[techslave]

and F1 tires only last a few laps. it’s all designed in. the F1 engines don’t expire in a few races because they can’t build them more robust, they expire in a few races because the rules require them to last that long. they could last all season (yes, with same performance) if they were required to do so.

[magicalhippo]

Indeed. Back in the days they used to weld the cylinder heads to the engine block before qualifying, so they could run it that bit harder to get that extra bit of performance. Obviously not something that increases the lifespan of the engine...

Similarly in current F1, they know quite well how much life they have of the engine, and how much life a quali lap takes from the engine compared to a calm outlap.

If the regulations mandated a single engine per season they could do it, though they'd mostly just turn everything down.

[pmontra]

I'd be surprised that they could build tires to go on for 22 GPs with the same performances, but who knows. The goal was raw speed when there were multiple manufacturers. The only year with a rule to forbid tyre changes during a race was 2005. Maybe you remember that Indianapolis GP with only 6 cars racing because thr banking destroyed the tires of the other manufacturer (which won all the other GPs.)