Parity the dominant theme of the season’s first seven F1 races
Who would have thought that through June, 2012's most competitive major auto racing series would be Formula 1?
It's not a crazy thought.
When Mark Webber won at Monaco on Memorial Day weekend, he became the sixth different winner in the season's first six races, an unprecedented mark of variability in Formula 1. On Sunday at Montreal, Lewis Hamilton made it seven winners in seven races, winning his third Montreal Grand Prix of the last five years.
It's a far cry from last year -- or almost any other F1 year, honestly, when Sebastian Vettel won five of the season's first six races and Fernando Alonso, driving for Ferrari, was the only winner that wasn't a Red Bull or McLaren car. This year, the team parity has increased with the driver parity, as four teams have been to victory lane so far:
Australia: Jenson Button (McLaren)
Malaysia: Fernando Alonso (Ferrari)
China: Nico Rosberg (Mercedes)
Bahrain: Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull)
Spain: Pastor Maldonado (Williams)
Monaco: Mark Webber (Red Bull)
Canada: Lewis Hamilton (McLaren)
The variety in victory has also led to a lot of turnover at the top of the points standings. With his win on Sunday, Hamilton took over the top spot, the sixth lead change in the points standings.
Even through Jimmie Johnson's five-time title reign, parity has been a selling point of NASCAR and the Sprint Cup Series, and is what has made the NFL so popular, with its annual worst-to-first storylines every year. But, apparently some in the F1 paddock aren't so happy with the increased competition.
And while some traditionalists may not be a fan of the "any given Sunday" approach that's suddenly appeared in F1, it may be a boost for its future American presence. The series is scheduled to come to Austin and the Circuit of the Americas on November 18 and next year is slated to add a race in New Jersey.
