Motorsport so often appears insulated from the real world, but it is not immune to its challenges. Especially now. On the surface, the 2019 season was business as usual, as racers around the globe instinctively kept their foot in, offering a welcome distraction from the stuff that really matters. But as in every corner of society, climate change cast its lengthening shadow. The car giants and corporate sponsors are already roused to the threat and are responding. The question is, will the public still be watching?
Motorsport can and will have a future in this changing world (probably), but much like the wider automotive business, what shape it will take is not yet clear. There’s a sense that these might be the final years of motorsport as we’ve known it. Change is unsettling, sometimes unwelcome – but, in this case, entirely necessary if extinction is to be avoided.
Lewis Hamilton flirts with Ferrari
The world’s best racing driver is certainly not afraid of change. Back in 2012, Hamilton was alert to the way the wind was blowing and made the most important decision of his career when he left a declining McLaren for the potent might of Mercedes. Five drivers’ world championships later, to add to the one he’d clinched with McLaren, we’d suggest he made the right call.
But will he do so again? Hamilton is 35 in January and, after another 11 grand prix victories in 2019 that take his career tally to 84, has Michael Schumacher’s record of seven titles and 91 wins within his reach. But even with the world at his feet, the lure of Ferrari appears to be working its old scarlet magic.
At the Abu Dhabi finale, the story threw up a desert storm. The Italian media reported two meetings this year between the driver and Ferrari chairman John Elkann, and neither team principal Mattia Binotto nor Hamilton himself moved to quench the flickering flame.
On the face of it, why would he switch for 2021 when his current contract expires? Metronomic Mercedes-AMG F1 is the greatest force we’ve seen in motorsport – ever – and although its F1 future beyond next year is not guaranteed, Daimler seems highly unlikely to end a programme that is proving so fruitful.
In contrast, Ferrari’s racing operation has been shambolic for too long. Binotto has much to address, far beyond the driver headache of a fading Sebastian Vettel versus a flourishing Charles Leclerc. Does Hamilton really need the aggro Ferrari would bring at this stage of his life?
But here’s the thing: it’s Ferrari, and even in this fast-changing world, it still means something – perhaps everything. John Surtees, Niki Lauda, Alain Prost, Schumacher, Fernando Alonso, Vettel and allegedly Ayrton Senna, had he lived: none of them could resist. Can Hamilton?
Big questions for new stars
Max Verstappen is another who might consider embracing change. The Dutchman still lacked maturity in his fifth F1 season, but the signs are he’s ready to win a world championship. But are Red Bull and Honda? That’s what he’ll surely be asking as his current contract draws to a close next year.
Charles Leclerc, only one year into his ‘dream’ life at Ferrari, might also need to do the same. Lewis Hamilton’s example shows that making the big calls at the right time defines careers. Given Hamilton’s apparent temptation, it seems unthinkable that Leclerc could turn. But like Verstappen and unlike the champ, it’s all before him rather than behind him. Will Leclerc keep faith in Ferrari or might he court Mercedes – the only team with title credentials right now?
Then there’s Lando Norris, who had a wonderfully composed rookie season at McLaren. The team has him under wraps for now, but will he ever win a world championship with a mere ‘customer’? Fourth was a decent return for this once-great F1 company, but how much further can it rise without full manufacturer support?
Hypercars can't hit Le Mans soon enough
In sports cars, Fernando Alonso added a third world title to the pair he won in F1 back in 2005-06. He, Sébastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima also added a second Le Mans 24 Hours to their tally (albeit luckily and at the expense of Toyota team-mates Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and José María López, who had them licked for pace). But this was far from a vintage year for the greatest race of them all.
The new hypercar rules will take their bow when the 2020/21 World Endurance Championship kicks off next summer. Until then, sports car racing is treading water, with only Toyota in the hybrid LMP1 category. Fixing performance to allow privateers to win, as Rebellion did in China this autumn, doesn’t wash. But by creating new rules that make sense to car manufacturers, both technically and financially, Le Mans is ensuring it remains relevant for at least the next decade.
At least as significantly, the French rule makers are promoting hydrogen fuel cell technology, too. Racers have to stay at least one step ahead of the game in this changing world, and here’s a neon sign that they know it.
Formula E: racing car makers can love
But the best example of motorsport taking steps to secure its future is Formula E. The all-electric single-seater series is already in its sixth season, long before most of us have made the switch to electric road cars, and that foresight means it boasts full-blown factory teams from the German ‘big four’ – Mercedes, Porsche, BMW and Audi – plus DS, Jaguar and Nissan. It’s surely the envy of F1, WEC and the World Rally Championship, which has just lost Citroën. Meanwhile, desperate post-Dieselgate Volkswagen is trying to win back lost PR yards by abandoning fossil-fuel motorsport completely. How long before others follow?
But for all its allure for big-brand car makers and sponsors, Formula E is not yet loved by the public. Traditional racing fans and car lovers still find it a turn-off – and that’s a worry if this is the future.
Then again, these are pioneering days and, as a species, we don’t respond well to change – even if we do tend to evolve eventually. For the sake of modern motorsport, we’d better. The car makers are banking on it.
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Biggest risk is E-Sports and cost of karting
I've very strong opinions on this subject. Feel free to disagree of course.
E-Sports will take away the young kids rapidly in the next 5 years. It's more accessible, and way easier financially on parents.
E-Sports have their place, but the drivers don't have to have the bravery that sitting in a real kart or car requires. The adreniline is not the same. It's not a spectator sport either, not real enough. Without karting the sport overall will die.
Unless the FIA and UK Motorsport take a very hard decision and cut out the vested commerical interests out of karting it will die because of E-Sports.
UK karting that could be so much better and cheaper if someone was brave enough to cut down the classes to : one Bambino (up to 8), one Cadet (8-12), Junior (12 to 16), Senior Direct Drive, Senior Gearbox.
Only one tyoe of engine allowed in each class, one brand of tyre for all classes with different compounds and sizes, one chassis brand for each class, with a very limited option in parts - top teams often have 5 axle options for example.... All the standardisation (especially tyres, engines, and chassis) would allow tenders to be run and much better economies of scale to be acheived. Tyres should be controlled to last at least two weekends, thereby halfing their cost even before tendering with bigger volumes. The standardisation would decimate some suppliers, and traders, but sorry the very existence of the sport is under threat and of more importance.
The costs to start karting should be significantly reduced, and these have run out of control with the MSA/UK MS - a legacy of H&S being OTT.
Cheating should be stamped out at all levels - by being way tougher and banning people for life on cases of blatent cheating - read about people machining thier own cranks to allow ignition timing to be advanced so higher octane fuel could be used, etc - total life ban and public shaming please.
By all means keep the elite karting so that UK drivers can still develop as owrld class, but keep the Clubman racing simple and cheap.
UK karting survived despite itself, but it didn't have E-Sports until recently, and this is the biggets threat, and hopefull Dave Richards and his team can see this, and have a strategy to completely revamp karting within 5 years - otherwise it'll just be old fellahs karting, and no future generation of boys and girls coming through.
FE has a hugely long way to go to be impressive as a spectacle. The cars are slow, skittery, and they run on Mickey Mouse tracks. Like indoor rental karts. I've tried, but it's just crap. They'll improve quickly, but they've so far to go.
I love ICE cars
formula e is worse than watching paint dry
f1 is almost as bad. Whoever pays to watch f1 is not in his/her right mind, given the tens and hundreds of millions that drivers get to go around circuit in a risk less cocoon. This is sport for rich and famous.
I rather watch motogp and WSBk, which offer more excitement even though they are getting boring as well lately.
wrc - are the races even aired? I don’t know for what purpose they have these races, if one cannot see them. WRC doomed itself to obscurity, oh, well, whatever, like someone said I am not looking into buying a Hyundai.
I hope Formula E isn't the future
I might be too 'old school' to find Formula E interesting. Believe me, I've given it a go and, like many others, I can't get excited about almost silent racing cars and contrived rules to add 'excitement.' As for autonomous racing, give me a break, for geeks only I think.
I still enjoy F1, despite the huge disparity in performance between the top teams vs the rest. The future of F1 is very much unknown and whether it can embrace carbon-neutral philosophy without losing its essential character will decide whether it can continue.
I'm excited about the hypercar WEC cars on the way but think there's a problem with it being an endurance-only series because the media coverage can be difficult. Maybe it should consider including some sprint races too.
WRC doesn't work for me. The cars are too contrived and hard to relate to. I think GT4 cars like the Porsche Cayman, Alpine A110 etc., would have a far wider appeal and bring some much-needed relevance and technical variety to WRC. And, a variety of exhaust notes! Who cares if they are slower, their lower limits will make them far more spectacular to watch.
Meanwhile, if modern racing fails to entertain, the Goodwood Revival will continue to allow me to indulge in the 'good old days,' along with the Le Mans Classic, Tour Auto and others.