Has F1 sanitised its soul?

Are you saying," I asked Niki Lauda, "that we've made Formula 1 too safe?" "Yes," said Lauda. "100%. 100%..."

In this day and age, I suggested, most people would argue that you cannot make it too safe.

"I know," Niki replied, "but it's developed so quickly in this direction, and this drives me crazy. In my time, when somebody went straight on into the guardrail, we'd go to the organisers and get it changed, fine, but now we're making all these changes - and without accidents!"

Is it an Austrian thing, or a generation thing - or maybe a bit of both? Whatever, Lauda - like Gerhard Berger - grew up long before political correctness began sinking its talons into free speech, and if I have always savoured their company, it is not least because they say what they think. That wasn't unusual in 1972, when I first met Niki, and a chat in Montreal confirmed that he hasn't changed a whit.

It began with my asking Lauda for his thoughts on the state of Formula 1 - and its future. He hesitated before answering: "I have to think how to say this...

"The whole world is changing in a lot of ways - safety first, everyone suing each other... you know what I'm trying to say? Unfortunately Formula 1 seems to be going the same way, and at the same pace - which is wrong. One is normal life, and the other is extreme - the best people in the world driving to the limit - and if the rules for both develop in the same way, then you destroy the spectacle of Formula 1.

"Today everything is driven more and more by lawyers, which I think is stupid - and Formula 1 is following so quickly that, for example, we end up with this ******* halo. And in the race it seems like everything that happens is immediately 'under investigation', to be decided by stewards: if you say now, 'What has to be changed?', I say we have to stop this - immediately.

"For me, the big problem is that the FIA is here for road safety, which it always has been, and is also in charge of the rules of Formula 1 - but whereas in the past the two were clearly defined, and separate, now it all comes together, and this was triggered by the Bianchi accident, because the FIA was worried about being sued by his family.

"That accident had nothing to do with Formula 1's fundamental safety, but what it did was trigger much more quickly the situation we have now, which is that no-one takes decisions any more without thinking, 'What is the legal consequence of this?' If you do this with Formula 1, my view is that you're going to kill it, and nothing confirms what I'm saying more than the introduction of the halo - which would not have helped poor Bianchi. How do we stop that sort of thing, in this legally-driven world? I don't know...

"The Liberty people are American, and they seem to be good at marketing, but they don't know the DNA of Formula 1 right from the beginning. Now they work closely with the FIA because they need guidance to understand the sport, and my worry is where we're going to end up.

"Liberty should say, 'This has to be a spectacle, has to be this and that to bring it back to what it was - and still be acceptably safe'. The way things are coming together now, I'm pessimistic that the DNA of Formula 1 will be completely destroyed. What do people want to see?

"The way things are coming together now, I'm pessimistic that the DNA of Formula 1 will be completely destroyed" Niki Lauda

"I think they want to see extremes, like in the past, but this is all going to be stopped."

As Niki paused for breath, I mentioned something Ken Tyrrell said to me 30 or so years ago: "Of course we have to work for safety - but at the same time we need to be careful we don't finish up with something no-one wants to watch any more..."

"Absolutely right," Lauda said. "Everything has gone in completely the wrong direction - there's a thin line, and we've gone over it: we need to bring it back to that line, where you have safety, but also you still race properly.

"Look at MotoGP: at the race in Austria I spoke to [Marc] Marquez about how those guys live - they really fight with their machines, and you can see it! That's why the spectacle is so exciting for the fans, but in Formula 1 the halo took all that away - at least before you could see the drivers' helmets, so you knew who you were watching! My suggestion would be to bring the cars back to normal, with open cockpits, so you can see what the drivers are doing."

While I may agree with Lauda on the subject of halos - it was a pleasure at Indianapolis again to see single-seaters without the things - the fact is that they have been introduced, and it is surely inconceivable that any FIA president would ever turn back the clock, and remove them.

"Yes, I know," Niki agreed. "Like I said, the world is going in that direction - but I say again, look at MotoGP, where this guy Carmelo Ezpeleta [the head of Dorna, the commercial rights holder] basically runs it his own way, by his rules: if they get one team that's too quick, he takes a decision on what to do to close up the field again, and he doesn't talk to Honda or Yamaha about it - he just does it. He runs the business himself - he's not affected by all this safety and security bullshit. Unless a circuit is crazy, he doesn't do anything on safety - it is the way it is. Even though the world changes, he's been able to keep the sport as attractive as it always was - so why are we not able to do that?

"What I'm saying is that the DNA of motorcycle racing has not changed - actually it's getting better and better. So why are we affected, and they are not? For me, the bikes are much more dangerous than the cars - that's what Marquez said to me, and he's right. Basically motorcycle racing is the same sport it has always been, and the fans love that about it - but our sport has changed, and this is the mistake."

As one close to Bernie Ecclestone throughout his life in motor racing, how does Lauda feel about Formula 1's new American owners?

"Well, I must say that when Liberty took over, I thought it would have been logical for them to keep Bernie as an adviser for maybe a couple of years, but it didn't happen. The thing is, though, that Formula 1 is driven so much by politics these days that even when Bernie was here eventually he couldn't take decisions any more - he was fighting the Formula 1 Commission, voting rights, this and that, backwards and forwards...

"Not even Bernie could stop it, and now, with the Americans coming in, it will accelerate, and that's my worry. In terms of marketing, Liberty is doing a good job, but I'm pessimistic about racing itself, the basis of what we're trying to sell, because of this combination of the FIA and Liberty: it's a fact that Americans are very legally driven, and from the point of view of the core business, I'm worried.

"In my opinion we need to reset the whole sport. We need to say there's no more Formula 1 Commission, no more F1 Strategy Group and all this shit - reset the whole thing from the start. Honestly, I think this is the only way - let the FIA do what they do, and let Liberty do the marketing and bring the money in, but set up a system like Dorna in MotoGP, and start again."

In terms of TV figures, for some years now Formula 1 - like every other major racing series on earth - has been in decline, and in our branch of the sport, I suggested to Lauda, some of that must be attributed to the long domination of Mercedes - his team. He didn't disagree.

"For sure it's boring if Mercedes wins every championship - when it's like that, you lose people, and that's normal. Having said that, this year we're back to a more competitive situation, with three teams fighting, and I hope people are starting to come back, but the thing is, they're coming back after a period of Mercedes domination - it doesn't mean that there are more people coming to Formula 1. This is the catch - we're not getting more people because the spectacle is not good enough."

There has been endless debate about the next Formula 1, to be introduced in 2021, and I suggested that the inclusion of Ross Brawn in the Liberty triumvirate was surely a cause for optimism - if anyone knows Formula 1, after all, it is surely he.

"Yes, there's no question about that, and Ross has been very good at his job - but does he know what the future of Formula 1 should be? He knows the existing situation - which is getting slowed down by all these rules - but I think the future does not need only Ross. There's a technical group working on the next Formula 1, with people like Pat Symonds, but I think it needs some new - maybe young - brains as well, which, combined with their experience, can come up with a better package."

Very well, I said, if you had the power to decide how Formula 1 should be in 2021, what needs to change?

"We need to get back to cars that look normal - and we need to make sure they can overtake each other. And then - for me this is the most important thing - the drivers should have total freedom to drive: no restrictions. If we live in a world of 'stewards' investigations', in the minds of these guys you slow them down: 'If I try to pass, and I hit him, I'll get penalised...' All these stupid rules have to disappear - these guys are the best, so let them race, as they did in the past.

"The difference between now and then is that in the past Formula 1 was really dangerous" Niki Lauda

"The difference between now and then is that in the past Formula 1 was really dangerous. Of course you can't bring that back, but we have to get back to normal circuits, where the edge of the road is the edge of the road, and if you go over it you spin or crash. And also, if you pass somebody, you have to be sure to do it properly, because then you will get the respect back. If you have those things, you will see an exciting race: today, with all this runoff shit, someone goes off, and he loses three seconds, and comes back! This is all wrong - the circuits are wrongly designed, and there is no longer any respect between drivers."

Lauda, as you can see, had a lot to get off his chest: with that done, we moved on to life at Mercedes, starting with the renewal of Lewis Hamilton's contract. Late last year Toto Wolff said negotiations would soon be complete, and then that everything would be settled by the time of Melbourne. Still, though, there has been no announcement.

"Basically," said Niki, "the important things are the salary and the length of the contract, and this is all agreed. Now, though, we argue forever about how many off-track days Lewis has to do, how long these days are, what the sponsors require... These things have to be done - for both sides - but it's not really an issue. As you say, a Melbourne deadline was put on it, but it should never have had a deadline, because when that passed of course it led to all this media speculation."

Another question about Hamilton. Throughout his Formula 1 career, at McLaren and now Mercedes, he has had these mysterious 'off weekends', and I wondered if Lauda had any explanation for them. Like everyone at Mercedes, Niki is fiercely defensive of Lewis.

"Well... no driver is perfect. They're on and off, there's no question about it, and normally you're talking about one or two tenths. When Lewis is at a medium level, you see it in his face, but usually he manages to find a way out of it, and comes back to his best. I think this happens when you've been driving in Formula 1 for such a long time - for me it's a normal human reaction, and I remember weekends like that when I was driving.

"All in all, I think the combination of Hamilton and Bottas couldn't be better. Valtteri is doing a very good job, especially this year. He's a very quiet person, but I can tell you, if he wants to say something, he says it - if the Finn gets upset, he tells you! And that's good. He works extremely hard, and this year his performance is perfect, I think."

That seemed to suggest that Mercedes will be unchanged for 2019 and beyond, which in turn perhaps means that Daniel Ricciardo, for all the speculation about a move from Red Bull, will in the end have no alternative but to stay put.

"Actually," said Lauda, "I think Ricciardo is in a very good position. Red Bull are paying Verstappen a lot of money - and if I'm the other driver there, after winning China and Monaco, I go to Helmut Marko and say, 'I know what my friend gets...' Red Bull always said, 'Stupid Mercedes - they pay Hamilton a fortune, they pay Rosberg a fortune, and if you combine the two, the whole budget is gone!' But now I think we're cheaper than what they're going to have to pay Verstappen and Ricciardo. If you're world champion, for marketing reasons of course you're worth more money, but I think that, for what he has done, Verstappen is extremely well paid, and Ricciardo should say, 'I want to stay - but give me the same as the little kid'.

"If you ask me today, the logic is that Ricciardo has to stay where he is: we're happy with Hamilton and Bottas, and I don't believe Ferrari are really pushing for him - after the season Vettel had with Ricciardo at Red Bull a few years ago, I don't think he would want him there..."

If Montreal was less diverting than we might have anticipated, Paul Ricard went somewhat the other way. While it was never in doubt that Hamilton, replete with new Mercedes engine, would score his 44th victory with the team, there was plenty going on behind him, and not surprisingly, after 10 years away, everyone rejoiced at the return of the French Grand Prix.

When the race first ventured to Ricard in 1971, the venue - ritzy for its time - was well received, but the track itself left the drivers cold, and that was no surprise, given that in the recent past the French Grand Prix had been run at classic road circuits like Rouen les Essarts and Clermont-Ferrand. That was another time, though: at the weekend one commentator described Ricard as 'iconic', so there we are.

While some perhaps care for the abrasive blue and red stripes that festoon the enormous runoff areas at post-modern Ricard, I confess that Montreal is rather more to my taste. As Lauda said, "The edge of the road should be the edge of the road", and at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve it emphatically is. Unlike Ricard, it also has a safe pit exit lane.

Montreal has ever been a haven of Ferrari fans, and they rejoiced in Vettel's victory

Villeneuve is inevitably on many a mind over the weekend of Montreal, and this year it was particularly so, for this was the 40th anniversary of the circuit's first Canadian Grand Prix, which he won. In the airport, touchingly, there were banners and mats everywhere: 'Salut Gilles. 40 Ans.'

If the race was dull, a highlight of the day was a lap, by Jacques Villeneuve, in a Ferrari 312T3 like the one his father drove to victory in 1978. Beforehand I asked Jacques if he were going to give the car a blast, but he said no, sadly, it was to be a slow lap of honour, nothing more. At least, though, the bark of the flat-12 reminded us of how a Formula 1 engine can sound.

Montreal has ever been a haven of Ferrari fans, and they rejoiced in Vettel's victory. Vettel is one of few contemporary drivers with an awareness of his sport's history, and over the weekend was appropriately respectful of Gilles: "He was, after all, Ferrari's favourite driver..."

So he was and, as I thought of him, I remembered one of our last conversations, at Rio three months before he died.

"The crowd is losing out," he said, "and that's really bad. For one thing, everyone loves to see cars sliding, but you can't slide these cars, because it loses you time. And for another, overtaking is really hard because the braking zone has disappeared.

"If we went round the corner 20mph slower, the public wouldn't even see it - and if the cars were visibly at the limit, sliding, they would love it. Of course the aerodynamicists don't like the idea of reducing downforce, but I'm sorry, the public don't come to see aerodynamic brilliance - they come to see a spectacle, not to watch cars that look like they're on rails..."

People talk about how much closer the world championship is this year, and - in terms of Mercedes facing serious competition for the first time in five years - that's true, but it doesn't mean we're getting wheel-to-wheel duels between Hamilton and Vettel, and until the 'aero' rules are radically changed that will likely remain the way of it.

It was 50 years ago this month that a wing was first seen on a Formula 1 car, Chris Amon's Ferrari taking pole at Spa by four seconds! "Actually," Amon said, "I did similar times with and without it - it was a tiny thing, and didn't make a huge difference to the grip, but it certainly made the car feel more stable, and I can remember thinking, 'Now what can of worms are we opening here?'"