Highlights
Series
Explore
 |
The outside world has come crashing in on F1 in recent weeks. A global economic crisis and the extravagance of F1 don't sit comfortably together. So here comes Max Mosley, reinvigorated, seizing the moment to push through his long-held vision of F1 as little more than a spec formula. If F1 doesn't follow his vision, he implies, it will be dead by 2010. Maybe so. But F1 needs to be very careful at this crucial juncture that it doesn't throw the baby out with the cost-saving bath water. Costs do need to be cut urgently, and in the short term a measure of technical rationalisation will probably be the only way of doing this. But to extend that technical philosophy into a long term blueprint for F1 will surely kill it through lack of interest. Long term, lower spending levels do not - and should not - mean technical sterility. MotoGP bike racing has massively more technical diversity than F1 yet is vastly cheaper. Twenty years ago F1 featured full-on technical competition in engines, aerodynamics and tyres - for a fraction of the cost of the current much more technically restricted F1. The costs have been driven upwards purely by the commercial worth very wealthy entities have placed upon being in F1 during the boom years. Progressively restricting technology during that time has made absolutely zero impact upon costs; it has simply re-allocated them. The problem is that as the manufacturers drove the costs up, independent teams were unable to keep up and the very few that have survived are now in a parlous situation - and so, as a result, is F1. © 2021 Autosport
In the magazine: Wheldon the Lionheart In AUTOSPORT magazine this week, we reflect on the life of Dan Wheldon with those who knew him best, and remember the day, just a month before his death, when he showed off IndyCar's staircase of talent Mag 
MPH: Mark Hughes on... A law that invariably applies in racing: the genie will not go back into the bottle once released F1 
MPH: Mark Hughes on... Competitors entering motorsport are getting ever-younger - but are even the youngest missing out on a crucial age in physiological development? F1 
MPH: Mark Hughes on... So, team orders failed to secure the world championship for Fernando Alonso. But neither he, nor the Ferrari team, can function happily – or truly effectively – any other way F1
Read more features by Autosport magazine.
Subscribe to Autosport Plus
The Formula Vee maverick who has reached the top For a second consecutive year, a self-built machine has won the Formula Vee championship. But James Harridge's 'Maverick' comes from the very humblest of origins - with some parts even salvaged from a skip National 
The point-less F1 teams of 1991 Six of the 18 teams that appeared in the 1991 Formula 1 season failed to score a point, whether through lack of funds to build and test new parts, under-par engines or management musical chairs. Here are their little-known stories F1 
How Tandy joined an exclusive club of endurance legends Victory at last year's Spa 24 Hours meant Nick Tandy had completed the unofficial sextuple crown of the world's six biggest endurance races, becoming the first Briton to do so. Ahead of his fresh start with Corvette Racing, he explains how he did it GT 
The reluctant Lotus ace who was dropped for Clark A firm believer that motor racing was a sport for gentlemen, Innes Ireland lived a spirited life. NIGEL ROEBUCK recalls a character whose outlook ceased to fit with modern Formula 1 F1 
Please note that unauthorised reproduction or translation of any content (including words, data, information, photos, videos and any other intellectual property) published on this page and any other copyrighted content published on Autosport.com is strictly prohibited. Please see our terms and conditions for further information. |
