Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone has called for a return to V8 engine format with 1,000bhp. According to Gazzetta dello Sport via AUTOSPORT, the ringmaster of F1 says the series has to do something immediately to stave off waning viewers, sponsors and interest in the sport.
“We need to go back to engines whose costs are more reasonable, and we need to intervene with maximum urgency,” Ecclestone said.
“Going back to a Formula 1 with naturally aspirated engines and KERS, while setting precise constraints, would drastically reduce costs and would be convenient for those already in F1 and for those would like to enter it.”
“We’d just need to take the old V8 engines and modify them by increasing displacement to bring power output near 1000bhp.
“People would return, the show would return, sponsors would return.”
Ecclestone hasn’t been the biggest fan of the new V6 turbo Hybrid engines and blames the new format for some of the lack of interest of late in F1—not to mention the out-of-control costs and bankruptcy of the smaller teams such as Caterham, and Marussia.
“F1 isn’t just technology, but enjoyment too,” he said. “We need to think about who buys a ticket, goes in the grandstands and wants to see a great sporting spectacle.
“It’s money doing the rounds: the public pays for tickets, the organisers cash in and pay us, who then forward the money to the teams together with TV rights.
“But if TV audiences shrink and the public at GPs do too, then it becomes a problem.”
Many have accused Ecclestone of being disinterested in the fans who attend the grands prix in favor of TV viewers and while revenue from broadcast packages is large, butts-in-seats is still an issue for the F1 ringleader.
The question may be, how does the sport reconcile the insatiable appetite of those young fans who love the tech involved with the entertainment value as well as the sports core DNA?
It’s not an easy question but last weekend was fortunate enough to see that exact combination play out in the World Endurance Championship (WEC) 6-hour race at Silverstone. Disparate technology approaches, classes and driver skill levels all combined for flat-out racing for six hours to see the winner claim victory by just barely over four seconds. Amazing!
F1 has frog marched its fans into the hybrid format with all the grace and economy of a dog owner rubbing his hound’s nose in a pile of poo to remind them that THIS is green and THIS is where all car technology is heading and THIS is what we all will be purchasing in the future and THIS is real racing done right. That’s a lot of THIS to be honest and not a lot of COULD or WOULD or SHOULD.
Mercedes and Renault kicked the sport in the shins with a Jean Todt/FIA shaped club until it managed to change the format to one that manufacturers felt would be road relevant and more appealing. It may be but TV viewing numbers aren’t supporting it—or at least they aren’t supporting the kind of racing it begets.
The series will need to make some changes quick if it wants to hold off a charging WEC. Ultimately changing the engine and regulations will need to happen in order to bring racing back to the forefront of F1. In some ways, it feels like the F1 Strategy group decided they wanted to become the Silicon Valley of motorsport instead of simply racing and while the tech is mind boggling, perhaps the pendulum has swung too far to one side for viewers and competitive racing to hold interest or gain purchase in the part of our brain the craves entertainment.
Maybe it isn’t 1,000bhp V8’s. Maybe its 1,000bhp twin turbo V6’s with fuel restriction and KERS. Regardless, at least Ecclestone is talking about it and trying to do something about the situation while the only sound from the FIA and F1 Strategy group is that of crickets and tumbleweeds, propelled by the electric wind of change, rustling by stupefied faces of brilliant people who can’t agree to fight for common good rather than personal gain.
Hat Tip:Gazzetta dello Sport via AUTOSPORT
