Cav's Place

With the start of the new season, one which will feature massive regulation changes, right around the corner, I thought I should post my suggestions for this competition. I did send a long e-mail with some of them to a site about three years ago and received a reply saying that it had been forwarded to the FIA. I don’t know if that happened and I’m sure it didn’t matter either way, but since I thought about all of this, and also made some changes during these three years, I might as well make it all public.

The obvious problem of Formula One is that most races aren’t exciting to watch. The aerodynamics might be largely to blame for that, since a car loses power and becomes harder to drive when it’s close behind another, but regulations also play a part in it. When you don’t allow aggressive driving and pretty much say that a driver should let himself be overtaken when an obviously faster car is right behind him, you don’t leave much room for interesting “battles”. The width of the cars could also be a factor, not to mention the fact that they’re so easy to damage, which tends to favor defensive driving.
The current rule changes might do something to reduce the negative effect a car has on the one right behind it, but they do nothing about all the other parts of this problem. What’s more, the wider front wings seem to increase the risk of damage and therefore force drivers to avoid “battles” even more. I wonder why couldn’t they just reduce the width of the cars while they were at it, since it’s obvious that it’s easier to overtake a narrower car. And I also don’t agree with limiting the number of times a movable segment can be moved during a lap. If you allow such elements, you might as well let the drivers make the best use of them, which might include repeated changes while trying to either overtake or stay ahead. That could have made for some very interesting moments, with the drivers having to split their attention between the track, the other driver and these new controls.
Then there are the regulations which prevent any form of dangerous driving. You can’t exactly have a thrilling “duel” between two drivers while each of them drives safely! There should be some imposed measures which would make the bodywork sturdier and able to withstand certain impacts which might happen during such heated moments without requiring immediate repairs. Then drivers should be allowed to drive more aggressively, actively block, try to force their opponents into making mistakes, or attempt to pass where there’s no room for the maneuver to see if their opponent is going to swerve and let them through. Of course you shouldn’t allow deliberate attempts to damage another car or actually pushing an opponent off the track, but that’s something completely different. I also think that lapped drivers should be allowed to carry on with their own race instead of being forced to let the faster cars through. Of course they shouldn’t actively block, but they shouldn’t have to lose time and possibly even positions, if they’re currently fighting for one, just because a faster car is about to lap them. Finding a way past them without forcing them to slow down and move aside should be the job of the faster car’s driver! And lapped drivers should also be allowed to take back those laps by passing those who lapped them, if they’re able to, and in this situation they should be allowed to use any means permitted to a driver who’d be on the same lap as the one he’s trying to pass.
Another method of increasing the number of “battles” on the track would be increasing the number of times the safety car shows up and decreasing the number of times yellow flags are waved, since the safety car allows drivers to get closer together while yellow flags don’t allow them to pass each other while driving through that specific area. This would mean that some events which currently require yellow flags would require the appearance of the safety car, even if only for a lap or two, while others would no longer require any restrictions at all. Still, at least I’m glad they realized that pit lane restrictions while the safety car is on the track were a very bad idea.
Bringing barriers close to the track once again could also make racing more interesting, since mistakes would result in drivers having to pull out of the race more often and that would make the results more unpredictable. On the other hand, while rain certainly makes a race far more interesting than any regulations ever could, I firmly oppose the idea of sprinkling the track during the race, as I heard it was suggested, simply because water is a precious resource and we must not waste it like this.

A second problem would appear to be the costs associated with Formula One. The thing is that Formula One is supposed to be an “elite” sport; it’s not supposed to be easily accessible or affordable! And, truth be told, if one team is willing to spend 100 million dollars per season to gain one tenth of a second per lap over their rivals, they will gain that tenth of a second and they will win, it’s as simple as that. So attempts to limit the expenses of the top teams are most likely doomed to failure, and detrimental to the sport if somehow they’d be successful. Yes, I’m firmly against all the measures aimed at solving this “problem”, even considering the current economic situation… Especially when these measures include standardized components and freezing development.
But it is true that there should be a way for teams with reduced financial resources to compete… Standardized components could have a place here, with the FIA deciding to let the teams develop their own parts if they are able to do so but also ensuring a supply of standardized components to the teams who couldn’t afford to develop their own. The performance of those standardized components should allow the teams who use them to score a decent number of points, and hopefully even an occasional podium finish, but if they ever allow them to fight for the title it means there’s a problem somewhere. If those components would prove to deliver an unsatisfactory level of performance, there could be certain rule changes in order to still allow the teams who use them to earn points, such as reduced weight limits and improved aerodynamics.
Still, the worst part of reducing costs is that it limits development. Formula One should be all about development and constantly improving performance! I agree that most developments should have some relevance in the “real world”, but that certainly isn’t going to happen if you limit or even freeze them! Instead of constantly reducing the engine capacity in order to keep performance relatively constant, as it used to happen, or freezing its development, as it happens now, the engines should be severely restricted once and then the teams should be allowed to develop them based on those specifications for many years to come, until they’d manage to regain the performance they used to have. The efficiency of the resulting engines would be very useful for regular cars as well…
Speaking of efficiency, fuel efficiency should be a major concern for Formula One. Of course, developing better hybrid technologies or even switching to electric cars would be a great idea, but the FIA could start moving in that direction by restricting the amount of fuel a car can use during a race. Banning refueling during the race could have some effects, since the less efficient cars would be heavier at the start of the race, but actually limiting the amount of fuel each car has available for each race would be even better. This limit could start from the average consumption of the last season and then be reduced at the start of each following season, and perhaps there could even be certain advantages granted to the teams who wouldn’t use all the fuel they’d be allowed to use. This would force teams to make engines be as efficient as possible, which is certainly very useful in the “real world”.

There might be a few other things, but these are the most important… As with everything, it’s just an idea, feel free to give me a better one if you think you can…