Since the summer break give us a natural stay in the season, I will call now the middle of the season, since the quarter thread we have gained more knowledge, opinion, firm views and disagreements between all of us in most matters being discussed.
So for me:
Surprise of the season – The domination by Ricciardo over Vettel, so clear and obvious I am reevaluating how good Vettel really is. Naturally I can and will not disregard a driver who have taken the WDC 4 years on the trot, neither can I react as if he is not being out-qualified, outraced and outperformed by Ricciardo.
Driver of the season – Fernando Alonso in my view once again driving, racing and forcing the car on to finishes where no other driver could get the same car. The Ferrari is not good enough to win, it is at best right now the 4th best car, yet he is batting way above that currently placed 4th in the WDC standings having grabbed two podiums so far. The fact that he is completely dominating Kimi Raikkonen is not a surprise to me.
WDC battle – A very very tight one, I no longer see Hamilton as the one who will take it as a guarantee, Rosberg have taken the fight to Hamilton more than I thought him capable of, which needs to be seen in the context of Rosberg being my favorite driver. With the absolute inane double points finish to the season, all teams unanimously decided to do what they could to muck and mess up the season-long championship battle. One of the Mercedes drivers will be left standing feeling very very dejected with a season where he finished 2nd in the WDC with multiple wins on his account.
Team disunity – The battle and disagreement between the big and small teams are expanding, the big teams are behaving in a selfish manner which will likely cost at least 1, and possibly 2 teams their life. They are eating away at the sport, where at least two of the teams will not remain as active teams 'for ever', Mercedes and Red Bull will be gone from the series latest 2024 would be my guess.
FOM and leeching of the sport – No change in my views on how poorly the commercial rights holder is serving the sport they are supposed to promote for commercial gains, the golden goose is getting older and are not being fed savory sustenance to exist in good health moving forward.
Knee-jerk reaction to non-issue: The noise or lack of noise discussion have abated, I never saw it as a genuine issue, the fact that senior F1 figures were vocally complaining were pathetic and as far as I see it one of the many many many little things making the sport less interesting to the public.
Viewers and spectators in free-fall – [long rant] The powers in charge are dumbfounded over the declining numbers, despite migrating to pay-channels, migrating to countries with not F1 history, migrating to tracks with zero atmosphere zero excitement and to top it of little chance of real overtaking. The powers in charges are dumbfounded that a sport they have spend 10 years dumbing down, while building a fiscal cliff they can throw small teams over are taking a toll on viewers, the powers in charge are dumbfounded that spec racing, locked in to inflexible rules and regulations takes away from the inner core of what F1 racing is all about, and that is taking a toll on viewers, the powers in charge have taken no active action to include any of the new technologies available to spread the word, costing viewers and spectators, the powers in charge are dumbfounded that pricing F1 tickets at a level where a father and two kids will have to pay same as going on a 1 week vacation and bringing mom along.
Basically F1 is doing an extraordinary poor job at running the series, blame is everywhere.[/long rant]
Enjoyment: I do take enjoyment from all the races, the rules and regulations are what they are, I can do nothing about them and despite me having many good ideas for how to conduct the Formula One championships I have no say in it, the teams the federation and the commercial rights holder do all they can to marginalize the sport (and do a good job at it), but I am hardcore so the least of their worries, this is the 42end season I follow F1, I have no plans of leaving.
Forza Ferrari, Go Nico GO!