Who makes the rules in Formula 1? Is it the FIA – the supposed governing body over the sport? Is it the commercial rights holder Bernie Ecclestone? Or is it a select number of personnel from the top teams? Amazingly, it is a completely inept combination of the three, and with it being very much clear in recent years that Formula 1’s health in a lot of areas has come very much under much fire and scrutiny, there appears to be no solution to the power struggle any time soon.
Whilst some regulations are set in stone by the FIA – such as sporting and safety regulations, the majority of the rule changes comes from the F1 Strategy Group – comprised of members representing the top teams in Formula 1 (and thus excluding all of the backmarkers and an array of the midfield teams), FOM (Formula One Management) and the FIA. This means that the Grand Prix Drivers Association also has absolutely no say on any matters on which rules are implemented, so those who actually drive the racing cars are not able to get their points (which will likely focus on racing matters – they are racing drivers after all) across, whilst their team bosses (who will be looking to do nothing more than line the pockets of team owners and shareholders) have a say on almost everything.
And over the last few years, it has become clear that those in charge of making the rules and regulations are not fit to do so, so something needs to change for the sake of the sport. Ever since the Strategy Group decided that double points, safety car restarts and motorway-style overtaking via the use of unfair tools were all good ideas, it was painstakingly obvious that the sport would only decline under those who are currently in power. That has well and truly been the case; the lack of sponsorship on the cars and the decline in television figures in a lot of areas only really justifies this.
The colossal mess surrounding the current V6 turbocharged hybrid power units and the costs of this only emphasises this. The FIA and Bernie have tried everything they can to bring down the costs of these power units, and the manufacturers were having absolutely none of it. It got to the point where the FIA opened up a tender to try to get a ‘standard, affordable engine’ with a basic energy recovery package in place for 2017, but this fell through. This would have been a disaster for the manufacturers who have spent a lot of money manufacturing these power units and there would have been issues regarding performance balancing (a touchy term whatever motorsport you are reading about). The fact that Max Mosely — a very strong ally of Ecclestone — has been poking his head in on this only shows how powerless even Ecclestone and the FIA together are in all of this. The hilarious thing in all this is that even the teams feel that the teams should not have the power, as they cannot use it properly.
We must remember that it was the teams who agreed to run these power units for the 2014 season, and thus any problems that exist is the responsibility of the teams, who appear too reluctant to do anything about it. Sound is not an issue. The main issue is the lack of development options available, to a point where these units are severely outclassed in almost every manner by the fantastic hybrid options we have been treated to in the LMP1 class in the World Endurance Championship which produced incredible racing in 2015.
I need not go into too much detail about money issues, but it is pretty evident that the way that the prize money is distributed only secures the future of a select few teams, and bolsters their budget drastically for the following season. At the same time this leaves a number of teams hanging by a thread, as we have seen with the Lotus team this season, and the Sauber team the year before.
So what is the solution? Does a solution even exist? I don’t wish to sound like some sort of messiah, but solving Formula 1’s problems is not as difficult as it might seem. Taking away the power from the teams and returning it to the FIA, but allowing for open views from all of the teams and all of the drivers (as well as the GPDA which includes a few ex-drivers) is a fair way to go about things. Changing the way that the prize money is distributed will not only secure the future of the smaller teams and perhaps without the use of pay drivers, but it will force the bigger teams to either seek out sponsors or to reduce the substantial budget one may use and spend money more wisely – as a team like Force India has done to good effect in 2015.
From there, the regulations should be opened up in a number of areas to allow for a substantial performance gain to get F1 cars far beyond the current standard of the LMP1-H cars, which produce over 1000 horsepower in the case of the Toyota TS040 and the Porsche 919, and the Audi R18 producing more downforce than some of the cars. And from there, sorting out the dire display we have seen on-track for much of the season (unless you have been driving a Toro Rosso) can be attended to.
One suggestion by both Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton includes making the cars less dependent on aerodynamics and faster at the same time by getting Pirelli to produce drastically grippier tyres, in which the so-called Strategy Group responded by deciding that piling on more aerodynamics is the way forward, to the collective groans of fans and drivers.
But it’s okay, because once the Strategy Group realise that the racing hasn’t improved at all, they can just make DRS even more powerful, right?
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