Michael Schumacher, from Germany celebrating at the end of the karting event charity race International Challenge of the Stars. AP Photo/ Nabor Goulart
With the Australian Formula One Grand Prix a week away, its employees, including seven time world champion Michael Schumacher, have expressed concerns that the sport is becoming a mere procession.
New rules this year, including the limiting pit stops to just tyre changes, have got drivers worried that the world’s premier motor sport class, already struggling to get support, is on the decline.
Australian Mark Webber described his race at the Bahrain GP last weekend as “pretty boring,” adding that although he was quicker than many in front of him, the rules meant it was too risky to over take.
The F1’s organising body, the FIA, has been trying to lower the enourmous amounts of money spent by teams for a couple of years now by changing rules limiting testing sessions, along with many others, but has this new rule gone too far?
What’s the point of racing if all we see is a line of cars that stay in the same order for 50 or more laps? If we wanted to see that, we could take a trip down to the local freeway.
There would probably be even more overtaking happening there.
I can understand the FIA needing to tighten the budget, but at the expense of what Formula 1 is all about. Aggressive racing by some of the world’s best drivers in the world’s fastest cars is not the answer.
Perhaps a salary cap type system could work, where each team is only allowed a certain amount of money per year to test their car with. This would be much better than simply removing the competitive nature of the sport.
Let’s face it, most of us watch motor sport in the hope someone crashes into a competitor and has a big crash. Well, without the incentive to pass, drivers aren’t going to take risks that lead to the spectacular crashes.
Anyone can drive around a circuit following another car.
So the FIA need to go back to the drawing board as the collective voice of the paddock is growing increasingly frustrated.
And so are the spectators.
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