Class b talk is ‘damaging f1’
Forceindiaracerbelievesgapbetweenteamsishurtingtheseries
Formula 1’s split into two tiers and the way it forces drivers to think about fake class wins and titles is damaging grand prix racing, reckons Sergio Perez.
Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull have dominated the grid for the last three seasons, with only Williams’s performances in 2014 and ’15 preventing those teams locking out the top positions in the constructors’ championship every year since ’13.
The gap between the big three teams and the rest of F1 has increased in the last couple of seasons, with Perez’s team Force India finishing a distant fourth in 2016 and ’17. It has led to the likes of Kevin Magnussen claiming he has created a fictional ‘Class B’ without the top three teams to give him something to fight for.
Perez is one of the only drivers outside those teams to have scored a podium in the last three seasons, which he says is because F1 has changed significantly even since 2012, when he scored three podiums for a Sauber team that was not even best of the rest. “That is quite difficult,” he told Autosport. “The difference in budget these days, going into a new generation of cars, is tremendous.
“You cannot compete. The last four or five years it was simply two categories in Formula 1.
“I’ve never heard before, that people were talking about ‘yeah, I won the race’, when you are best of the rest, or ‘I’m leading the championship’ if you are best of the rest.
“That shouldn’t be the way it is. That is damaging the sport a lot.”
Since the beginning of the 2016 season, the grand prix podium has included a non-mercedes/ferrari/red Bull driver just five times.
F1’s next major change is scheduled for 2021, when sweeping resource restrictions and fairer funding distribution are supposed to be brought in alongside car and engine changes.
Though Perez believes the instability of big rule changes helps the big teams more, the hope is that the wider upheaval will level the playing field.
“I really hope for the benefit of the sport that in 2021 you have five teams fighting for victories every race,” said Perez.
“That will be a dream come true. As a fan, I’d like to see that.”