Get ready for the hate mail.... well here goes. Oh by the way Go Button! http://bleacherreport.com/articles/56493-what-needs-to-change-in-f1 Ok, so Lewis Hamiltons controversial Belgian penalty has sparked a new debate about the state of F1. Many McLaren fans will see Hamiltons penalty on Sunday as concrete evidence that Ferrari rule the roost. Personally I thought that the penalty was fair and in actual fact has now made the championship a hell of a lot more exciting (though I am a closet Tifosi). So what, if anything, needs to change to make F1 a better sport? Unfortunately, my number one rule change is one that many would argue against; I would like to see everyone in the same chassis. Being a massive Jenson Button fan, I was and am angry at the way the British press has completely dumped him in favour of new wonder boy Lewis Hamilton. How much better is Lewis than Jenson, and how much of it is the car? Last year I spoke to a driving instructor from Silverstone race circuit, who had seen Hamilton, Button and Anthony Davidson progress through karting. Interestingly, he told me that of the three, Davidson was by far the most promising driver. However, Davidsons career has been nowhere near as illustrious as Jensons or Lewiss, an outcome that has come about partly because of very bad luck, but mostly because of the car he was driving. For more evidence in favour of a same chassis rule just look at the progress of Alonso and Piquet at Renault to see how frustrating it must be for Alonso, who is (in my opinion) the greatest F1 driver around at the moment, to be stuck in a below par car. Fernando has outperformed the R28 at nearly every one of this years races, whereas Piquet has struggled. If Alonso was driving a Ferrari or a McLaren, he may well have won the 2008 championship by now. Put Piquet in the same situation however, and would probably not have won the championship, but I expect he might be having a similar debut season to Hamilton in 2007. Next year the new chassis rule changes might be a step in the right direction. Perhaps the removal of aerodynamic pieces will create a more level playing field, though Im not sure. The cars will probably look very similar to each other next year, so why not simply stick everyone in the same chassis? To me it makes perfect sense, F1 would then become a true race between the best drivers and engines in the world. The constructors championship would also be a lot more relevant and exciting, as the only significant differences between the cars would be their engines. Whilst the elimination system in current F1 qualifying is infinitely better than the pathetic one lap system of 2005, surely a return to the classic system of the 90s would be better? Currently the teams that are eliminated in round one and two are no longer part of the show and therefore arguably the system is causing fans of teams such as Force India and (unfortunately) Honda to turn off after 15 minutes. We nearly always have the same teams in the final session, which simply makes the whole thing predictable and boring. The old qualifying system would not have made it possible for certain teams not to bother even taking part in Q3 either! The third fundamental change that I would introduce would be a new points system. I imagine it to be very depressing to be a driver in say, 11th position, with no chance of making eighth. Why even bother finishing the race? If you got something for practically every position then surely the racing would be more exciting and both the driver and constructor tables would look quite different! Finally, F1 needs to be more fan friendly. Im talking about proper fans here, not just the perfect Monaco F1 fan. As an example, my home GP at Silverstone carries a starting entry price of £109. This doesnt buy you a seat, though. This buys you, as the web site puts it: access to the whole of the outside of the circuit where you are free to find your own vantage point. Wow, thats what I call value for money! I dont know many F1 fans who could afford £109 when frankly, they would probably get a better show on TV. Many seem to believe that there is a lot wrong with Formula One at the moment. I personally think that the past three seasons have produced some pretty great title fights. Nevertheless, something needs to change (lets get Honda and Renault back to the front for a start!). The four simple points that I have made may help the sport. Alas, of the four, I can only see a re-think of qualifying as being likely, and Id love to know how other people feel about these ideas.
at the first chicane in monza, there is also a straight road...to prevent anyone taking any sort of advantage by cutting through the straight road, there are quite a few foam boards strategically placed. iirc if you hit them there is even a chance you damage your car, so you have to slow down enough to swerve round them. putting these sort of things in 'open chicanes' (as i like to call them) to prevent people cutting off and possibly gaining an advantage will help.
GP2 all use the same chassis and engine's, the racing there is not any closer on average then F1 ....
Jim, can I take it, that this is the reason you also don't like LH. Not a trick question BTW, I can understand the logic.
I guess one of the first things that I would change is the rules. I would make them where there weren't any questions about what they say or mean. It looks like now some of them you can pretty much find so many loop holes in them that you can turn them around to mean just about anything you want, and use them for just about anything you want. I think it was in the Valencia that BV was talking about how some of the teams had used a safety rule to twist it around to make more horsepower, I guess it is good team thinking to do that, but it doesn't make any sense that a team should be able to do that and get away with it. I think the points system is pretty good, while being below 8th place guarantees you no points, it is still better than a DNF.
What happened between LH and KR at the end of the last race was by far the most exciting thing that happened all season for me. I am not sure how it could be achieved but i would like to see more of that kind of thing going on.
The wording in the article is the responsibility of the author they are not my words. I'm just the author of the Post with intent of sharing it with everyone else. As for LH I feel he is as adaquate a driver as Sato if not a little better.
What can I say every day is christmas and every night is new years eve! Life is real good I live better than rich a persons dog!
I think it really depends on what you want to see in F1, if you want to see who is the best driver, then I think having the same, weight, chassis, engine, fuel, oil and rubber is needed. If it is to see which constructor can build the best car then I would like to see most rules thrown out and just have safety rules, lets see what engineers can come up with, bi-turbos, 6 wheels, etc ... Of course this wipes out small manufacturers due to cost. In the current system, it seems passing is the biggest complaint. So maybe that should be attacked. Maybe removing front and rear wings on all cars?
I have to agree with you on that, I was on the edge of my seat for the last 5 laps. Then when it started to rain, God, that took the cake!
+1 Actually to answer the original question: What needs to change in F1 answer : Max Mosley for starters.
"The third fundamental change that I would introduce would be a new points system. I imagine it to be very depressing to be a driver in say, 11th position, with no chance of making eighth. Why even bother finishing the race? If you got something for practically every position then surely the racing would be more exciting and both the driver and constructor tables would look quite different!" Did you see what happened to NH on the last lap of the race last week? He sure didn't give up and even stopped for wets to make it all the wat to second. As far as the rules, you will never be able to write the rules to cover everything, especially in F1. The engineers will always come up with things that were never thought of before. How could the rules have anticipated Renault's mass damper of a few years ago. Stewards are there to interpret the rules and decide penalties for what they deem are infractions. Not everyone will like their decisions, but they are to take the facts as they see them and make a decision. Just like the courts their decisions sometimes set the standards for future rulings. F1's biggest failing in this area is not having stewards that are appointed for the entire series. Having different people at each race leads to sometimes conflicting decisions. I am sure Bernie and Max could afford to pay three people to travel the circuit.
Professional experienced unbiased Stewards. Clearly written and equally enforced rules. Technically I do like the regenerative motor systems although this is going to be Chaos for the next couple of years. I am more in favor of a standardized fuel quantity for each race and let the teams decide how to best extract maximum energy from that. Aero rules that promote drafting not destroy it; More passing. NO blocking allowed. Its hard enough to pass now.
