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Emmcee

Is F1 Over Regulated?

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I ask this as it seems every single year now since 1998 we have had some sort of rule shakeup, wether it be qualifying,cars,tyres,engines,pitstops, you name it. The question I've always wondered, has f1 got to many rules and over regulated? I think so, I think they have lost what this true meaning of the sport is, yes we still have entertaining races but I feel that there "artificial" with the addition if kers and drs. What you think?

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I agree. No government on Earth is doing anything innovative to regulate a reduction in fuel consumption. They just tax it more and give the speculators and hoarders a free pass. What happens in F1 has virtually zero impact on consumers. It's a niche sport and no one could care less if the teams are running V12s or e-carts. The change in engine regs is nothing more than an exercise in political correctness for the FIA. It's all bollocks! As far as the 'show' is concerned, KERS and DRS are a nonsense for real fans but with 'spec' cars there has to be something to separate the teams apart from development spend. When I was involved with the Alpine GTA Europa Cup in the 80s, where we were the support race, the main moan Bernie and Charlie had was the fact that the cars were almost silent despite the fitting of Devil exhaust systems. There was a loss of nearly 25bhp with that particular appendage too! I am all for V10s, gearshifts and three pedal racing but this is one sport that never seems to go backwards. The problem with that is, are we forgetting where we came from?

GTA.jpg

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I agree. No government on Earth is doing anything innovative to regulate a reduction in fuel consumption. They just tax it more and give the speculators and hoarders a free pass. What happens in F1 has virtually zero impact on consumers. It's a niche sport and no one could care less if the teams are running V12s or e-carts. The change in engine regs is nothing more than an exercise in political correctness for the FIA. It's all bollocks! As far as the 'show' is concerned, KERS and DRS are a nonsense for real fans but with 'spec' cars there has to be something to separate the teams apart from development spend. When I was involved with the Alpine GTA Europa Cup in the 80s, where we were the support race, the main moan Bernie and Charlie had was the fact that the cars were almost silent despite the fitting of Devil exhaust systems. There was a loss of nearly 25bhp with that particular appendage too! I am all for V10s, gearshifts and three pedal racing but this is one sport that never seems to go backwards. The problem with that is, are we forgetting where we came from?

GTA.jpg

Fantastic post.

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I've been watching some YouTwitTubeFace videos on YouTube of 1980's races, namely because I just finished reading a book on Gilles Villeneuve and it had some Tube links. But anyways, apart from the quite sexist (for our time) footage of all the laaaaay-dees, F1 of that era is so totally not what today's sport is. Club racing today is more organised than back then.

So have rules been good or bad?

Some have been. Bernie's push for more professionalism is not a bad thing, although the paying punter is locked out of most things.

Car regs are a different matter, but could F1 be sustainable with today's costs if the rule book was open slather? I highly doubt it. Most teams are barely existing now without dreaming up fanciful ways of making downforce and ever larger V100 engines.

It is what it is. Which is a competition between cars made to a formula. It is not cars from 1990 racing cars from 1970 racing cars from 2013. It is still an engineering formula whereby designers have to eek the most they can out of what the rules allow, including pushing into the boundaries of those rules. Just like in the past.

I'm lucky I get to go historic racing and work on cars and drive cars and watch cars and all the rest that comes from it. I can appreciate what things were in the past, and I can appreciate what things are today. I am no less enthralled by standing on the pitwall as an F5000 goes past, as I am when a Can-Am snakes around some esses, as I am tuning on a 1000cc screamer F3 engine, as I am driving my Formula Ford, as I am standing at a hairpin watching F1 cars go past, as I am going to a modern day F1 race or watching it on the TV.

If you can find a way in yourself to remove the negativity and concentrate on what it is that makes motorsport what it is, then who gives a flying about what the rules say this year, last year or next? The goal is still the same as it ever was, and that is to finish first.

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There are two fronts to this question. Over-regulation of the cars and over-regulation of the driving. It is the purview of the FIA to have rules in place for the creation of the cars. There is no such thing as 'over-regulation' concerning the cars since the cars need to be created according to some sort of rule set.

Over-regulation of the on-track driving is another matter and I would say that yes, there are too many regulations governing the way drivers behave on-track.

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So you don't mind the constant upturn of the sport every five years because one team is winning to often? That's like saying every five years basketball teams get to re-pick there roster because Michael Jordan continuously dominated the league. That didnt happen, teams had to learn and prepare when battling Jordan and his team, same rule should apply to formula one. Whats next? Teams worried to win the championship because they don't want the sport to change and could affectively change there winning car into one that's not.

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The rules are the same for everyone. Each team must roll with it. I disagree that these latest rule changes were made because Red Bull was winning too much. Most rule changes aren't made with that reasoning in mind unless the team in question are using a system that the other teams just can't compete with, year after year. Those times are rare and I can count them on my toes. The current rule changes and the vast majority of the changes in the past 10 years were made with either safety or improving the racing in mind. The safety issues are largely rubbish and so were the many attempts at fixing the racing (which created safety hazards of their own, but lets not get into that). People are fallible and a committee even more so. It took some trial and error but I think the FIA and the teams finally found a good rule set.

I've always said we needed a good clean-up around the butt of the cars and we've finally seen the results of that. A twitchy car that you need a bit of balls and a bit of talent to drive. I approve. If this is the result, bring on rule changes every year.

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Yeah I suppose, I mean they have created a decent formula this year IMO thought never could be recreated unless we bring back the wider chassis and shorter wheel base, I was prooved wrong and the first race was a cracker in terms of drivability, I bet those boys have never been so buggered after a race, so in that sense, I guess your right.

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Perhaps we'll see a few more driver-errors in Malaysia where these 'difficulter' cars must be driven in conditions where the driver sweats half his body weight off.

With rule changes at least the positive is that change keeps things interesting, and a shake-up of the order is always exciting. Without the rule changes Vettel would be world champ every year from 2010 to 2025!

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Bah, no way, without Newey that team is toast, he wouldn't be around in 2025, well you wouldn't think,lol. Just a thought, what if ricciardo actually beats Vettel this season, what will happen?

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Then every team will be getting their wallets out and begging him to drive for them! And he will be the new messiah.

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Newey is good, no doubt, but there were many years that his cars *didn't* dominate. After Newey left McLaren, they still did alright. But to give Newey his due, Red Bull was crap before he designed their car.

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Nearly every design of his has been succesful, he is the crucial key to any team, yes Mclaren have been competitive but no where near as much when he was there, same as Williams, they went on a big downhill spiral after his absence, he is simply better at interpreting rules and finding loop holes better than anyone else.

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He should be Sir Adrian by now, for his contribution to motorsport.

No doubt if you hire Adrian the world will expect you to be winning within 2 years.

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