Abolish pit stops, or allow tyre changes?

[Inigo Montoya]

http://www.gazzetta.it/Motori/Formul...11/gomme.shtml

This article (in Italian) is derived from a similar one in Autosport. Michelin has spoken out against proposed changes that would once again allow tyre changes during pit stops. They prefer to do away with pit stops all together. An expected response given their dominance with this year's rules.

What do you think? I'd rather have real pitstops with tyre changes.

[Bononi]

A little bit more thrilling than the current format.

But no pitstop can be awesome.

[Inigo Montoya]

It certainly would avoid the doubts about true speed that are associated with fuel load.

[Hazza]

I like the idea of no pitstops or no refueling.

No pitstops can be a drag because of a complete lack of excitement at all if somebody flys off into the sunset, and with the cars being so reliable as a whole, the races won't be as enthralling as the 80s/90s. The big advantage (Or dissadvantage) is that you'd have to pass on the track.

However, just tyre stops takes us back to our humble roots, make of that what you will.

[Halsey]

What would people think of teams having the option to pit to refuel/change tyres, but it not being compulsory?

[Dutton]

I think pitstops for "tyres only" has some merit if the compound choice is free at all points of the weekend. If this was complimented by the manufacturers providing multiple variations for each event, well it could be interesting.

The notion of having zero stops (well presumably people would be allowed to stop to deal with damage) could work out, but, given today's situation, is there not a reasonable chance of seeing minimalchanges for position (pitstop or otherwise)?

With regards the "compulsory" stops referred to, to be fair, fuel stops are not compulsory at the moment. Rather they are permitted and, given the current format, it is very much worthwhile stopping.

[Dutton]

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[Kirk]

Perhaps allowing tyre changes during a race but change the minimum pit stop time when doing so ... say a 20 second minimum or longer. That would make for some interesting strategies.

[Stargazer7]

I would like only tyre changing to be established. I have commented on this in another topic but I would add this will demonstrate which team has the fastest pit crew. Moreover there are not going to be so many pitstops and strategies (which I totally hate) will be far more limited.

However I don't think that cutting off pitstops will be benefiting because pitstops are one of F1's trademark.

The question is how would an F1 car be affected by such a great fuel tank enlargement?

[Raglanparade]

theve only been a trademark for a decade :P

I think that pitstops should be allowed, but they have to be done in a way that it is more adventageous to stay on the race circuit.

The obvious way to do this would be to make the teams manually remove the tyres without the rattle guns, and reduce the fuel supply speed to a conventional road pump speed.

thus the teams could refuel or change tyres if they wished, but it would take too long to make it viable.

[JeremySmith]

From the point of safety I would ban refueling and I would allow tyre changes.

[Marbot]

Originally Posted by JeremySmith

From the point of safety I would ban refueling and I would allow tyre changes.

It is totally unnessesary for the cars to stop for tyres or fuel.All we get from this is a chess game where the teams strategists plan out the race from behind the pit wall.

What we should be seeing is the drivers pitting (pardon the pun) their wits against each other out on the track.

Or maybe there is some way that the drivers (and the drivers only) decide for themselves when they should pit for fuel or tyres.I would have thought that the driver would be able to work out for himself when the most appropriate time would be to pit i.e. stuck behind slower car or tyres going off.

[Stargazer7]

Originally Posted by jasonhill9884

theve only been a trademark for a decade :P.

A little longer than that...

Originally Posted by jasonhill9884

The obvious way to do this would be to make the teams manually remove the tyres without the rattle guns, and reduce the fuel supply speed to a conventional road pump speed.

thus the teams could refuel or change tyres if they wished, but it would take too long to make it viable.

They could just limit the pitcrew personel to 10 lets say. That would delay the procedure...

[Marbot]

Originally Posted by Stargazer7

They could just limit the pitcrew personel to 10 lets say. That would delay the procedure...

The FIA intend to limit the pit crew to 12 for next season.We should know everything by October 24th.

[Stargazer7]

Originally Posted by martyn bott

The FIA intend to limit the pit crew to 12 for next season.We should know everything by October 24th.

Thats a good start. Exactly how many people a pit stop involves nowadays?

[Xpunk75]

I loved F1 a whole lot more when there were no pit stops for fuel, and you only stopped if your tires were shot completely. Although in todays f1 is carring all the fuel on board a good idea? We all remember what happened to Gerhard Berger in San Marino back in 88. His Ferrari burst into flames, im not sure if this could happen in todays F1 but hey why not? All it takes is a heavy crash and spark right?

[JeremySmith]

Originally Posted by martyn bott

It is totally unnessesary for the cars to stop for tyres or fuel.All we get from this is a chess game where the teams strategists plan out the race from behind the pit wall.

What we should be seeing is the drivers pitting (pardon the pun) their wits against each other out on the track.

Or maybe there is some way that the drivers (and the drivers only) decide for themselves when they should pit for fuel or tyres.I would have thought that the driver would be able to work out for himself when the most appropriate time would be to pit i.e. stuck behind slower car or tyres going off.

Okay martyn I understand what you are saying..I don't want the race to be driven by anyone except the driver either. My point about stopping for fuel is that the process is dangerous and always will be, sod the entertainment factor. I do not care for races won or lost in the pits either.

My point about stopping for tyres is only that they race on safe rubber, that should be the choice of the driver though as you say and not a race engineer..

[Marbot]

Originally Posted by Xpunk75

His Ferrari burst into flames, im not sure if this could happen in todays F1 but hey why not? All it takes is a heavy crash and spark right?

It's just as well that it burst into flames out on the track and not in the pits.
Gerhard survived the crash and the fire just as Nikki did.It is events such as these that make F1 drivers into heroic icons,but obviously F1 still needs to be has safe as possible for everyone.

[Sodemo]

I would like to ban re-fueling but allow tyre changes.
Alternatively, ban pit stops all together.

[NiG_21]

When there were no pitstops and no refuelling we still had just as many dull races and dominant drivers/cars lapping the entire field.

Then again, we also had some real hum-dingers of races. The problem we as fans/spectators have is seeing the 'good old days' through rose tinted specs.

With the current set up we are still getting the same results and the same proportion of good/boring races.

I think no re-fuelling will be dangerous as the designers/driver already notice the difference in a car now between full and empty tanks - this effect would be magnified. That being said though, these are supposed to be the best drivers in the world, so they should be able to cope

I like the "no tyre changes" rules, this puts the driver in a position to conserve his tyres for later in the race and so a car that was fst at the start may not be so at the end.

I all honesty, I quite like it as it is (pitstops) this way we (I) get my fix of action and strategy which both have equal excitement for me. I.e. the anticipation is just as good as the on track action, but it lasts longer

[Pingguest]

Originally Posted by martyn bott

It is totally unnessesary for the cars to stop for tyres or fuel.All we get from this is a chess game where the teams strategists plan out the race from behind the pit wall.

The race strategys are decided by the team strategists since refuelling is allowed. But before that, drivers decided whether and when to do a tyre change.

Tyre changes are better for the safety. Wit the current tyre war the tyre companies have decreased the safety margin. The FIA could end this by introducing the control tyre, but than it would a lot easier for drivers to a whole race without a tyre change.

In my opinion refuelling should be banned. It would make the teams focus more at the fuel consumption, resulting a slightly slow down of the increase of BHP. It would provide the drivers more liberty in deciding the race strategy. Some drivers will decide to do one pitstop, some to do no pitstop at all and some drivers will decide to race with the softest compound and to do two pitstops.

[Sodemo]

Originally Posted by Pingguest

The race strategys are decided by the team strategists since refuelling is allowed. But before that, drivers decided whether and when to do a tyre change.

Tyre changes are better for the safety. Wit the current tyre war the tyre companies have decreased the safety margin. The FIA could end this by introducing the control tyre, but than it would a lot easier for drivers to a whole race without a tyre change.

In my opinion refuelling should be banned. It would make the teams focus more at the fuel consumption, resulting a slightly slow down of the increase of BHP. It would provide the drivers more liberty in deciding the race strategy. Some drivers will decide to do one pitstop, some to do no pitstop at all and some drivers will decide to race with the softest compound and to do two pitstops.

Agreed, and also you would need to increase the pit lane speed limit to make it viable, say by 20mph.

[Stargazer7]

The point is, can anyone think of the changes that would take place with a much larger fuel tank in an F1 car?
This will alter the whole car structure i think

[ascarmarshal]

I would like to see a pit crew of 7 to do pit stops and five lug nuts per wheel. The tyres can still be changed in about 13-14 seconds. You have one crew member to operate the jack, two men per wheel ( a tyre carrier and a changer and that team is responsable for changing the wheels at one end of the car). So you change the tyres on one side of the car then you change the other side. It can and does work. Then the remaining two personel can do the refueling. It cuts down on cost and increases safety in pit lane as there are less people in the pit lane.

[Kicking-back]

Originally Posted by Stargazer7

The point is, can anyone think of the changes that would take place with a much larger fuel tank in an F1 car?
This will alter the whole car structure i think

It wouldn't be a drama.

They managed easily enough from 1984-1993