Formula-One 2005

[AkursedX]

I don't know if anyone else is a rabid fan of formula-one racing like I am, but I was curious to know other people's opinions on the upcoming 2005 F-1 season. In particular, the new rule changes.

To me, the rules changes are quite drastic, and in my opinion kinda crappy, although I think it will level the playing field some.

For those that don't keep up on F-1, here's some of the rule changes:

-Engines are cut down to 2.4 litre V-8's, from the 3.2 V-10's. (You can still run a V-10, but with an RPM limiter which will result in less hp than the V-8) Also, for the 1st time in F-1 the materials used to build the engines is regulated.

-Engines must also last through the whole race weekend. pratice, qual, and race day.

-Tires must also last the entire race (I see this as a HUGE safety risk). The only tire changes will be for weather conditions.

-There are also increased chassis regulations which cut down diffuser sizes, regulate the rear body cladding, both resulting in less downforce.


These are the main rule changes for this year. The schedule has increased to a whopping 19-races with the saving of the british GP at silverstone and the addition of the Hungarian GP.

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My opinion on this year is that it will be quite a different F-1 season than the recent Ferrari/McClaren dominated previous years have been. With the increased regulation, comes more evenly matched cars (at least that's the plan) and with projected lower costs, even the lesser F-1 teams should be able to put together some points this year. Competition will be tight and racing will be more fierce because there will be less pit-stops to make up time on (Due to no tire changes) Overall, I think it will make for better racing, which is what the F-1 bigwigs want.

I'm not so sure I'm so keen on this idea though. F-1 is supposed to be the best of everything. Engines, materials, tires, chassis, and drivers of course. But I think the rules is killing too much of the true potential of technology. If F1 got rid of these regulations, we would be seeing some cars that would be almost unimaginable in their performance. The problem with that is that money will determine the winner more than anything else. Temas like minardi, or jordan would just not be able to compete with the ferraris, mclarens and williams's of the world (Not that they have done much recently)


Conclusion: I am looking foward to this season more than I have in recent years. Mainly because I want to see if we will finally have some more competition due to the rule changes. But I just wish that there didn't have to be so many rules to make it competitive.

Oh and I just want to see Schumi get his ass kicked!! I can't stand him! (I've been a Mclaren fan since the days of the late Ayrton Senna) I remember watching watching his last race at San Marino when I was 10-years old.

[Ultimate 85]

Okay, maybe they can justify the no engine change rule but tires? What if the tire becomes damaged from foreign contact (ie: road debris, collision, etc.). It may be little extreme but I can't see why they wouldn't make the exception and allow for a pitstop, especially if it becomes a saftey issue. I miss the days when they used to run slicks, none of this intermediate stuff with the grooves in tires they use now.

[AkursedX]

Okay, maybe they can justify the no engine change rule but tires? What if the tire becomes damaged from foreign contact (ie: road debris, collision, etc.). It may be little extreme but I can't see why they wouldn't make the exception and allow for a pitstop, especially if it becomes a saftey issue. I miss the days when they used to run slicks, none of this intermediate stuff with the grooves in tires they use now.

Whoops, I *think* you can change a tire for road debris. I'll have to look more into the exact rules. I'm kind of interested to see if Bridgestone and Michelin will be able to develop effective tires that need to sustain major grip over a long period of time.

[AkursedX]

I went and dug up some more info since I was looking for the exact rules on the tires. It turns out that tires not only have to last the race, but also qualifiying! I don't have an answer on how they are going to handle debris or damage with the tires yet.

I this rule was going into effect for 2006, but it turns out that engines not only have to last one, but two whole races for this year! In 2006 further engine restrictions will be as follows: cylinder bore, engine length, cylinder length from each other, front and rear mounting points, and crankshaft centerline will all be uniform (Not much room left for creativity.) They are looking to reduce the engines back to ~650bhp. Down from ~1000bph (Which the levels it was around back in '94-'95 when they had the deaths at Imola)


I'm interested to see the differences in fastest-lap times from this year over last. (Schumi is predicting a 3-second loss per lap)

[eHoward]

Im too tired to read your entire post but current F1 engines are 3 liters. Not 3.2.

[The Dark Side of Will]

I hadn't been following very closely because I don't get Speed here. :salute: Adelphia...

A 2.4 V8 is just a 3.0 V10 with two cylinders lopped off.

I think that F1 is over-regulated. F1, IMO, is about the best technology. If they can get the same specific output out of an engine that lasts 3x longer, that's good technology.

I think the only aspect of F1 that ought to be restricted is the engine and physical size of the car. I think the only restrictions on the chassis ought to be the age old "It has to fit inside this box..."
I think that sufficient restrictions on the engine will keep drivers safe while allowing unlimited development of the rest of the car. Yes, the rich teams will win, but money drives technology. With less horsepower, the speeds are going to be lower, the aero packages are going to be less agressive, and there will be less danger to everyone.
Perhaps instead of hardware restrictions, what is needed are budgetary restrictions, much like Formula SAE. Build an F1 car for 100 million. Spend the money however you like. Team members could fly coach in order to make room in the budget for that next aspect of the design they'd like to implement...

Look at what happened to Indy... Back in the day, if you could build it and it rolled on 4 wheels, you could race it at Indy... now the 500 is just a spec-chassis exercise in futility, and I'm terribly afraid that's where F1 is going...

[eHoward]

When did FSAE get budget restrictions?

Perhaps instead of hardware restrictions, what is needed are budgetary restrictions, much like Formula SAE. Build an F1 car for 100 million. Spend the money however you like. Team members could fly coach in order to make room in the budget for that next aspect of the design they'd like to implement...

[AkursedX]

When did FSAE get budget restrictions?

Perhaps instead of hardware restrictions, what is needed are budgetary restrictions, much like Formula SAE. Build an F1 car for 100 million. Spend the money however you like. Team members could fly coach in order to make room in the budget for that next aspect of the design they'd like to implement...

He's saying that he thinks there should be budget restrictions.

There has been a cut in testing though. I remember reading an article about Ferrari not being too happy about that

[The Dark Side of Will]

When did FSAE get budget restrictions?

They don't? I thought there was a 20,000 budget or some such...