Should the number of mechanics for pit stops be limited?

[i70q7m7ghw]

We all saw the nasty incident with the Sauber team this weekend, luckily nobody was seriously injured. It does raise the question I've asked many times before. Are there simply too many people in the pit crew?

Formula 1 pit stops are never going to be safe, but perhaps they could be safer if the number to people exposed was reduced. This would also have the effect of slowing the pit stops down to make the a bit safer.

For competitions sake the pit stops would longer, so errors would be less costly. I personally would prefer to see races won and lost on track, not in silly pit stop mistakes.

Here's a video of a rather slick pit stop by the Ferrari crew

Silverstone GP 2012 - Ferrari, Fernando Alonso Pitstop [1080p][HD]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0w_XTy6tHI[/youtube]

And then for comparison here's a GP3 pitstop done by just 7 crew members, albiet slightly botched by the driver not selecting first gear.

Silverstone GP 2012 GP3 - Trident Racing, Giovanni Venturini Pitstop [1080p][HD]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtYi2RuTHc0[/youtube]

[beelsebob]

Personally, I think the ballet that the teams perform to change all 4 tyres in under 3 seconds is pretty phenomenal, I wouldn't change it for the world!

[MrBlacky]

+1

Formula 1 should be Formula 1.

[i70q7m7ghw]

+1

Formula 1 should be Formula 1.

Care to explain that statement?

[Nando]

F1 pit stops are the best.

Car comes in, up, wroom-wroom, down, and go. Sub 3 seconds is fantastic to see.

[Gatecrasher]

I understand why it takes two people to wipedown and adjust front winglets, three people per wheel and a few folks to raise and lower the cars. What I don't get in the Ferrari video is what the two mechanics are doing hanging about at the rear of the cockpit ?

[Nando]

It´s to stabilize the car i think, possibly some cleaning if needed.

For competitions sake the pit stops would longer, so errors would be less costly.

Expand on this,

[MrBlacky]

+1

Formula 1 should be Formula 1.

Care to explain that statement?

Formula 1 has to be something special. No need to restrict the number of mechanics to a level of GP3 or so.

[piast9]

Apart from strangle calculation of "cost" of the errors there's one more thing in my opinion. If pitstops were significantly longer than now then teams would more tend to nurse tyres and do one stop during the race. What does it leads to we had the opportunity to observer in 2009. Now at some races there are split strategies. Some drivers go more offensive and do one more pitstop, while others take care of the tyres and do one stop less.

[i70q7m7ghw]

+1

Formula 1 should be Formula 1.

Care to explain that statement?

Formula 1 has to be something special. No need to restrict the number of mechanics to a level of GP3 or so.

Pit stops have only become like this in recent years, the definition of Formula 1 is not limited to just the time you've followed the sport.

The length of the pitstops would be the same for everyone (relatively), so nobody would try to do less stops, you just can't do that on this years tyres.

At the moment a sub 3 second pit stop is standard. If you make a mistake, that soon becomes 6-10 seconds, disaster. The pit stop would take 100-200% longer.

If the standard pit stop time was more like 10 seconds, a mistake would still cost the same amount of time, but the stop would only be say 20% longer.

I just hate seeing races won and lost because of mistakes in the pit stops. At the moment everyone does the same pit stop time, and the only way you "win" in the pit stops is if the other team makes a mistake. I would much rather see the pit stop take longer, but with a larger margin for error, I think it would then become a real race.

From a technology point of view Formula 1 could look at systems like the built-in jack they use in indycar.

Like this...
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Teqh7mKIaK8[/youtube]

[bhall]

No. Just no.

There's simply nothing else in motorsport like an F1 pit stop. The execution of so much within such a short span is a breath of poetry, a peculiar harmony of dissonance that somehow has the grace of a ballet. I want refueling back just to add that extra bit of texture to a pit stop's beauty.

We've got DRS and rules for using different tire compounds and part-time KERS and gimmicks everywhere. I know I'm probably nuts, but can we just leave this one little thing alone? Please? Can we have at least one part of F1 that's a no-holds-barred contest of quickness?

It's all still light years away from what I'd really like to see: I'm going to do 300 km as fast as I can, however I can; you do 300 km as fast as you can, however you can. We'll all do that, and let's see who does it best. But, it's something.

I think, at some point, those who want to see all of these radical changes might just be better off with another form of entertainment.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxC3itJkqps[/youtube]

I just hate seeing races won and lost because of mistakes in the pit stops.

F1 is a team sport. Teams need to raise their game; the sport doesn't need to change its game.

[i70q7m7ghw]

Unfortunately I think at the rate accidents are occuring, rules will end up being put in place when a mechanic gets crippled. I would much rather see something changed before that happens.

I witnessed the Sauber pitstop first hand, it wasn't pleasant.

[beelsebob]

Unfortunately I think at the rate accidents are occuring, rules will end up being put in place when a mechanic gets crippled. I would much rather see something changed before that happens.

I witnessed the Sauber pitstop first hand, it wasn't pleasant.

What makes you think fewer mechanics makes an accident less likely? Sure, you reduce the number of injured in an accident, but you don't make them less likely, which is really where the target would be to improve safety.

[i70q7m7ghw]

It would reduce the amount of people at risk.

We've got roughtly 20 people to a pitstop at the moment? 12 teams, so potentially 240 people in the pit lane if there was a rush due to rain etc.

As I said, it's never going to be safe, but the amount of people being put in danger could be greatly reduced.

[Robbobnob]

Coming from a saftey point of view, instead of limiting the crew members, which will just put more pressure on the pits and raise error rates, how about putting a pitstop limit of 3 seconds?

A 3 second stop is a very good stop and it would require teams to be as consistent and quick as they are now, but would perhaps relieve a little pressure of the pit stop crew, letting them make sure the wheel nut is firmly secured etc...

This wouldnt stop Kobayashi's incident from occuring, but that was more to do with the lack of rubber layed in the pit box because of the rain.