Bernie Ecclestone has warned against knee-jerk rule changes in the wake of a lacklustre season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.
The Formula One commercial rights holder believes that the new rules need time to settle, saying: "I don’t think the Bahrain GP was much different to some of the other races we had last year. I think we ought to judge these things a little later. We ought to wait until we come back from China.”
Among Ecclestone’s proposals after this period are mandatory pitstops for teams, and circuit shortcuts that drivers could use a limited number of times per race.
However, Ecclestone conceded: "It would be difficult for all the promoters to alter their circuits to make that happen."
The mandatory pit stops are the option most favoured by the majority of team bosses. However reports suggest Ferrari plans to veto any proposal to add stops.
Ecclestone concluded: “There is no panic, no crisis for F1.”
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Re: Bernie: 'No F1 rule changes - yet'
Short cuts.... Another BE ruse to generate publicity. Unbelievable, so no incentive to pass during racing at all......
I agree with the other posts here, put some form of standard wings, ban diffusers - standard under car shape that no-one can see, etc. Remember CART cars could draft each other and still get around the corners when passing...
I like to sound of smaller brakes too, but costs would probably escalate to find a new solution/advantage.
Re: Bernie: 'No F1 rule changes - yet'
Anyone else think what happens off the track is infinently more interesting than what happens or is going to happen all season on the track?
Re: Bernie: 'No F1 rule changes - yet'
Here are my suggestions:
1. Get rid of Hermann Tilke. He has had more than enough chances to design F1 tracks, and has produced 1 of note - Turkey. By all means, keep him on to design circuit architecture and multi-coloured space stations in Abu Dhabi, just don't let him design the track itself.
2. Aero - simple (two-chord) front wings, single-chord rear wings and single-plane endplates for both front& rear. Lower noses to stop them channelling air under the nose and around the sidepods. Flat bottom between front of front wheels and rear of rear wheels. No gaps, slots, planks or other malarkey. The moveable front wing thing hasn't helped, so ditch that as well as any driver-assisted aero devices such as McHamilton's new device to stall the rear wing. This is a path that F1 does not want to go down - drivers have more than enough buttons and gadgets to deal with at the moment. Witness how difficult it was for Fisi to get to grips with the Ferrari's controls last year compared to the FIndia's.
3. Two tyre companies with two compounds each. Both BRANDS must be used during the race, but whichever compounds you like.
4. Reduced braking ability. Don't know if it is best to reduce diameter or go back to steel instead of carbon, but increase braking distances and therefore brake wear so that we can have braking zone passing attempts.
5. Unfreeze the engines, but come up with a cheaper basic engine design. From what i gather, the current ones are phenomonally expensive for what they are.
I have never had a problem with the idea success ballast (eg - 1 kg ballast per point scored, well not on the new scoring system maybe...), but i know a lot of others consider it too artifical. Personally i think it to be no more artifical than many other measures that have been introduced over the years. The big teams can keep spending because they will be carrying more and more weight, so eventually during the season the scales must gradually start to tip in favour of the slower/poorer teams.