Martin Brundle has fired a worrying warning that little will change in Formula 1 post-2021.
The sport is currently reeling from another race weekend dominated by Mercedes in Spain, with the prospect of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas fighting among themselves for the championship.
In the background, however, a lot of attention is on the negotiations regarding the expected regulation changes in two years as part of a new Concorde Agreement.
Ambitions are the introduction of new financial regulations and cars can start to level the playing field in F1, but the former race driver and current Sky Sports pundit fears it will be a waste.
“I’m frustrated with Formula 1 and the FIA because the 2021 regulations offer the opportunity for a root and branch change that the sport needs and, from various conversations I had in Spain, I don’t sense it’s going to happen,” Brundle said in his column for the broadcaster.
“I sense significant compromise coming, with little changing in terms overall competitiveness through the field, and nothing to attract new teams and manufacturers which is critical to the health and future of F1, just as it was in the past.”
A failure to deliver the overhaul which F1 desperately needs, Brundle believes, would be down to an old criticism.
“Teams are involved in the process too, and they shouldn’t be because they are competitively hard-wired to think only of their own success, and not the good of the sport,” he said.
Laying out what would be his vision, the Briton put the focus on one area, simplification.
“Formula 1 has to be entertainment first and foremost,” he stated.
“The cars must lose 100-150 kgs. We need bulletproof low-degradation tyres even if we have to mandate a number of pit stops.
“The aerodynamic influence must be slashed, such that we don’t need artificial band-aids like chewing gum tyres and DRS rear wings. Back to where we were, with a modern twist.
“F1 must be a drivers’ championship, not an engineers’ tech fest.
“The cars must be the angriest, flightiest most challenging machines on the planet. I don’t want to see teenagers jumping in them and having it all mastered by lunchtime and fully on the pace.”
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Brundle then concluded by identifying the moment which put F1 on its current path, 2014.
“I’m convinced that F1 has gone the wrong way with these hybrid V6 1.6-litre engines, control systems, and aero,” he declared.
“The impressive engineering capabilities of F1 could be directed at other challenges such as battery development, super-fast battery charging in the pits and conductors laid into the track, or electrifying some of the hundreds of trucks we take to a European race.
“We shouldn’t just laden the race cars with everything, they primarily exist to inform us who is the fastest, bravest driver, and which team can best think on their feet in the heat of a race.
“And this is why 2021 is so important for F1, but we’ve probably missed the optimum moment or maybe they should delay it a year.
“We must recreate the days when a Jordan, Stewart, or Force India might, just might, win the race. And create an environment where they can exist in the first place.”
