FOTA proposing new direction for F1 technology
Shanghai, Tuesday: As F1 teams gather for the seventh running of the Chinese Grand Prix, the Formula One Teams’ Association (FOTA) has issued a statement outlining a new direction for technology in the sport.
According to FOTA, previous attempts to increase overtaking by reducing downforce have failed, and more radical solutions need to be sought if F1 is to become more entertaining for both casual fans and enthusiasts alike.
Technological: FOTA president Martin Whitmarsh
“There is a general consensus among F1 fans and insiders that things were much better in the past,” FOTA president Martin Whitmarsh told reporters. “The mid-1980s has been highlighted as a particularly popular era in F1’s history.
“What we are proposing is that teams stop trying to extract a few thousandths of a second with front wing upgrades and the like, and instead devote all of their resources to inventing a time machine, so that we can go back to the 1980s and relive the glory years of Formula One.
“If we can’t improve the show through regulating the sport as it is now, we should just go back to how it used to be. Literally,” Whitmarsh added.
FOTA believes that some of the world’s best brains are working in F1, and that the challenge of time travel should be easily overcome by such technical minds.
Already, however, controversy has erupted within FOTA over how the time machine should be designed, with some teams wanting to draw up rules to make sure the resulting machine is not big enough for certain teams to transport double diffusers or other “modern technologies” back into the 1980s and thereby gain an unfair competitive advantage.
