Four simple changes to make F1 the greatest show on earth

F1 has enjoyed a popularity boom under the ownership of Liberty Media, with such innovations as Netlfix’s Drive to Survive attracting millions of new fans.

But how can it be made even better? These four simple changes might just make Formula 1 the greatest show on earth…

How would YOU improve F1?

Drop every circuit where overtaking is difficult

Often it is tempting to picture the scene of Greg Maffei, the chief executive of F1 owners Liberty Media, rubbing his hands with glee on a Sunday afternoon as he sits down to watch how the company’s prized asset is getting on.

Only for something very large and very heavy to be launched through the television the moment someone – a driver, a pundit, a commentator – utters those dreadful words: “Now, obviously, we all know it’s hard to overtake around here…”

Sorry, what’s that? A racing series racing somewhere where the actual racing is hard to come by? Enough.

Celebrating the great F1 circuits

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The calendar may be more extensive than ever before these days, yet even with 24 races there is no room for filler.

Those circuits (you know the ones) where the track is too narrow, the braking zones are too short, the corners are too flowing to allow the cars to follow closely and even that great ill DRS struggles to force a breakthrough?

Drop them. Drop them all.

Become a spec series

Martin Brundle has a saying.

The answer to all Formula 1’s problems? It’s right under its nose and it’s called Formula 2.

Bernie Ecclestone used to think along similar lines. His message to F1’s engineering brainiacs back in the day? The best thing you lot could ever do is come up with something to ensure that your services are no longer required.

Harsh, but not without some truth.

Some traditional motor-racing anoraks recoil in horror every time it is suggested that F1 should become a spec series, still convinced that the sport’s true appeal lies largely in the beauty of the engineering and not the cold, hard, thrill of the entertainment factor.

How, they ask, will we manage if a Ferrari is no longer a Ferrari? Better than first feared probably.

They don’t seem to have much of a problem with that kinda thing in IndyCar or Formula E, both categories in which a McLaren is still considered a McLaren even if it’s the same as an Andretti.

The fundamental, unavoidable truth here?

The difference in talent and skill between Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton and the rest is minuscule compared to that between their cars.

If a level playing field is F1’s ultimate ambition, embracing life as a spec series would come closer than anything else to making it a reality.

V10s, V10s, V10s…

The very notion of a Sebastian Vettel comeback remains bewildering.

He was a faded force long before he finally ended his career at the end of 2022, but that doesn’t mean that the four-time World Champion can’t still have an impact on shaping F1’s future.

Since last year, good ol’ Seb has specialised in driving historic F1 cars powered by sustainable fuel in what has at times seemed a one-man campaign to convince the sport’s stakeholders that they can still achieve their green dream while retaining everything good about motor racing.

Liberty’s greatest achievement of all, maybe, is making a commercial success of this era of F1 with the engines sounding as they do. Imagine what would be possible if only they had a bunch of V10s to play with…

And why the need to persevere with these unloved and complex hybrids if Vettel has proven that there is another – better, simpler – way?

To paraphrase Vettel himself when he killed the engine on his Ferrari to retire at Sochi 2019: “Bring back the f***ing V10!”

Bring back one-lap qualifying

A long-standing bugbear , this one.

It has been clear for some years now that the three-part qualifying format introduced back in 2006 is stale.

It has been, in fact, ever since the three new teams arrived on the grid in 2010, ensuring that for the next three seasons the cars to be eliminated in Q1 pretty much every single weekend without fail would be the Manors, the Caterhams and the HRTs.

Even now there is an air of inevitably as the Sauber, Alpine, Haas, Williams and VCARB drivers gradually fall away until the really important stuff gets going in Q3.

The real problem with the current qualifying system, though? Too forgiving.

Make a mistake on your quick lap? No problem, plenty of time. Come back in, put another set of tyres on and go again.

It strips qualifying of the tightrope-walking jeopardy associated with the old one-lap format, last used in 2005, and the pressure of having one moment to make or break a driver’s weekend.

And if a mid-session rain shower ends up making a mockery of qualifying?

Good news: a reverse grid without F1 having to commit the sin of actually enforcing reverse grids.

Suzuka ’05, anyone?

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