FOTA are meeting at Monza on thursday for tea and sticky buns, over which they will discuss changes that should be made to F1 in the future. The main one it seems is whether they think that races should be shortened from 300Km.
http://en.f1-live.com/f1/en/headlines/news...908010118.shtml

I have no problem with the length of races (in fact often i think they possibly should be longer) and the reasons that Dominicali gives seem to be possibly negated by the changes coming into force next season that may make racing more exciting.

opinions?

why change it?

I say screw the 300Km distance for races like Monza. Races should last a minimum of 1.5 hours imo.

The thing is, what do circuit owners and promoters think about this issue? F1 should take them into confidence as well.

More than the distance ("x" miles/km), there should be a time limit. 90 minutes of racing is sufficient, and be the upper limit. Are laptimes expected to be significantly slower next year?

Of course, as the article points out:

Lap times are going to be faster next year.

Two hours +1 lap. Easy.

90 minutes of racing is fine, it's the 90 minutes of procession they need to do something about.

If they plan to add more races and make it a 20 race calendar (or even 21-22) they might shorten the races. It might also be a good idea to just shorten the street circuits because they have a lower average speed. A rain-free Monaco race is 20 some minutes longer than a rain-free Monza. And it's still shorter by 40 km.

what does it matter anyway?

might as well have 5 minute races, save the fuel.

the fia manipulate the result anyway

A 90 minute procession at Barcelona would still be a procession if it was reduced to 75 minutes or expanded to 120 minutes.


I hope the rest of their ideas are better than this, or else they better just not make things worse.

Has anyone worked out the current championship standings, assuming races ended after the first lap?

I dont think it would be much different than how we have it now.

I've watched Indycar 500-milers that seemed shorter than a race at Monza.

Also with TV contracts/relations and everything, if the plans aren't a success they will find them very difficult to reverse.

For example the Monza Race only lasted 1 hour 18 minutes last year and 1 hour 14 minutes two years ago. That's not what should be a "Grand Prix"

Yes, the Monza race is too short.

Done for you (not sure about who were 6th, 7th and 8th at the end of the first lap yesterday and f1matrix.it is yet to update; I've gone for Piquet, Webber and Kubica after the Live Timing Lap Chart data) :

Massa 93
Hamilton 89
Raikkonen 72
Kubica 66
Kovalainen 50
Alonso 38
Trulli 26
Rosberg 16
Heidfeld 15
Webber 13
Glock 9
Piquet 8
Bourdais 4
Vettel 4
Barrichello 3
Coulthard 1
Nakajima 0
Button 0
Fisichella 0
Sutil 0

Heidfeld's position here tells a lot about his qualifying woes this year. Apart from that, just what you said, not big changes.

Hear hear.

However, I would like to see races somewhat longer. Sometimes we barely get to see 80 minutes of 'action'. I say increase the 300 km minimum to 320 or 330.

I'd like to see more variation, some longer races and some the same. I don't think a shorter race would be such an event, going all that way for an hour's spectacle.

The problem is quality, not quantity.

http://www.autosport.com/gallery/photo.php/id/113590

Not sure I've ever seen so many smiling team managers in one photo.

so basically your solution is : lets add 4-5 laps to each race. Yeah, that idea is worth a post

90 minutes of racing is a good time. Other sports like football and rugby last about 90 minutes.
Race laps should be decided on lap time not distance so all races last about the same time.

Shorten them? I don't get it, I think they should go in the other direction, get close to the 2h limit.

I personally think that FOTA will be a Bernie's nightmare

I think they should run races per laps and not time. It seems silly to have a race timed unless it gets dark. Otherwise, start them earlier and then run the full distance, which should be a little longer. Just my opinion.

Nice work!


"An hour and a half for a race is too long," said Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali. "We must aim to reduce the time, because often in the second half nothing happens. "

Hmmm...let me think, what happened in the second half at Hungary, Valencia and Spa?
I would say I am getting cynical in my old age, but I was cynical in my youth as well.

about the same would be fine for me. seems silly to me to take the whole circus to aus, china, japan, brazil etc, which are faaar away from where all the F1 teams are, and race for one hour.

what did they do in teh past ?

"An hour and a half for a race is too long," said Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali. "We must aim to reduce the time, because often in the second half nothing happens."

I immediately thought of Spa.

Given the lateness of the rain at Spa and the "drama", if they shortened races what might we miss?

fewer laps is better for ferrari because the possibility of a stupid decision is smaller...

That's crazy talk, leave it the same - or even extend them (but start earlier, 2am finishing time is late enough). It ends up costing thousands to go see an F1 race, you want to get your moneys worth.

Nice timing to come up with that Stefano

I guess that with the FOTA stepping in, any likelihood of returning to 500kms and/or three hours would be rather unlikely....

I can only imagine how the 500km of Barcelona/Magny-Cours would be thrilling.