I am currently watching an F1 race with only six cars, which is a total farce.

On a simplistic level, it’s obviously the fault of Michelin, who had a problem with their tires and advised the 14 drivers using them that it wasn’t safe to enter the race unless the track was modified.

I have to wonder, however, about the six drivers who are currently circling the track, who happen to be using Bridgestone tires and therefore don’t have a problem.

Fourteen of their colleagues have been given an unambigous instruction that they must not drive the race, because it’s not safe. Those drivers wanted to race, but it would have been suicide to go out without a modified track.

An optimist might think that there was still some vestige of honour in the sport of motor racing, and some solidarity amongst drivers, regardless of their team affiliations.

A romantic might assume that, seeing that this was an issue of safety, and not of team rivalry, the unaffected drivers might have shown solidarity with the Michelin runners, and told their own teams that they also would not drive the race unless the track was modified. In the face of a united front from the drivers, there is no doubt that the track would have been altered, and a proper race would have resulted.

The realists only have to point to the race unfolding before me to show the true state of affairs. The fans don’t matter. The safety of other drivers doesn’t matter. A phyrric victory in a field of six doesn’t matter. If we can win, we’ll win, fuck the cost.

Very very sad.