Sports Journalism: Assessment 4
For some, Formula 1 remains just as exciting and spectacular as it was 15 or 20 years ago, despite moving to hybrid engines and chunkier, more simplistic aerodynamic designs. But others feel the sport has lost some of its spark and intensity over the years and even F1 seems to agree.
Before the 2016 season had even started, F1 announced a raft of new technical regulations for the following season. The sport had only introduced the last set of rules two years earlier. Its reasoning for the 2017 revamp was to cut lap times significantly and make the cars more visually sexy and striking, in a bid to improve the overall spectacle – and claw back some of the lost television viewers.
But were new rules for the up-coming season really necessary? It’s fair to say the previous regulations were deeply flawed (as the sport’s bosses so openly admitted), but the gap to the dominant Mercedes had been decreasing steadily through 2016 and the actual racing was genuinely exciting. We also had a tantalising title fight between Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton – not quite as iconic as rivalries such as Ayrton Senna vs Alain Prost, but we’ll still remember it in a few decades’ time.
F1 seemed to make the decision to adjust the regulations before the rules at the time had even had a chance to settle. Motorsport Week writer Phillip Horton tells us, “by the time 2016 came around the cars were typically getting close to the 2004 records”. Mightily impressive too when you consider there were limitless testing, huge budgets and fewer technical restrictions 13 years ago, but the worries over the cars looking slow had already been made redundant.
“The best thing you can do is leave the rules long-term, as this will naturally aid convergence and reduce spending costs,” Horton adds. “They were introduced as a reaction in early 2015 and by 2016, with the rate of development, lap times had already dropped.” The problem of ‘slow’ cars had already been resolved, but these new rules have made them even quicker through increased downforce and wider, fatter tyres – giving the cars a bit of a retro vibe, harking back to the late 1970s and early 80s.
Having now seen the full set of cars, it’s fair to say the 2017 field is one of the best looking in some time. The wider and angular front wings look aggressive, while there’s super-skinny sidepods, sharp bargeboards, the return of the ‘shark fin’ engine cover and wider rear wings. ‘Imposing’ and ‘mean’ are just two words to describe the new breed of F1 machines and various livery changes make it one of the most colourful F1 grids in some time. That’s one element F1 desperately needed. NBC Sports reporter Luke Smith explains: “F1 has always been a very sensory sport. It needs to look good, sound good and feel good.” The hybrid engines have taken the roaring, pulsating sound away and that won’t change, but the cars now have the beefy designs that make them “look like something kids would dream they could drive someday”.
RULES IN BRIEF:
- Wider and angled front and rear wings
- 25% wider front and rear tyres
- Significantly larger diffuser
Early indications from winter testing suggest the cars have made a significant step forward in performance, with drivers reporting considerable performance gains (well over three seconds, in some cases). Technical analyst Craig Scarborough explains: “The rules give the cars a whole lot more grip to increase lap times but a lot more drag. So, the cars are quicker in the corners and slower on the straights, but overall still have that lap time improvement.”
The wider tyres offer up both positives and negatives, and remain a major unknown component for the season ahead. The increased grip make the cars faster and they give the 2017 beasts a bulkier look, but the tyre compounds themselves have become more durable. It’s likely tyre supplier Pirelli has been cautious with the new tyres, making them last longer will reduce pit stops and could lead to less on-track action. While the tyres make the cars quicker, there could be a trade-off in terms of strategy.
Another concern is the new aerodynamics, which offer up a similar dilemma. They may look like “real” F1 cars now, as Smith describes them, but there are worries overtaking could be trickier. Scarborough delves deeper into this: “When you look at what has happened with the rules, there is nothing there that should improve the racing. Braking zones are going to be shorter, following the car ahead will be the same, if not worse. The smaller rear wing means the DRS effect will be smaller and two cars together are going to be some 40cm wider than before so there is literally less track to use. It doesn’t bode well for overtaking.”
Overtaking isn’t everything – as Smith admits, “seeing the cars on the limit will be fantastic for spectators”. Races can still be exciting, tense and fun to watch without a constant stream of passes and battles. The new cars and faster speeds have hyped up many fans for the up-coming season and have got a lot of people talking – we haven’t seen cars look this good for some time. The quicker, potentially record-breaking speeds will add to that and these elements will certainly bring some buzz and fizz back to the spectacle. Naturally they won’t be for everyone though and there will always be critics, but a balance has to be found.
But while it’s important to raise these positives, it’s also worth noting the negatives – the issues surrounding the tyres, overtaking and the fact that the pecking order may not change all that much. These could dampen things and take away some of that hard-earned ‘buzz’. Perhaps we are expecting too much from F1. Maybe these predicted concerns will never materialise, and it’s impossible for the sport to get everything right anyway. However, F1 nevertheless heads into an intriguing unknown with a set of rules as deeply flawed as the last.
Jack Leslie 