Trumpet should be last word in F1 noise row

For some, last week's failed 'megaphone' exhaust test conducted by Mercedes was more evidence of Formula 1 shooting itself in the foot.

Having finally let the racing do the talking to prove that the new regulations had not diminished the racing spectacle, F1 was on the receiving end of fresh mockery thanks to a contraption that would not have looked out of place in Wacky Races.

Yet while the japes - which even included one from Nico Rosberg, who tweeted a photoshopped image of Louis Armstrong playing the trumpet out of the back of his car - might have been unwelcome, they will hopefully act as a catalyst to end the nonsense on noise.

For in the world of unintended consequences, the proposed solution for our ears was so offensive to the eyes that it may have served as a reality check as to the real importance of the sound debate.

If the answer to an issue like noise is a crude visual look that goes against the very essence of grand prix racing's technological excellence and beauty, then surely it's not worth it.

F1 has been, and should always be, about the best. Its huge popularity is based on it being the absolute pinnacle of everything: the best drivers gunning it out in the best cars with the best technology.

When things do go wrong - like with the ugly noses this year - it's only because technical chiefs are so focused on chasing the ultimate performance that visual aesthetics do not come into play.

The stopwatch should always matter more than what the fashion police say. There is an attraction in this endless quest to be quicker.

Ugly noses also generated mockery © XPB

Were the trumpet exhaust a radical new design that handed a team a huge performance advantage, then fans could easily stomach it: for there is some sympathy when looks are sacrificed in the quest for speed.

But to do so for wholly artificial means - to try to increase noise to satisfy those who have been unhappy since the start - would take the sport down a path that ultimately ends up in WWE territory.

After an artificial enhancement of noise, do we then get artificial performance boosts to close up the field? Should we start hindering the top teams deliberately to stop them winning?

The answer is no we shouldn't. Victory in F1 should always be about being the best - not 'engineering' things for the sake of show business.

Bernie Ecclestone and his long-time ally Ron Walker, the Australian GP promoter, may continue their outcry against the noise issue amid an agenda that owes more to commercial deals, but in reality the best thing now would be for the sound chatter to simply disappear.

Every era of F1 has elements that fans love and hate. Some don't like the current noise, some do. Some hate DRS, some welcome it. Some pine for the V8s, while some are enthralled by the current V6 turbos.

Yet among those camps is a shared view that F1 remains attractive as long as the racing is good and it entertains while staying true to its sporting values. You can have all the noise you want, but if it delivers no entertainment and no sporting contest then nobody will tune it to watch it.

The near universal outcry from fans about the introduction of double points for the season finale shows how artificiality is a turn-off.

Despite protestations that the majority of fans are unhappy about the noise, there has yet to be a proper market survey done about just how big a percentage of racegoers and/or viewers are against it.

But even without proper research, you can be sure it will be a smaller proportion than the 95 per cent who hated double points - and were ignored by the sport's chiefs.

F1 will never please everybody. But to risk alienating the masses with some Wacky Races solutions to appease what many suspect is a vocal minority, is wrong.