Cooperman ... was working outside thinking the same thing .... you beat me to it.

I see problems with the whole spectrum of racing and my opinion is that it stems from two main things.

British Touring Cars have been allowed to become a contact series to generate 'excitement' for the telly-watchers and, by extension, to please the large car companies that see it as no more than a big-audience extended advert ..... the 'Rubbing Is Racing' b*ll*x belongs in stock-cars and Nascar ... it never previously had a place in mainstream racing .... but it's infected virtually the entirety of motorsport to the point they're having to run dedicated programmes to try and eradicate it from junior karting !!

Add to that the fact it's really difficult to get yourself killed or even badly injured in F1 these days and you end up with dodgems for rich entitled brats.

When the consequence was fiery death then drivers had respect for the cars and each other ... now the consequence is annoying your team boss and maybe losing your seat to team politics ... goes some way to explaining why the behaviour (and real racing) is often better in battles lower down the field where drivers feel their position is more precarious.

No-one wants to see drivers maimed or killed, but the unintended consequence of improved safety largely removing personal risk from racing is that its nature inevitably changes ... and into something lesser and just a bit petty.

K