At the age of fourteen, the pipeline dream had been set... I was going to be a Formula One journalist no matter what. That was that. Every race weekend you would find me glued to the TV watching any and all track action, and immersing myself in anything team, driver or racing related. To say I lived and breathed F1 was almost an understatement. But the past two F1 seasons have seen my spark for F1 dim a little.
F1 is the pinnacle of motorsport and has created real life superheroes for decades now. Yet somehow, the appeal of sitting down to watch them in action has subsided, the sport has almost become an over dramatised spectacle. The organic passion of racing has become secondary to the commercialisation and dramatisation of F1. This weekends Miami Grand Prix is the personification of these issues, almost perfectly summing up the root of F1s out of touch-ness with the fans, and the staining of the fabric at the heart of the sport itself. Perhaps the only notable event in the entire 57 laps of yesterdays Grand Prix was Max Verstappen’s overtake on his teammate for the win, an overtake which was almost guaranteed to happen by the 30th lap. The rest of the weekend was shrouded in Hollywood hype and a who’s who of the ‘celebrity’ world. But perhaps the Hollywood hype is a necessity to detract from the circuits inability to showcase exciting racing. Williams’ Alex Albon spoke out about the circuit layout hindering their ability to race properly, an issue that he has pointed out is not uncommon on this years race calendar. The F1 calendar has been ramping up immensely these past few years, with a record 23 races set for this season. Of these 23 races, 7 are street circuits. Which although have been known to produce some historically dramatic races, such as Azerbaijan in 2017, but these races are usually just one offs.
Images: Instagram - @llcoolj, @alex_albon
Talking to Grid Clique, Albon stated, “If you look at what we’re doing right now with the sport, we’re going through this phase where we’re doing lots of street circuits because the cities want it… Sometimes it’s taking over from the true circuits we go to which are for driving and for racing - where you’ll get a better show when you go to circuits designed for racing… otherwise it just becomes a bit dull.” Alex hinted at the fact that there is a demand for Formula 1 in these cities, hence why F1 packs up the circus and travels around the world. But there is a balance to be made, the demand for F1 is bound to subside when the fans realise the actual racing part of the sport is taking a backseat. As Lewis Hamilton put it at the beginning of 2020, ‘money talks’. Those in charge should take note, although money does talk, if the essence of proper entertaining racing is lost on the racetrack, then there will be nothing left for Formula 1 to commercialise anyway. Perfectly summing it up, Alex continued with, “I think F1 has been pushed really quickly into an entertainment kind of style of racing. And I think there's a real balance between making the racing entertaining and then just putting on a show."
A show was certainly put on at the Miami Grand Prix, amongst the Hollywood hype, a pre-race driver ceremony was hosted by LL Cool J, an American rapper turned actor. However, the hype was certainly lost on many fans and drivers alike with some drivers speaking out against the theatrics. George Russell was one of them, labelling it as 'distracting' and saying, "I'm here to race. I'm not here for the show." The core foundation of Formula 1 is good, hard racing, the kind of racing that gives fans goosebumps. But the last two races, Miami and Azerbaijan, have produced uninspiring, soulless racing, something which may become the soundtrack to the sport. Especially if those at the top continue to place money before racing passion.
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