Does F1 Need More Excitement?

Several new ways of making F1 more exciting will appear in the lead up to the 2011. KERS comes back this year but more notably, an adjustable rear wing will be used to increase straight line speed in a hope to make cars closer when the fast approaching braking point rushes up.

How the rear wing works is, when a car gets closer than 1 second behind the car in front, a GPS system will unlock the rear wing for a pre determined part of the track. While racing over this part of the track, the driver can choose to activate his wing which slides to a 'flatter' profile, reducing downforce and increasing speed. This advantage should let the car close the gap with the car in front and make a passing manoeuvre at the next corner. The car in front will not have the ability to adjust their wing too defend their position. This system replaces last years F Duct, the famous downforce reducing system made popular by McLaren.

The new system has ruffled some from the leading teams who think F1 doesn't need anymore methods to increase overtaking. Why? Because they expect their cars to be out in front and prefer them driving away instead of defending. Red Bull Racing's Adrian Newey and Ferrari's Stefano Domenicali have both made statements suggesting the system will make racing "artificial" but only time will tell if one of them praise the system for helping them win the world championship.

The question remains, does F1 need to do more to make itself a spectacle for fan and is it doing enough? Here are a few crazy ideas that are almost crazy enough for Formula 1.

Create new tracks with sections that make the car drive upside down. The downforce created by an F1 car is more than enough to overcome its weight. Why not take full advantage of this feature?



Random flooding. Races are always more interesting when teams are unsure about the weather. Create a system where the track floods at random intervals, sending cars in for wet tires. Just as they are about to get on with it, stop the flood and send them back for dry tires.

Tacks that randomly pop out of the ground. Wouldn't it be more interesting if punctures came out of no where?

Mario Kart weapons. How cool would it have been if Mark Webber could have red shelled Alonso in the last race before throwing Vettel a spiky shell and drove on to be world champion?