IT'S THE FAST AND FURIOUS!

TITLE RACE WIDE OPEN AFTER FORMULA 1 RIPS UP THE RULES

- BY CHARLIE BENNETT

NEW rules, new drivers, new circuits and even a new world champion - but in the madcap world of Formula 1, you can always guarantee the same thrills and spills, tantrums and tears in a 24-stop sprint around the globe.

Boring? F1? Not a chance - and especially not this season.

The naysayers will always label it an expensive traffic jam, but I dare anyone to watch last season's battle at Silverstone and not be entertained - or see Max Verstappen on a qualifying hot lap and not have their jaw hit the floor.

This is the world where science and swagger collide, where mortals thread Monaco's needle, dance through Spa's sweeping curves and shimmer under the Las Vegas lights.

It's a technicolour circus of cultures and characters - and more than a few celebrity hangers-on.

The drivers are the rock stars and engineers chase marginal gains like treasure hunters, but beneath the fast and the fury is a game of chess at 200mph, with daring overtakes, razor-sharp strategy and pit crews so in sync they finish each other's sentences.

The locations are glamorous too. A bucket list of destinations, from Melbourne to Miami via Monte Carlo, Montreal and - from this year - Madrid. The only downside is Gordon Ramsay seems to pop up every week, but that we can forgive.

This year, the cars will look different and the competitive order may be unrecognisable.

No sport loves a shakeup quite like this one and as we approach a new season, nobody has a clue who will be good, who will be bad and - even worse - who will barely merit a mention.

With a glossy Netflix TV show Drive to Survive to keep feeding and a global TV audience in the hundreds of millions, you can hardly blame rule-makers for lobbing in the odd curveball.

Like it or loathe it, sport is entertainment and F1 has nailed the balance. In what other world do rear diffusers and narrow rear axels raise the heart-rate?