Has sanitised world of racing finally lost its soul?

F1

No swearing, no donuts, no racing in the wet – has motor sport finally become completely sanitised and devoid of fun? asks James Elson

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Racing has been delayed several times this year in wet F1 races – a sign of its sanitisation?

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James Elson

It feels like some have been saying it almost since racing records began (none more so than Denis Sargent Jenkinson) but we might just have reached the point where motor racing has become too sanitised.

Within days we have had Superbike ace Loris Baz fined for making an offensive gesture at high speed, WRC legend Sébastien Ogier penalised for doing two too many donuts in front of the podium and F1 refusing to hit the track if so much as a sneeze of condensation appears on a driver’s visor.

Admittedly the era of Hunt, Sheene and other fellow hell-raisers might be gone, but have we finally breached a time where no fun is allowed, unless its framed with a neat hashtag or nicely framed in an instagram story – and sponsored by Crypto.com, of course?

The same goes for driver relations across various grids.

One of the main reasons the 2021 F1 season was seismically popular was that the rivalry between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen was just so bitter – going against the increasingly cordial trend of recent years, and harking back to Mansell vs Piquet, Senna vs Prost and even Hamilton vs Alonso.

The Mercedes man gives off his holier-than-thou impression of driving for a higher power and greater cause, whilst the no-nonsense diehard Dutch racer takes no prisoners. If it wasn’t the drivers, then team bosses Christian Horner and Toto Wolff were constantly sniping as the live soap opera unfolded.

Many people are instinctively tribal and subconsciously love to pick sides – this was evidenced by the way fans quite simply lapped it up. All 2021 needed was Murray Walker commentating to top it off…

However, in F1’s ever greater drive for increased commercial revenue through a squeaky clean image, it is clearly becoming more and more anodyne.

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George Russell briefly broke out of head prefect mode to rip into Valtteri Bottas when the two collided at Imola last year, following the then-Williams driver Russell going full BTCC and giving the Finn a little tap on the crash helmet in the immediate aftermath, to great delight from the baying crowds. Wolff then came down on Russell like a tonne of Mercedes-branded bricks, forcing him to retract his opinion or forever be banished to a career in the Renault Clio Cup.

Mercedes is falling in line with the corporate atmosphere that dominates a world championship which is becoming ever more risk averse, with the FIA following suit.

This was evident at this year’s Monaco GP, with the race delayed, according to the FIA, due to “safety reasons in consideration that there has been no wet running this weekend”. They might supposedly be the world’s best racing drivers, but heaven forbid they should run on a wet track with no experience!

F1’s Viking throwback Kevin Magnussen summed it up best in his typically sardonic Scandinavian tone.

“If conditions are OK, they should start us,” he said. “Or maybe give us a crash course in wet-weather driving or something, or take some classes.”

Similar delays happened in both Singapore and Japan – don’t let them run in the wet, whatever happens! Monaco’s many great rainy races, the ’99 European GP, Fuji ’07 and plenty more now feel like a very distant memory…

The same goes for F1’s draconian approach to track limits and even penalty points. Pierre Gasly currently tops the table – curiously not yet sponsored by a highly dubious NFT/crypto firm, though it’s surely only a matter of time – with 12, after he was given a penalty point for his tête-a-tête with Lance Stroll in Mexico.

A penalty point, seriously? For a slightly over enthusiastic move? Daniel Ricciardo was slapped with two more also for his not-very-Honey-Badger-esque nose up the inside of Yuki Tsunoda. Not all moves work out – is this the death of motor racing?

In another example of teams attempting to beige-ify the media landscape, Red Bull has now declared a boycott on Sky F1 after its pitlane reporter Ted Kravitz opined in Austin that Hamilton had been “robbed”.

Whatever your opinion on the 2021 Abu Dhebacle GP, it’s an incontrovertible fact that that year’s drivers’ title was won in highly controversial circumstances.

There’s an air of a dictatorial approach from Red Bull about this, censoring press opinion and erasing events from figurative photos – it did actually happen, you know.

The team apparently revels in a ‘no-nonsense’ approach – but when it involves the Milton Keynes team, it’s just as corporate as everyone else.

F1’s attempts to make motor sport as corporately bland as it likes appear in sharp contrast to NASCAR across the pond.

Scuffles in the stock car paddock aren’t infrequent (not that we condone violence) and Bubba Wallace’s shocking 200mph takeout of Kyle Larson and other events such as Ty Gibbs ramming Ty Dillion towards crew members in the pitlane were certainly unacceptable.

However, young Gibbs needlessly dumping team-mate and fellow title Xfinity contender Brandon Jones at Martinsville last weekend, welcoming the subsequent boos with open arms and then comparing himself to Jesus afterwards was undeniably entertaining.

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The next day in the top-tier Cup series, ex-watermelon farmer Ross Chastain – who drives for a team run by famously subdued rapper Pitbull – put his foot to the floor and rammed his Chevrolet along the barrier of the last corner of the last lap, pipping rival Denny Hamlin to the line as bits flew off his car, securing his place in the playoff final with it.

The daring last-ditch overtake went viral on social media, with drivers from Fernando Alonso to Romain Grosjean expressing their admiration, in a move of spontaneity rarely seen in F1 – NASCAR drivers often express unbridled emotions, and the fans love it.

However, more and more other series appear to be going the way of F1.

WRC star Sébastien Ogier was fined €1500 for doing a couple of donuts before perfectly lining up his Toyota Yaris with the podium after winning Rally Spain last week.

“Money well invested… for the FAN !!! Enjoy the dinner,” the eight-time world champion pithily put it in response to the outcry.

The WRC was briefly reignited earlier this season when now semi-friends Ogier and Seb Loeb went up against one another in Monaco, with fans’ imaginations well and truly captured.

The excitement over that sheer level of sporting greatness on show was clearly accentuated by the residual animosity from years gone by, now somewhat lacking in the WRC – are Elfyn Evans and co just too nice?

Another none-more-testosterone-fuelled discipline isn’t immune either, as our contributing editor Mat Oxley explains.

“Neither is motorcycle racing free of overzealous officials apparently obsessed with sucking the last drop of rock and roll out of racing,” he says.

“At September’s Argentine World Superbike round, Frenchman Loris Baz was sanctioned with a 1000-Euro fine for a middle-finger gesture to rival Axel Bassani, who had just knocked him off.

“Baz, who made the gesture while sliding along the track on his backside, was unrepentant, later posting a photo on social media of him giving the middle-finger salute once again. Most rivals agreed with Baz’s stance.

“Motorcycle racing is a rough game, so it’s no surprise that riders sometimes get a little angry, especially when they’ve just been taken out by a rival. Therefore attempting to purify the sport into some kind of petrolhead’s tennis game doesn’t make sense. Fans love motor sport partly because it’s edgy and risky, so trying to make lions behave like sheep won’t do anyone any good.”

Combined with suggestions that MotoGP’s latest superstar that Fabio Quartararo was investigated for proffering his injured finger in parc fermé, has two-wheel racing lost its edge now it’s in commercial rights holder Dorna’s domain?

Who knows, perhaps if the performance levels of Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes converge next year, the non-sanitised fun might begin again, at least in the world championship. Don’t count on it.

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