Ex-Formula One racing driver and BBC pundit, David Coulthard, hopes that the last two rounds of the world championship will have done enough to silence those who continue to question the quality of the sport.
Writing in his column for the Daily Telegraph, the Scot expressed his displeasure at the constant querying of Formula One’s “X-Factor” and hoped that the Grands Prix in Australia and Malaysia had stifled the sport’s critics.
“We have had three races: one exceptional [Australia], one good [Malaysia], one deathly dull [Bahrain].” Coulthard wrote in his column.
“That is not a bad strike rate in anyone’s book. I mean, not every football match is a classic and no one is calling for the beautiful game to be ripped up by its roots.”
The 13-time race winner believes that the sport may now not need to implement artificial changes, such as mandatory pit stops, to improve the spectacle – after a dry race in Malaysia showed that the ban on refuelling had finally shown its potential.
“The much-criticised ban on in-race refuelling showed signs of working on a dry track on Sunday, even allowing for the fact that the McLarens and the Ferraris started near the back, thanks to their horrendous error in qualifying, and were therefore bound to do a fair amount of overtaking.” he continued
“There were different pit-stop strategies, different orders in which teams used their compounds of tyre and nice little skirmishes all over the place.”
Coulthard also heaped praise on Red Bull Racing for recording their first one-two of the season, adding that the result will bring even more excitement to the championship battle.
“No one could argue that Red Bull’s one-two in Malaysia was not richly deserved; they have had the dominant package in all three races so far and kept their reliability problems in check on Sunday.”
“It was just reward for Sebastian Vettel, who has put in three flawless performances in a row and finally has a win to show for his efforts.
“It is a huge monkey off Red Bull’s back, but more importantly it makes the championship race that much more thrilling. It now becomes a bona fide arms race as we approach the European leg of the season. Teams will be chucking parts on their cars like there is no tomorrow come Barcelona.”
