Todt wants more focus on F1 track design from FIA

FIA president Jean Todt wants the governing body to place more emphasis on Formula 1 track design to help the racing spectacle.

In 2019, three different teams won races and five scored podiums, but Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton won their sixth constructors’ and drivers’ championships respectively. While Todt says on paper the season looks predictable, he believes there was plenty of exciting racing and identifies track design as being central to ensuring there is more of that in future.

“Globally this year, I think it has been a great year for Formula 1,” Todt said. “Of course if you just see the result you see big domination from Mercedes again and Lewis Hamilton, but clearly they deserve it; they did the best job, but it still has been a tight fight.

“You see Ferrari took multiple pole positions, Red Bull Honda demonstrated they could win. You have new teams coming up like McLaren, who did a great job. So globally, on the sporting side, it has been a very interesting championship.

“Probably we have understood a bit more -- and maybe we should have understood earlier -- the importance of the track design, and it’s something we need to address better because it’s nothing to do with the regulations, teams or governance.”

The Hanoi Circuit -- which released details of an updated 23-turn circuit on Wednesday -- has been developed with input from Formula 1’s motorsports team, with the commercial rights holder and FIA working closely together on a number of other topics during the past 12 months. Todt says the collaboration has been as good as he has known in his time in F1, and praised F1 CEO Chase Carey for getting a budget cap approved for 2021.

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“For the 2021 regulations, there were a lot of question marks about whether it was going to be accepted, whether it was going to move forward. The cost cap, I must say I give a lot of credit on the cost cap to Chase, because myself I am a bit old to understand all of the process to be able to control it and it has gone through.

“All the teams have been contributing and accepting that as part of the 2021 regulations. Whether it will give the effect we hope… we can only hope. But I think there has been a lot of effort, never so much effort, and so much (collaboration) as a group working positively together to prepare the future of Formula 1.”