Is Formula One seriously crap?

Not for the first time this year Formula One has been described as excrement by various levels of authority in the sport.

The latest offender to commit a Gerald Ratner moment on behalf of the pinnacle of motorsport is Patrick Allen, boss of the Silverstone Circuit, who told London’s Independent that he thinks Formula One in 2015 is “s**t”.

“I think it is criminal when we have got to that state of racing and that is not saleable,” he said.

“Months and months back I said it to Mr [Ecclestone] himself that I can’t sell tickets for a s**t product.”

Perhaps Allen is who inspired Bernie Ecclestone himself to describe the sport as “crap” in the lead up to the Silverstone Grand Prix – though at least the Formula One ringleader had the decency to backpedal from his comments.

Putting to one side for a moment the ludicrous contrast that Silverstone recorded its biggest ever attendance this year when 140,000 people walked through the gates of the British circuit to watch what turned out to be one of the thrillers of the season, what right those who ensure billions of dollars are turned through the sport, all of which makes its way from the pockets of fans via one route another, have to tear Formula One down?

On the surface it is absurd that two men can on the one hand live comfortably at least in part on the economic success of Formula One while using the other hand to flip off the public by telling them they’ve been duded – after charging exorbitantly for the privilege, mind you.

It is similarly nonsensical that two people who rely to a great extent on the popularity of Formula One for their own success – Ecclestone as the representative of the commercial rights holder, Allen as the managing director of Silverstone, the calendar for which pivots around Formula One – would seek to further devalue an asset they already apparently see as being of too little value.

But on a deeper level this hurt should be felt more keenly. More than these comments hovering suspiciously in the unknown motive zone considering less than two weeks ago that Allen suggested pleading for financial assistance may be the only way to keep the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, intrinsic in the utterances of both Britons is an attempt to shift blame elsewhere.

Complaining arbitrarily about Formula One – Allen pointed to “guys looking at data on screens” as the most significant reason why no-one turned up to this year’s attendance record-breaking British Grand Prix, Ecclestone was quoted as saying his sport is “probably too easy” – are subtle attempts to remove the speakers from the problem.

It is impossible, however, to distinguish either Briton from the sport, and it is disingenuous at best to attempt to fool the public into thinking otherwise.

Allen is the managing director of the sport’s most influential circuit and can therefore brandish a formidable contact book filled with some of Formula One’s most eminent voices. Ecclestone, meanwhile, has control over virtually every aspect in the sport through the leverage he has by controlling Formula One’s income.

There is no denying that Formula One is not perfect either on or off the track, but its sporting imperfections in particular are from irreparable – and these two men are ideally placed as both authoritative voices and promoters as designated by the sport’s commercial structure to get the rebuild started.

The building blocks sit before them, screaming to be put into place – for the third time I am forced to reference the British Grand Prix’s record-breaking attendance figure of 140,000.

The figure, which withstood the notoriously fickle Northamptonshire weather, proves that Formula One still works at its core and that the fans are still willing to absorbed in the narrative of the world championship; it is evidence disproving the ‘crap’ theory.

It is in light of this that both Ecclestone and Allen’s comments to brand the sport as unsellable hurt and disappoint most, because buried in them is that neither man is really trying.

Out there, whether it be in the United Kingdom, the sport’s broader traditional home of Europe, and even some of the farther-flung destinations in Australia, Asia, and the United States fans are ready to be engaged by a sport that has always been compelling, even among its lacklustre seasons, to which no sport is immune, if only those styled as ‘promoters’ would attempt to sell it to them.