The British GP was pretty exciting, with rain playing a part. A decent race and a capacity crowd should not, however, distract us from the fact that Formula One is in deep crisis.
Instead of blaming the media, as he has done, Jean Todt should ask himself why Formula One is facing so much criticism, often by well-informed people who have been life-long fans. In many cases it is how we have earned a living for most of our working lives. We have a vested interest in the future of the sport and do not criticise on a whim.
It cannot be because of all the pay-drivers, they have always been with us though some used to be called 'privateers'. Among them have been Nuvolari, Varzi, Fangio and Moss.
BRM and Team Lotus often ran a car for a local hero and sometimes the drive was paid for by the organising club. Ferrari sometimes ran a Belgian driver at Spa. In 1977, Frank Williams ran a private March 761 while Patrick Head was designing the Williams FW06. Nelson Piquet made his F1 debut in a private McLaren M23.
In all these cases, the private status was known and in Piquet's case, his performances with an obsolete car led to a Brabham works drive.
What we did not have were occasions like Sauber breaking its contract with Giedo van der Garde and running two pay-drivers (at a reported fifteen million pounds each) as though they were fully-fledged works drivers on the grid through merit.
As one who has long admired Sauber, it saddens me that the team has had to do this in order to survive. Sauber deserves to be on the grid through merit alone, but the FIA has let it down because the economics of F1 make no sense at all.
The crisis cannot be because one team is dominating, that has more often than not been the case. What is different now are restrictions which mean other teams cannot pull out all the stops and challenge Mercedes F1.
When Lotus introduced ground effect in 1977/78, nobody whined instead they all adopted ground effect. Some struggled, not least Lotus whose T80 introduced 'porpoising' to the motor racing vocabulary. Patrick head took a hard look at the Lotus 79 and came up with the Williams FW07.
When Williams perfected active suspension and Nigel Mansell made the most of it, nobody complained. The idea had been around for a long time (it originated with Lotus around 1980), but Williams had persevered and perfected the idea. Everyone metaphorically took their hats off to Williams.
At every other time of domination by one team, everyone else has buckled down and tried to do better, but now they are stymied by the rules.
Red Bull is struggling with Renault power this year, but Danny Ricciardo won three Grands Prix last year. The difference is that last year's Red Bull was designed by Adrian Newey and Adrian has become frustrated by the restrictions in F1. All the great designers have been creative artists. Newey, among the best in history, feels himself restricted. It is though Botticelli was forced to paint by numbers.
The FIA has tried all manner of things to restrict expenditure, it has limited on-track testing, wind tunnel time and CFD (computational fluid dynamics). The Strategy Group has resisted a budget cap, because it is comprised of grandee teams whose main drive is self-interest.
What is needed is a limit on employees and forget about all other restrictions. We are constantly told that F1 is a team sport, but other team sports restrict the number of players in a team. The difference between F1 and football is that the team includes the people working on the equipment.
Teams could still use subcontractors, but X hours would equal one employee. Top people would still command top wages, as they do today. Best boffins are still wooed, as are players in other team sports.
Restrict the number of employees engaged on the design and build of the cars and a team could decide to use them for running track testing, wind tunnel testing or CFD simulations. Restrict the numbers (with a cap on working hours) and you restrict how a team can spend, yet not restrict creativity. My guess is that it would release creativity.
You could still have as many support staff as you needed to run a factory, but a 'cleaner' with a large salary and a PhD in Computer Science would not be allowed.
New pieces have to be made for track testing or for wind tunnel testing. To make a typical F1 front wing takes around 800 man-hours. That I was told by someone who, until last year, worked for Williams. I found it hard to believe and asked him to repeat it. He did and said, 'Can you imagine the pain every time Pastor Maldonado wiped off a nose cone?'
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