Future tense
It looked like some sort of dark, Scandi April Fool joke. First there was Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old Swedish schoolgirl who refuses to attend school while politicians refuse to do something about a future that holds few prospects for her, and in April toured Europe by train to berate politicians and the Pontiff for their inertia in doing anything about climate change. Then, shortly afterwards, Swedish racing driver Stefan Johansson wrote a three-part article about the future of F1, advocating, among quite a few other things, 1400bhp Formula 1 engines.
In fact, Johansson’s article was a fine, courageous and timely piece, reviewing very broadly the whole of F1’s potential future in respect of economics, technologies, relevance, regulated competition, sporting issues, entertainment and, of course, its effect on the rest of motorsport. Inevitably it was from the viewpoint of a driver, but Johansson is also a commentator and has had a broad experience in motorsport, so should be listened to. That said, it doesn’t mean I agree with him. I’m not qualified to write about the economics, so will try and stick to the technical and sporting matters, and, with over 55 years as a fan, the question of whether motorsport, and Formula 1 in particular, is entertaining.
Of course, one cannot ignore the economics totally. When I started off in F1 in the late 1960s motorsport, including F1, was funded by someone putting on an event, encouraging competitors to turn up to compete by offering starting money plus the promise of prize-money, and the promoter hoped enough fans would show up to pay for the show. If all involved: promoter, entrants, teams, car constructors, drivers and fans went home satisfied, the event was repeated the following year. No one became very rich and a few rich individuals became poorer. Few constructors were industry- or state-supported, and even if so, it did not guarantee dominance. It was a good business for those who loved motorsport.
Two interrelated things changed this reasonably sustainable status quo: television and sponsorship. TV vastly widened the audience and, as we now know so well, if you can get people’s attention you can
