Opinion | How To Fix Formula One?

[RichardHessels]

Make sure every team uses electric trucks, so the F1 cars can have 3 liter atmospheric V12's and still use less gasoline.
Turn gasoline in to some sports & hobbyfuel for races and vintage cars and bikes, the rest of us will run electric.

Now for real, even the financials.

 

[Jack Sargent]

By far the easiest and most practical solution (and most widely supported) is to pretend it's fine as it is.

 

[Gevatter]

These are just my ideas based on what I miss on F1 compared to the 1990s-2000s when I watched it a lot. No idea if anything would even be achievable.

1) Less races, but more interesting tracks.
Tilke's tracks are just boring, they all follow the same formula. Go back to tracks that naturally wind through the landscape. Including Zandvoort ist a step in the right direction IMO.

2a) Make it more affordable.
That needs some balance tho. F1 always was an engineering contest to see what new and exciting ways to go faster can be thought up, and I get that. But F1 needs to be affordable enough so privateers and smaller manufacturers can join the sport again. Seeing Mercedes dominate year after year just because they can throw the most money at their F1 team is boring.

2b) Make it more affordable.
Circuits need to be able to afford to host F1 races, and that means the ticket prices need to be low enough so people can actually afford to spontaniously go to a F1 race. If it costs you several hundred Euros you're only attracting the hardcore fans, and those numbers are dwindling.

3) More charismatic drivers.
Let the boys be boys again. Don't stifle their personalities by corporate bullshit. Let them be toxic if they need to vent. The sport needs personalities, not drones who aren't allowed to talk from their hearts. Example: There was a segment a few years ago where Hamilton met Moss at Silverstone. It was some kind of Mercedes PR event. When they asked Moss about Silverstone, he was like "Oh it's lovely isn't it? I like being here, you meet some great people, sit on the balconies and watch the cars go by etc." Hamilton was like "It's great to be here and I'd like to thank our Sponsors and you guys at home, you make it all possible bla bla". EMPTY. There is no visible passion for the sport, it all seems to be very sterile. They're all the same. We need great analytic minds like Prost or Lauda compared to the playboys like Moss or Hunt, and the odd legend like Senna.

4) Entertainment value.
Make the cars loud again. I'm not saying bring back V10s, but try to make the current engines sound like F1 engines sounded for decades. Even tho V6 Turbos in the eighties sounded better. The Porsche 919 is a Hybrid V4, and it sounded way better IMO. Make the cars smaller and more nimble. Reduce aero to a point where you can go bumper to bumper without losing all of your cornering grip. Less aero means you can do away with DRS. Eliminate the need for the driver to fumble with fuel maps and ERS deployment maps. Set those in the beginning of the race and maybe allow a changes at pit stops, make them part of the strategy. Let the driver concentrate on driving his car.

5) Less bureaucracy.
I understand that there need to be rules and oversight, the question is when its too much. I have hopes that the current gouverning body is open to make things a bit less strict. Maybe thing like allowing the teams to use different engine configurations, like LMP1 did. You have an engergy budget per lap you can use. Bigger engine means less hybrid power and vice versa. Maybe even allow teams to not use Hybrids at all, and try to balance the different engine types against each other.

 

[LeSunTzu]

How can you say that Hamilton lacks charisma?

As for the "great analytic minds" Prost and Lauda, memory is very short indeed. They were calculating on track for sure. Outside, they slammed the door on their team, get feisty with team mates, lead drivers to boycott a track, called their car a truck, etc.

Nowadays Hamilton, Verstappen, Vettel are of the same stuff; the only difference is that now the media pressure is such that they are forced to watch their words and actions and when they do or say something they have to apologize to "fans".

If something is to be "fixed" with F1, it would be muting "fans", incompetent journalists and keyboard warriors.

 

[Fernando Zart]

Not mentioning the fact that F1 is a big lab for car industry (and tying it would inevitably strip it from it's very purpose), I will sum my view about the matter from the sport/fun perspective in one sentence: "In sports, easier isn't better".
If you think a little bit, this can be said about most things in life. Anyway, I don't watch F1 anymore, because it ceased to cause excitement long ago.

 

[MattGTX]

Sequencial Shifter and the removal of awful tracks on the calendar (I'm looking at you Paul Richard...) would be changes I'd like very much to see.

The sport is too far gone now

In almost all eras (except the first one) of all sports people say that

 

[michelforest]

How can you say that Hamilton lacks charisma?

I’m not a Hamilton fan, I don’t hate him either, but I don’t find him charismatic, mainly because every time he opens his mouth, it sounds like he’s reciting some carefully rehearsed lines fed to him by his P.R. guys. Compared to drivers like Ricciardo, Norris or Raikonnen, he looks like a robot. That doesn’t mean he’s not the best driver on the grid (he probably is), but charisma?

 

[boxer]

Treat all teams equally by removing the existing preferential and financial treatment some teams get.
Enforce one pit slot per car
enforce one pit crew per car
Stop pit to driver communications in order to abolish orders that interfere with driver championship points.
Allow only authorize standard codes to be sent to driver and only allow communications to both drivers at once. Coded messages should result in team disqualifications.

Only allow one car per team to run..

Drivers should be employed by the series and not the teams... Rotate drivers through every team giving them equal oportunity to win... perhaps git rid of testing day and convert every weekend to double headers.

 

[Loren Thomas]

For me, what really needs to go back is the sporting regulations. For what is supposed to be a World Championship, they've got to be fair to all competitors, and things like DRS plainly aren't. You can really point to 2003 as the year they really started deliberately making the sporting regs less fair in an attempt to improve the "show" - and from there on I've been way less interested in F1.

The cars are going to evolve with the times, so frankly I'm much less interested in specifics there. Fundamentally the cars do need to be kept within the realm of "automobile" though, which currently means they really need to cap the wheelbase somewhere around 3.2 m, keep some of the more outrageous aero designs in check, and keep out nonsense like Mercedes' DAS.

 

[Nevini]

Simply go back to free to air TV.

 

[Jim Layee]

Treat all teams equally by removing the existing preferential and financial treatment some teams get.
Enforce one pit slot per car
enforce one pit crew per car
Stop pit to driver communications in order to abolish orders that interfere with driver championship points.
Allow only authorize standard codes to be sent to driver and only allow communications to both drivers at once. Coded messages should result in team disqualifications.

Only allow one car per team to run..

Drivers should be employed by the series and not the teams... Rotate drivers through every team giving them equal oportunity to win... perhaps git rid of testing day and convert every weekend to double headers.

Watch Nascar and you'll be almost there.

 

[Durge Driven]

My idea will sound just as funny as it looks

BTTC model
3 races x 3 times points
reverse grid top 10

Best of all 3 times the starts which is most exciting time

Shorten each race to 1/2 distance
1/2 the fuel means they race better from the get go instead of looking like tugboats

 

[Miguel Batista]

• More ground effect not less aero. Allow teams to inovate in how they get their aero.
• Reduce engine complexity but not "less hybrid". Make engines cheaper overall while keeping power. This would increase weight and therefore increase braking distances a bit.
• Set a maximum team budget. This will be a necessity as the sport wanes in popularity anyway so maybe not needed.
• Wholeheartedly agree on lowering the number of races in a season. 22 is too many.
• Pitstops are essential and a part of racing so I think removing them is silly.

This is my list. But it could easily be just point 3. Limit team's budget.
This would make F1 far more competitive than anything else. F1 is supposed to be the queen of motorsports and a showcase of what is possible to do with current technology. Stupidifying the cars like the OP suggests would do nothing for balance as long as the team's financial differences exist. Regardless of the regulations, the teams with the most cash will invariably win and right now, Mercedes Ferrari and Redbull can outspend the rest of the field by an order of magnitude. 2021 was supposed to have a 175 million cap and now they are talking about 145 but still there are things like car development that are not covered by this cap. Which is insane and allows big teams to literally pay to win.
Costs need to be lower that is the whole truth of it. Make teams' budget limited and remove certain restrictions so they can explore alternative ways of achieving the desired result.
Sure Ferrari might abandon F1 but even if they don't, the sport might end regardless due to a mixture of poor viewing figures, lower advertisement costs and a huge financial disaster looming over the horizon.

 

[Isaac Chavira]

I say (and you can hate me)

1. Single Chassis Constructor like Dallara or Oreca. (This includes everything but the engine and transmission).
2. Open Engine Configuration Range: I6,V6, F6, V8, W8, V10, W10, V12, W12 (All have a SAE 700hp cap, no turbo's and no hybrid systems).
3. Open Transmission Configuration Range: 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12spd.
4. Limited Budget for all teams.
5. Limited Sponsor Support: One main sponsor and one secondary sponsor. (If the car is a factory car, the manufacturer counts as the main sponsor). The team can still have as many sub-sponsors as the wish but they cannot give money to the team. The Driver is the sole collector of any Sub-Sponsor earnings (i.e. Ray Ban, Nike, Under Armor ect.)
6. Control Tires with three compounds for dry and wet only: Hard, Medium, Soft.
7. Steering wheel can only operate: Pit Limiter, Rain Light, Gears and Radio.
8. Steering wheel may still have a non-capacitive MFD.
9. Car must have an automatic cockpit and engine bay emergency fire suppression system.
10. Driver will not do any P.R. or gatherings the 24hrs before the race.

 

[newtonpg]

I would love to give you a page of suggestions which would start with bringing back Pit Babes,

However I am not going to waste energy since whatever suggestions you / we make will not change anything.

We live in a different era, and its ruled by the Dollar / Euro,

Its more about Big Corporate than about the Fans having fun, experiencing emotion and being entertained.

Its now just about money and nothing else, sorry that's my 2 cents worth.......

Agree.
They don't want our opinions but the money.
So the easiest way is, we the motorsports dissatisfied followers, make the Corporations lost some money.
Forget F1 for a while and they will hear what F1 fans want and what they must change to make money again.
But be prepared to see their capital moving to another earnings.

[Edited] @ Jack Sargent - Agree as an alternative to just pretend we are enjoing F1.

 

[Jonathan Young]

F1 is reliant on manufacturers and they will have no interest at all in something like this. For that reason alone, an F1 that's designed to take us back and not forwards will never happen. However great it might sound to those of us who've been around for a while, it's just not contemporary to have H-pattern boxes and V12s.

What could be feasible is if a sister formula was launched, perhaps one that runs as a support race. Call it Formula Classic, a formula that has many of the characteristics of what Paul is after but is more than a nostalgic, Goodwood Revival kind of thing. It could be a series that is an homage to F1's past but that cherry picks its best parts. If you put budget caps on it, then this might be more of a natural home for some of the privateers and teams of the past. Williams could move formulas and actually compete. And Benetton, Judd and Lotus could make a comeback.

Some minor updating would be needed - safety would be paramount of course, refuelling should not be allowed in my opinion, and the look of the cars and the liveries could be designed so that they're contemporary but harken back to the good old days.

Who know - in time, it might become more popular than actual F1 and take over - but in the meantime, as a regularly televised support race, I'd be happy with this.

 

[robt100]

Lighter cars (simle fix - back to refuelling with max size tank. and shorter wheelbase rules)
Cheaper and varied engines. - To keep them 'road relevant' KERS can be used, but to a certain power spec/useage. Engines of a max CC, with max cumulative torque and/or HP within a certain rev range (inc KERS power), and a minimum maximum revs limit (ie: must rev to at least 18,000rpm) and a max rev limit of say 20,000rpm. No exotic materials allowed. Random dyno tests on engines throughout season to check rules are kept (could put a rolling road into the weighbridge for testing during practice or after the race etc).
Less sensitive aero. It all started going very wrong in 2005, watch the 2003 imola gp vs the 2005 imola gp with the 'better for following' aero. The cars are double the distance away, and have got worse ever since! Though some of this is also to do with the tyres, we need tyres with no heat degredation.
And as has been said (as most of this probably has) about 16 races. LM charge nominal amount for race (something from £100-500k) and then 50% of ticket sales for their income. Then the better the choice of circuit for the fans, the more money LM make.

 

[Salvatore Sirignano]

Watch historic racing instead, like the Goodwood Revival!
F1 died a long time ago as far as I´m concerned, DRS has completely killed the on track action, the engines sound terrible, the cars look godawful with the halos on, the tracks have been emasculated and made to look mickey mouse by the technological advancement of the cars. There are no great corners anymore, 130R, Eau Rouge, Copse aren´t a challenge.
The great thing about simracing is that we can teleport ourselves back to the good old days!

 

[robt100]

What could be feasible is if a sister formula was launched, perhaps one that runs as a support race. Call it Formula Classic, a formula that has many of the characteristics of what Paul is after but is more than a nostalgic, Goodwood Revival kind of thing. It could be a series that is an homage to F1's past but that cherry picks its best parts. If you put budget caps on it, then this might be more of a natural home for some of the privateers and teams of the past. Williams could move formulas and actually compete. And Benetton, Judd and Lotus could make a comeback.

Some minor updating would be needed - safety would be paramount of course
- but in the meantime, as a regularly televised support race, I'd be happy with this.

https://www.s5000.com.au/the-car/ australian S5000 might be up your street when it restarts

 

[Dr. Death]

Lift all restrictions but make all R&D of a car available after either 6 months or 1 year. That way the R&D difference isn't too big with no limits on cars, but anyone can come up with something new and still take advantage of it.