Chinese GP: The conflict which shows up F1’s best and worst sides

F1’s bosses are caught in the middle of this debate, recognizing the superficial appeal of back-and-forth racing but worrying about what new cars will do to the sport they have grown up loving because they are impressed by the essence of the race as the ultimate test between driver and machine.

Andrea Stella, team principal at world champion McLaren, said: “There are some aspects of driving in qualifying that can be counterintuitive.

“For example, from time to time we get comments from our drivers saying that when they make a mistake, when they actually save some energy, you go faster overall in a sector because the energy you save by delaying the accelerator because you have a problem will reward you at the end of the straight.”

Mercedes F1 team principal Toto Wolff said: “From an entertainment point of view, I believe what we saw today between Ferrari and McLaren is a good race. There is a lot of overtaking.”

“We were all part of Formula 1, where there was literally no overtaking. Sometimes we get too nostalgic about the good old years.”

“But I think the product in itself is good. We’ve seen a lot of racing in the midfield as well. And I think that’s positive.”

“As for qualifying, it’s different from the driver’s point of view. Frankly, I’m sure it’s difficult for someone like Max, who is on full attack in qualifying, to deal with and digest the situation.”

“It would be nice to qualify. But when you look at the fans and the excitement there, the live broadcast, the chants during transition and also the young fans on social media, the vast majority of them, across all demographics, they love the sport right now.

“So yes, we can always look at how we improve it. But right now all the indicators and all the data show that people love it. And I spoke to Stefano (Domenicali, F1 president) as well. He says that too.”

The cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix has given the sport a little more breathing room to think about all this.

Team bosses have a meeting with F1 and the FIA ​​governing body this week, and there is another race in Japan in two weeks before the five-week break before the next Grand Prix in Miami at the beginning of May.

A number of ideas are already in the mix to reduce the degree of contamination of the purity of the driving experience, such as removing the lower limit for energy recovery currently in place on a certain stage of the straights. And others may yet emerge.

“Do we want to stay true to the DNA of racing in the traditional sense? Do we accept that this counterintuitive situation belongs to the business or not? That’s a high-level philosophical question,” says Stella.