The dangers of F1

[EddieM]

I don't know would be interesting to see F0 cars with launch control, ground effect, active suspension, ABS, turbo's, superchargers, traction control etc... but my guess these days that might well equate to driverless cars, where the best race software wins.... mind you on the flip side of the coin, to make F1 more driver oriented, then give each team the same car.

 

[Doug99]

F1 must be the only race where all 22 cars are competing against each other, despite the significant performance and ability between the no 1 and no 22 on the grid.

Most others involve several 'classes' of car who compete between each other in the same race.

 

[noseall]

F1 must be the only race where all 22 cars are competing against each other, despite the significant performance and ability between the no 1 and no 22 on the grid.

Most others involve several 'classes' of car who compete between each other in the same race.

Eh?

 

[Trazor]

F1 must be the only race where all 22 cars are competing against each other, despite the significant performance and ability between the no 1 and no 22 on the grid.

Most others involve several 'classes' of car who compete between each other in the same race.

Eh?

You don't follow Motorsport do you.

 

[Brigadier]

The missing "difference" made all the difference?

 

[noseall]

F1 must be the only race where all 22 cars are competing against each other, despite the significant performance and ability between the no 1 and no 22 on the grid.

Most others involve several 'classes' of car who compete between each other in the same race.

Eh?

You don't follow Motorsport do you.

Enough thanks, do you?
If so, can you explain how F1 races would be broken down into 'classes'?

Is the above poster saying that lesser performing F1 drivers ought to be given some kind of handicap allowance? Or that F1 Grand Prix race events should be categorised?

 

[Doug99]

F1 must be the only race where all 22 cars are competing against each other, despite the significant performance and ability between the no 1 and no 22 on the grid.

Most others involve several 'classes' of car who compete between each other in the same race.

Eh?

You don't follow Motorsport do you.

Enough thanks, do you?
If so, can you explain how F1 races would be broken down into 'classes'?

Is the above poster saying that lesser performing F1 drivers ought to be given some kind of handicap allowance? Or that F1 Grand Prix race events should be categorised?

After 15 of 19 races, the Sauber-Ferrari and Caterham-Renault teams are still on zero points. So what are they achieving other than getting in the way of the top teams?

The hard core F1 fan will appreciate that these 'lesser' teams are very competitive amongst themselves, but to the casual observer they're just slow and always coming last!

If F1 generated an official 2 tier (or class) system, and reported the progress of each car within its own class, it would maintain the interest a lot more.

 

[noseall]

If F1 generated an official 2 tier (or class) system, and reported the progress of each car within its own class, it would maintain the interest a lot more.

Would it? Has this been touted?

 

[crank39]

They used to do this in BTCC back in the 80's, classes A,B,C,D, sierra cosworths right down to Toyota corollas. Basically each car won its class so there where 4 winners in each race, if a class D car kept on getting good results but NOT actually winning a race while a class A car had a few DNF's then it would be possible for a class D car to win the overall championship

The championship was run with a mix of classes, divided according to engine capacity, racing simultaneously. This often meant that a driver who chose the right class could win the overall championship without any chance of overall race wins, for example, in the 1980s Chris Hodgetts won two overall titles in a small Toyota Corolla at a time when most of the race wins were going to much larger cars; and while the Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500s were playing at the front of the field, Frank Sytner took a title in a Class B BMW M3 and John Cleland's first title was won in a small Class C Vauxhall Astra.

 

[crank39]

As far as F1 goes then you could have a class for privateer's as opposed to factory/manufacturer teams, or a class for year old cars, or customer cars

This isn't an easy job but I think it could be done, would take years of discussion between teams though

 

[ellal]

When every car is now electronically governed, why not send an instant kill switch to all cars in the event of an accident, each car instantly hits a pitlane style throttle limiter.
Maybe yellow flashing light 5 sec before it activates to warn any driver balancing on throttle mid corner..
All cars down to min speed within 15seconds or so. Easy to do.

It seems Charles Whiting agrees with you... http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/29573232

Whiting said: "There are some things to learn. We want to engage with all the teams and drivers to ensure we come up with good, sound and well-thought-through ideas.

"One of the most important things to learn here is that it is probably better to take the decision to slow down away from the drivers, to have a system where it is clearer to everyone how much we think drivers should slow down...

But he said it was "highly unlikely" that any new system could be introduced at this weekend's Russian Grand Prix because of the complicated electronics systems on the cars.

"We have to ensure it works the same way on all the cars," Whiting said.

Trouble is, how long before F1 becomes 'google car racing'

 

[jockscott]

When every car is now electronically governed, why not send an instant kill switch to all cars in the event of an accident, each car instantly hits a pitlane style throttle limiter.
Maybe yellow flashing light 5 sec before it activates to warn any driver balancing on throttle mid corner..
All cars down to min speed within 15seconds or so. Easy to do.

It seems Charles Whiting agrees with you... http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/29573232

Whiting said: "There are some things to learn. We want to engage with all the teams and drivers to ensure we come up with good, sound and well-thought-through ideas.

"One of the most important things to learn here is that it is probably better to take the decision to slow down away from the drivers, to have a system where it is clearer to everyone how much we think drivers should slow down...

But he said it was "highly unlikely" that any new system could be introduced at this weekend's Russian Grand Prix because of the complicated electronics systems on the cars.

"We have to ensure it works the same way on all the cars," Whiting said.

Trouble is, how long before F1 becomes 'google car racing'

And, like all computerised electronic systems,,, how long before someone, or some group, hijacks these control systems and shuts down every drivers engine half way through a race? Do it once then demand millions from the FIA or else ?

 

[Brigadier]

Trouble is, how long before F1 becomes 'google car racing'

They already have robots "riding" camels in Dubai races.

 

[Doug99]

Simple - F1 cars already have a manual speed limiter for when entering the pit lane. When yellow flags are flown, they should be flown around the full course not just at the scene of the accident. The drivers must then set this limiter within a few seconds to slow the car. Telemetry will show whether any driver has deliberately delayed setting this limiter to gain an advantage so can be punished with a drive through penalty or such like.

Obviously some leeway must be give if cars are competing a corner or in the process of conducting a dangerous overtaking manoeuvre.

 

[EddieM]

Must be a sign of the times, of course it was a tragic accident and like anyone else I hope he makes a full and speedy recovery. It is also correct that lessons are learned and procedures put in place to mitigate these things, but there does seem to be an awful lot of hand wringing going on. Motor racing is by it's nature a dangerous sport, everyone involved knows that and presumably accepts the risk.