Zanardi critical of Formula One

Zanardi, who raced in Formula One from 1991 to 1994 and then in 1999 with Williams, believes the sport is too expensive and doesn't put on enough of a show compared to the American Champ Car series.

The Italian driver, currently racing in the WTCC, raced in Champ Car before returning to F1, winning the CART titles in 1997 and 1998.

"The truth is that in F1 they convince themselves of being the best. Maybe it's true, but this doesn't interest the public much: to see cars that do a lap five seconds faster than any other is irrelevant, if the spectacle on the track is what it is," Zanardi told Autosprint.

"On top of that, the budget for a [Champ Car] team is only one or two percent of that of an F1 team: with five/six million dollars per year you can run a decent team and with 10-15 you can be at the highest level.

"In my opinion this is the question: is it logical to race in this Formula One, where if you don't spend a crazy amount of money you can do absolutely nothing, or wouldn't it make a lot more sense to have an infinitely more accessible and open F1, where teams without the colossal resources of the big constructors can also fight for race victories?

"At the end of the day the answer is philosophical: to keep talking about the right wing to help overtaking is useless. What's the point of keep saying 'speed is money; how fast you wanna go?'"