Changes to F1?

Roger · 23 April 04, 13:51

What do you make of the new proposals being mooted by the FIA? Quote from GrandPrix.com

"The FIA dropped a legislative bomb on Formula 1 at Imola with a list of preliminary proposals for its rules and regulations for 2008. These must be decided by the end of December 2005 and obviously there is going to be a lot of negotiating before the final package emerges. FIA President Max Mosley's proposals are, however, a fairly radical selection which include a switch to 2.4-litre four-valve V8 engines which must be used for two race weekends, a ban on variable geometry inlet and exhaust systems, a standard electronic control unit supplied to the teams by the FIA, a ban on direct injection and a limit on the stiffness of materials in the cars. The proposals include manual gearboxes with over-rev safeguard, a manual clutch, a ban on electronic differentials, powersteering and a return to standard brakes discs, pads and calipers. The FIA would like to see the weight limit reduced by at least 50kg in an effort to lessen the use of ballast and wants front tyres to be narrower.

Mosley is also proposing no spare cars, cars being held under parc ferme conditions throughout the entire meeting and only one tyre supplier. He also wants a "drastic reduction" in private testing and only two sets of tyres for qualifying and the race and no tyre change during the race unless there is a genuine puncture. Mosley is also suggesting Constructors' points for a maximum of four cars in order to encourage major teams to make cars available to new team. Mosley would like to see no restriction on the sale, loan or exchange of chassis and components and a maximum of 12 entries (of two cars each) to be accepted each year.

The document also calls for majority voting to change sporting and technical regulations.

The proposals are radical but in reality are only really the starting point in a long negotiating process. However it is a good sign that the FIA is willing to make such radical proposals. The teams will no doubt have opinions on all of this and we can look forward to a lot of reaction in the months ahead."

Pretty radical, I know the issue of ballast is a big safety concern, with some cars weighing in at well below 500kg without driver (think about that with 900 ish bhp!) - the ballast, if it became detached in an accident would be a very heavy missile, launched with a lot of energy. So, reducing the overall weight will reduce the ballast that can be carried. Maybe they will also raise the side impact requirments to force heavier chassis.

Smaller front tyres could be pretty key also as it will have a big impact on corner entry, that and the brakes will surely mean that cars will carry less corner speed, have longer braking distances (need to loose more speed just to get into the corner) and also (logically) need to accelerate from a lower speed on corner exit. Sounds like a recipe for better racing to me.

Dan · 23 April 04, 14:26

but they still don't get to the main problem in F1..
the aerodynamics are making it very hard for the cars to run close to each other and reducing the amount of overtaking..
I can understand why they want to slow it down a bit but they really need to change the rules on aero to make the racing more exciting to watch instead of the procession we often have

Roger · 23 April 04, 14:39

I read something very interesting relating to this (BTW - I do agree - aero is a problem).

Tyres, engines and aero have all come on in giant leaps since (let's say 1967

).

Take away the wings and you have cars potentially reaching insane top speeds, so you then take away engine power to control that - BUT the modern tyre is so effective that the low power engine will never have the grunt to unstick the tyre - all making for pretty dull action.

OK, it's not that simple, but it illustrates that these things are quite well interwoven and need to be chipped at in a balanced way. I suspect there is still the issue that F1 should still be the fastest way around a road course in the world, so do you have to have a raft of matching regulation changes from Formula Ford up?

Go back to the mid-eighties formula - is it just me, or were those cars very exciting and also produced some pretty good races. I still love the mental image of Red 5, FW11B giving it stick

23 April 04, 13:51	#1
Roger TT/3 Join Date: May 2003 Location: England Age: 54	Changes to F1? What do you make of the new proposals being mooted by the FIA? Quote from GrandPrix.com "The FIA dropped a legislative bomb on Formula 1 at Imola with a list of preliminary proposals for its rules and regulations for 2008. These must be decided by the end of December 2005 and obviously there is going to be a lot of negotiating before the final package emerges. FIA President Max Mosley's proposals are, however, a fairly radical selection which include a switch to 2.4-litre four-valve V8 engines which must be used for two race weekends, a ban on variable geometry inlet and exhaust systems, a standard electronic control unit supplied to the teams by the FIA, a ban on direct injection and a limit on the stiffness of materials in the cars. The proposals include manual gearboxes with over-rev safeguard, a manual clutch, a ban on electronic differentials, powersteering and a return to standard brakes discs, pads and calipers. The FIA would like to see the weight limit reduced by at least 50kg in an effort to lessen the use of ballast and wants front tyres to be narrower. Mosley is also proposing no spare cars, cars being held under parc ferme conditions throughout the entire meeting and only one tyre supplier. He also wants a "drastic reduction" in private testing and only two sets of tyres for qualifying and the race and no tyre change during the race unless there is a genuine puncture. Mosley is also suggesting Constructors' points for a maximum of four cars in order to encourage major teams to make cars available to new team. Mosley would like to see no restriction on the sale, loan or exchange of chassis and components and a maximum of 12 entries (of two cars each) to be accepted each year. The document also calls for majority voting to change sporting and technical regulations. The proposals are radical but in reality are only really the starting point in a long negotiating process. However it is a good sign that the FIA is willing to make such radical proposals. The teams will no doubt have opinions on all of this and we can look forward to a lot of reaction in the months ahead." Pretty radical, I know the issue of ballast is a big safety concern, with some cars weighing in at well below 500kg without driver (think about that with 900 ish bhp!) - the ballast, if it became detached in an accident would be a very heavy missile, launched with a lot of energy. So, reducing the overall weight will reduce the ballast that can be carried. Maybe they will also raise the side impact requirments to force heavier chassis. Smaller front tyres could be pretty key also as it will have a big impact on corner entry, that and the brakes will surely mean that cars will carry less corner speed, have longer braking distances (need to loose more speed just to get into the corner) and also (logically) need to accelerate from a lower speed on corner exit. Sounds like a recipe for better racing to me.

23 April 04, 14:26	#2
Dan Site Founder Join Date: Feb 2003	but they still don't get to the main problem in F1.. the aerodynamics are making it very hard for the cars to run close to each other and reducing the amount of overtaking.. I can understand why they want to slow it down a bit but they really need to change the rules on aero to make the racing more exciting to watch instead of the procession we often have

23 April 04, 14:39	#3
Roger TT/3 Join Date: May 2003 Location: England Age: 54	I read something very interesting relating to this (BTW - I do agree - aero is a problem). Tyres, engines and aero have all come on in giant leaps since (let's say 1967 ). Take away the wings and you have cars potentially reaching insane top speeds, so you then take away engine power to control that - BUT the modern tyre is so effective that the low power engine will never have the grunt to unstick the tyre - all making for pretty dull action. OK, it's not that simple, but it illustrates that these things are quite well interwoven and need to be chipped at in a balanced way. I suspect there is still the issue that F1 should still be the fastest way around a road course in the world, so do you have to have a raft of matching regulation changes from Formula Ford up? Go back to the mid-eighties formula - is it just me, or were those cars very exciting and also produced some pretty good races. I still love the mental image of Red 5, FW11B giving it stick