Speed limiters? Going over 150 isn't politically correct, after all. Mandatory "hybrid" crap? No races in the rain? Decibel limits? Give the eco-tards an inch...

There's nothing wrong with turbos, but the displacement, cylinder configuration and RPM limits have irreparably ruined F1.

This is what F1 was when I was a kid, and what it always should have been:

YouTube - Senna´s qualifying lap at Adelaide

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dP2beoMYkzU

 

^ love that vid

i disagree with all who think F1 is ruined, just wait and see.

 

This!

 

everytime there is a formula change everyone claims F1 is ruined, same thing happened when we went from V10's to V8's.

the sky is not falling, everything will be fine. i believe people will fall in love with the turbo cars, how can you not love boost?

 

Fact of the matter is, the sport has been slowly ruined. 20 years ago the cars were making 500 more horsepower, achieving much faster speeds, and with zero driver aids or stupid tire regulations. The racing was amazing to watch.

The last ten years or so have been ever increasing slot car racing which is about as exciting as a plain cheese pizza.

The only thing they've done right lately is to ban traction control. Everything else has served only to neuter the sport and make it about as exciting to watch as golf.

Turbos are great, but let the damn teams decide what they want to run, and who cares if they blow an engine up every race? I don't want to watch slot cars follow each other around a track. I want to watch the pinnacle of engineering driven by the absolute best drivers in the world, and that hasn't been what F1 is for some time.

 

i agree that the rule changes haven't been the best but we've had some excellent championships in the past few years baring '09 since it didn't go to the last round. Its the drivers that make it exciting, not the rules.

 

simba, you make excellent points and i agree with much of what you have said but that model was simply not sustainable. when ferrari and mclaren are spending over $500 million per season the costs had gotten way out of hand. nobody could compete at that level and the people who could wouldn't be able to for long. that is a ridiculous sum for a single season. manufacturers began pulling out for various reasons but i don't imagine much would be left of F1 if those regs had remained (remember the proposed breakaway series the manufacturers wanted?). the upcoming formula will better suit all the manufacturers involved and may lower costs in the future while attracting new manufacturers (obviously researching and designing a car to meet a new formula engine & chassis wise will not in any way lower costs in the present) so we can only wait and see what impact it will have. i believe the cost cutting measures can only help, the sport was moving towards pricing itself out of existence. remember what happened to DTM when they had budgets rivalling F1? i loved that era too, but it just could not be sustained long term.

 

I'm not debating that costs got out of hand, nor suggesting they not be controlled in some way. However, I don't think engine configuration limits are the way to go about it.

F1 has been stupidly run for decades. Frankly, I wish the manufacturers had told the current powers that be to go pound sand and started up a new series.

I find it more than slightly amusing how 99% of F1 fans endlessly rag on Nascar, but that's almost exactly the model the sport is gravitating toward so far as construction rules go.

 

Thanks for the video Simba, Schumi = Jesus, Senna was, and is a God. Period. Talent beyond.

 

As said blind F1 fan, I would argue that these technical changes are going to keep F1 more relevant to racing and the automotive industry in general. NASCAR hasn't had much relevance to other series or the automotive industry at all in the last few years - there aren't any V8 powered, tube frame Camry's or Fusions puttering around.

My hope is that with manufacturers like BMW going heavy into turbos and Mercedes AMG engines jumping back into forced induction themselves - ultimately that could bolster the sport more so than the current formula just because manufacturers can better justify the costs and needs to further develop powertrains.

Remember that the hybrid fly wheel in the Porsche GT3-R Hybrid is basically a slightly altered, borrowed version of the KERS system the BMW-Sauber F1 cars ran. BMW pumped a lot of money into the technology(and similar systems are finding their way to road cars now) and were able to justify the costs at the time KERS was relevant. Now Porsche is moving with these technologies into the hybrid GT3 and possibly the upcoming 918.

Didn't VW/Porsche/Audi hint at a desire to enter F1?