F1 The greatest show on earth or could be?

[Andy B]

Planet F1 has come up with four options to make F1 "The Greatest Show on Earth" but which would you vote for, if you could?

My thoughts.
Opt 1/ Overtakes are always possible even at Monaco the cars are now too wide so change that.
Opt 2/ It wouldn't be F1 if they were all the same chassis!
Opt 3/ The only one for me would be to bring back V10's.
Opt 4/ I never liked one lap qualifying it bored me!
Opt 5/ You might just like it as it is or maybe you have another thought?

https://www.planetf1.com/features/f1-greatest-show-on-earth-simple-changes

[Dare]

I liked the one lap qualifying and I think there's too many races.
There's a few races that need to be eliminated with Las Vegas and Miami near
the top the list.

[Jericoke]

Sure, obviously Indycar, F2 and Formula E are bigger than F1 because of their single make status. 

 I agree that there's a need to ensure that the cars and tracks are suited to each other.  Also keep in mind we need a variety of tracks. NASCAR went down the path of identical tracks and Im pretty sure that didn't work out for them.

Qualifying needs to be a show.  Single lap qualifying isn't one.  I prefer the old one hour 12 lap format, but the current three round format provides plenty of drama.

I don't get the excitement for v10s. If you want loud buy headphones and turn them to 11.  I love the current formula has enough noise to hear the cars, but quiet enough to a really have a conversation with people around you while at the race.

I think the biggest problem with the sport is 10 teams/20 drivers. We need more teams and more drivers

[John S]

I'm with Jeri on this one Andy, none of your choices really appeal for reasons stated.

If we bring back V10s, or V8s or V12s, we simply return to a simpler format - surely? How much more real development can be wrung from these now dinosaur V10 PUs?

I contend that F1 is loved because it pushes boundaries ever forward, it's what makes it exciting - along with the amazing speed obviously.

I personally think it's a mistake to drop the MGU-H, just what can be achieved in that category has not been explored properly. It's a major area of lost energy from all combustion engines and F1 proved it could be reclaimed, how much it could contribute to reducing fuel use in road cars may never be pursued now. 

I go along with not enough teams, & one or 2 too many races.   

[cosworth151]

We definitely don't need spec racers. That's been a big part of NASCAR's downfall. IndyCar is far less interesting since it went spec.

One thing I think would help F1 would be a modern equivalent of the Ford Cosworth DFV - A competitive, dependable, affordable engine (in this age P/U) that is available to all.That would open the door to many more teams, just like the DFV did in its day.

The thing I think would help the most would be to make the racing the main reason for the weekend. At many of the current venues, the race is just a minor sideshow. It's really sad when the most fun of an F1 weekend is making fun of the "celebs" (most of whom we've never heard of) who have absolutely no clue about what's going on.

[Andy B]

We definitely don't need spec racers. That's been a big part of NASCAR's downfall. IndyCar is far less interesting since it went spec.

One thing I think would help F1 would be a modern equivalent of the Ford Cosworth DFV - A competitive, dependable, affordable engine (in this age P/U) that is available to all.That would open the door to many more teams, just like the DFV did in its day.

The thing I think would help the most would be to make the racing the main reason for the weekend. At many of the current venues, the race is just a minor sideshow. It's really sad when the most fun of an F1 weekend is making fun of the "celebs" (most of whom we've never heard of) who have absolutely no clue about what's going on.

I quite agree with your last statement but is the celeb influence down to Liberty and many of these so call celebs have no knowledge or interest in F1 so other personal gain why be there?

[Willy]

In my view every single decision Liberty has made since they took over F1 has been wrong.
Not a single one of the top people in Liberty is a racer and it shows.
F1 is now all about flash and appearance and has zero to do with actual motor sport. Case in point the so called celebs that must be shown to be hanging around the pit garages and rubbing shoulder with team members. Mostly with a vacant stare as they wonder what is happening around them.

I am all for change in F1 and would truly love to see smaller cars so they can actually pass each other, refueling and no more American city street circuits.
Please get rid of Miami and Las Vegas.

[Jericoke]

In my view every single decision Liberty has made since they took over F1 has been wrong.
Not a single one of the top people in Liberty is a racer and it shows.
F1 is now all about flash and appearance and has zero to do with actual motor sport. Case in point the so called celebs that must be shown to be hanging around the pit garages and rubbing shoulder with team members. Mostly with a vacant stare as they wonder what is happening around them.

I am all for change in F1 and would truly love to see smaller cars so they can actually pass each other, refueling and no more American city street circuits.
Please get rid of Miami and Las Vegas.

Liberty aren't meant to be racers.  F1 was purposely broken up into the racing concern and the business concern.  Their job is to make the participants of F1 as much money as possible.  The 'low hanging fruit' is getting race fans to watch.  While I'm sure there are some racing fans who don't watch F1, I think it's safe to say they have all the race fans they're going to get, within a rounding error.

So their job is to find non racing fans, and make them watch F1.  If you can get celebrities, that's another easy trick.  Musicians putting on concerts.  Talk show hosts talking about races.  That's all to bring in people who aren't race fans to discover the sport.

Naturally bringing in non race fans means the racing needs to be accessible as a viewer.  Liberty gets no say in how the racing is conducted.  I'm sure they'd love fireball crashes and insane pit strategies.  The FIA has done a good job at limiting fireball crashes, which has the side effect of sane(r) pit strategies.

Naturally not every fan brought into the sport stays, and some long term fans get put off by the 'circus' of F1 and aren't happy to just watch the races, which are still happening regardless of what else is happening off track.  Liberty can't just make one change and call it a day; they need to make change after change, building new fanbases all the time.  It means trying new things.  Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't.  If a race in Las Vegas brings every team a few million dollars to hire the best engineers in sport, I'll put up with that.  They can't just do 10 European tracks without government bribes support and continue as a top level series. 

I do feel that Liberty understands that they need to hold onto their core fans, and are desperately trying to find that perfect balance, and I'd say they're doing a better job than Bernie ever did.  It doesn't take a racer to do that.

[Andy B]

I'm with Willy!