Ferrari boss wants F1 cars to sound like heavy metal band

Ferrari has called for a rules "revolution" for formula one in 2017.

Upset with the mild tone of the new V6 engines and a dwindling audience, Bernie Ecclestone wants a radical change and this week he earned the backing of Mercedes’ team chairman and F1 legend Niki Lauda.

"I want a car for the future that has 1,200 horse power, wide tyres — formula one needs to be faster and more difficult, as it once was," Lauda said.

Now, new Ferrari team boss Maurizio Arrivabene said:

“I’ve read what our friend Niki has to say: he’s top of the class, whereas I’m sitting about four desks further back,” says Maurizio Arrivabene on ferrari.com, picking up on the theme of Niki Lauda’s recent comments.

The Austrian reckons Formula 1 has to undergo a technical revolution in the next few years, aimed at improving the show. “I share Niki’s view that Formula 1 needs to be more spectacular and I believe that the risk he evokes of the sport losing fans is something that has unfortunately already happened,” says Arrivabene.

“By 2017, I too would like to see cars that win over the fans, with cars that they can get closer to and that are aesthetically more appealing, maybe even producing a noise that gets your hair standing on end, like that produced by a heavy metal band. That was what it was like back in the day when Niki was racing and I was an enthusiastic fan, clutching my general admission ticket.

“However, I don’t think a simple evolution is enough in this case. Instead, a real revolution is called for, with significant and radical changes. By that I mean more power, higher speeds, not necessarily involving the use of more fuel, but definitely applying a cost reduction to those components that are of little interest to the general public.

“Being closer to the people actually involves taking F1 to the people, possibly holding the Thursday driver press conferences and team presentations of a Grand Prix weekend, outside the circuit in a public area. That way, the cities that host the races could provide the arena for a presentation of the drivers and cars, in a properly managed event”.

“I have long felt that the real competition to F1 today, in the sense of it being a show, comes from a variety of forms of entertainment, not least from the internet, including racing video games. It is up to us to provide something better and to download a new format for Formula 1 as soon as possible. How likely are we to do it? I know it wouldn’t be the usual way of going about things, but a global survey on the internet and via the TV companies would give us a real idea of what people want. In fact, even in this area of sport as entertainment, we should follow the trend of demand driving what’s on offer.”