Red Mist: The Good & The Bad of Formula 1

Formula 1 is in fantastic form right now. The second half of the season has been spectacular. So much so that Red Mist has given up trying to do something else at the same time as watching the races, as he’d become accustomed. There was a time when watching with one eye was essential to deal with the tedium. No more.

In fact, if you take the first eleven races away, did you know that Lando Norris would be leading on 193 points, by one point from Max Verstappen on 192, with Charles Leclerc a further point adrift at 191? Oscar Piastri would also still be in with an outside chance on 179, leading up to Abu Dhabi this weekend. Imagine that: an impossible-to-predict three-way fight for the title this weekend?

The manufacturer’s championship would be a little different. With McLaren just a point away from the title from Ferrari, but even Mercedes would be ahead of Red Bull, with that number two having scored a wholesome 34 points versus his leader’s 192 points in the eleven races considered.

All of which bodes very well for 2025. World Championships comprised twelve or fewer Grands Prix back in the 'seventies, by the way. So it's not an impossible dream!

The scary thing about this, however, is what’s happening in the governing body right now. The Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) under President Mohammed Ben Sulayem.

What would prevent what’s happening there from spiralling into one man making a call to simply write off the first eleven races of the year to suit his best needs? Some recent developments in the automotive body smack of despotism, of the sinister kind.

Formula 1, on the other hand, appears brilliantly run, has made all the right decisions, and at last now has an incredible spectacle on its hands, as our second half chart so well suggests. Yet it is tied into and governed by an institution whose leadership is displaying some truly worrying tendencies right now.

Which leads to a question. Is it possible for Formula 1, and its roadshow, to break away from this increasingly draconian body and run its own show?

F1 certainly has the wherewithal, wealth, and power to establish its own means of control. And to determine its own direction, to appoint its own race director and hands-on team, stewards, committees, and boards, and the rest, never mind a true leader, to run its show?

What’s happening with the erosion of democracy and theft of control in the body that currently regulates the sport should be of utmost concern to all concerned. It follows historic trends that have only led to catastrophe, and if that cannot be curbed, would it not be better done without? Asking for a friend.