Many motorsport followers view Formula 1 to be the head of motorsport. However is it actually? Is F1 the head in driver expertise, circuit problem and most significantly in offering the perfect present to the tens of millions of people that watch it world wide?

Driving expertise

Are the 20 males on the grid really the perfect drivers on the earth? I might recommend in any other case, with drivers similar to Lance Stroll, Brendon Hartley, Stoffel Vandoorne and Marcus Ericsson definitely wouldn’t maintain something towards a few of motorsport’s most interesting athletes from different sequence.

Outdoors the so-called golden circle of motorsport, there are lots of drivers who may tackle F1’s most interesting and are available out on prime on their day. For example, 5-times IndyCar Champion Scott Dixon is a driver which many have spoken about for a drive in F1 up to now, however due lack of funding and the resistance by the groups to take anybody from the unsuitable facet of the pond, the Kiwi is unlikely ever to check by no means thoughts drive in F1.

Kimi Raikkonen could have dabbled on the earth of rallying in 2010–11, however a real motorsport nice has competed in gravel and dust for the perfect a part of a decade. As present M-Sport Ford driver and 5-times WRC Champion Sebastien Ogier has proved himself in no matter circle he has taken to. Ogier will make his DTM debut in a Mercedes as a visitor driver on the subsequent spherical on the Red Bull Ring, which shall be attention-grabbing to see how he adapts to circuit racing for the very first time.

Not solely is the expertise not deep sufficient, however the characters of the game are diminishing quick; Mark Webber left on the finish of 2013, Jenson Button on the finish of 2016, Fernando Alonso will go away the game on the finish of this 12 months. This may simply go away the Iceman, Kimi Raikkonen because the final of the previous breed, making F1 a sport which is simply too sterile and will quickly be a sport and not using a box-office character to promote.

Extra nonetheless, younger, fiery and thrilling proficient racers are usually not being given a good crack by those that have supported them: take the Esteban Ocon and Mercedes dynamic, why hasn’t the Frenchman been put in a Silver Arrow for 2019? As a result of it’s going to smash the crew dynamic and will make Hamilton really feel uncomfortable with a younger charger alongside, however isn’t that what F1 ought to be about?

For this reason we must always make it a real drivers championship, with every driver on the grid having to drive in every automotive throughout the course of the season, making it in everybody’s finest pursuits to shut the hole in competitors. Extra on this later…

Circuits

Of the present 2018 calendar, there are 4 tracks which aren’t worthy of their place on the grid: Albert Park, Marina Bay, Sochi Autodrom and Yas Marina.

Albert Park in recent times has solely produced race when it has rained, the final of which being the 2010 race which was received by Jenson Button in slippy situations. The 2013 occasion wasn’t unhealthy both resulting from high-degradation tyres which pressured drivers into both a two or three-stop race.

However within the v6-hybrid period with sturdy tyres and a pronounced soiled air impact, it has been a race to overlook extra a much less. So in a rustic the place motorsport has a lot historical past and heritage, why can we go racing at such a poor venue?

Marina Bay and Yas Marina have an analogous concern; overtaking is minimal and with tyre put on minimal lately, the v6-era races have been a bit crap up to now. The problem is that they’ve the leisure worth of a Monaco GP, however the comparability is unjustified as these occasions don’t have the status of the principality, thus making their worth nugatory.

Sochi Autodrom has solely run since 2014, however the racetrack which makes use of the outskirts of the Olympic Park needs to be one of many worst circuits I’ve ever seen: one-line corners adopted by a mickey-mouse sections and a longish entrance straight. I do know Russia is an effective marketplace for the game, however is the cash it attracts in necessary sufficient to sacrifice any form of racing spectacle?

As a substitute of those 4 mediocre venues; why not have Mount Panaroma (Bathurst) because the season-opening Australian GP in addition to races at Imola, Buenos Aires and {finishing} the 12 months at Daytona or Street America as a logo of the present F1 can present, speaking of which lets transfer on…

The present

Oh pricey. Once you notice that many of the spectacle of Grand Prix racing comes from tyre put on and administration it’s uncomparable to the lights-to-flag racing you get within the likes of Formula E, IndyCar and the BTCC. Extra nonetheless, because of the present stage of the highest three groups in comparison with the remaining, solely three groups can win at current until one thing outstanding happens. Is that actually the head of motorsport?

For example, within the BTCC Sam Tordoff turned the fifteenth totally different winner of the 12 months at Silverstone, the place in F1 there have been simply 4 winners this 12 months: Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel, Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen.

And regularly, it appears to be a battle between the German and the Brit for race victory. In the event that they made components cheaper and made much less scope for growth, then if six groups may win, we’d all win ultimately as that’s what we wish: a present with selection.

Therefore, we’re in fifth 12 months of the v6 hybrid period, however the story will not be dissimilar because it was in 12 months one: Mercedes trying on target for one more championship double. Why would anybody wish to enter this predictable title sport?

Even in Formula E, the place there have been solely 12-races final season, there have been 5 totally different winners: Sam Chicken, Felix Rosenqvist, Jean-Eric Vergne, Daniel Abt, Lucas Di Grassi representing 4 groups. And no less than six groups had the potential to win final 12 months, with each Renault e.dams and Jaguar inside placing distance of victory, earlier than in the end faltering. That’s what motorsport about; shut, quick, unpredictable racing- not observe the chief exchanges which develop tiresome in a short time.

I perceive that adjustments are being made to F1 to handle among the points raised; lack of competitors, driver high quality and poor circuits. However with Formula E, IndyCar, WRC and WEC all offering that very same stage of competitors in equal measure, is the so-called pinnacle of motorsport overrated?