Interesting to hear his thoughts on it. Unfortunately I don’t see F1 moving away from hybrids just because they are trying to keep up with industry demands, and full combustion is on it’s way out. But his suggestion about making the cars more draggy rather than less is a cool idea. Make it about slipstream and stuff again and get rid of DRS. Sure you’ll have lower top-speeds which will upset some people, but it could absolutely give better racing which should be the goal.
Look at the MX5 series, they don’t have DRS or anything and they have some of the most exciting racing I’ve seen in a while.
At some point in the not-so-distant future F1 is going to have to detach from the woeful faux concept of keeping up with industry demands. Fortunately or unfortunately, however you feel about it, cars are leaning into full electric at a rapid pace. Manufacturers will have no use for F1 any longer and will leave the second they need to, and I feel it’s coming faster than some might think. Series’ like Formula E will become their plaything.
In my opinion, Formula 1 should switch to focus fully on carbon neutral / bio fuels to help support the millions (billions?) of old-tech cars that will be traveling the planet for decades to come. Go back to simple NA engines, lighter cars and work on powering them more responsibly and put on a show. The sport will be better off for it. Manufacturer interest and demands are hurting the sport and only prolonging the inevitable. Seb is onto something with his FW14B.
I’ve always been lukewarm on DRS and its effects on competition in terms of defence, but making the cars draggier probably puts even more of an emphasis on better aero performance, and imo would likely strengthen RB, if anything, since they have Newey on their staff. You’d also be placing a lot more emphasis on engine design and fabrication, since cars with lower RPM power bands would be able to gain and hold early leads (this, of course, subject to tyre degradation and design).
Combustion engines are nearly dead. And this is just a technological swift (which comes way too lately for the global warning), so there is need to keep embrace the combustion engines for cultural and nostalgical considerations. Engine is just a tool.
The only drawback of the electric engines is the sound for the public IRL. It will be less brutal for our ears, but this is not a big deal.
So…Mario Kart?
Me too Max. I don’t think going full electric (where I think F1 is heading) is going to be the best future for F1. Maybe you’ll have a full grid of manufactures but with to big and heavy cars, races are not going to be that exciting which will affect viewership.
