Formula One is not short of superstars. You have British former World Champions, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button; There is Spanish multiple World Champion Fernando Alonso; Australian speedster Mark Webber and of course German Uber-Driver, one of the best of all time, Michael Schumacher. But yesterday, with his third place finish in the Japanese GP, Sebastian Vettel sealed his back-to-back World title. There is a new star in town and his is currently shining the brightest of all.
Winning back-to-back titles is some achievement, as only eight other drivers in the history of the sport have managed to do that, but that doesn’t sum up the total and utter dominance the young German has held over Formula One this season. He has been on the podium (finished in the top three) in all but one of the Grand Prix in 2011, winning nine of the races. He has secured the defence of his World Championship with four races remaining. He was the fifth youngest driver on the grid in Japan at the tender age of 24 which means he is now the sports youngest ever double World Champion. When I said his star is shining bright, I meant his star is practically blinding.
But whilst it is obviously good for the sport to have a new mega-star in the making, is it also counter-productive to the measures Formula One take to ensure the playing field is more levelled? The excitement at the beginning of the 2011 season was at one of is highest ever. The previous season had finished with Vettel practically stealing the World Championship in the last race, due to the fact the race to the title was so close throughout the year. The FIA, the sport’s governing body, had introduced a number of new measures which all pointed to more exciting races, and another close season. However it didn’t quite pan out that way, with Vettel and Red Bull holding a near total dominance from McLaren and Ferrari. Vettel looked destined for the title from about race six and the rest were simply playing catch up. Has Formula One slipped desperately into a mirror image of the days when Ferrari and Schumacher dominated the sport so comfortably? The signs are not good.
All is not lost though. The new measures have made the races more interesting, with more overtaking, more position changes and more action. The new tires, made by Pirelli, have added a new factor to the strategic side of racing, as the tires degrade so quickly that pit-stops become an important factor in the race. Despite that fact that after every qualifying session and every race of the season, I have had a whinge to my friends about Vettel’s dominance, I’ve still tuned into every qualifying and every race. This is mostly due to the excitement factor, which is despite of the fact I could guess Vettel would probably win most races.
There are now four races left of the Formula One season for 2011 and they are now somewhat of a precession. Red Bull still need points to secure the constructor’s championship, but that should come sooner rather than later unless there is some kind of freak occurrence where they don’t finish anymore races. The other teams will be looking to next season and building to ensure that next season they mount more of a challenge. And personally, I am looking forward to the new season, to see if someone can break Red Bulls grip on the sport and mount a serious challenge. Hopefully it will be one of the British drivers at McLaren, but I’d even take an Alonso win for Ferrari, although I suspect there will be a defiant German with something to say about that, as he searches for his third World Championship.
