Phil's Diary: F1

Wednesday March 5, 2003

The F1 season restarts for a new year this coming weekend. With it are a number of rule changes that should make this season a little more interesting than the last.

First off the qualifying will be one lap, and drivers will have the track to themselves. This should make for more realistic qualifying times, and less problems with traffic. However weather changes really could turn things around.

However the really interesting change is that whatever fuel is left in the cars after qualifying will be what they start the race with. So getting a fast qualifying time by driving with almost no fuel will leave you needing to refuel in the first few minutes of the race.

I expect that last change will lead to some interesting tactics from the teams. I expect they’ll quickly work out for themselves an optimum, that gives them a good grid position, but doesn’t mean too much refuelling. I also expect some of the back teams to boost their positions early in the race.

This refuelling rule will also mean the end of any short-life parts designed for qualifying only (such as an extra high-revving engine), as the teams won’t be able to work on the cars after qualifying. This should save some money, and lead, perhaps reduce the performance gaps a little between the teams.

There is also a set of new rules to even things out a little. First there will be no pit to car telemetry, so no fancy mechanical saves during the race. The radio between the car and pits is also going to be available to TV and the F1 authorities. This will reduce the chances of any blatant team orders (which are also banned).

All in all I think that some of the changes being proposed will help make it more interesting to watch, though I don’t doubt that at the end of the day the better teams will still be at the top.

I also guess that some of the changes will have no effect whatsoever, or even cause problems. But that’s the nature of things like this.

I’m glad they made some reasonably radical changes, it was getting a little dull last year.

Posted by Phil on March 05, 2003 10:21 PM | Categories: Motorsport

Found your site and wanted to say hi

Posted by: Andy at November 6, 2004 4:29 AM

However the really interesting change is that whatever fuel is left in the cars after qualifying.

Interesting sentence that makes absolutely no sense - and doesn't actually say what happens to whatever fuel is left after qualifying, so I'm all in the dark here!! Managed to kinda piece together what I think you meant - but boy did you lose your train of thought lol. You may want to go back and edit this before you confuse the world!!

F1 = death to me so I'd better join a library to have something to do whilst you watch it.

Posted by: Ruth at March 6, 2003 11:18 AM