What F1 can learn from Alonso’s blast from the past

The buzz surrounding Fernando Alonso's R25 demonstration laps over the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix weekend reminded me of a conversation I had with a Formula 1 colleague a few years ago.

He suggested that F1 was a series that was always at its worst in the present. No matter what era you lived in, it was never quite as good as it was in the past, nor as brilliant as it was going to be in the future. That is definitely true of now, for F1's current generation of amazing cars - that produce more downforce than ever, are faster than ever, and have the most powerful engines in the series' history - are not universally loved.

The cars are amazing to drive (if you are one of the 20 human beings able to do so) and they look phenomenal when watched out on track in some high-speed corners. And yet, F1's 2020 machinery is dogged by the same complaints that have been pretty much an ever-present through the turbo hybrid era.

They are too quiet and they are too heavy. They also cannot follow each other close enough to allow easy overtaking, and the drivers can't push to the max because of tyre overheating and fuel saving.

So it was little wonder then that Alonso's eye-opening laps in the R25, where he lapped within a couple of seconds of current F1 machinery, caused such a stir. The blast from the past served up a double whammy of abusing the eardrums with its screaming V10, and thrilling the eyeballs. The Renault's agility and nimbleness were clear to see as Alonso attacked the kerbs and gave it his all. As the Spaniard said afterwards, there was only one speed he knew in that car: and that was flat out.

PLUS: Fernando Alonso's 10 greatest F1 races

The use of a GoPro as the onboard camera also delivered a new perception too, with its different field of view offering an illusion of speed - that was further ramped up by the images not being as stable as we are used to these days.

As the F1 pitlane turned out to applaud Alonso as he returned to the garage after his runs, on Saturday evening his future team-mate Esteban Ocon was eager to wander down to have a close up look at things. The Frenchman even climbed into the cockpit for a quick exploration.

Afterwards, Autosport asked Ocon for his thoughts about whether he too had been blown away by the test - and whether it had exposed what F1 was missing with its quieter, heavier and more cumbersome cars.

"There is a smile on my face," responded Ocon. "That's clearly what it has brought to everybody. I really wanted to experience it. What a machine. What a sound.

"We need to live with our time, that's how it is. The world is moving, and I think it's the same in the car industry" Esteban Ocon

"It brings the memories from when I was a child, basically. As I always say, those generation of cars are the ones that gave me the love for the sport and the motivation to be the driver I am today. It's true that we are missing that sound clearly. I think if people think about Formula 1 that's what they think about... that one.

"The cars that we have nowadays are better to drive, are quicker to drive, have more power, have more torque. They are just the best cars and the quickest of all time, but if they were sounding like this, it would probably be better.

"But we need to live with our time, that's how it is. The world is moving, and I think it's the same in the car industry. Road cars are sounding less and less, so you lose a bit of the emotion there. But they are fast and they are more efficient and they are more reliable. It's as simple as that."

The world has indeed changed a lot since 2005, and while there is a romanticism about how great F1 would be if we went back to the screaming V8s and V10 engines, winding back the clock is not a realistic option. F1 is committing to hybrids for all the right reasons, and we should not forget that there is now a growing acceptance in F1 that while the broad concept of the current engines was right, the final details of what F1 ended up with was wrong.

The engineering-led arguments for what the power units should be were given too much sway, and F1 ended up with overly complex and excessively expensive power units that were then not marketed well enough to the public.

The noise aspect was also hugely underestimated, for while the current cars do not sound terrible, a few more decibels certainly would not go amiss. And as F1 plots its path for the all new power units that are coming for 2025 or 2026, one idea that seriously needs to be looked at is allowing the engines to rev higher so it sounds like the drivers and cars are pushing more. At the moment, with engine shifts happening at 11,000 to 12,000rpm because that is where peak torque is delivered, it sounds more like F1 drivers are on a Sunday afternoon economy run than racing at the limit.

The emotional aspect of what an F1 car delivers on the sound and visual front is hugely important and always needs to be taken into consideration when it comes to framing what an F1 chassis and power unit need to deliver.

The return of sparks through the use of titanium skid blocks in 2015 was a great move. They add hugely to the visual allure of F1 machinery. And, while the purists have argued that they are 'fake sparks' because the skid blocks are falsely forced upon teams rather than being a necessity as they were in the 1980's, ultimately who cares as long as the cars look great?

Williams' head of vehicle performance Dave Robson could not miss the R25 last weekend, with the Renault demonstration area being set up in the garage next door to the Grove-based outfit. And while joining the rest of F1 in being impressed with the car, confessing it reminded him of the noise that the series misses right now, he was equally mindful about how the passing of time can change people's perception.

"I suspect when we look back at 2005, we were probably wondering if we were missing something from 10-15 years before that," he said. "It's probably just memories more than anything else.

"But the obvious thing is the sound. I personally miss that, although it's a lot easier to work with these cars in terms of the noise level. I think there's something explosive about that V10 and revving it at 18/19/20,000 rpm. So, I think we miss that."

He's right to some extent. In 2005, the racing was pretty terrible at times thanks to a ban on tyre changes. And F1 was lumbered with the grooved rubber that never really won the support of fans.

The season was also dogged by complaints that the downforce levels of the cars were too high and it was impossible for cars to follow each other close enough. On the engine front, the sport moved away from the V10 era because it wanted less powerful engines...

"I saw the pictures without the sound, and it still looked great, so why is that? We need to analyse that" Toto Wolff

Whether Alonso's demo run was just a nostalgia overload, or was a genuine sign that F1 has taken a wrong path with the current direction of rules, it is clear that it has at least reopened a key debate within the series about where we go from here. F1 should not ignore the fact that Alonso did cause such a stir, and grabbed the interest of fans and F1 personnel in a way that doesn't happen often.

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff was asked in Abu Dhabi if F1 regretted allowing Renault to do the test, with it being a catalyst for those who think the series' current cars are good enough.

"I don't think anybody from Formula 1 regrets to have had the car out there, because we need to analyse, now that we saw it live, what is so attractive?" he said. "Is it the audio and visual experience that makes it attractive?

"I saw the pictures without the sound, and it still looked great, so why is that? We need to analyse that. We are stakeholders in the sport, and we need to improve everywhere."

What perhaps will be most interesting of all will be when 50-year old Lewis Hamilton is doing some demo runs in his current W11 at a grand prix in 2035 and what the reaction will be then.

Will we all look at that car as evidence of an era that F1 simply got it wrong? Or will we rave at its wow factor of being the most powerful, fastest, and most spectacular car that the series ever witnessed? If my original friend is right, it will be the latter.