Grumpytom wrote: “The nub of the problem is not BE [Bernie
Ecclestone].
It is mentioned in the article, extreme aero is the issue, it’s effect is:
costly, dull racing, ultra high development costs, a distancing from the
everyday car and so on and so forth.
“Turn the clock back to mechanical grip, car control and engineering
wizardry that does not cost a million dollars per 1/100th. Big grunt big
tyres and big brakes and of course big balls is what it should be about, not
a extra kilo downforce.”
All the teams are able to go say 90 per cent of the way with aerodynamics, and
if plotted on a graph, the gains made for that investment are pretty
considerable. But to get the final few percentage points of performance, it
takes almost the same amount of investment again, which only the Red Bulls,
McLarens and Mercedes of this world can afford.
I’m not against aerodynamic performance per se: Formula One is supposed to be
the pinnacle of engineering, and it should be in aerodynamics too. But it
has reached a point where the order of the teams becomes more and more
predictable because aerodynamic performance is related in part to how much
money you have to invest.
DRS and KERS seems to have cracked the problem of being able to follow a car
in front to a certain extent (which was particularly awful in the Schumacher
years), and hopefully the amount of torque with the 2014 engines should
bring mechanical grip back to the fore.
Jonesy555 had complaints about where Formula One has started
travelling to in recent years. “Maybe this should be the chance for
the sport to reform back to a sport and away from being a money machine.
Seriously why is it in Bahrain, Singapore, Abu Dhabi, India?? Money
obviously. Not interesting racing in the slightest and no one watches other
than ex pats. Used to love, now so little interest in the dollar machine.”
Formula One is a business as well as a sport, so obviously it has to make
money. There are some people, and very few drivers, who are willing to
express reservations about F1 effectively being used by certain regimes as a
tool of soft power or for prestige (Bahrain obviously comes to mind).
In Europe we can feel very protective about F1, as if it somehow it shouldn’t
venture beyond our continent. But F1 has to spread its wings and be in
places like China and Singapore. More should be done about empty stadiums,
but to a certain extent that has to be expected when there’s just not the
same car culture as in Europe.
Yves Ferrer reckons the sport is simply too complicated to follow.
“When you need an ‘app’ to keep track of up to 88 (!) pit-stops in a
race, it is no longer a sport or a TV show: it is a circus!”
I have bad news for you: if anything, it’s only going to get more confusing in
2014.
At a few races last year – Spain springs to mind – it was almost impossible to
know what was going on, with cars pitting left right and centre, driving at
75 per cent to protect the tyres, and so on.
Hopefully in 2014 the tyres will be less of a factor (everyone seems a bit fed
up of talking about them), but with engine and fuel strategies it could
become even more complicated.
Because the cars are now restricted to 100 kilos of fuel, to improve fuel
efficiency by 40 per cent, there will be different periods of the races when
certain drivers are told to back off, and then will speed up as they turn up
the engine. The fuel strategies, for the first few races especially, are
going to be tricky to follow. More apps may be required.
And Jim0341 had a whole plethora of problems with the state of F1: “F1
needs to get back to being a spectator sport, with its revenue much more
dependant on getting bums on seats. The opulence needs to be ditched and
sanity restored.
“Get rid of the banks of computers and the radio, once a car is on the
track it should be left in the driver’s hands, with support from a pit board
only. Cut the pit crews down to one man per wheel and one each on the jacks.
“Aerodynamics should be ditched and front rear wings made only
single blades which can have the angle changed only during practice, from
qualifying onwards, it should be fixed. DRS should be ditched as it is a
symptom of too much aero.”
First of all, I agree on the DRS front, but more because it creates artificial
overtaking and stops drivers being able to defend positions.
Getting rid of team radio seems a bit far-fetched if you ask me – for one it’s
quite entertaining sometimes, and F1 is essentially a team sport, no matter
how much people identify with the drivers. I understand your urge for more
simplicity, but F1 is supposed to be a technically advanced sport and if you
start chipping away at that, it loses one of the core elements of its
appeal.
Thanks for your comments – feel free to continue the discussion below.