The British Grand Prix was a cracker
c/o James Moy Photography
The past week has seen Formula 1 finally set itself upon a path back towards a state of health which, I think, anyone involved in the sport either professionally or vicariously will admit was required. The grand sweeping changes many deemed necessary have, thankfully, been averted in favour of far more sensible, piecemeal, amendments to a show which is merely damaged and far from broken.
I’ve said it on air, and it’s an argument I stand by, but when one cuts one’s finger, one does not amputate one’s hand. Overreaction only serves to compound an issue.
With the World Motor Sport Council meeting in Mexico this week, I found the array of drivers and representatives of the sport gathered there to be in fine voice. Juan Pablo Montoya, for example, spoke eloquently, calmly and sensibly on the topic of Formula 1, something which has not always been the case. For many years JPM seemed to hold a bitterness towards the championship, but his words of caution this week held resonance at a time of soul searching for the sport.
The pursuit of faster cars, he claimed, was not the golden chalice that many believed it to be. Far from it. Faster cars merely highlight the differences between the teams and increase the disparity. So while the headline targets of the Strategy Group to increase F1 speeds by five or six seconds a lap may seem noble, they may also prove to be a false dawn.
I’ve often argued that it’s the same concept one uses when karting with friends. Sure, your bravado tells you that you all want the quickest karts you can lay your hands on, but the disparity between friends and the vast difference in experience and talent means you’ll never get a decent race. Put everyone in the slowest rental karts you can find, and the chances are you’ll have a hugely entertaining afternoon.
It’s a line Monisha Kaltenbourn also took. Because while faster cars are a great headline, who in the grandstands really cares about laptime? What they want is a race. And simply making the cars faster will not do that.
Verstappen Vs Bottas
2015 Austrian Grand Prix
c/o James Moy Photography
The move towards putting the race back in the hands of a driver is something that will provide a greater show for the fans and something of which I’ve already stated I’m an advocate. And not just at the start. Once again, I refer you to the comments of Juan Pablo Montoya. Take away the data that tells a driver his tyre temperatures, and let him feel again. Take away the dashboard on his wheel. Take away the engineer in his ear telling him he’s critical on this or that.
When Max Verstappen tells the world he turns his dashboard off in races because he’s so sick of having to constantly refer to data and he just wants to listen to the car and feel it underneath him, I think it tells you something.
Perhaps we have moved too far away from the essence of what makes Formula 1, Formula 1.
Just yesterday I was having a chat with my girlfriend’s Father about the sport and he asked me to explain why people were making a fuss about the sound of modern engines. Did it really make a difference?
I played him a video of an onboard lap from 2015 with Jenson Button’s McLaren Honda, and then Jenson Button’s 2004 Imola pole lap in the BAR Honda. His face visibly lit up with the sound of that screaming V10.
“Oh,” he smiled. “Now I understand.”
At Silverstone I had a catch up with a friend and colleague, someone with whom I have worked in various guises over my time in Formula 1 and who now finds himself in a prominent position at the very heart of the sport. His candour and honesty is one of the things I like most about him. And last weekend he was on sparkling form.
“The thing is,” he imparted, “ When we were growing up, the one thing we all aspired towards was owning a sports car. A Ferrari, an Aston Martin… whatever. We wanted a sportscar. These days, kids just want a mobile phone. A sodding phone. How are we supposed to appeal to them?
“The problem as I see it is that we’re trying to sell ourselves to people that aren’t interested. Is a kid whose sole interest is the difference between an iPhone 5 and an iPhone 6 going to give a damn whether we’re running V8s or V6s? Maybe we’ve become so lost in trying to please everyone that we’re pleasing no-one. Do you remember what it was like a decade ago?
“It was girls, fags, booze, noise, speed, danger! That’s Formula 1. That’s what this is. That’s what it should be anyway. Yes it’s politically incorrect, but fuck it. That’s what this is!”
Alexander Rossi was on incredible form at Silverstone
c/o GP2 Media Serice
As Charlie Whiting handed out his dictum that those caught crossing the white line at Copse would have their qualifying times taken away and Alexander Rossi was handed a five second time penalty in the Sunday morning GP2 race for pulling off one of the ballsiest passes you’ll see this year around the outside of Copse and putting his right front half an inch over the white line… I had to agree.
Where has the danger gone and that beautiful line to be run between risk and reward? Motorsport should be as nerve wracking and exhilarating as the thought of a slug trying to negotiate his way down a razorblade. That’s the perfect lap. On the edge. Where one wrong move is game over. 500 yards of asphalt run off does not a hero create.
“We’ve been telling that to the FIA for years,” said a dear friend and racer when we discussed the white line issue in Silverstone. “We’ve told them in WEC like we told them in F1, bring back the grass, bring back the gravel. Please. There has to be a penalty if you take it too far. Not a race ending penalty, but something that naturally deters you. Put a grass strip exactly one and a half times the width of an LMP1 car on the outside of every kerb, and you can put a mile of asphalt on the other side. Just give us that natural deterrent. And that’s the other thing. It’s natural. It’s grass for heaven’s sake. Digging it all up and covering it in tarmac isn’t exactly helping their green credentials is it?”
Perhaps we have lost our way. Perhaps we’ve tried so hard to please a public who might not even be interested in the product that we’ve lost sight of what we really are.
My daughter is five years old. She loves My Little Pony. She loves pretty much every Disney Princess you can name. Do they try and make their products appeal to me, a 34 year old man? No. And why? Because they know that I’m not their audience. Sure I can tell you the difference between Princess Twilight Sparkle, Rarity and AppleJack, and I can tell you why pretty much every Disney Princess would have got themselves in far less trouble if they’d just listened to their fathers, but only because my daughter is so engrossed in their worlds. They don’t try to sell to me because I’m not a five year old girl.
And that’s a really important lesson.
“Fuck, you get there and park behind George or Dave, what’s the point?”
Vettel is a fan of grid girls
c/o James Moy Photography
When Jeremy Clarkson was fired from Top Gear, his dismissal caused consternation around the world. Many people have tried to copy the Top Gear format, but nobody has or will ever be able to out-Clarkson Clarkson. Like him or loathe him, he was nothing but himself. And I always found it ironic that he chose to lambast Formula 1 so regularly. Because he and F1 were and are born of the same cloth.
Their popularity lies in the fact that they are, or at least were, so uncompromisingly themselves. Politically incorrect, fossil fuel burning, unapologetic. Speed. Power. Fags, booze, pretty girls in short skirts. Reckless, daring, nigh on crazy heroes who lived a life of excess.
People decry modern F1 drivers for not having the personalities of their forefathers in eras long gone, but when the sport represents such an apologetic façade, is it any wonder its protagonists are forced to do the same?
If these fan surveys tell us anything it is that the people who watch this sport want their sport back.
Perhaps its time to stop apologising for what we are and just embrace it. Warts and all and as unpopular to the politically correct majority as it may be.
Because deep down, in places some of us rarely admit… everyone loves a rebel. And there are far too few of them left.
Lewis does his best Helio impression
c/o James Moy Photography
The Buxton Blog 
Will, absolutely spot on, I couldn’t agree more.
As a 25 year old American F1 fan I grew fond of the sport right around the turn of the millennia, when Schumi was enjoying his massive success with the Scuderia and the glorious sound of that V10.
It would seem to me that the sport that I’ve followed since the early 2000s is now one which I don’t much care for. Its all about fuel consumption and “how long will my tires last before I need to come in and change them…..again?”
In the words of the great Michael Keaton’s character Monarch from Need For Speed, “Racers should race, cops should eat donuts.” While I’ll admit the cop part doesn’t much
adhere to this situation, this is the so-called “pinnacle of Motorsport” and for it to return to that we needn’t care much about the stats and figures but more about whats going between the best talent pool of drivers. They should be able to push for the entire race, you need fuel or tires, fine into the pits you go. Whenever you need.
Take it back down a modest level free-for-all and then, and ONLY then, will your rebels begin to step into the limelight.
– Yankee out.
Re. your July 10th blog; Amen!!! Keep up the great work.
Not dangerous enough? Am not sure Philippe Bianchi would agree with this
Once again Chris you are mistaking a totally avoidable situation with a racing incident. Bianchis crash was totally avoidable. The blame is not on the dangers of the sport but down to incompetency by the track officials, the marshals, Charlie Whiting, and the whole of race control. If the conditions where as bad as some people have said they where then a safety car should have been deployed at the minimum, or the race red flagged. Jules while maybe going to fast for the conditions he was failed mostly by the FIA delegate Mr.Whiting. Your also comparing like I said a completely avoidable situation with an actual racing incident which are two different things.
He was going 206 kmph on a wet track in a safety yellow flag area. Four feet of grass next to the rumble strips is hardly too dangerous, as in safety, its only dangerous if you are trying to win or get points.
Five seconds a lap faster means everyone gets to head home about 4 minutes sooner (give or take). Maybe they want the pain to end sooner?
As I see it, Formula One is faced with the same issue that any sport that doesn’t like itself has – and that is what happens when fans find out the other things they can do with their lives than sitting down and watching a bunch of really rich guys whine and complain about their sport. It has happened in American baseball and football during strike seasons, it almost killed hockey, and it has had a lasting effect on open wheel racing in the U.S.
This will be a problem as long as there are people and organizations involved in F1 for reasons other than racing. As long as the primary reason for participation is selling more fizzy water or cars or insert your favorite sponsor’s product here, the problems will remain.
Yes, yes, yes & err maybe. Yes to risk, yes to more driver skill, yes to fewer rules. But no to grid girls – the sport should be sexy to both genders, the speed, the cars, the danger can all do this. But without sexualising 50% of the potential fanbase.
Will, just so you know – in America, “fags” doesn’t mean the same thing that it does in your part of the world.
WOW!
I normally enjoy your blog, because for the most part I guess I agree with you.
BUT this is EXCELLENT!
You and the people you quoted are SPOT ON as to how to deal with what the Fans are saying.
BRING back F1
While I have come to appreciate the technology of the new “power units”
I WANT AN F1 ENGINE!!
The first F1 I took my oldest Son to was Montreal back in 1995.
We came out of the metro on Friday morning on the island and while waking to our seats the first of the F1 practice sessions started.
I made him stop and listen.
We could not see the cars but I pointed out to him a Cosworth,the “lovely” Peugeot, finally the scream of a Ferrari!
That was F1.
He is still hooked on F1 today, and a Ferrari fan.
THANKS Will.
Nice column Will. I too think F1 has been done in by two things: The quest for absolute safety and the restraints corporate sponsors have on behaviour.
You’ve nailed it.
Good points Will.
The people that I’ve talked to want the speed back in Formula 1. As in pedal to the medal racing, not having to worry about tires constantly, etc. If the front running cars are ever slowed down in order to allow the midfield and back markers to race with them, there will be more people turning away from the sport.
With increased speed comes danger. I think that people feel that Formula 1 has become too sanitized. For example, the pack race that IndyCar had at Fontana, people really enjoyed that but it was really dangerous for the drivers. It made for exciting racing though.
Today, at most of the Formula 1 grands prix, the majority of the cars start the race, there are a handful of passes, the pit stops, and then the finish. I remember years ago some of the race starts were like bumper cars with an accident or two.
Bring back the creativity. Bring back some of the things that were banned. The rule book is strangling it and pretty soon all of the cars are going to look the same. That not appealing.
As far as the rebels that the sport used to have, they may not be allowed to come back into the sport because the sponsors might have an issue with the rebel driver’s behavior and that cause its own set of issues for the team.
Another big issue is the cost of attending a GP weekend. Right now, is a grand prix weekend a good value for the amount of money that’s spent? No, I don’t think so. I wouldn’t go to a GP weekend for a few reasons. The fact that it’s too expensive for the few activities that happen during a GP weekend. I justify can’t justify giving my money to Bernie given all of the underhanded things that he’s done.
‘It’s a line Monisha Kaltenbourn also took. Because while faster cars are a great headline, who in the grandstands really cares about laptime? What they want is a race. And simply making the cars faster will not do that..’
This is what we have been saying during Red Bull dominance and now, Mercedes dominance.
I suggest making the plans open-source so that what the teams are doing is not secret. It’s a controversial idea, but this would move to making Manor Marussia more competitive and allow Honda engines to complete the race. It would also make F1 accessible to new teams and less expensive.
It is all about the race – not the dominance or monopoly. I would rather have ten drivers win one race each than one driver win ten races – as much as that is an ego-boost for the individual who wins. Once it was Vettel for Red Bull now Hamilton or Rossburg, but I am sick of it.
GP2 offers more pure racing these days with an event packed with action, overtaking (overtaking – what is that? In F1 we do that during the pit-stops), and frequent changes at the front.
This is racing – not a fast, single file procession.
Regarding tires, maybe a crazy idea. Instead of requiring the teams to use two compounds at least once each race, why not remove that requirement and make the difference between the two compounds significantly different and let the teams change tires as much as they feel it fits their race strategy?
As in, a Super Soft tire will be blistering fast and corner like crazy but last only a handful of laps, while the Medium tire would be harder, not as fast nor handle as well but last many more laps. Sure, the current tires offer this choice but my thinking is to make the two compounds hugely different, far more so than they are now.
This risk/reward scenario offers a team, needing to catch-up, to gamble on the better handling tire to gain enough places to make it worthwhile versus the pit stop delta.
This would break-up the parade we see now and just might catapult a team into the points.
Some of the most exciting racing I can remember of recent is some GP2 races with you calling them.
One of the best blog entries about the nature of F1 I’ve read in a while Will. Juan is right, you mate is right, it should be about racing first, then maybe money second. Too bad the whole grid wasn’t run by 9 clones of Frank Williams, along with Frank himself of course. Put actual clutch pedals back in the car along with actual shifter linkage, 1 missed shift, a blown lump and or blown race or both. Give the cars back mechanical grip, take away the aero help, get back to some proper sounding screaming engines. I’ve done 2 years with this new engine deal in Montreal and you can actually have a conversation next to the Armco and both parties can be heard, no ear protection anymore. Back in the days of V10’s it was FP1 on Friday, take the hearing protection off for 1 pass of the grid if you were brave or just a couple of cars, grin like a Cheshire cat, deal with the pain and put the ear defenders back on. That’s some of the stuff I miss. The runoff is another issue, no penalty worth mentioning, hardly any missed time, there is no razor’s edge in that regard anymore. It needs lots of work.
The best response I have read to all the silly ‘what should we do’ stuff F1 leaders are putting out.
Totally agree on many counts. I’ve been saying it for years, the FIA and FOM fell in love with Red Bull and looked away at their indiscretions because they were convinced Red Bull was bringing the right new crowd, kids. Kids are fickle, beyond fickle, F1 cant build its house on kids. The whole hybrid engine was a gift to a crowd that doesn’t even follow racing of any kind, to the real fan it was a big gob spit into our face. Getting this issue wrong is costly, they got it wrong, its now a big problem.
Regarding run offs, agree, but the reason for their use came because drivers complained bitterly that the cars tires would sink into the stones and the car ended up on its flat floor surfing towards the wall with no brake or steering. After Michael Schumacher broke his leg at Silverstone things started moving more in the direction of pavement so the drivers could use the brakes and steering to effect a better result. I like the solution your suggesting, a width of grass, would change everything. I would start the grass on the other side of the rumble strips.
Does FOM think the fans will leave if a team budget it 80 million and the racing is great? I have suggested for some time that all teams must share all the intimate details of their cars and engines with the FIA who would then publish everything on their web site four months after the first race, and every four months after. This would kill the incentive to spend massively on that .000001% improvement in combustion chamber efficiency, the focus would then shift dramatically to being more creative with new inventions and ideas. The press would have a riot with all the new things seen and unseen. This would stop any engine manufacture from spending to much on engine development, there would be no incentive all the other engine makers would see that all the money was spent on, for free.
“Songs are like tattoos” Joni Mitchell once sang in the song Blue, the improvisation and imagination of an F1 race must be the same for the driver. As a further proof of Joni Mitchell’s inspired insight into life she added these lines.
Acid, booze and ass
Needles, guns and grass
Lots of laughs
Lots of laughs.
Joni Mitchell got it, why cant F1 be more fun?
Will,
I would quibble with one point you made. Jeremy Clarkson and you don’t seem to be different in the criticisms of F1. I’ve watched him for ten years (only on BBC America) and it’s clear (from those shows) he loves the speed, the raw power, the charisma of the F1 drivers of old and it’s clear, at least to me, that he yearns for that. His special on Senna with Lewis Hamilton was excellent and that’s what actually what got me to look at F1 and become a fan. He recently made a comparison of F1 to the great tennis match, and it’s clear, to me, that he hopes to get back to what you want F1 to be.
I’m surprised you didn’t drop the name of the driver who seems to be closest to what you want F1 to morph back to – Kimi Raikkonen. I know you are probably sighing right now thinking, here comes another Kimi crazy fan, but hear me out. It’s why people endear themselves to Kimi so much, because he seems to be a “rebel” (in his own way). He seems to be the only driver who is truly different than the rest of the field. He’s the only one who ever seems to get mad, swear on the radio, make a comment about another driver or team that is holding him up, bat back against the cookie cutter questions the press gives him, give awkward answers, and generally seems to not care about being corporate. “Leave me alone, I know what I’m doing” was his response to the engineers going on and on in his ear, if I recall correctly.
I know you have your criticisms with him, however valid they may be, but until his recently long term girlfriend/fiance and child being born, he was THAT guy, the drinking, smoking, falling off yachts, racing a boat in a gorilla suit, and racing snowmobiles under the name of a great rebel from the past, James Hunt.
That’s not entirely the point I was trying to make. Merely that F1 in those days of girls, fags, booze, noise, danger etc was unapologetic for what it was. Just as Clarkson, of whom I’m no great fan, seems unapologetic of the fact that he is so seemingly politically incorrect… a facet which draws him millions of fans, perhaps due to his perceived integrity regardless of the fact it is so opposed to modern day sensibilities.
I was simply saying that F1 should stop apologising for what it is, and trying to appease a world populous it doesn’t really understand and whom it will never universally please.
Unfortunately, when tobacco sponsorship was banned from Formula 1, the teams and the sport had to start worrying about pleasing the masses and getting the sponsorship opportunities that were left etc. It changed Formula 1 into the prostitute it’s now become and Bernie has not helped because he’s constantly worried about his wallet and now making Formula 1 accessible to petrol heads of all aged and income levels who would truly appreciate the sport.
Will,
I agree with your sentiment. When you try to be everything to everyone, you tend to loose focus of who got you there in the first place. I agree with most of your piece. Thank you for your thoughts and reasoned responses.
Sorry, but after recent events it’s ridiculous that you would use the phrase “rebel yell.”
How foolish of me. I really should know better than to reference Billy Idol. Won’t happen again.
Though Speed used to be based in South Carolina, I’m not sure Will follows US politics closely enough to know what you’re talking about.
Best thing to happen right now is to unfreeze development. Look at IndyCar Honda really screwed up their aero kit in comparison to Chevy especially on ovals. They go from having the winning car at Indy last year to having their best place being 8th this year. However they were allowed to work on developing the kit and have improved a ton Rahal (although I think he should have gotten the penalty for the pit stop) won in a fair fight with the Chevy’s at Fontana.
Now engines might be a little more difficult than aero kits but it is impressive to see Honda able to make up the gap in just half a season, as opposed to F1 teams not being able to catch up to Merc.
[…] general. What I cannot do, however, is accept a few key sentences from his latest article, found here. In that article, he cites several ways he thinks F1 could improve the show, something most people […]