Mansell: “I would like to see more decision-making power in pilots instead of computers”

Criticisms of today’s F1 Today’s Formula 1, with the technical regulations and the recent changes that will come into force from the Miami Grand Prix, is not at all convincing some drivers present on the starting grid, who have not spared criticism and doubts. In the world of the Circus in general, even and above all the drivers of the past do not fully share the innovations introduced in F1, as demonstrated by the recent declarations of two world champions: Sebastian Vettel, four-time world champion, and Nigel Mansell. On the top of the world with Williams in 1992, the ‘Lion of England’ believes he saw the drivers take a backseat to technology in the first three races of the season: “There has been a huge change in the regulations, both in terms of the car and the engine – he explained to aceodds.com – I think there will be improvements in power management. I hope that now they no longer have to slow down too much in some corners. I think it is vitally important that the drivers are able to drive the cars to their maximum potential instead of having a computer that tells them when to brake or not. Fernando Alonso made us all laugh by saying that his chef would know how to drive better than him right now. We need to get back to normality. Formula 1 is the flagship of all world motor racing and we must not forget that as the technology progresses, they can make more changes to the 50/50 later, but at the moment they just need to give the cars more power to be able to race.” The hope of the V10 While he considers the development of technology and sustainability important, Mansell believes that F1 has lost its essence, with a solution that could be in the return to a certain engine: “In engineering terms, if it’s not broken, you don’t try to fix it – he added – people don’t understand that there are important changes that have been taking place for some time. It takes a long time for all the teams and manufacturers to put everything together. The complexity of the regulations is enormous and if everything is not done correctly, together with the combination of the units to power recovery and so on, it’s a minefield.The drivers can break so many rules and yet the computers do it all.I would just like to see more decision making power in the drivers,rather than the computers.Back in the 70’s and 80’s,over 90% of the engines were Cosworth DFV’s.We all had the same engines and the racing was great in the computer age, but racing should be as stable as possible, so that everyone has a chance to catch up and compete. Everyone talks about how great it would be to have V10s back for their sound, the answer is yes. Everyone builds their own V10 and it will sound fantastic because it’s the pinnacle of motorsport.”