Formula 1 has been one of the main priorities in my life for as long as I can remember. I have been following the sport for over 15 years, and I have been an avid fan for almost as long. However, it has only taken until very recently for my hype levels for the upcoming season to rise to the levels which they have done in previous seasons. One way or another, I just struggled to get myself excited for the season ahead, and then the news came. Marussia, who won the hearts of the racing community in 2014, had somehow managed to get out of administration, revamp their car to coincide with the new regulations, find a couple of drivers, and even secure an engine deal. Suddenly this great news really helped my motivation for the upcoming season, even if it is just a team who will almost certainly finish dead last in every race. It’s a bit weird. Formula One’s serious problems are outweighing the positives to the new season though, and that really needs to be addressed.
Throughout the majority of the winter, I was much more excited for the upcoming World Endurance Championship season and the IndyCar season. I even forked out some money to purchase some tickets for the Six Hours of Silverstone. Once I had noticed that IndyCar had unnecessarily completely ruined the positives of double points and reintroduced their controversial race director of the past, I had lost some interest in that. I don’t believe that in this modern era, with social media taking over our lives, that the term ‘any publicity is good publicity’ holds true, meaning that F1’s loss of support from the hardcore fan is very much justified.
Despite the positive news on the Marussia Manor team, that alone won’t get me all that excited for the upcoming F1 season. We must remember that despite this good news, the Caterham team still dissolved, and we are not one hundred percent certain that Marussia can even last the whole season, let alone three teams: Sauber, Lotus and Force India who are all rumoured to be suffering from severe financial issues. We all know what will happen if these teams dissolve, that three car teams will come into play, which will probably signal the gradual demise of F1. The fact that we have 20 cars for the start of the season is good and all, but that is still six less than we should have, and we must remember that. That makes me very sad, as we should have 13 teams comfortably surviving in F1, not six. That doesn’t add up. This is quite clearly the fault of the FIA, Bernie Ecclestone, CVC and the six teams involved in the Strategy Group, but more on the latter in a bit.
Another thing which concerns me is the tracks. We have another dud Tilkedrome introduced this season in the ruined Mexico circuit, which has been completely neutralised from the circuit it once was, into the standard Tilkedrome we all know and hate today. This coincides with the potential loss of the German Grand Prix, one of the original six grand prix and the loss of both the Nurburgring and the Hockenheimring circuits – two classics on the calendar. Surely it should raise alarm bells when two circuits cannot even alternate without getting into financial trouble and despite a four-time World Champion from that country on the field, the turnout on raceday is laughed at by the likes of MotoGP, which does not have that luxury at the moment. Again, this is the fault of Bernie and CVC. I also personally enjoy both the Nurburgring and the Hockenheimring, as they are two of Tilke’s better pieces of work. You may also be wondering why I am going to the Six Hours of Silverstone instead of the British Grand Prix, and the ticket price is the answer which you are looking for.
I think another thing which puts me off is “how will the Strategy Group somehow top double points and standing safety car restarts?” We all know that given the history of this group, they will somehow manage to make themselves look even more ridiculous by introducing something potentially even more gimmicky than those above, which also provoked bad publicity. The FIA has had its turn to introduce a few dud rules over the winter too, with the Superlicense points system coming into effect from 2016 which renders certain championships useless, as well as a ban on in-season helmet changes, meaning that we will no longer see any awesome one-off helmets.
I think what will annoy me more than anything however, is that there “is no F1 crisis” and all that nonsense which we usually get from Ecclestone will just be reiterated as the season progresses. We all know that isn’t the case. F1 has tried to sugar-coat the problems by claiming that 1000bhp cars are the way forward, as well as another massive regulation change for 2017. Given that the World Endurance Championship has already laughed at that number and that at least four of the teams would seriously struggle with another huge shakeup, surely that is far from the way forward. The fact that the likes of Adrian Newey has gotten fed up with the lack of freedom in the regulations somewhat concerns me too.
Try reducing the gimmicks, the cost, and the bad publicity F1, and then you may thrive once again. 2014 was a great season, but the bad publicity will seriously tarnish a potentially great season once again this year.
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