Spectacle without substance

Derick Allsop suggests Formula One courts any publicity - even bad

The authorities are probably rubbing their hands with glee. This latest political jousting gives the sponsors a prime-time bonus and is another convenient cover for the dire entertainment served up by Formula One.

The season opened in Brazil to more fanfares, more pledges of close, sporting and compelling action. What did we get? The first two cars a lap ahead of the rest, then disqualified hours after the event and presentation ceremony; a tedious shambles, just like last year.

The 1994 world championship produced only one genuinely engrossing start to finish race, the Japanese Grand Prix. Flavio Briatore, the managing director of Benetton, also came up with a damning postscript to the season in conversation with Frank Williams, his main rival. Briatore pointed out that the two championship protagonists, Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill, had never overtaken each other on the track.

The grand prix "spectacle" is a myth, but as long as Formula One makes the headlines the sport's rulers appear none too concerned. Max Mosley, the president of the FIA, has consistently acknowledged that taking a little flak is not too heavy a price to pay for the exposure of the recent past.

Formula One is not alone in taking, and deserving, flak of course. English football and sleaze have been hand in hand all winter. The difference, however, is that once the Premiership teams take to the field they generally offer an entertaining game.

All sports have their dominant teams and individuals, and that need not detract from the quality or enchantment. Muhammad Ali, Brazil's national football team, the West Indies cricketers and the present Wigan rugby league side have been wondrous, inspiring, living proof of that.

There may well be a dearth of personalities in modern Formula One, hence the strenuous and expensive efforts to bring back 41-year-old Nigel Mansell, who would seem to be a misfit in more ways than one.

In defence of Schumacher, Hill and the rest, refuelling, reintroduced to zap up the show, has instead neutralised the racing, as well as terrified the pit crews. Briatore, armed with the results of his survey, has called for an end to fuel stops on both counts.

Races are now won and lost on pit strategies, which is scarcely what the punter pays to see. A driver hounding an opponent will tend to back off rather than risk an overtaking manoeuvre if he is scheduled to make a stop. We saw further evidence of that at Interlagos on Sunday. We also thought we saw Schumacher win the Brazilian Grand Prix, ahead of David Coulthard, but then in Formula One what you see is not necessarily what you get.

If the authorities were satisfied before the race that the two drivers had used illegal fuel, why didn't they throw them out then? This way, though, Formula One gets maximum coverage and, with the inevitable appeals lodged, the sport has the assurance of more to come, so why should they worry?