Formula One 2022: Complex FIA rules and safety concerns turn fans off

F1 has never been more popular but fans aren’t going to cop the complex rulings and safety concerns that were on display at the Japanese Grand Prix for long.

AlphaTauri's French driver Pierre Gasly travels past fans during a rainstorm at the Formula One Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka, Mie prefecture on October 9, 2022. (Photo by Philip FONG / AFP)

There is one outcome from the Japanese Grand Prix that is not in question - Max Verstappen is a worthy world champion.

He and Red Bull have dominated this season and deserve to be in the position in which they find themselves. Verstappen has gone from zero world titles to two in less than ten months, while the team are likely to wrap up their fifth constructors’ championship at the next race, in Austin, Texas.

But the race in Suzuka left more than a sour taste in the mouth, for it was yet another example of the FIA being out of its depth - not only because of the confusion over the points awarded by the governing body, but the alarming scenes of Pierre Gasly narrowly missing a recovery truck that was on the track during a period of near-zero visibility.

Pierre Gasly on track in the wet at Suzuka. He was involved in an alarming incident where he narrowly missed a recovery truck in near-zero visibility. Picture: AFP

When Verstappen crossed the line, no one expected full points to be awarded, given that just over half the distance had been completed. Even Charles Leclerc’s late demotion to third place for a penalty did not affect that, or so we thought.

But then he was declared champion and you know the sport is not in a good place when even Verstappen is asking: “Are you sure?”

The shambles at the end of the race came about because of a regulation rewrite after the Belgian Grand Prix last year. Half points were awarded for the rain-affected “race”, in which only two laps were completed, both behind the safety car, and no one was happy about it. So the rules were changed to say that no points would be awarded unless at least two laps of racing had been completed without the safety car. Everyone had presumed that the reduced points system for partial races would still be in place.

But, as it turns out, some crucial wording in the regulations means that full points are awarded if a partial race finishes under the chequered flag, even if that is only one lap - or 28, as we had in Japan.

Max Verstappen had to ask if officials were sure when he was notified that he had been declared champion this year. Picture: AFP

So the rewording can be added to the FIA’s homework list along with, hopefully, a new regulation that states that no recovery truck will be on the track when cars are also present. No matter the speed, no matter if a safety car is “slowing” the drivers - that just means that, in the event of a crash, the speed at the moment of impact may be 100km/h instead of 200km/h. Eight years may be a long time but no one in the paddock has forgotten Jules Bianchi and his death after colliding with a recovery vehicle in wet conditions, and no one wants to see that happen again.

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So Sunday was another bad day for the FIA, following on from the previous weekend when it took nearly three hours to finalise the results of the Singapore Grand Prix while Sergio Perez, the winner, was being investigated over an incident near the start of the race.

Then, yesterday, the budget-cap findings were released, and while it was not a shock to see Red Bull found to be in breach, the lack of transparency over the size of the overspend is unacceptable. That needs to be made public so that the extent of the breach is clear. What the FIA determines as “minor” - less than 5 per cent, which equates to dollars 7.25 million at the top end, is by no means a minor sum of money.

It is a bad look for the FIA, but it is bigger than that. It is bad for the sport and this is what Formula One - as the commercial rights-holder - seems to be forgetting, and it would appear to stem from a falling out between the two bodies.

F1 has never been more popular but the new fans won’t be attracted by complicated regulations. Picture: AFP

F1 has never been more popular. Netflix’s Drive to Survive series has created a huge new audience attracted by the behind-the-scenes footage, the closeness with the drivers and the rivalry. They are not, one suspects, attracted by the complicated regulations.

Liberty Media paid 8 billion USD (about 12.7 billion AUD) for F1 at the start of 2017 and will no doubt look to sell up for a tidy profit. That’s business and it is unlikely to be any time soon, but what F1 seems to be failing to grasp is that fans do not care who is to blame for the confusion, chaos and long delays. They want to watch good, fair and safe racing. Take the breach in the spending cap. F1 says it is a FIA matter, but that is to ignore the impact on the image of the sport.

F1 is made up of three stakeholders - F1, the commercial rights holder; the FIA, the sport’s governing body in charge of safety; and the ten teams.

Relations have deteriorated this year, particularly between F1 and the FIA. It has left the commercial rights holder looking to see if there is any way out of the long and expensive contract with the governing body that was agreed long before its tenure began, so it can either create its own or find another one.

For now, though, when things go wrong the bodies point the finger of blame at one another, apparently unaware that most fans see F1 as one entity, not three separate ones.

After Monza, when the qualifying result took two hours to come in, the FIA said it had not had the official timing sheets from F1 so couldn’t apply all the necessary penalties. F1 insisted it had sent the timings immediately and the delay was caused by the FIA. The only question we were all asking was: why don’t they just sit in the same room so it can be done immediately and any issues can be discussed face to face?

The relationship breakdown means that the finger-pointing, delays and confusion will continue until the three bodies can find a way to work together, or F1 can find a way out of the contract. As it stands, these incidents are not good for the sport and certainly not good for the fans.

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Originally published as Formula One 2022: Complex FIA rules and safety concerns turn fans off