Martin Whitmarsh has joined forces with Peter Sauber in welcoming 2012's epic unpredictability by suggesting this season may prove to be the greatest in F1 history.
McLaren and Sauber bosses hit back at season's critics
Martin Whitmarsh has joined forces with Peter Sauber in welcoming 2012's epic unpredictability by suggesting that this season may prove to be the greatest in F1 history.
Amid fears that the season is becoming too unpredictable - Fernando Alonso recently described the season as a "lottery" and warned that, although the topsy-turvy nature of the season was "good for the audience", the sport could "lose credibility" if it wasn't clear that "what you achieve in Formula One is not by chance" - both Sauber and Whitmarsh have insisted that the sport should embrace the relentless uncertainty that has made F1 such a riveting spectacle for the past three months.
"As far as I can see, it's just a handful of people in the paddock who can't get used to not knowing by Friday who's going to win on Sunday," declared Sauber in a press briefing on Thursday. "I think the fans see it in a completely different light. They're delighted with the unpredictability, the sheer variety and the unbelievably close competition. I've been in Formula 1 for 20 years now and for me it's never been better or more exciting."
It's a point of view that Whitmarsh, the McLaren Team Principal, evidently shares. Speaking exclusively to Sky Sports News, the McLaren boss has also made an impassioned defence of a year that has started in unprecedented fashion with seven different victors in the opening seven races.
"It's extraordinary," Whitmarsh told Sky Sports. "There's never been a season like this and it could well go down in history as the greatest Formula 1 season because we have so many great drivers and so many World Champions fighting it out for this year's World Championship.
"Winning grands prix in F1 is not easy and winning them at the moment is probably more difficult than it has ever been with some hugely competitive teams and great drivers."
The debate is clearly finely-balanced. On the one hand, F1 has arguably never appeared so exciting; on the other, the impression that this season has become something of a lottery is inevitably to the detriment of F1's reputation for representing the pinnacle of motorsport.
One trenchant statistic wheeled out by critics of this season is that none of the year's winners have managed to finish higher than fifth in the next race. Alternatively, the charge that 2012 has been reduced to a lottery is muted by the presence of the three drivers considered to be the sport's best - Lewis Hamilton, Alonso and Sebastian Vettel - at the summit of the Drivers' Standings.
Either way, it's a debate that will not be silenced for some time to come.
More of Sky Sports' exclusive chat with Martin Whitmarsh and McLaren Sporting Director Sam Michael will be broadcast on this week's edition of The F1 Show - on air on Friday night at 8pm. As ever, the show will be replayed if you missed out first time round with further showings at 10.30pm on Friday, 10am on Saturday and then again later in the day at 3pm.
