One of the big knocks against Formula 1 is how uncompetitive the racing is as there is usually one or two teams that are in front of everyone and no one can touch them. That difference between the haves and have nots was very evident when I attended the race in Montreal and the top two drivers lapped everyone up to P6.
That being said, one thing I learned since I watched Netflix’s Drive to Survive is that the rest of the field is highly competitive. In fact, my brothers and I had a bet as to who would finish P7 in Montreal and we all got it wrong. It is actually very hard to predict. If you take the races this year, most of the action happens in the back. Don’t get me wrong, since Austria, there has been some great stuff happening at the front with Verstappen and Leclerc but the Singapore and Russia races were so so at the front (beside the Ferrari internal situation) but at the back, it was always exciting.
So it got me thinking, what would the points look like if the top 3 teams were taken out? Here are the standings:
| Driver | Points | Difference | Position Difference Compared to Actual Standings (without top 3) |
| Carlos Sainz | 221 | – | |
| Lando Norris | 177 | 44 | – |
| Sergio Perez | 165 | 56 | +3 |
| Nico Hulkenberg | 145 | 76 | – |
| Daniel Ricciardo | 144 | 77 | -2 |
| Kimi Räikkönen | 138 | 83 | +1 |
| Daniil Kvyat | 133 | 88 | -2 |
| Lance Stroll | 113 | 108 | 1 |
| Kevin Magnussen | 102 | 119 | -1 |
| Alexander Albon | 98 | 123 | N/A |
| Antonio Giovinazzi | 66 | 155 | 2 |
| Romain Grosjean | 62 | 159 | -2 |
| Pierre Gasly | 40 | 181 | N/A |
| George Russell | 19 | 202 | 1 |
| Robert Kubica | 9 | 212 | -1 |
Note for the purpose of this exercise, I assumed that the top driver got the fastest lap and awarded him 26 points instead of just the 25 points. Also since Gasly and Albon swapped seats, I only counted the points they won while racing for Toro Rosso.
As you can see, there are a few changes in the standings. Sergio Perez would be a lot closer to the McLarens and a few drivers would be worse off but the one thing is that the whole championship would be a lot closer. With 130 total points available in the next 5 races, there would be 9 drivers (Albon is not eligible to receive points anymore in this system) with a shot a winning the title compared to 4 with the actual standings.
So, we can see that if Formula 1 was to initiate a cap system, the field would likely be a lot closer and things would likely be a lot more fun to watch. That being said, I am always a bit thorn on that one because I have always viewed Formula 1 as the top engineering and best of the best and if you limit that with a cap, you may lose some of that ingenuity.