Brake lights to be introduced?

[Viktory]

Reports say that several teams tested brake lights during the Bahrain tests. For increased safety. Speculations that it will be introduced for next season. Maybe has something to do with the night race proposed for Singapore? I don't like the idea. I just don't like the thought of single-seaters with brake lights...
http://www.f1-live.com/f1/en/headlines/news/detail/070304101744.shtml

[SuperAguri]

Well Ferrari tried a brake light in the 2002 Australian Grand Prix, and swiftly ditched the idea as they didn't like it.

Surely for the proposed night race they'd have their red lights on anyway.

[DimitraF1]

:P

[Rippers]

next we will be having MOTs :(

When was the last time a car piled into the back of another because there wasnt a light.

(Schumi/DC 98 = DC had the wet light on ;) )

[ioan]

I really don't see why f1 cars shouldn't have brake lights, what would that change for us or for them?

[Mihai]

Brake lights should have been introduced in the A1GP series. I remember that Team Netherlands' Jos Verstappen had a lot of troube in traffic (because Jos is often a bad qualifier) with those younger drivers ahead of him. He crashed last year into the back of another car at least a couple of times.

A funny quote from Canadian comedian Steven Wright just came to my mind: “I hooked up my accelerator pedal in my car to my brake lights. I hit the gas, people behind me stop, and I'm gone.” http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g202/gr8link/orn/00.gif

[tinchote]

It might make some sense in the rain, but other than that a brake light gives no information to the car behind. Look at any onboard take and you see how fast cars approach each other during braking; by the time they see the other's car light, they are already together.

[Dave B]

These are supposedly the best drivers in the world. If they don't know where the braking points are then they shouldn't be in the game. I've got a horrible feeling that brake light would encourage brake testing - although that would easily be picked up by telemetry.

[truefan72]

These are supposedly the best drivers in the world. If they don't know where the braking points are then they shouldn't be in the game. I've got a horrible feeling that brake light would encourage brake testing - although that would easily be picked up by telemetry.

agreed

[Tazio]

These are supposedly the best drivers in the world. If they don't know where the braking points are then they shouldn't be in the game. I've got a horrible feeling that brake light would encourage brake testing - although that would easily be picked up by telemetry.
Yes it would provide pretty strong evidence (of brake testing) in the case of a steward’s inquiry!
It may also be evidence of precise braking points of the drivers to the competition. This would give up the game when a team develops new brake technology, or at least help raise suspicion!

[Easy Drifter]

This idea has cropped up off and on since the early 50's. It has always died a quick and natural death.
Mind you in the 50' & 60's it was not unknown for a sports car driver to have a couple of extra switches on his dash. One would disconnect the brake light and the other would put them on long before he actually hit the brakes. :D

[Hazell B]

I can think of a case when they would have been good - JPM and MS in the tunnel on a certain posh road track ;)

Besides that occasion, I can't see the point really in a clear daylight race.

Plus, if the lights failed it would mean either a long stop or black flagging - neither being of any benefit to the sport.

[Kevincal]

Hmm, what if they somehow made the brake light vary colors depending upon how hard the brake is being pushed. For instance, make it come on green if the brakes are lightly pressed, yellow for medium, and red for full brake. :)

[Ian McC]

What next, indicators? Be handy to avoid confusion when going into the pit lane.

[fandango]

....Plus, if the lights failed it would mean either a long stop or black flagging - neither being of any benefit to the sport.


Broken brake lights, braken broke lights...mmmm

The only benefit would be for backmarkers to clearly show that they're letting the lapping car through.

[wmcot]

Not to mention the fact that F1 drivers often use the brake and accelerator simultaneously during a race. How would that work with the brake light coming on while the car is actually accelerating? Perhaps they could devise the system so that the "brake" lights only come on with a certain amount of deceleration - kind of a "deceleration" light.

[Rusty Spanner]

Why bother with brake lights?
It's unlikely to change the way drivers race. If you want to overtake / hassle the driver in front you've got to get close.

[Donney]

I think it would be very easy for the teams to "interfere" with the correct work of the lights so they won't be giving precise information to the other teams and drivers.

[SGWilko]

How would brake lights work, given the speed/drag of an f1 car, as soon as you come off the throttle you lose a heck of a lot of speed. So, do you have the light come on for coming off the throttle as well as depressing the brake?

What about when a driver feathers the throttle, would that cause the light to come on, and that would be unfair to the guy behind, surely?

It aint gonna work, is it?

[grantb4]

I think it would be great for the fans. See my brilliant posts from the past on this topic:

http://archive.motorsportforums.com/vb2/showthread.php?postid=1762717#post1762717

"G-force indicating tail lights: Green indicates forward acceleration, yellow indicates "coasting" or otherwise no forward/rearward acceleration greater than 1g, red indicates braking. All of it tied to an accelerometer in the tail light (standalone and tamperproof device). That lets us see when drivers are on or off the throttle and/or brakes."

[sonic_roadhog]

I think it would be great for the fans. See my brilliant posts from the past on this topic:

http://archive.motorsportforums.com/vb2/showthread.php?postid=1762717#post1762717

"G-force indicating tail lights: Green indicates forward acceleration, yellow indicates "coasting" or otherwise no forward/rearward acceleration greater than 1g, red indicates braking. All of it tied to an accelerometer in the tail light (standalone and tamperproof device). That lets us see when drivers are on or off the throttle and/or brakes."

See now thats what is wrong with modern F1, we need G force indicators to see what the hell is going on inside the car!! On the subject of brake lights - useless idea.

[ArrowsFA1]

Daft idea. Daft I tell you.

Why not save a lot of time, effort and money and sit the drivers down infront of a Playstation each fortnight and race each other online. BernieTV could televise it :D

[Storm]

grantb4
As for the G force/throttle/brake etc you can already see all that when they switch to an on-board shot. Putting a brake light to show that is pointless..

[grantb4]

Except that when two cars go into (or out of) a corner together you could exactly how the two drivers compared. Live. With no overlay. Same thing when the TV does the split screen. I think it's a brilliant idea. How could it make things worse?? Try it for a year.

GB

[Hazell B]

Why not save a lot of time, effort and money and sit the drivers down infront of a Playstation each fortnight and race each other online.

Now that's a sensible idea, at last.

So long as they only have ad breaks while Ralf's mum's calling him for tea and the drivers don't go pee during the pitstops :s

[Erki]

Now that's a sensible idea, at last.

So long as they only have ad breaks while Ralf's mum's calling him for tea and the drivers don't go pee during the pitstops :s

As much as I dislike Ralf, I hope he doesn't join his mum (on the other side) anytime soon. :)

[Hazell B]

:s
I'd forgotten.

[Erki]

What next, indicators? Be handy to avoid confusion when going into the pit lane.

At Nürburgring 24 hour race, lapped cars use indicators to show where they're going so the lapper knows exactly where the car s/he's about to lap is placed. Quite useful that thing is.