In the first race of the season, all Formula 1 fans were eager to understand what would happen. The new regulations of the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) brought the most significant technical and sporting revolution in the category in recent history, with more focused hybrid engines, 100% sustainable fuels, and a series of other issues that the DN explained in anticipation of the Australian Grand Prix, which took place last week.
In that race, six cars failed to finish the race: the two Aston Martins, a Red Bull, a McLaren, a Cadillac and an Audi. No one particularly found it strange – despite it being unexpected -, but everyone wanted (we wanted) to believe that it was teams and drivers getting used to a new era of the ‘Great Circus’. Mercedes, unsurprisingly, was the big winner of the race, showing significant superiority over its competitors, while four-time champion Max Verstappen’s Red Bull managed no better than 6th place.
With an eye on China, for the next race, the scenario was repeated: this time there were seven single-seaters that did not finish the race, and McLaren did not even start the race. After watching the painful 56 laps of the Chinese GP, some conclusions can now be drawn, the most relevant being the one that was also the most feared by sports lovers: Formula 1 stopped being a motorsport event and became a kind of battery management Olympics. If in recent years it had already become clear that to be an F1 Champion it was not enough to be the best driver – you also need to be a high level athlete, with a physical and mental preparation that was not required before, and you need to have the best team developing the best car possible (This has also been discussed on these pages) -, now something more impressive has become clear. The thing is, possibly, the best driver, in the sense of the one who drives a single-seater, will not win this championship. The driver and team that understand how they can better manage each car’s battery will win this championship. And this can mean slowing down at times when it makes zero sense to do so (from a driving technique point of view), avoiding overtaking or even seeing cars stopping in the middle of the track, because the vehicles have had so many problems that there hasn’t been a race in which there hasn’t been one surprising the driver and shutting down or having to be removed by the team itself. Which has turned F1 GPs into harrowing – and sad – spectacles. And few automobiles.
It is no surprise, therefore, that no team or driver was particularly upset with the cancellation of the two races scheduled for the Middle East (Barhain and Dubai), scheduled for right after the Japanese GP. The break should be used to return to the factories and simulators and try to solve problems that shouldn’t even exist. After all, having to manage battery in a race that should be about speed is, to say the least, bizarre.
If nothing changes, we could effectively be witnessing a new era of F1… whether it will be a better era than the previous ones, we will have to wait a long time to see.
PS: Having said that, it was still very beautiful to hear the Italian anthem again last Sunday, thanks to the performance of the second youngest driver to win a GP, Kimi Antonelli.
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