F1 rule changes for next year ...

[robin]

I saw on the BBC's F1 site:

Among other changes announced by the FIA were:

Confirmation of the requirement for exhausts to exit out of the upper rear bodywork "in order to ensure that the aerodynamic effect exhaust gases have on the car is kept to an absolute minimum" - a ban on the downforce-boosting technology known as "exhaust-blown diffusers" which has dominated development in the last two seasons
The re-introduction of one three-day in-season test
A reduction in the maximum race time, in the event of a grand prix being suspended after the start, to four hours from eight. The maximum racing time is still two hours.
A change to the safety-car rules which will allow all lapped cars to un-lap themselves before a re-start
Taking shortcuts during practice or qualifying, for example to save fuel, has been banned
Drivers can no longer move back on to the racing line if they move off it to defend their position

Of these the last is interesting. At what point are you allowed to move back onto the line? What if you have to cross it in order to complete the corner? Etc.

Cheers,
Robin

[kenny]

The vast majority of defensive moves will be going to the inside to make the overtaker go the long way round, so as soon as you're at the apex you can take the natural line again.

Simple in theory but I expect several contentious decisions probably involving Hamilton.

[Graemei]

Simple in theory but I expect several contentious decisions probably involving Hamilton.

Put yer tinfoil hat away...

[mikeyb13]

They should just get Adrian Newey to write the regulations he's going to build whatever he wants anyway.

[jimbo]

Adrian Newey simply blows mind, he's just so flaming clever!

I agree with Robin, the last change there is sure to cause some grief for the race stewards...

Whatever happens, the past couple of seasons have been the best I have ever watched, so provided these changes only tweak the current formula, bring on 2012!

Sent from my TITAN X310e using Board Express

[mikeyb13]

Adrian Newey simply blows mind, he's just so flaming clever!

Yep. They should ban him in the regulations

[Tommy Twist]

A reduction in the maximum race time, in the event of a grand prix being suspended after the start, to four hours from eight. The maximum racing time is still two hours.

Had such a rule been in place this season, wouldn't it have precluded a full-distance Candian GP?

[jason]

I saw on the BBC's F1 site:

Drivers can no longer move back on to the racing line if they move off it to defend their position

Of these the last is interesting. At what point are you allowed to move back onto the line? What if you have to cross it in order to complete the corner? Etc.

Cheers,
Robin

I understand its intention is to formally legislate against the grey area Schumacher exploited at Monza this year, moving offline on the straight ("one move") to force a driver to the outside for the next corner... but then making that gap on the outside disappear as he arrived at the braking zone. Until now this was arguably permissible ("right to take the racing line"). But I agree, if that's the formal wording it's (conveniently?) ambiguous.

Personally, I'd like to have seen it prohibit the modern disease of squeezing opponents off track at corner exits if you've driven through a corner side-by-side. There is already a clause along the lines of "no driver may force another off the racing surface" but it's seemingly ignored for this corner exit scenario. [opens can o'worms]

[Shug]

Personally, I'd like to have seen it prohibit the modern disease of squeezing opponents off track at corner exits if you've driven through a corner side-by-side. There is already a clause along the lines of "no driver may force another off the racing surface" but it's seemingly ignored for this corner exit scenario. [opens can o'worms]

Flipside of that is that the driver on the inside who's likely made a ballsy move to get there is massively disadvantaged for making the move. Passes can't all happen on a straight with drivers saying "after you" - if the guy has legitimately got up the inside through the corner without incurring the wrath of the stewards, the guy who let him inside should be prepared to lift, or leave the track.

It's motor racing, not knitting.

[Corranga]

Shug is right, well, at least he should be.

With all these rules, it's becoming less motorsport and more motor car shuffling.
They do a qualifying session to shuffle the cars, then a race to sort them into fasters -> slowest order, unless someone has a problem.

Rules like:
Drivers can no longer move back on to the racing line if they move off it to defend their position
IMO are there to make overtaking easier, much like KERS and DRS, probably so they make the race more exciting.
The problem is, they will almost always end up with the fastest car at the front.

Was it 2 seasons ago that Petrov in a slightly crap Renault held up Alonso in the Ferrari lap after lap.
Now, with DRS, KERS, and rules like this, and the 1 move thing, and the penalty for any contact, Alonso simple sells a dummy, or sends one down the inside and Petrov pretty much has to let him past.

Also, this rule can never be fully upheld. There are many corners where drivers would have to move onto the racing line to get around the corner (Monaco is a prime example)

To me the rule says, either defend then take a wierd line, compromising your track position / speed for the next section of the track, or stay on the racing line and let the other car drive around you.

Chris

[jason]

Personally, I'd like to have seen it prohibit the modern disease of squeezing opponents off track at corner exits if you've driven through a corner side-by-side. There is already a clause along the lines of "no driver may force another off the racing surface" but it's seemingly ignored for this corner exit scenario. [opens can o'worms]

Flipside of that is that the driver on the inside who's likely made a ballsy move to get there is massively disadvantaged for making the move. Passes can't all happen on a straight with drivers saying "after you" - if the guy has legitimately got up the inside through the corner without incurring the wrath of the stewards, the guy who let him inside should be prepared to lift, or leave the track.

It's motor racing, not knitting.

Except it used to work like that more often than not up till the last decade-ish. Didn't dilute the racing, at all.

...and I'm not aware of saying anything, anywhere, about drivers passing each other on straights saying after you. Please! I'm talking about scraps into and through corners - but just ones where the guy on the inside (as often the defender as the attacker these days) doesn't just drive the corner exit like the other car isn't there. Why on earth should the guy on the outside need be prepared to 'lift, or leave the track' if he has fairly driven entry-apex alongside?

[robin]

I say let them race as they wish but award negative championship points for contact. -ve points awarded to both drivers, but with the stewards able to shift the balance between the two. Deliberate punts would result in 100% -ve points awarded to the aggressor. Racing incidents would result in 50/50 split. Then everybody has a reason to avoid accidents, including the person that is "shutting the door" lap after lap. Hamilton would obviously lose under this scenario ("is it cos I am black?") but he loses under the current rules too (stewards penalize him more often than not when he kisses Massa, again).

As said above, Monaco will be a joke - in some cases you can only just get around the corner on the racing line ... I guess there will be a special briefing there ...

[Shug]

Personally, I'd like to have seen it prohibit the modern disease of squeezing opponents off track at corner exits if you've driven through a corner side-by-side. There is already a clause along the lines of "no driver may force another off the racing surface" but it's seemingly ignored for this corner exit scenario. [opens can o'worms]

Flipside of that is that the driver on the inside who's likely made a ballsy move to get there is massively disadvantaged for making the move. Passes can't all happen on a straight with drivers saying "after you" - if the guy has legitimately got up the inside through the corner without incurring the wrath of the stewards, the guy who let him inside should be prepared to lift, or leave the track.

It's motor racing, not knitting.

Except it used to work like that more often than not up till the last decade-ish. Didn't dilute the racing, at all.

...and I'm not aware of saying anything, anywhere, about drivers passing each other on straights saying after you. Please! I'm talking about scraps into and through corners - but just ones where the guy on the inside (as often the defender as the attacker these days) doesn't just drive the corner exit like the other car isn't there. Why on earth should the guy on the outside need be prepared to 'lift, or leave the track' if he has fairly driven entry-apex alongside?

One word - Senna.

Quite happily drove people off the track or asked them to make a choice between crashing or letting him through. Plenty of other greats did the same - Mansell, Piquet to name but two. Not every pass, but enough that it wasn't a rare occurrence. The problem is that it's focused on from about 8 different camera angles these days.

Methinks your memory is a tad rose-tinted

[dirkpitt]

I would and I hope many other racing enthusiasts would want to see the racing drivers fight it out on the track! Period!!

Now the question is can we do that as the public while there is all this money and politics in the way?

To me this is the only factors that destroy the whole race philosophy…….
I want the drivers to race……so, let them determine the out come, on the track, how they see it at that given moment in time as it is their ambition and ego to become the best among the best! They are after all the most skilled drivers of their day and they should prove that with any means on the track as they seem deemed possible!...........it is their conscience decision to risk their lives to race each other on that track, knowing the full risk involved between them selves and the other drivers….

All crashes incidents and moments can be investigated after the race and if we the public or a committee deem that one driver was at fault or showed intent to collided to gain an advantage or any other means that shows some contempt of that given situation then the driver should be penalised by removing points or suspension of licence….etc…not, the team though!!!

So, the constructors points will remain if he mangers to finish, as it was the driver that made the conscious decision at that time not the team…..

If there happens to be a driver that is involved in multiple incidents and the other drivers feel strongly that he has now become too dangerous and wreak less to drive with …I think that the drivers should have a dissection and vote on that driver…and the driver can have his license revoked!!

I know this is all talk and dreams not complex enough to work and so on………but, as long as there is one man in charge of the FIA and one man in charge of the ownership of the races etc…..their will always be influence and conflict of interest, with these men that affect the out come of racing…..

A lot of this thinking has come from watching the senna film the other day…. and how that things got so political in F1………..i was quite shocked at the drivers meets with the FIA president or representative, and listening to the conversations that went on there…….

[jason]

stuff and...

Methinks your memory is a tad rose-tinted

Are you deliberately trying to sound patronising this morning, Shug?

F1 is about more than one driver - I do not condone Senna's attitude, and it's a tired argument to just trot out Senna as the justification for how it has become. Give us some examples of Mansell and Piquet driving in a similar manner to Senna please, ie. happily driving people off track.