[Tech Issue] A glimpse at what the 2017 car will look like

[ECW Dan Selby]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-F0u1nqG18o

Thoughts?

Selby

[wnut]

Bigger wings more downforce, wider tyres faster cornering slower straight line speed, less speed differential in a lap!

An even more lousy racing car than the 2015 cars, the brilliance of the F1 Strategy Group just never ends!

[Casper]

Yep, that'll do it, make it more difficult to actually race car to car that is. They have to get over the mind set that faster is always better but 99.999999999% percent of those who are directly involved and who watch F1 haven't worked that out yet.

[mikuni]

Fast is good, but not if a car can't follow another. Forgive me for the spelling, I'm on my phone, but Maricio Arivabene said at the last Grand Prix, that once you get out in front you can just cruise, as Vettel did, and they others can't realistically pass you. If they try they chew their tyres, use extra fuel and overheat the engine and brakes.

The proposed car looks promising, they just need to make some gutsy decisions on what they do with the aero, by someone who understands racing cars. The aero needs to be backed off, or focused around ground effect, but I personally don't want it gone. I want F1 to be the pinnacle, not glorified formula ford, and it has the potential to be this again.

[Casper]

I want wheel to wheel racing like they have in Formula Ford, not someone out the front cruising. I guess I'll just have to go and look at a Formula Ford race or a kart race or a Formula Vee race where they actually race each other, no refuelling or tyre changing BS gets in the way there.

[wolfhound]

That is a technical journalists point of view wait until the aero guys get to work on the rules (when they are finalised) we will see something quite different.

[AoB Special Stage]

It comes down to the old question, "Which is more important, the fairness of the Drivers' Championship, or the Constructors'?"

[wnut]

Originally Posted by Casper

I want wheel to wheel racing like they have in Formula Ford, not someone out the front cruising. I guess I'll just have to go and look at a Formula Ford race or a kart race or a Formula Vee race where they actually race each other, no refuelling or tyre changing BS gets in the way there.

[Sodemo]

I guess they haven't learned their lessons with these wide front wings.

How many more have to get knocked off before they realise they aren't a good idea?

Wider tyres is a good idea, wider cars is good, wider front wing, not so good.

[Pingguest]

Without any downforce is too sober for Formula One, as the engines are simply too powerful. However, downforce seems to work like alcohol: having a bit is not an issue, but having too much makes you have an addiction.

Originally Posted by Sodemo

I guess they haven't learned their lessons with these wide front wings.

How many more have to get knocked off before they realise they aren't a good idea?

Wider tyres is a good idea, wider cars is good, wider front wing, not so good.

Wider tires are no good. Instead, I would like to see narrower tires to reduce cornering speeds, brake ability and allowing a larger slip angle. It would certainly make drivers work harder.

[S griffin]

Wider tyres would increase mechanical grip which is what we need

[Greem]

Originally Posted by S griffin

Wider tyres would increase mechanical grip which is what we need

Is it? Or isn't it? Looking at it from both sides, simplistically...

More grip (aero plus mechanical) makes the cars run like metronomes, taking the same line over and over and over again with almost no difference.

Lower the mechanical grip by making the tyres narrower/harder/treaded/whatever, make the cars move more, and that makes the driver input more important. They can have all the power and trick electronic widgets they want, but limit the grip and it makes the cars harder to drive on the limit - but slightly easier to get back if they go over it. Do that, and we'll get chancers pulling off (or failing to!) audacious moves again.

Or, the counter-argument... reduce the aero effect and increase tyre grip, so the drivers can chuck it into a corner and hope it sticks. If it does, great; if it doesn't, well, there's entertainment. The difference in this scenario is that the edge of the limit is sharper.

Y'see, both sides of the same coin are pretty good looking, in some ways.

EXCEPT: neither addresses the elephant in the room, which is: what is F1 trying to be? Not "What do you think F1 should be?" but "What does F1 think it should be?".

That's the nugget the FIA, FOM and the teams need to crack.

[mikuni]

On this forum there are dozens of opinions on what F1 should be, right from Formula Ford to unlimited everything. I'd say asking the people is not the right way forward.

Some people in the paddock know what is needed, it is just a matter of getting the right people involved in the decision making, and ensuring the wrong ones aren't part of it.

[AoB Special Stage]

Originally Posted by mikuni

On this forum there are dozens of opinions on what F1 should be, right from Formula Ford to unlimited everything. I'd say asking the people is not the right way forward.

Some people in the paddock know what is needed, it is just a matter of getting the right people involved in the decision making, and ensuring the wrong ones aren't part of it.

Is that before or after FOM folds?

[Greem]

Originally Posted by mikuni

On this forum there are dozens of opinions on what F1 should be, right from Formula Ford to unlimited everything. I'd say asking the people is not the right way forward.

Some people in the paddock know what is needed, it is just a matter of getting the right people involved in the decision making, and ensuring the wrong ones aren't part of it.

Which is why I posed the question I did

[wolfhound]

Paul Hembrey of Pirelli wants testing of 2017 spec cars a lot earlier than a few weeks before the first race so that can work out what type of tyre to use. They also want to ensure the safety and integrity of their tyres well ahead of the first race. The proposed new tyres are likely to be wider and have to deal with more power and differnt levels of downforce.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/120237

I can understand where Hembrey is coming from there is no point in finding out a few weeks before the first race they have serious problem with their tyres and have insufficient time to sort the problem properly.

[Casper]

Originally Posted by Greem

Which is why I posed the question I did

There is a train of thought that says classes or racing reach a use by date and then fall out of favour like some sports do. Perhaps F1 has matured to such a level that it has reached that point or no return.

[TRuss]

This video is not from the FIA. It's just a fan animation as far as I can tell. Just because you it saw on the internet doesn't make it true...relax.