Schmidt's F1 blog about the presentations: game of hide-and-seek as a matter of principle

At the presentation of new cars were supposed to cars be the stars. And the engineers should talk about it. Instead, Formula 1 hid its stars and the engineers are silent. If you want to win more fans, you should play with open cards, says Michael Schmidt

Motorsport is competition on three levels. Human versus human, machine versus machine, team versus team. The drivers are the stars, the cars the predators in the arena. The weeks in which Formula 1 presentstheir new cars are an important showcase for the fans.

With the first sign of life in the industry after the long winter break, an arc of tension begins that should get the audience in the mood for the season. Presentation, test drives, start of the season. Formula 1 got off to a false start this year .

It would have been so important, especially in the dark time of the global lockdown, to rekindle interest. Enthusiasm feeds on information. Instead, most of the teams shone with platitudes and secrecy. I have to show and explain my predators if I want to lure the audience out from behind the stove.

Some cars didn't even have a photo. Only bad ones from the others. Computer graphics are booming. Because you can leave out what you don't want to show. The game of hide and seek has never been as ridiculous as it was this time. Most of the cars are just B versions anyway, without the big magic trick.

The token rule prevents concept changes from being copied. Unless they are still relevant in 2022. The budget cap and the pressure to concentrate on 2022 as early as possible prohibit major aerodynamic interventions. Let's be honest: What is the point of my opponent when he knows that I've invested my tokens in a new gearbox?

Formula 1 walled itself in

Now you would finally have had the chance to show what little was new, because Formula 1 is ingrained in itself more than ever before. Technical specifications? Nothing. It is only communicated what is in the regulations anyway. What speaks against disclosing the dimensions of the cars ? A technical sport lives from technical information. The opponent will find out within a few hours anyway. All of them have programs that use photos to calculate length, width, height and wheelbase.

During the video conferences, it was mainly the team bosses and drivers who had their say. That would have been the moment to let the engineers take over the stage. Unfortunately, those who got it didn't say much either. Alpine Chassis Director Pat Fry responded to the question of why such a secret is being kept about non-copyable technical solutions. "Because we've been doing it this way for 30 years." Oh I see.

Unfortunately, Formula 1 can also be gripped by the digitalization craze. The packaging becomes more important than the content. Williams wanted to present his new car with the support of augmented reality. The FW43B would then have been projected onto your desk or in front of the garage entrance. Fortunately, the app was hacked. So at least we were spared that.

Instead, we were presented with a few pixelated children's drawings. We learned that the engineers pulled a token as early as 2020, but we are not told where. As if you wanted to learn something from the slowest car in the field.