Manifesto

We’re just one day away from the beginning of the F1 season 2020.

I would have normally been excited, especially given the extremely long wait caused by the global pandemic but there is no single positive sign about this sport right now, so while it symbolically is a new start for everyone, it seems more like the beginning of the end of Formula 1 as we know it.

Let’s face it: Formula 1 is a dying sport.
Manufacturers are leaving or going bankrupt, with the circus kept alive by billionaires who comes and goes, as an hobby.
No mayor competitor is interested in joining due to the ridiculous costs and the impossibility of closing gaps with Mercedes, caused by tailormade rules and no chance of testing and developing cutting-edge solutions.

In these months we have seen a growing interest for E-races and a large number of people who have tuned in to see historic races on the F1 app, while the TV ratings are going down since years.

This means to me that there are plenty of fans, like me, who like what Formula 1 represents as a concept but don’t like any more the current show.

DRS, Balance of Performance, fake budget caps, tyre compounds that are impossible to figure out also for the best engineers in the world, frozen development, no tests, rising ticket prices and penalties assigned to drivers based on their appeal on Instagram are all desperate attempts to create a show.

But F1 doesn’t have to be electrifying… it would be great if all races will be, but we’re facing a big choice right now.
Do we accept to destroy the essence of the sport, in order to keep entertained in front of the TV millions of people?
In my opinion, No!
There are already other sports that have less technological and environmental impact who can provide that.

Furthermore, it has to be remembered that each year a new World Champion is crowned: what would be the value of this title in such a meaningless sport?
China 2016 was the race with the most overtakes in history, but I challenge everyone to remember any of them or who won (without googling)… but if I ask what happened in Dijon in 1979, in Donington in 1993 or in Spa 2000 there will be no hesitation.

An exciting race could be chaotic, but a chaotic one isn’t necessary interesting.
I think you will all agree that Imola 2005 and Jarama 1981 are extremely compelling even without any major overtakes.

The issue is aiming at quantity, instead of quality.

It would be very easy, though, to just refer to historic races and remembering how cool everything was in the past.

No!
You’ll never read here things like “we should ban telemetry” or “we should go back to manual gearboxes”.
Technology is not the issue, if anything is one of the pillars of F1.
The spirit of F1 is R&D, highest technology, pure competition to award the title to the fastest and more reliable car and driver.

Overtakes and lead changes are just the top of an iceberg, that everyone is keep pointing at while the F1 boat hits the unseen part and starts sinking.

On these pages I’ll go little by little through all F1 issues and why I think they’re slowing leading to a complete disaster that it’s only postponed with grotesque expedients.

And then I’ll show what I think could be some ideas to make the sport interesting, but more importantly competitive and technologically attractive again…
Using imagination to design different rules, cars and circuits