Is the V6 formula a disaster for F1?

[tuj]

the fuel flow is the fundamental show-stopper. Up that and the total fuel allowed for the race and these engines will come alive as racers.

[Emmcee]

Yep get rid of the fuel restrictions and allow refuelling back to add another element of strategy then they could go hammer and tong all race again, well atleast until the tyres give in.

[Samraj_official]

no need to get rid of fuel flow. just reduce the number of gears from current 8 to 6, which will make
1.Handling more of a challenge
2.increased sound
3.lower weight
1+2+3= Increased spectscle

[Jordan44]

Yep get rid of the fuel restrictions and allow refuelling back to add another element of strategy then they could go hammer and tong all race again, well atleast until the tyres give in.

People are finding the races boring because the amount of overtaking has declined, refuelling will only make it worse.

The issue is clear, the teams are simply too far apart in performance. Open up the development regulations and allow more complicated aero, and the excitement returns. Remove the fuel flow limit so they go flat out.

If Ferrari had found 0.5-1 second more over the winter, I bet we wouldn't be having this conversation. Because we'd have a genuine battle between Vettel and Hamilton for the title.

[Andres125sx]

I´d go a different route, keep the max 100kg of fuel (maybe 110 would be better for the show), and remove the max fuel flow limit. That´d open new posibilities to overtake, instead of being stuck behind a car half a second slower they could asume the risk of burning more fuel (increasing power) to make an overtake and later on the race save what you burnt before

This would be similar to the refuelling era allowing different strategies, but instead of pit-stop overtaking it would all be on-track overtakes

[PlatinumZealot]

no need to get rid of fuel flow. just reduce the number of gears from current 8 to 6, which will make
1.Handling more of a challenge
2.increased sound
3.lower weight
1+2+3= Increased spectscle

You do realise that the cars are going to be less fuel efficient with less gears right? This = More fuel saving!

No way.. give me my fuel flow! Back up 160kg/hr.. fuel usage unlimited..

[Henk]

I don't get the animosity against the fuel flow limit. We used to have a rev limit curtailing the maximum output of the engine and deciding the gearshifts. Now we have the fuel flow limit. It's different but it hasn't changed the game. If you lift the ban you will get more fuel saving and teams will not 'assume' more risk by overtaking.

The fuel limit does get in the way of drivers being on the throttle flat out to the end of the straights. Lifting the fuel limit won't make much of a difference. The cars are under fuelled to gain time on tyres and weight and the possibility to run a smaller fuel tank. A minimum amount of fuel could fix that but that would take a strategy choice away. Canada is probably the only race where we are going to see these bad levels of lift and coast.

Suggesting that open up regulations is going to increase competitiveness is something Christian Horner likes to say but doesn't hold true. You can only find an edge if there is somewhere to find it. More open regulations benefit the teams that can afford to spend if they missed a revolution.

To be realistic you can't change the engines and the limits they've been built to. You could shorten Canada, change tyre regulations and allow refuelling but changing the engine won't make it better.

[Andres125sx]

If you lift the (fuel flow) ban you will get more fuel saving and teams will not 'assume' more risk by overtaking.

Disagree, how many times we´ve seen a car half a second faster than the one in front, but unable to overtake? This would open a door to increase fuel flow (over the standard flow to finish the race) and increase power to overtake. Once done he could reduce fuel flow below standard flow to compensate the extra wasted on the overtaking, because he is faster, so even with a reduced fuel flow (or coasting) the other car will not be a threat

[Emmcee]

Yep get rid of the fuel restrictions and allow refuelling back to add another element of strategy then they could go hammer and tong all race again, well atleast until the tyres give in.

People are finding the races boring because the amount of overtaking has declined, refuelling will only make it worse.

The issue is clear, the teams are simply too far apart in performance. Open up the development regulations and allow more complicated aero, and the excitement returns. Remove the fuel flow limit so they go flat out.

If Ferrari had found 0.5-1 second more over the winter, I bet we wouldn't be having this conversation. Because we'd have a genuine battle between Vettel and Hamilton for the title.

You make a good point there, for the refuelling strategy side of things, performance gaps have to be cut. It's these rediculous testing bans that are the whole cause of the issue. I just wish they would return to the wider wheel base they used prior to the shakeup in 98.

[Moose]

If you lift the (fuel flow) ban you will get more fuel saving and teams will not 'assume' more risk by overtaking.

Disagree, how many times we´ve seen a car half a second faster than the one in front, but unable to overtake? This would open a door to increase fuel flow (over the standard flow to finish the race) and increase power to overtake.

That actually sounds like a regression, not an improvement to racing.

I don't want it to be easy for a car that's half a second a lap faster to pass. I want to see a battle to make that happen.

[Emmcee]

If you lift the (fuel flow) ban you will get more fuel saving and teams will not 'assume' more risk by overtaking.

Disagree, how many times we´ve seen a car half a second faster than the one in front, but unable to overtake? This would open a door to increase fuel flow (over the standard flow to finish the race) and increase power to overtake.

That actually sounds like a regression, not an improvement to racing.

I don't want it to be easy for a car that's half a second a lap faster to pass. I want to see a battle to make that happen.

Yep same here, that's why I think they need to revert back to the wider style chassis we saw in 1997 to increase more mechanical grip, allow them to run the front wing lower to the ground that with bigger slicks, we could do away with drs and it will allow cars to follow more closly and create more of a tow and overtake on natural merit not artificial.

[Nickel]

I disagree with bigger tires and all this more grip stuff.

Keep the engines as is, but mandate 100kg fuel weight. Make tires that don't degrade and are in fact the same size or smaller, but offer less grip. In fact, make them hard to warm up so they perform best if pushed. Mandate the use of steel brakes to increase braking distance and put the spotlight on driver feel. Delete DRS and bring back the F-duct and stop telling drivers where to use it. Stop penalizing drivers for racing and bumping bits.

Done.

[bhall II]

In no particular order...

- I think loosening up the regulations to a certain extent would have a very positive impact on the sport. Ideas are free; refinement is expensive.

- More durable tires will absolutely allow drivers to be more aggressive.

- More durable tires will also eventually lead to cookie-cutter, one-stop strategies. So, be careful what you wish for; you just might regret it.

- In my view, allowing teams free rein over tire compound choices is yet another short-sighted proposition from the sport's clueless overlords. It looks good on paper, but what will everyone think after Pirelli is effectively forced to produce super-soft tires that can withstand the abuse of circuits that would have ordinarily required hard tires?

- Hard tires will probably be made of granite.

- Within the next year or two, if nothing is done to address the problem objectively, I think DRS overtaking will be the only overtaking.

- By leaps and bounds above any other potential solution, I think the single-best change the sport can possibly make is to push for circuits to be reprofiled in a way that allows for more than one racing line. A couple of moderately-banked turns that lead onto straights should do the trick.

The initial outlay would be considerable, but probably cheaper in the long run than a constant reshuffling of the technical regulations. Regardless, a competitive grid is a bunched up grid, and a bunched up grid is one in which all cars can pretty much lay claim to the same track position at the same time. Physics doesn't allow that; a second racing line will.

- It's not unlikely that many will come to regret Sergio Marchionne's decision to help Monza keep the Italian Grand Prix. That's not to say Monza shouldn't host the race, but why in the world would you act as an enabler to Ecclestone's shameless avarice? It's bad enough that governments play his game. But, now the teams themselves...? That's a terrible precedent to set.

- It's difficult to conjure up an appropriate closing statement for a list.

[langwadt]

If you lift the (fuel flow) ban you will get more fuel saving and teams will not 'assume' more risk by overtaking.

Disagree, how many times we´ve seen a car half a second faster than the one in front, but unable to overtake? This would open a door to increase fuel flow (over the standard flow to finish the race) and increase power to overtake. Once done he could reduce fuel flow below standard flow to compensate the extra wasted on the overtaking, because he is faster, so even with a reduced fuel flow (or coasting) the other car will not be a threat

the slower car would just turn up the power to combat the overtake, so it would just be coasting and blocking where you can't overtake and full power where you could.

They need the fuel flow limit to make them running high rpms to keep the audience from rioting
they could tweak the fuel flow curve to keep it increasing all the way to 15krpm

[Andres125sx]

If you lift the (fuel flow) ban you will get more fuel saving and teams will not 'assume' more risk by overtaking.

Disagree, how many times we´ve seen a car half a second faster than the one in front, but unable to overtake? This would open a door to increase fuel flow (over the standard flow to finish the race) and increase power to overtake.

That actually sounds like a regression, not an improvement to racing.

I don't want it to be easy for a car that's half a second a lap faster to pass. I want to see a battle to make that happen.

I want to see cars half a second faster with some real chance to overtake, not getting stuck behind a slower car like we see today