‘It's impossible': F1's massive problem exposed and ‘gimmick' that can't fix it

News.com.au

3 days ago

There's no way around it, Formula One has an overtaking problem.
Monaco's place on the F1 calendar once again came under question last weekend, with a mandatory second pit stop failing to shake-up the race.
Monaco is the jewel in F1's crown but it's difficult to escape the reality that the race on Sunday is a dull procession decided by Saturday's qualifying session — the most important of the year.
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'At a place like Monaco it's just you might as well have the race Saturday in qualifying and then park up for Sunday because it's impossible to pass,' Supercars legend Mark Skaife told news.com.au.
But it's not just Monaco where F1 is confronted with its biggest dilemma.
Max Verstappen's gutsy lunge past Oscar Piastri on the first lap at Imola was impressive for its bravery, but also necessary given the rest of the race became more about tyre management than overtaking opportunities.
Overtaking is nearly impossible in the current cars, which are 2 metres wide. Under F1's new regulations for 2026, F1 cars will be 100mm narrower as part of an effort to make the cars smaller and more agile.
'The cars are so big now, that's the issue,' Skaife said. 'If you look through the history of Formula One, the cars were comparatively really small.
'Through the modern era of car changes, the hybrid era and through the physicality of the cars, an unintended consequence has been the cars have become so large.
'It was even apparent at Imola. It's a traditional racecourse with grass verges and all that stuff. You could tell straight away at Imola without the extreme nature of Monaco that the cars being so big is a real issue for the overtaking.
'Obviously that then puts the emphasis on qualifying being paramount to success.'
Michael Schumacher's old Ferrari teammate Rubens Barrichello agrees, telling PokerStrategy: 'With Piastri and Norris, it's an open competition between the two and Piastri has the upper hand.
'Whoever gets on pole of the race has a 51 per cent chance of winning with their car. They spend most of their time practising race starts, because it's so important to get in front.'
F1 is a business, but quality of racing is paramount
F1 has never been more popular and is a commercial behemoth right now, valued at $US 17 billion ($26 billion).
This week F1 unveiled another major sponsor in Pepsi, complete with an unexpected Daniel Ricciardo sighting.
But Skaife believes the quality of racing is not as good as it could be, highlighting the choice of circuits on the F1 calendar as a major dilemma.
'As rule makers, one of the intentions should be that the quality of your racing is tantamount to the success of the game,' the five-time Supercars champion said.
'So you've got all the personalities, you've got all the car brands, you've got Cadillac/General Motors coming, you've got Audi coming next year.
'The sport is in great shape. But one of the things that I'm sure the powers-that-be would be considering is what do the cars look like in five years' time and what do you need to change?
'Because you can't change the infrastructure. You can't just go and fix Monaco tomorrow.
'And you can't fix a lot of the traditional circuits. I know there's been a lot of controversy about this in recent times, but I'm a real fan of the really hardcore proper car racing tracks.
'Places like Spa. There's a lot of conjecture about whether Spa will end up being knocked on the head.
'And places like Suzuka, there's so many really cool racetracks.
'Verstappen and the drivers were talking about, you might be a really cool little racetrack and it is. So you've always got this complex nature of who's prepared to pay, what market are you in?
'Where do you go? Miami now has a long-term contract. There's always been a difficulty for Formula One to get into the US market and clearly they're pushing hard with that.
'So when you then think about it from a business perspective, you are still a car racing business and the car racing is the pinnacle of world motorsport.
'There will be a lot of discussion around what the cars look like in the future and how do you make the racing as good as it can be, especially from an overtaking perspective.'
The F1 calendar is in a state of flux for next year, with several European circuits including Imola in Italy and Spa in Belgium set to be ditched from the schedule as part of a rotating policy.
Piastri has said it would be a shame for the iconic tracks to disappear from the calendar.
'It's a great circuit,' Piastri said of Imola earlier this month. 'I've only raced here once before, but it's definitely towards the top end of my favourites.
'OK, maybe it's not the best track to race on — not the best for overtaking — but in terms of the ultimate experience of driving an F1 car, this is at the top of the list. We need to be mindful of that.
'Having two races in the same country, with how many bids we have from around the world, maybe doesn't make that much sense anymore. And when you have Monza as your second race in Italy, it's pretty hard not to go to Monza. There'd be some riots if we didn't!
'So for me, we just need to be careful to preserve the history. Zandvoort is going, Spa is going to be on rotation, which I'm not the happiest about.
'We just need to be careful not to lose these historical tracks.'
F1 'gimmick' isn't the answer
The Drag Reduction System, where the rear wing opens to boost straight-line speed, was introduced into F1 in 2011 in a bid to improve overtaking.
But in recent years there have gradually been less memorable overtakes like Ricciardo's trademark dive-bombs or Lewis Hamilton's double overtake at Silverstone in 2022.
'I mean really DRS is a gimmick for overtaking,' Skaife said.
'You've got this system, this aero system, to assist with overtaking if you've actually got cars that can follow each other closely.
'That's was what the mandate of the current regulations were you know everyone was saying 'oh you'll be able to follow more closely'.
'But it's essential to have a policy around how much aero the cars have got and how close can you drive behind the car in front.
'Firstly it's about how much downforce you have when you're in the dirty air behind another car.
'That's the core value of being able to overtake another car and have aero efficiency that's good enough in the dirty air to be able to get a run out of a corner, slipstream the car in front, and be able to pass.
'But the other part of it is that the lead car, the car that's in front, has to have enough drag.
'It pays a penalty for leading. So the car behind has less drag, that's the reality of the car in front having to push the air.
'And if you've got less lift to drag ratio, so you actually want more drag on the cars, that would then have an effect of being able to pass on a straight line.'