I would love to see refuelling back. It added an extra element to the races. I know the safety and of course the "racing" aspect of it, but I always loved to see after Qualifying the fuel startegy and the fuel predictions and the corrected grid.
Bring it back but limit it to one refuel only, then make them start on the fuel they finish qualifying. Imagine teams pitting early to gain advantage in qualification, balanced against teams that started lower on grid with half a tank of fuel.
I prefer F1 with refuelling banned. I think it makes things more challenging for drivers and strategists - which ultimately make the races more exciting.
I actually disagree Forza I think it was more challenging for the drivers having to adapt to different fuel loads during a race and also it was more challenging to the strategists because they had to work out opponents fuel loads etc! Im sure you will come back with your reasons but that is what I think!
Yes I agree with this; I like the races better with refuelling banned. Qualifying now is also the fastest driver on pole, not the one with the least amount of fuel. I also like the fact that drivers have to manage their fuel levels, like their tyres, it is more interesting. Plus now drivers are having to overtake on track more instead of through pitstops. It was also harder to tell who was fast and who just had less fuel.
I'm torn on this one... but I think I'm leaning towards having fueling. It would allow drivers to carry less weight when on the softer compounds and take hevier fuel when on the harder, giving the ability to really make the most of each tyre choice. Strategy would be mixed up more than it is now and strategy could be more diverse depending on the circuit. Down sides... having another factor to try and fathom while watching a race... again.
Nope. Forced re-fuelling was the biggest insult ever dealt to Grand Prix racing. Keep well away from it: Grand Prix racing is not - and never should have been - a series of back to back sprint races.
How about through choice.... no mandatory stops? Actually.... now you mention it. I bloody hate drivers being forced to use two compounds.
Great stuff Onion! My whole point is that it should be about choice; and that the choice should be realistic. Forcing re-fuelling upon teams is a prescription for something which is not a Grand Prix but allowing it is giving a free reign to a driver and his team to do what they want. On the same note; ideally every team should be free to choose which tyres they run and whether or not they change them.
I'm with you on that. Give teams free choice and the races will be much more dynamic. I'm sure there would be some pretty bold strategy come in to play and some fantastic gambles.
I thought banning refuelling would kill the racing; could not have been more wrong. Last year was the most exciting season for some years (well, once we got out of Bahrain anyway) and this season speaks for itself. Main problem with refuelling was that as a result of the over-emphasis on strategy, we hardly had any overtakes on the track - we got people holding back in case they were able to pull an undercut on strategy.
I remember having a very long debate about this with Cosi back on Muzz606. I have to say that I am seeing more entertaining racing than I thought I would back when refuelling was first banned. That is possibly down to Pirelli and DRS though. I would suggest that if there were no DRS and Bridgestone were still the tyre supplier, or if Pirelli had gone down the route of super durable tyres, I would want refuelling back. As it is, I think we have great racing, although I still hate the overgrown cars we have now and the sluggish race starts!
Refuelling made for some very boring races. 3 sprints in betwwen pitstops. At least now the driver can have more of a say by looking after their tyres a bit better. Howm nay great endings have we seen to GP's this year? Lots! I hated refuelling when it was reintroduced in 1994 and was glad to see the back of it.
I know what you mean allsaintchris and whilst this is true in some respects, it is also worth bearing in mind that there have been some dire races since refuelling was banned too. People talk about how refuelling was a load of sprints but some drivers were doing 1 stop races as well, which is more or less what everyone did in 2010. Last year I was sick to the back teeth of "managing tyres" and "conserving fuel". It happened in the last part of every race! Sure, there will be times when that is a good strategy but it meant that each race became conservative instead of attacking. Thankfully, that has lessened this year.
What made the refuelling bad is after a few years everyone ended up on the same strategies. To be quick you had to have low fuel and fresh tyres, so in the end one stopping, unless everyone else was doing it, never worked as you had heavier fuel or more worn out tyres. There was never any point being the tortoise
The thing is, from my point of view at least, aside from a couple of races last season (without DRS/Kers) was still FAR more exciting than the mostly pitstop-based 2008 and 2009 seasons! It's been great to see more wheel-to-wheel racing, take backs, battles etc. this year, but people forget that it was good (if not great) last year - despite the initial post-Bahrain fears - mainly because we saw people having to try to overtake on the track. (having a 5-way championship battle helped too of course)
