Tom Brooks: The new sound of Formula 1, good or bad?

The hot topic after Australia has to be the sound debate. Complaints have come thick and fast from the arm-chair warriors who would prefer to spend their time complaining rather than praising the new generation of engines, or Power Units if you will, for not being Formula 1-esque.

The thing is, the answer to this ‘debate’ is in that first paragraph; it’s change. And change takes time to win people over but for some reason, it appears to bring out the worst in some. But, I must ask you this, how are we supposed to evolve and grow if there is no change? The same applies for Motorsport.

Just look at MotoGP’s UK coverage changing over to BT Sport for a five-year deal. The complaints on Twitter and other Social Media websites have been so one-minded and ignorant that they have missed the important part of the new development, which is the extensive coverage that has never seen the likes of UK screens before.

It was a similar situation when the BBC lost its UK rights to Sky on a long-term deal, but how many people are complaining about it now compared to two years ago? Hardly anybody. Why is that? Because people have had time to adapt and become used to the predicament that has been put in place.

We’ve been treated to having it easy for far too long with V8s that hardly failed, cars that were becoming easier to drive and races that became far more predictable. The sport as a whole became dull, and you can bet your bottom dollar that the complainers were out in force stating that “Formula 1 has become too boring” or “Vettel’s won again, come on Bernie, sort it out!”. There will always be a market for the complainers and it just so happens that the engines are newest thing to have bit the bullet.

The FIA were losing their audience hand-over-fist last year. Even I only tuned in for the start of the races, went off to have some lunch and perhaps go for a cycle and then come back an hour later to find that things were vastly similar to how they were. They had to make a change and add some unpredictability, what was the best way to do that? You’ve got it.

Okay, so we don’t have the screaming V10’s or the uber-reliable V8’s, but what we do have is a hark back to the glory days of the 80s with masses of torque and no real idea what will happen come the Grand Prix.

Australia was a perfect example of that with Hamilton and the Sebmeister retiring both with engine-related issues, when was the last time you can remember that the two title favourites both retired in Round 1 due to mechanical issues? You may argue that reliability will get better over time. Of course it will, that’s almost guaranteed, but for the brief moments whilst things are the way they are let’s enjoy the unpredictability.

The ‘quietness’ of the Power Units has also been a talking point. I can tell you one thing, they are certainly not quiet. In comparison to the V8's then maybe, but you still can’t whisper over them. The complainers again seem to be using this as a basis, but perhaps if they looked at the other perspective of the Grand Prix events being opened up to a wider audience of families with younger children then it may cause them to think twice.

In relation to that, the pure sound of the engine is up for debate. Guess who is again out in force saying it’s “Not Formula 1!” or “It sounds like a GP3 car.”? You betcha.

The thing that bugs me is that the some personalities in Motorsport certainly do not help their case. A perfect example is Ron Walker, the Australian Grand Prix promoter, who described it as “not what they had paid for”. C’mon Ron, it’s evolution, move with it. Vettel has also been quick to voice his dislike of the Renault engine, perhaps because his can’t go a race distance without expiring.

You can see the point I am trying to make here, and some 700 words later I hope that I’ve changed your perspective on some of the points that I have been trying to get across, perhaps not but either way it doesn’t look like the worst thing that could happen to Formula 1.

Tom Brooks
Chief UK Editor