has the FIA finally gone completely mad?

[Dr_Watson]

with 17 days left until i can start hitting the crack-pipe of motor racing again... i was rooting through the news on the formula1 website and saw the new rule changes for 2005.
WTF are they thinking??

source http://www.formula1.com/insight/rulesan ... 3/995.html :

Tyres
Drivers will have access to far fewer tyres in 2005 and will have to make a single set last through both qualifying sessions and the entire race. A tyre can only be changed during this time if it is punctured or damaged.

On Fridays, drivers will be able to test two different dry tyre compounds. Ahead of Saturday practice they must choose one of these for the remainder of the weekend. They will then be allocated three sets of this compound – one will be used in practice, one in qualifying and the race, and one kept in reserve in case of punctures or accident damage.

These changes will require harder compounds than in 2004 and will force drivers to drive with tyre preservation in mind. The knock-on effects will be slower lap times and much-revised race strategies.

Drivers will also have access to wet and extreme-weather tyres. These can only be used when the track is declared wet by the race director.

one set of tires for two qualifying sessions and the entire race?
i can understand trying to cut costs, but thats just pure madness.
who ever heard of not being able to change tires when you pit during the race?

oh, and while we're fucking the performance of the tires, why stop there? lets shit on the aerodynamics as well. bah...
how does it save costs if the cars handle like ass, so teams have to replace entire cars that get destroyed sliding off the road due to slippery tires and 25% less downforce.

i am officially, completely disgusted with F1 now.

edit: wtf is up with the quote text size?
shit was huge before i specified it.

[4days]

dunno, it's been bollocksed for a couple of days.

why screw around with the tyres, how will that make it fairer - apart from messing things up for people with a lot of experience driving or tuning cars in a particular way?

[Dr_Watson]

the playing field is actually less fair than ever.
the new engine rules say that an engine must survive for 2 full race weekends.
which plays into ferrari's hands.
historically; they make the most reliable engines. they have the most R&D money, and some of the best engineers available.
as soon as other teams started to threaten ferrari dominance, the rules changed to tilt things in ferrari's favor.
IMO; if they wanted to cut the cost of F1; they would cap R&D money and leave the race rules alone.
building 20 engines is not where the high cost is.
the real money is spent on design and testing is always more expensive than manufacture... in any application. not just racing. a HD plasma TV doesn't cost a shit pile of money because it has exotic materials... its expensive because they have to recoup the design costs.
so now teams have to spend even more money on engineering than before.
since they not only have to create a powerful motor, but a durable one.

[Grudge]

This "sport" is flawed from the outset anyway, so there will always be factors favoring one or another party.

[Dr_Watson]

not sure what you mean?
its always favored the team with the most money...
what i'm comlaining about is these rules over 2004 and 2005 were supposed to be steps toward evening the playing field... so that the guy with the most money doesn't always win.