Joe feels that the F1 Strategy Group doesn’t really care about the fans, but they are worried enough to try something new… The F1 Strategy Group has yet to come up with anything of much value, but the meeting that took place in Biggin Hill on May 14 seems to have been a little bit more useful than previous get-togethers. What is best of all is that the FIA and FOM have for whatever reason finally decided to involve the world in the process, and put out a press release about what was discussed. That was a first! Both have recently taken on new communications people and one can hope that they are responsible for the change – and that this will continue in the future. The sport is ridiculous in its need to not say things, and it’s time to be a little more inclusive with the fans and build some engagement. None of the parties involved really care much about the fans, but at least they are worried enough about the future to try something new. The Strategy Group meeting consists of not only the big teams, the FIA, and the Formula One group, but also the engine manufacturers (in other words Renault and Honda) – the other two manufacturers are already in the group thanks to their respective F1 teams. The only small team present was Force India, the others present being Mercedes, Red Bull, Williams, Ferrari and McLaren. This meant that Toro Rosso, Lotus, Sauber and Manor had no say at all, although Toro Rosso, of course, only ever does what Red Bull tells it to do and so is fundamentally irrelevant – at least until it becomes properly independent. The people who attended discussed ways to improve the show, and they achieved nothing for this year. Next year, there will be a change of tyre rules but nothing major is going to happen before 2017. The plan in that season is to have faster cars by reducing the weight of the cars (up goes the price), adopting wider tyres and changing the aerodynamic rules. The big news is the reintroduction of refueling (up goes the price, again) but at the same time keeping a maximum fuel allowance. This means that teams will be able to build cars with small fuel tanks. More fundamentally, the plan is to create higher-revving engines and more noise (and thus less efficiency because noise is energy). This has been sacrificed in order to make the show better, although I’m not sure it’s such a great idea. Some are hung up on the noise to such an extent that they cannot see beyond it, but I’ve found that the enthusiasts don’t much care about the noise as long as the technology is interesting and the cars are still quick. Re-adopting refueling is expensive, and less safe, but adds a little bit of cinema to the show. There was no mention at all of any cutting back on the price of engines, but the statement did say that there had been “a constructive exchange” regarding a proposal for cost-cutting put forward by an independent consulting company that was asked to come up with ideas by the FIA. Whether this amounts to anything in the long-term remains to be seen, and the small teams have yet to be told what is involved. It could easily involve the idea of customer cars and other such stupid concepts. The compromise on the engines is yet another step backwards by the FIA, which clearly has given up fighting in F1. There is also a worrying mention of looking at the race weekend format, which could end up with two races per weekend and such daft ideas as reversed grids. The show business advocates think this is a great idea, the traditionalists think it’s an outrage. The small teams have had no real voice in these matters, but don’t suppose that they will do nothing if they don’t like the ideas (and why would they?). They have two choices – go on as they are and go out of business, or go to the European Commission and try to get the decision-making changed. Rule number one, which every bully should know: Don’t take on a man with nothing to lose. The Strategy Group thinks that they can roll over the little guys, but they may simply call in the cavalry and ask whether it is all legal under European competition law. Ironically, that might actually suit the Formula One group because it could then rip up the agreements in place and propose different deals – that would pay out less money to the big teams and to the FIA… Joe Saward has been covering Formula 1 full-time for 27 years. He has not missed a race since 1988.
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