Lack of action at the front while battles thrill further back, plus the need to clarify poorly worded regulations, are issues that have to be addressed
ALEX KALINAUCKAS
The best action in last Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix – brilliant, determined racing between Lance Stroll and Kevin Magnussen, the two drivers who had produced the most cack-handed errors of the main event – concerned last place. Up front, race winner Max Verstappen had basically nothing to do in claiming his 58th GP career victory. But as the third season of Red Bull’s latest dominant streak unfurls, there is now no uncertainty. The rules reset, heralded as the start of a new era of brilliant racing, has half-failed. Or half-worked, for some.
Half-worked in the sense that the performance gap between the whole field is smaller than in the previous ultra-high-downforce era, and following the car in front is easy, even as the dirty air factor swells again. Half-failed in the sense that since Red Bull lightened its initial ground-effect concept, there has been no regular multi-team scrap at the front.
That is far more on the opposition. And not every motor race needs to be an unpredictable, electrifying scrap with a different winner each time. Formula E had that at the start of its Gen2 era. And after eight different winners in eight races that season, the lack of emotive discussion points that chaos masks was apparent. But different winners, even if this requires regular, more straightforward races, would still amount to a great F1 season – think 2010 or 2021. And, ultimately, that’s what it needs.
F1 is at a point where much of what has made it very much better has made other elements worse. The cost cap has massively improved team financial health, but traps the underperforming into elongated defeat. And, apparently, shuts the field to interested outside parties.
So far, this is subjective, but what absolutely makes F1 worse is ongoing sporting rules shambles. And there was much of this last weekend at Shanghai. It was an event that perhaps was always going to mean many stewards’ rulings. A second race always has the potential for more racing drama than a normal weekend, while the new, controversial and temporary track surface this year meant the drivers had to implement careful tyre preparation plans, and Shanghai’s wide pitlane invites movement even as it gets more confined.
Also, the track’s layout is actually quite pleasingly brutal. It could catch out a driver pushing solo – Carlos Sainz in Saturday qua
