A tiring situation at the front of the Formula One field

Imagine a world where batsmen can no longer hit sixes in cricket, or a scenario where home runs no longer are attainable in the MLB, or where quarterbacks are restricted from throwing the ball long in American football’s NFL.

Does not sound good. Every sport has its attraction, something that draws people to it, either in a playing capacity or as a spectator.

Formula One’s has always been the enticement of inches-apart, wheel-to-wheel racing and overtaking.

Unfortunately, what F1 fans at the Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday got in the race for victory was a strategic battle of who can nurse their tyres the best.

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The headlines post race were dominated by the spat between the Mercedes-GP teammates Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, and how Rosberg had been infuriated by the pace of the Briton mid-race.

Hamilton led the 29-year-old German by two seconds but needed to preserve his soft tyres to keep to a two-stop pit strategy, so he dropped his speed.

Rosberg, with Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari fast approaching behind, was unhappy Hamilton had dropped his speed to preserve his tyres.

But instead of going about things the old fashioned way and trying to pass the guy in front, Rosberg got on the pit radio to moan to his team until Mercedes told Hamilton to get a move on.

Rosberg said it had been impossible to get too close to Hamilton because of the damage the turbulence from the vehicle in front would have on his tyres, which would lose grip in the less clean air.

Vettel, a four-time world champion, had been as close to Rosberg as his compatriot had been to Hamilton, but had never looked like gaining track position.

“The thing is if you try to overtake someone who is just as quick as you, maybe slightly quicker or a little bit less quick, you don’t really have that much of an advantage to really stay close,” Rosberg said.

“You lose downforce, the tyres start to slide, which means that they start to overheat and you struggle more and more the closer you get. That’s what makes it tricky.”

The only way of overtaking at the front was through pit strategy and, despite the fact the top four were often within 10 seconds of each other for the first two thirds of the race, nothing of note happened involving either Mercedes or Ferrari drivers.

There was overtaking farther down the grid, namely by Daniel Ricciardo, Max Verstappen and Pastor Maldonado, but these were cars out of position and had clear speed advantages on the people they were racing.

When you are similar in pace to the car in front, as Rosberg was with Hamilton and Vettel was with Rosberg, then the only real hope for overtaking is for the driver in front to make a mistake. Given that most mistakes come when drivers are being put under pressure – racing wheel-to-wheel – it was difficult to apply that pressure on Sunday.

A change in the aerodynamic design of the cars for 2015 and the Pirelli tyres degrading faster than their predecessors, appears to have led to the scenario we saw in China.

F1’s overall worldwide TV audience fell five per cent last year to 425 million, according to reports, and races like the one we saw at Shanghai are not going to have those who switched off racing back to their remote controls.

That will not please Bernie Ecclestone, F1’s chief executive.

The fact Hamilton was able to produce a lap a second faster on worn tyres after Rosberg had complained was a damning indictment.

It showed he could have gone faster, but chose to drive in cruise control.

Fans go to events and watch sport on TV to see their favourite teams and athletes pushed to the limit and give their all to prevail.

F1 fans in China did not get that and, even worse, they saw a guy able to drive a second off the pace to nurse fragile tyres, while his nearest rivals were unable to do anything about it because overtaking was too tricky.

Not really a great advertisement for F1.

If this proves to be the norm rather than a one-off and this weekend’s race in Bahrain unfolds like it did in China with little track action at the front, then there is a serious problem.

With so many other sports and entertainment options to compete with for the public’s attention F1 must put on a good show if it is to attract new fans.

Rosberg’s verbal attack on Hamilton post race was the most interesting thing to happen at Shanghai.

Unfortunately for the public Rosberg’s tirade was not televised live.

Unless news conferences are going to be added to the race schedule F1 needs to find a solution fast.

No overtaking, let alone not even having the threat of it, is not much of a spectacle.

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