Improve the Pit Stops

[mkw0101]

Does any one think that the pit stops should be improved.
Here is what it needs to be improved:

1. Reduce the amount of pit crew members when the car is being serviced in the pits. I watched F1 Debrief show on Speed Channel and one of the commentators were discussing the amounts of accidents involving the car hitting the pit crew member when living the pits. They said that the amount of pit crews should be reduced from 19 (current) to 6 or 8 people. This will reduce the human traffic and incidents during pitting and post pitting and also make the pitting more interseting and fun to watch. There would be 2 people per tire change
(8 total), 2 jack men, 1 loly pop man, and 2 re-fueling (when it returns),
so that will bring a total of 13 (with refuling) and (11 without refuling).

2. Bring back the re-fuiling. F1 should improve the Re-fuiling system so that the cars could be refuled once again. The race is still boring when the cars have a full tank of fuel and the only time the race is the best is at the start and near the end when there is less fuel and the cars go faster.

3. Please no more handicaping top 10 drivers in the final qualifying session it ruins the race. the drivers should have the freedom to start as much as fuel they wish and what type of tires they wish. It is hard to know the true best time.


Let me know if enything else needs to be improved.

[mep]

Bring refueling back

[tommylommykins]

I guess the best way to stop pitcrew getting flattened would be to not let them out until the car they are working on is stationary in its box, and then not letting it leave until the crew have gone back into the garage.

Most crashes in the pits happen when drivers drive over their own pitrew when coming and going, right? If so, reducing the number of men would not really reduce the number of accidents, since the men are standing in an area where the cars can drive onto. It might reduce the number of people hurt in such accidents, but not the number of them.

If safety is a big driver, then wouldn't bringing refuelling back make things more dangerous? Think about all the times when drivers have gone while the fuel nozzle has been detatched from the car. This tends to drag people around and set fire to things. Definately not good

----

Irrespective of this, I'd much prefer to keep pit-crews as they are. I think it's wonderful how everyone has his own job to do, all within 4 seconds of being stationary.

Making the men do multiple jobs would mean they had to do awkward things like getting up and moving around. That'd spoil the well-oiled-machine look for me.

[Shrek]

I like number 1 but without the lollypop man to make it more challenging

[ESPImperium]

I aggree with number 1, id make it that each car can only make it that only 8 guys can service the car, one per wheel, the jack men and two others for help where needed. As for the Lollypop man, get rid of him and let the race engineer do that from the pit wall. Or have the pit crew, but the front jack man be in the garrage before the car stops, then work begins at a pace.

As for refueling, the thing is that the rigs that were used untill last year were bulky and very costly to ship. My solution would be a simple, clear plastic container that is suspended above the garrage and comes down via total gravity fed lines. For saftey reasons id have fuel stops as stand alone fuel stops that has to last a minimum of 10 seconds. But id also do this with a standardised fuel tank of 80KG as well.

As for the handycapping, id make it that drivers cannot stop for rubber untill at minimum of 30% of the race has elapsed, and that from P11 downward has to start on the hard rubber, and cannot stop untill the 70% of the race has elapsed. But id also make it that those drivers who didnt make it into Q3 are the only ones eligible to get 5 points for fastest lap, meaning more drivers will do a Kimui in otherwords.

Pit stops should be part of the strategy, and giving the P11 and down something to aim for would improve the racing as a whole.

I think pit stops should have a full and frank discussion on, everyting from saftey (eg: wheels and car realease) to saftey car periods and how much they should play in a race strategy.

[mkw0101]

The pitcrew should come in when the car is fully stopped and is safe to service it. The car should leave when all pitcrew are not near the car then the car can leave the pit.

[Moxie]

I completely agree with reducing the human traffic in the pits by both reducing the number of crew members, and by reducing the time they spend in the box. Less time in the box not only reduces the chance of being hit by their own driver, it also reduces the chance of being hit from behind by cars entering or leaving boxes upstream.

I am open minded about refueling, safety does not need to be anything fancy. Of course, the biggest concern of refueling is fire. I would hope that a crew member be required to carry fire suppression equipment and be in the immediate vicinity of the refueling. This is a standard practice in the construction industry when performing "hot work" around flammable materials. A simple NASCAR style gas can accomplishes three goals. Firstly, it limits the amount of fuel spilled at any one time. Secondly allows the FIA to regulate the fuel delivery by mandating that specific fuel cans and nozzles be used. Thirdly, as fuel delivery rate may be the limiting factor in regards to minimum pit stop time, other mishaps caused by rushing are less likely to happen.

The drawback is that these ideas reduce the potential for winning the race from the pits. I guess that would depend on ones views of what racing should or should not be.

[Lycoming]

If you want to stop the car from hitting people when they come in, just don't allow them into the pit lane until the car is completely stopped. Simple.

As for refueling, the thing is that the rigs that were used untill last year were bulky and very costly to ship. My solution would be a simple, clear plastic container that is suspended above the garrage and comes down via total gravity fed lines. For saftey reasons id have fuel stops as stand alone fuel stops that has to last a minimum of 10 seconds. But id also do this with a standardised fuel tank of 80KG as well.

It may be difficult to fuel 80kg in 10 seconds with only a gravity feed.

As for the handycapping, id make it that drivers cannot stop for rubber untill at minimum of 30% of the race has elapsed

What if you have a slow puncture or a really bad flat spot?

from P11 downward has to start on the hard rubber, and cannot stop untill the 70% of the race has elapsed.

First, can they even last that long on pirelli rubber? Second, you're basically dictating strategy for them. Not only is that boring, It'll be chaotic in the pits when more than half the grid pits on the same lap.

[Vettel Maggot]

A good rule I saw at a GT3 race was no one is allowed out of the garage (a red line is painted in front of the entry) until the car is stationary and the car cannot leave until all the wheels, jacks etc are back in the garage along with the crew. It would add a lot more time to the pitstops and I think it would be pretty interesting.

But then I do enjoy watching a team of guys change 4 wheels and tyres in under 3 seconds. A lot of books I have read about lean manufacturing always refer to F1 pitstops as an example of team work, so it would be a shame to move away from what we have had for years.

[zeph]

Refueling? Really?

So first we reduce the allowed amount of fuel and restrict fuel flow, and next we're gonna negate it all by allowing refueling.

[bhall]

Fuel-flow limits power, and the fuel-cap limits consumption. You could easily bring back refueling and maintain both features by merely limiting the amount of fuel allowed to be put back into the car throughout the course of a race. Nothing else has to change.

It would be more efficient, too, because it's wasteful to carry around the weight of the last lap's worth of from the first lap of the race.

In other words, I rather miss the days of refueled racing.

[Jersey Tom]

I'm 50/50 on this. On one hand it's kind of cool that pit stops are that well orchestrated to be done in < 3 seconds. On the other hand, I feel like I find it more enjoyable to watch a longer stop with fewer people getting it done.

Also wonder if more full course cautions / safety car periods would make for more interesting pit strategy. It seems to in NASCAR - stay out and get better track position, or come get tires? Then again you also have 2 vs 4 tire stops there which is its own item.

Agree with some earlier comment that you could definitely have refueling even with the reduced fuel rules. Say you get X kg of fuel for the race, but the fuel cell in the car only holds some fraction of X.

[Tommy Cookers]

today we have seen competitors who chose a fuel load of 92 kg competing with those who chose a 100 kg fuel load
because refuelling is not allowed