F1 isn't worth it anymore.

I used to be a massive Formula 1 racing fan. Huge.

I've been a fan since I was a kid and my parents would watch the races. I would watch too, keenly interested in these fast cars. I sat at home with envy, studying for year-end exams, as my parents went to Montreal to watch the Grand Prix in person every June. Once I moved to Ottawa, I started going to Montreal every year. Every other weekend all sumemr a different race would be on; I'd get up at 7 am to watch the qualification round on Saturday then the Race on Sunday, or maybe stayed up til the middle of the night to watch if it was in Australia or Malaysia. I met many great friends through F1 racing. I dated a man for over two years that I met through F1. It was a big part of my life.

But over the years, I got disillusioned. Cynical. It seemed like just letting 22 competitors out on to the track to compete wasn't the point anymore. Regulations were constantly changed to decrease competitiveness. Rules were bent depending on who broke them. Inconsistency and favouritism meant it wasn't a sport anymore. It was a game, manipulated by egos, blatantly maneuvering the field to get the results they wanted. By the early 2000s, every race was a procession, a battle to see who would finish behind Schumacher. Finishing order was largely set in qualifying or in the pits. There was rarely a real race.

Finally Schumacher retired and real competition seemed to be happening again. I started to tune in. It was exciting. Politics and Ferraris weren't the story of the day anymore. Or... are they?

Yesterday, Ferrari screwed up. If you didn't see it, the summary goes: Two cars (a Force India driven by Adrian Sutil- ie. nobody - and a Ferrari driven by Felipe Massa, a championship contender) went into their pit stops at roughly the same time. The Force India finished first and was cruising down the pit lane back towards the track. The Ferrari team then finished their pit work, and released pit lane without looking to see whether there was another car right there. Which there was. The Force India was very nearly run off the road by the Ferrari.

Completely against the rules. Completely unsafe. Should have been penalized on the track. And any other team would have been.

But it was a Ferrari, and different rules apply to them. Instead of forcing the Ferrari to take the standard punishment - making an extra stop in the pits, which may have cost him the race win - the stewards instead decided to take the unusal step of making a decision "after" the race. Which they did:

The stewards deemed that although Massa [Ferrari] was released from the pits in an unsafe manner – breaching Article 23.1 of the sporting regulations – he gained "no sporting advantage".

Now, call me crazy, but I have never ever seen this language used before. Any other time a penalty has been assessed, they have never discussed whether a "sporting advantage" was gained. What did happen was dangerous. The two cars nearly collided. The Force India nearly ended up in the concrete wall. Ferrari's response? The other driver should have simply gotten out of the way.

They therefore issued Ferrari with an official reprimand and a 10,000 euro fine.

Or in other words, a slap on the wrist. $10,000 euros? That's the toilet paper budget for a Ferrari race weekend. It's pocket change. It's nothing.

But I am not surprised. It's the same old game. It's one set of rules for Ferrari, and another set of rules for everyone else. It's not a sport anymore. It's a game, pawns moved by two old, rich, massively egotistical white men who quite enjoy being the kings of their empire. And it's why I probably won't break my neck to watch the next grand prix. Frankly, I am surprised anyone watches. It's just not entertainment anymore.