FIA: "We want to cut speeds / engine power for 2007"

[Sodemo]

Over at Autosport.com they are running a story which was ran a few weeks ago but seems to have resurfaced regarding next years technical rules.

So it seems the FIA isn't happy with the speeds that the cars are going in 2006, so I believe they are asking the teams to come up with ways of slowing the cars down, but once again they are attacking the engines.

Why are they not attacking the aero?

Surely that would be the most effective way of slowing the cornering speeds, and as a by-product, we might see some good racing?

[ljakse]

My first thoughts were also about aero.
[irony]I guess there must be 'a big picture' that we (fans) don't see [/irony]

[Pingguest]

This shows that Mosley is very stubbornly. And that's why I'm not that confident for the 2008 regulations.

[Sodemo]

Surely with the harder tyres for 2007, the cars will be slower anyway?

[FPV GTHO]

How easy would it be to go to a single element rear wing?

[D.R.T.]

Originally Posted by The Monster

Surely with the harder tyres for 2007, the cars will be slower anyway?

Wasn't the FIA's move to tyre changing in 06 because the 2.4 L engines meant cars were sufficiently slowed.

One set of tyres for the race could be reintroduced for 2007, with a single tyre supplier the FIA wont have to worry about Ferrari getting beaten either, well atleast not by the tyres.

[Sodemo]

Originally Posted by FPV GTHO

How easy would it be to go to a single element rear wing?

Very easy providing all the teams agree - or can the FIA *force* through changes in the name of safety...???

However changing the rear wing to just a single element would just compound matters as far as I can see. We would just see ever more elaborate flip ups and mini wings to make up for the lack of rear aero.
The cars need a total aero re-write from top to bottom in my opinion.

[Sharky]

It would seem that MaxM is happy to see overtaking taking place only in the pits. As long as he can ensure that there are enough aero elements to create the necessary turbulence to hamper any overtaking attempts, no matter the actual speed of the car, he's happy.

[Splatz the Cow]

Do you think Max thinks it's the only safe passing - in the pits?

I just made a joke:

If a McLaren contacts Michael's Ferrari, and Schumacher has to stop in the pits, is Montoya still blackflagged?

[BootsOntheSide]

Aerodynamic changes seem like such a frustratingly obvious way to reduce speeds and increase overtaking. I wish Max would explain why it's not the path he chooses.

[Marbot]

Comprehensively covered here.http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns17155.html

[Splatz the Cow]

Originally Posted by martyn bott

Comprehensively covered here.http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns17155.html

Can you provide a source for that martyn?

[Marbot]

And here. http://www.pitpass.com/fes_php/pitpa...s_art_id=28744

Nothing on the FIA website however.

[safc_fan89]

Why are the high speeds a problem? It's almost as if the FIA want to restrict F1 to GP2-style speeds.

I wouldn't care if all the cars had limited aero if it meant the cars could overtake each other...it is important Max and co think about the public. I wonb't stop watching but I already know several people who have watched F1 this season only and said it is completely boring...

[Marbot]

Originally Posted by safc_fan89

Why are the high speeds a problem? It's almost as if the FIA want to restrict F1 to GP2-style speeds.

It's the speed on the corners that's the problem,apparently 22mph up on 2005 in some of the corners.Good to watch,but not good if you come unstuck.

[safc_fan89]

Have there been any injuries? No. Do drivers try and overtake, therefore increasing the chances of accidents? No.

So why change the speeds. F1 cars are bullet-proof.

[Sodemo]

The irony is that cutting engine power won't have much effect on cornering speeds at all by itself.
If you:

2006 - arrive at a corner at 200mph but apex at 150mph
Say you then cut 80BHP over the off season,
2007 - arrive at that same corner doing perhaps 190MPH, but you would still apex at 150mph.

Attack the aero, you fools!

The only way to really decrease corner speeds is by tackling tyres and aero.

[DeoValente]

That is a good post and I agree. I was suprised to see the reaction of the fIA to wanna change the 2007 speeds even more with 2008 changes in the book?

The aerochanges will always be a bit on the edge. BMW has just purchased sauber with a large part of that money going for their their super windtunnel. Big teams having so much money in those tools they will probably all threaten to leave F1 if max would attack it too much. Im at a point where id say let those big names leave, even my beloved Ferrari. There will always be smaller names to come back and fill the void and make a name in real car racing with drivers who have much more range to show their abilities. A shame it will not happen and they will only wanna make changes to the engines and some small aero tweakes that teams claw back in a matter of months.

[Sodemo]

On the contrary, if the FIA brought up a raft of regs that eventually removed 70% of the downforce, those windtunnels would be more important than ever. The teams would be working overtime in the wind tunnels, so they would be far from redundant.

[Sharky]

Originally Posted by The Monster

On the contrary, if the FIA brought up a raft of regs that eventually removed 70% of the downforce, those windtunnels would be more important than ever. The teams would be working overtime in the wind tunnels, so they would be far from redundant.

Absolutely. Wind tinnels and aerodynamics will always be needed by F1 teams. Even if they do away with the wings altogether engineers would still have to spend months testing in wind tunnels to find ways to gain downforce and reduce drag.

[Flat12-Aircool]

Well I for one hope they don't restrict Aero too much, I like the way in which all these add-ons make the cars different from one another.

Without all these "gizzmo's" all the cars would look exactly the same.

Very small Aero adjustments and the upcoming Control tyre should be enough to solve this problem.

[Jaxs]

The sponsors believe that their adverts cannot be read as the cars speed past at 200mph....so slow down the cars. The track side adverts are blurred...

Why do you think most of the World Cup camera shots were long?

If the FIA want a greater transparency, why don't they publish the results of the poll?

[Marbot]

Originally Posted by Flat12-Aircool

Very small Aero adjustments and the upcoming Control tyre should be enough to solve this problem.

Err.........no.

[GeeRam]

Biting the bullet and making some draconian aeros rule changes is a necessity IMHO if F1 actually wants to remain being taken seriously as a motor sport, its getting that bad I feel.

Even a numpty can see higher cornering speeds and corner entry speeds are aeros related so why keep hitting engines etc….defies belief, what sort of substances are these people on?

As has been said, bias the rules back towards mechanical grip, cut cost by outlawing all the electronic trickery gizmos and start to encourage a bit of the import ‘eco’ aspect to F1 perhaps, which in this day an age is going to become increasingly important whether we like it or not.
By getting rid of refuelling a power/speed trade-off could be achieved by fixing the max fuel tank size which can then be gradually decreased, forcing the engine manufacturers to make the engines more efficient as well as powerful enough to go the distance.
If the engine regs were freed up more that could even encourage different fuel types/turbos or even diesels……Audi has just won LeMans with a diesel, why not a high performance diesel in F1.

Also, putting the emphasis back on mechanical grip means making the things physically harder to drive which will mean slower, but from a spectator’s position more watchable, even if a race happens to be a bit processional sometimes. The sight of a skilled driving having to ‘drive’ the car around the track is still something to be savoured over watching some bloke howl around at break neck speed without any apparent drama like an over grown magnetised slot car…..

After 35 years of following F1 and World Rallying my interest for both is at its lowest. No wonder the interest in historic type motor sport (racing and rallying) is so high, as well as Moto GP/WSB.

Or maybe I’m just too much of an old git…….

[safc_fan89]

I know that a lot of people don't want aero rules to be changed so they are almost identical on every car, because then F1 would just be a faster version of GP2 or whatever...but there is a reason why F1 is becoming lesspopular, and that is because the races are crap! It's becoming desperate, people aren;t taking F1 seriously any more because it's nothing more than a glorified procession at the moment. For me that is very sad, and something must be done about that before many more fans turn their atentions elsewhere.

So I think making the cars able to overtake each other should take priority over reducing cornering speeds, because that is not the most important issue.