Ok, BUT it will be closed cockpit from the next season. If someone insists that Formula1 has been open cockpit since the start. We need another change and it is the introduction of head protection for drivers in open cockpit cars. Rules are not stable and have been changed from the beginning of Formula1. I don't think the Halo would 'fundamentally alter the essence of the sport' - if anything it fits in with F1's preference for the most simple and half-baked solution to serious problems.įormula1 is defined by the rules. The long nose, the side-pods, the wings that stand out from the car. Open wheels are important because they have a profound effect on the overall shape of the car. Why is open wheels important, but not open cockpit ? Does the halo really fundamentally alter the essence of the sport as we know it? Open-cockpit never factored into it perhaps because it's pointless to specify this since there are - to my knowledge - no major closed-cockpit open-wheel single-seater racing series. Over the last 20 years I've always heard and read F1 and similar categories described as 'open-wheel single-seaters'. I'm interested in opinions why people think that way. Some say it is open cockpits, and if you enclose the driver, then the sport is no longer the one it used to be. Some say that what makes F1 F1 is open wheel, single seater, 'open' formula. I can't see how F1 can exist as a sport of engineering innovation AND fixed on certain engineering principles unless it wants to look incredibly daft (even by modern standards) in 50 years time. Surely anyone arguing that F1 cars should be open wheel, open cockpit based on origin, should also be arguing for front engines if they are to be consistent? And what do we do about the lack of wings, the driver changes, the phases of history that included covered wheels and anything from 4 to 16 cylinder engines. The only valid argument would be the spec of an F1 car at the first race and even then do we trace roots back to the first Grand Prix or the first F1 race? Bit of a problem either way as they weren't all the same but common features included engines AT THE FRONT and no seatbelts. Rules constantly change for various reasons (cost, speed and safety control mainly) and consequently therefore F1 is ALWAYS in a state of evolution.Īnybody who argues that an F1 car must be this or that or the other, are basically arbitrarily choosing a point in time of their preference. The looks of the cars are always defined by the best performance solution the rules allow, not by a mythical interpretation of what is an F1 car. Then F1 would have no mechanism to keep itself at the top of the motorsport ladder. Clearly the cars are not supposed to stay looking the same, or the element of innovation could not exist. In terms of the car, F1 is a sport of engineering innovation. Canopy or open cockpit is a long way down. Nevertheless this would still top my list. What matters is that you have exposed wheels which means you can't expect to come out of any given clash without damage, and influences how you go racing.į1 'DNA' has changed over the years anyway, because I have always been attracted by the engineering excellence and potential for novelty with prototypes, and this element is become less a part of the modern sport with so many spec parts. That doesn't alter the fact that some people think that these go hand-in-hand with an open cockpit because that's the way it's always been, or that they may express a preference, but it seems to me that fundamentally the way a driver goes about racing would not change whether he were sitting under a canopy, or astride it like a bike. There are a range of racing series which are referred to as 'single-seater' or 'open wheeled' and not 'open cockpit'. That is if we are talking about defining factors in car appearance to define a category.Broadly agree. They may be open or closed, but it is nowhere near as important or defining as "open wheels". I don't see, what is the big fuss about open cockpits. So "open wheels" is the key ingredient for the discipline, which includes F1. F1 and other series like that are called "open-wheel racing".
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