Why Watch: FIA Formula One World Championship

After Tim Davies’ introduction to Superbike Racing, Gareth Hall takes us back to four wheels and why motorsports poster series has far more to offer in this new decade for not just the casual fans, but experienced alike.

The landscape of the FIA Formula One Championship is on the verge of an explosion, and ever since the controversial turbo hybrid V6 era began in 2014 Formula One has been dominated by one team and one man, Mercedes-AMG and Lewis Hamilton.

In between the 2014 Australian Grand Prix and 2019 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Mercedes have won a record six straight Constructors Championships, while Lewis has gone from prodigal talent whilst at McLaren with his famous 2008 Championship, to being in the upper echelons of the ‘greatest-ever’ talk after securing his sixth World Championship in Mexico City as part of the 2019 season.

But where does that leave Formula One moving forwards? Well in good hands actually, and much like when Ferrari dominated the early 00’s with Michael Schumacher and Ross Brawn leaving the field in their wake, there will always be driver who appears to buck the status quo, and much like Fernando Alonso in 2005 and 2006, we are now seeing Formula One slowly stockpile some fascinating talents ready to burst out onto the main stage.

We have already seen the likes on Max Verstappen explode onto the scene, and the Dutch driver who still only 22 years old is already an 8-time race winner as part of the Red Bull Racing Team, and racks up records such as the youngest-ever race winner at an incredible 18 years old, whilst already holding records for youngest driver to ever compete in a World Championship race amongst others.

Max is well-known in the Formula One paddock for his no-nonsense, elbows out approach, and with the full backing of the Austrian brand behind him, and equally the eyes of the Formula One fans, he is yet to have that car to fully push for a World Championship, but it is certain that the talent is there, and the “who would win in equal machinery between Hamilton and Verstappen?” has been an on-going discussion for over a season now. It seems only a matter of when not if that the Dutchman holds a World Championship, but the real question is if it’ll be part of the Red Bull programme, or if he needs to make the switch to the silver or red cars to do it.

However, if that were to be the case there are two more men on the grid who may have something to say about their Dutch rival, and we’ll start at Ferrari. The Maranello based team have never been ones to promote young drivers into the main seat, and historically have picked experience over youth with the likes of most recent former drivers Kimi Raikkonen, Fernando Alonso and Felippe Massa having completed six, nine and four seasons in and around Fomula One before making the jump into one of the most coveted seats in the sport.

That was until one man burst onto the scene, Charles Leclerc. The Monegasque driver had seen a blistering rise through the junior ranks with ART Racing winning the 2016 GP3 Championship in his first season, and replicating that with a stunning Formula Two Championship win in 2017. His performances earned the gaze of Ferrari, and with his promotion to the Alfa Romeo Sauber Team in 2018, Formula One knew it was watching another young star enter its ranks, and one season later which included superb results at the likes of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix and three consecutive seventh place finishes to end the season, the likeable Monegasque was promoted in place of ageing Kimi Raikkonen into the parent team at Ferrari.

Ferrari made it clear early in the 2019 season that former World Champion and current number one driver Sebastian Vettel was still their priority, but immediately Leclerc stated his intentions by cruising up-to his more experienced and established team mate in Australia before being told to hold back. It was only one race later, where he took matters into his own hands and overtook Vettel early on to lead in Bahrain, and not for a late electronic problem would have won his second race in dominant style.

Over the rest of the season, Charles impressed Ferrari and others alike with even reigning champion Lewis Hamilton regularly showing awe at how fast and impressive his Ferrari counterpart was, and with victories at two races where the mental pressure was immense, such as the emotionally charged Belgian Grand Prix after the death of friend and former rival Anthoine Hubert, and then the following week in Monza for Ferrari’s first win on home soil since 2010 under unrelenting pressure for Lewis Hamilton. The young driver not only endeared himself to his team, but the passionate Tifosi who roared him home at the ‘Temple of Speed’ and saw him take five out of the next six pole positions, and eventually finish ahead of Vettel in the final standings after the two had a dramatic collision in Brazil to end the season with the team looking nervously at who would be the man to prioritise moving into 2020.

Charles and Max have long been touted as the next Champions of Formula One post Lewis Hamilton, but there’s seemingly one more driver poised and ready to move onto the grand stage, and with Ferrari and Red Bull both now with former academy drivers in the main seat, it seems only a matter of time before Mercedes do the same with British driver George Russell.

Following the hole left behind by Charles Leclerc, George Russell joined the ART team after being runner-up in the FIA European F3 Championship, and much like Leclerc won the GP3 series, and then FIA Formula Two Championship at the first attempt.

Russell was ever-present in the Mercedes garage in the 2018 season before his call up to Formula One, and with a season in the race seat at under-performing Williams Racing in 2019 under his belt, the Brit has already shown that he has not only the mental calibre to approach adversity by building the team around himself in the 2019 season even with experienced team mate Robert Kubica, but the talent and pace to match with his analysis of how the car is handling and where improvements need to be made which from a 22 year old showed maturity and willingness to improve a bad situation. You cannot deny that the glimmer of moments he showed that will no doubt have peaked Mercedes interests, such as his nail-bitingly close qualifying attempt in Hungary, where he almost got the Williams into an unlikely Q2, missing out by half a tenth.

It’s performances like that, and race performances in Monaco, Italy and Brazil where even in poor machinery he was able to put in good shows of fight, even if he was often a lap down. He dominated team-mate Kubica over the season, who albeit not the same after his devastating 2011 injury which almost cost him his right arm was still a more experienced former Formula One race-winner, and apart from a late spin in the electric German Grand Prix, would have scored the single point that eventually went to Kubica following Alfa Romeo’s disqualification. It seems inevitable that we will see Russell in the Mercedes car sooner rather than later, especially with Esteban Ocon now stashed in Renault for the next few seasons.

The future talent in Formula One is possibly at its most exciting since we saw Hamilton enter in 2007, and with the aforementioned three, plus the likes of Lando Norris, Alex Albon plus possible future Formula Two graduates such as Christian Lundgaard, Marcus Armstrong and Mick Schumacher waiting in the wings, the future of Formula One is in a very good place.

So why watch Formula One?

Well, in all era’s of this whirlwind championship we have always seen domination. In the mid-80’s to late 90’s it was McLaren and Williams with legends like Aryton Senna, Niki Lauda, Nigel Mansell and Alain Prost. In the early 00’s it was Ferrari with Schumacher, and in the early 10’s it was Red Bull and Vettel.

We as fans often roll our eyes at the sight of another Mercedes walkover in this V6 era, but forget that there will always be challengers to the throne in Formula One. Jackie Stewart had Emerson Fittipaldi, Alain Prost had Aryton Senna, Michael Schumacher had Fernando Alonso and with no doubt in mind Hamilton will soon see not only one but possibly three to his.

A lion reigns over his pride, until a younger and hungrier one wants to take over, thus creating a struggle for power. That will be played out for us over the next few years, and with Hamilton fending off Verstappen and Leclerc as he hunts for a record-equalling seventh World Championship, perhaps a new team-mate in Russell in 2021 will give us that mouth-watering title fight between three of the most talented drivers in Formula One attempting to dethrone the man who has held the crown for so long.