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MARANELLO, Italy - Ferrari designer Mauro Forghieri - the now 79-year-old F1 expert who designed the legendary 312 series and Niki Lauda's title-winning cars - has a couple of suggestions to spice up Formula 1.
Its generally agreed that most of the blame for dwindling TV audiences in 2014 has fallen on new engine rules which demand small, quiet turbos instead of the screaming V8's but Forghieri, a fabled Ferrari face from the 1960's to the 80's, actually backs the new 'hybrid' age.
'F1 A SHOW OF POWER'
He told motorline.cc: "All the major manufacturers want hybrids and I think it's good that they only need 70% of the fuel of the past, or even less, for the same distance. Where I cannot agree with the International Automobile Federation is over fuel-consumption monitoring, lap after lap.
"F1 is a show of power so this rule is unacceptable from a sporting perspective."
Unsurprisingly, Forghieri is also no fan of the rear-wing overtaking aid called DRS (drag reduction system) which has also been denounced by other F1 purists.
'GET RID' OF DRS
Forghieri said: "Get rid of it. DRS is ridiculous. I dislike the whole aerodynamics of the current cars - allow normal overtaking without DRS.
"Now, if one's opponent is less than a second behind, he can only watch as his pursuer goes past - that cannot be correct. A champion needs to be in a position to overtake his opponent without help or, in my eyes, he is not a champion."
He suggested another change that would improve the racing - get rid of carbon brakes. "How many road-cars use discs made of carbon? So why is it used in F1?
"If we used normal discs in F1 the braking distances would be double and overtaking would be so much easier."
Stay with Wheels24 for the 2014 German F1 GP weekend.
Its generally agreed that most of the blame for dwindling TV audiences in 2014 has fallen on new engine rules which demand small, quiet turbos instead of the screaming V8's but Forghieri, a fabled Ferrari face from the 1960's to the 80's, actually backs the new 'hybrid' age.
'F1 A SHOW OF POWER'
He told motorline.cc: "All the major manufacturers want hybrids and I think it's good that they only need 70% of the fuel of the past, or even less, for the same distance. Where I cannot agree with the International Automobile Federation is over fuel-consumption monitoring, lap after lap.
"F1 is a show of power so this rule is unacceptable from a sporting perspective."
Unsurprisingly, Forghieri is also no fan of the rear-wing overtaking aid called DRS (drag reduction system) which has also been denounced by other F1 purists.
'GET RID' OF DRS
Forghieri said: "Get rid of it. DRS is ridiculous. I dislike the whole aerodynamics of the current cars - allow normal overtaking without DRS.
"Now, if one's opponent is less than a second behind, he can only watch as his pursuer goes past - that cannot be correct. A champion needs to be in a position to overtake his opponent without help or, in my eyes, he is not a champion."
He suggested another change that would improve the racing - get rid of carbon brakes. "How many road-cars use discs made of carbon? So why is it used in F1?
"If we used normal discs in F1 the braking distances would be double and overtaking would be so much easier."
Stay with Wheels24 for the 2014 German F1 GP weekend.
