World Champion Jody Scheckter Reacts To Jeremy Clarkson’s Controversial F1 Rant
It’s barely been a week since The Grand Tour presenter Jeremy Clarkson last caused waves in the motoring industry. This time, it’s surprisingly not down to something he’s done, more so a reaction from a former world champion of a sport he didn’t have many nice things to say about.
Jody Scheckter competed in Formula 1 from 1972 to 1980, and while driving for Ferrari in 1979, won his one and only world championship. Born in the 1950s, he’s now out of the cars, but is still a keen spectator of the sport. Clarkson’s DriveTribe video on how to improve Formula 1 must have been an interesting one for Scheckter to watch, so of course DriveTribe had to record the racing driver’s reactions in real time. You can see it below.
“Well he knows how to say f**k off, that’s for sure,” Scheckter says as the video begins with Jeremy explaining what Ferrari could do if they don’t agree with him.
“The thing that aggravates me the most is these grid penalties. And I can see no logic in it when somebody has a crash and they damage the gearbox, they’ve got to go back on the grid?
“Are they gonna say, well we won’t do that again? That spoils the sport.”
In Clarkson’s original video, he’s keen to make clear that dangerous driving is what people want. Scheckter retaliates by saying how easy it is to say that while having a beer at the pub – the setting of the original video.
The South African also adds that there has always been a dominant team in the sport. What ruins the sport for him are the rulebooks that each team has to follow.
“Formula 1 has always been the purest sport. I’d like to see it even purer than it is. Don’t specify and don’t have rules for ever single thing.
“I think that’s what ruins it for me.”
I always spent my half an hour to read this blog’s content everyday along with a mug of coffee.
DRS has ruined the sport.
There should be only one rule in F1: the maximum money a team can spend on a season. Then let them be creative on how to use it to develop the technology etc.
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Formula 1 has become a procession around the track. F1 use to be about innovation. Chuck the rule book on the bin…. Give them basic guidelines about size and weight and let them innovate, like LeMans. If you can fit a diesel in and it is competitive or an electric go for it…. VW built a self driving car that was competitive at Pikes Peak why not allow innovation.
The true F1 supporters will agree with Jody, none of us want to see any accidents. Grid penalties for mechanical issues do seem a bit out if context. Same with some if the steward decisions. Clarky has his opinions, I have mine.
F1 is not a pure sport anymore even in its purest form (ironically) as the power is reduced, fuel tanks reduced, engines having to be turned down to conserve fuel and tyres deliberately downgraded to reduce performance etc etc
Lee