In automobile, airplane and speedboat racing, the mechanical device is the highly visible entity. The human appears to be along for the ride. In basketball, the athlete is most seen, and it is observed that he supplies the power and skill to manipulate the equipment he uses. The successful player becomes the star and the equipment manufacturer NEEDS him to endorse the product and to use his product. It is reversed in motorized forms of sport where the product seems to endorse the player. A player in a motorized sport must have a financial interest in the equipment he uses in order to do well. He must be an owner, where in other sports he does not need to be an owner of equipment he uses.

Petrov has certainly got the talent but i'm afraid that modern F1 isn't about that. If it was, people like Petrov wouldn't have to buy their seats to race. The cars are the stars there, that's the way the manufacturers want it.

Pretty soon we are going to end up with a sport that could be done by a robot when characteristics, temperament and talent of an individual are no longer viewed as an asset but as a unnecessary risk and superflous anyway if you ain't got the money. Or it might produce lots of spectacular accidents because some drivers have more money than is good for them and haven't come up through the ranks of racing.

Nigel Mansell saw this coming years ago.