IndyCar, NASCAR, and Supercars are among the many motorsport categories taking a break this year while the world focuses on the Paris Olympics.
With every edition comes the age-old question: should motorsport be part of the Olympic Games?
It’s an idea that raises even more questions. Who would qualify? How would they qualify? What would they race? Where would they race? Do they race on dirt? Is it asphalt only? Is it cars only or bikes too? What about rallying? The questions go on and on.
It’s a fascinating one, especially for F1 drivers who are considered the best of the best. There are some obvious hurdles, however.
“I think with motorsport being so unique in terms of the car and the equipment and the team around you providing such a critical element, it’s very, very difficult to even that out 100 percent on any playing field,” said Oscar Piastri at the Belgian Grand Prix.
“A good thing about our sport is, yes, of course, we take a lot of pride in representing our countries, but I think we take a lot of pride in that in most cases, the best of the best, regardless of your nationality or your background can make it to the top.
“I think it’s a cool idea in theory, but I don’t know how you’d do it in practice.”
Ironically, the world’s fastest drivers reckon the best arena to pit the world’s top drivers against each could be in karts. That has its own challenges too, however.
“I don’t think we would be the ones to be karting, though,” said Williams driver Alex Albon.
“I think there’s much quicker, much younger kids that would take it. Maybe not Fernando [Alonso], I think he’s still karting quite a bit, but I don’t think I should be the Thai karter.
“I think there’s quicker ones out there, but I love the concept of it. As these guys have said, it doesn’t really lend itself towards an Olympic sport.
“But maybe just like Mazda MX-5s and everyone driving around. That would be a lot of fun.. I think it would be too fun.”
The idea of determining the “best” drivers in the world isn’t entirely new. An Olympic Games-style competition does already exist. The FIA Motorsport Games is organised by SRO and features circuit racing, rally, off-roading, karts, and e-sports.
In 1993, the first edition of the Masters Karting Paris Bercy was held. Teams of three led by one F1 driver, another high-profile driver from a random racing discipline, and a young karter competed in a relay.
Footage from the indoor karting event often goes viral on social media – namely the battle between Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost in 1993 as well as Lewis Hamilton’s cameo in 2000.
Bercy stopped in 2001, but even Alpine driver Pierre Gasly remembers it fondly.
“I just remember Bercy – you see this footage from when the guys raced and that’s pretty cool,” said the Frenchman.
“I remember as a kid, I really enjoyed watching and finding it very inspiring to see Lewis… I remember all the big names at the time.
“I was a kid, and I found it very cool. So it probably doesn’t work in an Olympic type of format, but maybe a one-off race.
“Not even every year, but once in a while could be a fun event to organise.”
There are obvious a lot of issues with having motorsport at the Olympics.
It would almost require the rest of world motorsport to halt for the sake of games. For example, you couldn’t expect Max Verstappen to miss an F1 race to compete for gold.
Then there’s determining eligibility. How do you determine qualifying parameters given that motorsport is so diverse.
You could take a football approach to the Olympic Games whereby the men’s football is restricted to under-23s.
Then there’s figuring out where they race. Is the track bespoke for each Olympic Games or do you utilise historic venues like Le Mans or Magny Cours, for example.
Scott McLaughlin reckons he knows how he would do it.
“I feel like if racing was included in the Olympics it would have to be a decathlon type thing,” he explained.
“You should try different things. Maybe do an oval, maybe do a road course, and then do some off-roading, some go-karting.”
Will Power likes the idea of a kart-based event.
“If they have racing at the Olympics, it has to be karting,” he said.
“It’s the form of motorsport that would make the most sense, unless they had a very big budget and could have multiple disciplines you have to do.”
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