A couple of things that came up in discussions got me thinking about this and with most people agreeing that F1 needs to change at the moment I wanted to stimulate some debate about how. My idea is that ideas are proposed, we debate them and the decide as a group whether to accept them and then we see what kind of F1 we design. Maybe I'll send the final blueprint to Bernie and Jean?! Ideas can be anything to do with F1 - circuit design, car design, race weekend format, etc. It's my first original thread on this forum, so I hope people like the idea. There's not much to talk about until, the new cars get released and I'm very interested to see what people come up with.
So first idea - I've gone with a non controversial one I think has a good chance of garnering some support first! Since 1994 we've had a pit lane speed limit for safety reasons. One consequence of this is that pit stop loss times have got longer, from 6-7 seconds to generally the mid-20s and this has limited strategic variability because an extra stop is rarely a successful tactic. Historically the pits have been alongside the start finish straight and its this placing of a high speed and low speed lane next to each other that gives rise to the large stop times. Many of the circuits raced on now are new or remodelled since the pit speed limit was introduced and so I contend that F1 would be a better place now if some circuits had pits that had been designed to create short cuts, or bypass slower sections and hence had smaller loss times. This is something that new circuits could easily take into account and hence is achievable. This shouldn't be applied everywhere, the approach is to promote diversity hopefully leading to more unpredictability from race to race.
I like the idea of reducing pit lane time losses to encourage a variance of pit stops - would definitely be benificial for teams running a softer, faster compounds. Obviously for safety reasons the pit lane limit will not be increased or scrapped, so as tracks get revamped, or new tracks built, having a pit lane entry cutting the track or against a slow infield section (rather than the traditional pit straight) could be an option. My wish list. Mechanical grip from wider softer tyres. Downforce limited to diffusers and ground effect, remove as much aero that affects following cars as possible. Standard off the shelf engines provided by all engine manufactures - equal. Must be offered to at least an equal percentage of teams based on the ratio of engine suppliers to number of teams. Increased fuel flow rates and revert to a higher allowance, or alternatively reintroduce refuelling. Designated 3rd drivers that must complete at least 50% of testing, including 1st Friday practise. Increased pre season testing, and In season testing to be the Monday after selected race weekends. An additional In season test in the Summer shut down. Total test days should be around 10 X Monday's & 5 Summer break days. No pit to driver communication accept on pit in lap, pit lane and out lap. Virtual safety car removed or at least revised. Equal rights money.
