F1 is going strong but its soul is lost and not coming back

Drivers and cars line up for the start of the 2025 Abud Dhabi Grand Prix — Photo: © IMAGO

F1 Analysis

F1 is going strong but its soul is lost and not coming back

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Dan Ripley Global Editor

Professional F1 journalist and analyst

Saturday 8 August 2026 10:56 Updated: 11:17

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There are a generation of F1 fans who grew up in an era when the sound of Murray Walker screaming misinformation at you was pure delight.

This isn't a knock on Walker by the way, on the contrary, his enthusiasm for F1 was so much that even when he was wrong it only added to the drama.

A subset of this generation would have enjoyed Walker paired in the BBC commentary booth with the 1976 world champion James Hunt.

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Now Hunt had a tendency to say what he thought, and if that meant claiming an F1 driver had 'a mental age of 10' and being 'pig ignorant' for failing to let leaders by, then so be it.

Now Hunt may have been harsh on poor Jarier but it made great TV, and he remained a much loved public figure until his sad and untimely death in 1993.

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F1 has moved on

Hunt's words and commentary style though have no place in modern F1. it is now a huge business which appeals to as many markets as possible and will change just about anything if the price is right and the money makes sense. The sport itself is a consideration, but it's always a sacrifice if another dollar can be made.

Outspoken commentators don't fit this bracket. They cause or at the very least risk controversy that F1 as a brand wants no part of.

Today commentators are a bit more respectful to drivers, but a big reason for this is due to making sure relationships are kept respectable and that bridges aren't burned when it comes to interview access etc. There's always a bigger game in play.

The 1976 world champion James Hunt (right) moved into F1 commentary

Play it safe and ditch V10s

This line of thinking has seen the exit of the much loved V10, or even V8, engines that were the soundtrack of the sport for years up until the hybrid era started in 2014. Not a single fan wanted to get rid of them, but F1 decided to lean into Net Zero goals to be a more sustainable sport.

Ok, fine, but let's not pretend here that the output of the V10 engines over hybrid engines are a major cause of climate change, especially given the air miles this sport puts in.

So F1 played it safe and went with with the least controversial route. As a result you now have to listen to this corporate sludge at Monza instead of this F1 epic. There have been suggestions of going back to V8 engines from as early as 2030 but why has it taken 16 years?

Germany and France ditched

F1 has also expanded the calendar during this century from a fairly stable 16-race season to 24 races. Now there's arguments whether this is better or worse from a 'more diluted' to 'yay, more races' experience.

One thing for sure is you can't increase the calendar by eight races and ditch the German and French Grands Prix at the same time.

Germany hasn't staged an F1 race since Hockenehim in 2019

Well, I guess you can if F1 races are sold to the highest bidder, but surely there is a sporting obligation to be in these countries given their motor racing tradition. I mean, France invented the grand prix for goodness' sake!

What are we doing going to countries like Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and especially Abu Dhabi with its garbage track that has never produced a classic race (no, 2016 and 2021 don't count)?

The answer is simple and it's because they are the tracks that make F1 money. Hockenheim, Nurburgring, Paul Ricard - these places are iconic names but are nothing to the modern day sport without a chequebook to match countries who have never even had an F1 driver.

Granted, we've heard talks of these tracks coming back, but it should never have got to this point in the first place.

But what F1 is doing works for them

Money is everything to F1, it will ruthlessly chase every last dollar it can and no F1 tradition is safe. It will not risk controversy if it means bad headlines.

Now here is the kicker, it's a good strategy. F1 isn't dying, it's thriving. It's done an exceptionally good job of marketing the sport to casual fans, with F1 president Stefano Domenicali at the heart of it in recent years. The methods are working for what it wants to achieve.

Stefano Domenicali has helped build the F1 brand during his tenure

The sport made a loss in the second quarter of 2026 compared to 2025, dropping from $1.22billion to $764million - and this was due to four fewer F1 grands prix held during 2026 as opposed to the year prior. So, for the purists, why would F1 drop from 24 races down to 16 again if it's going to likely cost them hundreds of millions?

F1 will go on and continue to gain new fans who haven't grown up or been aware of the sport's history.

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But all of this will come at a cost to the soul of the sport. Those of us who lived through the 20th Century will miss the heart and soul of F1 which appears to have been forgotten in the pursuit of profit, and that's now never going to change. You'd think you'd try and find a compromise but...

If you don't take my word for it, then perhaps to conclude you will listen to the recent words of reigning F1 world champion Lando Norris.

"The thing that's a shame is that Formula One's gone too heavily led by the fact it's a business nowadays and not how can you make the sport the best possible.

"It's how can you just make the most money as a business, and that's just not what it should simply be. That's not how a sport should be run."

Amen, Lando.

Written by

Dan Ripley - Global Editor

I've been a massive F1 fan since the mid 1990s and continue to study the history of the sport long before that. As an experienced motor sport reporter covering F1, MotoGP and the LeMans 24 Hour race, being part of GPFans has allowed me to work with a diverse team with all sorts of different backgrounds in watching the sport and given me a greater appreciation of F1.

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