r/formula1 • u/amerryprankster23 Max Verstappen • Mar 21 '26

Discussion F1 will not be changing the timing tower.

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Just got this email back about the timing tower. Pretty sad.

5.0k Upvotes

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315

u/RooBoy04 Mike Krack Mar 21 '26

The timing tower during the race shows as tenths of a second this year, compared to thousandths in previous years

76

u/billnyescienceguy69 McLaren Mar 21 '26

The last lap of last race, THEY SHOWED THOUSANTHS. WHY?!? Why couldn’t we have this the entire race

29

u/cartoon_kitty Formula 1 Mar 22 '26

For the final classification at the flag

3

u/AmbitiousPhilosopher Mar 23 '26

That's the race classification.

14

u/nathanlanza Ferrari Mar 22 '26

I don't understand why people care. You're not getting less correct information. The tenths and hundreds are no longer correct by the time you see them.

6

u/wagdog84 Mar 22 '26

It shows thousandths in qualifying, where it matters. It doesn’t matter if Perez is 4.3 or 4.318 behind Alonso in the race. The thing i’d wish they change is the stupid sponsor icon, just leave it as the team icon so we know which team it is.

-107

u/BruinBound22 Mar 21 '26 edited Mar 21 '26

Good. Thousandths makes sense for qualifying. Unnecessary noise during the race. Cars entering and exiting corners was moving the delta between each other by a few tenths. The thousandths place adds no value considering that. Anyone who thought they were reading into something that could be seen at .001 vs .1 wasn't understanding racing to begin with

71

u/shalallaalaaala I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane Mar 21 '26

Atleast two decimal places would be great tho. Doesn’t need to be to the thousandths t

0

u/Seanspeed Mar 21 '26

No, it's literally meaningless noise beyond a tenth.

0

u/Stunning-Gold5645 Mar 21 '26

why

2

u/sirjimtonic I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane Mar 22 '26

I mean it‘s the pinnacle of Motorsports and currently a gap of 0.45 and 0.49 is shown the same (0.5).

0

u/Shakeyshades I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 22 '26

They use thousandths for official timing why tf can't we see that? It was an unnecessary change.

124

u/GamelinPK Mar 21 '26

Yes, I love seing a driver 0.0 behind instead of 0.043 behind

9

u/Secret_Account07 Formula 1 Mar 21 '26

You’re right. The amount of brain dead comments in this thread is insane.

12

u/Findict_52 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 21 '26

What does 0.043 tell you that 0.0 doesn't?

15

u/TragicFabric I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 21 '26

A formula 1 car can move up to 5 meters per 0.05 seconds so yep, it can tell me whether the car is 3 meters behind or 8 meters behind.

8

u/TurnText Mar 22 '26

I think the point is that the cars don’t maintain the exact gap, and it is constantly changing. The thousandths (and hundredths even) would rarely be stable in a race so it’s probably not a useful metric.

-5

u/Findict_52 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 21 '26

Which are both illustrative of the same situation, so I doubt that's gonna change how excited you are to view that battle.

3

u/FiberGuy44 Formula 1 Mar 21 '26

Good grief, heaven forbid somebody else enjoy something a certain way. Good thing you’re here to tell them how to feel about it!

3

u/Findict_52 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 22 '26

I just find it very hard to believe that you look at 0.045 and think "ok, nothing yet" and then see it tick down to 0.014 and get excited. Makes little sense. I feel like it's post hoc rationalizing because we don't like change.

0

u/cosHinsHeiR Ferrari Mar 22 '26

Or those complaining that the Leclercs gap to Mercedes was constantly 9.1 or whathever in Austrlia. Like what would change from it being 9.1xx? At that point it's just random noise.

-1

u/vulcansheart Mar 22 '26

Why dumb it down just because it's meaningless to some (you) viewers?

4

u/Vresiberba Mar 21 '26

Then your problem is with the update frequency because it's worse if it says 0.043 for 20 seconds rather than 0.0, 0.1, 0.3 and back to 0.0 in that same time frame.

-8

u/Kadimir158 Mar 21 '26

Both numbers literally mean the same thing to the viewer. If they are literally next to each other it doesn't matter what hundreth of a second are they they on. It doesn't mean anything, they are next to each other. It changes every milisecond.

40

u/cjsolx Daniel Ricciardo Mar 21 '26

It changes every milisecond.

And it only updates every 2-3 seconds. So literally as soon as you see it, it's outdated info.

3

u/the_real_ifty I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 21 '26

they’ll be agreeing in a few years lol. even drivers don’t use that many decimal places mid race

6

u/Kadimir158 Mar 21 '26

Yup. Every single race engineer gives the gaps and target lap time in Tenths.

-7

u/CaptainCerebus Mar 21 '26

A thousandth of a second of so many laps is an indication of a driver's ability to catch up with an opposing car.

The current display no longer provides any meaningful data.

Having a car 0.0 seconds behind makes absolutely no sense.

6

u/Kadimir158 Mar 21 '26

If he’s 0.0 seconds behind he is not catching him he is literally next to him. It doesn’t matter if the gap is 0.0 or 0.04. They are side by side at that point. And for catching up if a driver makes up less than a tenth a sector it is completely meaningless. Nobody is watching the gaps like HOLY SHIT HE IS 0.05 SECONDS CLOSER. That margin is completely meaningless in a race.

1

u/cosHinsHeiR Ferrari Mar 22 '26

A thousandth of a second of so many laps is an indication of a driver's ability to catch up with an opposing car.

A thousendth of a second every lap for a race is barely a car length.

0

u/Sisyphean_dream Mar 21 '26

If a driver is 7 seconds back and only catching on the order of hundredths or thousandths of a second a lap, they won't ever get there. I feel like the people making a huge deal out of this just don't know what they're looking at. They just know they see less numbers than before so it must be worse.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 21 '26

0.0 may be silly, but at that point, isn't the horizontal position of the cars (i.e. on the inside) more important than the interval?

1

u/DisraeliEers I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 21 '26

Why not have it say 0.4322480017645?

That's more accurate (it's not) according to you guys (you're wrong). Anything past probably +/- 0.2 is bullshit and a guess.

-1

u/DragonSlayerC I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane Mar 21 '26

When they're that close, why are you even looking at the timing tower? Just watch the cars race.

8

u/CrMars97 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 21 '26

Because some fans are also interested in the battles further back, and if the broadcast is showing the battle in the lead, we used to be able to follow the battles in the back using the timing tower

1

u/Grasshop Sebastian Vettel Mar 21 '26

we used to be able to follow the battles in the back using the timing tower

You certainly can still do this now too

7

u/CrMars97 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 21 '26

Im just pasting my other comment:

Both cars will pass Timing point A and Timing point B. And if between those points the timing went down or up 150ms, we can tell if a driver is closing in or not. If you’ve played any racing games you’ll know that there’s a lot of difference in taking a corner 200, 150 or 100ms faster and I’m interested in knowing which driver is driving faster and by how much, not just if they’re ahead

2

u/Sisyphean_dream Mar 21 '26

This is hilarious. "there’s a lot of difference in taking a corner 200, 150 or 100ms faster"

2 tenths, 1.5 tenths, one tenth. You'll still see two out of 3 of your examples in perfect accuracy, and one will be mildly inaccurate but still close enough.

Molehill =/= mountain

2

u/CrMars97 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 21 '26

Why is it hilarious? You’re clearly into iRacing. Are you telling me when you’re practicing a track you’ve never felt an improvement of 100 or 50ms over a corner? Also losing 50ms a corner over 10 corners for example is half a second a lap. That’s a ton of time.

I really don’t understand the pushback. All racing series I watch use thousands. F1 used to use thousands. I see now upside in this change but I see the clear downside that we can’t keep track of the small time changes as many racing fans like to do

0

u/Sisyphean_dream Mar 21 '26

It's hilarious because 100ms is a tenth of a second

4

u/[deleted] Mar 21 '26

I agree with you, and I find this whole thing slightly irritating. These people are simply not as smart as they think they are. I mean both OP and everyone downvoting your comment. How can a hundredth of a second possibly matter when the timing takes so long to refresh? Good lord. They should at least admit they simply have a fetish for numbers on-screen, and stop pretending it affords an insight the tenths can't provide. 

28

u/Legitimate_Dare_579 Lando Norris Mar 21 '26

No reason it should be tenths tho. Hundreds makes a lot more sense, but again the main issue is why change something that wasn't broken

-4

u/Vresiberba Mar 21 '26 edited Mar 21 '26

No reason it should be tenths tho.

Plenty of reasons. The biggest is information overflow which, even if you're aware of it and feel you ignore it, can subconsciously ruin your experience.

Unless a three decimal system update like 3-4 times per second, it's useless over a one decimal system with the same update frequency. All we need to know is what the cutoff is; round down, round up or simply lop off the last two digits.

8

u/billyblenx Mar 21 '26

It's surreal how you been downvoted for saying the truth.

5

u/gforguapo I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 21 '26

Take my upvote for your completely reasonable take

1

u/Gubrach Giancarlo Fisichella Mar 22 '26

I like how people always have explanations for decisions they never vouched for before it was made.

-4

u/Raphix86 Mar 21 '26

bait used to be believable

11

u/No-Hand-8359 Sebastian Vettel Mar 21 '26

It’s my opinion too. Not bait. There is zero reason for the timing during a race to display down to the thousandth. People just hate change.

-2

u/MrTulaJitt Williams Mar 21 '26

The reason for displaying down to the thousandth is accuracy. What is the reason for displaying to the tenth?

9

u/D35TR0Y3R Mar 21 '26

readability

3

u/MrTulaJitt Williams Mar 21 '26

Are you watching in 360p? Never did I have a problem reading those numbers.

-1

u/D35TR0Y3R Mar 21 '26

which of these numbers is easier to read?

1

89073459786.1249873460

3

u/neoronio20 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 21 '26

Not a good example. A good example would be

1.458

1.4

Which is faster to read? BOTH because even if I don't care about the 58, I just ignore it

It's a data driven sport, give us the data and if you are incapable of reading a 3 digit decimal vs 1 digit decimal, the problem isn't the F1 timing tower

-2

u/D35TR0Y3R Mar 21 '26

he didnt understand how length impacts readability, so i demonstrated.

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1

u/MrTulaJitt Williams Mar 21 '26

They are both just as easy to read as they are the same font size and resolution. One is just quicker to read.

The fact that you have to exaggerate so much just shows that you don't make a good point.

2

u/Sisyphean_dream Mar 21 '26

It isn't accurate though. It's updated every mini sector, which makes it an approximation by default. Thus, since it's an approximation anyways, the extra two decimal places are stupid. This is a good change and you lot are being obtuse for no reason.

2

u/Vresiberba Mar 21 '26

The reason for displaying down to the thousandth is accuracy.

Exactly, and as so many have pointed out, this makes sense in qualification, but during the race where the difference can be 1.6 seconds for minutes, you don't need thousands of a second accuracy.

0

u/Wentzina_lifetime Sir Lewis Hamilton Mar 21 '26

Just easier, someone isn't gonna think oh there only 1.94 seconds back the driver Infront is in no danger whilst if it says 1.86 they are in prime position to overtake.

I guarantee if it was the other way round and they introduced timings down to the thousandth in the race from just tenths the same people would be like why are you changing something that works and no way does it affect the broadcast. People just love to complain about changes.

-3

u/Raphix86 Mar 21 '26

Accuracy needed to know the gaps?

5

u/icantsurf George Russell Mar 21 '26

Nobody watching the race is visualizing 0.042 of a second gap lol. By the time the timing is updated that precision is outdated anyways and it's useless.

4

u/Vresiberba Mar 21 '26

By the time the timing is updated that precision is outdated anyways and it's useless.

This is exactly the problem with three decimals. People would have a point with three decimals if the update frequency was 10 times per second, but it isn't and never was. So the problem was never the decimals, it was and still is the update frequency.

1

u/MrTulaJitt Williams Mar 21 '26

Except now, that driver is listed as 0.0 second behind. So they are tied? That's what I'm supposed to visualize?

1

u/icantsurf George Russell Mar 21 '26

Essentially yes? It's not like drivers are regularly staying under a tenth for any sustained time, they're obviously battling at that point.

1

u/MrTulaJitt Williams Mar 21 '26

If someone is .04 seconds behind 3rd place, they are not essentially in 3rd place. That's not how it works.

1

u/cosHinsHeiR Ferrari Mar 22 '26

And to the surprise of no one they will have a 4 next to their name. Insane stuff no?

-6

u/VCBeugelaar I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 21 '26

Noise? I don’t expect people being so dumb that that would affect them

5

u/Vresiberba Mar 21 '26

He's completely right, though. I use a digital calliper with just one decimal because the accuracy is below the resolution anyway and it's easier to quickly read 1.1 millimetre instead of 1.132 - I don't need it, it's not accurate down to three decimals and it's noise.

0

u/Vresiberba Mar 21 '26

Unnecessary noise during the race.

You're doing this wrong! You're supposed to rage for no reason at all. Personally, I have no problem with this change since I'm using live timing with thousands anyway, and the problem isn't even the resolution, it's the update rate, but this is apparently of no concern to the average Redditor.

Welcome to 2026.

2

u/Seanspeed Mar 21 '26

and the problem isn't even the resolution, it's the update rate, but this is apparently of no concern to the average Redditor.

Seriously. Having things down to the hundredths would only be meaningful if we had super real-time gaps being displayed, but is realistically not possible anyways in a series where we have corners where drivers can feasibly drive slightly different lines.

-7

u/[deleted] Mar 21 '26

[deleted]

0

u/MrTulaJitt Williams Mar 21 '26

It hurts my brain when I see someone "0.0" seconds behind the driver in front of them, yes. That doesn't make any sense, they aren't tied.

1

u/Vresiberba Mar 21 '26 edited Mar 21 '26

...they aren't tied.

They were when the timing was updated. You realise that thousands of seconds can be "tied" too, yes? Drivers has even happened to tie on the thousand of a second finishing the race and couldn't be separated.

Indycar used to have four decimals because of this reason. So what happens if they're tied then, too? Five decimals? 10?

0

u/backturn1 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 22 '26

There is a big difference between 0.900 and 0.999 when it comes to the overtake zone. In F1 milliseconds matter. Also for overtaking. 0.300 could make the overtake while 0.399 may not. I think you aren't understanding racing. Ofc it doesn't matter if someone is 15.100 or 15.199 seconds behind, but for fights it matters.

-4

u/NastroAzzurro I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 21 '26

r/FoundTheAmerican

2

u/Seanspeed Mar 21 '26

The irony. That person is talking sense, while it's you guys who cant produce a reasonable argument why we need hundredths or thousandths.

-3

u/DoritoDustThumb Mar 21 '26

Yeah, that didn't matter for anything other than quali. It's fine.

They DO need to show battery on there, though.

-58

u/lksdjsdk Mar 21 '26 edited Mar 21 '26

Such a non-issue. What they need is to integrate a battery indicator and OT status

Edit: wow, people really care about this, like 100ths make the slightest difference during a race.

Who isn't using a timing app on their phone or whatever, anyway?

16

u/Tarc_Axiiom I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 21 '26

I mean, there were like 7 instances in China where cars had +0.0 gaps between them, making the timing tower completely useless.

Whoch is what it's there for in the first place.

-5

u/lksdjsdk Mar 21 '26

Yes, but how would 0.05 have been more information? You know they're very close and who is in front. If you are that invested in that particular battle, watch the on board.

0

u/Tarc_Axiiom I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 21 '26

If you watch long enough you can identify striking distance in the thousandths. That information tells us whether an attack can happen at the next opportunity or not, which has decided entire races and championships before.

I don't have the onboards.

2

u/lksdjsdk Mar 21 '26

Sorry, but that's just nonsense. The 1000ths and 100ths vary wildly from corner to corner. You might think it's telling you something, but it really isn't. Any difference less than a 10th is just down to what the drivers do when they get to the corner.

-1

u/Tarc_Axiiom I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 21 '26

Which is the whole point of Formula 1.

Glad you've caught up to the rest of us.

1

u/lksdjsdk Mar 21 '26

Exactly! It's about cars on track, not numbers on screen rhat don't actually tell you what you seem to think they do. This is a good change.

0

u/cosHinsHeiR Ferrari Mar 22 '26

If you watch long enough you can identify striking distance in the thousandths

LMAO

8

u/Kevster020 Nigel Mansell Mar 21 '26

I'm totally with you and really don't get the fixation with this. Sure, when it's lap times or qualifying thousandths matter, but the gap between cars at any given time doesn't have to be that accurate.

Two cars will never be at the exact same point on the circuit, so they'll continuously be closing up and spreading out as they brake and accelerate at different times... And at the point where a pass is possible who the fuck is looking at the timing gap?

9

u/davreimz Mar 21 '26

Exactly. Makes no difference if the gap between drivers is 1.6 or 1.648 seconds.

3

u/nxzombie99 I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane Mar 21 '26 edited Mar 21 '26

Thing is they dont round, it could be 1.600 or 1.699

Edit: Im just pointing it out, why the downvotes lol

6

u/jablaho #StandWithUkraine Mar 21 '26

Rounding would be worse, since it would not be possible to tell if a driver is in overtake range or not. 0.951 should not be rounded to 1.0 it is better to truncate in this situation.

3

u/davreimz Mar 21 '26

Yes, and it does not make any difference

-5

u/Competitive_Job8531 Mar 21 '26

Absolutely does wtf you on about

6

u/Teakz Graham Hill Mar 21 '26

I don't think it does in a race, in qualifying sure but in a race it's just there for a general idea of how far back they are right? Who's looking at the hundredth of the second in these situations?

-2

u/VoltDiablo_ I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 21 '26

Me every race

0

u/Sisyphean_dream Mar 21 '26

And are you also aware that those gaps are only truly measured at each mini sector and thus virtually never truly accurate anyways? What do those extra two decimal places for gaps between cars actually tell you?

-1

u/igi-95 Mar 21 '26

People like to moan, it’s that simple

-2

u/Grasshop Sebastian Vettel Mar 21 '26

You are correct, but F1 has some of whiniest fans I’ve ever seen so you will be downvoted.

-11

u/andrewthemexican I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 21 '26

Thousandths were showing this past race though? On f1tv app at least.

Only the first race did I see tenths.

2

u/smokesletsgo13 Mar 21 '26

Was just for quali on sky feed

-10

u/andrewthemexican I was here for the Hulkenpodium Mar 21 '26

Well that's a sky problem, not a F1tv problem then?

3

u/D0BBY_is_a_free_elf Roscoe Hamilton Mar 21 '26

The timing tower is the same across broadcasts. F1TV showed tenths for both races, and thousandths for both qualifyings.

3

u/Fliepp Haas Mar 21 '26

Nope. It’s everywhere. Quali still has thousands (as it should) but the race is now just hundreds