Breaking news
Formula 1
Customer cars "not a solution for F1"
Formula 1 would be better off spending time finding solutions to keep the grid full rather than wasting efforts on an emergency 'franchise' car plan, claims the Manor team.
Jonathan Noble
Edited: Jun 18, 2015, 8:20 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
The bigger F1 teams met at the Canadian Grand Prix to begin putting together a plan for customer cars should grid numbers fall.
But Manor sporting director Graeme Lowdon thinks that the focus is being put in the wrong area, and F1 should be looking at ways to make itself better so all teams can survive.
"I've read all the comments about franchise cars and customer cars," Lowdon told Motorsport.com. "And it's clear it is a contingency plan; it's not a strategy.
"It is definitely not a solution for F1. It's the equivalent of carrying a spare tyre in your car; it is handy to have it, but do you really want to use it?
"Are customer cars something you want to try to build a global business from? I honestly don't see how it would make value for the industry."
Best brains in the world
Lowdon adds that his frustrations are increased by the fact that F1 has some of the cleverest people in the world working for it, which means finding the best solution for the sport should be easy.
He suggests that before pursuing plans like customer cars, F1 needs first to understand exactly what problems are trying to be solved.
"There are a lot of easy things you can do as a sideshow, a lot of gimmicky things, that sound good initially," he explained.
"But if you really studied the fundamentals, you see a lot of the focus is on solutions to things that aren't actually the core problem.
"One of the big assets of F1 is its ability to solve problems that are really clever: technical, commercial, political and legal. The people in F1 are brilliant in solving problems, but the exact problem has to be correctly defined for them to solve.
"What we are seeing is that a lot of time is being incurred by people to solve problems which are not actually a priority."
Read Also:
- Analysis: Are customer cars an answer or death warrant for F1?
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Book Review: Max Mosley – Formula One and Beyond
Next article Perez gets engine boost for Austrian GP
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Jonathan Noble
Brundle awarded OBE in King’s New Year’s honours
Formula 1
Formula 1
Brundle awarded OBE in King’s New Year’s honours
The new rules dilemma that will define the 2025 F1 season
Formula 1
Formula 1
The new rules dilemma that will define the 2025 F1 season
Verstappen issues Red Bull title warning in push for RB21 progress
Formula 1
Formula 1
Australian GP
Verstappen issues Red Bull title warning in push for RB21 progress
Latest news
Max Verstappen on GTWC Europe debut: “We’re here to win”
GT World Challenge Europe Endurance
WCEE GT World Challenge Europe Endurance 1 h
Max Verstappen on GTWC Europe debut: “We’re here to win”
How to watch NASCAR at Phoenix II: Weekend schedule, start time, entry list, TV
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Phoenix II
1 h
How to watch NASCAR at Phoenix II: Weekend schedule, start time, entry list, TV
Ryan Ellis signs multi-year NASCAR O'Reilly deal with Alpha Prime Racing
NASCAR O'Reilly
NOAP NASCAR O'Reilly
Phoenix II
2 h
Ryan Ellis signs multi-year NASCAR O'Reilly deal with Alpha Prime Racing
Ayao Komatsu: Rafael Camara chosen for F1 2027 seat on speed, not Ferrari links
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Singapore GP
8 h
Ayao Komatsu: Rafael Camara chosen for F1 2027 seat on speed, not Ferrari links
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe