The Big Picture
The big picture for Formula 1 at the moment is that people are very rapidly losing interest in it. With a 20-race season being made irrelevant by the title being wrapped up already, round 17, and that ultimately being just a formality since Vettel's had it essentially won for two or three rounds now. Red Bull's dominance since the change in tyres in the summer has turned what was an interesting season into another farce similar to that of 2011 and reminiscent to many of the Schumacher years of 2000-2004. Plenty of more casual Formula 1 viewers are drawn in by the excitement and entertainment of good racing and unpredictable races, and it makes it fantastic for us die-hard fans who love the sport as it's what it's meant to be like. When the results start going as they have, people lose interest, which can only be a bad thing for the sport and something has to be done to make it more competitive and bring in more real racing. Not the false overtakes created by DRS or some other implemented device, but real, on-track, wheel-to-wheel racing like we used to see. With a major rule change for 2014 and the reintroduction of turbocharging, we can only hope that the tyre lessons of this year will be transferred over to provide tyres that give people more of a chance to race, rather than ending up with a championship where some teams are running a car for endurance and others are running one for performance. It needs to be carefully managed though, as Bernie Ecclestone can say what he likes but Vettel's dominance and arrogant nature is turning people off Formula 1. On another note, we must come back to safety. Shortly after the Japanese Grand Prix, British Porsche Supercup driver and championship leader was killed in a high-speed crash in Australia, just outside Brisbane. He was giving driving instruction at a private track event at Queensland Raceway when the vehicle crashed into safety barriers and burst into flames, killing him instantly. He was favourite to win the Porsche Supercup championship, a support series for Formula 1, and had previously won the 24hr Nurburgring event, Dubai 24hr race and 2006 GT3 championship. Son of former Formula 1 driver Guy Edwards, who pulled Niki Lauda from his burning Ferrari at the Nurburgring in 1976, he worked on the film "Rush" with racing scenes and depicted his father on screen. This is another tragic incident to strike motorsport within the last few weeks, following the death of Maria de Villota and injury of Dario Franchitti, still recovering. It is yet another reminder that motorsport safety, at all levels, needs to remain a priority.