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These three changes would transform F1



When the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association called for an overhaul of how F1 is run, there was a general feeling that they were asking, as the phrase goes, turkeys to vote for Christmas.

This was only partly true. Because of the way Formula 1 is structured, a major shake-up would require not just the turkeys to back Christmas – you’d have to get the croquettes and Christmas pudding yelling in agreement too.

You want the big teams to have less influence? The Mercedes and Ferrari turkeys have to put their necks on the chopping block.

You want F1 to return to free-to-view telly channels so audience figures start to improve? Better talk to the Christmas pudding – he’s affectionately known as Bernie.

You want a fairer distribution of money in the sport? Those croquettes are going to have to agree, and it turns out they come from the same posh shop as the turkeys.

But how could F1 be improved as a spectacle – with or without overhauling the present shambolic leadership structure?

Here are three relatively simple changes that would be a good start.

1: If at first you don’t succeed, tyre, tyre again



Bigger tyres = more mechanical grip. More mechanical grip = better acceleration and higher cornering speeds. Better acceleration and higher cornering speeds = more fun for the drivers and more of an ‘ooh’ factor for the fans.

This season’s change to tyre rules, giving teams more choice, has been a success so far. But tyre management is still a huge bugbear for drivers – Lewis Hamilton made this very point after the season opener in Melbourne.

He said: ‘When we did the restart, I couldn’t afford to spend the life of the tyres trying to get past [Carlos] Sainz because then (the tyres) won’t see the end of the race on the strategy. The closer I get, I am sliding around so it’s a domino effect and (the tyres) do get hot, and you slide around and burn rubber.’

In other words, at the moment, the tyres can’t cope with the stresses put on them if you’re close to the car in front; if you want to see closer racing, cars obviously have to be able to get close to competitors in front of them.

Would this stop Mercedes and Ferrari dominating race weekends? No, but it would at least mean there was closer racing between the Merc and Ferrari team-mates, and closer racing in the midfield, where so much of the real action takes place anyway.

Now, grippy tyres alone won’t help cars race closer to one another, which takes us on to the second change that could improve the sport as a spectacle.


2: No more aeros any more



Well, not ‘no more’, but far fewer aerodynamic tricks.

F1 cars generate a remarkable amount of downforce through clever aerodynamics. At around 81mph, an F1 car effectively doubles its weight because of the downward pressure exerted by aerodynamic forces.

At top speed, it can produce up to five times its static weight in downforce.

As a result, in clear air, on a twisty circuit, the car can accelerate and corner much, much more effectively.

But…

If you are following close behind another car, trying to overtake, there’s a problem. Modern F1 cars create a great deal of turbulence and that turbulence slashes the effect of downforce on following cars.

So in corners, the car behind starts sliding around and burning up its tyres, which means it corners even more poorly… you can see how getting close enough to attempt an overtake becomes a problem.

Next season, it is likely that changes to aerodynamic regulations will make cars corner faster – which also, presumably, means that the effects on following cars will be at least as bad as they are now.

So we can look forward to faster laps (hurrah) but even more overtaking issues caused by aerodynamics (boo).

Bearing in mind that a lack of overtaking has led to some of F1’s most gimmicky features – DRS overtakes, compulsory tyre changes to allow ‘overtakes’ in the pits – it beggars belief that next season’s rules are likely to add to overtaking problems.

Can’t we at least let the drivers have some fun out there? Slash the aerodynamic shenanigans and let them get a little more intimate on the circuit.


3: These fuelish things



F1 is not a green sport. There are fleets of heavy jets shuttling crates of kit and thousands of people from country to country. F1 circuits are not the most environmentally-friendly constructions on the planet. Those 1.6litre engines may be super-efficient but, at their heart, they’re still 20th-century fuel burners.

So what’s with the crazy limitations on fuel flow, and the even more crazy limitations on engine development?

Give the engineers some proper freedom to push the power units to breaking point. Stop fretting over how many extra litres of fuel the cars might burn – really, compared with the F1 aviation fuel bill, or the fuel bill for the taxis and helicopters shuttling VIPs to and from circuits, the amount the F1 cars burn is small potatoes.

Unleash the potential of those amazing engines – they are already the most efficient in history at extracting power from fuel (Mercedes’ thermal efficiency figures are worth checking out, if you’re spoddy about engines). The engines are only part of the power train, but they’re where it all starts, and they are still the heart of the car.


Stuff those turkeys



There you have it. Three extremely simple suggestions that would directly impact on the F1 race-day show. Give the teams a bit more warning than they got of the changes to qualifying rules and see what they come up with.

Frankly, if we got even one of these ideas to stick, it would feel like Christmas had come early. Now, where are those turkeys?