Formula One: Dumb and dumber
Formula One racing has always been a bit mystifying. They do some weird stuff. What started out as a European racing circuit is now world wide. They race everywhere but Antarctica and the U.S. They screwed up the U.S. race at Indy over a tire issue and are not likely to return for some time.
The races themselves aren’t bad, although there is very little passing on most of the tracks. Qualifying and pit stops often dictate the winner. Speaking of the pit stops, they’re something to see. Like 40 guys over the wall, just to change 4 tires and gas up.
F1 has always played around with its rules a lot. Tires, engines, suspensions, all kinds of stuff. But, now they’ve topped themselves.
Last year, Lewis Hamilton won the points championship by one point, but won one less race than runnerup Felipe Massa. So, what does F1′s ruling body (FIA) do? Over-react doesn’t begin to describe this: The FIA ruled that in 2009 the driver with the most victories would be crowned the champion, points notwithstanding.
The team owners and drivers protested. So, what does the FIA do? It says OK, we won’t change it this year, but will wait until 2010. A bad idea now is still a bad idea next year. How does waiting a year help? It they’d said, “OK, we know a lot of people don’t like this new rule, so we’ll study it further.” But, no. “Just wait a year and we’re sure you’ll like it then.”
All racing bodies do strange things. NASCAR, NHRA, you name ‘em. They all make decisions that sometimes leave you shaking your head. But, this is just plain dumb. It was dumb to change the rule in the first place, just because of the way last year’s champion was decided, but then to backtrack and put it off a year is even dumber.
How much you want to bet they change their minds a few more times before this is settled?