My previous post on this subject produced a flood of thoughts and opinions, many of them extending the scope of the article into areas not looked at yet. A lot of the matters I was going to raise have been chewed over already as a result but, fortunately for me, the central issue of reducing the cost of designing and building chassis was left untouched and I have something to write about therefore.
I am not going to go into great detail, specifying limits and measurements here, there and everywhere, as the FIA would do. Instead I am going to suggest something so radical, shocking and yet obvious that there is little chance of it ever being considered by the governing body or the teams. To an old wrinkly like me, it seems the simplest thing in the world, however. The answer is:
Ban Carbon Fiber
The FIA already has a list of expensive and exotic materials that it does not allow to be used in the manufacture of a F1 car; to add carbon fiber to the list would be easy and, with a stroke of the pen, we would be rid of one of the most expensive technologies in use today. Ban it and let the designers go back to aluminium alloys - that will cut costs drastically!
I do not deny that carbon fiber is a brilliant answer to the question of what to build the chassis from. It is light, strong and can be molded to an infinite variety of shapes. So useful is it that it has wandered from its primary function as a chassis material to be used in such diverse areas as brakes and steering wheels. Yet it is expensive and an obvious candidate for the economic axe therefore.
Although carbon fiber is so obviously a better material for F1 tubs than is aluminium, that is not to say that the old way is of no use. It still works and is used in less technologically-driven forms of motor racing. Over the last couple of decades, we have learned just about all there is to know about the application of carbon fiber in racing and it is no longer at the cutting edge. Everyone uses it and it gives no particular advantage to one team over another. It would only be worth continuing with if it were cheap - and it isn't.
Allow the cars to be (comparatively) heavy again with aluminium chassis, I say, and let carbon fiber be yet another bequest from the sport to production cars. It is too expensive to be bothered with anymore.
This also raises the matter of carbon fiber brakes, of course. Here again it has become the status quo, every F1 brake manufacturer using it thanks to its superior heat-resistant and strength qualities. But it is not as if all brakes are carbon fiber in the real world now - steel remains the dominant material for brake disks on road cars and will probably do so in the future for reasons of cost. They work well enough, after all, and there is no need for the manufacturers to increase their costs by introducing carbon fiber brakes.
I have seen it suggested that F1 return to steel discs anyway to increase the braking distances and overtaking chances as a result. That may or may not be a valid reason for outlawing carbon fiber brakes but the cost factor certainly is. Let us be done with the esoteric material - we know that it works now and can save an awful lot of money by returning to a technology that works nearly as well.
The third part of this series would have been on the matter of aerodynamics but, on reflection, I think enough has been said on that score to be going on with. My readers know that I advocate a ban on wings, front and rear, and an extension of the plank to the nose of the car, but these changes have more to do with making overtaking possible again and they would have only minor effects on the costs of developing a F1 car. The two suggestions made already are sufficient to reduce costs considerably - I will leave it at that.