Can Formula One really be considered a sport anymore?
- This topic has 22 replies, 11 voices, and was last updated 10 years, 4 months ago by JamieFranklinF1.
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- 23rd November 2013, 10:06 at 10:06 am #133948Tyler FerreParticipant
This is because of how talent seems to be overshadowed by money and sponsorship nowadays which highly disappoints me, like many.. If so, what can be done to change this?
23rd November 2013, 10:24 at 10:24 am #245678StephParticipantF1 has always been this way. It’s probably just more obvious now due to the economic troubles a lot of countries have experienced since 2008.
23rd November 2013, 11:34 at 11:34 am #245679SaintsParticipantYes.
23rd November 2013, 12:24 at 12:24 pm #245680Magnificent GeoffreyParticipantIf Formula 1 shouldn’t be considered a sport because of money and sponsorship being involved, then that means professional rugby, football, basketball, hockey, etc, should not be considered sports.
23rd November 2013, 12:27 at 12:27 pm #245681AnonymousInactiveErr…..Lauda was a pay driver himself, and I doubt that James Hunt would’ve got the McLaren drive had he not been a cigarette smoker.
Besides, it’s not like Yuji Ide is back or anything….:P
23rd November 2013, 12:48 at 12:48 pm #245682StephParticipantF1 is more extreme with its focus on money – you get a lot of pay drivers but you don’t get players paying to play in the PL, karts cost an absolute fortune so you have to have a middle class family backing you to have any chance of ever getting into the sport so you’re comparison to other sports doesn’t really stand up. when it comes to accessing talent although they are all businesses too.
23rd November 2013, 15:10 at 3:10 pm #245683Max JacobsonParticipantThe best drivers still win. I’ve yet to see a bad world champion, so absolutely: F1 is still a sport.
23rd November 2013, 19:39 at 7:39 pm #245684KingsharkParticipantIf Formula 1 shouldn’t be considered a sport because of money and sponsorship being involved, then that means professional rugby, football, basketball, hockey, etc, should not be considered sports.
What if Alex Ferguson allowed severely underwhelming players to play as a striker for Manchester United because they had a lot of sponsorship money? What if terrible athletes were allowed to compete in the Olympics because they brought 60 million dollars of sponsorship money? What if rubbish tennis players were allowed to go to Wimbledon only because of their sponsors and cash?
These things don’t happen in any other sport apart from Formula 1.
The fact that Max Chilton has a drive in Formula One but Robin Frijns does not should make you think.
23rd November 2013, 20:54 at 8:54 pm #245685Magnificent GeoffreyParticipantDon’t worry, I already began to think about that last year when Kobayashi didn’t get a drive this season but Massa kept his seat. ;)
Then I realised that Formula 1 has always had an element of this. As long as the drivers getting the poles, the podiums, the wins and the championships truely are the best of the best, then Formula 1 is a perfectly legitimate sport.
23rd November 2013, 23:28 at 11:28 pm #245686JamieFranklinF1ParticipantThe definition of sport is: an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment.
So yes, it is still a sport.
23rd November 2013, 23:39 at 11:39 pm #245687AnonymousInactive@jamiefranklinf1 You don’t have too many conversations in real life, do you :P
23rd November 2013, 23:45 at 11:45 pm #245688NickParticipantThe fact that Max Chilton has a drive in Formula One but Robin Frijns does not should make you think.
At the same time, the likes of Ma Qinghua, Sergio Canamassas or Rodolfo González not actually competing is a sign of money not being the ‘be all, end all’ of F1. We’re far removed from the likes of Yuji Ide, Jean-Denis Deletraz or Ricardo Rosset too. Chilton might not have that many wins to his name, but the likes of Pic, van der Garde, Maldonado have won in junior formulae. Frijns is a victim of circumstance, but many have missed out on F1 before him, while there’s plenty of drivers who have been in F1, but never had the right material or faced a team bankruptcy.
F1 needs to change, but we’ve also seen a reduction in politics. I remember from 2003 to 2009 or so, when the off-track debate was often more interesting than the on-track action. I’m glad that’s behind us, too.
23rd November 2013, 23:58 at 11:58 pm #245689JamieFranklinF1Participant@Silence – Why? Because I bring the question down to the most logical answer? The topic is about whether Formula 1 can still be considered a sport, and given the definition it still is. The real question is whether it can be considered the pinnacle of motorsport, due to the reasons above, and more, which are discussed elsewhere.
24th November 2013, 0:01 at 12:01 am #245690AnonymousInactiveYou need to go out more. And understand that real people, outside the internet, sometimes tend to discuss stuff without being constricted by dictionary definitions, but are open to conceptual and contextual talks.
24th November 2013, 0:08 at 12:08 am #245691 - AuthorPosts
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