Planet-F1

A Bit Of This & A Bit Of That

Friday 15th August 2008

With the summer break upon us PF1 readers are putting their thoughts down on what can be done to improve Formula One, from tyres to refuelling ban to a possible safety car solution...

Send us your views to: letters@planet-f1.com

Passing In The Pits Isn't Overtaking
Thanks DC. Since 1994 when DC and refueling started in F1 and the death of Ayrton Senna. F1 went really boring. Followed by Schumi's dominance. 2007 and 2008 have been great compared to the previous years, but it would be some much better with a refuelling ban. Cars would test tuned not just to go fats around a track, but to be capable of overtaking too. Enough of overtaking during a pit stop. That is NOT racing.

And we would have a more exciting qualifying with low fuel, as it doesn't matter how much fuel you qualify with, at the start it will be fueled to the top.
Tulio, London

Talking Tyres And Refuelling
Every time people call for this or that to be done to improve the racing, they always seem to forget a key element in the equation. That being the "marbles" that build up at the side of the circuit. Until that is addressed no matter what is done elsewhere, drivers will still find it next to impossible to overtake. The Canadian GP was once the best race for overtaking due to the design of the circuit (long straights and straight breaking zones leading into slow corners), and even that circuit has had it's overtaking reduced dramatically due to the excessive build up of off line garbage. And of course, had Massa tried to pass Hamilton on the outside of turn 1 later in the race it would have ended up very differently due to his inability to put the power down off line. Until the FIA and F1 address the nature of the tyres and how they break down, we will never see an improvement in overtaking.

That being said, I'd keep refuelling as that is not such a boogieman in my opinion. I think the problem is that the recent rule changes regarding qualifying and tyres force all team to be on roughly the same strategy. If the teams were allowed to run light in Q3, and the teams didn't have to use both compounds during a race, I think we'd see varying race strategies which would really mix things up. I'm sure people remember the days of Schumacher and Hill, where Benetton were able to win races via their strategy and superior pit work even though their car was inferior to the Williams. And there was a great deal of excitement in wondering if Schumacher could make his strategy work and then in wondering if Hill would be able to catch him. And I think we might be able to see similar things if the teams were given more freedom with their race strategies.
B.A Ford, Florida

A Possible Safety Car Solution
After seeing some silly lottery style results due to the safety car's arrival, I've pondered over a solution and think I may have a fair (and safe!) solution. Which also shouldn't punish the likes of Heidfeld and Barrichello as seen this year because they needed fuel, then were penalised and lost out.

When there is an major incident, all the cars are flagged to the pit lane immediately at reduced pace. I am unclear of the technical issues of remaining stationery for 5-10 minutes but either engine coolers and tyre warmers can be used or not, but the cars will remain outside their garage until the track is deemed to be 'green'. The leading team racer will be ahead of their team-mate.

Since all the cars are timed accurately on every lap, if an incident occurs on one particular lap then the drivers can simply be released from their pit garage position by the exact gap between drivers from the lap of the incident. It would also be easy to calculate the timing to allow for the different team garage positions to the end of the pit lane. So on occasions drivers may be released in close succession down the pit lane (not an uncommon site anyway!)

Each team could be given a pre 10-second countdown to start their lollypop countdown. For drivers that needed fuel at that very point, they could then refuel after the 10-second period.

This system would retain the initial gaps attained by the drivers before the incident, and nobody would gain or lose out in these circumstances. Perfect!!

I hope you like my idea (that is if it hasn't already been thought up already) I think the current system is really unfair and needs a radical change, Piquet 2nd in Germany!! You can't begin to contemplate how much that buggered up my F1 fantasy team!
Ben Barclay

Has Cost Cutting Helped At All?
In my opinion the cost cutting has done nothing but damage F1. It is already very similar to GP2. They should perhaps rename F1, call it F2400 or something, because that is exactly what it is.

In F1 teams used to have (as far as I know) unlimited development scope and as much testing as they wished. Wouldn't it be nice if Renault for example could turn up in Valencia with an engine that produced an extra 150 bhp. Teams have now condemned themselves to only being able to make pathetic aero, suspension etc, changes that get them a couple of tenths. That's not exciting enough for F1 and is against the nature of what F1 is. F1 is supposed to be cutting edge in every way, which it isn't.

If some teams can't afford it then tough, I'd rather see them drop out and have five teams in F1 who can afford it with exciting cars. Cost cutting will reduce interest in F1, which will reduce how much sponsors are willing to pay, then further cost cuts will be necessary, F1 will disappear.
Jason, UK

Yet To Be Convinced By Rosberg's Potential
Yep, he has bagged 8 points in the Drivers; championship but so has his "junior" team-mate Kazuki Nakajima, a promising driver, but still in his first year of F1 compared to Rosberg's third.

I'm yet to be convinced Rosberg has what it takes to become a world champion, and I would think teams like McLaren and BMW would ask themselves the same before offering him a contract.
Jean, South Africa

Ferrari Are Going Downhill
It was not too long ago that driving the red car was a sure sign to win a race, not so anymore. You have Kimi Raikkonen that all he thinks about is Vodka and driving Rally, you have a Felipe Massa that is brilliant one week and stinks the next, and even more problematic, you have Ferrari engines blowing up again!

The worst thing Ferrari did was to let Ross Brawn go to Honda. He was instrumental in getting the bullet proof reliability in the Italian car, he wanted to be team principal, and Luca had another Italian (Domenicali) in mind. Italians want to have an all Italian squad, but since they are more interested in form rather than function, they have never been very consistent. Ross Brawn gave them that consistency by continually driving