The multi-million dollar question: Cost cuts . . .

Patrick Head was of the opinion that F1 is a sport or form of entertainment--not a proving ground for road car technology. I emphatically agree with that but F1 is hooked on the river of cash that manufacturers bring--albeit at the expense of the show. Spend more and deliver less. How do you balance that, we are stuck with some form of hybrid power regardless?
I'm from the Gilles Villeneuve school of thought: 6 liter engines and flat bottom chassis.

 

...and fat tires...oh yeah!!

 

If they want to cut cost (sorry, NEED to, that much is clear anyways!), some form of dumbing down HAS to happen. And that's no bad thing.

First of all, the engines:

It's pretty damn obvious that there is just WAY to much tech in here, it's taken Honda 3 seasons so far and they're absolutely NOWHERE, even Renault, who had an extra year if not more to work on theirs doesn't exactly have a great engine. Reducing some of the tech is the first thing...just go back to the pre 2014 era of a simple KERS system, just bigger battery.

Keeping cost saving in mind, staying turbo is necessary then, I'm not the biggest fan but I'll stick with them. Enlarge the engine to around 4 liter V8, twin turbos and ~1200hp. This way Red Bull, Mclaren and others could build their own engines if they so wanted, or employ a manufacturer to build one without completely embarrassing themselves. This is also a cheaper way to get some manufacturers back in F1, without the need to commit themselves to buy an entire team.

A LOT of money gets spend on aero development these days, and makes for **** racing. Turbulence as far as 1.5-2 seconds back is normal now. this is crazy. It needs to be at less than .5 if we want any chance at natural overtaking again, this reliance on DRS is painful. Around 2005 ish there was a lot of aero, and it made overtaking difficult, but cars where able to follow close. Anyone remember Imola 2005? Even though Schumacher couldn't overtake Alonso (he did get plenty of overtaking done before this!), it was an epic display of fighting, and the reason it was exciting is because it was very close between the two...they where constantly within .3-.5 of a second. Right now cars struggle to get within 1.2...the cars may very well be evenly matched, or the car behind even better...but they just can't fight through this massive hump of air, so can't capitalize on a mistake...and the driver ahead is less inclined to make a mistake anyhow because he's under less pressure!

So make aero FAR simpler and change the shape of the wings that the cars are less influenced by dirty air. Less money is being spend on aero dynamics.

This will make racing more exciting, cost less money, and people are more inclined to watch, which would mean sponsors are more interested also (and the cost of sponsorship will go down).
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