The key element F1 must hope remains after coronavirus

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic struck and much of the world was forced into lockdown, constant predictions, theories and hot-takes had become the norm - particularly from the often unruly crowds on social media. Well, apologies, but get ready for another addition.

Right now, and completely understandably, many are regularly looking to predictions and theories as a way of adapting to and looking through the coronavirus crisis. Some are helpful, some aren't, and in many ways it's better to focus on the individual methods we can employ to help ourselves and society overall get through this as best we can.

Many people, this writer included, are holding onto the thought of post-coronavirus celebrations, the return of 'normality' and the pleasures we perhaps once took for granted.

So, it was interesting to hear FIA president Jean Todt tell James Allen and Jonathan Noble in an interview for Autosport last week that "another problem we will have to face is the interest".

"Because when all that will be over, do you still want to go to a race?" he continued. "Do you still want to go to a sports game? Do you still want to go to the theatre? Do you still want to go to the restaurant, to the movie? You will have to learn how to start again, because at the moment we are all confined - depending on where, who and how [we are]."

We must of course be careful to acknowledge that not everyone will feel the same way about many ideas regarding what is a truly horrific situation, nor make light of its deadly impact on so many innocent people.

But for a lot of people, surely, having their lives shut down has led to them feeling the opposite to Todt's suggestion.

We're learning much about ourselves because our usual circumstances have been totally uprooted. In addition to the heroics of those working to save lives and keep others going as 'normally' as possible during the lockdowns, the importance of community and kindness has been reinforced. We need each other - it's as simple as that.

People will still want to watch their beloved teams play and their favourite drivers race - and the flip side of every prediction is that the opposite scenario may well play out

And it's also true that for many right now, the feeling that life must be lived, joys should be embraced and interests encouraged is surging. Maybe not constantly - again, we have to get through this while making sure the whole is protected above self-interest - but it's there.

It's looking forward to parties and catch-ups, group exercise, travelling - anything, including the return of motorsport.

Todt may be right in one sense - people's attitudes are surely going to change in some ways, particularly concerning health and how we interact closely with each other. But it's about adapting what we've now learned to what we loved before.

He may also be correct in the sense that if the predicted economic shock from the coronavirus lockdowns hits as hard as it could, then people may have no choice not to spend their money on life's luxuries - of which motorsport is one.

But people will still want to watch their beloved teams play and their favourite drivers race - and the flip side of every prediction is that the opposite scenario may well play out.

For all we know, the result of being locked down will mean people are more willing to embrace the sports they love.

The pandemic has surely exposed the unfairness of parts of society that modern life made it all too easy to ignore before all this happened. And the same is true in F1 and other motorsport categories.

Todt's point that "I don't think that the priority number one now for a manufacturer is to secure continuity in motor racing" is certainly true given the sudden new pressures on all businesses. And so, his call for a "new deal" when it comes to costs and encouraging motorsport participation - for manufacturers, private team owners and sponsors - is to be welcomed.

"The new deal," Todt explained, "it is simply, in each disaster, each crisis, you have a lot of bad but you have some good. So, among the good is that we have the opportunity of making things better for the future. And mainly in Formula 1.

"We raise some heights, which for me are not reasonable and which we need to address. What we want to impose on the teams together with the F1 group, the budget will be with a new figure between $150 million for a small team up to over $300m for a big one, which does not include the cost of the development of the engine for manufacturers, which is still crazy.

"So can you even imagine where we were. And still we face resistance from some of them. So again, a reassessment, decisions to be taken, not only Formula 1, but on Formula E, WEC, on rally, on touring cars, on karting - on everywhere. That is what you call the new deal. It is a new situation."

But the interest from people who love F1 without strings attached, surely, will remain.

Yes, sport may seem trivial in the grand scale of humanity, but its absence has in many ways highlighted its importance. Sport intrinsically has community and camaraderie at its core, and so F1 and the FIA should be working to embrace the passion of the fans.

Those of us who love sport are seeing what life is like without it right now, and at the very least the prospect of its return is something to hang onto and encourage

Whether that's by saving long-loved events and tracks, finding a way to balance the lucrative pay TV money with screening the action to a wider audience for free, or lowering the costs of entry - to both competition and turning up to watch F1 action in person.

There's plenty of predictions about what life will be like once this is all over, and there is certainly a chance to refresh, fix what wasn't working and rebuild things stronger than they were before.

F1 must do that too. It might not be able to right away, and there are many barriers to overcome, but the chance is there. Already, ideas are forming of ways to use technology - via apps and data - to gradually and safely bring audiences back to mass sporting events.

Of course it's easy for a publication dependent on people being interested in motorsport for its own survival to argue that motorsport's relevance and importance will remain. But it's about more than that. It's about believing in people and what they love in life.

Those of us who love sport are seeing what life is like without it right now, and at the very least the prospect of its return is something to hang onto and encourage. A better day will come, and when it does its worth believing that it will do so with an outburst of interest, celebration and passion.