296 replies to this topic

[CountDooku]

Whether it’s race threads, car threads, team threads or rules threads, it seems like folks just can’t get enough of going on and on about their dislike for Hamilton/Mercedes domination. Everyone’s entitled to their opinion on the matter but constantly banging on about the topic in every single thread is making this forum unreadable. We are at a stage where no one discusses the actual race in the race thread anymore. 

Please, please, please, if you are unhappy can you express your grumbles here and leave the other threads unsullied? If you like F1 at the moment you can counter those views here too. Thanks! 

[crooky369]

Like:

- We actually have some racing now after looking at one point like we might be waiting even longer.

- The cars are still extraordinarily quick in qualifying.

- Williams/McLaren showing signs of improvement.

- Verstappen is just about close enough to get a win if the Mercs have a bad day.

Dislike:

- Yet another year of Mercedes domination. They look odds on to win a 7th Constructors title in a row. No other team has ever done this.

- Red Bull have lost pace. Only the genius of Verstappen keeps them relatively close.

- Ferrari have lost a load of engine power and are now no where near the front of the grid.

- The Racing Point pink Mercedes.

[jonpollak]

In the words of Ivana Trump
“It is what it is dahlink”

Jp

[Retrofly]

Whether it’s race threads, car threads, team threads or rules threads, it seems like folks just can’t get enough of going on and on about their dislike for Hamilton/Mercedes domination. Everyone’s entitled to their opinion on the matter but constantly banging on about the topic in every single thread is making this forum unreadable. We are at a stage where no one discusses the actual race in the race thread anymore. 

Please, please, please, if you are unhappy can you express your grumbles here and leave the other threads unsullied? If you like F1 at the moment you can counter those views here too. Thanks! 

Couldn't agree more, every thread on the board is just full of "F1 is rubbish/boring/not as good as it used to" and nothing else gets discussed, just people arguing if XXXX year was worse than XXXX year.

[CountDooku]

Like:

- We actually have some racing now after looking at one point like we might be waiting even longer.

- The cars are still extraordinarily quick in qualifying.

- Williams/McLaren showing signs of improvement.

- Verstappen is just about close enough to get a win if the Mercs have a bad day.

Dislike:

- Yet another year of Mercedes domination. They look odds on to win a 7th Constructors title in a row. No other team has ever done this.

- Red Bull have lost pace. Only the genius of Verstappen keeps them relatively close.

- Ferrari have lost a load of engine power and are now no where near the front of the grid.

- The Racing Point pink Mercedes.

I personally think the McLaren story is a huge one. With Mercedes engines next season and a decent chassis we could finally see them back at the front.

IMO there has also been a very high quality of driving standards across the grid this year. Racing has been fair, especially compared to the crap show of the end of last season. But there are still very very big gaps between some team mates.

[Marklar]

being critical of a sport if necessary has to be part of a forum ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

(only thing that bothers me is if people put their rose-tinted glasses regarding other eras or racing series on in order to put F1 down, and then get triggered if others burst their bubble, but that's normal too)

[Widefoot2]

It's been half a century that I've followed F1, and even though I consider the Hybrid era cars to be immensely impressive from a technical standpoint, I despise them from a competitiveness viewpoint. To me, the locked-in advantage that Mercedes has had from the beginning makes each race a "Groundhog Day" re-run, even if there's occasionally some other winners.  But the theme is inevitable; it's Toyota at Le Mans in 2018 - over and over and over...

 

I keep wanting to walk away, but I'm weak. Instead, I protest as best I can - I don't spend money on the races or the sponsors.  No Pirelli tires on my cars (I used to buy them).  No going to races (pre-Covid, of course).  I'll never buy a Mercedes (for a variety of reasons).  And I will not spend a dime on coverage or with any of Liberty's entities.

 

Maybe, before my own checkered flag waves, a new Formula will be in place that allows good, close racing again.  But I don't see it happening until they come up with a way of allowing innovation within a season, even if it means introducing a "failure token", that gives the lower-placed teams more of a chance to test, or a weight reduction, or anything that stops this constant beating.

 

Hell hath no fury like a race fan scorned, and I am beyond enraged at this point...

[Broekschaap]

Well thats exactly why I never care to post on forums. But hey let's make an exception: It's awesome. Always was, probably always will be.

[UPRC]

The Mercedes domination really is tiring. I've been on these forums for two decades now, but have been largely inactive for several years just because I'm a little bored and disillusioned by how unbeatable the Mercedes + Hamilton combination is and it makes me uninterested in talking about F1. I would try to watch all races live up until 2015 or 2016. The last several years though, I just haven't really cared enough to try. I've watched all three races live this year, which is the most live races I've watched back to back in a long time, and I did it mostly because I wanted to see what kind of effect COVID-19 would have on the season. Ultimately, it didn't shake things as much as I had hoped. With Red Bull's pace remaining mostly the same and Ferrari dropping the ball entirely and no longer being the buffer between Mercedes and Red Bull, Hamilton and Bottas are just looking completely unchallenged. Ferrari dropping back is probably what is hurting the sport the most this year, because they were consistently "somewhat close" to Mercedes and always gave us a little bit of hope that they could be beaten, and now that Ferrari has dropped back this year we're getting a really nasty wake-up call from Mercedes.

 

The Mercedes is so strong that even Bottas, who I'd rate as good but not great (Barrichello 2.0), can absolutely demolish everyone sans Hamilton most days in that car. It doesn't really make for great viewing when everyone knows who is going to win the drivers and constructors titles at the start of every year for several years in succession. Sure watching the midfield battles can be exciting, but can anyone really say that they're attracted to F1 because the highlight is watching drivers duking it out over P12? Weirdly, that's what a lot of us have to look forward to most now because there's rarely anything interesting going on at the front on race days when Hamilton (and often Bottas right behind him) disappear into the distance and end up driving a completely separate race from the rest of the field.

 

I personally think the McLaren story is a huge one. With Mercedes engines next season and a decent chassis we could finally see them back at the front.

 

This is something that I'm really hoping for. The Mercedes engine is just a beast, and the McLaren boys know how to build a good chassis. Having such a strong lineup for next year certainly doesn't hurt them either. I'm definitely crossing my fingers.

Edited by UPRC, 20 July 2020 - 15:28.

[Beri]

being critical of a sport if necessary has to be part of a forum ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

(only thing that bothers me is if people put their rose-tinted glasses regarding other eras or racing series on in order to put F1 down, and then get triggered if others burst their bubble, but that's normal too)

 

indeed. Like the 90s were really that exciting.

[masa90]

I am gonna do a bigger post later. But, one thing to consider is that many people judge how interesting F1 is by how theyr favourites are doing. Let's not forget classics like Hamilton saying people might get bored of F1 when just Vettel wins in 2012 or 2013. Unsurprisingly he doesn't think or at least the same from his own dominance... 😃

So that in mind I hope here people could express their views on the matter they are passionate about without being judged.

[Branislav]

 

-To win in F1 I'd need a great car,

but stock cars are all the same.

 

-There's nothing stock

about a stock car.

 

-I'm not trying to insult you, but

stock cars are built to run equal.

 

- l won't be beaten by a car.

- Only by a driver.

 

 

Send this to Liberty

[SophieB]

Whether it’s race threads, car threads, team threads or rules threads, it seems like folks just can’t get enough of going on and on about their dislike for Hamilton/Mercedes domination. Everyone’s entitled to their opinion on the matter but constantly banging on about the topic in every single thread is making this forum unreadable. We are at a stage where no one discusses the actual race in the race thread anymore. 

Please, please, please, if you are unhappy can you express your grumbles here and leave the other threads unsullied? If you like F1 at the moment you can counter those views here too. Thanks! 

You don’t have to dislike Hamilton or Mercedes or both to feel something has gone very wrong with the sport. For me, the biggest thing that has changed isn’t the boredom. You always got dud races, I accept that. No, it’s the lack of permanency to any of it. Even races I enjoy at the time seem forgotten by me a few weeks later, it all just melts together. Now whether that’s down to so many Hamilton wins I’m losing track of them, so many tracks that look the same, all the drivers being media trained so every reaction sounds the same I don’t know. 
 

But I do feel somewhere the sport is broken and I’m not sure how or why.

[RedBaron]

Can't we just reopen the Schumacher threads from early 2000s and search and replace Schumacher and Ferrari with Hamilton and Mercedes and pin it?

[f1paul]

What I really like about F1 right now is the drivers. For me the quality of the drivers is very very good.

[JeePee]

The problem today is that the Mercedes dominance is locked in. There is no hope anyone will catch up during the season.

 

This is a problem that is fairly new.

[RedBaron]

You don’t have to dislike Hamilton or Mercedes or both to feel something has gone very wrong with the sport. For me, the biggest thing that has changed isn’t the boredom. You always got dud races, I accept that. No, it’s the lack of permanency to any of it. Even races I enjoy at the time seem forgotten by me a few weeks later, it all just melts together. Now whether that’s down to so many Hamilton wins I’m losing track of them, so many tracks that look the same, all the drivers being media trained so every reaction sounds the same I don’t know. 
 

But I do feel somewhere the sport is broken and I’m not sure how or why.

 

 

I agree with you to a degree Sophie, the Formula 1 brand has made everything feel the same (we're literally going to be at the same tracks more than once this season which won't help...) while I think the brand should look consistent, events should differ visually.

 

More than that though I think we're just overloaded now, there was no social media back in the day, no YouTube, maybe a fortnightly magazine.

 

We've got F1 constantly in 2020, more races, long race shows, multiple options for pre/post race shows, official sources pouring out content, drivers posting what they do between races and at the races, places like wtf1 creating content.

 

There's a constant stream of Formula 1.

 

We don't savour each race, we just ride the wave to the next one.

Edited by RedBaron, 20 July 2020 - 12:06.

[TomNokoe]

Agree with Sophie - everything is just so inevitable. Maybe it's because when I was younger I was foolishly optimistic, or because I didn't spend hours on end reading reports, editorials, blogposts and pouring over live timing.

 

I've nothing against LH at all, but Mercedes have all the cards stacked in their favour. I don't care if they have done a better job.

 

I can still enjoy the sport, though. There's always so much anticipation and potential in any given practice or qualifying session, it's always interesting to see how it plays out. The secondary storylines haven't gone away, they are just less important.

 

I'm already looking forward to Silverstone. Ferrari are expected to be absolutely woeful, and the picture of that playing out on the global stage is something to behold. Racing Point and Perez still haven't made good on their promise. McLaren have a big upgrade. Albon needs to get on terms with Max. I can't wait to see what happens.

 

F2 is really fun, as well.

[crooky369]

What I really like about F1 right now is the drivers. For me the quality of the drivers is very very good.

Nah the cars are just easy to drive now.

As easy as a trip in a VW Golf, on the way to the Sunday shop but with wings, DRS and avoiding Stroll dive bombs.

[MasterOfCoin]

The problem today is that the Mercedes dominance is locked in. There is no hope anyone will catch up during the season.

 

This is a problem that is fairly new.

Not really most dominant season were locked in....with barely any other teams making a challenge....

[Branislav]

After the first race champion is known. That's the main problem with series. And they want people to pay their F1TV, to see what?  I even stopped looking their youtube channel

[Marklar]

Let's not forget classics like Hamilton saying people might get bored of F1 when just Vettel wins in 2012 or 2013. Unsurprisingly he doesn't think or at least the same from his own dominance...

Check your facts first
 

 

"If you say it's boring, I totally understand it," Hamilton said after his win. "Don't blame the drivers. We don't write the rules. Put the pressure on the people at the top, who should be doing their jobs. They have made mistakes for many, many years."

https://www.autoblog...lton-f1-boring/

 

One of the most tiresome things in these discussions is attacking the dude that has nothing done wrong here and accusing him of something he never did, it's exactly why then other people question your intentions.

[JeePee]

Not really most dominant season were locked in....with barely any other teams making a challenge....

Just look at 2004. Mclaren brought a B-spec halfway through the year which gave us this wonderful lap. Teams could actually 'work harder' during the season to try and close the gap. Today that is impossible/not legal. The season would be less worse if we'd know Red Bull and Honda were testing as we speak to try and solve their issues. But they can't.

[MasterOfCoin]

Nah the cars are just easy to drive now.

As easy as a trip in a VW Golf, on the way to the Sunday shop but with wings, DRS and avoiding Stroll dive bombs.

And you know this from personal experience?....

[klyster]

I sat through other seasons with other drivers or teams kicking ass all the time, it wasn't the same duration wise as Merc and Hamilton but the feeling was the same, race after race, year after year.

 

So now the team I support and driver is on the up and up, I'm in a state of bliss..... though I can totally empathise with people who have had enough.

 

When that all falls to pieces, I'll still keep watching, and moan a lot, nothing lasts forever.

 

I can't imagine how bad it would have to get for me to stop watching.

Edited by klyster, 20 July 2020 - 19:34.

[MasterOfCoin]

Just look at 2004. Mclaren brought a B-spec halfway through the year which gave us this wonderful lap. Teams could actually 'work harder' during the season to try and close the gap. Today that is impossible/not legal. The season would be less worse if we'd know Red Bull and Honda were testing as we speak to try and solve their issues. But they can't.

That's not the norm tho.....most of the time the season remains one sided.....

[276159]

For me the boredom is because they are searching for a level playing field but they will never reach such kind of things (even with a budget cap). It's all artificial and people get their hopes up, to be dissapointed even more.

What I liked about F1 from beginning of the 90's, is it was always a close fight between some teams or drivers. We always had backmarkers on the grid and them getting a point and celebrate as a victory, is as nice to see as Hamilton getting is 7th WDC and equalling MSC.

 

What I dislake the most is that I know, next races Mercedes are going to win if they don't have a freak crash or major bad luck, because other teams are not able to catch up.

When testing was allowed you never knew if McLaren, Renault, Ferrari or any other team could find anything in those 10 days between the races. It takes Red Bull or Ferrari 9 months of works to get to the current Mercedes speed.

Let them test, let them do what they like and we will have 2 or 3 top teams, a nice midfield and 2 backmarkers. I don't need 10 teams that can fight for the title, we never had, we will never will have. In all sports you have greater teams and teams who are happy to compete and get their occassional win. 

 

I want to be thrilled about a championship fight, I do not want to know that a certain team will take pole and a win for the next 3 races because other teams are simple not able to catch up.

[A.Fant]

Re: Mercedes domination. It wasn't too bad in the Rosberg era, partly because they were a new team dominating at that point and partly since there was a battle for the WDC in two out of three seasons. But after Rosberg retired it has become quite tedious even if you have to acknowledge just how good a job the team is doing.

If Bernie was still at the helm you know he'd be doing everything in his power to get a more competitive driver into the second Mercedes, he had no issues trying to meddle with things like that and would not be above giving monetary incentives to achieve it IIRC. I disliked many things about how Bernie ran F1, but he did have his moments.

[AvranaKern]

Please, please, please, if you are unhappy can you express your grumbles here and leave the other threads unsullied? If you like F1 at the moment you can counter those views here too. Thanks!

Why? These are not mutually exclusive. If I'm bothered by the extreme road the sports I care about have taken, I will broadcast my grievances anywhere I like, anytime I want. I don't understand why you are moaning about the moaners. Don't like hearing about them? Block them and move on. You don't get to decide what I say about a topic, and where.

Jesus. Everyone is a thought police these days. You think your "please" or emojis makes your plea less of a soft order? What the hell?

[Branislav]

 

 

“People watch racing to be entertained. No one wants to watch a driver save gas or tires. They want to see them push from here to there. It’s sport, yes, but also a show,” added the former Ferrari boss.

 

Briatore

 

 

"All the team owners are orientated towards the technical side rather than the entertainment side, and this is a big fault. Every meeting that I go to, people are talking about pistons and suspensions. Nobody goes to a race to see that kind of thing… People come to see Schumacher and Senna racing each other."

"The people in charge should be businessmen, as they are in Hollywood, not ex-engineers. Nothing costs more, and delivers less entertainment, than hidden technology. And that’s what engineers love most of all.

"They delegated the writing of rules to engineers who do not care about the fans or entertainment, If Formula One does not change again in the near future, then the audience will be lost. 

"I do not like this new Formula One. It's not our Formula 1." "He pointed a finger at cars that "do not make a noise", drivers having to "save fuel" and "fake overtaking". He added: "It is no longer a sport of gladiators, it is a sport of accountants." 

 

Liberty is on the move

[danmills]

My generic whinges:

Mercedes too dominant and predictable.
Race steward decisions are beyond ridiculous
Unnecessary political correctness and ulterior agendas overlapping into sports
No live viewing if you don't have a sky subscription

F1 has not only become bland to watch in areas, but also hard to stomach. Of course, only if you can actually access it to even watch.

The combination bodes for a toxic future, if it has one.

The best bits are the winter testing and silly season.

[Ben1445]

Somewhere along the way I think I just stopped being emotionally invested. I was quite angry/frustrated about that for a while. Now it just is what it is. 

 

Something about the combination of Vettel's string of dominance at Red Bull followed immediately by Mercedes has devalued much of the reverence I had for what it means to win a Championship and even, to a lesser extent, a Grand Prix. That's the situation I'm at now, a sort of calm acceptance that I don't really care all that much anymore about something that used to be so important to me. There's loads of other reasons and sub-reasons I could go into but that one sticks out as the main root of it. 

 

I used to be one of the ones who was clogging up the F1 threads with bitter complaints and digs at F1. I try not to these days. I tend not to watch the Grand Prix and if I do it's usually because I'm with someone who is and I do something else at the same time. That works for me. I'm still critical of F1 when I think it needs it but realise needless negativity helps no one. 

 

Personally, letting go of F1 a bit was the right decision. I'm still a motorsport fan through and through and enjoy watching my favourite racing with as much passion as ever, it's just that F1 is no longer my favourite category within the sport. 

Edited by Ben1445, 20 July 2020 - 12:30.

[SophieB]

Obviously people can feel free to also say if they’re not enjoying the races, suggest solutions etc elsewhere too!

[RedBaron]

Why? These are not mutually exclusive. If I'm bothered by the extreme road the sports I care about have taken, I will broadcast my grievances anywhere I like, anytime I want. I don't understand why you are moaning about the moaners. Don't like hearing about them? Block them and move on. You don't get to decide what I say about a topic, and where.

Jesus. Everyone is a thought police these days. You think your "please" or emojis makes your plea less of a soft order? What the hell?

 

Wow this guy is triggered!

 

Yup, you have the right to say what you like when you like and where you like.

 

Don't worry about how it negatively affects the forum community, discussions and debates. As long as you feel empowered by saying what's on your mind and making sure everyone hears every insignificant thought, that's the main thing.

 

[CountDooku]

You don’t have to dislike Hamilton or Mercedes or both to feel something has gone very wrong with the sport. For me, the biggest thing that has changed isn’t the boredom. You always got dud races, I accept that. No, it’s the lack of permanency to any of it. Even races I enjoy at the time seem forgotten by me a few weeks later, it all just melts together. Now whether that’s down to so many Hamilton wins I’m losing track of them, so many tracks that look the same, all the drivers being media trained so every reaction sounds the same I don’t know.

But I do feel somewhere the sport is broken and I’m not sure how or why.

I definitely hated Vettel dominating and I also agree that Lewis’ victories are so much more memorable when there’s an epic challenge. The 2017 Spanish GP is probably my all time favourite victory of his for that very reason.

It’s too easy to get sucked into the negativity though and lose sight about what’s great about current F1: the cars, the variety of tracks, the racing, and the quality of the up and coming drivers. All of this being drowned out.

Edited by SophieB, 20 July 2020 - 12:39.

[Gareth]

Re: Mercedes domination. It wasn't too bad in the Rosberg era, partly because they were a new team dominating at that point and partly since there was a battle for the WDC in two out of three seasons. But after Rosberg retired it has become quite tedious even if you have to acknowledge just how good a job the team is doing.

I thought 17 and 18 were genuinely exciting championships. It's a shame that Vettel and Ferrari shot themselves in the foot so many times those years, as what Hamilton and Merc did was genuinely impressive IMO - won the championships in very comparable machinery - but it gets lost amongst "years of Merc dominance".

 

On the broader point, I think the racing down the field has been pretty interesting over the past few years, so I do find this period more interesting than the early 2000's (even though it was my favourite driver dominating in both periods). But I agree with SophieB that there is perhaps an element of F1 overload, with so many races and it all feeling so much the same, that contributes to individual races not living long in the memory (or maybe that's just me getting old ...).

 

And I get why lots are fed up with Merc dominance - it's been a hell of a long run. Not sure what the solution to that is, though, other than the competitor teams raising their game.

[Anja]

I definitely hated Fingerboy dominating and I also agree that Lewis’ victories are so much more memorable when there’s an epic challenge. The 2017 Spanish GP is probably my all time favourite victory of his for that very reason.

It’s too easy to get sucked into the negativity though and lose sight about what’s great about current F1: the cars, the variety of tracks, the racing, and the quality of the up and coming drivers. All of this being drowned out.

 

I don't mean to disagree with the whole post, but the bolded part - really? There's maybe 6-7 tracks on the calendar (well, maybe not the 2020 one) offering some unique challenge, the rest is quite similar in terms of what they demand from the cars and drivers with only minor variation. For me the circuit variety is specifically one of the weaker points of F1 at the moment. 

[CountDooku]

Why? These are not mutually exclusive. If I'm bothered by the extreme road the sports I care about have taken, I will broadcast my grievances anywhere I like, anytime I want. I don't understand why you are moaning about the moaners. Don't like hearing about them? Block them and move on. You don't get to decide what I say about a topic, and where.

Jesus. Everyone is a thought police these days. You think your "please" or emojis makes your plea less of a soft order? What the hell?

It’s not like I don’t like hearing about it. Rather it’s the sheer mass of it in every single thread which makes the site unreadable.

I personally haven’t argued with people expressing frustration with XYZ because even though I might not agree with some of it, I get where they are coming from. But for crying out loud let’s not ruin the forum along with it.

[masa90]

Check your facts first
 

https://www.autoblog...lton-f1-boring/

 

One of the most tiresome things in these discussions is attacking the dude that has nothing done wrong here and accusing him of something he never did, it's exactly why then other people question your intentions.

Well I will be damned. Had not seen that. But well, it shows that there is problem there if even the one winning all time understand how it is boring to many. Props to Lewis for sticking with the same opinion.

[KevR]

Nah the cars are just easy to drive now.

As easy as a trip in a VW Golf, on the way to the Sunday shop but with wings, DRS and avoiding Stroll dive bombs.

Exactly, that's one of the main problems. The power steering and the enormous downforce make these cars too easy to drive. You could see e.g. Norris last month driving F3 and saying it's way more demanding. Nowadays rookies come in to F1 and they're bang on the pace because of that - it was unthinkable 15, 30, 40 years ago.

[AvranaKern]

Wow this guy is triggered!

 

Yup, you have the right to say what you like when you like and where you like.

 

Don't worry about how it negatively affects the forum community, discussions and debates. As long as you feel empowered by saying what's on your mind and making sure everyone hears every insignificant thought, that's the main thing.

 

I have a long list of people in my blocked users whose ideas I don't find particularly riveting or thoughtful. But I don't go around making threads about policing their way of speech or stopping them to say whatever they want to say. If I find someone I don't like engaging with, I simply don't engage with them and use the forum functions to keep my experience of visiting the forum as clean as possible. I don't try and become a quasi-moderator. I keep it personal and private. This is an amazingly effective tool to use without derailing whatever the conversation people would like to have in any way they want. Shouting at everyone with a sanctimonious purpose in an incredibly juvenile and disingenuous way only reveals about the person than the merit of his "argument." I don't care about random people trying to moderate how the public uses a public forum. Being triggered? Sure. Why not. 

[TheFish]

I like the stories in F1. It's like a year long soap opera, that sometimes runs into multiple years. I started watching F1 in 1994 so it was Hill v Schumacher, than Hill v Villeneuve, Villeneuve v Schumacher etc etc. There are some years where there is no story, no narrative to capture peoples attention.

 

2002, 2004, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2019 and now 2020 are those years. Even if other years didn't go to the wire, or flattered to deceive, there was a story, drama and tension. Years like this, and in the Schumacher and Vettel years are boring for the neutral. I hated 2013 so much that I stopped watching the end of the season. I don't want to watch 1 guy win every race, even if it is impressive.

 

I want Lewis to beat every Schumacher record, so it isn't the worst for me. But obviously I've been on the other side and it's boring. It's not worth your time and energy.

[68targa]

I have followed the sport since the 60's and this domination is not new.   I am not a strong fan of Hamilton/Mercedes, however they are doing the job that all of the other teams should be doing and they are doing it very well well. Ferrari probably has more or at least the same resources as MB and they don;'t deliver. Red Bull the same. It is wrong to knock MB and Hamilton/Bottas just because they are good at what they do. 

 

I think the racing has been entertaining this year and the field is closing up and, yes, Hamilton is supreme - we should admire him for that.

 

My only gripe is the gastly colour scheme and ridiculous name of Racing Point 

[noikeee]

7 straight years of this is always going to be incredibly irritating. Even more so if you consider the last 3 years had some sort of a challenge to Mercedes and now even that's gone. Feels like things have gone backwards, which always pisses off any human being.

Fair play to them and to Lewis for doing a great job, and I know given the Corona situation we're lucky to even have any kind of races. But I think people are legitimately exasperated of this. I know the F1 midfield is now much more entertaining than at any time in the past, there's lots more overtaking, there's plenty of stories, the coverage has never been better, but without a championship fight it's never the same thing, and it's particularly hard to watch when you it's been almost a decade and it's always the same guy winning. It's not even just F1 - the WRC became unwatchable the same under Loeb and then Ogier decade long domination, MotoGP has become much less interesting during Marc Marquez domination, in football I can't give a crap about the German Bundesliga once Bayern inevitably pull a lead, etc etc. Fair play to the sportspeople who are so good they dominate, but watching sport whilst already being 99% assured of knowing the result beforehand is not even remotely near as fun as when it's unpredictable.

[RedBaron]

I have a long list of people in my blocked users whose ideas I don't find particularly riveting or thoughtful. But I don't go around making threads about policing their way of speech or stopping them to say whatever they want to say. If I find someone I don't like engaging with, I simply don't engage with them and use the forum functions to keep my experience of visiting the forum as clean as possible. I don't try and become a quasi-moderator. I keep it personal and private. This is an amazingly effective tool to use without derailing whatever the conversation people would like to have in any way they want. Shouting at everyone with a sanctimonious purpose in an incredibly juvenile and disingenuous way only reveals about the person than the merit of his "argument." I don't care about random people trying to moderate how the public uses a public forum. Being triggered? Sure. Why not. 

 

 

What a horrible way to live, just blocking out opposing views.

 

That creates a narrow mind. 

 

I much prefer trying to unite everyone and asking them to try and keep debates interesting and from derailing into the same repetitive complaints CountDooku outlines.

[noikeee]

I have followed the sport since the 60's and this domination is not new.

Domination has happened many times, with much bigger gaps even, but 7 straight years of it is new...

[RedBaron]

Domination has happened many times, with much bigger gaps even, but 7 straight years of it is new...

 

 

2022 is aimed at countering some of that dominance, there are many rules in place looking to tackle it.

 

So are we all done?

[Spillage]

There's nothing fundamentally wrong with the racing, if it was competitive if would be great. But it isn't. I just don't have much interest in watching a title fight between Hamilton and Bottas, when we all know damn well that Valtteri isn't going to beat him.

[masa90]

Ok so here it goes:

 

- It feels artificial and fake really

- The sport is getting too predictable. Now we already know Mercedes will win next 4 titles. That is horrible.

- The tracks are losing their unique appearance. Too many of them just look similar and almost blend into each other.

- Devaluation of races. Seems like "worth of gp" is going down when there is so many of them and they are not really unique enough or feel like their own

- Many teams struggling

- Barely 20 cars

- B-teams and the feeling that some teams are there just to serve as a backup to "main team"

- Too expensive

- Too restricted, on the basis that it would be too expensive to free things up, but still it is easily more expensive than ever

- Tokens, like 2014-> showed it restrics competition

- Everyone having to do things in a same way

- Cars look horrible and still are not able to race without drs zones

- Competition feeling "fake"

- Additional politics which seem to add every year

- The smell of corruption

- Status quo which seems locked in

- Too much pampering of drivers and way too many rules for people to understand

- Cars seem easy to drive

- Inseason catching/development basically impossible

- Lack of testing

 

-/+ Halo. Look horrible and ruins the appearance of every modern open wheeler. Only thing why it is in this section because it adds to safety

-/+ Few paydrivers, but they are way better than back in the day

 

+ Lots of content available for fans

+ Cars are fast

+ Some of those new drivers are exciting

+ Safety has increased

+ Every now and then we have an exciting race

[AnR]

Since Merc added a #2 policy to Bottas it's not a race for wins anymore, just that dominant has Merc been that it's a guarantee since 2017 that their #1 driver will win WDC and they will win WCC.

2014-2016 we had a race at least for WDC..

 

They're so dominant that most viewers belive they fake competition (2017, 2018) and now with fake engine problems and run their races in a conservative downtuned procession.

 

Meanwhile we hear Wolff talking up the competition and their #1 driver claims it's his best drive ever and british journalists trying to stretch why it's the driver who makes the difference...

 

No wonder this is the least liked dominance I heard of, and I've been watching since early 90s, and yes I only fast forward through youtube highlights nowadays and will probably not return until after 2022..