There is a lot of speculation going around at the moment that Formula One will run with eight teams next season, each with three cars, due to some teams having to drop out of the sport. The last race to feature three of the same vehicle was the 1985 German Grand Prix, where Renault ran Francois Hesnault in addition to their regular drivers – Patrick Tambay and Derek Warwick. It was also normal to see single-car entries in this era. We see a lot of both these days in the IndyCar series, where some team owners will run up to five cars in the Indianapolis 500 and others will run just the one. This debate has sparked a fair bit of controversy, with smaller teams such as Williams and Force India clearly quite unhappy with this proposal, but I feel that something like this could well work in the future with compromise of course.
Let’s travel back in time back to the glamorous sixties; we had this situation that I mentioned earlier, with some teams running multiple cars and other, less well-off teams running just one. The Constructors’ Championship (or the International Cup for F1 Manufacturers as it was known as back then) was still given, but only the highest placed car for the team would score points at that particular round. This would give the big boys, the Garagistas an advantage in that championship but it would also give smaller teams at least a fighting chance. Having all of the cars counting towards the championship would effectively automatically rule out any chance of a one or a two-car team having any shot at the championship. I would like to see a Formula One where a team entering is given the option of entering a one, two or three-car team for a season, which would surely reduce costs for those who cannot afford it, but would give teams like Ferrari their wish of having a third car, but would not give a drastic gain in doing so. This would also possibly open the door for new teams, who might not be able to fund two cars, but could well fund one, and would open the door for new technical partnerships between teams.
I think that with the price of Formula One at the moment, as well as a lack of interest from manufacturers and privateers believing that the World Endurance Championship or even Formula E in some cases is a better option, it is inevitable that Formula One will have less than ten teams within a few years, even with Haas Formula One team joining the grid from 2016. I would like to think that having the highest placed car in each event counting towards the Constructors’ total would be a more fair option than having a championship where the classification of all the cars counts towards the total.
One interesting thing that has been brought up is the case of team orders. Whilst I think that this will change things, I do not think that it will become impossible to run a team with three cars, it just means that drivers will have two cars to ensure that they avoid, not just one.
As for the ‘run a rookie in car three’ option, I can’t really see this as a viable option. What sort of driver is classified as a rookie? A driver with less than 15 Grand Prix starts? One with less than 15 appearances? One that has never driven a Formula One car? It would need clarification before it could ever be conceived really. What happens to these drivers after one season? Must they automatically be dropped? Because that is not something that I would like to see, because we have already seen this season a driver be dropped despite his performances being pretty solid.
Formula One is in a complete mess at the moment: it’s too expensive, unattractive to both privateers and manufacturers, stupid rules have been implemented for this season and for next season with double points and standing restarts, and every single day we hear a new story about the imminent death of Caterham, Sauber and Lotus to name a few. With the phenomenal show on track, Formula One needs to sort itself out away from the run-off areas and ensure that there will be racing for years to come, and brilliant racing too for the sake of fans, teams and drivers.
Thank you for reading. Please take a moment to follow me on Twitter – @Craig_O_F1. Support LWOS by following us on Twitter – @LastWordOnSport and @LWOSworld– and “liking” our Facebook page.
Interested in writing for LWOS? We are looking for enthusiastic, talented writers to join our Formula 1 writing team. Visit our “Write for Us” page for very easy details in how you can get started today!
For the latest sports injury news, check out our friends at sports injury alert.
Have you tuned into Last Word On Sports Radio? LWOS is pleased to bring you 24/7 sports radio to your PC, laptop, tablet or smartphone. What are you waiting for? GO!
Main image:
