But then what do you do about the lack of billboard space that front/rear wings provide? It's not as easy as you think

 

How about the problem at Daytona with shit cheap aero that is causing all sorts of problems following an il conceived. Rule change to reduce speeds .

But F1 without aero would be interesting and require so much. More driver skill , it I suspect Ham would still be up there along with some Scandinavians.

The question is would it be far more dangerous without a corresponding limit on power, but is this not supposed to be the pinnacle of motor sport , should"it maybe limitless ? But the the cost might be astronomical and the formula might just disappear up it's own rear end

 

I get more excited watching a 20 minute club race (Caterham / Ginetta etc) on Motors TV than any F1 race. BTCC is the same, loads of excitement even without the excessive contact.

The reason is the cars are all very close, and there's a lot of overtaking.

Simple.

 

Cobblers. Is having much slower cars really a better test of the drivers' skill? Or for that matter, can F1 claim to be the pinnacle of motorsport if it's slower than F3?

You can't uninvent aerodynamics. But yes it's disappointing that with all the brains in F1 and a couple of major regulation changes they haven't managed to write the regulations in a way that allows cars to run as close as they could.

 

My understanding is the poor airflow off the rear wing makes it hard to get close behind and then overtake even with DRS. We are seeing issues with cars using DRS still not being able to overtake because they have to corner further back and DRS on the following straight doesn't give them a big enough boost. If we could get cars to follow closer in the bends, then maybe do away with DRS altogether.

So why not issue an "FIA" approved rear wing/rear end which is designed to allow cars to run closer behind through the bends, and hopefully increase overtaking.

If not that, then I like Shiskine's idea of a surface area allowance. It would need to be checked several times throughout the year as teams are always changing their designs.

There is no magic pill that will "fix" F1, mainly because no one can decide what is "wrong" with F1. Mercedes fans will say it's all good, but Manor maybe not.

 

Reintroducing Ground Effect was mooted as a possible solution.

I don't see what limiting the surface area is meant to achieve. They've already got restrictions on the size and positions of the wings so effectively there already is a limit on surface area.

 

Apparently, (according to Brundle, at least) the problems with following closely behind are related to the rule change introduced for the nose for this year. the problem was nowhere near as prevalent last year.

If you want closer racing, then you shorter length races would help.
For example, a 100 second lap equates to 54 laps.
A 1/10th second per lap advantage over 54 laps means a 5.4 second gap at the end.
A 1 second per lap advantage means a 54 second gap at the end.

Looking at the top 10 qualifying times from Barcelona the gaps to Rosberg and to the previous driver are as follows (race pace is of course different, but it gives an idea):
Driver'''''''''''''''''''Gapto''''Gap to

'''''''''''''''''''''''''Leader'''previous

1. NicoRosberg''''''''''0.000'''''0.000

2. LewisHamilton''''''''0.267'''''0.267

3. SebastianVettel''''''0.777'''''0.510

4. ValtteriBottas'''''''1.013'''''0.236

5. CarlosSainz''''''''''1.455'''''0.442

6. MaxVerstappen''''''''1.568'''''0.113

7. KimiRaikkonen''''''''1.733'''''0.165

8. DaniilKvyat''''''''''1.948'''''0.215

9. FelipeMassa''''''''''2.076'''''0.128

10. DanielRicciardo'''''2.089'''''0.013

 

That is my understanding as well, the front wing of the cars nowadays is so advanced and integral to the rest of the car's aero that once the flow to the front wing is disrupted the cars lose "a bunch" of aero performance.

And apart from all the things wrong with the cars, F1 needs driver personalities.
I'm tired of hearing everyone praising the teams, always being prepped for interviews by press officers and keeping their cool.
Everytime Kimi says something funny on the team radio, it is replayed over and over again because "finally" someone spoke their mind
(ref. 'What the F is that marussia doing??!')

 

Yet quite often they get bits broken off their front wings and carry on.

How do they put that in the regulations?

 

Tyres are the key, a couple or three tyre manufacturers, and tyres designed to go maxed out on, I remember at times years ago a change of tyre was worth many seconds a lap extra.