Lap times dropping too low?

[Yoong Montoya]

In the past two years, we saw a great reduction in lap times at most tracks. But do you think the times are dropping too low? If car development continues at its current speed, in a few years we may have laps that last less than a minute.

[Adam43]

There has been a big drop down to the re-introduction of the tyre war. However if the rules aren't changed then improvements get less and less each year (unless someone thinks of that next great idea, but are there any left?).

IMHO lap times are fine as they are and can take a bit more of a drop. I suppose it depends how the drop occurs. There is a safety issue here, but at the moment I don't think that is such a problem (although don't get me wrong, there is no room for complacency).

One thing I think they should do is remove those chicane things! And that would reduce lap times significantly. On this basis - lap times aren't quick enough! But then I would also slow the cars by reducing downforce.

[Mr V]

I have given this some thought in the past and i believe, for the fans, if the lap times drop too much then every race should be extended by a few laps.

[neilap]

Low lap times, as Adam said are a result of the tire war. I feel the only way to keep F1 cutting edge and reduce the speed is to lower the motors displacement. Anything else is taking away from all that F1 is. I think the teams should be able to use as much technology as possible, be it aerodynamic or mechanical. If the motors displace less the all around speeds would be less making the sport safer and actually forcing teams to be even more creative in search of power.

[Adam43]

A generation of cars with loads of grip and no power. Yuck. Personally I don't want to see that. F1 is also about power. Take away some of the downforce and they will still have to be creative to make the new package work as efficiently as possible.

But I suppose we digress!

I agree with mr v GP should be longer. I suppose if you are at the circuit you still only see them x times, but on telly I find races at quick tracks can just be getting going by the time of the chequered. I see no reason why we can't have variable length GP. Perhaps quicker circuits should have longer distances. I'm not proposing a timed race for each circuit, I think GP racing should be over a distance, but why not different lengths? I suppose the teams would moan (there are engine and other component lifetime issues), but there would be more challenges and GP racing would be more difficult.

We already do have one race that isn't the standard 190 something miles. Monaco is much shorter due to it's slower speeds (although why not just have a 3 GP there ! ). Why not have a longer distance for the longer races.

[Snrub]

I agree with race extensions. As long as things haven't gotten borring, they should be very close to 2 hours.

[Jay]

you know, I read somewhere that if there hadn't been any restrictions on the cars they'd be lapping Silverstone anywhere from 10-20 quicker. Of course, it would be very difficult to find pilots that were physically able to drive the cars at these speeds...

I think the FIA has to do whatever it can to see that over say a 3 year period the lap times remain more or less the same. This seems reasonable.

[racer69]

I'm not sure there is much they can do to keep speeds and laptimes constant. Engineers and designers are always trying something new and finding new ways to get around things. The only thing that the FIA can do is change the rules to slow them down, wait for the speeds to pick uop again then try something else.

[BootsOntheSide]

The shorter races, such as Monza, are generally the ones which put more strain on the engines and so on. I have no problem with lap times getting shorter, in principle, as long as we are compensated with extra laps.

If the cars require more skill to drive welll, that can only be a good thing as it would get rid of some of the paydrivers, but most of the technical innovations of the last 10 years have removed skill- eg fully automatic gearboxes, traction control

[Lee Janotta]

Originally posted by Jay
you know, I read somewhere that if there hadn't been any restrictions on the cars they'd be lapping Silverstone anywhere from 10-20 quicker. Of course, it would be very difficult to find pilots that were physically able to drive the cars at these speeds...

If we were still following the same path as in 1987, cars would be braking the sound barrier just before braking for Les Combes at Spa!

[f1manoz]

I've been thinking that on some circuits we're getting quite close the 1m'10 mark or so, and on some circuits even shorter, closer to one minute flat.

If they get too much faster, watch the FIA chuck some more chicanes in to slow them down.

[Mr V]

Originally posted by f1manoz


If they get too much faster, watch the FIA chuck some more chicanes in to slow them down.

Agreed, as opposed to what they should do which is increase the number of laps, at this years Nurburgring race, with the new part of track added at the end of the start/finish straight (regardless of wether you love or hate it) my immediate thought was good, more track time to see the cars, but what do the FIA do, decrease the race length by 7 laps, so once again, the fans lose out

[high contrast]

It's a bit like any sport really, for example, 100meter runners are getting quicker and quicker, albeit in much slower progression, but this is more than likely due to the fact they have less elements to modify.

In theory, one day the F1 pilots will have to be super human to tame the machines.

Anyone else believe two races per weekend would make the season more interesting? Or would it just allow 'some' drivers to get even more of an advantage?

[Mr V]

Originally posted by high contrast
.

Anyone else believe two races per weekend would make the season more interesting? Or would it just allow 'some' drivers to get even more of an advantage?

I've often thought that 2 hour long races would be an interesting idea, no fuel stops allowed, but the choice of running one set of tyres for the entire hour or the chance to stop for tyres only would make it interesting.

[racer69]

I personallly prefer, for every category, not just F1, to see just the one race.

As for laps and all that, the time limit for a GP is 2hrs, so why don't they just change the GP lengths from 300-305km to 2 hour races?

[golem]

That's what I think too. Makes the race weekend easier to organize too, coverage can be consistant and fans don't get the shaft.