![]() There is no question that most of the wider world’s awakening to Formula 1 occurred two years ago during the season-long struggle between Verstappen and Hamilton, the 2021 campaign arguably the most dramatic year in its seven-decade history. All very worthy – but what about the core product? They say it’s all to do with Drive to Survive and the work on improving F1’s social media penetration. New additions to the calendar are instant hits, old favourites have been revitalised by record attendances and the sport has conquered America to such an extent that no fewer than three races will be held across the United States this year. Haven’t you heard? Formula 1 is experiencing a popularity boom these days. Is F1’s boom built to survive another era of one-driver domination? ![]() ![]() This was a mess not so much of Formula 1’s making as of its cunningly constructed planning – and we, in our hunger for just a little entertainment, all went along for the ride. ![]() It is a situation specifically designed to encourage recklessness and ill-considered, death-or-glory decision making, with the kind of breathless and inelegant racing the powers that be crave from the sprint format.Īnd so rather than Monday morning’s headlines focused on another frightfully routine victory for Verstappen and Red Bull, we instead read of a chaotic finish in Melbourne of Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly resuming their rivalry at Alpine of Alonso spun from and then reinstated to third of a five-second penalty for Carlos Sainz, the collision annulled in Aston Martin’s world but not so in Ferrari’s. It is fundamentally unfair to those who have worked hard to place themselves in promising positions, almost making the previous 50 laps a test of endurance to get to this judgement point.Īnd the worst thing about these manufactured dashes to the finish? Only those at the front approach it with a sense of jeopardy and risk. Hamilton and Alonso now had to jump over this final, unexpected, unnecessary hurdle to make sure of their places on the podium. Suddenly, having already won the Australian Grand Prix, Verstappen had to go out and win it again. Was the debris from Kevin Magnussen’s meeting with the concrete barrier at Turn 2 nothing a Safety Car could not handle? No, but coming within six laps of the finish it once again gave F1 a chance to choose the path of show over sport. Was the red flag for Alex Albon’s crash really to clear gravel from the track, or to push the race a little further back as the sun started to rise over Europe? Such is the lack of faith in F1 officials since that night in Abu Dhabi that it has become difficult to take decisions at face value without speculating about some ulterior motive. Which brings us to the Australia 2023, a race ultimately defined by two highly suspect FIA stewards’ calls. Think moments like Abu Dhabi 2021, and the general rise in (late-race) red flag stoppages in recent seasons, happen by accident?į1’s move to post-red-flag standing restarts was announced a month after Symonds’ arrival and if it was a rule change made with good intentions over recent years it has been exploited to concoct grandstand finishes.Īlmost inconceivably, the sport missed its last opportunity for a Drive to Survive red flag when Daniel Ricciardo’s McLaren stopped within sight of the chequered flag at Monza last September, and the outcry by media and fans on that occasion – all are complicit – ensured the next would not be wasted. Even the most uninteresting of contests can still be salvaged, their place in history totally transformed, by late drama.īecause since 2017 Symonds has worked as Formula 1’s chief technical officer, leading the work on the raceable new cars for 2022 as well as finding new and innovative methods to bring F1 to the forefront of the global sporting landscape. ![]() It may have seemed a statement of the obvious, but served to underline the importance to sports bodies across the world of finishing with a flourish. It strongly suggested, he wrote with much excitement, that the public tend to have much fonder memories of an otherwise dull event when there is an exciting end. Here are our conclusions from Melbourne… Welcome to the era of Drive to Survive red flagsĪround five years ago, former Renault technical director Pat Symonds – in a column for what is now GP Racing magazine – revealed the details of a psychological study into the behaviour of sports fans. Lewis Hamilton took his first podium of the year on a weekend that potentially raises more questions than answers for Mercedes, with Fernando Alonso claiming his third consecutive third-place finish for Aston Martin. Max Verstappen continued Red Bull’s perfect start to the 2023 Formula 1 season by winning the Australian Grand Prix, overcoming the uncertainty of a controversial late red flag to extend his lead in the World Championship. ![]()
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