Is Formula 1 in crisis? No. But you’d never know it given the hullabaloo in the press. Red Bull saying this isn’t Formula 1. Ferrari saying this isn’t Formula 1. Bernie saying this isn’t Formula 1. Well I’m sorry guys, but you’ve only yourselves to blame.

This new engine formula came about as a direct result of Renault holding the sport hostage. Formula 1 was living in the past said Carlos Ghosn, and Renault would not be hanging around unless it changed its regulations to move in line with more road relevant technology. If they’d had their way, we’d currently have flat fours. As it is, they backtracked slightly to the 1.6 litre V6s which have so divided the sport’s fanbase.

That Renault has arguably done the poorest job in preparing for this new formula is nobody’s fault but their own. They pushed for this technology. They made their bed. They should be made to lie in it.

Of course Red Bull and Adrian Newey are upset. Formula 1 has become an engine formula once again. Even Newey’s mighty aero wizardry cannot get his team out of the spot it finds itself in.

Ferrari is in a similar bind. How ironic that the great Enzo Ferrari once claimed that aerodynamics were for those that could not build engines.

Mercedes has simply done a better job than its rivals. And for that, Formula 1 apparently wants to tear up the new rule book and start again. I have to agree with Toto Wolff in his remarks that such an idea is “absurd.”

We are not yet three races into this new formula, and yet already we are told it cannot and will not work. I have no doubt that if Renault had produced an engine worthy of battle with Mercedes that we would not be having these arguments. Its a classic story of a kid picking up his ball and going home because he’s not winning the game.

But it is a game whose rules this child helped create. These new regulations didn’t just appear. They were written over months and years, having been digested and pondered by those who own supposedly the smartest brains in our industry. If Adrian Newey, Red Bull, Ferrari, Lotus, or any other team or Technical Director had an issue with these regulations then they should have voiced their objections then. Not now.

The absurdity of it all, is in the concept that competing entities can ever work together for the furtherance of the sport. Their own self interest is what got us to this point, their own insular views of the rules and how they might affect their own position in the sport.

Ferrari claims over 80% of the fans of Formula 1 don’t like the new sport, thanks to a fairly poorly worded and leading poll it conducted on its own website. One wonders the answers they would have had if Ferrari had won the first two races. One wonders what response a similar poll on a Mercedes website would garner.

One wonders why Ferrari and Red Bull are suddenly so concerned over the opinions of the fans, when every poll conducted in the independent domain over double points repeatedly sees well over a 95% dislike of the rule, and yet they have not seen fit to push for its eradication. Ferrari and Red Bull are not pushing for change for you, the fans. They are pushing for themselves, because they and their partners simply haven’t done as good a job as their rivals.

And therein lies the problem. Whatever changes are made, Mercedes and its teams will still be three months ahead of Renault and Ferrari. That is not going to change.

There is a short term simple fix for a few of the issues the sport is experiencing, however. Take away the fuel flow limit. Cars will rev higher, noise will be increased and drivers will be able to push. Yes engines will be under increased strain but that is for the teams to sort. There will still be disparity between the teams and engine suppliers, but in the short term at least its a fix that makes some sense.

If this was the FIA of Mosley times, I could see the Court of Appeal dismissing Red Bull’s appeal against Ricciardo’s Australian GP disqualification next week, and the very next day removing the fuel flow regulation. It was Mosley’s Machiavellian manner of politics that led to the strength of the FIA. And today’s sport requires such a strong armed approach.

You cannot have competing entities dictating rules. It does not and cannot work.

In an apparent move to appease the championship leaders, Bernie Ecclestone has this morning said that any move towards regulation change will be lead by Mercedes. And this must be seen as a positive step.

Because if the rules of this sport are changed significantly because the two teams considered to be the most important by the commercial rights holder, as proven by the unique financial rewards they individually receive for simply turning up, aren’t as competitive as they want to be, then the answer to the question I asked at the start of this article will need to be reappraised.