because one way to save fuel would be to reduce downforce.

Thus it follows that fuel caps would be the best thing that could happen to F1 right now. No need for much more complicated changes or artificial amendments to level the playing field.

And I think it could cause very entertaining and upredictable situations on the track, too!

[strad]

Jim Clarks Lotus, the first one I remember,1964 the MRK XVI engine made 145 HP...Not much competition for a heathy Formula Ford..I reckon we'd have to move foreward of that by a bit.

[FrukostScones]

bigger wings , bigger tyres, more power

that would make the cars faster so from a safety standpoint that's not an option

damn, you ruined my dream... but if i was in charge f1 would return to its glory.

i maybe would trade bigger wings for ground effect skirts

[Richard]

if i was in charge f1 would return to its glory.

When they were slower

[FrukostScones]

if i was in charge f1 would return to its glory.

When they were slower

slower? gloriuosly faster! think faster than 2004! Glory!

[sectionate]

I personally would introduce two things:

1) Allow more freedom in design for teams that run at budget caps - the more you save, the more freedom you are given with the design of the car. I would also stipulate that each team has to submit a budget assessment for the season, from which the FIA can then set that teams design freedom (they would also have to stick to the budget the set at the start). I think this would encourage some very out of the box thinking, and budget restrictions.

2) I would also allow the same type of thing, but with the use of alternative motive powers/technologies - such as Hydrogen Engines etc. It would be slightly different to the above, whereby the more revolutionary the tech, the freer the budget the team has to spend on the tech. This would allow for some newer technologies that are seen to have great potential, mature much quicker then in just the commercial markets.

I haven't a clue how you would police this though, maybe ban lawyers from the sport?

[strad]

after a certain point top speed doesn't really matter...it's how quick..not how fast

[xpensive]

after a certain point top speed doesn't really matter...it's how quick..not how fast

Speed thrills, no doubt about it, but you must have the track to support it. You need 1000 Hp and a long straight with plenty of slipstreaming, followed by a wide entry hairpin, that's the recipe for overtaking right there.

[NowyszRacing6]

1: keep the engines revving in the 18-19k range. that sound is one of the best and most unique things about f1, and definitely adds to spectators' and everyone else's enjoyment of the sport.

2: tire technology is good enough to make stickier tires which will also not degrade like pirellis. use these while putting in rules that limit aero somewhat, so the balance is shifted more toward mechanical grip, and we don't have races where driver's don't push any more.

3: have f1 pay each team an equal amount, so smaller teams will have a little more support and can keep up with the bigger ones. this should help eliminate pay drivers too

4: no more gigantic asphalt run-offs in every corner. grass is fine in many places, and this will keep races from being ruined by "4 tire off" penalties ( like in hungary with massa and grosjean). drivers will also be able to use more of their skill in figuring out how to use all the track in the best way to go faster. Also maybe use tec-pro or safer barriers to create solid boundaries in some places (it's much more exciting to see a driver hit an apex by a wall within inches than to just see them go over a painted line or a kerb). these would also be relatively safe compared to concrete or armco.

[Tim.Wright]

In my fantasy series Id mandate a torqe and speed sensor measuring all driven wheels. Using these Id impose a limit of say 800hp and scrap pretty much all of the restrictions on the power train. Id open up electric, hybrid, diesel whatever. No restrictors or other BS to balance the power, just the power limit at the wheels. Goes with out saying that torque vectoring, trick diffs etc would all be legal.

Id mandate a maximum bodywork radius of 100mm and ban any concave surfaces because f**k aerodynamics. There would be very few exceptions to allow inlets and exhaust. This would basically delete all wings, bargeboards, vortex generators and all other aero bs. The car shapes would eventually evole to something which is an optimum in terms of downforce and drag instead of being defined by pages and pages of regs.

Id drop the minimum weight a lot but put only allow a handful of permitted materials in the vehicle construction. The point of this being that it means that every system on the car will need to prove its worth its weight in terms of performance. It will cut out unnecessary crap like now where every car carries around a heavy kers system which only make the cars faster because the minimum weight is so high there is no mass penalty.

Id deregulate suspension too and make them run on bad surfaces so they will actually need a suspension system on the car.

The only thing Im missing is some way to stop the driver from taking a back seat to all the technology... perhaps the wheel torques must remain proportional to the divers throttle pedal position or something. Actually if I owned F1 Id ban drivers totally, just so this forum would be nicer to read on race weekends...

Id guess that with so many technical freedoms in my series it will take about 50-80years for the teams to converge to an optimum. If you thought the Schumacher era was boring with one continuous winner, my series would probably be like that for a good 30-40 years.

[langwadt]

after a certain point top speed doesn't really matter...it's how quick..not how fast

Speed thrills, no doubt about it, but you must have the track to support it. You need 1000 Hp and a long straight with plenty of slipstreaming, followed by a wide entry hairpin, that's the recipe for overtaking right there.

but for the majority of viewers speed has little meaning, when I sit in front of the tv I can't really tell if they are
doing 250 or 350 km/h , it is just a number

[Tim.Wright]

I like modern F1! I only have two changes:

1 DRS is restricted only by the number of activations per race. Any driver can use it any time, but only (# laps/2) times per race.

So you're telling me... if you could have F1 any way you wanted... you would keep DRS??