Yesterday was the day of the USGP race. A highly anticipated Grand Prix with a great and enthusiastic crowd. However, yesterday – or better said: this weekend – was symbolic for the place F1 is heading at right now. Instead of talking about racing, it was all about the rules. In particular: the so called ‘Max Verstappen rule’. Numerous of drivers were not overly impressed by the way the teenager defends his position, saying it is dangerous for everyone involved. Especially Sebastian Vettel (a four time world champion), Kimi Raikkonen (one world championship), Jenson Button (one world championship) and Sergio Perez (that mexican guy) were not amused by Verstappen’s way of defending.
Now let’s see if they’ve got a point. Hungary was the first time Max’s driving was considered to be dangerous. He made a minor move under braking at turn one whilst defending his position against RAI. This, however is the only move he made that is considered to be abnormal regarding the new rule. All the other incidents, at Spa for example, were not under braking. Even in Japan, VES moved before the braking zone, leaving HAM enough room to choose another line and make the corner. HAM however, chose to make a fuss about it during the race and went for the runoff. For VET, RAI, PER and BUT this was another chance to make their life easier. They supposedly kept crying so much about it, that Charlie Whiting had to come up with some sort of excuse to shut them up. This resulted in the not entirely new rule, but the mere announcement that hard defending will be automatically reported to the stewards.
Formula one has been more of a parade than a race since 2013. This has resulted in empty stands and a loss of views. Most of the races today are fun for the first few laps and then become tragically boring. There are 2 mercs up front with the rest trying to run their race as best as they can. In 2015 this 17-year old lit up the sport by incredible overtakes and outstanding results for an inferior team like his 4th place in USA. His driving then, as he has said himself, was exactly the same as it is today. The difference is that now he is running P4 instead of P10. No more fighting with Sauber; a team that really should not be in F1. They never accomplish anything and only take on paying drivers, blocking new talent. This is exactly what’s wrong at the moment. People just fail to understand what this sport is about. They only see spoiled millionaires going on like babies about how to make their job easier. The things that made F1 great are being crushed by overregulating everything, overdue drivers, teams that are only there to be there resulting in boring tv. This is exactly why the sport fails to attract new young people. It is so embedded in its own beliefs and habits that have become usual in the past couple of years, that they fail to see what made the sport so great. When was the last time we’ve seen a battle like in the 1979 French GP when Villeneuve was battling Arnoux for I don’t know how many laps. In the modern day F1 this is unthinkable. Drivers don’t even fight back anymore or can’t/don’t dare because their car is not good enough or they fear a penalty when things go south. Like RIC said: ‘some of these guys are perfectly fine with just sitting behind’.
One who has never seen F1 should be able to look at a driver and understand what this sport is about. The driver of the day award for Max Verstappen is a perfect example of what the sport has become. It is a mocking. A sign that people don’t take these guys seriously anymore. Max had a DNF due to a gearbox issue, but in the laps he did compete he showed exceptional talent with also a sign of humanity. The overtake on button through the S-shaped part of the circuit was absolutely mind-blowing. However, he also made a mistake by driving into the pits when no one was ready for him. Admitted, Sainz and Alonso deserved the award more than Verstappen. But VES keeps reminding us of what this sport SHOULD be. We should let them race, and more important: we must stop overregulating. Drivers should stop going on in the press and drivers meetings about dangerous driving. This is a dangerous sport and it is part of what makes it exciting. These drivers that have a problem with the way Max defends are the exact problem of the sport. If they think it’s dangerous that’s a disqualification of their own capabilities because they clearly feel that they are not good enough to get past. I respect Vettel, I respect Kimi, I respect BUT and PER, but I do wonder what they are doing in F1 if they don’t want to race.
There are so many questionable aspects in F1 right now that I could go on for so many pages. This is one of the reasons that people fail to understand what F1 is about. They just don’t get some of the stupidities that are going on. One can call it some sort of disbelief. The issue about the braking regulations is just one of them. There are teams that are only there to be there, the marketing strategy and press-meetings are immensely outdated, the way that some of the money gets distributed is lunatic, cars are ugly, engines sound horrible and so on. And to all drivers who feel like VET, BUT, RAI and PER: this is a dangerous sport. This is racing, not a parade. Deal with it. I guess it is time for some people to step up and refresh the sport in a way that Verstappen started that process. Some things speak to us without even saying a word. F1 should be one of those things again.
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