Whether or not they meant to, the FIA may have just put up the middle finger to every American driver with dreams of making it to Formula 1.
The reaction to news that Colton Herta's request for a superlicence would be turned down certainly went down that way for many on the other side of the Atlantic. On Friday, it was reported Red Bull had lost all hope of convincing the FIA to let the American join the sport next year.
The reason is a simple one – despite his seven IndyCar race wins, Herta does not have enough points in a superlicence system, which has a weighting that makes it difficult for anyone in that series to reach the required threshold.
Red Bull wanted him at AlphaTauri to replace wantaway driver Pierre Gasly, but the sport's governing body appears unwilling to bend the rules to allow him to race. "It's a shame that people don't realise what value an American driver, especially a guy like Colton Herta, would have for the booming American market, especially with three F1 races," said team adviser Helmut Marko.
And the Austrian has a point. Many will say that rules are rules and they are there for a reason – and that is a reasonable argument – but common sense alone surely suggests that there was more than a little wiggle room in this case.
The points system is there to prevent a swathe of pay drivers from taking F1 seats away from those who actually deserve to be there. While pay drivers certainly still exist, all of them have gained a superlicence by proving their ability in other racing series.
Herta may not have the points, but he is certainly no danger to others. He is a multi-race winner, now has plenty of experience in open-wheel racing and is fast . He impressed in an F1 test earlier this year with McLaren, and outpaced Antonio Giovinazzi and Kimi Raikkonen on Alfa Romeo's simulator last year.
It's impossible to predict how he would stack up against the current crop of F1 drivers, but it's hard to see him being noticeably off the pace. And by turning away an American driver, AlphaTauri and the sport as a whole may well miss out on lucrative commercial opportunities from US businesses that may want to invest in the driver flying the flag for the States.
More than that, it's a move that risks undermining a lot of the hard work Liberty Media have done in capturing the attention of the US market. Getting Americans interested in F1 has always been one of the sport's biggest challenges, but in recent years it has been making headway like never before.
Netflix series Drive to Survive has been instrumental in that. It exposed people in all 50 states to personalities like Christian Horner and Guenther Steiner and brought an extra layer of drama to the sport which, despite all the series' flaws, really worked when it came to bringing a whole new audience to F1.
And that is being capitalised upon on the race calendar, which from next year will see three annual trips to the US for a race. But, as some high-profile people Stateside have pointed out, whether the FIA meant it or not, the rejection of a popular American driver sends a message that US money is wanted – but not US racers.
"F1 is an elitist sport," was the assessment of IndyCar stalwart Graham Rahal. "They don't want us. Remember that. They want US companies money, they want wealthy US individuals money. But they don't care about the rest. Always has been that way, always will be."
Fellow driver Scott McLaughlin's reaction was short and sweet. "Their loss," he said, before describing Herta as a "stud". Arrow McLaren racer Felix Rosenqvist also got to the point, describing the decision as "so stupid".
Perhaps the reaction to the news will lead to the FIA reconsidering the weighting of its points system. But considering it currently favours the F2 and F3 feeder series – both of which are FIA-run championships – it seems unlikely they will be willing to weaken the appeal of those series to talented young drivers.
But if nothing changes, F1 will continue to miss out on talented American drivers. And the consequences this episode may have on consumers in the US and their feelings about the sport could be even more impactful.
