Meanwhile in F1

[Deschodt]

Also they might have sold, Bernie might be out...

[Amail]

Massa out at the end of the season, looks like Button too to make room for Van Doorne. Verstappen, Ocon, Van Doorne all in F1 for 2017. I'm looking forward to this!

[TheMentat]

That's a lot more tire!

[Craig T]

Any change is good....Most of all Bernie's exit after the sale.

I went to Spa for the race two weeks ago. With the exception of the Turn 1 fiasco, and Kimi's red mist on Verstappen for a couple laps afterwards, it was basically a two hour nap. The Porsche Supercup and GP2 races were WAY more exciting.

Let's hope John Malone and his Liberty Media boys MIX IT UP!

[GH85Carrera]

I really wish they would RACE and get away from economy runs. I hate hearing the driver coached to save the tires and set the engine to max fuel savings. I want them to NEED and want to change tires regularly and NEED a refueling stop. Get the cars running at full potential and RACE the car. Forget economy runs, they are boring.

[Flieger]

The irony of all this is that the WEC races are flat out all the time and way better racing...

the 2017 changes are going to do nothing for overtaking too.

[legion]

Originally Posted by Flieger

the 2017 changes are going to do nothing for overtaking too.

I'm not so sure about that. More mechanical grip could mean less dependence on aero grip. That means the cars can get closer together without destroying their tires--which means more opportunity to pass.

[Flieger]

Originally Posted by legion

I'm not so sure about that. More mechanical grip could mean less dependence on aero grip. That means the cars can get closer together without destroying their tires--which means more opportunity to pass.

They are increasing the downforce next year. They will never choose to use less unless forced to and the FIA in their infinite wisdom is increasing the downforce with bigger wings and crap like that. They will be faster in corners and make a big hole in the air (completely counter to all the hybrid stuff by the way). They will probably have more grip than last year when following because of the tires, but the gap to the car in front will be just as big or worse since the car in front has more tire too.

Racecar Engineering magazine has been running some columns over the past year with CFD analysis of different methods to eliminate the shift in aero balance while following. I don't think the FIA reads them. "More ground effect" is not the answer either.

The problem is both that the air has less energy in the slipstream (which is why cars are faster since the airspeed is less) but the balance shift has a lot to do with the upwash from the car in front.