So Much For Image

Following the Turkish GP podium controversy, the Cyprus Mail newspaper was moved to write this piece of commentary regarding Formula 1. Comments about the Cyprus Mail article also appears on GrandPrix.com. Whilst the FIA and Formula 1 in general is so ultra careful in these corporate infested days to keep a professional, clean and politically correct image it seems that there are many who know otherwise. Hint: they are probably not Ferrari fans.

Ignoring the political bits, the article distills the current state of the sport almost to perfection. From the Cyprus Mail article:

"FORMULA 1 is a sport that makes as many headlines off the track as on it. Races are rarely decided by audacious overtaking manoeuvres, rather by split second actions in the pits and strategies devised by men staring at computer screens. Key championship points have been decided in the courts, victims falling foul of ever-changing technical rules, deductions and disqualifications.

It’s a sport over which hovers a cloud of conspiracy, a constant suspicion of manipulation of rules and results to suit the hidden agendas of shadowy backstage figures. And yet in spite of this, it is regarded as the pinnacle of motor sport, a multi-million pound industry commanding a vast global audience."

Furthermore:

"Formula 1 is..... a sport where competitors go round and round in circles, as compulsive to its addicts as it is bewildering to the non-initiate, a sport where the substance, the raw racing, has long given way to the self-interest of its organisers and participants, pulling arcane strings in an ultimately pointless yet strangely mesmerising ballet."

To which I would add that the sport is fast losing the "purist" fans and entertainment seekers. Its new rules alienate purists, its lack of track action distance fans looking for thrills. Some job the FIA is doing then. But its heartening to see evidence that even the mainstream press is not buying into the Max and Bernie WWF show, of which the "mass damper" issue was but the latest episode.