Jackie Stewart wants F1 to be more competitive

Formula One legend Jackie Stewart has claimed that Formula One needs to be more competitive in the 2018 campaign as we come off a 2017 season in which Lewis Hamilton won his fourth world championship and Mercedes continued their team domination with a fourth constructor victory in a row.

Over the past eight years, F1 has seen two periods of domination from Red Bull and then the Silver Arrows respectively with Sebastian Vettel, Nico Rosberg, and Hamilton enjoying championship wins.

Stewart is eager for 2018 to be more of a battle, and would like to see Ferrari mount a comeback to glory, even if they need to improve on their consistency.

“We need to have it more competitive than it’s been this year," Stewart told Sport360.

“We’ve had a long run now of domination, whether it be Red Bull and then Mercedes. So it would be nice of course to see Ferrari come back in.

“But Ferrari seem to be sort of peak and valley, they’re not as consistent. But I think, hopefully next year, you never know with Red Bull having a Honda engine next year, that could prove to be quite good. So I hope we’re going to have a more competitive season next year.”

Stewart would go on to discuss the misfortunes of British outfit, McLaren, who have only won one championship this century via Hamilton in 2008. They have had a barren period of inconsistency due to the unreliability of their Honda engines, but will soon be changing to Renault.

When asked whether this change could help McLaren, Stewart responded positively.

“I think it’s not impossible,” the 78-year-old continued.

“McLaren have a lot of knowledge and a lot of experience. Don’t count them out. They’ve got one of the finest facilities in the world. So I think they can be in good shape."