Unpredictability is Fun. For a While.

Unpredictability is fun. Crazy stuff happens and we all think ‘wow that was some crazy stuff, amazing’! The majority of the classic F1 races throughout history are deemed classic because of their very unpredictability, because things that we didn’t think possibly could happen, did happen. That’s fantastic, that’s wonderful, that’s motorsport. At the same time, though, we need the other side in order for unpredictability to work, and indeed the predictable can be just as enjoyable.

Rain in Zolder caused excitement

These kind of realisations are hammered home when you’re standing in the commentary box at Becketts, commentating on some club racing. I’m lucky enough to be covering the FIA GT1 World Championship this year, and so far we’ve had two cracking rounds in Nogaro and Zolder, but both have been blighted by rain. I say ‘blighted’…it’s been epic. The mix-up of conditions has given us some massively exciting racing and three different winners from four races has proven just how open the championship is this season.

This weekend (26/7 May) we are off to Navarra in Spain for round three where the weather forecast suggests it’s going to be dry, and actually, I’m pretty pleased about that. As I stood at Silverstone shouting about an 11 car GT Cup race to eight men and their dog, it dawned on me that I was watching proper motor racing. Drivers on the limit, desperately gaining on their rival ahead by tenths of a second per lap and painstakingly attempting to create an overtaking opportunity; that’s what racing is about. Not DRS and nonsense tyres.

Olivier Panis winning at Monaco in 1996

Olivier Panis winning at Monaco in ’96, or Vettel’s superb drive at Monza in ’08 are remarkable for the very reason that they were surprising, and for them to be unpredictable you need to have the predictable races too. I fear that in this ungraspable F1 season, Pastor Maldonado’s win for Williams will be lost in the myriad of bizarre results that are sure to arrive later this season, when actually it should receive a lot more recognition.

Maldonado's win may be forgotten

And so in FIA GT1 this weekend, I’m hoping for something a bit more predictable. I’m sure it won’t be boring, the closeness of performance demonstrated in the opening rounds will see to that, but I cannot wait to see some of the world’s top GT brands, drivers and teams do battle at a proper race weekend with proper racing. So let's enjoy some fascinating, tense and enthralling motorsport with a bit of a break from unpredictability. For the moment, at least...