Verstappen’s Nürburgring adventures show why drivers should race beyond Formula 1
Karun Chandhok believes Max Verstappen’s recent runs beyond Formula 1 reflect a valuable lost tradition, while modern grand prix racing grows ever more specialised amid increasing commercial pressure and regulatory complexity
Max Verstappen raced a Mercedes in May’s Nürburgring 24 Hours; F1’s grid should also experience other series
Max Verstappen’s adventures around the Nordschleife have clearly been a breath a fresh air for a driver who hasn’t really enjoyed his day job with the new rules in F1. Like many other racing fans across the globe, I’ve relished following Max’s race weekends and it’s a real hark back to the 1960s where the likes of Jackie Stewart or Jim Clark used to jump in and out of all sorts of different cars.
The sport of Formula 1 has become increasingly specialised as a discipline since that era and really the way testing and the commercialisation of the sport ramped up through the 1990s and early 2000s meant that the drivers were either racing, testing or doing marketing events for their sponsors. This meant that the very thought of drivers trying out different categories went out of the window and that really is a shame.
From an ‘athlete development’ standpoint, I think those who get behind the wheel of different racing cars unlock an adaptability in their brain that makes them much better drivers. In my post single-seater career, I ended up driving sports cars and a whole range of historic racing cars and I genuinely believe that I learned an awful lot from switching around, often with very little practice and just having to engage your brain to learn to adapt to whatever you’ve got beneath you.
“When you look at the 22 drivers, there are five Brits on the current grid”
Sharing a car with two other drivers is also a really fun and interesting challenge. You can never set the car up exactly how you want, the seat position will never be perfect and the strategy has to fit the big picture. This forces you to adapt the way you drive and approach things as an individual and if you attack it with an open mind and the right team spirit, it does make you a better driver for when you go back into the selfish world of single-seater racing. I am sure that even great drivers like Max or Fernando have learnt something from racing in other branches of the sport that they can take back to their F1 weekends.
From a marketing and communications perspective, it seems like an absolute no-brainer to have drivers crossing over into other categories. I remember when Fernando went to qualify for the Indy 500 for the first time. We were all completely hooked to every lap that he did. It’s exciting and energising for the fans which results in eyeballs and an easy return on investment all round.
The teams, of course, are now much more risk-averse and are paranoid about the drivers injuring themselves but really given the advancement of safety standards across the sport, not just in F1, I would argue that the upsides on these two fronts heavily outweigh the downsides. It is bizarre that teams are OK with drivers cycling downhill in Monaco or skiing but hesitate to let them race at Le Mans.
Red Bull may have sacked Christian Horner partly to try and keep Max Verstappen but, writes Chris Medland, it will take much more to turn the F1 team around
By
Chris Medland
This month we’re counting down to my favourite 10 days of the summer with the British Grand Prix immediately followed by the Goodwood Festival of Speed. The first weekend is a showcase of the here and now while the latter is all about the brilliant history of our sport and I feel so privileged to be a part of both of these weekends every year.
Silverstone has become an incredible festival now with over 500,000 people expected over the four days of the event. When you look at the 22 drivers, there are five Brits (plus Alex Albon who was born and raised in the UK) on the current grid plus the likes of Carlos Sainz, Sergio Pérez and Oscar Piastri who spent their formative years racing here in the UK. That gives the fans plenty of options to cheer for!
With this year’s rules, the racing will be a very tricky energy-limited challenge as the layout of the track means that the drivers barely brake from Luffield until the Vale, which is more than half a lap later! This is probably going to lead to a chorus of complaints, but we may have some more tweaks that make it less of an issue by then. We also have the sprint race back at Silverstone this year and I would like to see the FIA and F1 be bold and use it as an opportunity to try some slightly different rule changes with perhaps a different option for the grand prix the following day.
