I realize I may get cut down in pieces for saying this but I do agree a little with Paddy Lowe after all if you look back in the history of F1 when overtaking was more common place you still had the circuits where there was virtually none, just look at Monaco for starters.
Unless a driver screws up a corner an overtake isn't performed on just one corner but is setup and performed over at least two corners and a suitable long enough straight. If a circuit doesn't feature this then any overtaking is almost impossible in an F1 car.

I would agree that the aero and short braking distance plays a bigger part in reduced overtaking but you cannot disagree that some tracks offer more opportunities than others so there's no reason for not looking at ways to improve tracks to help.

Personally I'd also ban blocking as well, someone swerving across a track to prevent being overtaken then swerving back to pick up the raceing line does nothing for the sport IMO but does reduce overtaking and can cause carnage.

Well I like that thought. I would also like a limited but more powerful push to pass.

I second that.

Aah I see so a sudden power advantage of 80 BHP over the car infront is not a significant factor in an overtake ?

The trouble with Kers is that it can also be used to defend. So if everyone had it, it would all level out... I like the A1 system when you only have a number of credits for the race. That, in my book, requires some driver skill to use it optimally.

Changing the brakes wont do much. Braking distances are short because of massive aero and mechanical grip, not because of carbon brakes. Zanardi for example changed his brakes in f1 from carbon and his braking distances didnt suffer.

For me...I have said it before and I will say it again...

Tyres with two HUGE differences in performance one super hard, one super soft and each has to be used. This alone will give different cars different performance levels of pretty huge proportions at any given time....

PLUS...

FIA spec AND designed front and rear wings. The Teams get to design their cars and just as now...they get to "bolt on" a standard front wing and rear wing, that has been designed to allow a following car to run close and can be produced on mass in large numbers to again save the teams some money in wing development and building...

Cheap and simple solutions...POSSIBLE outcome... closer running and larger performance difference between cars at different times of the GP.

Hey, what if it is the increased standardisation of the cars that is the biggest problem?

Equalising the engines, for example. Oh I hate that!

Remember when we had V8, V10 and V12 engines? This is really a situation when some car is very good down a long straight but not in the corners. And some is the other way around.

If you want to increase overtaking, reduce the amount of standardising the cars.

And perhaps also reduce the standardisation of the tracks. Don't make the new tracks so much like copies of each other. The drivers won't notice a difference (exaggeration, I know) if you build them all to the same specification. Have more "natural" flowing tracks like Spa-Francorchamps. Have cars go up and down steep slopes. Have them drivers scared of the track like they never were before! Lots of overtaking guaranteed if you can get some of them shit in their pants. Those who don't will overtake and win. See what drivers like Kimi do at Spa pretty much every year. That's the stuff we want to see and not some stupid train somewhere in Valencia. If I want to see a train I can go ride in one close to my place.

Having an advantage in motorsport is a normal thing, what's artificial are limitations and bans to minimize/eliminate these advantages.
This 20% effective KERS is joke compared to the KERS in the Toyota Supra HV-R hybrid race car that won the 24 Hours of Tokachi race in 2007 that had a 70% efficiency according to Marmorini.

FIA destroyed GP racing. Real auto racing is about findings "the unfair advantage" as Mark Donohue well put it.

No more spec crap, bring back the technical freedom.

That would be my idea too, plus an extra brake-to-pass on credits.

It's an enormous problem, really, enormous in that there are a thousand different variables that come into play. I'd like to say that the drivers should be taking the heat, as much as we hate the Tilke cookie-cutter tracks every corner on every circuit everywhere has the capability of being a place where a pass could occur, I'm tired of this bullshit where we have to hunt down a particular corner and decide before the race that 90% of the passing should take place there. That defeats the whole point of racing.

Having said that, the drivers can't take the all heat, at least not entirely and they certainly don't deserve the majority of the blame - the lifespan of an F1 driver in terms of actual time spent in a race seat has never been shorter, by which I mean the pressure to impress immediately. That might change with the new teams next year, and not only could we see previously 'exiled' drivers (the Kliens, de la Rosas, Genes of the world) get another shot, but the point is that for all new drivers and even those in their second and third years, they will always have second thoughts on track. If Fernando Alonso or Lewis Hamilton try a risky overtake and end up crashing the car, it's not nearly as big a deal as it would be for someone like Heikki Kovalainen or Romain Grosjean. They are not nearly as 'untouchable' in terms of their race seat as Lewis or Alonso, untouchable meaning while a string of bad performances could be curtains for Heikki and Romain, Lewis or Alonso and a few other drivers definitely have more leeway. And yes, I know they've earned that, but that's not the point I'm trying to make. Romain Grosjean, for all we know, could be one of the most talented drivers on the grid, but we are throwing younger and younger drivers right into the fire in this day and age and if you don't impress immediately, your F1 career could be over before your 25, and I'd have to think even the most mentally strong driver has to have at least some nervousness about that. If Renault signed me and said 'Andrew, you're going to be one of our drivers all season whether you crash out of every race or not, and at the end of the season we can work out what we're going to do', I know I'd be in far better spirits than if I was living race-to-race, wondering if I should risk this 4th place finish by trying an overtake to get on the podium.

And even then, I can see the other side of that argument; you could make the defense that the pressure is a good thing, that it separates the men from the boys, it separates who is a clever passer with a bit of bad luck over someone that's simply reckless.

And before someone tries to tear me to pieces, I understand there are circuits where overtaking is nearly impossible. I get that, I'm just saying it's theoretically possible. I am also not going to deny that I understand very little of the technical side of the sport, although I'm learning more every day, so I can't offer any opinion on carbon brakes or any of that other shit.

If one want overtaking there is one, and only one, key word: Difference

You need at least one of these:
- Different driving skills
- Different top speed
- Different grip levels
- Different acceleration
- Different endurance

I guess one could add some more, but you get the point.

- Currently all drivers within top 10 is very good, the difference alone does not make a pass possible.
- Top speed: Rev limiter and equalized engines make KERS the only differentiator, and KERS has made quite many passes this season
- Grip levels: Same tyres, similar strategies and almost identical rule interpretations makes this difference to small to make a pass possible
- Acceleration: Engine freeze and equalization makes the cars accelerate just like the car next to it, unless it has KERS
- Endurance: There is hardly no endurance, the pit stops makes a reset, new fuel and new tyres, and at the end of the race they are no worse off than at the end of the first stint

Currently they are trying to remove more and more of the few differences that still exists. That can never lead to more overtaking, no matter what tracks you are using.

That sounds to be an excellent circuit. Innovative

Someone should build it

A pass using KERS isnt really a pass.

A overtaking maneuvre should be about driving skill, not about pressing buttons.

Well, I said "KERS has made quite many passes this season" ;)

get rid of dd, reduce aero, run over rev limiter when in slipstream, improve tires,

just look at the brazilien grand prix button struggled to get past a slower toyota for 6-7 laps and once he got passed he built 2-3 second gap in few laps....same with vettel got stuck behind nakajima for several laps once he passed him he was the fastest car

Circuits are one part of the problem. No question about that.

With power-grip ratios where they are now, not only are braking distances too short, but the wake is more impactful in corners on easier brakes.

Back in the '80s, there was a lot more overtaking because the power/grip ratio was a lot higher. The cars were more of a handful in the corners with 900 bhp turbo V6 engines and a lot less downforce than they have now. Today, the engines are less powerful now, and there's a lot more downforce on the cars.

I don't think we can lower the power/grip ratio by going after aerodynamics. I don't think we can do this without moving dangerously close to the spec body route, and that would ruin F1 forever. I think the regulations changes for this year were pretty unnecessary aside from maybe getting rid of all of the winglets and attachments on the mid-section. That would have cut a lot of downforce and removed a significant area of expense for teams, as they were spending way too much developing crap like the bargeboards and airplane wings. Plus, the cars would look a lot prettier without goofy crap like the Elephant Ears. (Which will always be the most disgraceful car part in F1 history; it's really hard to believe that the team which gave it to us is now the constructor's champion.)

The answer is simple:

Get rid of the engine development freeze and increase engine power. F1 cars should have engines at least in the neighborhood of 900 bhp; quite frankly, I think it might take going to 1000 bhp to get enough power to increase overtaking with current grip levels.

With higher power/grip, braking distances increase, and the cars are a lot harder to control and drive. Drivers will also be able to apply the necessary power to get a run on someone on corner exit and slipstream them.

removing the engine development freeze is the last thing I think they would do and frankly I don't think it will ever happen not on the overtaking part but purely down to cost.

you need tyres that go off, nascar style. I think maybe the seamless shift gearboxes may reduce the effect of tow , I know its random but i guess a car (or cars), when changing gear the car in front will lose more momentum than the following car, if they both basicaly free wheel/coast briefly between gear changes....

Unfreeze engine development, or at least remove the rev limit.

Right now, all these kilometres of straights followed by slow corners are negated by the rev limiter. Engineers work out the correct gearing ratio so that they reach maximum speed at the fastest point of the track (as they should), but that means they are unable to slipstream for a pass because they can’t actually go much faster than the guy in front due to them hitting the rev limiter.

The whole concept of engine development freeze and then bringing about equality flies in the face of the principles of F1 anyway, but that is a topic for another time.

its happened before rev limits, best idea ive heard is to limit teams to 6 gears in qualifing 7th gear avalible in the race, so 7th is the overtaking gear

They could allow V12 and 3 litre engines to reach 1000 bhp, and then raise the weight to 750 - 850 kg. That would also increase braking distances. With wider cars and wider rear tyres aswell that would be quite interesting

I believe he is right....the last brazil grandprix showed us even with the triple diffusers, overtaking can take place on the right track.... we need tracks to be more flowing or have a massive straight.

all that stop start stop start sht e.g. Valencia isnt helping at all. Even with 20% aero levels compared to the present, it will still be hard to overtake

isnt superleague near that?

No SuperLeague is about 740 bhp on 750 kg. I would like F1 to be 1000 bhp on about 750 kg

B*, overtaking is about having a better car.

Even without any downforce it would be difficult to overtake.
Monaco was a no overtaking track since forever, the passes always requiring the driver in front to give in and the the faster car pass.

Newsflash, the cars aren't easy to drive, it drivers that are better.
The 80s had more passing due to a lot of crapy cars driven by crapy pay-as-you-go drivers on with top guns would use as meat cannon.

What's missing right now is a useful torque plateau that spreads over more then 2000 rpms for the driver to control, and 1000 hp won't do shit unless the torque curve/driveability is fixed. The engines need either more displacement or forced induction.

Going by what you want cars wouldnt even have drivers in them

Probably a bit of both eh? FIA should sort it out, aero men cut some slack, track men do the same.. job done! (Maybe). Oh, and let's do away with these acres of tarmac runoffs.. Make a track a track, something you have actually stick to

Increasing the weight of the F1 cars could introduce safety concerns.

While I agree that tracks like Valencia, Singapore and Hungary need to be changed, I don't like that a guy supposed to be working on increasing overtaking is basically saying "we can't do anything, it's the tracks". It costs millions to change the tracks (I sometimes wonder why, but that's what they say) and if we just sit around waiting for the tracks to change, nothing will happen in several years. The track issue must be raised, yes, but it's not ok to stop working on other things.

I was sceptical about this idea at first, but I'm becoming a convert. Basically the teams have to set up for qualy using 6th gear, and then it is mandatory that 7th gear is say 10% longer than 6th, and can be used in the race. Then, assuming they do eventually fix aero so slipstreaming can work, they will be able to make the most of it. That FIA controlled ECU should make it trivial to implement.

Some of the tracks do need work done to them tho... a idea for barcalona, the ultimate borathon is to change the last section, or add too it... ease the turns out so that the last bit is easy flat, possibly banked , similer to how the indy gp circuit was. plus change the first corner/chicaney thing to be tighter, and abit downhill if possible...