2019 F1 challenge: Anyone interested

Now that I'm back, well...

I'm back.

I'll play

I'm in too. Practice looks as though it might be an interesting season unless Mercedes have lots of time up their sleeve.

They do as far as single lap pace is concerned (and as I wrote that, Bottas banged in an ominously quick lap on the hardest tyre). But all three top teams have shown very similar long run pace so far which is encouraging. 

Alfa Romeo look good. Racing Point look to be in a spot of bother. And I really hope that Williams can bounce back from their catastrophic start.

I wonder how much effect there would be if the regs were altered so that front and rear wings could have a maximum of 2 elements/wings, with near-rectangular, flat endplates.

Would this reduce the aero issues for following cars, and also reduce downforce slowing the cars down and providing more overtaking opportunities?

Apparently the gearbox will be standardised in a season or two's time.... seems to be eating away at F1 being the pinnacle of race-car technology. What with the loss of free terrestial TV coverage, I'm surprised that more have not lost interest in F1 TBH

Perhaps the teams really will leave and set up their own series. It might even be approachable for free to air channels.

I think it would make a massive difference. Formula 2 and IndyCar have a similar set-up to what you describe, and they can follow a lot more effectively. Simplifying the wings for me is long overdue, to cut it short, the constant development of wings has little relevance to the motor industry, it’s a costly exercise that favours those with unlimited budgets. However, what’s even more important is implementing severe restrictions on wing development. This is where F1 often goes wrong, even with rules that start out okay.

Inevitably, teams want to bring updates to their front wings at almost every Grand Prix. If they don’t, they risk being overtaken by someone else who has bought a successful update. As they do that, they increase downforce and turbulence increases. So any rule change in Melbourne that might start out well won’t end well in Abu Dhabi.

More radically, I think it’s about time that F1 had LMP-style noses. You would have far less turbulence, but still maintain a high standard of cornering performance; it’s just that the downforce would partly be created in a different way. As a consequence, DRS could then be eliminated entirely. In my view, this is a more sustainable option. Under the current system which is unfortunately too democratic, the bigger teams would never agree to stopping development of the front wings.

As for standardised gearboxes, it’s an interesting idea. I think the idea is that the gearbox would be the same, but a few components might be open for development. I’m not against a spec gearbox. F1 has already moved to a spec ECU, supplied by McLaren. However, innovation with gearboxes is near impossible with how strict the rules are. So cost savings would not be massive, especially because some of the bigger teams like Ferrari and Mercedes supply their gearboxes to smaller teams.

As for Sky, I have long thought that the F1 channel is massively underused. Even the most ardent fan is not going to bother watching the channel apart from the 20 odd weekends when a GP is taking place. Sky should re-brand the channel as Sky Motorsport. They should show IndyCar, cross-promote it with F1. IndyCar has a lot of F1 links, with former drivers taking part in the whole series or selected races. They could show sportscar stuff, and series which are no longer on TV like IMSA. This would provide better value for money. If it’s going to be costly, make it worth the motorsport fans’ money. It’s anecdotal, but I know a lot of people who subscribe to BT Sport because of the volume of motorsport they broadcast. It’s just about worth it, because in fairness we are well catered for.

I don’t doubt that losing live terrestrial coverage of F1 (apart from the British GP) will be a huge loss. However, Channel 4 will still be showing same day extended highlights of qualifying and the race in the evenings. I think that might work for people, because not everyone wants to watch a GP at 2 pm in the afternoon.

Fantastic news. This makes sense, considering Sky is owned by Comcast. Comcast, via NBC show IndyCar in the US. Sky are also going to broadcast the qualifying sessions live as well. I don’t really understand the negativity behind this. BT is a subscription network, so is Sky, and with Sky the viewers gets more IndyCar action plus better picture and sound quality. Plus, IndyCar used to show IndyCar for years. They were broadcasting it when it was IRL (Indy Racing League), it’s not like they haven’t got a history with the series.
 
Just as BT loses IndyCar, it gains the Australian Supercars. I love the Aussie Supercars, seeing and hearing those cars in HD again is going to be terrific – starting from tomorrow!