Has the sideshow become the main event at Formula One?

If you had switched on your TV in time to watch the Formula One on Sunday night, you would have been forgiven for wondering what it was exactly you had tuned into.

As the minutes ticked down to lights out ahead of the inaugural Miami Grand Prix, there were certainly few clues that a sporting contest was about to break out from the swarm of a star-studded grid that resembled more of a red-carpet frenzy than a petrol-heavy motorsport race.

In among it all, Martin Brundle tried his best to keep up. If anything was to symbolise F1’s heady ascent from what was largely a bit of a niche and nerdy interest 20 years ago to an unmissable occasion worthy of attracting some of the biggest celebrities in the United States (including Tom Brady, Serena Williams and Pharrell, to name but a few), it was perhaps the sight of Brundle attempting to navigate his way through the throng.

Twitter lit up as Brundle, the beloved former driver and now leading pundit, bounced from influencers to US sports stars, completely unaware of who he was interviewing, and all the while just praying to stumble across a driver to discuss something familiar – like tyre temperatures – with.

This is the reality of F1’s newfound popularity, and it was telling that the glitz of the Miami Grand Prix in the end overshadowed what was quite a forgettable race, won by the defending champion Max Verstappen as he held off the late challenge of Charles Leclerc.

Afterwards, there was criticism of the track surface, which disintegrated and fell below the expected standards, as well as a chicane described as “Mickey Mouse”.

Improvements will be needed ahead of next year, and race organisers will need to prove they are serious about the actual racing. The question is, will they be too distracted to notice? Or has the sideshow become the main event?

Yours,

Jamie Braidwood

Sports reporter