29/01/2014
NEWS STORY
Though the proposal was passed with barely a murmur from the F1 Strategy Group last week, team bosses are aware that fans are not happy with the new double points rule.
From the moment it was first mentioned, fan reaction has been predictable, that Formula One's powers that be are attempting to manipulate the result they want - when they want - putting business firmly before sport.
Bernie Ecclestone's proposal that the last race be worth double points - he actually wants the last three races to be worth double - is, in the eyes of many, a manipulation too far. Whilst fans obviously want to see the title fight(s) go down to the wire and not have the championship dominated by one driver or team, they want to see it achieved in a fair way and not by manipulation that effectively punishes success.
While most fans are totally against the idea, so too are some drivers and even some team bosses, yet according to Mercedes’ Toto Wolff the reaction against the rules has caught Planet Paddock completely off guard.
"The shitstorm we got afterwards was something which was not expected," he told reporters at Jerez. "We discussed it up and down and the reason was that for the last years we have seen the dominance of a driver and team and the (TV) audiences were not as expected.
"Was it the right move or not? Ninety nine percent of our fans and spectators, and this is what counts, told us it was the wrong move. So perhaps it is something to revisit," he admitted.
"We decided to keep it for the moment," he continued, "but there are discussions ongoing. Things need to be done, and when you see TV audiences generally dropping then you need to try out things. This maybe wasn't the right thing, but maybe we need to find out."
While it might surprise Mr Wolff, it wasn’t merely the domination of Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull that saw audiences fall in 2013, it was the ludicrous situation with the tyres and then the mid-season change to the compounds which saw the pendulum unfairly swing away from some teams who had mastered the original rubber in favour of others.
The drop in TV viewing figures is also due to a 'sport' that not only puts business first but makes it so blatantly obvious, at times seemingly going out of its way to alienate the fans that are its life blood.
On Tuesday, after months of anticipation, the sport, having limped back into the spotlight with some of the most half-hearted launches ever witnessed, unveiling cars that are already a laughing stock, managed to fire even more bullets into an already badly damaged foot by putting on one of the most anti climatic non-events in living memory.
Never has a sport seemed more determined to alienate its audience.
Hear that knocking at the door Mr Wolff? It's fans getting mighty tired at seeing their sport having every last ounce of excitement and passion wrung out of it... and any team boss that doesn't understand their frustration has clearly forgotten what (hopefully) first attracted them to the sport in the first place.
Chris Balfe