The word 'legend' is thrown about so easily these days that it has just about lost its meaning. However, in the case of Mario Andretti, legend doesn't go far enough.

The Italian-American has not only raced just about everything on four wheels, he has won races, indeed titles, be it F1, Sports Cars or IndyCar.

Therefore, when the great man speaks we should listen, and the great man has spoken.

In the wake of Sunday's season opening Australian Grand Prix, which featured just 5 overtakes, Andretti believes F1 has missed up a golden opportunity by not following IndyCar's example and restricting the reliance on aero.

In a bid to reduce costs and improve the racing - both of which are seemingly on F1's 'to do' list - this season IndyCar has introduced its own Aerokit and done away with the teams' own versions. In addition to attracting a number of new teams this season, the first race of the year witnessed a record number of passes.

Meanwhile, the much-hyped new aero regulations for F1 last year resulted in 50% less overtaking than the previous year, and as fans and drivers call out for changes, the sport's technical boss, Ross Brawn warns it may take until 2021 before anything can be done.

"I think the series, the management have done a great job in tweaking things," Andretti told Motorsport.com, referring to IndyCar. "They're doing the right thing with the aerodynamics of the cars and coming back to more of a pure-looking single-seater, open-wheel car which I think was something all of the open-wheel aficionados wanted to see.

"Unfortunately, last year's cars started looking more like a sports prototype with all the winglets and all the bullshit that was hanging over, but what they've done, I think is personally what Formula 1 missed out on.

"They reduced the downforce of the car which is an element," he added, "they still gave them good downforce with the ground effect because it does not create turbulence. But with the smaller wings, you can stay near the guy's gearbox and you can have a competitive overtake.

"I think personally that's where F1 missed it, they gave them more mechanical grip with wider tyres that gave them bigger weights which created more turbulence. And by doing bigger wings, they shorten the braking points even further which almost eliminates the chance of overtaking.

"You have DRS and all that, which you really need more than ever now, but at the same time even with the DRS, you've got to be able to suck up to somebody's gearbox coming off a corner and you cannot use DRS until you're on the straightaway."

A legend speaks, but is anyone listening?

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by Superbird70, 30/03/2018 16:44

"March 711; go look"

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2. Posted by Canuck, 30/03/2018 3:37

"Can anyone tell me they can actually notice a 6 second faster lap time while attending a race live? You certainly cannot notice that on any TV broadcast. What is more important a single line procession where cars have to queue up 1.5 seconds apart to maintain their aerodynamic prowess or being 6 seconds a lap slower and being able to draft and pass? What show do F1 fan want - single lap records or a record number of passes in a race? Mr Brawn use your fan of F1 head and not your F1 engineering head. "

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3. Posted by mzso, 29/03/2018 15:50

"Cont.: Instead they have these disqusting antler wings and and twisted fugly cars with all sorts nooks and winglest all around.
Pure garbage."

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4. Posted by mzso, 29/03/2018 15:47

"The solution to F1 was provided several years ago with the Byrne/Head wing-car proposal.
Of course the corrupt teams immediately downvoted it..."

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5. Posted by Ro, 27/03/2018 21:38

"If the FIA makes a knee-jerk ruling on the Halo, without real consultation, why dont they just ban wings on the grounds of safety and costs ? Cars cant get close to each other, braking is now so late that there is minimal chance to make a move. get rid of DRS, make wings a single plane and lets have some slipstreaing and OVERTAKING! "

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6. Posted by Stitch431, 27/03/2018 20:22

"This is so simple a solution that is was proposed in the meetings when talking about the concept of the current car, only to be vetoed by the big and mighty teams (why did they give them the power to decide on such rules in the first place?). It is so simple it could be implemented by mid-season if they wanted to but somehow LM is frightened to disobey the big teams as they feel they will need their money. However with the dropping viewer rates of fans stopping to follow the sports (despite worked over viewing counts published by LM but of which a child could see they were fake numbers), LM will soon lose a lot more and F1's shares will drop faster than an avelange before they can even blink with an eye."

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7. Posted by BrightonCorgi, 27/03/2018 15:25

"You either limit spending on engines or spending on wind tunnel. FIA chose engines when it should've been wind tunnel which is more expensive. Go figure."

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8. Posted by Motorsport-fan, 27/03/2018 14:40

"F1 will not follow Indycar, see Halo, also F1 has its own interest at heart, not the fans."

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9. Posted by Greg, 27/03/2018 13:14

"Certainly the F1 crew are not. Why not just make it that by 2020 no more winglets and go for groud effect. Itz still 2 years away and surely the top guys like Newey can work on that."

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F1 missed a trick in not following IndyCar lead says Andretti

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