F1 Expert Wants Teams to Have Spare Cars Again to Bring Back the Excitement – “That’s What F1 Should Be About”

Famed F1 Journalist and former Williams sponsorship manager Peter Windsor has recently called for a drastic change in the way things work in F1. Recalling the days of old, the 71-year-old claims the sport’s rules should revert to how they were a few years ago when there were no cost cap regulations.

Speaking in a live stream on his official YouTube channel, the British Journalist mentioned the need for F1 to move away from some of its latest regulations and re-adopt the practices from earlier. In particular, Windsor spoke of the need for removing the cost cap regulations, as it would give teams like Ferrari and Mercedes an option to build a completely new car in the middle of a season and compete with the likes of Red Bull for a race win.

“That’s what F1 should be about.”

Windsor added teams could also have spare cars, which they can use in multiple ways. For example, they can allow the younger drivers to drive the spare car on Fridays and help nurture them better. Also, the teams will have the option of using an extra car if one of their primary cars runs into any sort of trouble.

Further into the video, Windsor also called for walking away from allowing a limited number of engines available for drivers to use. Even the fact that no changes can be made to a car after a certain point in a race weekend does not sit well with the Journalist. Per him, F1 should bin all such rules and make racing as raw as possible to bring back the excitement from the older days.

Why does Peter Windsor want to remove the Cost Cap from F1?

Detailing the reason behind his asking for the cost cap removal, Windsor cited the team engineers’ example. He believes that even though engineers come up with brilliant new ideas for the development of their cars, the cost cap makes it difficult for them to pursue the same, and thus, ties their hands. “That goes against everything F1 stands for.”

The authorities brought in the concept of cost cap regulations to try to level the playing field. A spending limit meant no team would be able to go above and beyond staggering numbers (in terms of finances) that they put into the car, making it near impossible for the smaller teams to compete. The rule added that if any team would go beyond the limit, a serious penalty would follow, and it would extend beyond the financial realm.

With the cost cap in place, contrary to what the original belief was, the smaller teams struggle even more. While the bigger teams built their infrastructure back when there was no spending limit, they use most of the budget in developing their cars over a season. Meanwhile, the smaller teams are now torn over whether to put money into building their infrastructure or invest in the development of their cars, allowing the bigger teams to further increase the gap.

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• F1
• Mercedes F1 team
• Peter Windsor
• Scuderia Ferrari