F1 Tedium: Must We Be Bored To Tears?

On March 14th 2010 Fernando Alonso won the Bahrain F1 Grand Prix. Congratulations to him, but commiserations to every unfortunate soul who watched the race.

The event was almost devoid of any real racing incidents, and the outcome was decided not by wheel-to-wheel battles between the drivers, but by a technical failure of Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull car. It was, in summary, a typical F1 race.

After the tedium of Bahrain many in the sport have called for immediate changes to improve the spectacle. Martin Fry (McLaren) and Christian Horner (Red Bull) have suggested making two pit stops compulsory, thereby providing more opportunities for drivers to gain track position while an opponent is otherwise engaged.

They just don't get it, do they? It's about overtaking, stupid.

Fry and Horner, like other F1 insiders, refuse to grasp the nettle that is choking the sport, the near- impossibility of overtaking.

F1 cars depend on downforce from aerofoils for much of their track adhesion. Those aerofoils trail a wake of turbulent air that renders the aerofoils of closely following cars largely ineffective. I know it, you know it, everyone in F1 knows it. Even TV commentators know it, so it must be blindingly obvious.

A couple of years ago the FIA set up an Overtaking Working Group, a committee comprised of Rory Byrne, Pat Symonds and Paddy Lowe. Their inadequate recommendations of ways to reduce downforce were accepted by the FIA and written into the constructors rules. Naturally enough, the changes were ineffective; if you want nothing done, set up a committee to do it.

Could there be a way to eliminate the problem of turbulent wake? There is a solution that springs to my mind, and that is to ban aero surfaces, at the same time increasing mechanical grip by allowing full-width tyres rather than the skinny rubbers currently imposed by the FIA.

Lap times would be increased because cornering speeds would be markedly reduced, but we the fans would lose nothing from that. Instead of the current contest between aerodynamicists and race strategists we would see a test of driver skill and bravery.

How good would it be to again see the type of track battles fought by Fangio and Moss, Clark and Hill? It would be very good indeed, it would be a return to real motor racing. You know it makes sense.