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F1 this season seems to have improved dramatically, thanks to a combination of the DRS, KERS (even though its barely got a mention) and the introduction of the Pirelli PZero tyres. However, despite three very good races and a stunner in China, there's still some fine tuning to be done and whilst the formula will never be perfect, there are still a lot of things that great me. A few of the 2011 rules have actually made some aspects of the sport worse.

Firstly, I hate the rev limit. Its horrible.
There's also the restrictions on gearboxes and engines. Let them have as many as they want. This is supposed to be the pinacle of motorsport.
Also, the teams should be allowed more sets of tyres than they are now. Qualifying has become less exciting, because of the want to save tyres in Q3.

So is there anything you guys would want to change? Whether it be with the rules or the technology of the sport.

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Dan Wheldon | 1978 - 2011

Well, there's always few things that should be changed.

Like for example

- Get rid of the tilkedromes, (except for Sepang and Singapore, China has been ok too, but it needs to have less tarmac runoffs)
- Change the top grade track features to allow modern Spa's and Brands Hatch to exist (natural flow, elevation. I think the rule has been made less strict, but I'm not convinced judging by the pictures I've seen from India and plans of Austin circuit)

- Allow testing events during the season (with two cars, but for the Top3 teams with one car and test driver only)
- 3rd car for the teams that want to have it.

- Scrap the tiny 2,4 V8's with rev-limiters, introduce better engines.
- One set of tyres for all the cars that makes it to the Q3, these tyres can be used in qualifying only, so there would be minimal advantage for the race.


My idea of basic engine rules:

- Any number of cylinders allowed.
- Naturally aspirated up to 3,5 litre.
- Turbocharged up to 1,4 litre.
- No rev-limiting.
- Engines have to be on sale for customer teams at single price for full season, two price levels, last year's last spec and current running spec.
- Two to Four engine blocks / driver for the full season, maintenance work allowed.
- Fuel tank capacity limited, no refueling.
- Gasoline or Ethanol fuel, different fuel tank capacity for either based on energy/density ratio of the fuel.
- If someone comes up with radical new engine idea, they are allowed to use it (for example turbine engine, rotary or even 2- or 5-stroke engine). Why? Just for the heck of it!

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"Indy doesn't give you a second chance. You have to earn it."

Improve? Is that really the right word?

The racing has gotten better, but it's not improved as a sport.

- Remove the rev limit
- Remove Bahrain, Abu Dhabi and Valencia. (Turkey is decent, Malaysia and China aren't too bad. Undecided on Korea)
- Remove DRS
- Ground effect cars
- Mixture of turbos and normal engines
- Wider rear tyres
- Protect Monaco, Spa, Monza, British/French/German Grand Prixs
- Allow testing days for younger drivers. Limit the number of tyres on the test days so that the teams can't go overboard.
- Allow single car teams and have up to 40 entries. Use the old pre-qualifying system and have 26 car grids.
- No limit on engines and gearboxes.
- Allow smaller teams to purchase components off other teams
- Gravel at chicanes to stop constant corner cutting



If I'm dreaming;
- Rebuild Hockenheim exactly how it was

wow some of these suggestions are highly unrealistic, jesus christ.

it's easy: take off KERS, take off DRS, go back to the wider/lower rear wings (for aesthetics), bring back engine development and get rid of the rev limit, and LET EM RACE.

KERS is fucking useless and a money pit, DRS is not even needed if you shitcan the rev limit, and engine development will make things more interesting. i still hate the narrow rear wing, i think it looks stupid, and i feel it chases away sponsors, since that used to be the prime advertising location, and now you can barely see what it even says.

the tires are awesome this year. i was one of the few people that actually liked fuel strategy, so last year was kind of lame when everyone had the same exact strategy. this year you actually see different strategies and like canada last year, overtaking due to tire wear. that's the promising point from this year.

- give a race circuit 3 races to prove it is worth F1. If you haven't produced a good race in 3 years, you are out.
- longer braking distances, please!

I would:

- Free the engine rules to the extent that any manufacturer can race with I-4, V6, V8, V10, V12, wankel, turbo or normally aspirated. It must run on petrol or ethanol. No RPM limit or any driving aid.
- Limit the fuel tank size to force the teams to reach a certain fuel mileage.
- Get rid of DRS, KERS and any gadget that's made to artificially produce overtakings.
- Ground effect cars, and reduced wing downforce.
- Free the use of tyres. If a team wants to put different compunds on the front and rear, let them. Introduce an ultra hard and significantly slow compund that can last the entire race.
- Pit stops not mandatory. Refuelling not allowed.
- Reduce the amount of things the driver has to do while racing. Have a steering wheel that has a button for radio, another for any sort of engine boost, and reintroduce semi-automatic gearboxes with a lever on the side. Nothing more.
- Reduce the effect of the brakes, to increase braking distances.
- Return to the pre-2003 1-hour qualifying session. Have only one practice session before qualifying and one before the race. Use fridays as a testing session with test/young drivers.
- Allow any team to enter any GP with one or two cars, as long as they have a racecar within regulations. Customer cars allowed for teams entering a maximum of 50% of the total races. Teams that already raced in 50% of the races with customer cars, won't be allowed to enter more races with either customer or own cars. Make sure that there is no involvement from the manufacturers in the teams that run these cars.
- If there are more than 28 cars entered, a pre-qualifying session will be set on fridays.
- Shift the attention from the middle and far east to central europe, north and south america. Keep Japan and Australia for obvious reasons. Slowly return to old-school medium-downforce racetracks, with fast corners and high speeds.
- Limit the 3-week gap between GP to one, reduce the number of 2-week gaps between two races.

- Go to Road America

I'd kick DRS right away. This is something I really do not want to see as it has nothing to do with real racing and and somehow don't like KERS. Drivers are supposed to race a Formula 1 car and not to push "overtaking buttons".
And I'd introduce engines with at least 950HP. I don't need the rev limit, limited number of engines and gearboxes etc., the T-Car would be nice, and so on

smarter DRS zones
2 sets of qualifying softs that can't be used in the race (to stop the tyre-saving in qualifying)

Realisticly:

- Allocate more tyres
- Reduce the amount of tarmac run offs


That is all, F1 is fine now.

Yes.

Spa nowadays is going towards these shitty run-offs. Such as Pouhon, it used to be amazing to watch a car there - there's a video of Raikkonen in 2002 on the limit like 'WOAH' but now its just, well, still a great corner, but there's no tension if someone goes wide.

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Dan Wheldon | 1978 - 2011

Cars back to 80's look and aero ability.
Remove DRS and Kers and insert a push-to-pass button with limited use. (say, 10 presses per race)
Add grass on all tarmac run-offs.
Lower race hosting costs, with the condition that the track safety is improved.
V12 engines for all teams.

That's about it.

Last weekend's 1000+ km of Spa proves you wrong. Stood there half an hour, saw 4 cars going wide and spin on dust and marbles, with 1 car hitting the tires pretty hard after a spin of 10 full seconds. They lost lots of time, but their race wasn't over.


WHOA, I'm defending Tarmac run-off.
Ignore this please

-DRS zones tweaked, but that will automatically happen next year I think. This year they can't know how it will work out on each track.

- Points for top 3 in qualifying, this will make saving tyres for the race harder. You can still save tyres but then possibly loose out on extra points. I've found qualifying rather boring this year because the pole isn't that important anymore.

Okay

Maybe LMS & F1 is different. Or a compromise: something like Turn 3 at Barcelona - a bit of run-off and then gravel.

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Dan Wheldon | 1978 - 2011

I think the first 25% or so can be tarmac, and then the rest gravel. Gives the drivers a good chance to save the car, but punishes those that go flying off completely.

Spa seems to have more and more tarmac every year. Tarmac at Les Combes absolutely sucks. Are they likely to keep the gravel at the remaining corners, or will it all go over the next few years?

I also hate how its selective as well. Why is there tarmac at Pouhon say and then gravel at Rivage? It needs to be consistent as well.

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Dan Wheldon | 1978 - 2011

If gravel then right next to the track. At least this is my opinion. T1 at Hockenheim is one of the good examples how tarmac run-off ruins everything. But unfortunately there are many other good examples