1991 Formula 1 Fuel Capacity specs..

[Jolle]

Data I have for 1991:-

McLaren MP4/6 Honda 780 bhp @ 14,800rpm Fuel Cap unknown
Tyrell 020 honda
Williams FW14 Renault 770 bhp @ 14,200rpm Fuel Cap 220l
Brabham BT60Y Yamaha 700+ bhp Fuel Cap 220l
Footwork FA12 Porsche 650 bhp @ 12,000 rpm Fuel Cap 200l
Lotus 102B Judd 640+ bhp @ 11,750 rpm Fuel Cap 210l
Fondmetal FometF1 Cosworth 620 bhp @ 11,250 rpm Fuel Cap 220l
Leyton House CG911 Ilmor
AGS JH25 Cosworth 620 bhp @ 11,250 rpm
Benetton B191 Ford 730 bhp @ 13,500 rpm
Dallara 191 Judd 710 bhp Fuel Cap 210l
Minardi M191 Ferrari
Ligier JS35B Lamborghini 700 bhp @ 13,800 rpm Fuel Cap 215l
Ferrari 642/2 & 643
Lola L91 Cosworth 620 bhp @ 11,250 rpm Fuel Cap 190l
Coloni C4 Cosworth 620 bhp @ 11,250 rpm Fuel Cap 205l
Jordan 191 Ford 730 bhp @ 13,500 rpm Fuel Cap 212l
Lambo 291 Lamborghini 700 bhp @ 13,800 rpm Fuel Cap 210l

Looking over this I notice many teams were running 100-150 hp down from the leaders. They had no chance to win, but I'm sure their engines were very cheap compared to the engines in the leading cars.

Then I count the number of teams. 18 teams! Lots and lots of cars!

Seems like there are two ways to try and achieve Quality.

(1) Lower the financial barriers to entry, gets lots of entrants, and only the better ones will survive.

(2) Raise the financial barriers to entry, and use the financial barrier itself as a check that only financially serious teams will join in the first place. This indirectly may lead to better teams.

We currently have only really expensive powertrains. Engine manufacturers recently stomped out an FIA/FOM proposal to simplify engines and reduce engine cost for 2021. Incumbent engine manufacturers logically want less strenuous competition, not more. So this logically implies the engine manufacturers think option (1) would lead to better quality entrants and competition.

If you look a bit closer, you can see the troubles of those times.

In those days there was no real stop on the number of teams, so lots of opportunistic teams botched up some cars to attract lots of (shady) money, paid drivers and falsely promised sponsors to fail in pre-qualifing with a huge gap to qualifying of even points. This made F1 a great risk for anybody who wanted to invest in the platform. Lots of people, companies etc lost lot of money at all the teams going bust.

These days F1 is fairly stable and financially healthy. It's also a stable platform to invest in. Wherever you buy a spot on a team, you're part of race Sunday.

At the front nothing really changed. Still three teams that can win. Then it was Williams, McLaren and Ferrari and now Mercedes, Ferrari and RedBull...

[NathanOlder]

I'd love for F1 to open up a few grid slots for teams wanting to join or try. If you have the 107% rule, then it wont be dangerous and have slow cars in the way. I doubt many, if any at all would give it a go, but it would be good to see a modern version of the pre qualifying ect.