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Whatever a racing body tries to do, teams find ways to work with it. The choice of tires were suppose to do what running with a light fuel load did previously. It was thought that teams would have to pit twice in a race for tires but they have been able to make it on two sets for the most part.
Pit speed limits make it take too long to be able to use the speed gained by softer tires or low fuel loads. When a car loses 21 seconds or more by stopping, teams can't afford to make one more stop than their competitors unless it's under the perfect safety car circumstances like in Australia this year. Even if they could be a half of a second a lap faster, in a 50 lap race, that time can't be made up.
The wider tires allow faster cornering but also make the cars wider faster and more difficult to pass.
The Drag Reduction System was supposed to aid in passing but it hasn't provided the big benefits they anticipated. The aerodynamics mean the car behind is running in dirty air so the DRS doesn't provide enough advantage.
Indycar went to everyone using the same chassis with two different engine suppliers so everyone had the same aerodynamics. They have a limited amount of fuel both on board, as well as for the race. They work fuel strategy but if cautions come, it can ruin their race.
NASCAR closes the pits until all the cars catch up with the pace car so cars can't pit from the rear and gain an advantage on the leaders.
I've seen people spend thousands of dollars on cars and motors to win in a street stock class on a dirt track where the winner got $100.
People always want to go back to the days when racing seemed simpler, but even then, money made the difference. People did come up with things they could do better, but those things soon spread to other cars. You can't put the genie back in the bottle.
