Bob Barnard Track Engineering

In this month’s Motor Sport Mark Hughes provides a view on what should change with the current F1. It occurred to me that with the asking price for the current F1 being around $10bn, when CVC decide to sell, it would be much cheaper just to start your own. What would it cost? $2bn?

Here in the US it is a time honored tradition that if you do not like something you start your own. Banks, churches, and yes even IRL. So, with John Malone reportedly interested in buying F1 I thought why can’t he just start his own? He has the money and the media, so what else would he need?

FIA Approval: If you are going to run an International Series you need FIA approval, but that is not hard to get. Look at Formula E just starting up. The FIA don’t really care as long as they get a cut and some say in the running. You could not use Formula One of course, but so what. With a good promotional plan you can sell anything.

Tracks: Thanks to Bernie and CVC there are loads of tracks that can no longer afford F1. The real fans would love to see a series that goes back to some, and races on real tracks not “Tilkedromes.” You could go back to my first track in Adelaide. It is still used and a reasonable fee would have kept the F1 there, so price it right and there you go. Same with France, who started this, Indy in the US or a street race, India now has a track available, as does Turkey. Imola in Italy, any of the Spanish tracks, they are all FIA Level 1, and maybe even Valencia would like it at the right price. Japan has Fuji and China Zuhai. We would need a South American leg, and we are starting to get a decent calendar. In England the Circuit of Wales is being built to Level 1 standard, but does not want F1. And I am sure some of the existing tracks would come over at the end of their Bernie contract.

Drivers: As with circuits there are a lot of very good drivers who cannot make it to F1 because of the existing business model and some who made it and could not stay. Paul Di Resta and Nick Heidfeld for just two, and I bet for every Kevin Magnussen there are ten guys who could not afford to pay for drives to get there. We need to find them early and provide a path based on talent. A sort of Red Bull scheme but managed by the series. Who knows, we might even have an American driver succeeding.

Cars: There are very good designers currently not in F1 that could provide a specification for the car. Gordon Murray and Gary Anderson for two. They still need to be a high tech vehicle, and certainly not a spec series, but more open to get back to the Can-Am and early F1 rule books that allowed ingenuity to be rewarded. Costs are always a factor, but with money staying in the series and being shared equitably then the teams would have the money they need.

Teams: As with all of this there are would-be F1 teams who just know they could not survive. Just look at how HRT, Caterham and Murussia have struggled. There should be some basis for rewarding success, but Bernie’s formula is a recipe to fail for any new team. Do you think Gene Haas would rather invest in a more equitable series? There are plenty of very good teams in GP2, GP3, European F3 and FR3.5 who could step up with the right balance of reward to investment.

TV: There are no shortage of specialist sports and motorsport TV channels to provide world wide coverage. With more reasonable fees I am sure with John Malone’s connections he could arrange for the series to develop a following.

So, a word used here a lot is equitable. There are business models that share the wealth. NASCAR does a good job, and so do the NFL and MLB. Yes the investor needs a return, but so do the other investors who built tracks, cars and careers. The current business model of F1 is fatally flawed, so who would risk $10bn to buy it? Bernie is talking about retiring so who do we get then, a suit? We need a series promoter who actually does reinvest in the promotion of the sport year round to support the individual track promoters, build a renewable base of stars, and listen to their fan base, not their pockets.  

Lewis is sending mixed messages at the moment, saying that he is committed to McLaren and likes Button as his team mate etc. Then we hear the radio transmissions, and read that he thinks McLaren is not taking enough risks, and he fears that they will take a step backward when the blown exhaust is severely restricted. Then we read that he would take less money to drive a winning car, well it is relative when you make that much, it's not as if he is offering to drive it for nothing. He does not look or sound happy, and why would he be? It is interesting to compare his situation with Alonso. Both fierce competitors in cars that cannot win, but Alonso says he is very happy as he knows in his mind he is driving at his best at the moment. Kovalainen said something similar despite being in a car 4 seconds off the pace, but you can't see Lewis being happy with anything less than winning can you?

Seems the media were very unhappy about the race in Valencia, F1 is boring again, and the track is getting a lot of stick. Kids with a scalectrix kit could do better is the consensus. Ouch! As I understand it Bernie had a lot to do with how this is laid out, so Tilke can't have all the blame. As I said to my wife during the race I would not rush off to Valencia based on what I see on TV. Interesting that there were no DNF's for mechanical reasons or crashes, which I think is only the third F1 race in history. On a street circuit? That tells me that despite what it looks like the boys are not pushing ten tenths, as Moss would say. Of course the lovely asphalt run-offs let you make mistakes without penalty.

The circuit owners are going beyond the threatened 4 cylinder boycott and are demanding an engine that revs to 18,000 rpm as now. "The noise is part of the brand," says Ron Walker, and the brand is what we signed on for. Is this the beginning of a brave new world, has the worm turned? Ron assures us that he is not Bernie's mouthpiece. Let's wait and see shall we? Bernie can pick them off one at a time over the fees, but if all of them stick to their guns then he would be hard pressed to replace 20 tracks.