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.

Korean Grand Prix 2013 - Report

After the display of utter brilliance that was Singapore, Sebastian Vettel went about imposing himself on the rest of the field in a slightly more subtle manner at Korea.

Instead of galloping away at a vast rate of knots, Vettel seemed to be playing the percentages far more this weekend. Perhaps this was because of the fragility of the Pirelli tyres, which returned to being a major talking point of the weekend after several races out of the spotlight.

There was more criticism leveled at the Italian rubber after Sergio Perez suffered a tyre blowout not dissimilar to those seen at Silverstone, most notably from Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber. Regrettably, Pirelli's response to these comments was a rather petulant one, with Paul Hembery suggesting that Alonso take advice from a certain soon-to-be four-time world champion on tyre preservation.

Looking after the tyres appeared to be the main issue for Lewis Hamilton, the only man who looked to have the pace to really take the fight to Vettel. The Mercedes driver missed out on pole position by just two tenths of a second and dropped behind Romain Grosjean's Lotus at the start of the race while Vettel made a clean getaway to lead the pack.

Whilst the Franco-Swiss wasn't left behind by Vettel in the same way Nico Rosberg was two weeks ago, it soon became clear that Grosjean could not provide any real challenge to the runaway championship leader, who after quickly opening a lead of around three seconds appeared to back off and hold his ground.

Behind, on the first lap, Massa's spin on the apex of turn three shuffled the order as some drivers had to take significant evasive action to avoid the stricken Ferrari. Rosberg maintained fourth place behind his teammate, but Alonso, who had started fifth, fell behind the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg thanks to Massa's error. 

With virtually the entire field starting on option tyres, the first phase of pit-stops commenced in earnest on lap nine, when Hamilton and Alonso both pitted for primes. Grosjean, Rosberg and Hulkenberg all followed suit the next lap, with Vettel making his first stop at the end of lap 11.

The Red Bull driver managed to extend his lead over Grosjean to around six seconds during the second stint, during which Hamilton struggled badly with tyre wear and consequently began to fall away from Grosjean and towards teammate Rosberg. 

In the meantime, Hulkenberg now had a queue forming in his wake consisting of Alonso, Kimi Raikkonen and Webber, who had made progress from his lowly starting position of 13th (courtesy of a ten-place grid penalty he picked up for his actions during the slowing-down lap at Singapore) since the start.

Haemorrhaging time relative to the leaders, Raikkonen opted to make his second stop relatively early, on lap 25, in a bid to jump his rivals. This decision proved to be a tactical masterstroke, as, just six laps later, the Safety Car was deployed in response to Perez's exploding front-right tyre, which was no doubt aided by a particularly nasty lock-up a couple of corners beforehand. 

The perennially unlucky Webber, running just behind the McLaren driver at the time having made his second stop, ran over the ensuing debris and was forced to pit for a third time, though this soon proved inconsequential.

Vettel and Grosjean both headed to the pits at the end of lap 31 for fresh primes, resuming first and second, but Raikkonen, having been released into clean air after his stop, leapt up from seventh to third. This demoted Hamilton to fourth, ahead of Hulkenberg, Alonso, Jenson Button and Rosberg, who lost ground after a lengthy pit-stop to replace a broken nose section.

Rosberg was fortunate not to have more damage done to his car as, along the lengthy back straight on lap 28, whilst he was coming up to overtake Hamilton, the German's nose section suddenly drooped. This caused the front wing to drag along the tarmac, creating a spectacular shower of sparks for the better part of a lap.

It didn't take long for the Safety Car to re-emerge after the race restarted on lap 37, as Adrian Sutil misjudged his braking for turn three and clouted the side of Webber's car. Whilst the Force India was able to continue, the impact burst the Red Bull's oil radiator, causing car #2 to burst into flames for the second time in as many races.

Force India ultimately chose to retire Sutil with a few laps remaining, any chance of scoring points having gone up in smoke along with Webber's car when the German picked up a drive-through penalty for pit-lane speeding, rounding off a dismal afternoon for the team during which Paul Di Resta retired with yet another driving error. The Scot held his hands up to his mistake on this occasion, but his F1 career could be in grave danger if he suffers any more slips like this in the remaining races.

Between the Safety Car periods, Raikkonen set about challenging Grosjean for second place. The Finn was able to dive underneath his Lotus teammate at the first corner on lap 38, but, once the race got back underway in earnest, Vettel quickly began to pull clear.

Indeed, there was nothing Raikkonen could do to prevent Vettel from reeling off the remaining laps and sealing his 34th career victory in typically dominant style. His championship lead now stands at 77 points, meaning the German has a chance of wrapping things up next time out at Japan if his closest rival Alonso fails to score at least three points.

Raikkonen and Grosjean held on for second and third places, the third time this season that the Lotus duo have completed the podium behind Vettel. After being passed, Grosjean closed in on his teammate in the closing laps, and admitted to being disappointed that the team didn't order Raikkonen aside. Still, it was another assured drive from Grosjean, who now looks to be well-placed to lead Lotus next year in Kimi's absence.

With any luck, lining up alongside Grosjean in 2014 will be Hulkenberg, who was undoubtedly driver of the race in fourth place. The Sauber driver moved ahead of the ailing Hamilton just after the first restart with a decisive pass at the unlikely location of turn 15, and held on thereafter to match his best finish in F1.

Hulkenberg's traction out of the first corner and impressive top speed were enough to keep Hamilton frustrated, meaning the Englishman was forced to be content with fifth place ahead of Alonso, Rosberg and Button, who fell behind the second Mercedes with two laps remaining.

Daniel Ricciardo was on course to finish a fine ninth place, but suffered brake problems just two laps from home and was obliged to park his Toro Rosso. The same problem also halted the progress of team-mate Jean-Eric Vergne, though the Frenchman was never in the frame for a points finish.

That meant that the points finishers were completed by Massa and Perez, both of whom did well to recover from their earlier dramas. Just missing out on his first points finish in 11th, following another Q3 appearance on Saturday, was Esteban Gutierrez in the second Sauber, whose inexperience showed during a wheel-to-wheel battle with his fellow Latin Americans late in the race.

Next home were the Williams duo of Valtteri Bottas and Pastor Maldonado, who were off the pace as ever even if the latter was able to drag his car as high as ninth place in the opening laps thanks to a scintillating start. Charles Pic came home in 14th, just one place shy of the magic 13th position that would see his Caterham team re-take tenth in the constructors' standings ahead of Marussia.

It was certainly an eventful, if not hugely exciting race at Korea, yet one which many paddock insiders expect to be the last. Should this transpire to be the case, the Yeongam circuit will be remembered predominantly for Vettel's sheer brilliance at the venue - hardly a trait which is likely to mean that it is missed by the vast majority of F1 fans.

British Grand Prix 2013 - Report

Nico Rosberg fended off a charging Mark Webber to take victory in an exciting and eventful British Grand Prix that was marked by a series of spectacular tyre failures.

No fewer than four drivers - Lewis Hamilton, Felipe Massa, Jean-Eric Vergne and Sergio Perez - saw their rear-left tyres disintegrate over the course of the race, raising potential safety concerns over the current construction of the Pirelli rubber.

Lewis Hamilton, having secured an emphatic pole position to the delight of the Silverstone faithful on Saturday, led away from Sebastian Vettel only to suffer from tyre failure on just the eighth lap of the race.

That handed the Red Bull driver a comfortable advantage, which he maintained throughout the Safety Car period that followed as the marshals rushed to remove the debris caused by the tyre dramas of Hamilton as well as Massa and Vergne, which occurred a handful of laps later.

Vettel looked to have a fourth win of the season in his pocket until his car suffered a gearbox failure with just eleven laps to go, the reigning champion grinding to a halt just after the pit-lane entrance.

The Safety Car was scrambled once more, with Rosberg assuming the lead of the race at this stage having dropped behind Vettel at the start from the front row but re-taking second after Hamilton's woes.

With the Mercedes team detecting the beginnings of a puncture for Rosberg just as the Safety Car was deployed, the Brackley outfit were able to bring their man in for a change of tyres without losing the lead.

The race resumed with just six laps remaining, with Rosberg stretching his advantage over second place man Kimi Raikkonen, who questioned his team's decision to not pit for fresh tyres under the Safety Car.

It proved to be the wrong call however, as the defenceless Finn slipped behind Webber, Alonso and a recovering Hamilton - all of whom pitted under the Safety Car - in the closing laps of the race.

Webber proceeded to make major inroads into Rosberg's advantage at the head of the field, but couldn't do quite enough to overhaul the German in the last four laps, who took his third career win by a margin of seven tenths of a second.

It was a fine drive by Webber in his last visit to Silverstone as an F1 driver, especially considering a poor start dropped him from fourth on the grid to fifteenth on the first lap.

Alonso completed the podium in third place, narrowly ahead of Hamilton, with another strong drive, cutting Vettel's points advantage down from 36 to 21. Raikkonen, who had to be content with fifth, is now 32 points away from the championship lead.

Like Hamilton, Massa did an excellent job of re-gaining the places he lost after his tyre failure, clawing his way up from the very back of the grid to cross the line in sixth. The Brazilian was running in a competitive fifth at the time of his tyre blowout after a sensational start from eleventh on the grid.

Adrian Sutil ended up seventh for Force India, plummeting from third behind the Safety Car as a result of opting to not pit like Raikkonen. Next up was Toro Rosso driver Daniel Ricciardo, who drove solidly after turning heads at a crucial time on Saturday with a career-high grid slot of fifth.

Paul Di Resta had qualified in fifth, but was sent to the back of the grid after his Force India was found to be underweight. However, that didn't prevent the Scot from battling his way back to score points from a lowly grid slot for the third race in succession, finishing a creditable ninth.

The final point went to Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber, with the Williams drivers Pastor Maldonado and Valtteri Bottas just missing out on points in eleventh and twelfth places.

Jenson Button endured a miserable home race, crossing the line in a pitiful thirteenth place after being muscled back several positions after the final Safety Car. Perez's tyre failure, whilst running comfortably in the points, made it two races in a row where McLaren have failed to score.

Esteban Gutierrez brought the second Sauber home in fourteenth, ahead of the four perennial tail-enders; Charles Pic beat home Jules Bianchi, Max Chilton and Giedo van der Garde.

Joining Vettel, Perez and Vergne on the list of retirements was Romain Grosjean, who appeared to make contact with a slow-starting Webber at the start and faded from a likely points finish late in the race before coming into the garage with a lap to run.

As exciting as the finish between Rosberg and Webber was, the British Grand Prix will be remembered principally for tyre failures. Coming just over a week after appearing before the International Tribunal, events at Silverstone will come as another major PR headache for Pirelli.

The teams have hitherto failed to reach an agreement that would allow the Italian firm to change the construction of the tyre - something which Pirelli wanted to do in order to avoid a repeat of the de-laminations seen most notably up until now during practice at Bahrain.

Alonso was perilously close to launching over the back of Perez's car as the McLaren suffered its blowout; only the Spaniard's lightning reflexes prevented a serious accident from taking place. As Hamilton said after the race, it's not acceptable to wait until such a calamity occurs before action is taken.

The rules nonetheless state that changes to the tyre specification can be made mid-season for safety reasons, but Pirelli have hitherto insisted, perhaps understandably, that previous failures were not unsafe and so were thus unable to make modifications.

Such an argument is unquestionably no longer valid after today. That means it's time for Pirelli to put its pride to one side and work together with the teams to ensure a solution is found in time for the German Grand Prix in a week's time.

Canadian Grand Prix 2013 - Preview

Formula One makes its first trip to the North American continent this weekend, as the teams and drivers arrive at the much loved Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in the Canadian city of Montreal for the seventh round of the championship.

Much like Melbourne, the Montreal circuit often provides one of the most entertaining and memorable races of the season. Perhaps this is because the layout of the track is fairly atypical of modern tracks, featuring long straights punctuated by slow and medium speed turns, and the close proximity of the walls - not least the infamous 'Wall of Champions' at the end of the lap - which lends Montreal the aura of a street circuit.

That in turn means that the Safety Car is a regular occurrence at the circuit, whilst inclement weather can further add to the unpredictability of the race - anybody who witnessed Jenson Button's 'last-to-first' victory of two years ago is unlikely to forget it anytime soon. Montreal has also seen a disproportionate number of first-time winners, with Thierry Boutsen (1989), Jean Alesi (1995), Lewis Hamilton (2007) and Robert Kubica (2008), as well as Gilles Villeneuve himself at the track's first F1 race back in 1978, among them.

Like last time out at Monaco, this weekend's tyre allocation consists of the super-soft and medium tyre, although the teams will also be able to test a modified rear tyre, which Pirelli are hoping to introduce in earnest from the next round at Silverstone onwards, during Friday practice. This year's race will see a return to the double DRS arrangement last seen in 2011 after a single zone was used last year; the zones are to be found along the back straight approaching the final chicane and the start/finish straight.

Mercedes are the team everybody is talking about at the moment, and, sadly for the Daimler executives, that's not only because of its first race win of the year at Monaco. On the morning of that particular Grand Prix, it emerged that the German team had conducted a 1,000km tyre test with Pirelli at Barcelona several days after the Spanish Grand Prix, supposedly with the blessing of the FIA but without the knowledge of the other teams.

The sporting regulations of course prohibit any kind of testing with a current-spec car outside of the agreed pre-season testing sessions, as well as filming events and straight-line aerodynamic work; Red Bull and Ferrari immediately launched a protest, believing the test to be a grossly unfair advantage. Mercedes pointed out that it is within Pirelli's contract to be able to request such a test with a particular current-spec car - the W04 being chosen as the car which places the most strain on its rear tyres.

The FIA's response to the matter was that the test would only have been permissible on the basis that Pirelli ran the car themselves and that every team was given an identical opportunity to participate. Clearly, neither of these conditions were met, and, whilst Nico Rosberg's Monaco victory stands, the matter has been referred to the International Tribunal with little indication given thus far of what punishment will be meted out to Mercedes.

Asking a tyre supplier to create deliberately defective products in the name of the 'show' is not compatible with the current testing restrictions - Pirelli were desperate to test with a current car to develop the tyres they have been asked to (after all, what use is a 2010-spec Renault for that purpose?) for the remainder of the year and beyond, assuming of course that the Italian firm do indeed stick around. They have hinted that a loosening of testing rules may even be a prerequisite of an extension to their contract.

It should come as no surprise that both Hankook and former suppliers Bridgestone have recently scotched suggestions they could enter the F1 foray anytime soon, given the immense pressure Pirelli are currently under from the teams, with all of their differing agendas, the fans and the FIA; I for one wouldn't blame Pirelli if they did decide to pull the plug on their F1 activities at the end of the year.

Back to the racing, and Mercedes are likely to be in contention once again at Canada. With four successive pole positions under the team's belt, their car's one-lap prowess is beyond doubt. However, whilst tyres will not be under the same strain at Montreal as they were at tracks such as Catalunya, overtaking will be a relatively straightforward exercise with the help of DRS, meaning Rosberg cannot count on controlling the race from pole position as he did at Monaco.

That said, assuming tyre degradation isn't overly severe, both Mercedes drivers will be aiming for a podium finish. Hamilton in particular is no stranger to success at Canada, having won an additional two times (2010 and 2012) since his maiden victory of six years ago, and will be keen to get back on top of Rosberg having been outperformed at the last two Grands Prix.

Canada is one of two current circuits, the other being Austin, where Red Bull have never won, the slow corners and long straights traditionally not suiting their machine. But, with tyre wear perhaps set to be less of a factor here than previous races, Sebastian Vettel certainly has the opportunity to right that. He did after all run strongly in both 2012 and 2011, leading much of the race until Button passed him at the eleventh hour to steal the win.

Romain Grosjean and Sergio Perez both finished on the podium here last year, but are both under pressure heading to Canada after their performances at Monaco. Grosjean didn't exactly endear himself to the Lotus team with his litany of shunts during the weekend, and his ten place grid penalty for his shunt with Daniel Ricciardo during the race will likely severely limit the impact he makes this weekend. A clean run is an absolute must, however, with Eric Boullier's patience with Grosjean reportedly starting to wear thin.

Perez drew the ire of several drivers at Monaco, most notably Kimi Raikkonen, who suggested the young Mexican ought to be 'punched in the face' after their collision. It was nothing if not a spirited performance from Perez however, and he should be applauded for having a go even if he pushed his luck one stage too far. Like Grosjean, a sensible, error-free weekend is what's required of Perez at Canada if he is to avoid providing further ammunition to his critics.

Raikkonen was irritated that Perez's misdemeanour cost him so much ground to Vettel in the points standings, but he has the opportunity to close that gap this weekend on Red Bull's 'bogey' circuit, particularly if he can get away with one less pit-stop than his rivals. After a sub-par race at Monaco, Fernando Alonso must also fancy his chances of closing in on Vettel and perhaps taking Ferrari's first win at Canada since 2004 having ran a strong second for much of the race last year.

Qualifying Prediction
1. Hamilton, 2. Vettel, 3. Rosberg, 4. Alonso, 5. Webber, 6. Raikkonen, 7. Massa, 8. Perez, 9. Button, 10. Di Resta

Race Prediction
1. Alonso, 2. Raikkonen, 3. Hamilton, 4. Rosberg, 5. Webber, 6. Massa, 7. Perez, 8. Di Resta, 9. Sutil, 10. Ricciardo

With the help of a good start and less tyre wear than the opposition, Alonso will come through from the second row of the grid to scoop his third win of the season, with Raikkonen making similar progress to take second. Despite slipping from pole with Mercedes lacking race pace in relation to Ferrari and Lotus, Hamilton will take the final podium spot, crucially re-taking the upper hand over Rosberg on a track that has been kind to the 2008 champion.

Webber will come home fifth in a steady and unspectacular run, just shading Massa and Perez, who will prove wrong his critics with a measured drive. Paul Di Resta and Adrian Sutil will make it a double points finish for Force India, with Daniel Ricciardo rounding out the points-finishers with tenth. No sign of Vettel though, who is seriously overdue some bad luck - perhaps the 'Wall of Champions' beckons...

Monaco Grand Prix 2013 - Preview

This weekend sees the Formula One drivers return to action and take on the unique and challenging Monaco Grand Prix – the description ‘jewel in the crown’ may be somewhat hackneyed, but it is difficult to imagine F1 without Monaco and vice versa.

The race was first held in 1929 as a way for the Automobile Club de Monaco to gain equal status with the other racing clubs of Europe, and has been a continuous fixture on the F1 calendar since 1955. The circuit layout has barely changed in that time, with famous corners such as Sainte-Devote, the Loews hairpin and Tabac still more or less in their original form.

As well as being an anachronism in the safety-focused modern era, Monaco has somehow resisted the ‘Bernification’ of F1 – practice is still customarily held on a Thursday rather than on Friday, the track is the only one on the calendar which lacks ‘themed’ trackside advertising (where a single sponsor occupies one particular group of a circuit’s advertising hoardings), and the TV feed is the only one still produced locally rather than by Ecclestone’s FOM organisation.

The race itself is notorious for its lack of overtaking, even in the context of the Pirelli-DRS formula, making grid position more crucial in Monaco than anywhere else. Full of slow corners and with no real long straights to speak of, strong traction out of slow corners is the key to the best lap times, while the circuit gives the driver perhaps the best opportunity of the year to transcend the limits of his machinery.

The tyre allocation for the weekend consists of the super soft and soft compounds, with tyre wear – for once – not expected to be quite as influential in determining the race's outcome as it has been so far this year. Monaco will also be the first race of 2013 with only a single DRS zone, which is found along the start/finish straight on the approach to Sainte-Devote.

Tyres have dominated the agenda since the Spanish Grand Prix, with Pirelli immediately confirming that, on the basis that four pit-stops in a race is ‘too far’, that they would be hardening the tyre compounds from Canada onwards in a bid to reduce the amount of pit-stops as well as to help prevent the rear de-laminations that have been a worryingly regular occurrence as of late.

Understandably, this provoked outrage by Lotus, Ferrari and Force India, the three teams that would stand to lose out  most with such a change. Lotus team principal Eric Boullier likened Pirelli’s decision to widening the size of the goal in football, whilst Ferrari’s ‘Horse Whisperer’ column defended the virtues of four-stop strategies – pointing out that few people were complaining when Sebastian Vettel won at Barcelona in 2011 with four pit-stops.

Red Bull on the other hand were the most vocal supporters of change, believing that the tyre situation had been prevented them from exploiting the inherent speed advantage of their car. The FIA then intervened, stating that tyre changes could only be made on safety grounds, and that any further change would require unanimous approval from the teams. Pirelli are currently seeking consensus to introduce minor changes to the rear tyres, but it seems unlikely such an agreement will be forthcoming with certain teams having a vested interest in maintaining the status quo.

The debate is an interesting one, and you certainly have to feel a certain sympathy for Lotus, Ferrari and Force India for producing cars that deal with the tyre situation better than their rivals, even if, like me, you would prefer to see a return to more durable tyres and flat-out racing. Pirelli of course have their image to bear in mind – four-stop races and de-laminating tyres do not make for good PR. In fact, there’s no guarantee the Italian firm will even be around next year, with the FIA yet to offer them a contract to continue supplying tyres for 2014 and beyond.

The whole episode however highlights the folly of deliberately creating tyres that quickly degrade. A return to a tyre war would not only allow drivers to be on the limit for longer during races, but would prevent the ludicrous scenario whereby the competitive order of the top teams is determined by a single variable over which nobody but Pirelli has control.

The other major talking point has been the confirmation of Honda’s return as an engine supplier in 2015 with the McLaren team, the Japanese marque in particular citing the new turbo engine regulations coming into force for next season as an attractive technological proposition. People expecting a return to the kind of form McLaren enjoyed when they won four consecutive titles from 1988 to 1991 with Honda power had better temper their expectations, however.

Whilst a ‘works’ relationship with their engine supplier will no doubt be advantageous for McLaren, it shouldn’t be forgotten that, during the 2000s, Honda engines were considered average compared to the likes of BMW, Mercedes and Ferrari. Equally, if a development freeze similar to the one currently in force is introduced to save money, it will be impossible for any manufacturer to enjoy the same supremacy Honda did 25 years ago.

That said, Honda’s return is certainly good news for F1 and a strong endorsement of the upcoming formula. Whilst BMW have recently scotched rumours of a comeback to engine supply, hopefully other manufacturers will be encouraged by Honda’s example to join, or return to the fray – Toyota, Ford, VW-Audi and even Hyundai-Kia would all make valuable additions to the grid.

With benefit of the practice timesheets, Mercedes seem virtually certain to take pole position, if not lock out the front row, with Nico Rosberg going quickest in both Thursday sessions. The question is however to what extent tyre woes will slow he and teammate Lewis Hamilton down during the race, and if the Silver Arrows can take the win simply by holding up their competitors all the way to the chequered flag. It’s a big ‘if’, but if so, Rosberg has the chance of emulating his father Keke’s Monaco victory of 30 years ago.

Ferrari also look strong, and if Alonso can replicate his searing race pace of Barcelona, he could be in with a chance of taking the Prancing Horse’s first win in the Monegasque streets since 2001 and become the first driver to win at the principality for three different teams. Lotus also showed some eye-catching long-run pace in practice, even if their headline lap times were less impressive, making Kimi Raikkonen another threat for the win – particularly if he can once more make one less pit-stop than his rivals.

Red Bull meanwhile looked a bit out of sorts through the slow corners, lacking single-lap pace in particular which could severely hamper their chances of a strong race result with overtaking next to impossible. McLaren appeared once again to have made precious little progress since the last race, but since Jenson Button and Sergio Perez both tend to be quick at Monaco, solid points should be in the offing. Pastor Maldonado is another man to look out for as he seeks Williams’ first points of the season on a circuit at which he has always been strong.

Qualifying Prediction

1. Rosberg, 2. Hamilton, 3. Alonso, 4. Raikkonen, 5. Massa, 6. Grosjean, 7. Vettel, 8. Webber, 9. Button, 10. Maldonado

Race Prediction

1. Alonso, 2. Raikkonen, 3. Rosberg, 4. Massa, 5. Hamilton, 6. Webber, 7. Button, 8. Perez, 9. Maldonado, 10. Sutil

Despite Mercedes sewing up the front row, it will be a simple case of Alonso sticking right with the silver cars during the first stint, waiting for them to pit, hammering out a series of fast laps and emerging ahead after his first stop. Raikkonen will replicate the feat to take second, with Rosberg hanging on to third from Massa, who will jump Hamilton during the pit-stops.

Webber will have a steady run to sixth ahead of the McLaren duo, with Maldonado ending Williams’ barren run with a great drive to ninth and Sutil finally having some luck, taking the final point in tenth. Vettel on the other hand is overdue some bad luck and will fail to finish, as will Grosjean in a repeat of his practice contretemps with the Sainte-Devote barriers.

Why F1 requires a re-think

In many ways, the last two Grand Prix at China and Bahrain were great demonstrations of precisely what is wrong, in my view, with modern Formula One.

To the uninformed viewer, there was constant action up and down the field in both races. But, therein lies my biggest gripe – there was a lot of action, but not much of it actual racing.

At China, two principal elements served to ruin the spectacle – an option tyre that was only good for qualifying, and two DRS zones that reduced the art of overtaking to mere child’s play. It wasn’t so much a race at Shanghai as a scientific experiment in which the various tyre strategies of the 22-strong field simply played themselves out.

Thanks to DRS, there was no danger of Fernando Alonso getting stuck behind a slower car as the varying strategies overlapped, making the Spaniard’s victory virtually inevitable because of the Ferrari’s relative kindness on its tyres.

There’s nothing wrong with tyre management being an element of success in F1, and Ferrari, as well as Lotus, ought to reap the rewards for designing cars that can look after their rubber better than the opposition. But, imagine how much more thrilling the race would have been if Alonso had needed to overtake Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel and Jenson Button without the help of DRS.

Were that the case, despite Ferrari having the best package, Alonso would have needed to work hard to capitalise on his tyre ‘kindness’ advantage. Had he got stuck behind another car, it would have given his rivals a chance to close in. He would have been forced to dive up the inside at turn 6 or turn 14 and hope for the best, just like in the good old days.

What’s worse, with DRS, in many cases the car ahead wasn’t even attempting to defend, knowing that they weren’t competing with the car behind. Once Vettel pitted for the final time at China to equip his mandatory option tyres with five laps to go, race engineer Guillaume Rocquelin told the reigning champion he could now race, as if to say that, up to that point, he had not been racing.

Isn’t racing what these drivers are paid millions of dollars to do, though? What we saw at China may have looked like racing, but the vast majority of the overtaking was a simple case of strategies overlapping, with the car on fresher rubber much faster, and not drivers on the limit fighting tooth and nail for every place.

Bahrain was less of an extreme as far as the tyres were concerned, but, on a track where overtaking is already eminently possible, DRS resulted in a race that was virtually impossible to follow.

The problem was that, having just been passed, a slower car merely had to remain within a second of the car ahead for the following lap in order to be more or less assured of regaining the place along the start/finish straight.

Whilst this generated plenty of action, much of it had an aura of meaninglessness about it, much like the non-stop overtaking seen in series such as NASCAR. That isn’t to say that there wasn’t 'real' overtaking to be found at Bahrain, but that just made the effects of DRS all the more maddening.

Turns 4, 6 and 8 all saw considerable action throughout the race, whilst the first couple of laps proved – before DRS was activated – that it was more than possible to overtake at the first corner without the need for artificial overtaking aids. Alonso’s comeback through the field after losing his DRS underlined that even further.

I recently watched the 2006 Bahrain Grand Prix as part of Sky F1’s ‘Classic F1’ programming, and it was a cracker of a race despite the refuelling, relatively durable tyres and lack of overtaking aids that proponents of the Pirelli/DRS formula seem to abhor. It was a straight fight between Alonso and Michael Schumacher, and the result was in doubt until several laps from the chequered flag.

Both men were on the limit throughout, knowing that their tyres would allow them to be. And, at an overtaking-friendly track such as Bahrain, plenty of passes were made up and down the field in a manner which the likes of Juan Manuel Fangio, Jim Clark and Ayrton Senna would all instinctively recognise.

If Senna was still around today, I’m sure he would lament the demise of ‘real’ overtaking and the increasing trend of faster drivers to simply wait until the next DRS zone to make their move. I would rather see ten perfectly judged, edge-of-your-seat ‘pure’ passes in a race, like the ones in Bahrain ’06, than fifty made with the help of DRS.

If it was up to me, I would ban DRS in a heartbeat. When it comes down to it, it’s an artificial solution to the core problem of cars being unable to follow each other closely enough to overtake.

A far better solution would be to adjust the technical regulations with the intent of dramatically reducing the aerodynamic efficiency of F1 cars. This could be achieved through a narrower front wing, perhaps with a mandatory single plane, or a spec diffuser. Perhaps a ban on carbon brakes would also help to facilitate overtaking by extending the length of braking zones.  

That said, I would settle for a compromise whereby the number of uses of DRS was restricted, say, to ten or fifteen times in a race – much like IndyCar’s ‘push to pass’ system – and was also available as a defensive measure for the car ahead. That would certainly eliminate the ‘inevitability’ factor of overtaking in a DRS zone and make the device far more tactical.

Moving onto tyres, in an ideal world, I’d love nothing more than a return to a full-blown tyre war. Just like DRS, the idea of Pirelli creating a tyre deliberately designed to degrade over a race distance is another ‘sticking plaster’ solution to induce overtaking that would be rendered unnecessary if the powers that be took the issue of reducing aerodynamic reliance more seriously.

A tyre war would be beneficial to F1 for the same reason there would be uproar if we had identical chassis. Variety makes things interesting as different packages perform, er, differently on different circuits, in different conditions, and in different circumstances. There’s no reason why that logic shouldn’t apply to tyres as well – more variables means more unpredictability.

The effects on pit-stop strategy would be difficult to gauge, as the last time we had a tyre war without refuelling was way back in 1991. But, as long as numerous compounds were available, we’d theoretically see a variety of strategies in play ranging from perhaps no stops at all to two or three, depending on the circuit and other factors.

Sadly, the economic climate means it’s unlikely that tyre companies would be willing to plough the immense resources into the development and testing that a bona fide tyre war would require. But, even if we resign ourselves to the reality of a single tyre supplier for now, there are still some tweaks we could make to the regulations to reconcile Pirelli rubber with ‘real’ racing.

First, the rules need to be adjusted as to ensure that, on Saturdays, none of the Q3 runners opt to not set a competitive lap time in order to save tyres. The obvious solution to this, besides perhaps some kind of penalty for not doing so, would be to award each of the top ten qualifiers a fresh set of option tyres solely for the purpose of qualifying.

This would mean in turn that the Q3 drivers could then start on whichever tyres they saw fit, giving them a wider range of strategic choices rather than having to start on worn option tyres. So too would abolishing the rule that requires drivers to use both compounds in a race, as this prevents drivers plummeting down the order late in a race by being forced to use less-than-optimal rubber.

Undoubtedly, there's a balance to be struck between the sport and the 'show'. After all, the former can't occur without the millions of dollars that are generated by television deals and sponsorship. Nobody wants a return to the kind of racing we saw in the early 2000s, and admittedly the current rule-set does guard against processional racing at the very least.

However, degrading tyres and DRS in the majority of cases merely give the illusion of real racing, which, it could be argued, may be even worse than what we had before. The danger is that 'hardcore' fans become disillusioned and switch their attentions to other forms of motorsport, leaving only the notoriously fickle 'casual' fanbase which is liable to desert F1 in favour of other sports at any time.

There is no reason why F1 cannot appeal to the hardcore and casual fan alike, and the key to this is close, exciting, but most importantly real racing. That means a return to somewhat more durable tyres and the scrapping of DRS. And for that to work without leading to a dearth of on-track action, the FIA need to get tough on aerodynamics once and for all.