On why Formula 1 has always been boring

Formula 1 motor racing has always been boring. You can almost count the number of wheel-to-wheel races between truly evenly-matched cars on the fingers of two hands. When you're in a meritocratic situation, regardless of the sport, this will usually be the case.

Nevertheless, whilst there are no "solutions" to the problem (people always want "solutions", for whatever reason), there are a number of things - the majority of which could be quite easily changed in time even for the next race in 10 days time - that would spice up the on-track action immeasurably.

1. Circuits

Think of some examples of classic F1 duels between completely equal cars. Now disregard Nigel Mansell passing Ayrton Senna in Spain 1991 - Mansell's car was easily better and streaked away once it got the lead. Now disregard Gilles Villeneuve and René Arnoux at Dijon in 1979 - Arnoux's car was hobbled with engine trouble.

What you will be left with is some dusty old footage of Formula 1 from between 1950 and 1970, essentially the pre-aerodynamic era of the sport, which may prove a significant point later on. Consider the classic slipstreamers of the Italian Grand Prix, or Jackie Stewart and Jochen Rindt's race-long duel at Silverstone in 1969, or Mike Hawthorn side-by-side with Fangio for mile after mile at Reims in 1953.

The common factor here is not car design, nor aerodynamics - both Stewart and Rindt and the classic 1971 Italian Grand Prix came after the advent of wing technology. It is circuit design. Fast, flowing circuits allow drivers to race one another. I'll repeat that. Fast, flowing circuits allow drivers to race one another.

Had the 2010 season started at Interlagos, Brazil, for example, or at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Montréal, all the bellyaching we are currently enduring could have, at least temporarily, been avoided. Put it simply, give the drivers a track where they have a realistic chance of racing one another and they will do so. Bahrain's Sakhir circuit is yet to produce a classic Grand Prix, and with its new fiddly, bumpy, eight-turn addition is even less likely to in future.

We'll get to Sepang in three weeks and it'll rain, the racing will be outrageous and all this will be forgotten. Until we arrive in Barcelona. Then it will be forgotten again after Montréal. At no time will anybody ever think of blaming the circuits. They're so modern. They're so safe. The garages are so roomy. The air-conditioning in the press room is just-so. And so it goes on.

2. Aerodynamics

To the credit of the Technical Working Group, they tried this. But Formula 1 designers are relentlessly clever. However, the simple fact of the matter is that, even at the first race of the new era in 2009, three teams turned up with a device that completely shagged all the efforts to spice up the racing. The double diffuser makes it more difficult for a car to follow another car closely. It's as simple as that. Get rid of it and things will immediately get better.

Whilst they're at it, someone could perhaps have a look at the bewildering array of feathers and bells that have started sprouting out of the front wings again and get rid of them, too. Simpler aerodynamics leads to greater reliance on driver input. More driver input equals better races.

3. Tyres

Nice and easy, this one - remove the tyre restrictions. Yes, I know Formula 1 is trying to be seen to be cutting costs and saving the environment. But at the moment it could be risk of doing both of these things in the best possible way, by making itself obsolete.

Give the drivers back their 14 sets for the weekend for starters. Next, remove the silly rule about having to run both compounds during the race. This removed a vital tactical variable - you can't expect to ban refuelling and then effectively railroad all the teams into using the same strategy and still expect exciting races.

Finally, allow the drivers to choose from all four compounds of tyre - super-soft, soft, medium and hard - at every race, using whichever ones they choose and starting on whichever ones they choose. Maybe some cars or drivers will, over the course of practice, realise their optimum race time would be given by 2 stops on a soft tyre. Others will find it's one stop on the medium, or running non-stop on the hard. Additional pit stops and different race programmes will mix up the field, put slow cars trying to preserve their tyres ahead of the sprinters. The overtaking and excitement this would produce is as artificial as during the refuelling era, but it is still overtaking and excitement!

4. Pit lane

To assist with 3., raise the pit lane speed limit. OK, there are safety implications to this, and in some places - Monaco immediately springs to mind, but also places like Valencia - it would be entirely impractical to the point of recklessness. However, increasing the limit during races to 100mph would lead to shorter pit stop loss times. Shorter pit stop loss times would, in turn, make aggressive tyre strategies more tempting and achievable for the teams.

Ultimately, it has to be remembered that Formula 1 is the pinnacle of motorsport. The finest designers, working for the best teams, producing bespoke cars for the world's greatest racing drivers. It's always likely to be two-by-two processional fare a lot of the time. If you want to be entertained by motor racing, watch the British Touring Car Championship. It's certainly what I do.

But it will never stop me from loving Formula 1 the most.