#360view: F1 needs someone to rev it up

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  • Dominant: Mercedes.

    Formula One has always been an enigma with fans willingly paying outrageous sums of money to get into an F1 circuit just to experience the atmosphere and get a fleeting glance of the extraordinary cars and the hugely talented guys who drive them.

    I have been an avid F1 fan since the days of James Hunt, Ayrton Senna, Niki Lauda and Nigel Mansell and watched in awe as Michael Schumacher came through the ranks to become a legend.

    As a journalist I was also privileged enough to have access to the drivers and see at first hand the dedication, passion and courage that consumes all those who are involved and fires the imagination of those who can only look in from the outside. Those were also the days when you could tell one car from the other by the engine note.

    The scream of a Ferrari engine was instantly recognisable from that of a Williams or a McLaren. It was that noise that created a totally unique atmosphere which pulled in fans like a magnet. Somehow, it didn’t matter if the race was a bit of a procession; the fact that you were there was enough.

    The romance of those days has sadly gone but time marches on and the technology that drives today’s hybrid F1 cars is truly amazing.

    The lack of engine noise has been discussed relentlessly since the 1.6 V6 hybrid engines replaced the V8’s but while we can all look back in envy to the ‘good old days’ turbo charged V6s are, for the moment, the way forward.

    What also can’t be denied is that there have been some fabulous races in this new era of environmentally friendly F1 but the sport is suffering a major wheel wobble with fans who have had a gutful lack of overtaking, predictable mediocrity, sterile atmosphere and over complicated rules.

    Rather than capture the imagination F1 is more likely to irritate than excite with stupid rules which ruin races such as a penalty for straying slightly over the white line coming out of the pit lane, while battling for the lead or taking a 25 place grid penalty for changing an engine or a gearbox when there are only 20 places on the grid.

    It’s such a turn off that what’s currently happening off the track is far more interesting than the action on it.

    Yes, Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg are just about keeping the sport alive with their fascinating rivalry at Mercedes but the absolute domination of one team and two drivers combined with the hopeless efforts of other teams on the grid wears a bit thin after a while and fans are deserting the sport in alarming numbers.

    The attendance at last week’s Austrian Grand Prix was 40 per cent down on 2014 and it is the same story at other circuits. Television viewing figures are also falling.

    Predictable race results are nothing new in Formula One and it is laughable, bordering on pathetic that Red Bull, who dominated the sport for four years with Sebastian Vettel, are now threatening to pull out because they have got a rubbish engine and aren’t winning any more.

    Quick, throw owner Dietrich Mateschitz another rattle to throw out of his pram or a can of his own product, maybe that will make them fly again.

    Another problem is the lack of any real characters like Alain Prost, Senna and Schumacher. Most of today’s drivers appear to have had a charisma bypass, but that is not the biggest problem. That lies with the teams who have promised so much but delivered little to challenge Mercedes.

    Early signs that Ferrari and Vettel would take the fight to Hamilton and Rosberg proved to be a false dawn. McLaren’s renewed partnership with Honda sparked some early interest but one failure after another has become embarrassing.

    F1 has recovered from a lull in interest before and it will again. It is not a sport in crisis but, for sure, it needs someone to rev it up.

    News that CVC Capital Partners, the private equity firm which has owned F1 for the last ten years is in talks to sell its 35.5 per cent controlling stake in the sport to a US-Qatari joint venture may have come at exactly the right time.

    The deal which could be worth up to $8 billion is fronted by Stephen Ross, the 75-year-old property tycoon who owns the Miami Dolphins and is backed by Qatar Sports Investments which owns PSG.

    Maybe they can put Formula One back on track before we all fall asleep.

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