Five steps Formula One can take to move itself forward and become more entertaining

After a disappointing season, Graham Caygill looks at ways F1 could improve its entertainment value.

Bernie Ecclestone will have to make a choice between keeping Formula One a sport or turning it into entertainment. Tom Gandolfini / AFP

Minimal radio contact

Lewis Hamilton is the world champion and one of the best drivers the sport has known. So let him prove it without having his race run for him from behind the pit wall. Hamilton wanted to try a risky strategy at the Etihad Abu Dhabi Grand Prix by pitting only once, but was warned off it by his race engineer, Pete Bonnington. Imagine if Bonnington were not allowed to advise Hamilton, and the Briton had to decide himself what he wanted to do? At present, the drivers are told to pit and their teams are a regular source of communication on what is going on in the race. Limiting the dialogue between driver and pit wall would not change everything. The teams would do more pre-race planning, but at least if all a team could say over the pit radio during a race was if there was a technical problem with their car, then it would feel at least like the driver were the one responsible for his race.

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Equalising engines

Too late for 2016, but the F1 authorities must look at levelling the performances of the power units. Is it fair on Mercedes, who have done such a great job? No. But is it better for the sport, actually giving teams such as Red Bull Racing and McLaren a chance to fight back? When, at the moment, the slow top speeds of their respective Renault and Honda engines are killing their victory hopes.

More overtaking

Change the aerodynamic behaviour of the cars so it is not so difficult to follow another one closely without losing performance. There was only one race this season with an overtaking move, that was not on the first lap, at the front, and that race, in the United States, was in the wet. People want to watch cars fighting wheel to wheel, not making their moves by waiting for the pit stops.

More fragile tyres

The teams and drivers did not like the period between 2012 and mid-2013 when Pirelli supplied tyres that degraded quickly. Why was that? Because it was difficult to control and was a challenge. Since the tyres have become more predictable in performance one variable from the F1 picture has been removed. Will bringing it back change things? Maybe not, but at least it would make the drivers work harder.

Double points

Dropped after only one year, 2014, the idea of the final race being worth 50 points was not popular with purists. Obviously, it would not have been relevant this season, as Hamilton arrived with a lead of 66 points. But not every season will be as one-sided as this one. Maybe even follow the original idea of Bernie Ecclestone, F1’s chief executive, of having the final three races be double points. Yes, it is manufacturing a championship fight deeper into the season, but surely the ends justify the means if we do have a final-round decider and some actual excitement.

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