Where is Formula 1 going? Why does it matter? Should I even care? Last year was about someone dope being in the dumps, but honestly, it’s mostly bullshit: long breaks, super-secret tech, crap rules, and drivers who complain both in and out of the cockpit. I want to say I’d love to get back to racing, but last week I watched a Hypercar come so far up a BMW’s rear end that saying “move” wasn’t just implied it was enforced.
Racing is alive and damn well; there are trucks going sideways on all fours while battling it out on the circuit, but I digress. Formula 1: where to next? After a costly move for the first time in a decade, millions in investments, and the anticipation for the hybridization system, the right move now seems to be a return to the V8. It’s nice to be the “pinnacle” in name only, but with McLaren’s new hypercar (the MCL-HY) and Ferrari’s 499P, these are the names of your competitors who are actually competing at the pinnacle.
In a field you’ve just begun to apply yourselves to, it’s not as easy as “solving” the tech; it’s about the motivations within the teams themselves. As far as I see it, saying V8s are coming back in 2030 at such a critical phase is basically saying, “Screw R&D, focus on commercials, and we’ll head back to business as usual in half the time.”
For instance, when is Max Verstappen hitting the GT3 track again? That versatile guy you know the dude saw that there is experience, technique, and skill to be learned by doing something different outside the simulator. Last I checked, the FIA oversees WEC, and Ferrari’s performance at Imola proved it. To say there is nothing going on outside of 50/50 power splits, V8s, and three-man podiums is ridiculous. Try karting, even.
I’m going to leave it there because, holy shit… wow.
