Williams F1 season

Always been a big fan of Williams but so disappointed how they did this season.
Rob Smedley says development of 2015 car stopped early to advance 2016-17 designs. Fair enough. But there have been few mentions of their abysmal pit stop times.
They regularly post times around 3.6 secs while all rivals are on 2.6/2.8.
Add that up over the course of a race and it’s no wonder they are trailing Red Bull, Ferrari and even Force India.
Anyone share my misery?

I too like Williams…but a couple of years ago, they had a wheel come off right out of a pit stop. I don’t recall all the details (or the danger that came from the loose wheel), but Clair came out and said we will sacrifice pit stop times for the sake of safety. She’s making good on here word. The FIA might be at fault for that too… I think there was even a fine imposed on Williams…but I really don’t recall.

I’m totally disillusioned with F1. The racing is nothing short of dire, all the time. You only have to watch a BTCC race, or a Ozzy V8’s race or Moto GP, to see what real racing is all about. I still watch it (more fool me), but it needs a major overhaul in my opinion.

It’s easy to sort

  1. Unlimited budget.

  2. Unlimited testing.

  3. No “power units” just a 3.5 NA engine V10 or V12. Your choice.

  4. Semi automatic gearbox.

  5. No ABS or Traction control.

  6. 1 hour qualifying on Friday the 1 hour qualifying on Saturday.

  7. Very limited areo.

  8. High mechanical grip.

  9. No penalties for failed overtaking attempts.

  10. Unlimited tyres.

  11. Fuel stops if you think its quicker.

  12. 5 meters of gravel before tarmac run off on corners.

^^^ agree with all that.

Give up on the KERS and let E Formula1 develop electric power

I’ll happily continue to watch WEC, ELMS, British GT, ALMS and MotoGP as I don’t see anything drastically changing in the F1 world anytime soon.

I personally they they need to restrict and provide formula parts for bits that really don’t make a huge difference. So spec:

  • gearbox
  • uprights
  • brake calipers and discs
  • wheels
  • steering rack & collum
  • pedal box
  • ECU, BBW, Kers control (but no the MGU etc) etc

Then there should be some maximum dimensions, a silhouette to fit into if you will. Finally a minimum driver weight and silhouette, with ballasted seats, to stop the mark webber effect.

Other than that, give them freedom to choose aero and engine layout / spec. Do limit the engines, but if you use more than the say 6 there is a monetary fine that’s given to the lower budget teams ‘robin hood’ style.

Win two championships in a row and elements of your car design are made available to others, to help mitigate the money lead arms race.

The regulations give you Formula parts. If you win 2 championships your just better than the other teams and it’s for them to catch up.

As for tall drivers may be they should try basket ball.

Horse racing and single seater racing is for small people only I’m afraid.

The answer is to keep it simple.

tbh the simplest thing they need to do is make it so a car can follow within a 1/2 second and not wreck their strategy, very hard to pass when you’re maintaining a 3 second gap

BTCC much more fun

Totally agree, but it’s crazy having a reverse grid and weight penalties for sucsess though.

I can see it happening in F1 next.

“Manor win 2020 Monaco Grand Prix” (200kgs lighter and from a reverse grid though). Leaves you wondering who really did the best job that weekend.

F1 needs to go back to the rules of the early1990’s and save money by having less races again, it’s just totally boring these days and the cars sound crap.