Why can't all cars be equal?
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It’s a simple question, but one in which I’ve thought about for quite a while. As far as I know, IndyCar uses identical chassis for all of their cars, the only difference being that some cars use Honda engines while others use Chevrolet. Why couldn’t Formula One adopt something similar? The only differences between cars would be in set-ups, and it would lead to the whole grid being closer and lead to more competitive racing.
The whole ethos of Formula 1 is that the teams build their own cars and race them. There are plenty of single-make racing series out there, and teams that want to take part in what’s regarded as the very top of the racing tree are expected to make everything themselves.
Those that don’t have the money, or commitment, to do this can go and take part in another series.
Interestingly enough there was a Manufacturers title before a Drivers title – back in the 20s. That’s the base that F1 is built off of! But seriously.. Alonso domination would get old quickly.. only Hamilton could probably challenge him.
F1’s all about the best team – car/driver partnership, but equal cars would be very interesting just for a single race
As Ivan said, GP2 is pretty much what you seem to want.
Formula E have identical cars this year and the racing has been good, but I think there are alot of people including myself that are looking forward to next season where alot of the restrictions are to be lifted and we will see some variations in looks, peformance ect. making it a bit more interesting and closer to F1.
If F1 did adopt this rule (which it never ever will) I would stop watching. The whole point of F1 is you design, build and race your own car to the best of your ability.
While this would never work as F1, as one of the basic things about it is that the teams make their own cars, it would be interesting to see a series whereby all teams get a basic chassis, and it’s up to them how they are able to develop it.
Considering that F1 (Bernie) owns GP2 and GP3, if this was an American series I could see an ‘all-star race’ taking place, maybe in the Summer break or off-season. I.e. get all the F1 drivers into a GP2 car and hold a GP2 ‘final’. Knowing where the money goes, it would probably be at Abu Dhabi to replace the YDT that has now disappeared. If 18 is not enough, use the reserves and see how the youngsters/testers who never got a chance match up with the current drivers. They’ll probably do well.. try denying Wehrlein a superlicence, once he beats all the pay drivers in equal equipment!
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PS. The original manufacturer championship (1925) was won by Alfa Romeo, followed by Duesenberg (Indy 500) and Bugatti. Other competitors were FIAT, Delage (France), Sunbeam (England). Mercedes pulled out/were still hampered by WWI restrictions (like after WWII in early F1 until 1954). Bugatti won in 1926 from Delage and Maserati, while Delage won in 1927, from Indy 500 competitors Miller, Duesenberg and then Bugatti.
Amidst political wrangling and a new rule set (where have we heard that before?), manufacturers then mostly pulled out of what became an incomplete championship, with only Maserati building 2 new cars. Bugatti/Chiron won at Monza and declared themselves unofficial champions. By 1931, a drivers championship started, which was basically endurance racing (WEC!). Minoia in an Alfa Romeo won from his team-mate Campari (the title favourite, his co-driver unluckily retired the car at the Spa 10 hour event). The tie-breaker was distance driven, not wins, which was Campari 1, Minoia 0!
After that was the ‘golden era’, with Nuvolari, Varzi, Caracciola, Rosemeyer, von Brauchitsch. Post-war, the ‘voiturettes’ took over, turning ‘F2’ into ‘F1’, with Wimille and Ascari taking 2 and 1 ‘title/s’, before the FIA started recognising champions from 1950 onwards.
@ivan-vinitskyy I still do find F1 and car variations interesting, obviously, but I personally feel that Formula E, GP2 and IndyCar is the ideal scenario in terms of all the cars being pretty much equal in performance. (Or are they? I’ve unsuccessfully tried to find the answer to this on google..) With these series, the field is way more closer and any driver who turns up to a race weekend, perfects their set-up and is most one with the circuit will be the fastest, not the other way around where it’s more or less always to do with which team’s car is the quickest. If F1 would ever adopt these kind of changes, we would have a series where the top drivers in the world are all competing on a level playing ground. It’s like watching a 100 metre sprint race in the Olympics and each runner has different shoes which make a big difference in their speed. What’s the best thing to do in that case? Eliminate this difference between the runners and give each of them the same shoes. Of course this and F1 are worlds apart but the logic is still there.
IndyCar is the most popular open wheel motorsport category in the USA, and the fact that all of the teams use identical chassis works brilliantly I think. There’s huge variations in who is competitive each race and a huge number of people still watch it. Couldn’t F1 adopt something similar? It could lead to more teams joining and improve the health of the sport.
Please be aware that I know that Formula One would pretty much never go down this route, but I still don’t really understand why that is, and it’s been bugging me for quite a while. So many people are probably rolling their eyes reading what I’m saying but I’ve started this thread, at a risk of looking quite stupid probably, in order to promote a discussion on this as it’s something which is never talked about.
Isn’t F1 meant to be the ultimate test of skill and ability – not just of the drivers, but the teams too? Surely F1 isn’t meant to be easy or equal – it’s a case of get the money and the talent, build your car and get results. If it was easy, anyone could do it. Instead, it’s meant to weed out those who put in a token effort, and leave those who want to achieve the highest level.
What you have to remember is that F1 is a team sport, you can’t see the hundreds of men working endless hours testing, developing, manufacturing every single component of the cars, you only see the driver going round but that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
If you could only visit an F1 factory one day and look at all the work that goes into making just two cars: the wind tunnels, the test jigs, the machine shop, the super computers for CFD, the ovens (or autoclaves) for making the chassis… and that’s before we get to the engine!My point is, when you see a race on Sundays is not just Alonso vs Hamilton is the whole McLaren and Honda factories vs the Mercedes one and you can be certain that they are as competitive as the drivers, but just because you can’t see them doesn’t mean you can’t appreciate their work.
But I admit it is very hard to get excited about the teams and their cars when they’re so secretive, if they could help their fans understand why they look the way they look F1 would be far more popular in my opinion.
but I still don’t really understand why that is
Tradition, business, the impact of ruining the sport for millions of fans who appreciate a team competition with development, making thousands unemployed and the companies that currently employ them collapsing.
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