If I ran Formula 1…

Much has been made in the past few years of the various attempts to improve the “show” that is Formula 1. I am a fan, however, even I will admit that the racing has often been a dreary procession, but as a geek I can get my freak from the technology and engineering involved.

What is not in doubt, is that the problem with F1 is due to the difficulty in overtaking. The cars aerodynamics are so highly optimised that there is no advantage to following another car and sitting in the “hole” of dirty air produced by the leading car and hence gaining a “tow” that could be used to overtake. So various rule tinkerings have been made to try and make overtaking easier, such as the Drag Reduction System on the rear wing (which only following cars can use), energy boosts from Kinetic Energy recovery Systems, tyres that degrade at varying rates, and this year, a change to Turbo-charged engines with even more KERS.

But. But. But. I believe the problem is this: the cars are optomised to perform best in qualifying, because a fast car starting at the front can run away and hide, they are not optomised to pass other cars.

My Solution: Abolish qualifying, have the grid selected by a random draw. If Adrian Newey really thought his car would be starting in the middle of the pack, don’t you think his huge brain would come up with a way of producing a car that could overtake? Before the TV companies complain, you replace the Qualifying section with an hour’s timed practice, at which point the drivers get out of their cars, have a quick interview and draw their grid position from the Velvet Bag of Doom. To keep the teams interested you could have 3-2-1 world championship points for fastest practice times