Has the sideshow become the main event at Formula One?

The glitz of the Miami Grand Prix in the end overshadowed what was quite a forgettable race, writes Jamie Braidwood

Improvements will be needed ahead of next year (Reuters)

If you had switched on your TV in time to watch the Formula One on Sunday night, you would have been forgiven for wondering what it was exactly you had tuned into.

As the minutes ticked down to lights out ahead of the inaugural Miami Grand Prix, there were certainly few clues that a sporting contest was about to break out from the swarm of a star-studded grid that resembled more of a red-carpet frenzy than a petrol-heavy motorsport race.

In among it all, Martin Brundle tried his best to keep up. If anything was to symbolise F1’s heady ascent from what was largely a bit of a niche and nerdy interest 20 years ago to an unmissable occasion worthy of attracting some of the biggest celebrities in the United States (including Tom Brady, Serena Williams and Pharrell, to name but a few), it was perhaps the sight of Brundle attempting to navigate his way through the throng.