CTA's F1 Popularity Working Group

But the last few races have come about as an adjunct - I don't believe anyone knew what would happen this season. The fact that it has actually made things more like 'real racing' is a coincidence.
 
  • Get rid of DRS, it's offering nothing with the new formula
  • The teams who finish last and second last get the winning driver from GP3 and GP2, respectively, in their cars. Paid for by FOM
  • An equal shar of the prize money from FOM to all teams - the bigger teams get enough from their sponsors to allow them to keep at the front
  • Allow one cars teams to help bulk the grid out
  • Financial penalties for the teams if they can't make the various engine and gearbox parts last for the season rather than driver penalties - perhaps taken from their prize money rather than fines
  • A two day test session after every race (with the exception of road tracks) to allow the teams to improve over the season
  • Engine upgrades allowed as long as they are supplied to all teams using the motors
 
And while we're on the subject of DRS, in many of the hard-fought wheel-to-wheel battles in the last few races, the majority of decisive overtakes seem to have taken place outside of DRS zones. And the overtakes were all the more spectular because of it.
 
They really have to get back to grass roots. Even now trying to make F1 popular again is only an excuse to keep the money rolling in. They are worried about diminishing returns not the demise of motor sport.
As much as I enjoyed todays race, I was beyond angry at the Mercedes race team, who now cannot deny that what they were doing was a bit of race fixing. They seem to forget that some fans like the other driver, and want to see racing in evenly matched machines.
That should be the bottom line for all teams, just for starters.
It has to stop being about the money.
 
More exciting would be if they made the winning driver put on 5kg after each race win. Not only would there be a weight handicap but imagine them trying to squeeze in to the cockpit :D
 
IMO it's down to one principal factor, the investors have tried to screw too much money out of the sport and the fans are being priced out. The track has to pay high fees to get the race, ergo the ticket prices are high even before they've started. And then you have pay per view etc also stealing away races. Fortunately I get the races for free, I'd have to think about whether I'd pay for 20+ races in a season if I had to.
 
Yes mjo if you like the sort of personality that tells his driver to crash on purpose to bring out a safety car putting peoples (Marshals and drivers) lives in danger and has a life ban from the sport then he has a great personality..
That's cheating, nothing to do with his flamboyancy, personality or opinion. I completely deplore what he did, but as long as he doesn't have a role with an F1 team again then I can't see the harm in having him on this group - he isn't afraid to say what (may) need to be said, and after all, he should have no team interests to worry about.
 
And what about promising said driver a contract renewal for carry out such a deed and then having the massive arrogance of not even bothering to keep his word on that is that cheating or just the sign of a complete and total ****er..
 
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Flavio is a man who will get things done and has a vested interest in maintaining F1's profile and general interest (if only to help maintain his personal life style). I have a feeling asking the fans what they want from F1 would be about as useful asking the teams the best way to develop F1 as we all want different things, mostly dictated by our own personal preferences and bias.
 
There are far too many technical regulations, the result is that many of them have loopholes which finish up with the opposite effect to that desired. As above, let the engine designers have more rein, why should an F1 engine have to be a Vee with a regulation angle and a set number of cylinders? At one time engines could be either 1500 cc supercharged or 4500 cc unsupercharged, it actually worked very well. Allow wings, but specify the maximum number of elements and the maximum total area (1 element, 1 square centimetre would be my choice), get the cars to look more like sleek single-seater cars.
 
The racing is actually pretty good. Some great races this year i.e. Canada, Bahrain, and just now Hungary. If not for Mercedes domination this entire season would be incredible. I'm not sure how you right rules to prevent that besides for the ever looming budget cap debates. Maybe get rid of DRS and some small changes with the tires to make it less gimmicky would be good but other than that no real problem with the racing.

The problem is in the organization, not the cars.

First: The circuits. Although I have made quite a few comments against them, I'm OK with having a few TIlke-dromes on the calendar. They aren't half bad tracks, it just sucks that they are so similar and make up half the calendar. We need variety, and we need to keep tracks that are in true F1 territory. Sorry Bahrain. We need to get rid of asphalt runoffs. Drivers need some sort of punishment for running wide, and with grass and sand its a possible end to your day. Seeing drivers make error after error in corners and go completely unpunished for their mistakes is absurd. Safety my ass. Maybe on the fast corners we need asphalt but on slower ones do you really think grass in between the track and the wall makes the circuit dangerous? Especially with today's cars where Massa gets flipped and slides upside down and walks away unscathed. Finally no sanctioning fees, Bernie. You make plenty in TV money, and lets make some from the fans instead of not having any (no races in Bahrain and stuff like that, and no charging absurd prices like in Germany. That price was way way way to high to be good for the sport, and even too high to be the profit maximizing ticket price. Econ.).

Second: The way the sport is conveyed to the public. Craig Scarborough tweeted asking his followers to give him suggestions on the sport and this is what most of them focused on. YouTube channel with highlights and overtakes and funny driver interviews or interactions that sort of thing. Actual competent use of social media such as Twitter and Instagram. The product isn't all that bad, we just need to share it with people. Rather than taking down content online, put it up so people can see how great the sport is. Tweet race updates or radio conversations. Post pictures of the cars on track, I've seen some F1 pics get really artsy and super cool. Have an actual good TV feed director. And have a way of showing fans when drivers are using the ERS system. For inspiration on that the Tudor United Sportscar Championship, the main sports car series in North America, has all the cars carry seven segment displays on each side that display what position that car is in class. Different classes have different colored displays. Its brilliant for the grandstand audience, and F1 could do something similar.

Finally my personal desire is to have the drivers drive more and the teams drive less. Less telemetry for the team to use to walk the driver through his race step by step. Let him make more decisions for himself. Shut up and drive.
 
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