Monday, January 10, 2022

Musings From the Weekend: Why Do We Penalize the Leader?

We begin with sad news, as Kevin Kalkhoven passed away, aged 77. Kalkhoven was the co-owner of Champ Car during the series final seasons and remained as a team owner with KV Racing, famously winning the 2013 Indianapolis 500 with Tony Kanaan. IndyCar teams will resume testing this week, and there has been a significant engineering shuffle across the grid. Chip Ganassi Racing has announced its driver lineups for the 24 Hours of Daytona. Thursday Night Blunder continues to be the most creative thing in iRacing. NASCAR has reserve drivers now. Ken Roczen won the Supercross return to Anaheim. The Gulf 12 Hours returned to Abu Dhabi. The Dakar Rally has entered its final week. Here is a rundown of what got me thinking. 

Why Do We Penalize the Leader?
It has been a month since the Formula One season finale at Abu Dhabi, and we haven't moved on from it. The final few laps have remained on the forefront of our minds as we continue to process what happened. From the Nicholas Latifi accident through the checkered flag and all the indecision in-between. 

Initially, race control had made the decision to restart with the lapped cars remaining between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen. Of course, the controversial decision was made to remove the lapped cars between the first two drivers, but not between second and third and so on down the order, just before restarting with one lap to go. 

With the hurdles removed, Verstappen went on to take the lead and win the world championship from Hamilton. An uproar has persisted that the regulations had not been followed ahead of that restart, but protocol aside, why should a race director ever removing lapped cars from between cars on track? 

For pretty much the entire 21st century, motorsports have been attempting to become more appealing to viewers and give people more reason to remain watching. The structure of a race has changed to keep things close. In Formula One's case, race control can remove lapped cars from between lead lap cars on track. In NASCAR, every restart is a double-file restart and there are about a half-dozen ways to get back on the lead lap and at least two guaranteed opportunities to get back on the lead lap. IndyCar employs similar wave around procedures and had a double points season finale for a handful of seasons. 

While attempting to keep races compelling until the checkered flag, these series have removed some competitive integrity, because losing out with all these regulation changes have been the race leader. A leader can spend laps driving away from the field, lapping cars and with one caution, all that work is erased, and second place is suddenly placed immediately on the leader's rear with a chance to take the top spot even though it could have spent majority of the race with the leader not even in sight. 

Why do we penalize the leader in motorsports? It is the only sport to do so. 

If a football team works it way to a 28-0 lead at the end of the third quarter, the trailing team doesn't get 21 points just to make it interesting. If a soccer team is up 2-0 entering the 80th minute, the leading team doesn't automatically lose a player and must play a man down for the rest of the match. These teams have earned these leads and they get to keep them. There aren't rules in place to decrease those leads artificially. Why can't the same be the case in motorsports?

Hamilton had a lead over 11 seconds when Latifi hit the barrier in Abu Dhabi. The time was lost but Hamilton was still going to have five cars between him and Verstappen. Hamilton had to negotiate those obstacles. He had to pass those cars on the track, and lost some time in the process, something Verstappen was also bound to face if he wanted to take the lead. Race control decided to remove those cars out of Verstappen's way. Why did the leader have to work his way through that traffic, but one caution meant race control could remove the traffic for second place? 

The race conditions become different for two competitors. In soccer, the goals are the same size for each time, same for the hoop in basketball. In football, both teams have four downs to get a first down. It isn't the case that one team gets two downs and the other gets six. Three strikes are an out for both teams in baseball. For motorsports, traffic is a part of the competition. If the leader must go through it, then second place should have to go through it as well. There are circumstances that could change that, lapped traffic pitting, the leader going off course and the traffic getting back ahead, but it shouldn't be a barrier removed at the discretion of the officials. It is one thing for the race to play out and it is another for race control to move the pieces around. 

After the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the conversation was not about how exciting the finish was or the fact that the championship came down to the final lap but the decisions from race control and the unfairness to Hamilton. The newbies weren't shouting about the last lap pass, but the injustice to one competitor. In the United States, I think too often the motorsports literate believe the way to draw in viewers is to just pump up excitement and think raising the heart rate will be enough at any cost, but in this case the motorsports literate fail to realize that these people are sports fans and they can tell when one competitor has been screwed. 

These people have seen blatant pass interference go unpenalized, dubious third strikes and questionable charging calls. They aren't stupid and they can see when similar grievances occur in motorsports. 

Formula One had a great season and attracted more viewers in the United States mostly because of Netflix's Drive to Survive, but viewers stuck around and didn't need the races dumbed down. Viewers weren't demanding every race finish with a two-lap shootout. They weren't demanding rule changes to keep the field close. The people bought into the stories and the competition for what they are, not for what they weren't. Not every race was spectacular or legendary, but they were invested in something greater than what occurred in the 300-kilometer grand prix. Once again, they are sports fans. Just as not every football, baseball, basketball, hockey or soccer game can be stuff of legend, they understood some races were going to be stinkers and others were going to be breathtaking.  

Motorsports has been chasing viewers at an increased rate for the last two decades, but I hope these series realize staying true to the sport is not a deterrent and people appreciate when the best are the best. If a leader has a 20-second lead and has six cars between him and second, they accept it just as they accept the Kansas City Chiefs leading 31-10 at the half against the Las Vegas Raiders.

The Formula One season concluding with a one-lap sprint with five-lapped cars between Hamilton the leader and Verstappen in second would not have been the most exciting finish, but people watched the first 57 laps of that race and could see it was fitting to what had transpired during the race, the same way a team can kneel out the clock at the end of a football game or dribble out the clock of a basketball game when up 20 points. Verstappen had 57 laps to remain close to Hamilton and he didn't. The same way a five-point field goal isn't introduced for the team trailing by four with two seconds left, motorsports should realize people can accept a result and not need a sudden plot twist to justify watching. 

My hope is motorsports can allow motorsports to be motorsports and stop thinking it must be cheapened to be attractive. Attraction goes beyond what happens between the green flag and the checkered flag. Formula One made the series compelling and sold a story that people bought. People will love the sport for what it is if you give them a reason to watch. 

Winners From the Weekend
You know about Ken Roczen, but did you know...

Here are the Dakar Rally general classifications entering stage eight:

Bikes: Yamaha's Adrien Van Beveren leads by five minutes and 12 seconds ahead of KTM's Matthias Walkner and five minutes and 23 seconds ahead of KTM's Kevin Benavides.

Quads: Alexandre Giroud leads Pablo Copetti by 18 minutes and 21 seconds, and Giroud is an hour and ten minutes clear of Aleksandr Maksimov.

Cars: Toyota's Nasser Al-Attiyah holds a 44-minute and 59-second lead ahead of Prodrive's Sébastien Loeb. Yazeed Al-Rajhi is 53 minutes and 51 seconds behind fellow Toyota driver Al-Attiyah.

Light Prototypes: Francisco Ló[ez has an hour and 24-minute lead over Sebastian Eriksson with Cristina Gutiérrez over two hours back.

SSV: American Austin Jones has a six-minute and 33-second lead over Gerard Farrés with Michał Goczał just over 20 minutes back in third.

Trucks: Dmitry Sotnikov leads a Kamaz 1-2-3, five minutes and 14 seconds ahead of Eduard Nikolaev and 31 minutes and 25 seconds clear of Anton Shibalov.

The #1 2 Seas Motorsport Mercedes-AMG of Ben Barnicoat, Martin Kodrić and Isa Al-Khalifa won the Gulf 12 Hours for the second consecutive season.

Coming Up This Weekend
The conclusion of the Dakar Rally.
The Chili Bowl.
The 17th Dubai 24 Hour.
Supercross goes to Oakland.