Feedback: your letters
There’s almost an infinite number of questions and concerns that can be raised by the decision to go for the engine freeze
We need to talk about F1 engines
I would love to see a more critical approach towards the new engine regulations in F1 from 2025. They are supposed to be environmentally friendly, sustainable and attractive to new manufacturers. But it’s literally impossible to do all of that without going fully electric.
Why on earth would any car manufacturer spend millions on R&D in F1 engine technology that’s going to get banned in European road cars within a decade? Did the FIA sign both their own and F1’s death sentence when they said Formula E was the only electric series for 30 years?
Is F1 planning to be purely entertainment and zero relevance for the auto industry from 2025? Even the auto industry is saying the internal combustion engine is dead and many manufacturers have stopped investing in further development. Are the boards in those manufacturers ready to spend money on ICE in F1 from 2025 onwards?
Is the unanimous decision about the engine freeze from 2022 a sign that the manufacturers have no more faith in the technology, or are they truly so afraid of losing Red Bull that they accept to stand technologically still for three years?
There’s almost an infinite number of questions and concerns that can be raised by the decision to go for the engine freeze, and that they are talking about further developing ancient technologies from 2025 onwards.
I hope some of this can be addressed by Autosport.
Magnus Goranson
By email
Look to Formula Ford for inspiration
This argument about whether the Formula 1 grand prix show can be improved has been going on for some time (Opinion, 4 February; Your Say, 11 February). What we have is a problem of a perceived ‘boring’ show, but the regulations preclude the running of qualifying races of any significant length because of the wear and tear that mechanical components would undergo, given that they are subject to limited availability.
I would suggest a weekend timetable of two practice sessions on the Friday, then on the Saturday four five-car races to decide the grid order for the grand prix. The races would be five laps long, and which race an individual car was in and its grid position both drawn by lot. The grid for the grand prix would then be formed by using the times for the finishers in the qualifying races, with the fastest winner on pole, the next fastest winner on the next position, etc. The fastest second place would be in fifth position on the grid.
The ‘finishing position/time’ element works now with respect to the Formula Ford Festival and Walter Hayes Trophy, so why not for Formula 1 also ?
Stephen Davies
Southport
Memories of Formula Classic
Yes, I remember Formula Classic (Your Say, 11 February). There was quite a lot of publicity surrounding the inaugural event at Donington Park in 1995, not least because it was the return to competition of Martin Donnelly following his career-ending Jerez F1 shunt in 1990.
What I don’t remember are any subsequent races… Stuart Groves
Birmingham