What matters most in Formula 1?

Some people just don't 'get' sport. They say it's pointless, facile, that it doesn't matter.

But they are wrong. They are wrong because sport, like so many things in life, is much more than the sum of its parts. Sport matters because it means something to people.

So it is with Formula 1, which outwardly seems simply a collection of rich blokes shipping expensive cars around the world to drive around in circles as fast as they can for a few hours every other weekend.

But at the same time holds the power to capture imaginations, inspire minds, to create dreams, to give people purpose.

Everyone with an interest in F1, whether fleeting or fixed, vested or virtuous, will recall the point at which they discovered it for the first time. Going to a race, maybe watching it on TV, or reading about it in a book or magazine.

In the modern age perhaps this discovery came through the internet, via social media such as Facebook, Twitter, or even Lewis Hamilton's new favourite Snapchat.

However it might occur, this is where the heart and soul of Formula 1 resides. It is genesis - the point at which a torch is lit and the journey of discovery begins.

For some, this journey will become lifelong and totally absorbing; for others merely an occasional, fleeting fancy.

Formula 1 is so many things to so many different people. At its best it can be beautiful, exciting and engaging. At its worst ugly, boring and utterly infuriating.

But the uniting force is that it inspires passion in those captivated by its charms and vices. Whether you are a fan, driver, engineer, team boss, mechanic, promoter, regulator, steward, sponsor, journalist, or even a bag carrier, all of you care about it on some deep level.

Grand prix racing is living through a difficult time, gripped by a sense of existential paranoia and grappling with serious questions. Questions about its fanbase, its regulations, its governance, its very identity and place in the world.

These are difficult challenges, and F1 has often appeared clumsy in trying to meet them.

From engine sound to cost control, 'unchallenging' cars to pay drivers, lack of competition to 'artificial' racing, weak governance to qualifying format controversy. F1 lurches from one crisis to another, seemingly one poorly thought-out, kneejerk decision at a time.

It sometimes seems that F1 has become lost in its own maze of negativity, without a clear idea of what it is, what it means, what it stands for and where it is headed.

Desperate times do not always call for desperate measures, but what they always require is calm, level-headed, rational thinking. It's all too easy to get lost in the moment, without taking time to step back and take stock.

As F1 emerges, staggering, from the latest brawl over its qualifying format, and yet more squabbling about future technical regulations, perhaps the best way for it to grapple with its problems is to step back and remind the collective conscience why it's here in the first place. Remind everyone what F1 is all about.

This almost sounds blindingly obvious, but F1 could do with remembering that it is meant to be the best, or at least aspiring to be so.

Formula 1 should be the fastest, most exciting, most challenging, most rewarding form of motorsport on the planet. Everything it does should measure up to that standard.

"Watching the best in the world is important," agrees Williams technical chief Pat Symonds.

"Those that are not particularly interested in motorsport are not going to watch a club race from Silverstone, but they will watch a Formula 1 race, because they believe that they are seeing the best in the world.

"In the same way, I wouldn't go down to North Oxford tennis ground to watch people knocking about, but I'd go to Wimbledon.

"There are lots of sports I have a passing interest in, but World Cup level, Olympic level; things like that you watch because you know you're watching the best in the world, and we shouldn't forget what we are offering is the best in the world."

But striving to offer that is easier said than done without deconstructing what that means in the first place. This is about understanding the core elements that make Formula 1 what it is.

"First and foremost you want the belief you are watching the greatest motorcars that man can build," says Mercedes technical chief Paddy Lowe.

"You have to maintain that mystique - that impression you are watching the greatest drivers on the planet manipulate these greatest cars. That's the top of the thing.

"I gave a lecture recently at Leicester University and the title was 'Formula 1: More than a sport?' It is essentially a sport, but what's so interesting about Formula 1 is that it's far more than a sport.

"It's a technical competition as well as a competition between sportsmen, with all that brings. There's an entire technology industry built around the sport and that, as far as I know, is unique to Formula 1.

"What's great about the sport is that it supports a big spectrum of fans. The casual viewer can see a great aesthetic and understand some basics - that the first guy to get the chequered flag, which in itself is quite iconic, wins the race.

"They understand a car crashing into the barrier - it's fairly obvious what's going on.

"At the other end of the spectrum it supports super-fans who can really get stuck in to understanding nuances of tyre compounds, tyre graining, strategy, the technology of the car itself, and the personalities behind the teams.

"It's rich enough to support mega-fans who spend their whole lives following it."

The complexity of F1 - indeed of much of motorsport - is undoubtedly one of the key elements that set it apart from other major sports. The reasons people engage with F1 are therefore also quite complicated, reckons Lowe.

"I get the feeling that because of that [complexity] people that are Formula 1 fans tend to be fans for the long term," he says.

"Of course there are the more casual fans who come and go, but the core fanbase are very, very loyal to the sport, and I think another thing that's misunderstood is actually why do people watch it?

"Firstly, I don't think we really know, because the answer to that is probably very complex, but I strongly suspect it's not the things that everybody thinks and that we spend all our time worrying about.

"If I look out into the grandstand opposite the pits at Silverstone when it's raining in FP1, and the stand is completely rammed with people... well I wouldn't sit there and do that!

"I don't understand why they are sitting there and why they love it, but I can guess.

"It's probably not to do with the rear-wing regulation; it's probably not to do with the qualifying regulation and how many tyres you can have in Q2. I think people generally don't care much about that."

Attempting to properly understand and define the key tenets that make Formula 1 what it is could potentially be instructive to its decision-makers.

"You can come at it in a variety of ways," agrees McLaren acting CEO Jonathan Neale.

"It's possible to access the passion of getting behind a driver - you know there are people who follow just the driver and will swap from team to team to team depending on where the driver is going.

"There are people who will come in and support a team and it becomes like lots of other team sports, where it becomes a bit more tribal.

"We've got people who really want to get inside the technology and love that aspect of it.

"There are those, I guess, who like the Formula 1 politics and intrigue of what's going on - who's clashing with who and all of that.

"For me, especially coming from an aerospace and defence background, it's that Rubik's Cube of a bit of everything for everybody.

"But when we step back and say what is the DNA that sits inside it - what is Formula 1? For us, Formula 1 is where sport meets technology for the business of entertainment."

Formula 1 is clearly multi-faceted. It is about drivers, teams, racing, speed, technology, business and entertainment.

But there is often tension between these different elements, which makes it crucial to ascertain whether these tensions can be resolved and which competing aspects should have priority.

Armed with this knowledge, F1 would have a better sense of what it is, and therefore where it should go.

"I have a historical vision of Formula 1, where drivers were renowned for their bravery of being able to do things with cars that were actually incredibly dangerous, but as time has gone on I think that's kind of changed," says the owner of F1's newest team, Gene Haas.

"It had to change, because you couldn't keep having flaming wrecks and carnage and death, which was fairly common, but I kind of think that's what gave Formula 1 its reputation as a sport on the edge - an extreme sport.

"Over the years it's evolved into the sport that we have today and a lot of the controversy concerns 'is this a technological sport or a driver sport?' Do we want to have a sport that pits driver against driver for the fans, or a sport where we entertain the fans with these technological wonders?

"I don't know, and I don't think it's figured that out yet either."