2022 might be a revolutionary and important year for F1, with new cars designed for better racing, and new drivers emerging at the top end. But, 2022 is also highlighting some of the absolute WORST of Formula 1, from tracks, to politics, to ignoring fans.
I’ll preface this by saying that I absolutely adore the new generation of Formula 1 cars. They’re providing exactly what Ross Brawn has been promising for years: closer racing, easier to follow, less turbulence, and new dominant forces. But that’s not what i want to focus on today because F1 in 2022 is bringing back into the spotlight some of the absolute worst aspects of the sport, which some may have thought were left in the past. Since Liberty Media took over control of the Sport from Bernie Ecclestone in 2017, they have brought a lot of positives to the sport – better fan interaction, awareness and growth in new global markets, and, of course, the new era of cars. But it’s not all been rosy.
DRIVE TO SURVIVE
Oh Drive to Survive. How the mighty have fallen. We all loved you and you let us down.
Let me explain a bit more. Drive to Survive was nothing short of a genius idea! A documentary-style review of an F1 season, focussing much more on the drivers, drama and behind-the-scenes intrigue and politics of the sport to make it more appealing to those who previously thought of F1 as “20 rich twats driving in circles”. Drive to Survive performed absolute magic in highlighting to those people just what makes the sport so appealing to fans.
As a prime example, when I met my girlfriend in 2019 (about a month before the first season debuted), she had no interest in F1, refused to watch it with me, and couldn’t comprehend my love of it! Enter DTS and she very quickly developed a love for the sport. We went to the Hungarian Grand Prix together that year and have watched every single race together since. She’s nothing short of a super fan now, adores the sport, is a huge fan of Ferrari and Leclerc in particular, and hates the idea of missing any race. Also, several of my friends who have never understood my love of F1 have also been hooked on the show and I now get weekly messages from them asking for more information about a race weekend or the sport in general – which I absolutely love. I love sharing my knowledge with newbies to the sport and helping them understand it better. Kudos DTS!
That’s the good, now for the bad.
And it all started to fall off the proverbial Pirelli Cliff with the disgraceful over dramatisation of Romain Grosjean’s horror crash in Bahrain in late-2020! I don’t know about you, but in our house we were on the verge of tears watching that fire, with no updates from commentary or the teams, no idea where Romain was or if he would emerge at all. DTS were absolutely right to dedicate some time in Season 3 to discussing this to highlight the constant looming danger of F1 that fans regularly take for granted, but the way they went about it was too much. At least 10 times throughout the season they “teased” the story of the crash by showing the fireball exploding, and in the episode itself they stretched what was in reality 90 seconds for Romain Grosjean, into well over 5 minutes of drama suggesting he was stuck in the fire burning to a crisp for ages before Phoenixing himself out of the fire. This rubbed fans the wrong way, and rightfully so.
Then came season 4 and things really went from bad to worse. We had already heard a lot from the drivers about how the show “over dramatises” certain relationships and aspects of the sport. A radio interaction between Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris, in the show, suggested the 2 were at logger heads, angry with each other, bitching about each other on the radio, and overall just unhappy with the dynamic in the team. Lando himself then clarified that the radio messages replayed in the show from himself were from an entirely different race than the show was overlaying them in, and that he and Daniel never had any such dramas in real life.
Speaking of Danny, season 1 suggested he and Max Verstappen were mortal enemies which is why he left Red Bull and, while the team’s favouritism towards the Dutchman was certainly a factor, nothing Max himself did was a factor in Danny leaving, and the 2 are still very close to this day. The intense over-dramatisation eventually lead Max himself to refuse to be a part of the show from Season 4 onwards because he was sick of the blatant lies.
It’s hard to believe the overt lying “drama” is for any other reason than to pander to an American audience used to fake Hollywood tosh like the Kardashians and, what’s the other one, the Hills? All fake, all shite, all inspirations for Drive to Survive’s appeal to Americans.
I get trying to break into a new market and appeal to a mass audience, but at the cost of alienating the long-term fans of the sport I don’t think it’s worthwhile. Seasons 1 and 2 perfectly balanced the need to “explain in simple terms to newbies” with the “don’t alienate long term fans”. But seemingly they’ve forgotten about that and now with Season’s 5 and 6 on the horizon I can only predict a huge drop off in viewership figures outside of the USA.
Great example – repeatedly throughout season 4 they had what was very clearly a fake “commentator” explaining the rule that drivers need to change tyres at least once per race. This is perfectly fine to include in season 1 and maybe as a refresher in season 2, to help educate those new to the sport. But in season 4, it’s unnecessary. Nobody is coming into this show and starting fresh at season 4 so explaining “F1 for dummies” like this so often so late in the game, actually insults even those relatively new to F1.
F1 greenlighting so many more seasons shows their growing disconnect from existing fans.
DRIVER SANCTIONS AND REGULATIONS
While this one doesn’t necessarily affect the fans, the drivers are getting very vocal about how much micromanaging and overt control the FIA are becoming in 2022. Their seemingly unnecessary and ridiculous sanctions against things like underwear and jewellery seem petty at best.
The FIA have introduced these new “rules” in the guise of health and safety, but with almost no data or examples to back up their reasoning. Romain Grosjean emerged with only hand burns from his crash and no such injuries that intensely fire-proof underwear would have prevented. His standard fire-proof overalls and underalls did their job as required. That’s the most recent fire injury in F1 and it gives the FIA no reason to implement changes to the fireproof overalls or underwear. It’s overkill.
As for the jewellery, while there is maybe a claim that certain pieces of jewellery could be considered a health hazard, again, there is no data or existing evidence or cases to back up that removing jewellery would reduce injuries. Many drivers wear wedding rings under their gloves, some wear necklaces, some wear earrings, but, to my knowledge, none have ever been injured as a direct result of their jewellery – correct me if I’m wrong.
From a cynics point of view, this possibly seems like a direct sanction against Lewis Hamilton alone. He’s the most prominent driver to wear jewellery like earrings and necklaces while on the grid and in the car. And yet. He’s been given an exemption from this stupid rule for several races. So, that begs the further question: who the hell is this rule targeted against?!
It just seems like there are far more important aspects of the sport and, again from a possibly cynical point of view, you could almost say this “rule” has been brought in and talked about prominently to deliberately distract from the real issues of F1 at the moment.
RACE DIRECTOR
Speaking of, here’s the first of them: Race Directors! Now, we here at EverythingF1 have spoken quite a bit about Michael Massi, Abu Dhabi, and the new Race Directors being brought into F1, both here on our website and on the EverythingF1 Podcast.
We share a common belief that, if Massi was let go from his position as a cumulative result of several years of mistakes, slow decisions, odd calls, and overall poor race management as Race Director, we are in fair agreement with that decision. If, however, he was let go as a direct, knee-jerk reaction to the chaos of Abu Dhabi, that is completely unfair and wrong. And, it does seem that was the reason. There were plenty of reasons and opportunities to drop him over the past several years, and yet Abu Dhabi seems to have been the main and only reason.
And then there’s the new Race Directors and the convoluted new setup of having multiple directors, a larger team and, somehow, a football-style Video Assistant Referee which, after 5 races, has not yet been used or even mentioned once. So, is it even there?
Then there’s the fact that, for Miami, NEITHER Race Director was there because BOTH contracted Covid-19. I mean, what the hell are F1 playing at?! Surely part of the point of having two is that if 1 is sick or unavailable, there’s always a director available?! How, then, are they allowed travel together, and be in each other’s “bubble”? I know Covid bubbles are not required in F1 in 2022, but Race Directors seems like 1 area that absolutely should still have separate bubbles – Covid times or not.
SAUDI ARABIA
Where to begin with this one.
For one, the circuit seems to have aligned opinions among both among fans and drivers. The track is fast, flowing, and challenging: all good. But the track is also overtly, almost artificially, dangerous which is not acceptable. For 2022, they made “changes” to the track to make it “safer”. Did you notice them? No? You’re not the only one. In my track guide for this race, I mentioned these changes and highlighted that they weren’t actually to the track itself, but to the walls. Sort of. Essentially, some of the walls were moved back a few inches…and that’s it. These pathetically minute changes made no difference though, as Mick Schumacher still suffered a horrible crash in Qualifying that left him dazed and in hospital overnight! Significantly more needs to be done to this track to make it more acceptable.
Next, there’s the actual global image of Saudi Arabia as a country. Let’s just say it’s not exactly the best place to be a woman. Or gay. Or, well, anything other than an insanely rich man. Yes, F1 races in many countries with questionable at best human rights histories – China, Bahrain, Qatar, Russia, Brazil, and, yes, America – and yet none come even close to how bad Saudi Arabia is.
Personally, I’m almost as disappointed in the drivers for this one, as I am in F1 for allowing disgraceful greed to cloud their judgements. Drivers like Vettel and Hamilton in particular are both quick to judge, comment, and demonstrate against issues like gay rights and racism in certain countries, and yet, they both still go, don’t they?! Their messages and demonstrations really fall on deaf ears when they still have seemingly no qualms with getting in the car and racing each weekend, earning their millions. If they really want to make a point, it’s on them to boycott races like Saudi. Seb in particular is, in my mind, even more guilty of some hypocrisy here, as he actually came out and said he wouldn’t race in Russia this year if it remained on the calendar. Yet, 3 weeks later, there he was in Saudi Arabia.
Imagine the global news stories if 7 Times World Champion, Sir Lewis Hamilton, and 4 Times World Champion, Sebastian Vettel, didn’t race in Saudi Arabia! F1 would have an enormously negative PR problem on their hand if their 2 biggest stars refused to race in a given country! Then, they might finally make some changes. Whereas for now F1 are happy to call their bluffs and continue on in these countries.
Then, as if all that wasn’t enough, there’s the straight up danger of racing in Saudi Arabia. During a free practice session on the Friday, there was a missile strike on an oil depot, less than 20km from the track where these fire-balls on wheels were hurtling around at 250kph. The flames could be seen on the global TV feed! HOW IS THIS ACCEPTABLE?!
How can F1 even entertain the concept of returning to that hell hole?! Had that strike hit the track and, god forbid, killed one of the drivers, F1 in the Middle East would end. Instantly. And even globally the sport would take a massive hit as fans finally rebel against the still prominent greed of the sport for allowing it to happen.
It has to be dropped from the calendar, and after that, a serious review of other countries like China needs serious re-evaluating.
MIAMI
If you heard our review podcast from Imola, you’ll know I am not a fan of the Miami Grand Prix. And, thankfully, the race did nothing to dissuade this as it was, well, awful, wasn’t it?! Beyond that 1 overtake for the lead, it was a pathetically dull race, requiring a clumsy crash and safety car to inject a little bit of intrigue – which also didn’t lead to anything of note happening anyway.
Miami is the worst example of F1 and Liberty Media’s desperate attempt to pander to an American audience who continue to have almost no interest in F1.
To start, Miami did not pay F1 to host this race. Every other circuit pays a not very small fortune for the honour of hosting the Pinacle of Motorsport on their track / in their country. By contrast, F1 paid Miami to host this race! WHAT?! How?! It showed from minute 1 that this was a race for Instagram-phographers, not F1 fans. And that’s a massive, massive problem.
The track itself is pretty boring. The drivers weren’t impressed with it, calling out it’s 1-line nature and lack of Tech-pro barriers to artificially induce crashes and drama, and none were expecting an exciting race – which is just as well, because we didn’t get one.
Now, before you say it, I know Monaco is a boring race too. But, bear in mind that Monaco does pay to host a race, and at least comes with an extremely long history and heritage in the sport, is smack bang in the middle of Europe and, despite it’s location, is actually not that expensive to get tickets for – Silverstone is more expensive, for example. Monaco, though, should remain the anomaly of a boring track. Every other “street circuit” that has come onto the calendar in recent years has either been an excellent addition throwing up great racing – Baku – or boring and quickly dropped for not being good enough – Valencia!
Then, there’s the event itself. There was apparently a total sell out of tickets and even that wasn’t enough. There were only about 80,000 tickets available for race day and most of them were actually given away for free to “plastic fans” – sports stars, rappers and “influencers” who neither know anything nor give a flying f**k about F1. This, again, was all done in the pursuit of pandering to Americans who also don’t care about F1. Having famous people like Pharrel, DJ Khalid, and the Williams Sisters, and Instagram Models like Olivia Culpo and Larsa Pippen (no, I have no clue who they are either, I Googled it) brings a lot of artificial reach and awareness of the event, because of them all posting to their millions of fake followers on social media, but it doesn’t grow or improve the fan base of F1, does it?
Ted Kravitz repeatedly said it was the “busiest paddock he’d ever seen”. Yes, of course it was Ted. Thousands of idiots were give $20,000 tickets for free. Who in their right mind would say no to that?! I know absolutely nothing about, nor have any interest in Gaelic football, but if you offered me a ridiculously expensive VIP ticket to the All Ireland Final I’d be there with bells on – and probably pay no attention to the match itself.
Almost nobody at the race actually watched the damn thing. Granted, it was a boring race, but even in places like Hungary, the track is tight and races are processional, but fans still arrive at 6am and stand in the sweltering heat to watch absolutely every single second of track action for each of the 3 days of the weekend – I know this first hand, I was there!
Then, there’s the STUPID MARINA. This was nothing short of the most pathetic thing I have ever seen in my entire life. I won’t say any more because it’s all already been said.
There was also a sense throughout the weekend that broadcasters like Sky were given a huge stern mandate from F1 to only say positive things about the race, track, and event. David Croft was very clearly reading off a pre-approved script when explaining the weekend and Martin Brundle had a sly dig at the “marina” during Free Practice which he must have been given a slap on the wrist for because he was nothing but complementary about the whole thing for the rest of the weekend. It was all a PR stunt and it was actually just painful to watch.
Finally, there was whatever the hell that podium ceremony was. It took half an hour to actually happen, the drivers were given helmets instead of hats, and for some reason Max was paraded under the stadium by a police escort. It was pathetic. America is a pretty tacky and chintzy place at the best of times, and we Europeans usually find it funny in a cringy way, but this was too much. The Cowboy Hats in Austin are fun because that’s the only Americana that’s overt. Miami was just a pathetic display from start to finish. I’ve asked a lot of fans, both in Europe and North America – nobody enjoyed any of it.
Anyway, those are my thoughts on why 2022 is throwing up the worst of F1. I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments, but please do remember this is an opinion piece and while you may disagree with me, or each other, please keep it civil.