Formula 1 - 2010 Season

[tongue_of_colicab]

I wonder how much of it is true anyway. Yes maybe downforce itself doesnt prevent overtaking but the way downforce is generated certainly has a influence on overtaking I think.

 

[Kaotik]

We need to get back the slipstream effect, so you can actually drive close to the one in your front and get extra speed from slipstreaming > overtake

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5h-HTv9d4c

 

[Tahir2]

Track design plays an important role in overtaking. Most tracks do not have the straights followed by a hairpin anymore.

I seem to recall a decent amount of overtaking last year, in one race Button came from 10th to 5th mostly through overtaking.

 

[Tahir2]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzoMd8OnDR0&feature=related

For the Kimi fans.

 

[Bludd]

I think the 2010 regs need a bit of time. Changing stuff after 1 race is just a knee-jerk reaction.

I also think that the double diffuser being removed for 2011 should have happened this year.

Tyres? I want a tyre war again. If that can't happen, put them on hard tyres.

 

[Bludd]

Sneaky loophole regarding rear diffuser and starter motor closed by the FIA

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/82234

 

[DJ12]

The FIA should take a look at Indycar racing. While I don't like it at all, if you watch any race there is always overtaking and cars following closely behind each other without dramatic lose of grip like F1 suffers.

I am no aerodynamic expert but this is surely down to Indycars using a ground effect method to generate most of the downforce outlawed in F1 in the knee jerk response to Sennas untimely death.

 

[Bludd]

Ayrton Senna would be 50 today and Autosport has his life in pictures up here: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/82279

 

[RobertR1]

Any interviews with Peter Windsor since they folded? I'd love to hear what went down.

 

[Bludd]

Any interviews with Peter Windsor since they folded? I'd love to hear what went down.

He's been holding a low profile. I don't think he's been doing his schtick over at Speed TV's F1 coverage.

 

[Billy Idol]

Hey cool! There is a Formula 1 thread!!
Great!

Regarding "more overtaking". I just thought that you get more overtaking when it rains.
And then concluding, I think that the answer is very easy. If you want more overtaking, make it either rain all the time (;-)) or just use the worst tires with the lowest grip available...because the only difference when it rain is, that the tires are bad! No grip, means a lot of different perfects routes and driving lines on the same track, and not just one ideal!

What do you guys think. Reducing downforce is just BS, if you ask me...drastically reduce the grip of the tires and be happy!

 

[GMâ„¢]

They should add more downforce, stickier tyres and reintroduce KERS or some kind of limited assist to give the drivers more confidence in the car.

and IMHO the only thing stopping overtaking are the rearends of the cars in front. If you remove the over complicated diffusers and rearwing elements, etc, etc the airflow hitting the car behind is 'cleaner' and will interfere less with the aerodynamics of the following car. Regardless of all the rule changes in the last decade or so you always have an approx 1 second gap between cars due to this aerodymanic feature. Look back at Spa from last season for a perfect example. Fisi on his Force India Mercedes was substantially quicker than Kimi, but once within the 1 second problem area behind the Ferrari he actually lost speed! Not even KERS could help at that point!.. and this is at Spa which has some amazingly long straight sections.

Its very sad that aerodynmamics are so critical, because it is a very interesting element to the formula and it wouldnt be the same if the FIA decided to start banning part of it.

 

[Davros]

just get rid of downforce alltogether

 

[Bludd]

Not if you want F1 to be the fastest motorsport in the world. The only way for F1 cars to go so quickly in the corners is aerodynamics and you can't just suddenly forget that aerodynamics exists.

 

[MfA]

I still say active aero using suspension measurements to enforce downforce limits would be ideal. Doesn't necessarily mean adaptive wings, could simply be done with ride height as well. It won't stop innovations in aero, still want to minimize drag, and allows followers an even playing field.

Looking around Mosley already considered fixed downforce limits (at fastest speeds) in the past, so it's not a big stretch.

 

[WhiningKhan]

just get rid of downforce alltogether

And all friction, too. It's boring when the cars go where the drivers want them to. Freely spinning wheels FTW.

 

[Erinyes]

One simple reason why the cars do not overtake as much is that they are a lot closer in terms of performance. Nowadays we see gaps in terms of tents of seconds at max whereas in the early 2000's we saw gaps of seconds between cars. Obviously to a certain extent the aerodynamics of the cars have created more turbulence since then. But also we now have no engine development, all engines are pretty much equal. The ECU is standard, tyres are standard. Gearboxes are also pretty much standard as we've sort of reached the limit of shift times(ie we're in the range of 10 m/s or lower i think). And with the need of 8 engines to last the whole season, th gearbox to last five races teams arent going to push like hell anyway. All this has led to much less differentiation these days. In the earlier days we would see massive differences in time, positions 1-10 would have a gap of 2 or more seconds. Now is it even 1 second?

With regards to the current season, with low fuel qualifying you have the cars in the order of fastest to slowest. How is the slower car supposed to overtake the faster car then? And if a faster car is stuck behind a slower car and is faster only by one or two tenths(heck even if hes half a second faster) how can he overtake unless the guy in front makes a mistake?

 

[Kaotik]

I said it once before, and I'll say it again. We need to get rid of those double-diffusors and what not messing with the airflow behind the car. All the drivers complain it's impossible to drive close to next driver to gain speed due the messed up airflows.
We need slipstreaming back, that's all it would really take to get overtaking back to F1.

 

[Tahir2]

Close racing can still lead to overtaking - look at Indycar.

 

[DJ12]

I said it once before, and I'll say it again. We need to get rid of those double-diffusors and what not messing with the airflow behind the car. All the drivers complain it's impossible to drive close to next driver to gain speed due the messed up airflows.
We need slipstreaming back, that's all it would really take to get overtaking back to F1.

Wasn't it webber or vettel that said the worst car to follow at the start of last season was the renault that didn't have a double diffuser?

The answer is to start allowing things they've outlawed. The boffins can get far more out of aero package without working the air anywhere near as much as they do now.