traction control

these are supposed to be the best drivers in the world. so dont you think they should race without traction control? thoughts?

I agree, they should be. Write your letter of thanks to Ron Dennis and Frank Williams for the presense of TC on the cars.

They're also supposed to be the most technology advanced cars.

That's true, but there needs to be a line somewhere. The 2008 proposals by the FIA though are way, way over that line - closer to Formula Ford than F1.

the new proposal will include 1 tire manufactor, to bad that wasn't in place now.

Nah, I'm fine with the tyre war :) Michelin will be back and normal service will resume. The proposals include much more drastic measures, and I can't say I agree with most of them.

That's true, but there needs to be a line somewhere. The 2008 proposals by the FIA though are way, way over that line - closer to Formula Ford than F1.

i havent seen this proposal, can you please elaborate?

Unfortunately, traction control in some form or another has been part of F1 since possibly the late 1980's (thank you McLaren Honda)...I'm not sure if they'll ever completely rid formula cars of such devices...but it seems like F1 is the anti-NASCAR, where it's more about the teams and innovation than the drivers...plus, you can't make a crappy race car driver a good one with just traction control, so I don't see what the big deal is...I mean it's things like what's happening in formula one that we have such things for our street cars...traction control used to be a novel idea for street cars, now every mid-level luxury sedan and up has it...and recently BMW and Ferrari have introduced launch control on their street cars, another F1 innovation...I look at it this way; if we stifle creativity in formula 1, we stifle creativity in the entire automotive industry.

i havent seen this proposal, can you please elaborate?

Sure (http://www.fia.com/mediacentre/Press_Releases/FIA_Sport/2005/June/160605-02.html)

i actually really like the proposal, i think it will make the series much more interesting, i really like it. only thing im not clear on though is if everyone is going to have to run the same gearing? or are there just a limited number of sizes available?

I'm not really happy with the new proposal. They have advantages and disadvantages. I understand that the amount of money being spent is too out of control and it does put smaller teams at a disadvantage, but by doing this, it seems like F1 being the cutting edge of technology isn't so anymore. Has anyone thought about just putting a cap on spending? A lot of the engineering creativity that we see in F1 is thrown out the window with this proposal. With a spending cap, we can control costs and the leading edge goes to whoever has the best engineers, drivers and ingenuity. With the FIA controlling ECU's and Chassis and what not just turns the race into a clone "fomula ford".