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[McLaren Fan]

From autosport.com:

FOTA to consider refuelling ban

By Jonathan Noble Tuesday, October 14th 2008, 09:24 GMT

A ban on refuelling, shorter races, wide-scale testing restrictions, and a competitive element to Fridays are some of the ideas that will be discussed by Formula One teams in China this week.

The Formula One Teams' Association (FOTA) is holding a series of meetings in Shanghai this week to decide on ways to make the sport better.

Sources suggest that FOTA's Sporting Working Group is to focus on revisions to the format of a race weekend - with the 'blue sky' discussions to include such wide sweeping changes as a refuelling ban.

It is understood that teams are keen to make the most of the opportunity provided to them by the FOTA talks. The idea of a refuelling ban surfaced following the host of pit stop problems this year - and plans to talk about it have been given a new urgency in the wake of Felipe Massa's bungled stop in Singapore.

And although a refuelling ban would mean an overhaul of car design because of the size of current fuel tanks, one way to minimize the impact could be to have shorter races.

McLaren F1 CEO Martin Whitmarsh, who chairs the SWG discussions, confirmed that discussions in China would be about the race weekend format and a possible widespread testing ban.

"Yes, we're looking at the race format and testing," he said. "I think there are quite a few good ideas on the agenda which would change the format of racing and change the format of the weekend.

"Hopefully, together we'll come up with some agreement on how we can change the weekend in a positive way. But we've got to be careful in making changes that we retain some of the purity that is important in Formula One.

"We've got to look at our agenda on Friday and decide whether that's a worthwhile agenda where we can make more spectacle and have a bit of competition on that day, and we're going to review what we do on Saturday and Sunday to see if we can make it a little bit less predictable.

"But you'd have to say, based on today's showing and in recent races, it's fairly unpredictable at the moment."

I don't like the sound of this at all.

[scotty]

So they basically want shorter races only because they don't want to have to come up with more fuel efficient engines/redesign the cars around bigger fuel tanks.... something that would surely work well with this whole 'relevance to road technology' thing they seem to have going on.

[onelapdown]

I really would like to see refuelling banned. I wouldn't want shorter races though. How difficult can it be to make fuel tanks bigger? They used to do the same distances in cars with less efficient 3.5 litre engines so what's the problem?

[Haze]

I watch touring cars for heavy overtaking and short races.


F1 is for watching over a lazy sunday afternoon, a fine way to waste two hours. Making races shorter would ruin half the appeal.

[f1maniac95]

I think they should just keep it the way it is but I have 1 idea they could do is have 1 of the races 500km an endurance race.

[bud]

i wouldnt mind a ban on refuelling, and also pit stops period! Make it a GP and not 3 sprint races rolled into 1!

but i wouldnt like to see shorter races, though i understand FOTA's position. they do not wish to create more spending when their goals are for cost cutting!

[emma]

I can't imagine F1 without pit stops - sometimes, unfortunately, that's where all the fun and drama can be found
I guess it'd be easier to swallow if they decided to have two races, something like in touring cars? If they mixed the grid positions up as well, like the touring cars do, it has the potential to make things a whole lot more interesting

[Hanwombat]

I like pit stops, never had I laughed so much at the Ferrari Mechanics running down the pitlane at Singapore

[iPod]

Why are they coming up with these really stupid ideas? There are surely better ways than this? The whole single engine thing, and now this? Seriously, one of the most exciting parts of the Grand Prix is the pit stops. I love seeing a good strategy unfold.

The FIA are majorly starting to destroy this sport. I just hope that the teams completely disregard these ideas, and come up with some better ones.

[EwanM]

Banning refuelling wouldn't bother me, but shortening the races would.
Should still allow for tyre strops just like in the old days.

Also spicing up Friday's with a shoot out sounds crap

[McLaren Fan]

I think that making the races shorter would be a bad idea. As somebody said, this is a Grand Prix, so the drivers should be able concentrate for longer periods and the cars should be able to handle long distances as well. Long races are, then, a test of both a driver and his team's strength. For me, the team aspect is very important, so refueling should be allowed. It makes for interesting strategies and leaves more scope for things to go wrong, such as botched pit stops. Fuel usage could be reduced in Formula One without banning pit stops. Teams could be allowed a certain amount of fuel for the race, each session of qualifying or practice or even the whole weekend. If something like this were passed, Formula One would be innovative, cut its carbon emissions and still remain a test of driver and team.

[EwanM]

I think that making the races shorter would be a bad idea. As somebody said, this is a Grand Prix, so the drivers should be able concentrate for longer periods and the cars should be able to handle long distances as well. Long races are, then, a test of both a driver and his team's strength. For me, the team aspect is very important, so refueling should be allowed. It makes for interesting strategies and leaves more scope for things to go wrong, such as botched pit stops. Fuel usage could be reduced in Formula One without banning pit stops. Teams could be allowed a certain amount of fuel for the race, each session of qualifying or practice or even the whole weekend. If something like this were passed, Formula One would be innovative, cut its carbon emissions and still remain a test of driver and team.

lol maybe you and Mosley are agreeing on something - I think he said something about limiting fuel consumption

[McLaren Fan]

I think that making the races shorter would be a bad idea. As somebody said, this is a Grand Prix, so the drivers should be able concentrate for longer periods and the cars should be able to handle long distances as well. Long races are, then, a test of both a driver and his team's strength. For me, the team aspect is very important, so refueling should be allowed. It makes for interesting strategies and leaves more scope for things to go wrong, such as botched pit stops. Fuel usage could be reduced in Formula One without banning pit stops. Teams could be allowed a certain amount of fuel for the race, each session of qualifying or practice or even the whole weekend. If something like this were passed, Formula One would be innovative, cut its carbon emissions and still remain a test of driver and team.

lol maybe you and Mosley are agreeing on something - I think he said something about limiting fuel consumption

Well, it's one of the few areas we see to eye to eye. Although more horsepower can been squeezed out of Formula One engines at the minute, no big breakthroughs are going to happen. No changes to the fundamental principles of a Formula One engine have been changed since 1989. It's time things were mixed up a bit.

[Gaz]

Unless they shorten races to 30 laps or so then we will still see pit stops for tires.

And having shorter races would remove most Tire options there would be 1 tire and thats it

[7UpJordan]

Shorten the races?? What a ridiculous idea!! I bet someone got that idea last year when he grumbled about wanting a sprint race.

But I'm all for banning of refuelling, make the drivers really earn their money planning on when to push, when to ease off in order for them to not run out of fuel in the closing laps. I'd love to see a finish like the 1985 San Marino GP when almost everyone was running out of fuel in the final laps including Senna, Stefan Johansson whilst leading infront of the tifosi, Prost being underweight and getting DQ'd and Thierry Boutsen's car stopping just short of the line but pushing it across so he can claim a podium.

If they want Friday to count towards something have Friday qualifying as well as Saturday just like in the old days. Some days a driver would go so fast on Friday he wouldn't be able to go faster the Saturday just like a certain qualifying lap by Nigel Mansell at Silverstone in 1992.