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If the cars had much lower downforce they would be more reliant on mechanical grip. The only figures I could find for a modern F1 car was that they produce around 1400kg of downforce at the highest speeds. Here is my take on it, the cars are already fast in high speed corners, whether they are doing 230kph or 210kph, it’s still a fast corner. The problem is, all the spectator areas are normally miles away from the high speed sections of track due to having to have 500 metres of run off (or whatever the FIA stipulates). Where the crowds and cameras can get closer to the cars are in the slower corners, however the cars are now so much slower in slower corners due to all the added weight + fuel load. When you think that 30 or so years ago the cars weighed 505kg, compared to today’s near 800kg. By culling the aero significantly you would see an improvement in cars being able to follow, however this would need to be done via the upper surfaces for the most part, so shrink the front and rear wings to a third of their surface areas and lower the front wing to be as near to the ground as possible. If it were then possible to lose 100kg of weight from the cars then that would be ideal, but I don’t think that will ever be the case.
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