Fuel-efficient, quieter F1 has fans in a froth
SOMETHING has happened to Formula One.
Granted, not everyone is interested in motor racing, but Formula One is not simply the pinnacle of its field — it is what dreams are made of.
Formula One is an extraordinary spectacle. It captures the competitive spirit of mankind at a level
We’re only three races into the 2014 season and already there is a huge outcry regarding the current state of the sport
most of us can never touch and its participants are close to royalty.
Nothing combines prestige, technology, money and hard-edged reality like these state-of-the-art machines with engines producing more than 560kW.
We’re only three races into the 2014 season and there is already a huge outcry regarding the state of the sport. The world’s premier single-seat racing championship has undergone some enormous changes for the 2014 season and fans and drivers are crying foul.
A set of new rules were implemented this year in a bid to move towards safety, relevance and an ecofriendly industry.
In 2012, when motorsport’s governing body, the FIA, decided that a change in F1 was needed, it drew up rule changes that dumped the high-revving, screamingly noisy V8 engines in favour of 1.6-litre turbo V6 engines that make use of the latest hybrid and energy-recovery technology.
The new engines produce in excess of 560kW, but they can rev to “only” 15 000rpm, whereas the older engines could scream up to 19 000rpm at times.
That said, the new power trains are engineering marvels, a testament to the fascinating levels of engineering that exist in F1.
The result of the new technology explored by engine suppliers means that, thanks to the turbo and energy-recovery systems, the cars are significantly muted compared with the F1 cars of previous seasons.
Along with the engine changes, new rules regarding tighter packaging of the power train and new aerodynamic limits have sent teams back to the drawing board in an attempt to equalise the field after years of Red Bull Racing domination saw Sebastian Vettel win the drivers’ title four years in a row.
On a public level, the F1 debate has regressed to an argument about the sound the cars now make.
Drivers, including Vettel, Fernando Alonso and others, have slammed the new rules, although Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton have come out in support of them.
F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone has vowed to improve the spectacle for fans.
Ferrari has even had a fan survey on its website, which found that 83% of the 50 000 people polled did not approve of the new regulations.
Stefano Domenicali, the Ferrari team principal, resigned this week, taking “responsibility, as I have always done, for our current situation [poor results]”.
Some team bosses and the FIA met after the Bahrain Grand Prix to discuss what could be done to improve F1 for the fans, and Ecclestone insists that plans are in the pipeline to raise the decibel level of the current turbocharged power units.
He has also suggested that teams will be given an extra 10kg fuel to ensure they can race flat out without worrying so much about driving in a fuel-efficient way. At present, each car is limited to 100kg fuel and refuelling during a race is prohibited as part of the sport’s bid to become more environmentally friendly.
FIA president Jean Todt has also revealed that F1’s plans for a cost cap in 2015 have been abandoned.
This comes on the heels of the FIA announcing at the end of 2013 that it wanted a cost cap in place for the next season.
It has to be accepted that F1 has always been highly regulated — from the banning of anti-lock braking and active suspension in the mid-1990s to the abolishment of electronic driver aids. Nevertheless, this time the rule makers have gone too far.
The spirit and the spark of F1 has been regulated out of existence.
It must be said that the arguments against the new sound are similar to those cited when F1 downsized from V10s to V8s and from big V12s to V10s.
It may simply be a case of getting used to it. Who knows? Come the end of the season, we may not be as bothered by the sound difference.
Time will tell.