When Emerson Fittipaldi took to the grid of the 1970 British Grand Prix in World Wide Racing Lotus-Ford he was to start an unbroken sequence of there always being a driver of Brazilian nationality on the F1 grid. That record is still unbroken to this day, however it could very well be in danger. Brazil has 2 representatives, firstly Fellipe Massa who looks to be out on his ear at Ferrari and in an ever tight market will another team pick him up? Second Bruno Senna at Williams who might not make it to the end of the season at Williams that'll own be on the grid next year. Brazil does have its next generation coming up with Luca Razia and Fellipe Nasr in GP2 but whether either of these will get a drive for next season? It is debatable. So it could be that 2013 is the first time in 42 years where the nation of Brazil is not represented in Formula One.
This of course follows closely on the heels of 2012 being the first time there was not an Italian driver on the F1 grid and whilst we suddenly have 3 French drivers on the grid this year (one of them is really Swiss but shhhh) its been a long time coming and a big gap for a nation that virtually invented the sport. After processing this information and reading TBY's brilliant article on the nations of F1 I drew the conclusion that things like this were bound to happen with F1 expanding its world audience and truely becoming a world wide sport as the FIA and Bernie are keen to tell us it is. Then I took a closer look.
This season grid features 12 teams, 3 of these are technically teams representing non-european nations and all 3 of those are actually based out of factories in the UK. The grid features 24 drivers, 9 of which are non-europeans - 3 South Americans, 3 Asians, 2 Australisians and 1 North American. Having already talked about the possible exit of the 2 South Americans, I'm going to say I can't see Karthkeyen being here next year either which takes the number down to 6 non-europeans. There likely replacements? A Finn and a Spaniard. The only likely looking non-european addition to the grid would be Mexcian Gutteriez. This would mean the number of South American competitors would be down to 1 which would be a massive shock - outside of Europe, South America has been F1's main fanbase with the likes of Fangio and Senna acheiving lengandry status.
Going back to 1970, the year Fittipaldi started the Brazilian streak there were 14 non-european drivers during the season including 3 Africans and 3 from the USA. It makes you wonder if it was more an international sport then than it is now.
So the question I ask you is whilst Bernie takes the F1 circus all over the world and tells us how much appeal it has are we just kidding ourselves that F1 is at the top of the pile in world motorsport? Shouldn't we accept the fact that actually F1 is a European-centric sport? If we accept that shouldn't we also except that this treck round the world to gain more interest has actually failed and take the sport to where its supported Europe?
This of course follows closely on the heels of 2012 being the first time there was not an Italian driver on the F1 grid and whilst we suddenly have 3 French drivers on the grid this year (one of them is really Swiss but shhhh) its been a long time coming and a big gap for a nation that virtually invented the sport. After processing this information and reading TBY's brilliant article on the nations of F1 I drew the conclusion that things like this were bound to happen with F1 expanding its world audience and truely becoming a world wide sport as the FIA and Bernie are keen to tell us it is. Then I took a closer look.
This season grid features 12 teams, 3 of these are technically teams representing non-european nations and all 3 of those are actually based out of factories in the UK. The grid features 24 drivers, 9 of which are non-europeans - 3 South Americans, 3 Asians, 2 Australisians and 1 North American. Having already talked about the possible exit of the 2 South Americans, I'm going to say I can't see Karthkeyen being here next year either which takes the number down to 6 non-europeans. There likely replacements? A Finn and a Spaniard. The only likely looking non-european addition to the grid would be Mexcian Gutteriez. This would mean the number of South American competitors would be down to 1 which would be a massive shock - outside of Europe, South America has been F1's main fanbase with the likes of Fangio and Senna acheiving lengandry status.
Going back to 1970, the year Fittipaldi started the Brazilian streak there were 14 non-european drivers during the season including 3 Africans and 3 from the USA. It makes you wonder if it was more an international sport then than it is now.
So the question I ask you is whilst Bernie takes the F1 circus all over the world and tells us how much appeal it has are we just kidding ourselves that F1 is at the top of the pile in world motorsport? Shouldn't we accept the fact that actually F1 is a European-centric sport? If we accept that shouldn't we also except that this treck round the world to gain more interest has actually failed and take the sport to where its supported Europe?
