[Keith Collantine]

During the debate over grid girls I saw a lot of people remarking that F1 should prioritise fixing other problems first.

So what is the one biggest problem affecting F1 at the moment? We can all come up with lots of different ideas, but which do you think is the most pressing?

Or does it not need to change anything?

[HUHHII]

Right now? Inequal distribution of prize money between the teams.

However, when the 2018 season gets under way the biggest problem will be Halo.

[glynh]

I’m against the halo to (and I think getting rid of grid girls was patronising) but I think those issues and other on track issues aren’t going to cause the same problems as multiple countries showing F1 on pay TV.

I think the lack of new fans is seriously going to hurt F1 long term so liberty either need to get more races on free to air or try having their own subscription service.

If we take a step back the races themselves are as good ever but the sport needs viewers and therefore sponsors to stay on top.

[Jeanrien]

They should address the aero so that cars can follow closely (even more important than esthetics).

I agree also to put the prize distribution along but those 2 measures will take time to implement.

On the easier /faster things which could be modified is the tires. Let the team chose freely which tire they want and if they want to stop or not. Develop tires around the most used ones and discard the rest (for instance medium, hard and super hard if not used during the season, or tires used less than 10% of the time). Go towards rule simplification.

[Jere]

That’s an easy one to answer: The ‘following another car closely problem’ caused by how the cars are designed aerodynamically. That’s the only thing that really needs fixing.

[gardenfella]

Stop all the TV coverage disappearing behind a paywall.

It’s robbing the sport of viewers and, as a direct consequence, sponsorship.

[Robbie]

For me it is also about too much clean air dependence for the cars. Although there is urgency for that I don’t want to see knee-jerk reactions though, and it would seem Liberty knows that. I wish for less aero dependency soon but acknowledge that presumably if it happens it may not be until the next major reg changes. But I am buoyed by the fact that Brawn has said he never was a fan of DRS, so I am hopeful that eventually we will have less aero influence and no DRS. For me it is about fixing the product on the track and then other positives such as a growing audience should follow.

[Anonymous]

I keep reading ‘inequality in sharing of prize money’. I’m wondering though, if it were more equal, or even if all team got the same bit, would we really see a shift in balance of performance? We’d see more financial healthy teams but would Force India really suddenly compete with Mercedes for example? Would a Sauber suddenly win championships?

I guess it would lure more teams in F1 as it makes for a more sustainable business model, but I don’t think that the fans would see much of it.

You must also keep in mind that money is distributed based on position, yet entry fee for the next year is based on points total share. Thus it’s better for Force India to come 4th as they do with as least amount of points as possible.

I think that if this were the most vital thing that would need to be done for the health of the sport, it would’ve happened already, no?

[HUHHII]

@FlatSix It’s impossible to predict how much midfield/bottom teams could improve their pace with bigger budgets made possible by fairer distribution of the money. Anyway that isn’t really my point. The point is in your 2nd paragraph. Fairer distribution of money -> more teams could enter F1 -> fuller grid of cars. Economical stability is what minnow teams need. This could also help out in battle against pay drivers.

I find it harsh that it takes 3 years (I think?) before team can earn any prize money. From my understanding Haas hasn’t earned anything at all yet and won’t score any money from this year either whatever their position might be in WCC. System like that makes it practically impossible for new entries to stay in the business.

I believe it’s the most vital thing to do in order to keep F1 healthy, but I’m not Bernie or Carey.

[Jere]

The ‘following another car closely’ problem.

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