Amid quit threats from Red Bull, criticism that the show isn't good enough and senior Formula 1 figures squabbling over its future, Felipe Massa decided to put a drivers' view on the current state of the championship into the mix over the Austrian Grand Prix weekend.
After qualifying, Massa headed over to F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone, CVC chief Donald MacKenzie and his Williams boss Sir Frank Williams in the paddock and filled them in on what he felt - with 12 seasons under his belt - Formula 1 could and should be.
"I was giving my ideas," he said. "You have so many changes that are much cheaper than doing difficult and big changes that will not do anything and that's why I'm trying to give my ideas."
It seems so obvious. Why hasn't anyone asked the current crop of drivers what they think F1 should be?
Team bosses have been locked in Strategy Group meetings for more than 18 months giving their views and not got anywhere.
Ecclestone has publicly given his thoughts - but not actioned any of them. Ex-drivers and others have piped up too. And even the fans have been asked via surveys.
Massa enjoys historic Williams runs but says F1's future is not in its past © LAT |
So over the course of the Austrian GP weekend we gathered the views of some of the drivers in the paddock to see what they think F1 should be.
One of the Strategy Group's ideas is to make the cars five to six seconds per lap quicker from 2017. While the majority of drivers are in favour of this, Massa points out that it won't necessarily improve the show.
"It is not about just making the cars quicker on the track because if you are three or five seconds quicker, nobody understands on the television," he said.
"The car will be even quicker, we will brake even later, so maybe overtaking will be more difficult.
"People want to see competition, people want to see overtaking, people want to see fights and I think that needs to be the change."
Part of the problem is that drivers are only able to push at certain times during a grand prix, with fuel consumption and tyre life now major factors.
"Naturally when you're behind people you want to be pushing until you get past, but you've also got to watch the fuel, you've got to watch the tyres, otherwise you won't make your stop, all these different things," says Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton.
"There's so many different things you've got to have in the back of your mind when you make those decisions."
CVC chief Mackenzie has had a greater presence as F1 looks at its future © XPB |
On the subject of tyres, McLaren's Jenson Button would love to see a return to the days when a driver's skill would have an impact on how quickly a tyre degrades.
"I used to like it when you could control the degradation, so if you went a bit easier in the first part of the race, the tyre would last longer and add a different strategic element to race," says Button.
"Now it doesn't matter how you drive, it still degrades at the same rate."
Several senior figures have questioned the wisdom of the current engine-penalty system, which in Austria resulted in a whopping 25-place grid penalty handed out to Button following a succession of power unit modifications.
So for Button's McLaren team-mate Fernando Alonso, who had a 20-place penalty of his own, the solution is easy. Keep things simple.
"I would change many things," says Alonso. "Probably the cars and the technology are too complex, especially for the people at home.
"People want to see cars racing and overtaking each other, fighting for positions, not saving tyres, saving fuel, talking about DRS, tokens, penalties. The penalties that we had in Austria are very difficult to understand at home.
"There are things that are probably too complicated. Some of the rules are made by top engineers and top mathematicians, and people at home don't care about those things."
Alonso doesn't think F1 should be as complicated as it is © XPB |
Sergio Perez hit back at claims from Red Bull team boss Christian Horner that the cars are too easy to drive and argued that the challenge remains.
"Sometimes I read comments about Formula 1 that it is too easy to drive the cars but I don't think it is the case," says the Force India driver.
"To get the maximum out of a race and qualifying is still very, very hard. Lap after lap, you have to be consistent with your switches, to react at the right time with the car balance and so on.
"It's still very, very difficult. Obviously we can probably improve the cars but a Formula 1 car has always been difficult to drive at the level you're expected to do it, whatever the rules."
Like many drivers and fans alike, Hamilton craves a return to the engine noise that reverberated around the tracks during the V8 and V10 era.
"Naturally I miss the sound," he said. "Spa 1996 was my first grand prix and when I walked into that paddock and heard one of the cars come past, the roar went through my ribcage.
"I thought: 'Wow, I want to do this even more than I did before'. Now you don't have that roar, so I miss that. I miss big, wide grippy tyres and a wide car with real gearboxes, not that I've ever got to experience that really in Formula 1."
Stevens says faster cars will reduce mistakes because they will be easier to drive © LAT |
But Massa warns it's dangerous to remember F1's former years in such a rosy light. "If you look in the past, it was a lot worse than how it is now," he says.
"The difference in qualifying was maybe one and a half seconds to third. They were lapping the third[-placed car] every race. People need to not look in the past without remembering so well and saying the past was amazing."
Will Stevens, with just nine grands prix under his belt, sums up the dilemma facing F1 well.
"It depends what you want," says the Manor driver. "Do you want cars moving around more and more of a show from people spinning off? That's going to make lap times slower.
"If people want to go quicker then the cars are going to be easier to drive because they will have more grip which then means it's easier to find the limit.
Plenty of ideas, then, for F1's bosses. Now all we need is a decision.
Amid quit threats from Red Bull, criticism that the show isn't good enough and senior Formula 1 figures squabbling over its future, Felipe Massa decided to put a drivers' view on the current state of the championship into the mix over the Austrian Grand Prix weekend.
After qualifying, Massa headed over to F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone, CVC chief Donald MacKenzie and his Williams boss Sir Frank Williams in the paddock and filled them in on what he felt - with 12 seasons under his belt - Formula 1 could and should be.
"I was giving my ideas," he said. "You have so many changes that are much cheaper than doing difficult and big changes that will not do anything and that's why I'm trying to give my ideas."
It seems so obvious. Why hasn't anyone asked the current crop of drivers what they think F1 should be?
Team bosses have been locked in Strategy Group meetings for more than 18 months giving their views and not got anywhere.
Ecclestone has publicly given his thoughts - but not actioned any of them. Ex-drivers and others have piped up too. And even the fans have been asked via surveys.
Massa enjoys historic Williams runs but says F1's future is not in its past © LAT |
So over the course of the Austrian GP weekend we gathered the views of some of the drivers in the paddock to see what they think F1 should be.
One of the Strategy Group's ideas is to make the cars five to six seconds per lap quicker from 2017. While the majority of drivers are in favour of this, Massa points out that it won't necessarily improve the show.
"It is not about just making the cars quicker on the track because if you are three or five seconds quicker, nobody understands on the television," he said.
"The car will be even quicker, we will brake even later, so maybe overtaking will be more difficult.
"People want to see competition, people want to see overtaking, people want to see fights and I think that needs to be the change."
Part of the problem is that drivers are only able to push at certain times during a grand prix, with fuel consumption and tyre life now major factors.
"Naturally when you're behind people you want to be pushing until you get past, but you've also got to watch the fuel, you've got to watch the tyres, otherwise you won't make your stop, all these different things," says Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton.
"There's so many different things you've got to have in the back of your mind when you make those decisions."
CVC chief Mackenzie has had a greater presence as F1 looks at its future © XPB |
On the subject of tyres, McLaren's Jenson Button would love to see a return to the days when a driver's skill would have an impact on how quickly a tyre degrades.
"I used to like it when you could control the degradation, so if you went a bit easier in the first part of the race, the tyre would last longer and add a different strategic element to race," says Button.
"Now it doesn't matter how you drive, it still degrades at the same rate."
Several senior figures have questioned the wisdom of the current engine-penalty system, which in Austria resulted in a whopping 25-place grid penalty handed out to Button following a succession of power unit modifications.
So for Button's McLaren team-mate Fernando Alonso, who had a 20-place penalty of his own, the solution is easy. Keep things simple.
"I would change many things," says Alonso. "Probably the cars and the technology are too complex, especially for the people at home.
"People want to see cars racing and overtaking each other, fighting for positions, not saving tyres, saving fuel, talking about DRS, tokens, penalties. The penalties that we had in Austria are very difficult to understand at home.
"There are things that are probably too complicated. Some of the rules are made by top engineers and top mathematicians, and people at home don't care about those things."
Alonso doesn't think F1 should be as complicated as it is © XPB |
Sergio Perez hit back at claims from Red Bull team boss Christian Horner that the cars are too easy to drive and argued that the challenge remains.
"Sometimes I read comments about Formula 1 that it is too easy to drive the cars but I don't think it is the case," says the Force India driver.
"To get the maximum out of a race and qualifying is still very, very hard. Lap after lap, you have to be consistent with your switches, to react at the right time with the car balance and so on.
"It's still very, very difficult. Obviously we can probably improve the cars but a Formula 1 car has always been difficult to drive at the level you're expected to do it, whatever the rules."
Like many drivers and fans alike, Hamilton craves a return to the engine noise that reverberated around the tracks during the V8 and V10 era.
"Naturally I miss the sound," he said. "Spa 1996 was my first grand prix and when I walked into that paddock and heard one of the cars come past, the roar went through my ribcage.
"I thought: 'Wow, I want to do this even more than I did before'. Now you don't have that roar, so I miss that. I miss big, wide grippy tyres and a wide car with real gearboxes, not that I've ever got to experience that really in Formula 1."
Stevens says faster cars will reduce mistakes because they will be easier to drive © LAT |
But Massa warns it's dangerous to remember F1's former years in such a rosy light. "If you look in the past, it was a lot worse than how it is now," he says.
"The difference in qualifying was maybe one and a half seconds to third. They were lapping the third[-placed car] every race. People need to not look in the past without remembering so well and saying the past was amazing."
Will Stevens, with just nine grands prix under his belt, sums up the dilemma facing F1 well.
"It depends what you want," says the Manor driver. "Do you want cars moving around more and more of a show from people spinning off? That's going to make lap times slower.
"If people want to go quicker then the cars are going to be easier to drive because they will have more grip which then means it's easier to find the limit.
Plenty of ideas, then, for F1's bosses. Now all we need is a decision.