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'May the best man win'

Fair play a questionable concept in F1 title chase

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Posted: Tuesday August 31, 1999 05:12 PM

With four races to go in this year's Formula One Championship, and the competition as open as it's been in many years, it seems strange that the main question on my mind at present is -- will we get a legitimate winner?

With Mclaren's Mika Hakkinen leading Ferrari's Eddie Irvine by a point, and David Coulthard 13 points adrift in third, the only question should be how they'll beat each other? Instead, the eventual outcome is as much a matter of beating the system.

Let me explain. Until next year, when he'll be McLaren's joint No. 1, David Coulthard is the team's No. 2 driver behind Hakkinen. What that means is that the Scot faces the very real possibility of being asked to drive to team orders. In other words, that means putting his own needs secondary in order for Hakkinen to win the championship -- a galling prospect that Coulthard acknowledged following last weekend's victory in Belgium.

"I've helped Mika more than could be reasonably expected from any teammate," he said. "I will continue racing this way now until I am told by the team that I am not able to do so. I won't like it, if it happens, but I will accept it."

Coulthard's diplomacy has not been matched by the more volatile Irvine, who has made it plain that his days of playing second-fiddle to Michael Schuamcher are over. Nonetheless, he too faces the prospect of a tainted championship victory, because Ferrari's hunger for its first world title in 20 years may well prompt the Italians to ask Schumacher to shield his teammate from the McLaren's when he returns from injury at Monza later this month.

Now, in what other sport would the participants, spectators -- and indeed the sports hierarchy -- tolerate that situation? Surely the essence of true competition is a level playing field -- everyone starts with an equal opportunity of winning, subject to their capabilities. Anything less than that is unacceptable.

Just last week, Kenyan steeplechaser Bernard Barmasai was banned from competing in the remainder the IAAF's Golden League Series, after admitting that his countryman -- Christopher Koseki, helped him to win in order to keep alive his hopes of a share in the million-dollar Golden League pay-out. Few people sympathized, even though it meant Barmasai missing out on so much money because he had simply not played the game.

In Formula One, by contrast, not playing the game is almost de rigeur among the top teams, which routinely label one driver's needs as subservient to another. But why should the paying public accept that races are going to be stage-managed to fit some preconceived notion of who has the right to victory?

It's unethical. The drivers dislike it. And, as the Formula One season moves towards its climax, it devalues the championship. "May the best man win," is a motto frequently used in the sporting arena -- an adage that the roar of the Formula One finale appears to have drowned out.

CNN/SI's Terry Baddoo co-hosts WORLD SPORT, the international sports show that airs live daily on CNN/SI and CNN International. His columns appear regularly on CNNSI.com.

The opinions expressed here are solely those of the writer.

 

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