Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso, were heavily penalised at the Austrian GP
“We need someone independent, someone not currently involved- like a Ross Brawn- who understands the business, understands the challenges to write the specification for what a Formula One car should be,” Horner said.
“We have gone too far and it is too complicated and we need to bring it back to basics.” The pair were implacable rivals from 2010 to 2013, as Brawn worked to end Red Bull’s championship-winning run.
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Horner has grown increasingly frustrated with the failure of Ecclestone and Jean Todt, the FIA President, to agree on changes to F1. With Red Bull way off the pace, Dietrich Mateschitz, the billionaire behind the team, has repeatedly threatened to pull out of the sport.
The teams are still discussing plans to make the cars five seconds faster for 2017, but Horner believes more urgent reform is needed.
A frustrated Horner is clear in his desire for sweeping reforms
He added: “Formula One has a huge amount of following around the world but we need to a better job. The cars need to be more of a challenge. There needs to be more competition, we don’t have that at the moment. There are a lot of discussions for 2017 at the moment but can we wait for 2017? We need to accelerate some ideas and decisions need to be made so people know what’s coming.
“We need to simplify some of these rules. Taking penalties and then further penalties in the race, drive-throughs, for example, is too complicated. It isn’t right that we don’t know what the grid sheet is until 10pm on a Saturday night after qualifying.
“The cars are too easy to drive and you don’t see the drivers working as hard as they were a few years ago. You never hear a driver complaining about his neck these days.
“The Strategy Group is pretty inept and it needs the commercial rights holder and the governing body to decide what they want Formula One to be and then to put it on the table in front of the teams and to say, ‘These are the rules, here is the entry form’.”