As a huge fan of F1, I appreciated the efforts of Max Mosley was doing to make the sport better after the multiple seasons of Ferrari mass wins (I’m a supporter of Ferrari but their constant winning made it boring to watch.) By better I mean from a spectator’s point of view.
Today more announcements were made, a few I agree with and a few I think are ridiculous.

The changes:

  • A single tyre manufacturer: This I believe in. Each team is at the mercy of the compounds created and a bad year for a tyre manufacturer (think Bridgestone 2005) ruins a teams chances of even scoring points.
  • Removing the requirement of grooved tyres: Wonderful! Finally we can push these cars harder. Screw safety. ;)
  • A ban on spare cars: No opinion on this one. We’ll see if there are any ramifications during the year.
  • A weight penalty of 15kg if an engine is replaced before the end of its two-race cycle: This is INSANE. A 15kg penalty? That pretty much kills your hopes of scoring a point if this happens.
  • A restriction on testing to no more than 30,000km per team a year: Another one I’m not for or against. This is simply a money saving measure.
  • Gearboxes to last for four races: Again, I don’t see the point. This is going to put incredible strain on the car and slow the pace dramatically when coupled into the 1 engine every 2 races rule.
  • No engine developments for 3 years: This is interesting but I doubt it’ll solve the problem of spending money. The money that would have gone into the engine will now flow into making the car as aerodynamic as possible. How does this change anything?

So Max, you want a better spectacle? How about a points table at the end of the year that makes no sense? We’ve gone from the best driver to the team with the best realiabilty. No more focus on the technology of the sport, no more focus on the best driver at all. Maybe we can have a champion from Minardi? :)