You can’t make everybody happy all of the time. In past seasons when one driver started dominating a Formula One championship, many fans got bored with the predictability and channel-hopped.
But now, in 2012, we have exactly the opposite scenario with six different winners from the first six races, and some F1 pundits fear fans will again be scared off – this time by all the unpredictability.
Three-time champion Niki Lauda believes people will walk away from the sport if the randomness continues: “It was very interesting in the beginning, we all were surprised,” the Austrian, who won the title in 1983, after five winners from the first five rounds, told Reuters.
“But if this continues ... then we will lose spectators or interest because the main public wants to see the world champions winning. We need two races with known winners and then the crazy stuff can start again.”
Even the sixth winner himself, Mark Webber, who took victory at Monaco on Sunday, was in the spotlight recently over his concern at the number of winners this year.
“I don’t know if the fans will get sick of seeing so many different winners,” the Australian said.
McLaren’s Jenson Button, who had a terrible Monaco race which ended in retirement, said: “Everyone is excited about so many different winners, which initially was great for the fans and great for the sport. But there will be a time when the fans will say ‘So anyone can win a Grand Prix, everyone can lose a Grand Prix like that’. I think they’re finding it a little bit strange now.”
But whichever side of the fence you sit on, the fact is that the current grid, with a record-setting six world champions on it, is one of the most competitive we’ve seen in years.
And, with three of the ex-champs (McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton, Lotus’s Kimi Raikkonen and Mercedes’ Michael Schumacher) together with a handful of other possible winners yet to top the podium in 2012, it’s very possible the randomness trend is set to continue.
The next race is in Canada next weekend at the 4.3km Gilles Villeneuve track. The semi-street circuit is known for its long straights that barrel into tight hairpins, and first laps there have become notorious for turn one pileups.
If that happens again on June 10, almost anything could happen podium-wise.
Interestingly, the record for different consecutive winners was set in 1982 when nine different drivers took spoils in nine successive Grands Prix. At the end of that season, Keke Rosberg walked away with the championship after winning just one race.
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