Ben Collins, a professional racing and stunt driver, best known for his former role as Top Gear’s famous tame racing driver, the Stig, has called out the Formula 1 CEO, Stefano Domenicali, for comparing the lift and coast to harvest energy in today’s F1 to the F1 of the ’80s, when drivers had to lift off to save fuel. Collins stated that the ’80s era of F1 is “incomparable to the tragedy unfolding” today.
F1’s new regulations came into effect this year, in which cars are powered equally by an internal combustion engine and energy derived from batteries. That means drivers have to manage electric power during races, requiring them to deploy during overtakes and harvest when the charge is low.
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To harvest energy, drivers need to lift off and depend on super clipping, requiring them to decelerate in areas where they would have otherwise driven flat out. With just three races done so far, several teams have been struggling with their cars, such as Williams, Red Bull, and Aston Martin, given the complexities of the new regulations.
Drivers have spoken against the new form of racing, since it requires them to decelerate during a race, only to charge their batteries for a momentary boost. Not to mention the safety concerns drivers raised after Ollie Bearman’s 50G crash during the Japanese Grand Prix. F1 and its governing body, the FIA, have been discussing a way to overcome this challenge in multiple meetings.
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Fans have also been criticizing this new avatar of F1, with many calling the overtakes artificial, as they simply involve a driver with a higher electric charge passing one with a lower charge. Domenicali has hit back against the criticism, arguing that an overtake is an overtake.
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He also compared lifting off to harvest energy to the lift-off and coast drivers practiced during the late eighties due to strict fuel capacity limits. Drivers back in 1986 had more than 1400 hp at their disposal from thirsty engines in qualifying, considered the most powerful in F1 history. Speaking to Autosport in an interview, Domenicali said:
“Overtaking some people are saying is artificial, what is artificial?
“I mean, overtaking is overtaking, and people have a short memory, because in the turbo age in the 1980s, I was already following F1 and the lift and coast and using different turbos and different speeds.
“You have to [manage] because otherwise the fuel tank was too small.
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“Maybe some of the old people are criticising or have some comments have a short memory, because back in the ’80s, at the turbo time, these things were there.”
Collins responded to Domenicali in the comments that the F1 cars of the eighties were more brutal, offering a racing spectacle that modern F1 cars simply cannot match. He wrote in the comments:
“Oh stop it – these things were not there – 1100 bhp and wheelspin in 5th is incomparable to the tragedy unfolding in Formula 1 – someone pass me the boat hook” [sic]