What is Formula 1?
1. A drivers contest
2. An engineering contest
3. A spectator event
What does this mean:
Drivers contest:
The best driver should win.
However this does not always happen because the best driver may not be in the best car.
Engineering contest:
The best engineering should win.
This does not always happen because of the budget differences.
Spectator event:
The racing should be exciting and close.
The best driver should win.
However this doesn't happen either because the cars are not all created equally because of budget constraints.
Starting at the base of things, the engineering contest is first as they need to build cars to race.
IMHO an engineering contest is like this:
Everyone is given the same box of parts. Its up to each team to do the best with the parts they have. (parts = rules)
Remember the best racing car will fall apart the moment it wins
. Meaning that each and every material was used to maximum, and no excess was used.That is the engineering challenge to me, the best product with the lowest cost given a resource group.
So this lead me to ponder a formula where money spent is part of the points award equation something in the spirit of the following:
Points awarded: (points for place/year to date costs in millions)*10
Example:
1st place = 25 points
Ferrari spent 100m = 2.5 points for 1st
RB spent 125m = 2 points for 1st
Williams spent 75m = 3.3 points for 1st
(If anyone has a better idea on how this formula could be calculated please share)
This would help level the field so that the team that spends the most doesn't have an insurmountable advantage.
The drivers driving to the best of their ability will always help a team no matter what their budget.
The rules/same box of parts could be unlimited, however the more you spend the less points you get so if you go crazy you are ultimately reducing your return on points scored.
This would naturally cull the difference between cars as the more expensive they get the less points they get.
However it would also promote very clever engineering keeping the series as a technical leader.
This would also promote a more sustainable formula, but without all the materials/rules restrictions, resulting in a more open engineering formula.
The only real problem with this type of formula would be an accounting one.
So what are everyone's thoughts?
Again this is just a for fun topic.
