Is the Constructors Championship Irrelevant to Formula One?
It's a Championship that often gets forgotten behind the glitz and glamour of the WDC - but is it fair to call it irrelevant?
The pinnacle of motorsport lures the industry’s finest with the offer of two prestigious prizes - one rewards a single person whilst the other rewards a team constituted by thousands. In theory, both should hold the same grandeur but in practice this is simply not true.
Let’s analyse if the Constructors Championship is irrelevant to Formula One.
2020 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix - Source : Steve Etherington
2021 is perhaps the best season to demonstrate the disparity between the World Driver’s Championship and the World Constructors Championship. It saw the tale of two diametrically opposed teams, differing on everything from culture to design philosophy, locked in contest for 22 engrossing rounds - but the predominant focus was always on the Driver’s Championship. It took almost a week for Mercedes to even acknowledge they’d won their 8th in a row. Granted, the race they won it in had some special circumstances, but nonetheless there was more fanfare around Sebastian Vettel’s Crypto.com Overtaking Award.
Indeed it is difficult to remember a season where the fight for the WCC was a main talking point especially in recent years with Mercedes’ domination, but also with the increased global attention through Drive to Survive, a show which puts more focus on individuality. As the sport has grown and progressed the title’s honour and regard has seemingly decreased, with more and more attention going instead to the WDC.
In some ways it’s understandable - it’s much more fascinating to watch drivers go head to head than entire establishments. It’s not exciting when a team nails a setup or executes a strategy well, but it is when a driver breaks a lap record or completes a sensational overtake. Drivers are much easier to judge than teams, making them more compelling to follow and therefore putting more impetus on one title rather than the other.
It’s at a point where, for successful manufacturers, finishing in the top 3 or even first means little at all. Christian Horner said ‘not a single person at the [Red Bull] factory’ would want to swap the Driver’s for the Constructors Championship - an especially poignant remark seeing as it comes from the very people who should, by nature, care much more about the WCC. The title has almost lost its purpose; at least with those who are familiar with the success it entails.
Source : Motorsport Images
But - and there is a but - it would be unfair to call the WCC irrelevant.
It’s where all of the tens of millions in prize money are won and precious wind tunnel time gained or lost, the latter especially important in a sport increasingly dominated by aerodynamics. Without it there isn’t much point in having 10 separate teams and if you lose teams, you lose an intrinsic part of F1’s DNA. The sport, like we established at the beginning, looks to find not only the best drivers in the world but also the best engineers, analysts and leaders packaged together to formulate the best team. We can often forget it, but F1 is about innovation and design just as much as it is about racing, and it’s important to reward both in equal measure.
And whilst a good result in the WCC standings may not mean a lot to the more successful teams, 3rd for McLaren or 5th for Alpha Tauri can often mean the world.
Source : mclarenf1nation.com
There are caveats, however. Even though the Constructors does technically dish out all of the prize money, winning the WDC brings many more financial benefits. Since it provides almost all of the prestige and global attention, it attracts sponsors and deals whose benefits outweigh that of the WCC which explains why, from a financial standpoint, teams would rather have the Driver’s title. Increasing the prize money for finishing higher in the WCC seems like a good way to remediate the issue, but in reality all it would achieve is an increase in the inequality between teams, a problem that many recent rule changes (including a budget cap and negative feedback loops) seek to solve.
Source : Motor Authority
The Constructors Championship is seemingly a prize that only ever seems to mean anything when won in conjunction with the Driver’s Championship. It is not, however, completely irrelevant to the sport, after all without it you lose a lot of Formula One’s essence. But it’s clear that the award is nonetheless closer to a favourable statistic than a glorious acclaim.
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