Is F1 on a downward spiral?

[Tony Crabb]

I've been reading about all that's been going in F1 over the last few months, and it appears that F1 is in a shambles. And that it is losing direction and focus on what it's meant to be.
Don't get me wrong, I'm loving the racing But I'm not sure if F1 in its current state can carry on the way it is going.

What do you think?

 

[Decenten]

Yes it most certainly is. Most of the races are boring with not a lot of action happening. The races are all one sided with Mercedes almost 100% chance of winning and the podiums only go to Williams or Riccardo. F1 need to learn something from V8's or BTCC as these series are still very popular. Maybe a different format for the races with extra long races and maybe shorter sprint races. A budget cap so that all teams have equal chance at winning and lets face it everyone is getting sick and tired of one team/driver dominating the entire season with this happening for the past 3 or 4 years

 

[Daniel Almeida]

The budget cap should have happened 5 years ago. Unfortunately, some people won't understand that the current state of affairs makes F1 unsustainable. The big guys can go away over night, except maybe Ferrari, and the little teams (I mean Williams, Sauber, Lotus) are in a fight for survival.

F1 was meant as the pinnacle of technology and I love the principle, but it will only survive this decade if one of two options happen:

1. Budget cap with design freedom inside the financial restraints

2. Design restraints (like e.g. standard gearboxes, standard wings, standard electronics, standard suspension, etc.) to cut costs

I would very much prefer option 1, but I get the feeling that the big teams will rather kill the championship than agree to that...

 

[Chris Jenkins]

Unfortunately there will be flaws and loopholes in whichever restraints are applied.

Using Daniel's two examples from above:

1. The big teams have so many subsiduaries that budget caps can't be policed (Red Bull Racing can buy gearboxes from Red Bull Technologies for $1, as Red Bull Racing is being policed, but not RBT, etc)

2. With standard parts, one or two of the teams will become suppliers (as Red Bull are to Caterham for gearboxes, McLaren supply ECUs), so they will encorporate the cost of their own parts into the price they charge the other teams, freeing up funds to spend elsewhere, that other 'buying' teams are unable to do.

Very tricky to get right.

 

[Connor Caple]

The DRS/push-to-pass systems sounded the death knell for real racing in any format/formula as far as I'm concerned.

That, right there, is an admission that they can no longer race/overtake eachother so you invent some artificial way to give the car in second place an advantage to make it 'exciting' for the fans.

*huge raspberry sounds*

 

[Chris Jenkins]

I actually don't mind DRS this season, as the rear wings are skinnier.
It brings cars closer together, but doesn't create an overtake very often.

Its more the disparity in engines that makes overtakes look easy this year.

 

[Ho3n3r]

I tend to agree.

For me, DRS/KERS etc. was never necessary. I watched all the seasons from 1991 to 2006 in full again last year, and the most notable thing for me was in some races there were less than 3 overtakes in total, yet I enjoyed it a whole lot more than any races I have since 2010 - mostly because today's overtakes feel like a formality, while those were amazing back then, and had meaning. Today, a good defend has more value than a DRS overtake. Surely this can't be right, but it is.

The battles that some drivers had raging on lap for lap - I think one was Schumacher vs Berger at Hungaroring, which carried on for about 20 laps, at least, and Schumacher made a couple of crazy overtakes at turn one, just to be re-passed. When he finally overtook him for good, you got the sense he really deserved it. It felt "significant" in the end.

Refueling also had a lot to do with the interest of the sport for me from 1994, since you never really knew who was on which strategy. It kept you on the edge of the seat for most of the race.

When there were very few overtakes, I used to follow gaps closely, see who's doing what before pitstops, or conversely who was struggling with tires or balance, and basically calculated for myself where people might end up. Or just watch to see who's doing better in which corners, or try to figure out whether somebody has enough straight line speed to have a chance of overtaking. Either way, there is always something that I found intriguing, no matter what.

I am sure the above goes for most real F1 fans. Unfortunately, today they're few and far between, and most people that watch F1 - not many of you, of course - want instant satisfaction and overtakes etc., because they don't get most of the nuances of Formula 1, and they never will.

This is sad, but it is also reality. Bernie needs to sell advertising space, and if he caters exclusively to us, F1 will die a commercial death.

 

[Troy Barman]

We need the 70s style F1 cars back with the safety specs of today, now that would be exciting to watch.

 

[Nox]

Prize money needs to be shared out better than it is so the lower teams can actually survive and progress.

Bernie is making a joke of F1 when he introduces double points for the last race, DRS, and all these other gimmicks. At one point he was talking about having sprinklers to randomly spray water on the track.

Sure there's been some good races, but at the end of the day, most F1 stories are about off track things like the politics, unlike other places like WEC or V8 Supercars where the talk is of the racing and racing-related topics. It's said that F1 likes controversy. I wish they'd like racing instead.

Something has to change; I no longer consider it the pinnacle of racing. To me, WEC is far better (not saying it is perfect), as far as racing goes (and as a more financially viable option for teams).

 

[florence3099]

I say we get rid of some of the newer tracks and focus more on Europe, as most of the teams are based there. Only the proper tracks from the Far East such as Suzuka and maybe some others should remain. Travel coats are likely to have an impact. Also have it so teams cant develop an entirely new car each year, lets have some consistency here, with less rule changes and more focus of developing cars over a period of say, 3-4 years. And get rid of Bernie and his chums, they're corrupt as hell and are damaging the spirit of the sport through stupid gimmicks and all that bull.

 

[Pumbucka]

Personally, i think that the financial restraints are what has kept back F1 from being at the forefront of technology. It also has to do alot with the financial crisis where large companies such as BMW Toyota and Honda no longer saw F1 as a viable marketing and technology development tool. Teams such as Sauber, Caterham and Murusia simply don't have and won't have the money to make F1 the prosperous and technology rich sport that it used to be.
What should they do?
In my opinion they should be talking to the large car manufacturers and asking them how they can make F1 suit their needs as a business, like less regulations on the engines so they can test new technology.
F1 used to be about blowing up engines and making technology that was on the absolute limit of destroying itself for maximum power!
Thats what F1 should be about, but if they don't provide a flexible platform like they do in Le Mans/WEC, F1 will slowly die, and we all know what a sad day that would be...

 

[florence3099]

why do I find it ironic that I've just seen an advert for a bankruptcy clinic?