With the right tweaks, we could get a satisfactory set of constraints which retain the thrilling wheel-to-wheel drama of both races but without the ludicrous battery passes seen repeatedly into Turn 9 at Albert Park. It doesn’t solve the problem of lift-coasting through key corners being the fastest way to do a qualifying lap, but it’s a big step in the right direction.
Those tweaks have been postponed for the time being in order to gather more data from a greater variety of tracks – and it’s probably a blessing in disguise that Jeddah is off the calendar for now because that would potentially combine the worst case scenario of a layout which is both energy-starved and featuring fast blind exit corners where the sudden deceleration of a car could present a nasty situation.
The Chinese Grand Prix was always going to show the new F1 in a better light than Melbourne by minimising its downsides. But it actually went further than that and pitched a series of virtues not widely envisaged. Active aero, the battery boost facility and cars which are aerodynamically friendlier for passing meant wheel-to-wheel dices lasting multiple laps, something almost unheard of in the last few decades.
That’s entertainment, but in Australia it wasn’t really sport. The Chinese race suggested the two could be combined.