F1 Pit stops 1950 vs Today.
 

Technology is a good thing.

This is interesting and note the fellow in the first pit stop jacking the car.
Formula 1 Pit Stops 1950 Versus Today

Holy cow, that's incredible.

if they wanted to save some $ why not cut the crew allowed down to say 4 ?

Because that's not really expensive... and it's cool.

They have hundreds of people on the payroll with mechanical abilities, that perform other jobs when the race isn't on. 500+ for some teams. Whether those guys are sitting in the pits or are changing tires probably doesn't make much difference to the bottom line.

The irony with F1 is all the changes done in the name of cost cutting actually make it more expensive... This year with hybrid cars caused huge expenditures in R&D, the testing and wind tunnel restrictions caused huge expenses in simulators and computer modeling, there is no avoiding that the big teams will spend the money they have. I kinda wish they'd let F1 be F1 and maybe force manufacturers to supply one chassis to a 2nd fiddle team, or a heavily subsidized engine... The lack of testing makes for stupid situations sometimes, and makes it hard for laggards to catch up...

22 guys on a pit crew, crazy.

Ok. I looked repeatedly and even stopped the Melbourne vid. Did they take fuel? Because if so, I couldn't see where.

Tires only. They don't refuel currently.

Don't blink, you'll miss it.