Five sporting rule changes to boost Formula 1

In recent months, there has been plenty of debate within the Formula 1 fraternity regarding the direction the sport should take. While there appears to be a consensus forming regarding such proposals as returning to 1,000-horsepower-plus engines and wider tyres, addressing F1’s ills by altering the technical regulations is only part of the story.

Little has been suggested as to how to the sporting rules might be moulded to improve F1, which seems like something of an oversight considering how much easier and quicker it would be to implement such changes than reimagining what a Grand Prix car should be.

That’s why I’ve devised a list of five relatively radical changes to the sporting regulations, all of which could theoretically be implemented no later than next season. Some would have a knock-on effect on how teams would have to design their cars, but none of them are technical rule changes per se.

I’ve also avoided the thorny issue of how prize money ought to be distributed – as much of an impediment to a truly competitive championship as the present arrangement is – as well as the way the sport is governed in the Strategy Group era. Those are arguments for another article.

The following changes also don’t include any provisions explicitly aimed at boosting grid numbers from their current low ebb, though their indirect effect may well be to improve the spectacle to a point where more would-be sponsors and team owners decide they want to be involved.

1. Replace qualifying with a reverse grid sprint race

Rules heralding a dramatic reduction in aerodynamics are often mooted to generate more passing, but the very nature of modern F1 would make it impossible to reintroduce all the variables that made Grand Prix racing of yore so unpredictable. Instead, it’s time to consider something more radical – something that forces teams to produce cars able to overtake one another more easily.

Traditionalists may baulk at the thought of reverse grids, but there’s no doubting that forcing faster cars to overtake slower ones on a routine basis is a sure-fire way of generating the wheel-to-wheel action fans crave.  The non-points paying sprint race format helps to moderate the random effect that reverse grids could have on the championship if used in the actual Grands Prix themselves.

Grid order for the sprint races would be determined by simply reversing the order of the championship as it stands before each race, meaning the fastest cars would generally be at the back and the slowest at the front, also providing some sorely needed TV coverage for the minnows. For the first race, the grid would be determined by the previous year’s final standings.

The sprints would be approximately 45 minutes in length, with no pitstops permitted (except to repair damage), and each driver would use a single set of prime tyres; DRS would have to be scrapped to prevent the quickest cars scything their way through the order too rapidly. The finishing order would then determine the grid for the main event, with any retirees starting at the back.

Over the course of the season, the best car-driver combination would still prevail, but with more emphasis on the driver given the premium that reverse-grid sprints would place on the ability to pass – something even the purists can surely agree would be a good thing for the sport.

2. Overhaul tyre compound rules

Another way to spice up Grands Prix would be the creation of more strategic variables, meaning a rethink of the rules surrounding tyre usage is in order. As much as this writer would love to see a return to a tyre war (for the same reasons there would never be standardised engines, or even chassis, in F1), there’s still plenty that can be done in the context of a sole tyre supplier.

Pirelli has said in the past that they would be willing to expand their range of dry tyre compounds from the present level of four, if that’s what teams wanted – it’s the time for that offer to be taken up, with each team given the ability to choose their own ‘prime’ and ‘option’ for each race weekend, barring any compounds Pirelli deems unsafe for a particular track.

Thus, teams could opt to gamble on using softer tyres than normal in order to gain competitive advantage during the race, introducing a new layer of intrigue and providing more opportunity for smaller teams to overcome their bigger rivals through sheer tactical guile alone. The need to use both tyre compounds in a race to promote strategic variation would also no longer exist.

This new set of tyre rules could work both with the new sprint-race proposal outlined above, or with the existing qualifying format. In the latter case, there would be nothing to stop teams using softer tyre compounds to claw their way up the grid, but at the expense of being able to run lengthy stints in the races, providing a suitable risk-to-reward ratio.

3. Reserve FP1 for third and reserve drivers

Most observers agree that F1 needs to do more to give its stars of the future more track time, but little meaningful change has been effected in recent years to that end. The end-of-season young driver test was a (small) step in the right direction, but even that’s been effectively replaced by a return to limited in-season testing, in which teams are not obliged to run young drivers.

Proposals to create new test sessions specifically for rookies tend to be shot down because of cost concerns, and understandably so given the current financial climate in the sport, and introducing third cars to be raced by inexperienced drivers opens up a whole new can of worms that is, on balance, probably best avoided entirely.

The solution? Simply mandate that teams must use their third driver during FP1 at every Grand Prix weekend. Immediately, young drivers gain hours of valuable track time at no extra expense to the teams, while the designation of reserve driver would become meaningful once again as each team would have a driver totally familiar with the car and ready to step in if needed.

Some teams already reward their third drivers with the odd practice session, and in almost all cases they do a perfectly competent job of setting up the car, ready for the regular driver to take the reins once again in FP2. There would be an incentive for teams to employ truly capable reserves, but the rise of young driver schemes means that there’s no shortage of those.

4. Apply engine token system to chassis upgrades

Since the introduction of the new engine formula last year, a compromise ‘token’ system has been in place, allowing manufacturers to develop their power-units to a degree without the associated costs of a full-on engine war.

Despite disagreements over the precise amount of tokens manufacturers should be permitted to spend, and a brief controversy over how homologation rules should apply to new boy Honda, there seems to be a broad consensus that the token system itself is fundamentally one that works – so why not apply it to chassis development too?

Teams would still produce new cars for each season, but they wouldn’t be free to develop them as they saw fit beyond a certain homologation date; as with engines, each component would be assigned a token value depending on its effect on performance, with a limited number to spend throughout the year.

This would level the playing field to a certain extent, effectively preventing the biggest outfits from spending their way out of trouble and allowing smaller teams to maintain any early advantage gained for longer. In essence, teams would be forced to deploy their available resources more carefully, arguably the next best thing after a utopian budget cap.

5. Make ‘blue riband’ events more significant

Only four circuits on the current calendar featured in F1’s inaugural season back in 1950 – Monaco, Silverstone, Spa and Monza. This quartet, which all boast the atmosphere, heritage and soul that no amount of Middle Eastern oil wealth can buy, could be seen as the closest equivalent that the sport has to the ‘major tournaments’ of golf and tennis.

Perhaps, then, F1 should make more of these ‘blue riband’ events by making them more significant milestones in the Grand Prix season. While offering double points at Abu Dhabi was rightly derided by fans and insiders alike, there could be some merit in awarding extra points at extended versions of the four ‘major’ races at the four classic tracks listed above.

The four ‘blue riband’ races could be easily be made around a third longer without unduly compromising the schedule, also solving the issue of races at Monza and Spa regularly lasting less than 90 minutes. Naturally, fuel tanks would need to be made larger to accommodate the extra fuel needed, a change that could easily be implemented in time for the start of 2016.

The other implication of conferring a special status on Monaco, Silverstone, Spa and Monza would be to help ensure they remain on the calendar indefinitely. While feathers would no doubt be ruffled at FOM, fans would surely welcome an FIA intervention to prevent the four above Grands Prix from suffering the same fate that the German Grand Prix appears to be heading towards.

A Guide to the Le Mans Entry List

The day that the Automobile Club de l'Ouest take the wraps off the entry list for the 24 Hours of Le Mans is the one that really marks the start of the European sportscar racing season.

Despite the rise in prestige of the World Endurance Championship of which Le Mans is part, the French endurance classic remains the dominant feature of the sportscar racing landscape, and securing one of the 56 starting slots can be make-or-break for many of the sport's smaller concerns.

It's also traditionally the time that the driver line-ups, particularly at the sharp end of the grid, take further shape, and this year was no exception, with Porsche and newcomer Nissan both making driver announcements (more on those later) to coincide with the entry list reveal.

The latter's launch of its radical, front-engined, front-wheel drive GT-R LM Nismo is a perfect illustration of the rude health sportscar racing finds itself in currently. The rulebook allows each manufacturer to take its own approach that matches its own needs - ensuring that racing programmes remain an asset, rather than a liability, to their parent companies even if results aren't as hoped.

The variety that's seen in the LMP1 category of sportscar racing is a far cry from that seen in Formula One, where the need to prevent costs from spiralling out of control has led to an extremely prescriptive set of regulations that has made Grand Prix racing a much less attractive destination for auto-makers than was the case some 15 years ago.

The current strength of the prototype category is reflected by the fact that there will be 14 entries in the top division at Le Mans, including three privateers, the most there have been since 2011. They are supplemented by no fewer than 20 LMP2 cars - more cars are set to race in that class alone than in F1 this season - and 22 GTE cars split across the 'Pro' and 'Am' divisions.

Of these 56 starters, 35 are set to contest the full WEC season - 11 in LMP1, 10 in LMP2 and 14 across the two GTE categories, representing a 25 percent increase from last season, the ACO deciding to break its self-imposed limit of 32 entries in the face of such heightened demand to be part of one of motorsport's fastest growing championships.

LMP1

There were few surprises when it came to the unveiling of the Le Mans entry list in the highest division, with Audi, Porsche and Nissan all entering three cars, Toyota and Rebellion Racing two apiece and ByKolles (née Lotus) fielding a single car. What remains to be seen is whether Toyota will regret not entering a third car, as all three of its rivals have done, in the WEC's showpiece event.

Furthermore, on the driver front, Toyota appears to be putting its eggs largely in one basket as Kazuki Nakajima moves across to join defending WEC champions Anthony Davidson and Sébastien Buemi in the #1 car in place of the departed Nicolas Lapierre, meaning that the team's strongest three drivers from 2014 will all be concentrated in one line-up.

Meanwhile, Mike Conway, who contested three WEC races last year when Nakajima had clashing commitments in Japan, steps up to join Alex Wurz and Stéphane Sarrazin in the #2 car - a strong trio, no doubt, but on the evidence of last year not as formidable as that of the sister machine. A recent tweak to the rulebook regarding weight penalties for heavier drivers could help close the gap, though.

As a result of Toyota's WEC success last year, Audi will be using the less familiar numbers of #7, #8 and #9 at this year's Le Mans. Last year's winners André Lotterer, Benoît Tréluyer and Marcel Fässler remain a unit, and must be considered the German outfit's best chance of victory, particularly now that nine-time race winner Tom Kristensen has called time on his long and illustrious career.

Stepping up to replace the Dane is Oliver Jarvis, who joins Lucas di Grassi and Loïc Duval in the second full-season entry, standout Audi GT driver René Rast taking the Briton's place in the third car alongside Filipe Albuquerque and Marco Bonanomi. There's no doubting Jarvis' quality, but it will take time for him to gel with his new team-mates and for the #8 trio to be as strong as the #7.

Porsche are running the same full-season drivers as last year, Timo Bernhard, Brendon Hartley and F1 convert Mark Webber in the #17, and Romain Dumas, Neel Jani and Marc Lieb in the #18. The latter was conclusively the stronger line-up last year, Jani in particular establishing himself as a member of the WEC's elite crop - expect the Swiss to spearhead Porsche's challenge this time around.

As for the team's third car, the question of who would join Force India F1 star Nico Hulkenberg has finally been answered. Nick Tandy's promotion from Porsche's GT stable to the prototype ranks was no less than expected, but Earl Bamber's surprise leap from the Porsche Supercup ranks will no doubt prompt some jealous glances from some of the Stuttgart firm's long-time GTE class drivers.

Then there's Nissan, who had confirmed Audi defector Marc Gené as one of its drivers at the launch of its car before announcing Olivier Pla and Harry Tincknell as full-season drivers. For both, their involvement comes as a well-deserved reward for their efforts in Nissan-powered LMP2 machinery, the latter helping the Jota team take a class victory last year in his maiden season in sportscars.

In addition, Super GT champion Tsugio Matsuda was named as one of the drivers for Nissan's third entry. Also expected to be confirmed as Nissan drivers in due course are GT Academy graduate Jann Mardenborough, another man to have excelled in the LMP2 class last year, Japanese veteran Satoshi Motoyama and Lapierre, who was "rested" by Toyota mid-way through last season.

The scrapping of the LMP-L sub-category means Rebellion Racing and ByKolles will have to play with the big boys in 2015. Rebellion have confirmed Nicolas Prost and Mathias Beche as drivers for its pair of R-Ones, which will be powered by AER rather than Toyota this year, while ByKolles will have GP2 driver Simon Trummer behind the wheel of its revised AER-engined CLM P1/01.

LMP2

Though there was plenty of strength in depth in the secondary class at Le Mans last year, perhaps the most there has ever been, there were only four LMP2 cars signed up for the entire WEC - leading to the bizarre anomaly of Sergey Zlobin being crowned LMP2 champion last year purely on the basis of being behind the wheel of the only WEC-registered car to make it home at Le Mans.

That's been rectified this year, with 10 of the 20 LMP2 cars set to be present at Le Mans committed to the WEC in 2015. What has made the class so successful in the last few years is the imposition of a cost-cap, as well as the stipulation of having to have one 'silver'-rated amateur driver in each car, which has helped to make constructing cars for the class lucrative business indeed.

The Ligier JS P2 coupé, unveiled last year and immediately on the pace, was the first example of a new generation of closed-top baby prototypes of which there will be many more on the grid at Le Mans this year. The fact that BR Engineering, HPD, Dome and Oreca are all bringing new P2s to La Sarthe this year to join the Ligier shows just what rude health the class is in right now.

Not only that, LMP2 has become something of a 'go-to' destination for drivers unable climb the single-seater ladder any further and wishing to attract the attention of the P1 works teams - as the likes of Conway, Hartley and more recently Tincknell can attest. There will be plenty of others looking to do likewise this year in a class packed with recent open-wheel converts.

Among them, perhaps the one to keep the closest eye on is Sam Bird, who replaces the Nissan-bound Pla in the leading G-Drive Ligier. Of the other Onroak-built cars, the two entered by OAK Racing, which was in the thick of the LMP2 fight in 2014, are also sure to be there or thereabouts, particularly if Alex Brundle, who impressed with his speed and composure last year, returns to the fray.

Of the other new-generation cars, the only other to have raced is HPD's ARX-04b, which debuted last month at the Daytona 24 Hours, showing a decent turn of pace. The team entrusted with the Japanese cars, Extreme Speed Motorsports, may never have raced at Le Mans before, but the experience of former class winner Ryan Dalziel and David Heinemeier-Hansson should smooth the learning curve.

Also likely to be at the forefront is Strakka Racing's new Dome S103, which was due to debut last season but suffered a series of delays, particularly if Danny Watts and Jonny Kane return to partner team boss Nick Leventis as in 2013. Oreca's new 05 is also unproven at this stage, but the Thiriet by TDS and KCMG teams have both proven capable of running at the sharp end of the field.

That's not to say that the older, open-top prototypes should be discounted, however; defending class winners Jota Sport will be back in the Gibson (née Zytek) 015S, although their hopes could rest on the quality of the drivers they can attract to join team owner Simon Dolan. 2011 class winners Greaves Motorsport will also be fielding a Gibson with veteran Brit Johnny Mowlem at the helm.

Signatech's Alpine A450b, whose line-up is headed by single-seater convert Nelson Panciatici, is another entry to watch out for, while the newly-merged Team SARD-Morand, which will be running a pair of Morgan LMP2 Evos, is an outside victory shot, boasting ex-F1 driver Christian Klien and former F3 and World Series by Renault driver Oliver Webb on its driving strength.

Rounding out the 20 entries are SMP Racing's two all-new BR01 prototypes, which have suffered delays due to economic sanctions against Russia, Pegasus Racing's Morgan, Krohn Racing's Ligier, and the older Oreca 03 cars run by Ibañez Racing and Murphy Prototypes. Perhaps as many as eight or 10 of the 20 cars in the hotly-contested P2 class could be considered bona fide victory contenders.

GTE

The entry list for 'Pro' division of the GTE class has a rather familiar feel to it, featuring nine works entries from Ferrari, Corvette, Porsche and Aston Martin, who have expanded to a three-car assault for this year. It's virtually impossible to pick a potential winner from their number, for all four manufacturers over the past two or three years have displayed winning credentials at various stages.

Perhaps the de facto favourite is the lead Ferrari of Gianmaria Bruni and Toni Vilander, who are likely to be joined once again by former Grand Prix star Giancarlo Fisichella, largely because of Bruni and Vilander's status as reigning GTE-class WEC champions. Davide Rigon and James Calado can't be discarded in the second works 458 Italia, but both lack the experience of their team-mates.

Corvette Racing have tweaked their driver line-ups from last year slightly, with IndyCar driver Ryan Briscoe joining Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia in one entry and Jordan Taylor moving across to replace Richard Westbrook alongside Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner. With the striking C7.R now in its second year of competition, neither line-up can be discounted from the victory chase.

The promotion of Nick Tandy to Porsche's prototype ranks has prompted a reshuffle of its GT roster. Richard Lietz is joined by Jörg Bergmeister and rookie Michael Christensen, who steps up from the marque's USC programme, while Patrick Pilet lines up alongside Frédéric Makowiecki and Wolf Henzler in what can be regarded as (marginally) the stronger car, Marco Holzer having been dropped.

Finally, Aston Martin have recruited Marco Sørensen to join the all-Danish line-up, which won the 'Am' division last year but has now been upgraded to a 'Pro' entry, along with Nicki Thiim and Christopher Nygaard. In the other two cars, only Darren Turner and Fernando Rees have been confirmed, although Stefan Mucke is virtually certain to return in the lead Vantage with Turner.

While at least five or six of those nine entries contain the required quality to mount a challenge for the class victory, Aston Martin have to be considered clear favourites in the 'Am' class, which requires each line-up to feature at least one 'bronze' rated driver and another rated no higher than 'silver', in order to prevent the class being filled with factory pilots.

Another former F1 driver, in the form of Pedro Lamy, spearheads the British manufacturer's 'Am' class assault, joined by Mathias Lauda (the son of Grand Prix legend Niki) and amateur racer Paul Dalla Lana. That line-up will be a tough one to beat, although the AF Corse Ferrari trio of Emmanuel Collard, Rui Águas and François Perrodo isn't too far behind in terms of quality.

They are the only two fully confirmed line-ups in the class so far, with Aston Martin fielding a second Vantage, AF Corse a further two Ferraris and JMW Motorsport, SMP Racing and American outfit Scuderia Corsa running an additional 458 Italia each, Proton Racing fielding a pair of 991-shape Porsche 911s and the mysterious Taiwanese Team AAI entering two older 997-shape Porsches.

The most intriguing entry in the class undoubtedly is Larbre Compétition's Corvette C7.R, to be driven by Gianluca Roda and Paolo Ruberti, plus one yet-to-be announced driver. The French concern dabbled unsuccessfully in LMP2 last year, but is back, albeit with a relatively unproven car, in a class it has won on multiple occasions, so expect the team to be towards the business end of the class.

There's a strong chance it may not be the only American machine in the class either - at the head of the seven-strong reserve list is a Riley Motorsports-run Dodge Viper, with Jeroen Bleekemolen earmarked for driving duties, meaning if any entry (in any class) pulls out between now and June, fans will get to enjoy the return of a car last seen in works 'SRT' guise at La Sarthe back in 2013.

Predictions

Predicting the winner for each class is, it's probably fair to say, something of a fool's errand at this stage, and certainly a clearer picture of the competitive order will only begin to emerge once the WEC gets underway at Silverstone in April. Nonetheless, here are my tentative predicted winners for each class, based on little other than personal hunches:

LMP1 - Toyota Racing #1 (Toyota TS040 Hybrid) - Buemi/Davidson/Nakajima
LMP2 - G-Drive Racing #26 (Ligier JS P2-Nissan) - Rusinov/Canal/Bird
GTE-Pro - Corvette Racing #64 (Corvette C7.R) - Gavin/Milner/Taylor
GTE-Am - Aston Martin Racing #98 (Aston Martin Vantage GTE) - Dalla Lana/Lamy/Lauda

While it's practically impossible to predict with any real confidence what will happen when the 56-strong field gets underway in June, what is more certain is that this year's race, with 11 factory prototypes poised to do battle up front, not to mention extremely strong fields in the LMP2 and GTE classes behind, is set to be a classic.

To see the official 2015 Le Mans entry list in full, click here.