Simple overtaking

[Chris Ash]

Whatever you do it will be hard for F! to have overtaking under present layouts.

What I would suggest as a simple way of stopping the faster cars being held back is

To have one corner per track with extra width and seperated by a central white line, each driver would be required to take the corner on either the outside or inside of the corner and not cross the central line. each driver must use each side at least twice every five laps (except under the safety car)

Fail the two times and you must let the person behind overtake on the same lap or have a drive through

With one side being able to be taken faster it would open up more overtaking chances, but not make it certain to succeed

Minimal cost, fair to all

Simples

[raymondu999]

Sounds very mickey mouse to me. I would hate to see a car get overtaken because he wasn't allowed to take the inside/outside line

[high-on-octane]

This kind of defeats the purpose of trying overtake anywhere else on track, and makes blocking completely imposible and would be extremely boring to watch.

[Chris Ash]

The trouble is 95% of tracks only have one marginal overtaking place already and blocking a much faster car hardly makes good racing at the front. The corner I suggest could be made with only 50-50 chance as you could end up with much more rubber down on one side or design by moving the central line futher off to one side or the other

[bot6]

This is the same as the kid circuits with metal tracks on them right? With the little electric cars? Can't change lane, can't change line.

We'll have overtaking sure, but we won't need drivers anymore.

How about this:

- Go back to smaller front wings and restrict the height of the rear wing flap to limit aerodynamic downforce

- Abandon ARW, overly complicated to manage with "zones" and bits and bobs...

- Make Pirelli work on grippier compounds to increase mechanical grip

- Widen some portions of some tracks to create overtaking opportunities

- Introduce turns with banking in some tracks (making the outside line closer in speed to the inside one, hence helping with overtaking)

The two big problems are the aero/mechanical grip ratio and the narrow tracks.

[raymondu999]

Honestly? I'd rather see a well-engineered defense rather than see cars whizzing by with the other car being unable to realistically defend, because of a technicality that forces them to be slower.

[Giblet]

Welcome to the forum, unique idea not heard here before, but it is strikingly similar to Bernie's shortcut idea, but the shortcut is on the track.

This is like making the nets bigger in sports like hockey or football. Even better analogy is that keeper is required to not try to save every 3rd and 5th shot.

[raymondu999]

Well said, Giblet.

[Tamburello]

Why can't people just become content with the FACT that motor racing in general, and F1 in particular, is, and always has been very processional. It's just the nature of the sport. Look at the races in the past and see how many overtakes there are when there's no mechanical problems involved...you won't find all that many in any era.

What I'd like to see is better work from Bernie and his TV station minions so that we can see the speed and speed changes of the cars out on track in their full glory instead of chasing after this elusive goose of overtaking. That's what this sport is truly about. The cars first and driver's skills a little below. Perhaps making the cars more difficult to drive without compromising on safety issues and better footage to capture the cars in their full glory is what is needed for the spectacle to be improved.

[raymondu999]

I think we mostly agree that we just want to see cars that are F1-fast, but aren't affected too badly by dirty air

[Shrieker]

Why can't people just become content with the FACT that motor racing in general, and F1 in particular, is, and always has been very processional. It's just the nature of the sport. Look at the races in the past and see how many overtakes there are when there's no mechanical problems involved...you won't find all that many in any era.

What I'd like to see is better work from Bernie and his TV station minions so that we can see the speed and speed changes of the cars out on track in their full glory instead of chasing after this elusive goose of overtaking. That's what this sport is truly about. The cars first and driver's skills a little below. Perhaps making the cars more difficult to drive without compromising on safety issues and better footage to capture the cars in their full glory is what is needed for the spectacle to be improved.

I concur. The helmet cam they brought in for the final race of 2008 was really fantastic. Was on Coulthard's helmet, wasn't it ? I'd really love one on Hamilton's, Alonso's and Vettel's.

[marcush.]

in lower classes more overtaking takes place due to errors .And F1 is now a very professional sport....Kobayashi showed great overtaking and others did as well so to me there is no need for easy overtaking just a guy with a good head and big balls.

[jenkF1]

The simple answer to overtaking is, as bot6 stated, either change the aero/mechanical grip ratio or find another way of generating the downforce. There are concepts for producing downforce using ground affect in a way that causes little wake or turbulance. This would be a great compromise, as as much as aero grip can reduce the spectacle it is an amazing element of F1.

I'm quiet upset with the new moveable rear wing regs, but hey, if it translates to great racing I may change my mind. But if there is overtaking constantly as predicted, overtaking looses its value and importance.

[Jersey Tom]

Simple overtaking:

[Jersey Tom]

Why can't people just become content with the FACT that motor racing in general, and F1 in particular, is, and always has been very processional. It's just the nature of the sport. Look at the races in the past and see how many overtakes there are when there's no mechanical problems involved...you won't find all that many in any era.

People can hate on NASCAR all they want, but the truth is... it is FAR from processional. Anyone's race, every week.