Formula One: The need for rivalry between drivers

Rivalry in any sport is good till the time it has a positive outcome a healthy contest which the fans of the sport enjoy.

Formula One like any other sport has survived for over 60 years on rivalries. Such is the nature of the sport that every driver is trying hard to overtake others for wins, points, the World Championship or simply put they just love to race at the highest level.

As soon as the lights are they trying every bit to outrace the cars ahead or keep them behind. Once a driver is on track chivalry and friendship have no meaning.

While a lot of things may have changed in Formula One from cars to tracks and from teams to drivers, the one thing that hasn’t changed and will stay on forever keeping the sport alive would be – the rivalries.

Bad blood between teammates Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel forced Webber to retire from Formula One

Some of the rivalries are etched in the minds of the fans much more vividly than others. The epic battles between Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna, Niki Lauda and James Hunt or Michael Schumacher and Mika Hakkinen will be remembered for donkey years.

Had it not been for the feuds and rivalries, Formula One might have been dull and boring to watch. More often than not every weekend there are public spats and drivers taking a dig at other drivers during interviews and media briefings. While off the track the words are used as weapons, on track it’s the driving and the machinery which is the armoury.

Much of the rivalries have been passed through the generations by teams to their drivers. Ferrari vs Mclaren, Williams vs Benetton and Ferrari, Mclaren vs Mercedes and more recently Red-Bull vs Ferrari.

This is more so as these are the teams which are faster than the other teams on the grid and are fighting among them to win races, become the Constructor’s Champion and as leaders in the sport. Similar battles take place at the mid-field and far end of the grid with the minnows of the sport fighting among them to get their nose ahead(Sauber – Toro Rosso and Caterham-Marussia being current examples).

Mostly drivers end up chasing and gunning down drivers of rival teams but very often they also have a rival in their teammate. That’s simply because there’s an acrimonious battle to be the number driver, the boss in the team. Teams have had their own set of in-house rivalries.

Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello, Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber, Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg being quite recent examples. Vettel and Webber ironically have been locking horns since the time they became teammates. The saga finally ended as the ‘Multi 21’ incident unfolded this year putting the last nail in the coffin. In the aftermath, Webber decided it was time to quit Formula One.

Such is the irony of teammate rivalries that while both teammates end up fighting between them it’s a driver from the rival team who takes advantage of the feud. Kimi Raikkonen gained advantage from the Hamilton-Alonso rivalry in 2007 and Alain Prost benefited from the Nigel Mansell-Nelson Piquet feud back in 1986.

Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso are slated to become teammates for the 2014 season and expected to take F1 rivalry to the next level

As the 2013 draws to a close and a new season beckons, one of the most awaited and talked about rivalry is lined up for 2014 between Ferrai teammates Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso as they would be battling for not the Championship but also for the numero uno in Ferrari. Like some other famous battles it will most likely make it to the Hall of Fame of F1 rivalries.

There remains little doubt that rivalries are an integral part of Formula One. Whether cross-team or between teammates, rivalries and feuds keep the sport alive.

While some fans might not be interested in the technical details of the sport, the wheel-to-wheel racing and ambitious overtakes at high-speed is some food for them to get hooked on the motorsport.

Let’s admit its in human nature to derive the innate pleasure from seeing two staunch enemies battle it out and begin the games of indictment.