Alain Prost finds F1 too unpredictable this season
If the four-time French world champion is pleased to see that Formula One has become popular again, he regrets that it has also become too unpredictable. The "Professor" no longer has any certainty about who is the favorite for the title, even though he knows that consistency will be essential.
A season start with five different winners representing five different manufacturers in as many races, Formula One hadn’t seen this since the 1983 season. While the ban on blown exhausts has tightened the gaps, Pirelli tires have also added spice to the races and increased the challenge for drivers and engineers. For some, Formula One has finally reconnected with spectacle and uncertainty, but for others, the sport has become too unpredictable.
Asked on the occasion of the presentation of the new Renault Alpine concept, this Friday in Monaco, Alain Prost is pleased to see Formula One becoming popular again but admits that he also regrets the current evolution of the discipline: “If I speak for myself, I would indeed say that it’s a little too unpredictable,” reports *Autosport*. “You know Formula One and you would like to understand a little more about what’s happening, but F1 has changed and so has the audience watching it. You can’t compare it with what we had 10, 20, or 30 years ago. Nowadays the audience is rather pleased to see that it’s not always the same driver or the same car winning. The worst thing for F1 today is for a driver or a team to dominate too much. It’s not what I like to see, but I can understand that viewership might increase a bit and that people are more interested. However, if I think about the engineers in the teams, it must be a nightmare, so maybe it’s a little too much.”
After five events, it still remains very difficult to outline any kind of hierarchy, and for some, like Lewis Hamilton for example, the championship will mainly depend on car development and consistent results, an opinion shared by Alain Prost: « If you have more potential winners, you need to be more consistent, but if you only have one rival, you need to fight with him, and that’s a different approach. With this championship, you need to be always in the points. Sometimes you need to win, but you have to finish the races and be consistent. »
Thus, the “Professor” no longer dares to name a favorite even if he persists, almost reluctantly, in his pre-season prediction: « Before the first race, I thought it would be a championship for Jenson Button, but today I’m not sure. Let’s stick with Button because he could be the most consistent driver this year, but I’m sure of nothing. »
