Gimmicks'R'Us

Medals?

Seriously?

Have we come to the point in the sport where we have to rely on gimmicks to spice things up? I sincerely hope that this isn’t as well received as is believed. We don’t need, nor want gimmicks. Instead of working on the aforementioned, maybe spend more time on making the cars more competitive in that department.

You give a driver a decent chance to overtake, he will take it. Heck, give some drivers a sniff of it and they will have a go, even if it ends up going awry. Why can’t people overtake more? Because after years of attaching slopes and other pieces of trinkets found on the side of the road to go quicker, another car can’t get within the aforementioned sniffing distance.

We can only hope that the new regulations promote better racing.

Bernie Ecclestone believes that medals would spice things up and promote more attacking driving. I said this earlier in the year and I will say it again – where is the incentive for a driver to take a chance for two more points?

Back in the day (man, that makes me sound old), during the 10-6-4-3-2-1 points scoring era, there was clear incentive to hunt down the leader. A four point gain on your nearest opponent on the track ensured that giving up if there was even the smallest of chances for victory, it was explored.

Unfortunately, it is so easy for someone to be content with a position, given the minimal point gain made on them. So please, Bernie, no medals. The sport has gone this long without needing them. No reason to start now.