Money

The second main issue is cost.
Even just participating to a Formula 1 season is too expensive for most of teams and constructors.

But that is not just limited to them. Circuits are not able to cover the expenses to be included in the calendar and young drivers are able to reach the top series only if heavily financed by family members or state sponsors.

The management has again taken the wrong direction, pointing the finger against tests and car developments as main causes for the increasing budgets.

On the other end, nothing has been done to support drivers and circuits.

Now it has been highlighted already many times how the limit of testing has produced the opposite effect as the main teams have invested ridiculous budgets in state-of-the-art simulators, surely more than the cost for a couple of weeks in Spain or wherever.
With technology progressing at very high pace, these simulators require constant upgrades therefore not only there is no cost reduction, but the gap between top and low budget teams is spread even more than in the past.

On top of that, the drastic cut in allowed improvements (to every component of the car) during the season, has increased to insane levels the use virtual testing and simulation, with new costs but without reducing the R&D ones.
Furthermore, that has created an even worse effects on the sport side, as a technological advantage obtained with a good idea can be kept for much longer, since the ability for chasing competitors is made ineffective but these financial and technological constraints.

That’s why right now even the biggest names in car or engine manufacturing are not interested in competing: massive budgets, strong limitation to creativity and innovation and basically no chance to break the status quo or blow up the bank.

This way Formula 1 is quickly turning into an American-style open-wheel series, with a couple of chassis and engine manufacturers, selling parts to few teams.

So the management has completely failed in cutting costs for teams, even if they tried (at least on paper).
The budget cap is purely bombastic, there is no will from the main players in having it, therefore it will never be actually applied to guarantee that all participants will spend the same amount of money each season.

There has never been, instead, an attempt to reduce costs for drivers and circuits, which is generating paradoxical situations where drivers are paying to race, shortening the already very tight number of available seats for the best ones.
Meanwhile, the calendar is year by year deprived of diversity and charisma as many circuits are forced to give up hosting F1 GPs due to the nonsensical fees and “new” ones are created, equal to each other, in different locations that are able to afford it (maybe only for few seasons).

I’ll go in the details of my proposals in future posts but generally speaking, to address these issues, I’m talking about:

• New technical rules, aiming particularly at reducing car sizes, eliminating restrictions to technical and technological innovation, facilitate new players to be immediately competitive if capable and promote in-race show.
• Complete re-design of F1 management and Concorde Agreement, with more power to FIA as ruler and less economical and decisional power to Formula One Organization
• True reduction of costs, starting from decreasing the weekend to just 2 days (1 free practice, 1 qualifying, 1 warm-up and race)
• Cancellation of F2 and F3, replaced by regional Formula 1 seasons to support and incentivize local teams and drivers
• Introducing new circuits and historic ones to rotate them season after season to generate more interest, diversity and to bring the circus in many more countries

Stay Tuned!