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Comment by Swizec | Hacker News Reader

He was the last driver to die in an F1 crash. Unfortunately not the last person, but I think the road-side crews haven't seen a fatality in years.

My interest in F1 stopped a few years ago when they downgraded the engines and made things all weird for a while. I hear it's getting back to awesome nowadays.

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It was partly due to the weird changes they started making 5-7 years ago that the sport is so good now. For the last few years the championships have been fought down to the last race or two, not to mention that we have 6 world champions on the grid. I don't feel strategy plays as important a role now as it did but they have certainly made it more entertaining to people with less knowledge of the sport.

Ending refueling during the race did a lot reducing the time required and therefore positions lost when you come in - so _some_ changes are good, though I agree most don't move the needle at all. This season is great - coming down to the last race to see who comes out on top between Vettel & Alonso...even if only mathematically, I couldn't really ask for too much more.

A few years ago they were discussing making qualy 3 short "sprint" races where the fastest of the pack start at the back of the next sprint - now that would be cool.

Edit: Forgot to mention how much I love seeing anything F1 related on HN.

I was at the 2001 Melbourne Grad Prix in view of the marshal that was killed. Pieces of the car came down through the trees like it was raining.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zB-AcTjAgac

It was very sad, and the drivers didn't spray champagne after the race.

2014 regulations introduce even more downgraded engines. New ones will be 1.6 litre V6 turbo (now it is 2.4, V8, but not turbo), revs will be limited to 15k rpm (now 18k).

I have read that the engines will probably rev to around 12.5k in 2014. Although they will be allowed to rev higher, fuel flow rates will be regulated to a maximum of ~ 100KG/hour. Keeping the revs lower will also decrease the friction which will allow for higher output per KG of fuel. Previously they optimized for max output / CC of engine displacement.

The turbo engines will also have a motor/turbine on the turbo, allowing them to charge the battery from the turbo shaft. They will be able to use the battery power to directly drive the wheels, or spin up the turbo more quickly to the 100k rpm max speed of the turbo.

Reading this makes me wonder about the possibility of purely electric f1 vehicles, and what such a move might mean for electric cars in general.

There is also a plan in 2014 regulations that cars can only use electric engine when in pits. However, this can be delayed because teams are reluctant to it. Besides electric only engine is quiet so it could lead to some accidents in pit-lane.

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