This question essentially centres on the push by FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem to return Formula 1 to a set of engine regulations that are pretty much the same as the era from 2010-13.
We delved into this topic extensively last week. There’s a link to that article below.
Now, as to the specific question, yes, 2013 was pretty boring, or at least the second half of it was.
The season started relatively competitively – Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel won four of the first 10 grands prix, but Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, Lotus’ Kimi Raikkonen and Mercedes drivers Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton all won over that period.
But a change to the specification of tyres following a series of blow-outs at the British Grand Prix led to Red Bull dominating and Vettel won the last nine races in a row to clinch a fourth consecutive world title.
The last years of the V8 era, once refuelling was banned at the end of 2009, fluctuated between intensely competitive and, er, not.
The 2010 and 2012 seasons had gripping title fights. In 2010 there were five drivers in the running until the penultimate race, and four mathematically at the last one.
That was the year Ferrari dropped the ball on strategy in Abu Dhabi and threw away the title, letting Red Bull and Vettel in to win their first title.
In 2012, there were seven different winners in the first seven races, and the title fight between Vettel and Alonso went to the final race again.
In 2011, as in 2013, Vettel and Red Bull dominated.
But there were a lot more factors involved in those scenarios than just engines. Tyres, for one. The relative competitiveness of the cars for another.
However, the naturally aspirated era – and especially the years from 1994-2009 when there was refuelling – was notorious for the lack of overtaking on track.
That has certainly increased this year with the new style of “yo-yo racing” brought about by the new hybrid engines.
There are so many issues wrapped up in this engine debate. Some of it may well be people harking back to the past, one they felt was more attractive than what F1 serves up today.
But there is also a cost issue, whether the essence of F1 has been polluted, noise, the changing road-car market place and on and on.