Should F1 have an All-Star race? The answer is yes - and this is what it should look like

sainz, verstappen, hamilton, bottas, hulkenberg and piastri edited in separate coloured columns alongside each other in their own F1 2026 team kit — Photo: © IMAGO

F1 All-Star Race

Should F1 have an All-Star race? The answer is yes - and this is what it should look like

An F1 All-Star race is a great idea...but has to be handled right

Chris Deeley

Tuesday 19 May 2026 13:55

What if F1 had one race per year that didn’t matter at all?

Okay, that was badly phrased. Let’s say instead: What if F1 had one race per year that didn’t count toward the standings?

Everyone could get a bit funky with it, some gimmicks could be introduced – some of the rookies who you usually only see a couple of times a year in FP1 sessions could have a chance to shine.

In short: hey, what about an F1 All-Star race?

Who gets to be an F1 All-Star?

Article continues under video

Stop throwing tomatoes for a moment, and hold your objections. We’ll get to them. Say, though, that F1 took a leaf out of NASCAR’s book and had an All-Star weekend? What would that look like?

The first thing to sort out is the field. If every driver is an All-Star, then none of them are. That means – not to single anyone out, but...yeah, kinda to single them out – something has to be done about the Aston Martins and Cadillacs.

Let’s say that if a driver qualifies in the bottom six at the All-Star Race, the team has to replace them with a reserve/rookie driver for the race. That sounds fun. Hello Jak Crawford! Hello Colton Herta!

Where would the F1 All-Star race be held?

Where should this race be held, you’re asking – begging, screaming at your screen, because you still haven’t quite gotten to grips with the idea of a one-way text medium – and it’s a good question.

It’s a simple answer, too. Someone in the sport’s office draws up a list of circuits around the world that are essentially F1 ready but don’t currently host a race. They put that list up on the internet, and fans vote for where the All-Star race goes the next year. No track can host the race more than once every 10 years, and if they get back on the F1 calendar they’re ineligible. No, we're not holding one at the full Nurburgring.

The current list of FIA Grade One circuits has some certified classics on it – Fuji, Estoril, Paul Ricard – and some which...come on, you’re saying you don’t want to see ‘MotorLand Aragon’ on the schedule?

With a bit of spit and polish, some Grade Two circuits would be an absolute riot too. Madras? Brands Hatch? Laguna Seca? If you’re going to sit there and say that you don’t want to see F1 cars taking on the Corkscrew, please contact your medical services provider, because you appear to have died.

Stuff it, let’s steal NASCAR’s stupidest idea

Of course, none of the above solves the problem that F1 races get a bit, shall we say, uneventful toward the end. This century, we’re averaging one race every five years in which the winner takes the lead on the last lap. That sucks. The All-Star race should not suck. This creates an issue.

We’re going to solve that issue with one of the more controversial NASCAR innovations of the last decade. That’s right – we’re going stage racing.

At around a quarter of race distance, the safety car will come out and bunch up the pack. Teams can choose to take a cheap pit stop or prioritise track position and, when everyone’s back together and the stops are done, they restart. Repeat that again at around half-distance, then have a long final stage to the finish line.

Is it artificial? Yes! Should F1 introduce this in anything other than an All-Star race type gimmick? Absolutely not! Would it mean a lot more fun on track? Without doubt.

Sometimes NASCAR holds races on teeny tiny little tracks. They are very silly

Other All-Star race ideas!

That’s the field of drivers sorted, the locations planned out, and the fun put back into the race. What else can we fix while we’re here? Here are some half-baked ideas that aren’t fleshed out enough to get their own full write-ups, but have some potential.

The Dacia from the 24hr Nurburgring this weekend is the safety car.
Prizes are hard (NASCAR’s is $1m, but F1 drivers are almost all richer than God, so...) but if Lewis Hamilton wins then he should be allowed to spend one minute in a locked room with Michael Masi.
Grid in reverse order of the championship standings could be fun? For the established drivers who get bumped for rookies, the rookies automatically go to the front.
There have to be a few spare cars around, right? Somewhere? Or enough parts to put a couple together? Bring back a couple of retired drivers and put them in those.
Every 10 laps the fans vote on which driver should get like, just a comically large amount of battery deployment for 45 seconds.
Multiball.
Bin off track limits, and penalties from the All-Star race do not in any way carry over to the season proper.
Remember the Tiny Football Car from the Euros a few years ago? That was great.
I was in the pub for England’s semi-final and when they came back from an ad break it became clear that they’d missed the Tiny Football Car bringing the ball on, so I booed.
Except as I started booing, in this very full pub, the England players all took the knee. So I looked like I was booing that. Awkward atmosphere for the next 90 minutes.
One member of each team’s pit crew should be blindfolded.

‘But what about...’

Alright, you’ve done a great job of holding your complaints so far. Let’s address some of the most likely ones.

‘This will never happen’ – You are very astute and I hope I never meet you at a party.

‘This is Yank nonsense and you should feel bad for suggesting it’ – It IS Yank nonsense! I’m only writing this because I watched the (abominable) NASCAR All-Star Race last night! However...you might not have noticed, but Liberty Media are pretty intent on turning F1 into Yank nonsense. It’s quite a lot of the way there already. Might as well have some fun with it.

‘Teams will never, in a million years, sign off on ANOTHER race getting added to the schedule, especially if it’s not even for the championship. Also, Lance Stroll is a very bad F1 driver’ – Correct on all counts.

In conclusion...

If you take away one thing from all of this, let it be that F1 should consider having an All-Star race if – and only if – they can make it stupid enough to be fun. And also that I was definitely booing ITV missing the tiny car, not the other thing. Thanks.

F1 NASCAR