964C2:
Be careful for what you wish...I'm not sure I want "spec" cars like Indy cars, or Balance of Performance adjustments like WEC....I like the technology innovation battles that produce the fastest cars!
Playing devil's advocate.
It is really innovation when all teams are like converging towards the Red Bull design?
At the start of the ground effects era there was some real innovations with different side pod designs and paths teams takes. But with Red Bull that much faster than everyone else, all the teams are basically trying to copy that now. In the eras before, different teams have completely different car designs, I would say the innovation is less now.
And about the engines. While there are 4 different engine manufacturers, they are all making the same 1.6L 90 degree V6. And all have converged on Mercedes' split turbo design even. Granted there are different engine output between the manufacturers, with the Honda leading the pack and the Renault unit bringing up the rear.
I would argue WEC has more innovations. 4, 6 and 8 cylinders, with or without turbos and with or without hybrids. And the bodywork are wildly different even, with and without wings in the prototype class. In GT class vastly different body style even.
I actually think currently F1 has too many regulations. Imagine in a world where F1 has fewer regulations. Say a car has to be 1.8m wide, 4.5m long, 1.2m high. Whatever tire spec, then they are given 60 litres of fuel every race, certainly not enough to go fast the whole distance so energy recapture will be needed, thus hybrid system. They can design their own 2,4,6,8, 10 or even 12 cylinder engines at whatever rpm they can make them. Almost like back to the old days where they race what they bring.
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