It's a couple of decades now since the heyday of Formula One.
For viewers in this country, the sport never seemed to recover from that period in the early 2000s, when Jordan entered a steep and ultimately terminal decline and Michael Schumacher won the championship every year.
The sport's popularity has dipped hugely in all countries in recent years. Television ratings and falling attendances at races are causing alarm.
With the FIA doing little to arrest the decline, the drivers have taken it upon themselves to do their own market research.
The Grand Prix Driver's Association (there's a wealthy trade union) which is currently headed up by former world champion Jenson Button and Austrian driver Alex Wurz have gone over the heads of the governing body and sought to ask fans their opinions themselves.
They have drawn up 50 questions to be part of a Global Online Fan Survey which will reach fans in 12 languages.
The drivers themselves seem to be of the view that the cars need to increase in speed, with Daniel Ricciardo of Red Bull saying this would return drivers to 'heroic status'.
Fernando Alonso has complained that he hasn't been tested in a Formula One car in ten years.
Back in the 1960s and 70s, drivers famously did enjoy 'heroic status'. They also cheated death every time they went out on the track. Perhaps this fact was not unconnected to the 'heroic status' which they enjoyed.
[Telegraph]
Read more: 10 Formula One Heroes That You Forgot Existed
