It is a very valid point you raise Intrepid, and that is all part of a much wider debate. Flavio, myself, and 3 blokes not wearing annoraks would like to see the disparity of performance from technical innovation narrowed, it's not often I find myself in [partial] agreement with Max Mosley but it strikes me that the core idea behind his proposals are essentially correct (if a little wayward in execution).
Capping development expenditure (by whatever meens) and limiting engineering freedom has to be done. Whilst development does indeed have to remain a part of F1, I would very much like to see more overtaking than we've seen this season.
On thing Flavio suggested, and that would work irrespective of any technical caps, was for reverse grids. I agree that the grid in F1 should not place the fastest car at the front. Good racing happens more often when you "mix things up a bit", either by the grid or by wet weather, which is why I mixed the grid up with my LFS league (STCC) when I ran it and the result was more on-track action. Flavio is right, put the fastest car at the front and it drives away.
F1 is too frequently an exercise in waiting for the result of T1 and a couple of pitstops to play out, and as much as I love the sport, nothing gets me out of my sofa like a good dice for position.
So yes, development does need to be part of F1 - as much as it is now? Debateable. Can good racing occur without changing development caps? Yes. Could development caps even things up a bit? Yes.
Whichever way you look at it the fact is F1 could be more exiting than it is if it was just willing to break one or two long standing traditions. They where on the right track when they started playing with the qualifying format - but they havnt hit the nail on the head yet.
I propose short qualifying races and a heat system prior to a feature event, with heats starting out organised by championship order and their grids by reverse order, and cars moving up/down a heat based on finishing position. 2 or 3 few rounds at about 15-20% feature race distance with 1 set of tyres for the whole thing and grid order for the feature event decided by heat finishing position. Lap times then being completely irrellevent - you want a higher spot on the grid - you overtake...
Capping development expenditure (by whatever meens) and limiting engineering freedom has to be done. Whilst development does indeed have to remain a part of F1, I would very much like to see more overtaking than we've seen this season.
On thing Flavio suggested, and that would work irrespective of any technical caps, was for reverse grids. I agree that the grid in F1 should not place the fastest car at the front. Good racing happens more often when you "mix things up a bit", either by the grid or by wet weather, which is why I mixed the grid up with my LFS league (STCC) when I ran it and the result was more on-track action. Flavio is right, put the fastest car at the front and it drives away.
F1 is too frequently an exercise in waiting for the result of T1 and a couple of pitstops to play out, and as much as I love the sport, nothing gets me out of my sofa like a good dice for position.
So yes, development does need to be part of F1 - as much as it is now? Debateable. Can good racing occur without changing development caps? Yes. Could development caps even things up a bit? Yes.
Whichever way you look at it the fact is F1 could be more exiting than it is if it was just willing to break one or two long standing traditions. They where on the right track when they started playing with the qualifying format - but they havnt hit the nail on the head yet.
I propose short qualifying races and a heat system prior to a feature event, with heats starting out organised by championship order and their grids by reverse order, and cars moving up/down a heat based on finishing position. 2 or 3 few rounds at about 15-20% feature race distance with 1 set of tyres for the whole thing and grid order for the feature event decided by heat finishing position. Lap times then being completely irrellevent - you want a higher spot on the grid - you overtake...
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