http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/71034



Sounds OK, I guess. I remember Flavio Briatore has been pretty vocal in the past regarding race weekend structure. Thoughts?

'A mini competition where everyone tries to set the fastest time'?

Then what are they doing on Saturday?

My suggestion would be a Brands Hatch-style tractor race.

I think they should extend the friday session even more. The more on track action the better. Maybe they could even let them bring a third car just for testing on Friday. Open Practice at 9:00am and end it at 5:00pm) They could then use a thrid(test)driver on fridays as well. With the cost of tickets pretty high nowadays I think the fans should get their monies worth.

Anything goes on Friday. 0900 to 1100 and 1500 to 1700. Normal practice, no limits, no engine/gearbox issues ( and the third car / test driver idea gets my vote)

Sat
0900-1030 : practice session on current rules.
13:00 - 13:30 : Q1. 6 laps each ( two 3 lap runs ). Bottom 12 decide grid.
13:40 - 14:00 : Q2. Top 8 do one lap shoot out in super-pole format.
Don't have crappy 'parc-ferme' rules. Just state that no major components of the car can be replaced (except in case of damage, for a similar part) between Sat and Sun. This eliminates the 'quallie car' trouble they were worried about.

Sunday
0900-0930 : Warmup ( seriously - asking people for £200 for 90 mins of racing is disgusting)
13:00 :Race.

Maybe have the third-car drivers go out for a sprint race on Sunday morning as well - a field of 10 for a rookie championship. That might be quite cool.

Million dollar qually races - what the hell is that. I don't want Nascar. I want motorsport.

100% agree.

I want to see the cars on track more, not less. A meaningless speedtest isnt going to impress anyone, especially if it means less track time.

I propose they run the circuit on other direction. Or even better half the field run the track clockwise and other half do it inticlockwise... Or Sakon Yamamoto runs every single car for one lap each, or Max Mosley runs the track in leather uniform

Why don't make sure there don't test on track week before the GP instead of above ideas (like they do with Barca, Silverstone or Monza)

That's quite a crappy idea, that million-dollar shoot-out. Of course on friday there's nothing for the press, there's still some need for a dramatic buildup to the sunday's race.
I don't want to see F1 following NASCAR... only as long as the size of the field is concerned!



THAT however is a nice idea! But I see McLaren and Ferrari moaning about how the other tried this or that during the race. They might accuse the other of not taking this 3rd car race seriously, but to use it to gather data for the real race. Imagine friday and saturday rainy, but on sunday the sun is shining (or vice versa). Instead of really racing, Ferrari and/or McLaren might test tyres or something. Badoer might try to start on intermediates, then stop after 5 laps to test the full wets or whatever. And then McLaren will be moaning that this was against the spirit of the race...

And I am already sick of F1 teams moaning! :yawn:

Well, I don't see what's wrong with the week-end, it's the prices that have to be changed!

Aren't BMW making a series of M1-type cars? There's Friday sorted then.

That's simple, no pit-stops. It would be a sprint race so no need to change tyres. However the bigger objection would probably come from the smaller teams, as the no 3rd car was to save them money in the first place.

It wasn't so long ago that we had a 2 hour testing session on Friday for teams outside the top four who wanted to cut down on travelling to special test days. Then we went into free practice, excellent value for Friday spectators.

I used to be able to name all the teams test drivers - this year I haven't seen one on track.

Add another practice session on Friday. Bring back spare cars - Webber in Singapore anyone?

Ban any and all input from engineers, strategists etc. on the actual race weekend itself. Let those folks give their "recommendations" before-hand, then they have to stay out of it. On the actual race weekend, leave everything up to the teams, mechanics and drivers...

Topless grid girls...

Hell, I don't know - all I do know is that we've had three very interesting races in a row...

Unless this is done people can forget talk of test drivers, extended sessions etc, in fact anything likely to stress the car. It's a boring suggestion from the teams but I can't see them implementing sensible alternatives because of the overheads.

Definately not trying to do fastest possible lap-time.

It's good solution imho because there are cars which are as fast as Ferrari or McLaren with empty tank but lose a lot with fuel loads. It would put cars from many different teams on front rows. And I like it!

Imho new format of qualifying didn't pass the exam. The intention was probably that there will be guys gambling to drive qualy with almost empty fuel tanks but all teams quicky realised it doesn't give enough advantage.

Wow...

Goes to show how 'out of touch' they are. WTF kind of idea is that?

How about pulling their heads out their arses, stop thinking race weekend format and rule changes are going to make a difference, and actually let the fans near the cars and drivers?

How about encouraging good racing rather than punishing it?

How about a stable set of regs so the tailenders can catch up on development and we can have more than two cars fighting for the title?

How about taking a look at Le Mans and seeing how much more of a weekend that is (ie, more than just racing), rather than just having an F1 race with a couple of support races thrown in?

Dave

Qualifying should revert back to an open one hour timed session. None of this qualifying on race fuel malarkey. Unlimited laps and sets of tyres. Action all through the hour and qualifying means something again.

Alternatively, if we keep the knockout format, have it with one hour long session and fifteen minutes free at the beginning. After fifteen minutes, whoever is in 20th place is fixed at 20th on the grid and has to stop in the pits. Every two and a half minutes, the lowest placed driver remaining is fixed in that position and has to stop. With two and a half minutes to go, two drivers remain to fight for pole.

I don't care much for the new qualifying format either (why not just hold a drawing for grid spots).

If I recall, this new qualifying format was introduced to "spice up the show", and eliminate those previous "boring" sessions where everyone waited until the last 10 minutes of a one-hour session to make their run...

Bring bag specialized qualifying engines, sticky qual tyres and get rid off the parc ferme rules.

First stint strategy is pre-determined, and will be taken after qual, regardless of its outcome.

They really will do everything possible to avoid FIXING THE CARS SO YOU CAN FOLLOW won't they?

Why are these teams so out of touch with reality? Jesus!

A Friday fastest-time shootout. So the same few drivers aren't going to win that every weekend?

As everyone is so keen to point out how shit F1 races can be these days (and they frequently are) I think it's high time Friday running was brought to an end.

That would be a dream for me, in conjunction with next years cars. Leave practice to a max of 2 hours on Saturday. It'll leave almost every driver without the optimal set-up, that'll spice the racing up a tad I would say. There are many factors making races dull at the moment but one of them is that they hone the cars to near perfection on a Friday and thus the same people end up in the same positions constantly.

If they want to save money for fans then end Friday's completely, don't even open the circuit.

If they want the fans to keep coming then open the circuit, but have the garages completely open for people to see, get the drivers down to an autograph/photo area for a few hours. Organise a bunch of local series to come and do some races on the Friday. You might not know what you're going to see from race to race, but it's a bit like that when you see a local band acting as support to a bigger band. It's part of the interest.

The thing I miss about the old qualifying was that those cars were absolutely flat-out. It was the very best the teams and drivers could throw at that ultimate lap time.

Bring that format back.

But they have to use the race engines, and NO DECLARED fuel strategy - I hate the fact that so-and-so was "quicker" because he was carrying less fuel. "Fuel-corrected times" indeed.

Just let them trim the cars anyway they want and have at it...

Whitmarsh: "and you create a mini competition where everyone tries to set the fastest time and you give a million dollars to the winning driver?·"


Doesn 't McLaren keep all the trophies won by its drivers? Maybe this is a way for them to get those 100 million dollars back...

What about a one lap race between both cars of the same team. With a standing start and all. That could last a couple of hours, it would not be dangerous as there are only two cars on the start.

Damn, I know, as it is so hard to overtake the guy who goes out first will win it...

It is good that they are rconsideing the weekend format, but the idea of a friday shootout is silly.

- Friday is about testing and preparation, there's nothing wrong with that. What they should do is allow for even more track time. Two 2 hour sessions, 3rd cars available, that would be enough and spare the fans from watching meaningless running;
- Saturday is fine the way it is, but they could extend FP3 to 90 minutes or 2 hours. The current qualifying format is exciting as well, don't mess with it unless it means getting rid of race fuel loads in Q3;
- As for Sunday, bring back the one hour warm-up.

And then cut back on the engine restrictions. Make it so the same engine must be used in the qualifying, warm-up ad the race on one weekend only.

Those changes would increase track time and action considerably during the weekend. There would be much more to watch and follow each and every day.

Well that would stop me attending a GP. For most people the only time they get to an F1 car live is over a race weekend, and they want to see them on track as much as possible.

I would be more open to if the winner were to donate the proceeds to a chairty of their choice. Like celebrity Jeopardy. Why would I care about watching drivers get richer when it has no influence on the championship.

Of course the way to do the shootout is to force them to use identical cars, maybe even local road going ones, but there's no way that'd be get agreed to.

If they wanted to add a bit of spice to Fridays they could just reverse the grid from the last race for the second session and run a thirty lap no refuelling, no tyre stops sprint and your finishing position in that determines the three stages of qualifying - if you don't finish in the top ten in the sprint you don't make it to Q3. If you don't make it in the top 15 in the sprint your qualifying is limited to Q1 only.

Monaco would be a complete mess, I suppose......
_________________
why so serious?

it amazes me how many people on this forum are in favour of allowing more running on friday. More running on friday = EVEN MORE BORING RACES. I'd be happy with 2 - 45 min sessions on friday and 45min sat practice.

The only other thing I'd change is by making Q3 a REAL top 10 shootout, one attempt, make a mistake and it's all over. This would ensure mixed grids but at the same time it's not cheesy and gimmickly like reverse grids are.

With a million dollar prize for fastest lap on Friday, either some of the smaller teams are going to build '1-lap specials' and say "The hell with Sunday, we were going to come last anyway", or the same 2 or 3 teams will pocket another 6 or 7 million each per season and make the gulf between the big and small teams even bigger. I guess it depends on what the rules would be for the mini-competition.

It's because some of us pay to attend a GP weekend and we want to see plenty of running for our money.

When the paddock brains get together, you can be guaranteed they will think up a retarded out of touch idea like this one. Now whitmarsh is suggesting a 'mini competition' for money. So basically a friday qualifying session that has nothing to do with the actual WC. Why would anyone give a shit about it and wouldnt a proper friday session that was part of qualifying actually be more appealing and newsworthy? Maybe im missing something but why would a 'mini competition' that has nothing to do with the wcd be of any value?

There is no need ro fancy gimmicks the sport is going fine, these grubs just want more and more money when they are already drowning.

yes but you have to find a compromise. Very rarely is FP2 exciting, it's because they start to optimize their setup by the end of FP1/start of FP2. Half their practice running time and the racing improves. Look at GP2, one of the reasons it's a spectacle is because they have next to no running time.

anyway, going to a grand prix is not all about f1, the support races are often just as enjoyable.

GP2 is a spectacle because the cars can follow closely and actually overtake. Whilst going to a GP is not all about F1, the vast majority of people are attending because of it, and would happily lose some of the support races if there were more F1 action. Going to a GP is damned expensive and I personally want to see as much F1 action as possible.

I have a fantastic idea. Reintroduce qualify engines and free up engine regulations. Then scrap that idiotic 3 piece qualify wich nobody cares, follows or digs and go back to a 1 hour, each driver 12 lap qualifying format. And bring back proper qualifying tyres.

Then have a half hour warm up on sunday where teams can alter their setup as much as they want. You want some teams going for full wet setup and some for more dry wich enables more overtaking.

In the race let teams choose between 4 tpes of tyres, say a,b,c or d where d is the softest and a the hardest. That way some teams can go for a 1 stop on a whilst others can try a 3 stop on c or d. Ban the safety car alltogether. If theres a dangeous crash red flag the race and restart.

Oh and remove the chicane at tamburello and make san amrina a proper hi speed track again. Thank you

Erm, no. For most sessions, the first fifteen-twenty minutes would be deadly quiet, with a Minardi coming onto the track ten minutes in.

^What he said

The chicane was put in for good reason.

I wouldn't want a complete restart - unless you want aggregate timing to come back. :thumbsdown:

Why not use Fridays for testing only, just don't allow the race drivers to do the testing. Keep race cars in Parc Fermé until Saturday, and allow T cars back, only to be used on the Friday (and on other days when race cars are a write-off due to an accident or something). Then have 20 testers battle it out.

Reduce running on Saturday to a one-hour practice session in the morning. This way teams have little time to set-up their cars for their race drivers (other than re-using the set-up the testers used on the Friday, of course), making set-up errors a wee bit more likely. Then have a one-hour, 12 laps each qualifying session, for which you need to use your race car, but not (necessarily) race set-up, race fuel or whatever other race stuff. Maybe re-introduce qualifying tyres, too. And if drivers don't take to the track the first 40 minutes? Who cares! That makes the final 20 minutes all the more exiting.

Lose post-qualifying Parc Fermé rules and bring back the half-hour Sunday morning warm-up session. Race drivers use this session to finalize race set-up and run some laps on race fuel.

Increase Grand Prix length to 325 or 350 km, because the current 1-hour-and-20-minute sprints are too short for my liking. Lose pit stops altogether. Mandate a maximum fuel tank size and possibly decrease it every year to encourage fuel efficiency. Alternatively limit the amount of energy (kJ or whatever) to go into the car before the start to make room for alternative energy sources.

There, F1 in 2010.

Why? If you had unlimited tyres and laps then there'd be no excuse for not being out there.

Why not make the old corner a little faster and less tight, and put a SAFER barrier around the edge of the road?

Why not to have two races? One on Saturdays and another on Sundays?

Strange idea, produced to MAKE formula One attractive. Is it necessary?

The idea does contain raising cost posts, yes teams will produce special car!

Engineering on Friday is laughable? who says it? Yes CEO Mclaren!

I would like to see a special race on friday were they put all drivers into cars that have equal performance and the same setup. Could be Mini Coopers at one weekend, then Mustangs at the next one, then on to Renault Clios etc. Should be great fun to see them battle it out with the same cars and equal setup just for fun.

Or a Time Trial challenge where every driver tries to set the fastest lap with the Safety car!

But never going to happen

I was just going to post the same! Let's see who's the best driver in equal (not F1 nor expensive) cars.

Who knows?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sn4a1rZoTU

Eh Martin, put all of them in that Safety-Merc and let them race. I'm sure the proper F1 race would be more entertaining AFTER that. Good for sponsor, good for people, fun for the drivers. More work to the mechanics!

Remove testing altogether...let them try new parts freely on fridays, 3rd drivers included.

-sat: 1 hr practice, keep the current qual format but Q3 on fumes and the strategy defined prior Q3.

-sunday: race, extend the race length and remove refuelling.

And put Diesel engines?!

Add a second sprint race. As well as the two practice sessions add qualifying for a Saturday T car race for test drivers.

Check out the 80s or other decades. 5 hours of track time before the races, including on race day, and yet the races were exciting and full of action. There was an odd boring/run away win now and then, but it still throws your theory right out of contention...

handicapped cars ( weight ) qualifying from the last race or average for the year