Refuelling should be banned

[WhiteBlue]

This is peanuts regarding cost compared to a tyre war and a lot less than the change from grooved to slick tyres.

[Rob W]

banning refueling must be coupled with a total redesign of the tires. That alone will make it a no go. In these tough economic times I doubt Bridgestone want to incur the large costs of totally redesigning the compound...

Exactly. Good point...

For the people who say the current refuelling-allowed system causes anomalies the banning of it will cause even more with tire-related issues.

So, some argue that currently some teams get disadvantaged because of pit-stop errors but the reality is the team is in control of that and is theirs to perfect (or screw up). If you remove refuelling then it would mean far greater random tire issues (due to greatly increased car weight and length of use) including delaminations, flat-spotting, tire wall failures etc. How could increasing the incidents of these issues (which are basically outside of the control of the team) possibly be an improvement over the way races are currently run?

In addition, banning refuelling would see either cars coming into the pits twice as often to get new tires or tires being provided which last twice as long. The former would render the 'pit-stops ruin races' argument void as there would then be even more pit stops (for tires), and the latter would slow the cars down (whole-race tires would have to be far too durable and therefore have less 'general' grip) too much - affecting the racing spectacle too much in my opinion. In such a scenario a GP2 car would likely be as fast as an F1 car over race-distance. Just how slow do we want to make F1?

Lastly, safety. What? How many cars have blown up in F1 in the last 20 years? How many pit crew/drivers/spectators have been injured/killed due to fuel fire? I fail to see where this big safety risk with refuelling is (since that is the argument some are using to promote its banning).

[xpensive]

Difficult this, but as I expressed on another thread, the way F1 has developed over the years, pit-stops has more often than not been the only thing to wait for in terms of excitement.
Anyway, I find it difficult to see cost as a big parameter here, but if it is, how about gravity-fueling with a very limited crew? Only two mechanics in order to stretch the length of the stop to increase chances of the team making a difference in the pits?

[CMSMJ1]

You guys need to look back at 1993 when they last had a refuelling ban.

People were taking tyre risks and running races on one tyre. They were also underfuelling to get an advantage at the starts and then running the risk of running out of fuel..(Senna @ British race)

The tyre issue is not really an issue. The teams will have to manage what they are given - Bridgestone need only ensure that the tyres are round and (mainly) black.

I am easy about the ban - Would have possibly gone for a reduction in pit lane mechanics as this is a dangerous place to be - perhaps 5 per car and gravity feed rather than high pressure fuel feed.

In the end, I don't care - it is what it will be and I want March to hurry up and arrive

[ISLAMATRON]

This is peanuts regarding cost compared to a tyre war and a lot less than the change from grooved to slick tyres.

There is no tire war and they pretty much took the slicks design from GP2...

What there is is an economic depression that will take at least 2 more years to turn around fully... so they will want to spend as little as possible. After spending the money to switch to slicks I doubt they will want to spend more money to create new tires that will allow for no refueling next year or anytime in the forseeable future. The current tires can barely last half the race, could you imagine if they had a full race fuel load on them rather than 1/3 or so as it is now?

Back in 1993, they had tires that could last the whole race, they wouldn't even come close to that now.

I like the idea of unpressurising the fuel, and reducing the number of pit crew on the car, but pit stops, if they occur should be exciting, and not too long, 20 secs max... 7 guys over the wall, that should do it.

[pgj]

All cars will start with the same fuel +-1-2kgs it would just be one more way to even out the field. It encourages efficiency development but otherwise? I don't see how it will "spice" up racing.

It will force a driver and his engineer to decide whether they want their to run most efficiently at the start of the race on heavy fuel, at the end of the race on light fuel, or at some point in between.

At present, if a car is capable of driving away at the start of the race, it is likely to be doing the same after each pitstop. If it has to carry race fuel from the start, the first stint gets extended over the the entire race distance. Car setup will be far more important with no refuelling.

[Conceptual]

Slick versions of the 2005 compounds would be great!