05/04/2014
NEWS STORY
If ever proof were needed of how the self-interest of the teams could destroy F1 as we know it, one need look no further than Friday's press conference.
Present were representatives of some of the biggest teams in the business and, as one would expect, there was little they could agree upon.
While Paddy Lowe, representing championship leaders and hot title favourite Mercedes, is happy with the 2014 rules, design guru Adrian Newey, representing four time successive champions Red Bull, currently sixth in the Constructors' Championship isn't.
While Rob Fernley, representing Force India, looking to be the best of the midfielders and running Mercedes power units, welcomes the new technology, Luigi Fraboni, representing Ferrari, whose last title win was in 2008 (constructors’), feels the new rules will drive away the fans.
Veteran Newey, who has designed championship winning cars for McLaren, Williams and Red Bull, was asked how he ranks the 2014 rules alongside those in place during previous championship winning years.
"That's a very complicated question," he admitted. "I guess the other obvious answer to that is probably whether you have a Mercedes engine, a Ferrari engine or a Renault engine will cloud your answer to it, in truth. Such is the nature of Formula One. My opinion of it is that from a technical aspect first of all you have to question whether... the whole thing behind. When you get into things like batteries then an electric car is only green if it gets its power from a green source. If it gets its power from a coal-fired power station then clearly it's not green at all.
"A hybrid car, which is effectively what the Formula One regulations are then a lot of energy goes into manufacturing those batteries and into the cars which is why they're so expensive. And whether that then gives you a negative or a positive carbon footprint or not depends on the duty cycle of the car - how many miles does it do, is it cruising along the motorway at constant speed or stop-starting in a city. So this concept that a hybrid car is automatically green is a gross simplification.
"On top of that there are other ways, if you're going to put that cost into a car, to make it fuel efficient. You can make it lighter, you can make it more aerodynamic, both of which are things that Formula One is good at. For instance the cars are 10 per cent heavier this year, a result, directly, of the hybrid content.
"So I think technically, to be perfectly honest, it's slightly questionable," he concluded. "From a sporting point of view, to me, efficiency, strategy etc, economy of driving, is very well placed for sportscars, which is a slightly different way of going racing. Formula One should be about excitement. It should be about man and machine performing at its maximum every single lap."
"I think as a business we ought to focus on the positives," argued veteran Pat Symonds, now with Williams, "and I think that the technology that we're employing in Formula One now is impressive. The road car industry - rightly or wrongly - has to hit CO2 per kilometre targets and those are very difficult targets to meet. And they will have to employ technologies such as we are using in Formula One. So we are moving things forward, we are more relevant than we used to be and I think that's very important.
"I think there was a great danger - and I mentioned this in one of these press conferences last year - that we would become irrelevant," he continued. "We would become the focus of gas-guzzling and not having social responsibility. And I think it was really important that we did move away from that. And you've got to remember that the seeds of this were sown many, many years ago, before the world economic recession hit which of course has had a bearing on things.
"Now we're in a good place," he insisted, "and I think as a business we should focus on the positives. I think many people from the UK will remember a guy called (Gerald) Ratner who basically killed his business by negative comments on it. I think we should be positive. We've done something good and we should tell the world about it."
"I was very interested in Pat's Ratner comment," added Paddy Lowe, "because we've seen a little bit of that going on and I don't understand it because I think there are so many positives around this formula. For an engine to deliver similar power to last year, with more than 30 percent less fuel consumption I think is just an incredible achievement and it's something we should celebrate.
"If at the same time, from our perspective, the racing is just as it was, I don't understand either the stories about economy drives etc," he admitted. "Formula One has always been a formula in which you had to manage your fuel through the race. For us, that's not different, so there are good stories around fuel saving whilst maintain the spectacle and I think we should be talking more about that."
At a time when Ferrari, which has numerous vetos in the running of the sport, is to hold talks with Bernie Ecclestone and Jean Todt, which are closed to the other teams, there is a widespread feeling that there is much more to this than meets the eye.
There has been talk that Ecclestone is deliberately talking down the sport in order to make a bid to buy it, whilst others feel the current administration has merely lost the plot.
Whilst battle lines are drawn up, be it teams, drivers, fans or the media, Adrian Newey summed up the situation best.
"It's a big subject and I guess ultimately the spectators and the television viewers are going to vote with their feet," said the Englishman.
And that is the bottom line, for no matter what the teams, drivers and media might say, all, of course, having their own agendas, ultimately it is the fans, especially those with their fingers hovering over their remote control, who will decide whether the new look F1 works or doesn't.
For despite all the talk of positivity, new technologies and social responsibilities, if the sport is given the thumbs down and gets hit where it hurts most (financially), the powers that be and the teams will have little choice but to listen.
As Mike Lawrence would say... follow the money.
Chris Balfe