Team bosses keen on success ballast for F1

[vcs316]

Bernie Ecclestone chaired a meeting of F1 team bosses today and discussed ways of improving the show, and one of the ideas mooted was success ballast – as used in the DTM.

In the DTM all examples of the winning marque carry extra weight at the next race, but a more sophisticated driver specific version was discussed, with for example 20kgs for the winner, 18kgs for second, and so on.

Apparently the idea was well received by team bosses as a way of equalising the field – quite what race fans will make of it, coming after double points for the final round, remains to be seen…

Meanwhile Ecclestone also made it clear that he is no fan of cost control measures, and suggested that testing be unrestricted in the future – something that could lead to massive budget increases.

http://adamcooperf1.com/2014/07/26/t...llast-for-f1/?

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All I can say is - STOP MEDDLING WITH THE SPORT!!!!!

[Kingdom Hearts]

what?, lol, the f1 circus.

[ManFromMilan]

Making changes without addressing the real problems in F1 is not going to solve any "Show" related problems.

This year the engines shouldn't have been frozen, with free development insuring a more level playing field for all teams. Instead Merc is stealing the show and hurting F1 in the process.

[vcs316]

Are they completely oblivious / blind to what the fans actually want? How do they come up with such dumb proposals, I wonder

They are going to make F1 so artificial that it will turn fans away from the sport.

[ManFromMilan]

They are going to make F1 so artificial that it will turn fans away from the sport.

Sounds like open wheel DTM or Touring Car racing. This is F1, write the rules properly and insure a level playing field for all teams.

[karvyin12]

They are reactive... direction less in establishing what F1 should be all about, Pinnacle of Motorsport....

[ARUN M KARUNAN]

Rules and rules above rules.f1 has rules more than india which have largest democratic rules.change that stupidity.than show will go up.now f1 goes for another table dicussion.like circus company manager.THE SHOW MUST GO ON!!

[Hornet]

I hope Luca DM wasn't one of those team bosses who were keen on this idea. This is just absolutely dumb. Have the forgotten that F1 is supposed to be a sport.

[vcs316]

I hope Luca DM wasn't one of those team bosses who were keen on this idea. This is just absolutely dumb. Have the forgotten that F1 is supposed to be a sport.

F1 needs stability. All these rule changes double points, extra ballast etc are making F1 a joke; an artificial joke.

[Rob]

this is where i may wave good bye to F1.

no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no.

This is F1, open up the rules a little, allow teams to test in the year, develope the engines, give all the other teams a chance to close the gaps. Silly ballast isnt the way to go. We already have fake overtaking, now going be fake performance. Shooting yourself in the foot here F1.

its a ******* sport, not a show. Sorry.

Success ballast is for touring cars, not motorsports pinnacle series.

[Rob]

sorry, another small rant.

Why dont, in football leagues around the world, if a team is winning alot, have their 2-3 top players sit out few games and have couple big guys off the street and play. Or have builders rigger boots instead of football boots.

[Alessandra]

This is presumably a response to the strangle hold of RBR from 2010 – 2013 and the probable similar situation with Merc this year.

There are two annual world championships in F1 – the team and the drivers’ world championships.
If a team has built an incredibly good car, we may get a bit tired of seeing the same car winning every race but surely that’s the point– if it’s good it wins. That’s sport.

What isn’t sport is the drivers’ championship because the best driver in a year, if s/he’s not driving the ‘best’ car, is unlikely to win the WDC. We have the prime example of that sitting in our Ferrari car in Alonso.
I’d hazard a guess that it’s this that is turning people away from F1, not so much the nature of the cars.

I’m not saying that all fans are desperate to see Fernando winning (well, most are I’m sure) but unless you’re specifically a Vettel fan you’re not likely to be too happy with the situation over the past 4 years; I think few people thought he was the best driver in all those years but that’s what the awards will tell people in the future. And I wonder if that’s the reason people aren’t watching F1 as they used to?

I myslef can only think of two ways to alter this and that’s 1) to change the drivers around in each season so no one driver drives the same car from March – November.
This wouldn’t perhaps be acceptable to sponsors and it’s recognised that F1’s a business as much as a sport.
Or, 2) perhaps drivers sit in the same cars for the year but after each race the order of finishing is reversed for the next race e.g. Hamilton wins, he starts from the back in the next race, the driver who came last starts from pole?

Any other thoughts to help Bernie?

[Nova]

To rephrase..no no no no no no and no.
I also hope Luca didnt go along w/this.

Is there any reason why F1 is more popular than DTM? Well, here's one.

The more we want F1 to b F1, the more they appear to be taking it and turning into
something we actually dont want. What the heck is going on?

Love the post about if a team is winning, then take 2 or 3 of their best players out the next game...
Sounds ridiculous dont it? Well then.

[Kiwi Nick]

Now they need to imposed an inverted grid. Start the fastest cars at the back and the slowest at the front. Just so nobody cheats in quali, grid order would be determined by championship points or the finishing order in the previous race.

[Kiwi Nick]

I'm really beginning to think that F1 should just become a spec series. Pick a chassis builder, standardize all of the aero elements, standardize the suspension and brakes, and allow 2-3 engine manufacturers who provide a sophisticated but very similar package. Then the championships would be decided by the talent of the drivers and their crews. No cheating, no arguing over rules, costs drastically reduced, expand the start list to 30-36 cars because it is more affordable. Less emphasis on development and the introduction of updates would allow more races to be put on the calendar.

It couldn't be any worse or more frustrating than it is now.

[ARUN M KARUNAN]

I'm really beginning to think that F1 should just become a spec series. Pick a chassis builder, standardize all of the aero elements, standardize the suspension and brakes, and allow 2-3 engine manufacturers who provide a sophisticated but very similar package. Then the championships would be decided by the talent of the drivers and their crews. No cheating, no arguing over rules, costs drastically reduced, expand the start list to 30-36 cars because it is more affordable. Less emphasis on development and the introduction of updates would allow more races to be put on the calendar.

It couldn't be any worse or more frustrating than it is now.

watch fromula E.its like what u said(first year only)

[Alesi1]

this is where i may wave good bye to F1.

no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no.

This is F1, open up the rules a little, allow teams to test in the year, develope the engines, give all the other teams a chance to close the gaps. Silly ballast isnt the way to go. We already have fake overtaking, now going be fake performance. Shooting yourself in the foot here F1.

its a ******* sport, not a show. Sorry.

Success ballast is for touring cars, not motorsports pinnacle series.

I'm with you. Ridiculous, the essence of f1 is gone, it is a business not a sport. I remember alesi around the outside of Hill at Suzuka in 1995, no drs ballast etc. This sport is going down th toilet fast. The fan thi sort of stuff will appeal to is narrow minded and needing to see constant action. I'm happy to watch 90 laps for 1 overtake if that's I get as like soccer a 'goal' should be priceless, the more there are the less value placed on each one. These people are destroying this sport.

[sav_pap]

They also decided to bring back Flavio. This is gonna be the best thing happened ever or the worst one, considering his explosive characrer 😄

[ManFromMilan]

Ex-F1 team boss Flavio Briatore to sit on popularity working group

Former Formula 1 team boss Flavio Briatore is to be involved in a new working group being set up by Bernie Ecclestone to look at ways of making the sport more popular.

Pressure has been growing on Ecclestone to try to arrest a decline in television audience and spectator numbers this season amid concerns F1 is not embracing a new generation of fans.

Ecclestone met with team principals at the Hungarian Grand Prix on Saturday morning and informed them that he plans to host a summit meeting over the next few weeks with a few outfits, plus Briatore, to consider ideas.

Briatore has not been involved in F1 since he had to step down at Renault in 2009 due to his part in fixing the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.

Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff, whose team will be one of those involved in the group, thought it important that only a few teams would be involved in the talks.

He also suggested that the media should be consulted too, to avoid the situation of earlier in the year when team proposals like double points received widespread criticism.

"A couple of guys will sit together [to work out what to do], because it's difficult to do when you invite everybody and come up with priorities and solutions," said Wolff.

"We'll probably get you guys involved to avoid the situation last time when you found our ideas really s***! So that's the procedure."

He added: "Bernie expressed a wish to discuss with teams about how we can improve the show of Formula 1.

"It wasn't a negative meeting, we have seen some great racing and some packed race tracks, at Austria, Montreal and Silverstone.

"But then we have seen smaller audiences here and at Hockenheim - why is that? So we're going to come together and come up with ideas."

SHARING BLAME FOR NEGATIVITY

Red Bull boss Christian Horner caused a stir on Friday when he accused the media of being too negative about F1.

But McLaren racing director Eric Boullier believes that the teams have to take some of the blame for the downbeat assessment of F1 because of criticisms voiced earlier this year by leading figures.

"A lot of people in the paddock have been negative about the change and everything that F1 is trying to do," he said.

"Obviously if we give you material to write negative then you will write negative, so we have to share the blame all of us.

"But by spreading negativity around we distract people from being passionate and watching us, and actually we stop people who could be potentially interested to watch because we are negative.

"The negativeness is part of the problem as why we have an audience which is going down."

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/115160

[Greig]

Great stuff from Bernie, he is a genius and people will fall for it once again.

Bernie suggests a crazy idea (ballast) to get what he really wants (testing).

[The Architect]

It's one lap qualifying all over again, but in reverse this time. I hope Luca wasn't one that agreed with this and is willing to stick his boot in to block this.

[ARUN M KARUNAN]

Look at todays hungarian gp,these the show we need.today weather made it.but we need it naturally.wheel to wheel BATTLES.not sparks

[aroutis]

but a more sophisticated driver specific version was discussed, with for example 20kgs for the winner, 18kgs for second, and so on.

This has to be a troll attempt from Bernie otherwise I don't know what it is.

I'd love to see this rule like if say someone wins 2 races in a row then a ballast of 40kgs to be added.. lol

Yes, this is the pinnacle of racing and evolution..

[Kiwi Nick]

Look at todays hungarian gp,these the show we need.today whether made it.but we need it naturally.wheel to wheel BATTLES.not sparks

What made the race were the safety car periods that stacked the field up. Combine those periods with the decision as to changing tires during the SC periods and it shook things up.

[ARUN M KARUNAN]

What made the race were the safety car periods that stacked the field up. Combine those periods with the decision as to changing tires during the SC periods and it shook things up.

thats only i said.all it was due to weather

[Hornet]

Maybe Bernie will resurrect his idea of using sprinkler to randomly wet the track

[ferrari4life]

LOL at this news.

[Kiwi Nick]

thats only i said.all it was due to weather

and crashes

[FF1]

just a thought. Bring back refuelling but still keep the limit of fuel for the race 100kg even with refuelling. Atleast give teams 3 chances to develope engine before freezing it during the season. Try and encourage drivrs and engineers to be the best and not discourage them if they are doing good. If a team is good they will they will remainn good or even become better and if a team messed up in the beginning atleast they can try and be good and that wil spice up racing and make it a bit unpredictable as to who will win

[vcs316]

Niki Lauda insists that Formula 1 does not need former team boss Flavio Briatore to help find ways to make itself more popular.

F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone told teams at last weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix that he wanted Briatore involved in a new working group that would look at ways to boost the sport's appeal.

But Lauda, whose Mercedes team is going to be a part of the popularity group, thinks that Briatore's involvement is unnecessary and that Ecclestone alone should be trusted to make changes.

"Why do we need Flavio?" said Lauda. "Bernie is the man in charge, and he should stay in charge.

"I think we should think together with Bernie, as he is the master of what we can improve."

Interestingly, despite Ecclestone telling teams he wanted Briatore involved in the group over the weekend, he has now suggested that the Italian may be not be essential.

Speaking to German publication Auto Motor Und Sport on Tuesday, Ecclestone said: "We do not need Flavio. We can do it ourselves."

CHANGES ALREADY HAPPENING

Lauda believes that the sport is already addressing things that needed changing and he reckons that a key contributor to recent races being exciting is that drivers are more willing to take risks.

That is due to a change of approach from race stewards in dealing with incidents since the Austrian Grand Prix, where they no longer punish drivers for crashing unless they do something blatantly wrong.

"I have to say the change that we had with the stewards, to not get involved as much as before, was a great move," said Lauda.

"Even the Sauber in the middle of the road [in Hockenheim] was exciting. If there was a safety car, everyone would have got bored.

"So Hockenheim was an improvement, and in Hungary there was no investigation as there were a lot of things that could have been looked at. It is going in the right direction."