Stuck: "Aerodynamics just makes the races boring"

As excitement builds for the new era of F1, German official Hans-Joachim Stuck thinks the sport has taken a wrong turn. Amid criticism of the spectacle in the last few years, the teams have arrived in Melbourne for the 2017 season opener with much faster cars in their luggage.

"This idea was proposed by Bernie Ecclestone and approved by the strategy group," the retired Williams technical chief Pat Symonds is quoted by L'Equipe. "The idea was to make it much harder for a 17-year-old to make his debut and be successful, but the facts show that young drivers can cope with the new cars."

The 2017 cars were given their 5 second per lap boost thanks to wider Pirelli slicks and - for the first time in F1 history - aerodynamic rule changes that actually deliver significantly more rather than less downforce.

But former driver and German motor racing official Stuck thinks speeding up the cars with better aerodynamics was the wrong route. "It's not just the cost, aerodynamics just makes the races boring," he told the German business magazine Sponsors. "Fans want to see real motor sport with real overtaking, not some senseless technical innovation like the folding wing," Stuck added.

He is referring to 'DRS', because even though F1 chief Ross Brawn wants to eventually ban the artificial overtaking aid, there are rumours a lack of overtaking in 2017 will mean DRS is actually revved up within a few races this year. (GMM)