Dear Stefano.. My 5 Point Plan to Fix F1

On the surface F1 is in really rude health, Drive To Survive has smashed expectations and brought new audiences to the table, brands are flocking to nail their logo to something to hedge their bets on continued growth and more cities / governments are looking at the sport as a wonderful gateway to sell themselves to the world, either as a tourist destinaton or to paper over the current intertnational reputation.

However there are some things that could be done differently, some tweaks that I think would really help.

1.Edit The Points System

Giving points to every finisher may sound a bit daft because there needs to be reward to finish as high as possible. Currently if you finish in 11th place, you get nothing and the record books never remember your day. A few years ago now there was a fight in the final race over which team finished 10th or 11th in the championship, and it all hinged on which driver would finish highest up in that final race, for which neither had a realistic explanation of points. This made for a complex discussion in commentary and online about permutations that simply didn’t make an awful lot of sense. So giving points to everyone who finishes is the easy fix.

We don’t need to consider statistical issues with past systems because they have been changed so many times in the past anyway so that can’t be an excuse, but it makes every single place worth playing for. Fighting over 18th? well it’s now worth it. No more boxing to retire and saving the components because every single place and point counts more.

2.Sprint Races

Where to start with these.. Are they better than FP2 & 3, yes of course but they are usually a little dull and are just a bit pointless currently.

Firstly we need to establish the sprint day again, that made so much more sense, but I would do this on Friday. 30m practice, sprint Qualifying and then the sprint race on Friday evening. Saturday could then be 1hr practice and GP qualifying. Enabling sprint packages to be sold. Sprint races could even be made free-to-air on TV as a taster to the full thing hopefully pulling more eyeballs and subs in the process. This would also allow tracks to sell specific sprint day packages to fans who can’t afford a full weekend at Silverstone thereby having to sell their kidney for a ticket.

Secondly we need to ensure that these aren’t just info gathering for the race, extended tests and that something is on the line. Reverse grids or partial reverse grids will help to give these some pazazz and really make drivers get to work to make overtakes happen. heck you could cut out sprint qualifying entirely and line up in reverse championship order. The would be fascinating. I know it’s not ‘pure’ but nor was DRS or refuelling etc.

Lastly these would need specific sprint tyres to not give too much away for the main GP and possibly points should be held in a separate sprint championship. Get a sponsor and give a big cash prize but make it worth watching and keep it entertaining.

3.Lock In Core Race Tracks

Silverstone, Monaco, Spa, Suzuka, are iconic. They must be retained. Not on a rotational basis but somehow, these have to be on the calendar every year. You could add modern classics like Singapore to the list but the core have to be protected. They are real icons of the sport, to think that we won’t visit Spa because it is on a rotation is heart breaking. I understand the cost implications but pulling F1 from its home to race in soul-less car parks doesn’t help with the image.

4 Technical Regulations

These new 2026 F1 cars look fantastic, however they are still a tad too heavy and the hybrid system hasn’t quite worked out. Firstly this was obvious to anyone who has been listening to the grapevine and could have been solved before the season began, so we need to dial down the stubbornness. I fully support electrification and hybridisation but the split was just too much, I’m pleased this is being fixed. However we do need to make these cars lighter and more agile still, as they’re still far too heavy! This will breed better racing by default.

5. TV

F1 as a spectacle on TV is fantastic. However there are a few tweaks we need, We need a more reliable timing tower, it falls over all the time. When the action is kicking off there needs to be a better smaller ticker-type timing band so we have more real-estate for the action. We need multiviewer to be available to all natively and bonus points for allowing those of us in territories like the UK to be able to watch the F1TV feed and be able to switch, even if it is a red button on Sky F1 choice. More ghost cars, thermal cams etc would also be welcomed!

So these are just a few but I had to trim it down. Bonus points for also for keeping Mr Ben Sulayem away from the world feed.. because he does come across as a bit of a pervy uncle caricature and that isn’t great for the federation.

Yours…

GawneIn60Seconds