Revhead Ramblings: F1 is Dying and We Need to Save It

F1 is suffering a pretty serious identity crisis and has been for a number of years. Viewing numbers are decreasing and action needs to be taken.

There are many issues that need addressing, for example the lack of overtaking, the lack of competition outside the top three teams and the obsession with costs. It won’t be a quick fix, but it’s one that’s genuinely worth doing because F1 can be fantastic.

I’m too young to remember them, but I’ve watched the greats go wheel to wheel in videos and the racing has you on the edge of your seat. That’s something we lack today.

Practice Sessions

It seems F1 races are mostly won via a computer. Extremely generous practice sessions give teams hours to fine tune their cars to the conditions and work out the limits of their cars before any serious racing begins.

While this is great for teams, it’s incredibly boring for spectators. One of the best races this season was the US Grand Prix, why you ask? Because teams only had 60 minutes of dry practice time!

By greatly reducing practice time or eliminating it all together, it would not only save teams money by shortening the race weekend, it would also add some much-needed unpredictability to the races again!

You could even give out practice time depending on your performances throughout the season, giving teams lower in the rankings a greater chance to press the big boys who normally take a clean sweep.

Punish Drivers for Running Off

Not in the form of point deductions, but by removing some of the low risk run off areas around turns. Look at Monaco, if you run off in a corner, you’re more than likely in a wall and that creates exciting racing!

It makes drivers work harder and reduces their ability to abuse the track limits. Obviously, you can’t remove run off areas completely, safety cars would be a permanent feature with all the debris on track, but by making corners a more high-risk area, you’ll have viewers on the edge of their seats!

Tyres

Tyres are a big sticking point, teams are far too focused on preserving the life of their rubber in a bid to avoid pit stops. This creates boring tactics and reduces overtaking as they sit back to avoid putting more heat through their wheels. If we wanted to watch tyre saving strategies, we’d move to the endurance series!

It’d be interesting to see the introduction of more tyre suppliers too. Having battles between the top tyre companies would not only make for better racing on track but would also greatly benefit our road cars!

Ending the Pursuit of Downforce

Spectators agree, drivers agree, and pundits agree. Downforce doesn’t make for entertaining racing! Hamilton recently said in an interview “We are all capable of racing much closer so there needs to be changes to enable us to do that and we don’t seem to be making those changes. If you give us five seconds more downforce it will be exactly the same just five seconds faster, but they won’t listen to what I say on that or what us drivers say on that, they’ll make something else happen.

“They’ll probably give us more downforce and the tyres won’t be any better and you’ll see the exact same race next year.”

There’s Still Hope

It’s a shame that more people aren’t celebrating Hamilton’s win, he’s without question one of the greatest sportsmen this country has produced, and he doesn’t get the recognition he deserves. Hopefully in the years to come we’ll see some changes, and with them a new wave of fans!

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