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The Current State of MRC F1

04.01.2020 - With only a quick glance at recent posts in the Worldwide Forum - MRC F1 thread, one can quickly surmise that there is a deep division amongst F1 team managers regarding the current state of the series. If you follow the opinions you would be led to believe that the current qualifying system is at the heart of the current issue.

Opponents of the current system suggest that the skills of drivers and the quality of the cars are being diminished by what they suggest amounts to a "game of chance". Proponents of the current qualification system suggest that the randomness factor adds a previously unavailable opportunity for some of the lower-rated teams to enter into the top 10 in qualifying and give them a sporting chance to gain points for their team and their drivers.

A deeper dive into the financials of the teams offers a differing perspective. It's noteworthy that the majority of teams operate with an employee wages budget of about 1.35 million and a facilities budget of about 2.2 million. There isn't a lot of variance in those commitments, but yet Red Bull Racing (RBR) manages to operate with a weekly burn rate of just over 300,000 while the worst financially performing team operates with a weekly burn rate of 2.2 million. So why is there such a huge discrepancy?

It all comes down to sponsorship and RBR's 3.3 million in sponsorship compared to the worst financially performing team's 700,000 attributes to the huge difference. So what does this really mean?

If we follow the numbers it means that RBR can operate their current team at an annual net cost of 3.3 million per season and still produce a car that is consistently a contender for the Constructor's Championship, while continuing to build large amounts of cash from financing.

You have to give them the credit that they deserve for having managed to put themselves into this position, but it shouldn't take much to realize that they have a competitive advantage that most teams will never be able to overcome. Only McLaren, who has a weekly burn rate of 610,000 may have such an opportunity, but RBR would need to have a monumental collapse in order for that to occur. Based on recent seasonal finishes in the Constructors Championship, that probability is quite low.

The thing that many individuals should realize is this type of situation is really reflective of a normal distribution as represented by a bell curve in predicting probabilities. This suggests that enough time has expired that the high-end and low-end performers have been determined and the chances of change are very low.

When you begin to let the reality sink in, is there any doubt that team managers are voicing their frustrations and searching for changes that are being met with fractured responses?

Perhaps it is now appropriate to suggest that the current version of F1 has run its full course? Is it perhaps time to reset the game table and let teams truly compete with the knowledge that they've acquired over the 35 seasons of MRC? I suspect we'd see a much more balanced and competitive F1 if such a move were exercised. I think there is substantial evidence that most teams have acquired an understanding of the resources required to be competitive including the appropriate employees and facilities, so chances are good that true competition could occur.

Such a change would be bold, but the hopes and dreams of many who truly enjoy this great game would be renewed. Perhaps that's the greatest reason of all make such a move.