Money ruining racing has been a long running problem… not just on land but on the water too. In yacht/boat racing they’ve tried a number of ways to level the playing field. Spec limitations, one design classes, technology bans, all eventually fail. Worse than failing they tend to direct huge amounts of money into getting the last fraction of speed availible within the rules… a sadly inefficient way to advance the state of the art. F1 is falling (fell) into this trap.

One idea that seems to work, or is at least appealing to me… is the claiming race. Classes are divided by the stated price of the boat. Wining boats are subject to being purchased at the class price. It helps keep the billionaires racing the billionaires, and not just beating up on the millionaires. It also gives an enterprising chap with enough cash to buy into the series.

Imagine if the rules in F1 were mostly about safety, and a basic car design, with costs contained by the market. Engineers would be free to work their magic. The racing would be varied and different from week to week. And maybe Minardi could just buy a Ferrari and be something other than a rolling chicane.