mad jew said:
I don't see how removing pit stops would increase overtaking though. All it would mean is that the only way to change position is to overtake but that wouldn't necessarily make the racing better. I like the pit stops because they throw everything into disarray momentarily.
well... you actually said it yourself, only that you didn't understand what you said. clearly it's easy to understand that if there are no pit stops without disasters, then the only way to improve positions will be overtaking. you just didn't think about the driver mentality -- they are there to win, and each of them thinks of being the best one out there.
currently the regulations put too much power to the teams and pit wall strategies, and take it away from the driver. they say when to spare fuel and when to attack, not the driver -- and that must change. remember in the 80's when the cars sometimes ran out of fuel? that was because driver decided he needed more power to overtake, and sometimes they just overdid it. but it was okay to lose because of too much racing, rather than losing because the pit crew made a mistake.
mad jew said:
I reckon it'd be cool if they overhauled the points system. Reward consistency by giving points to lower placings. This would keep the cars further down the grid fighting for points so it's not just the frontrunners who fight for position.
they have already overhauled the points system just that way, and it didn't improve racing. the best points system i can remember of was the 9-6-4-3-2-1 scheme, which rewarded victors, but not too much. the reason why the first loser now receives 8 points was because 10 points for victory was just too much in the era of a single dominant team. and now that the victory only gains two extra points, there is little incentive to take any risks in trying to overtake the race leader. currently it's just wiser to be the first loser, and that leads to bad racing. but were the first loser getting six points and the victor nine, then the runner-up would think about getting 50% more points for successful overtaking, and that incentive is (was) enough to spur good racing.
and what you said about giving points to lower finishers rewarding consistency... that's only half true. it'd reward mid-level and crappy teams, but on the other hand top teams would get punished about inconsistency; because, if for example 12 finishers were given points, then the victor would get AT LEAST 12 points, and the bigger the points haul, the bigger the punishment for a technical failure. with current points system you lose 12 points against your worst enemy should you retire from the lead position, but were there more points for victory, the retirement would cost even more. that will lead into teams taking it on the safe side, and not trying to do everything possible to be as fast as possible. and that leads into worse racing in the long run.
to repeat myself, the old 9-6-4-3-2-1 points system was great. if you were on 2nd place and took a risk, then you had a possibility to gain three and lose six points. currently you can gain two and lose eight. it's not rocket science, this current points system doesn't encourage racing.
