The obsession with grandiose spectacles doesn’t work.

Since Liberty Media took control of F1, the American company has been brimming with ideas to restore the sport's prestige, but we are still a long way from achieving this.

The enthusiasm that once characterized Formula 1 seems increasingly distant, a feeling that resurfaced in a striking way at the Brazilian Grand Prix this weekend. After a 2021 season that featured 22 consecutive races and a dramatic, albeit controversial, finale, the sport now seems to be grappling with its own identity.

On Sunday, the only real duel on the track took place on the final lap, when Fernando Alonso and Sergio Pérez battled for the podium. The Spaniard's performance was a reminder of what the series still has to offer, but the rest of the race was largely uneventful, highlighting a broader problem: Max Verstappen's dominance has exposed the structural weaknesses of the current formula. Qualifying illustrated this problem. While Verstappen instinctively avoided the pit lane exit and took the lead, the session highlighted the absurdity of drivers queuing up and blocking each other. The traditional Q1-Q2-Q3 elimination format is still in place, but many feel it no longer serves the sport. Experienced voices, including Alonso's, have called for a return to a single-lap sprint or an open one-hour session allowing unlimited attempts, options that would preserve merit while injecting visual interest. The sprint race experiment has also failed to generate enthusiasm. Its only appeal lies in pure speed, but it adds little sporting value and feels like a redundant copy of the main Grand Prix. If a sprint championship were to be introduced, particularly with the prospect of a reverse grid, the sport would risk reducing its heritage to an artificial reality TV format.

During the race itself, the 2022 technical regulations quickly revealed their limitations. Lando Norris' tires degraded after just one lap, clearly illustrating how the quest to reduce aerodynamic turbulence has produced heavier, bulkier cars that are much more demanding on tires. The expected benefit of closer racing was overshadowed by the fact that tire wear now dictates strategy more than driver skill.

Even the 8 Hours of Bahrain endurance race, designed with sustainability in mind, highlighted the drawbacks of the current DRS-dependent overtaking model. While DRS may facilitate overtaking, it also diminishes the significance of a true pass, a problem that the Brazilian circuit, despite its beauty, has been unable to overcome.

Overall, the sport seems to be moving away from its core values. Fans are faced with a season that resembles a series of predictable results, punctuated only by occasional flashes of brilliance, such as the duel between Alonso and Pérez. As the calendar lengthens and regulations continue to be modified, there is a growing risk that Formula 1 will become a showcase for technical excess rather than a motor racing competition.

If the governing bodies do not address these systemic issues (by reviewing qualifying formats, reevaluating the sprint concept, and finding a balance between aerodynamic innovation and tire longevity), Formula 1 risks continuing to alienate its traditional audience, leaving the sport with spectacular machines but a declining sense of spectacle.