LONDON: The top three teams’ domination of the Formula One podium over the past two seasons is unacceptable and has to change, the sport’s managing director Ross Brawn said.
Force India’s Sergio Perez was the only driver outside Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull to finish a Grand Prix in the top three in this year’s 21 races, the Mexican ending up third in Azerbaijan in April.
Canadian Lance Stroll, for Williams, was in the same position at the same Baku circuit in 2017, when the season had 20 races.
“Two podiums from a total of 123 is unacceptable, especially when it comes with an ever increasing technical and financial divide,” Brawn said in a Formula One season review after last Sunday’s closing Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
“It’s a problem we are tackling together with the (governing) FIA and the teams, because the future of Formula One depends on it,” added the Briton, who was previously a technical director of Ferrari and principal of Mercedes.
Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull are also the only teams to have won a Formula One race since the current V6 turbo hybrid engines were introduced in 2014.
Sunday was the 100th Grand Prix of that era and Lewis Hamilton, now a five times world champion, has won 51 of them for Mercedes. Hamilton also won 11 races this year, leading 458 of the season’s 1,264 laps.
German driver Nico Hulkenberg, who races for the Renault works team and was ‘best of the rest’ in seventh place overall this year, has now started 156 Grands Prix without once standing on the podium.
Brawn said seven of the 10 teams were effectively racing in their own championship.
“There are various solutions on the table and we must all accept that we can’t go on like this for too much longer,” said Brawn.
“I don’t mean to cause offense by referring to the ‘other’ championship, it’s just a way of describing the situation and their battle was certainly thrilling. However, it’s hard for the fans to truly get excited about a battle for eighth place.”
The top three places in the constructors’ championship were decided before the season-ender, with Mercedes winning both titles for the fifth year in a row.
The rules are being tweaked for 2019, with aerodynamic changes aimed at making it easier for drivers to follow cars and battle on track, ahead of a more substantial overhaul planned for 2021.
The top teams are already working hard to limit the impact on performance, however, and have far bigger budgets to play with than the smaller teams.
“The downforce is basically being set back by a year or more, and we have to compensate,” Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said at the weekend.
“But there is a bunch of really, really clever people who are looking at the regulations and trying to find ways of having a lot of downforce on the car and I’m curious to see whether those cars are really going to be slower next year or not.”
Formula One needs more competition or face losing the battle for more fans, says Ross Brawn
Formula One needs more competition or face losing the battle for more fans, says Ross Brawn
- F1 managing director Brawn this out at dominance of Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull.
- Briton claims future of the sport is at stake if it does not increase competition.
Chelsea paid for costly errors in Arsenal defeat, says Rosenior
LONDON: Liam Rosenior admitted Chelsea paid the price for costly mistakes after Arsenal took advantage of his side’s blunders to win 3-2 in the League Cup semifinal first leg on Wednesday.
Rosenior’s team face a tough task to set up a final against either Manchester City or Newcastle following their error-strewn display in their new manager’s first home match.
Chelsea were guilty of sloppy marking for Ben White’s early headed opener before goalkeeper Robert Sanchez gifted striker Viktor Gyokeres Arsenal’s second goal after half-time.
Alejandro Garnacho got one back for Chelsea but Martin Zubimendi then netted for Arsenal after more lacklustre defending from Rosenior’s men.
Substitute Garnacho’s second goal gave Chelsea a glimmer of hope heading into the second leg at the Emirates Stadium in February.
“Disappointed to concede from a corner. Disappointed with the third goal as well because we were right back in the game and we were on top at that moment,” Rosenior said.
“We switched off from a restart from a central free-kick but I can’t fault the players.
“We need to make sure we perform well individually and we don’t concede as many goals.”
Rosenior was without a host of key players, including Cole Palmer, Reece James and Liam Delap, due to injuries and illness.
‘It’s another step’
In his second game since replacing Enzo Maresca as Blues boss, the 41-year-old took heart from the way Chelsea kept fighting to find a way back into the tie.
“We’ve had illness in the squad, we’ve picked up a few knocks this week but what the squad has shown is that they are willing to run and fight for each other,” he said.
Rosenior, who oversaw a 5-1 FA Cup third-round win at Charlton in his debut last weekend, refused to condemn Sanchez for the latest in a long line of shaky performances.
“Rob’s a very good goalkeeper. He made an outstanding save at 3-1 to keep us in the tie, so for me load of things to improve but the overall attitude of the team I liked,” Rosenior said.
“Hopefully, we get a few bodies back for Brentford on Saturday.”
Arsenal are now unbeaten in 10 games in all competitions as they moved a step closer to their first silverware since the 2020 FA Cup.
The Gunners had lost their previous four semifinals across a variety of competitions, including the League Cup last year.
Mikel Arteta was impressed with Arsenal’s ability to subdue Chelsea for long periods, but he was left to rue their failure to kill off their London rivals.
“I have to praise the players for the performance against a really good opponents. It’s a really tough place to come. That’s why I really value what the team has done again,” Arteta said.
“We had two massive chances to score the fourth one and the result would have been very different. At that moment they created a chance and scored a goal. So it is a very different feeling. It’s game on.”
As well as leading the Premier League, Arsenal are also still chasing Champions League and FA Cup glory.
But after so many last-four failures in the recent past, Arteta won’t take anything for granted.
“It’s another step. It’s just half-time. We know the big fight we are going to have at the Emirates in a few weeks because they are a top side,” he said.
“What we’re doing every three days is impressive.”
