F1 becoming tiddlywinks - Irvine

F1 becoming tiddlywinks - Irvine
by JP Lonergan, 06 March 2008

Irvine: Bored of F1
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Eddie Irvine has hit out at the powers that be in Formula 1, claiming the sport is being dumbed down and becoming less and less interesting.

The former Jordan, Ferrari and Jaguar driver feels that annual rule changes and alterations to circuits have seen more and more skill taken out of the sport of motor racing.

The flamboyant Irishman wrote in The Guardian: "There's a quote attributed to Ernest Hemingway when he said: ‘There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing and mountaineering; all the rest are merely games.

"Formula 1 seems intent on trying to become a game. By taking increasing measures to slow things down The FIA is turning Formula 1 into tiddlywinks. It is nearly impossible to have an accident in F1 now - you just go into the sand traps.

"The sport has been dumbed down and it's not Formula 1. Before, if you made a mistake while battling to overtake, you would be in danger of flying into a barrier. Now it's not much of a gladiatorial contest.

“Take Monaco - It used to be the ultimate test of a driver not making a mistake. Now they have changed the swimming pool, taken out barriers. It's as if they have said: 'Let's make this circuit as easy as we can'."

The upcoming season will see traction control banned in the world championship, but Irvine says this will have little effect on the amount of skill required to compete, adding that any driver worth his salt will not have huge difficulty in driving without such aids.

"In terms of reducing driver aids to increase the skills employed in a race, getting rid of traction control will make very little difference save in exceptionally wet conditions.

“The easiest thing to do is come out of a corner on the throttle; braking and turning is the hardest part.

“Yes, you need to concentrate a little bit more, but for drivers at this level a lack of traction control won't be a major difficulty."

source: sentantasports.com