just months away from filing divorce papers on my marriage with F1’

am craving something more than ever out of Formula 1 this year.

We need diversity in success. Red Bull and Mercedes have dominated for far too long and last year’s Ferrari challenge fell after the first furlong in its attempt to break that cycle.

It’s not to say I need McLaren, Aston Martin or Alpine to challenge for the title – though that would be brilliant –but I need those three, or others, to challenge full stop rather than scrape the odd race here or there.

McLaren Racing chief executive Zak Brown has said in the past how the budget cap will help teams outside of the big three, but we saw breaches of that cap last year which went practically unpunished.

Pre-season testing last weekend in Bahrain looked promising for Canadian tycoon Lawrence Stroll’s Aston Martin, and how good would it be to see such an iconic brand – dressed in British Racing Green – stand atop of a podium?

F1 needs new winners, rivalries and reasons for fans to tune in, because Drive to Survive may as well become a three-team documentary otherwise.

I do love Formula 1, I really think it’s unique in the world of sport. But while we go though couples’ therapy in the next couple of months, I need to be surprised by the results.

I am not sure I would ever fully walk away from the sport – I’ve enjoyed too many weekends with it at the forefront of my thoughts – but it needs to buck up its ideas and demonstrate a change in results to make that a certainty.

Has Two Categories

male sport won’t be destroyed, as many on one side of the argument claim. But its survival wouldn’t make the testosterone test right. And what of grassroots sport – and rugby in particular?

Even one severe injury from an avoidable physical mismatch would be one too many.

The answer lies in the hands of politicians. Time for a deep breath. Nicola Sturgeon’s sudden departure in the midst of the furore in Scotland about her gender recognition reform is a coincidental reminder of our lawmakers’ frequent inability to read the room.

Governing bodies adrift in the sea of legal confusion about gender and sporting competition need to align opinion within their ranks and lobby parliament for a tightening of the exclusion clause in the Equality Act. They need it swiftly if they are minded to go down rugby’s route and risk the costs of legal challenges. After all, most have few pennies to rub together and many are badly scarred by previous tangles with the law. Least worst solution? Two competition categories: one for athletes born female and another that is open to all.

Ed Warner is chair of GB Wheelchair Rugby and writes at sportinc.substack.com