Politics vs Racing: Politics wins every time

I’m sure no-one will disagree that the racing so far in 2009 has been fantastic. Despite Jenson’s Schumacheresque domination the majority of people have seemed really happy with the way the new rules have mixed up the pack and produced a new pecking order. As the Red Bulls are now launching their fight back it promises to be a fantastic second half of the season and a championship that has the potential to go right to the wire once again.

So how come all the coverage of the sport has been about rules or bickering or references to past dictators? The British media has a nasty knack of being more interested in the seedy underbelly of the sporting world than the fantastic talents of the men and women who ply their trade at the highest level. F1 hit the front pages for first time in a long time last year, but it wasn’t for Lewis’s sterling efforts behind the wheel, it was for the furore (no, not fuhrer) around the Max Mosely spanking business. Since then we’ve had a total turn around in the sport, with a British team coming from near death to the front of the grid in a matter of weeks and our very own Jenson Button having a flying start in the championship. Now he’s in with a fantastic shot at making history as one of the first back-to-back different British champions after Lewis’s victory last year.

Yet somehow the news around the sport continues to be dominated by politics. Brawn’s dominant start to the season was overshadowed by ‘diffusergate’, with every result surrounded by controversy and left with a cloud hanging over it. We were never left with the success story that was a privateer team succeeding again in F1. Then again, happy news isn’t really news is it? As the diffuser scandal was finally put to bed we needed something new to complain about, so along came FOTA and Max having a bicker to put our minds at rest. This came around the same time as Red Bull arrived with their new diffuser on the super quick RB5 and the championship was really beginning to hot up, but all the news was about the potential demise of Formula 1 and a breakaway series.

Stories from this season aren’t hard to come by. On top of the Brawn GP extravaganza and a new British hero, we have a super talented young gun starting to realise his potential in Sebastian Vettel The young German looks totally comfortable at the front of the grid (despite his slip up in Turkey) and will surely go on to become world champion at some point in his career if he can’t topple Jenson this year. Then there’s the titanic midfield battle between nearly all the remaining teams and Ferrari’s gradual return to form. Even Lewis Hamiltons fall from grace hasn’t been getting any attention as the focus continues to be on the bureaucracy around the sport and not the exciting action taking place on the track.

However, now the FOTA business, whilst not totally cleared up by any means, finally seems to have simmered and it looks like we might be able to concentrate on the track action for a change. But, hold on, what’s this? F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone has said that he admires Hitler because he “got things done”. So much for the racing…

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