If you pay attention to automotive news and motorsport happenings, you’ve likely heard that this week an American company called Liberty Media finalized a deal to purchase Formula 1. Initially, the company led by mogul John Malone will buy a stake in the international racing serious with a full acquisition to come at a price of about 8.5 billion dollars. Naturally, this means some big changes are likely in store for F1, a sport that has been struggling with a declining influence and shrinking audiences in recent years.
The changes won’t be immediate though. Long time Formula 1 boss Bernie Eccelstone will retain his position for the time being as F1 begins its transition to new ownership. Even so, many in the sport believe the sale will be a good thing in the long term and have already started speculating about potential shake-ups that could be coming. Will there be new ways to watch the racing? Will F1 expand to new venues or return to historic locales it’s left behind? Will there be changes to the rulebook to improve the on-track product? Those are just a few of the questions race fans have been asking.
It will likely take some time before F1 can attempt to win over lost fans, but a new, motivated ownership seems like a step in the right direction.
What kind of changes would you like to see implemented to improve Formula 1?
Mike Garrett
Instagram: japanifornia
mike@speedhunters.com
Photo from Mercedes-Benz Media
OFFICIAL SPEEDHUNTERS SUPPLIERS
i vote for a relaxation of the rules. spec tire, spec displacement. thats it. a free for all. just to see what happens.
F1 is my favorite motor sport and the only thing I can think of is to bring back refueling. Liberty Media must redefine viewing rights and make sure it is sold to Free to Air channels in each county for the casual viewing audience.
If they retain the rights to deliver web streaming globally they can launch their own OTT (over the top) platform and make a bespoke service for each language directed at its core audience. OBS (olympic broadcast service) have recently done the same thing, this allows a single community for those serious about the sport. It would also make Liberty Media a fortune.
Less downforce, Just simple wings, H-pattern gearbox with clutch, massive V engines or Turbo motor. on real tracks, not fake track in middle east.
People always say they want rules to make closer racing... there's spec classes for that. I want to see record laps and maybe get rid of all the different tyre types.
Just bring back v8/10/12 engines. Dont penalize larger engines too much. More freedom for aero design too - makes cars more interesting. Allow prototypes - different inventions like the track succ machine etc.
I loved f1 in the 90's. Now its shit. And its more shit as the number of cylinders shrinks.
I'd like to see less regulations on the car's. Nowadays, it seems that the only thing to differentiate between cars is the livery and the driver's helmet.
no to the americans.
the F1 is a european thing
my parents got a stunning silver Chevrolet Corvette Convertible by work partt ime using a lap-top
see more at----------->>> http://tinyurl.com/Usatoday01
Well, Formula 1 needs some major changes for it's own good. Bernie Ecclestonance just fucked up the sport the last 6 years. So yes, why not another chance to someone who has a lot of interest for sport's own good.
Well, I'd screw the strict formula rules and go for something more open:
- Cap a team's budgets at say 150m, excluding driver salary
- Power limit at 1000hp, no matter how to achieve them: NA V8, Turbo I4, Diesel, electric,...
- minimum weight of 550 kg, including driver
- maximum downforce of said 550 kg at 200 kph in full downforce Monaco setting
- a car must be capable of running a full racing distance without refuelling, but you may. The tank must be big enough to enable you for a full racing distance, but you may also start with half a tank and refuel halfway (one refuelling stop per race max). Same for electric cars and swapping batteries
- safety standards as they are
- free choices of tires, but no more then 4 wheels on a car
- social media bonus: the team that gets the highest rating on social media is allowed to add 5m to their budget for the next season, the second best gets 3m and the third gets 1m. May also have a second pot halfway through the season
- engine and drive layout are up to you: FF, FR, MF, MR, RF, RR. Any form of 4WD is permitted, 4 wheel steering isn't.
- I'd love the open cockpit, but before there is something like this halo thing, allow closed canopies
- to prevent overly successful teams: between seasons, any team may approach you and buy one or two of your past season cars for 2m each. Income may be added to next season's budget.
So we have a reason to employ Raikönnen, fire twats and be creative with your engineering. Oh, and limit the fees tracks have to pay. And abolish asphalt run off zones and re-introduce gravel pits. Track limits are track limits and may only be exceeded on curbs or two wheels behind the white line.
Kathokalypse If this would happen, i would be watching F1 again. It would bring a lot more variety and innovation to the sport. Although i think the social media bonus is a bit silly.
F1 is my favorite motor sport and the only thing I can think of is to bring back refueling. Liberty Media must redefine viewing rights and make sure it is sold to Free to Air channels in each county for the casual viewing audience. visit now at indeed.jobss1.com
less aero grip, more mechanical grip, and more engine! I know the turbo and hybrid systems are paving the way for the future, but we need N/A engines back. I need my ears to bleed!
Kathokalypse for the wheels, I'd probably change it to a finite contact patch area for the sum of the wheels; maybe even limit the contract time for the drivers, or force them to move teams every set amount of time, just to shake things up a little bit. And, yeah, I found the social media bonus pretty silly, too... Maybe for the powertrains, leave it open with regards to whether it is petrol or diesel and instead fix the displacement and maybe stay with 6 cylinders still, but open up to other arrangements (non-90o-V6s or flat 6s or even I6s, although I doubt they'd fit in the car), and allow more materials to be used for the construction of the crankcase and cylinder block (currently only aluminium is allowed, either cast or wrought), as well as for the crankshaft, camshafts, pistons and valves as well. (as described in https://www.formula1.com/en/championship/inside-f1/rules-regs/Power_Unit_and_ERS.html). But, again, I don't know how many of the changes I or you proposed will actually happen... In any case, as many have already mentioned in the comments above or below, changes must happen, or F1 will be lost into time... And, also as someone mentionned, make F1 available for free on major channels in each country, so that we can see it... My 2 cents...
To everyone saying bring back refueling, I don't ever want to be exposed to this and I don't want anyone else to be either
https://youtu.be/eVkeXLpsASg
I like the idea that one team could go to another team and say "I want to buy your car" and then the other team has to sell it to them for 2M.
It would keep the cars evenly matched and would be all down to driver's skill
Tell that to vettel when he's bleeding his guts out to squeeze in a third place while Lewis and nico walk to first and second
First get rid of Bernie to start.
America make LS v8 mandatory engine trolololool
Let me guess....you guys want the rules and regulations relaxed and at the same time miraculously reduce costs. That right there is the problem with F1 fans. The sport is fine. It just happens to have the most irrational fan base that looks at the past with rose tinted glasses.
Enclosed cockpits, complete totalitarian relaxation to the aerodynamics and power plant. Ejectorseats. Paintball guns, Maglift technology, floating tracks, on circuit power ups, smoke bombs, mines, railguns....
But first I would like it to be a shite tonne cheaper to watch it on TV live. That might help the bloody viewing figures...
Engines from your teams country of origin...... 90% of the grid would be screwed by being located in the UK hehehe
LELEOSTIA
I respectfully differ in opinion, I'm not sure how that would improve a dwindling audience for a sport which is already suffering huge losses in a competitive market. I would think the opposite might actually make the sport more interesting.
Imagine F1 with a wider arena, maybe some new teams would develop, more tracks to run; don't see how that would make the sport less interesting?
The "Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile" name itself, suggests a wide reaching scope, much like LMP or Pirelli World Challenge series. The latter of those, the PWC offers some very exciting racing for fans, kind of the opposite of F1, where one or 2 cars dominate the season.
TarmacTerrorist duuuude the cars should be white and at the end of the race with paintball guns they drivers would paint the cars while driving
I'm actually looking forward to Formula E this next year. With more manufacture involvement and growing pain drama, it should be a fun time.
My Uncle Jackson recently got a fantastic silver Subaru Impreza WRX STI
http://www.easy.jobs14.com/
Gram 44 My Uncle Jackson recently got a fantastic silver Subaru Impreza WRX STI
http://www.easy.jobs14.com/
mittensGC8 My Uncle Jackson recently got a fantastic silver Subaru Impreza WRX STI
http://www.easy.jobs14.com/
Kathokalypse My Uncle Jackson recently got a fantastic silver Subaru Impreza WRX STI
http://www.easy.jobs14.com/
You mean indy?
* They should reduce downforce. This could be make by a rule that says that the car without the front and rear wing, shouldnt be able to generate more than XXX ammount of downforce. But let them have more options as for the size of the front and rear wing. So they will have to choose different types of wings based on the track and tactics for the race.
* In order to compensate for the reduced downforce, increase the mechanical grip by making the cars wider again (plus this increases the drag a bit, so it keeps speeds down for safety purposes).
* They should go back to some old technologies, that made the pilot a key part of the car and defined the shape of the cars. H pattern gearbox, 3rd pedal and no power steering. This 3 items, apart from defining the way the car behaves, would define the shape of the car. Since in the old times drivers where on a more upright position, in order to be able to operate the car.
* Open up the rulebook as for engine configuration, let the teams choose the ammount of cylinders they want, in the layout they want. Still limiting the size.
* Switch to biofuels (ethanol) like they did on indycar, it will make the green people happy.
Basically ... go back to the mid 80s, but with improved safety.
like Benjamin explained I am stunned that some people able to profit $9538 in a few weeks on the computer . see this
http://tinyurl.com/Dailyjobss1
Everyone would be Mercedes powered then..?
Coyote27981 Mclaren strted the lying down trend, and they were still on h pattern sequentials. They can have lie down cockpits, makes the profile lower.
MikeDonnelly Like in the 70s with customer cars, or in motogp with sattelite teams
like Pauline explained I didnt know that any one can make $6643 in one month on the internet . read DOMAIN.COM
http://tinyurl.com/Dailyjobs-55
First thing they need to do is fuck Bernie off!!
Second is have a even distribution of money to all the teams and abolish "historic teams" and individually agreed cunstructors payments. (Currently Ferrari is set to earn $192M and Manor only $47M) How is a team supposed to compete with 1/4 the budget (obviously alot less than that due to sponsorship $$$)
Open up engine configuration but a max power / touque needs to be in place.
considerably less aero
Set max budget
No penalties for drivers if they suffer mechanical failure, however team / constructor needs to loose points
Stopped watching F1 a year ago, best choice I've did, as this year is exactly the same as previous years.
just as Curtis answered I cant believe that a single mom able to get paid $7605 in four weeks on the internet . see it here=====net.pro70.ℭomllllllll
mittensGC8 It's racing and it' dangerous. To cherry pick a few times out of millions of successful refuels is a horrible argument. I haven't seen a re-fuelling fire in Nascar,Baja,Indy..... for a long long time. If the cars are going over 60 mph then that in itself is more dangerous than a refueling pitstop.
Just a few thoughts: Add Indy, CotA to the calendar. Reinstate Istanbul Park, Mugello, and Imola. Races every other week (26 total).Upper limit on total drag. Limit peak downforce at 275kph to three times the DRY weight of the car (no driver or fuel).Minimum weight of the car with driver, dry slicks, and a full tank of fuel must be 650kg. Ballast is NOT allowed.Like others have said, cap the total contact patch area - BUT have minimum widths for front and rear tires. 4 wheels only.ICE-only specifications: Implement minimum torque limits at 300Nm to go with a maximum power limit of 800kW. Maximum torque is unrestricted. Engines must reach a minimum of 12,000RPM and are capped at 20,000RPM. A single powerplant must be able to go at least 5 races. No more than 5 engines per season.Powerplant is an unlimited (read: always-on) hybrid engine restricted to 4L or less. Engine type, configuration of the hybrid portion, programming, and implementation are unrestricted with one exception: the total power of the powerplant (hybrid solution + engine) cannot exceed 1000kW.Switch to racing E85 for spark-ignited engines, E95 for diesel engines.
Physics will do the rest in terms of making teams creative to find the optimal solution (and come up with new, imaginative, innovative solutions that may or may not fail in spectacular fashion).
bluestreaksti Imagine a 3L Gen V based small-block running 15,000RPM with pneumatic valves o.O
Since the early 2000's with Ferrari, til now it has been getting more and more boring. One team has a superior car and wins every race. You don't even have to watch to know either Hamilton or rosberg won.
Why give stingent restrictions? Let the teams use what is appealing to them. If restricted say safety items only and maybe minimum weight. Let motorsports be original.
Speedhunter's covers F1 for once in a long while and its about the buiness, not the cars or racing.
Gravel run off areas or concrete walls. Would put in line these young playstation drivers like Verstappen. It's ridiculous that drivers are intentionally missing chicanes and driving off limits
Addison . you think Linda `s posting is good, yesterday I got a top of the range Citroën 2CV since I been making $9845 this month and would you believe, ten-grand last-munth . it's realy the most comfortable work I've ever had . I started this six months/ago and immediately brought home at least $90 per-hour .
see it here=====report55.ℭomllllllll
That sounds boring.
I have wanted for some time success ballast like we have in TOCA
like Irene answered I'm taken by surprise that anyone able to earn $9502 in 1 month on the internet
------->>http://www.think-big9.com/ᴵᴵᴵᴵᴵᴵᴵᴵᴵ
Max is not doing anything different than young Schumacher or Hamilton. He is the next world champ.
Perhaps you listen to the negative propaganda a little too much.
Nissan pumps out these immature playstation, couch potatoes and tries to call them race car drivers. That is plain desecration.
No, most teams are based in the UK, I said Team, not Manufacturer........ Imagine it, the hight of Motorsport excellence and half the grid are powered by A series engines and Rover K's... Hehehehe
Any exposed mechanical parts in the teams colours, vehicles in white, pit crews allowed to use sandbags to barricade themselves for skirmish warfare with paint guns and paint grenades.
Team Principles expected to take out "splatter contracts" on other principles to sabotage their press engagements and car releases. Ron Dennis allowed to develop attack helicopters and semi bionic snipers.
Or they could allow the sport to develop naturally instead of constantly trying to force it to evolve, you know, whatever they think is the more sensible idea.
AceAndrew2 The only way I would watch that is if Samsung supplied the batteries.
Less tracks with no history, bringing back more European venues, and one more race in the States.
Bring back refueling. Adds more drama and strategy.
Old point system. I know this won't be a popular one, but a championship point has been so watered down. It used to actually be special to score championship points in F1. Not any more.
90nissanS13@my350z The Playstation Academy is no joke. Damn near every graduate has become an extremely good driver, and well deserving to be in the series they are racing.
However, I wouldn't mind seeing more "dangerous" venues being used again. I freakin hate Tilke's tracks because they've neutered any risk away from the drivers, encouraging them to drive like ass. Plus, they force any seating/viewing to be 400 yards away, where nobody other than a 500mm+zoom-lens-equipped cameraman can see anything. I want Imola, Long Beach, Watkins Glen, Zolder and a damn French GP again. I've tried so so hard for the last 3 years to follow F1 and they make it just....so.....hard....to.........care. Dammit enclose and safety-cell the entire cockpit and open the rules, let F1 be a pinnacle of speed and ability again!
@Jay Swaffield god can you imagine the whittling-down process of drivers if you forced a shifter into those guys' hands.....holy crap thats a great idea.
LELEOSTIA not bathing is a european thing. F1 has long raced in America.
Gasosphere I've actually only heard about one racer in a series doing that, buying an opponents car after the year end....apparently he was cold-shouldered so bad, that if he podium'ed, the other driver's wouldn't stand next to him. Yes it "can" happen, but try to find examples, it's rare. But the threat is a great rule.
90nissanS13@my350z Schumacher and Hamilton, two of the biggest assholes in the history of the sport. I prefer gentleman drivers.
Well it's not far from wec and wec it's amazing
The thing is that f1 management should look a way to keep all the teams with the same budget and resources and that's impossible. I mean, the cars are fast and we have amazing drivers all across the grid but the performance of the cars are too far from eachother and that's what is making the Sport so boring.
spdcrzy You know CotA has been on the calendar for several years, right?
Vittorio Jano 90nissanS13@my350z Then you prefer losers. Every great driver has been called an asshole at one point or another on their way to success.
Hamilton, Schumi, Vettel, Senna, Alonso, Kimi, who among them hasn't been accused of driving like an asshole? There's 20 (about to be 21) world championships between those names and this has been said about every single one of them. It's F1, no one is going to move over and if you're polite you will never be the best.
From someone that has followed F1 for a long time...
Simplify power requirements. Standardize fuels and give them a max instantaneous fuel flow rate. Maximum electrical storage capacity and requirement to start with full fuel and full battery. This will give them a very strong incentive to maximize efficiency, because you can only get so many kW of fuel at any given time.
Limit overall cD of the car. No limit on cL will ever work, the teams are too smart. Give them a basic max cD and let them do what they will with it. Make that limit very low. This will encourage highly efficient, rather than brute force aero decisions (a la Red Bull's insane rake)
Either eliminate DRS entirely, or allow it at any portion of the track, any time.
There are a million things that could change for the better but those would be my picks.
I'd like to see a simplified formula:
-Cap Power to 1000kW
-any engine type / displacemt / hybrid combination - each Power Unit has to do 5 races
-either e85 or Biodiesel fuel
-no refueling
-limit the aero so cars can follow closely
-spec tires that last more then 2 quali laps
-no rules about which tires to run when
-limit # of tires per weekend to 10 sets
-unlimited Kers as long as output never exceeds 1000kW
-remove DRS (don't need it if the aero rules aren't silly)
-remove all safety nets like traction control & anti stall
-CONSISTENT RULES about track limits, 2 warning and 3 time is a drive thru, EVERYWHERE on the track. Put soaking wet Astro-Turf anywhere where it's "faster" to go wide
-keep the concrete run-offs, they are safer than cars digging into gravel and flipping over & if a car doesn't hit the wall, I'd like to see it finish the race but line them with wet Astro-Turf so drivers get penalized for a few corners afterwards
-stop neutering tracks - the chicane at Catalunya is lame for example
-more tracks with concrete walls & opportunity to over-take. Baku is ridiculous with a straight so long that it ruins all the car setups but generally, more of that.
-1 point for pole position & 1 point for fastest lap
-take away blue flags, if you were quick enough to catch up, you better be good enough to pass
-we want wet starts, why is the safety car needed when the tracks and tires are better than ever? No safety cars in much worse conditions in the past were just fine.
-Long Reach Cranes for removing cars on the track, avoid tractors & marshalls on track
-Any team to buy a complete car from any team at the end of the season for 2-3 million
F1 should stop being boring and the audiences return.
6 wheels please...
This is what I would like to see:
1: Better sounding cars! Back to the eighties, 3-3.5l NA engines OR 1.5l turbo engines. Max 800-1000hp including KERS and so on. But skip the silencers, let the engines rev high and Scream again!
2: Less aero to bring the cars closer together and make the racing tighter.
3: Bring back fuelstops! This will once again make tactics a part of the racing. Not just in the race itself but also when building the car.
4: More interesting tracks, more city tracks like Monaco maybe? Or tracks that are more like the classic ones where you go up and down etc. More technical in general.
5: Bring back the noise!!
The only way that they'll get me watching again is to let the teams loose. I want to see ridiculous power and speed. The only rule I would consider is keep it open wheel. Let them have all the power they want. Allow any downforce, i.e. ground effects, fan cars, active areo. If a company wants to budget a unreasonable amount of money, let them. Let more than one tire manufacturer. F1 teams have no identity. I watch a race and everyone looks the same, sound the same. That is why WEC has been more exciting to me. They are creating unique strategies to win the race when the shackles are taken off. If F1 wants to be successful, they need to put out a unique product. It should be up to the teams designing these products and not be constrained by BS rules.
Here's a thought: F1 picks a country with medium-stringent road regulations - let's say for the sake of argument it's the UK - and sticks to it. All cars must be road-legal in the UK. Obviously, I'm not saying they would be road registered or marketed for personal use on UK roads … but they would have to meet all the licensing & regulatory requirements that a car has to meet to be marketed for use on UK roads, and pass a UK road inspection. No other rules.
That includes: collision safety, emissions, etc, but maybe make a couple of exceptions in specific areas such as tyres and noise ... and safety-wise they would have to pass FIA rules as well as road rules
As well/instead of the above: rather than mandating engine types, limiting horsepower, limiting fuel type & usage, proscribing limits on drag, on downforce, on weight, etc etc, have one rule: mandate the maximum total energy allowed to be used by each car in the race (would be a different figure for each race, obvs).
Agree with most of what's being said about untaming the tracks and removing race-running rules.
no more silly 1.6 V6