14 replies to this topic

[Victor]

This time last year I have started a very pessimistic thread “The most boring season ever?” due to Mercedes / Hamilton domination. This year I would like to start a very optimistic one. So far 2021 shows lots of interesting elements: Hamilton finally seems to have competitors. Will Perez shine against Verstappen? Norris vs Ricciardo seems promising. Ferrari is again going uphill. Will they get a win? Williams is no longer dead last. This and much more make 2021 a very exciting season IMO. Please comment what do you expect from this season.

[Anderis]

2020 turned out to be better than I had expected, mainly thanks to Ferrari dropping the ball, opening up more opportunities for surprise results for midfield teams.

 

2021 has had a promising start, but it does not guarantee that we will have a good battle all season long, let's wait and see, I quite enjoyed the first 2 weekends.

[messy]

I think its started very promisingly but as 2013, 2017 and 2018 showed, a few exciting unpredictable races at the start of a season don't make a good season unless the challenge is sustained - so it's over to Red Bull to do what Ferrari failed to. Take advantage of the fact that right now, they're right there with Mercedes.

I really didn't expect this given how much is carried over from 2020 and Mercedes' cakewalk though. This is really unexpectedly good so far. But Hamilton's luck in the first two races - a win and a second place from a run that probably should have yielded a second and a DNF - remains rather ominous.

2020 will go down as a poor season with a handful of great races for me and so far we've only had two of them in 2021 so we'll see what happens. But it's very encouraging so far.

[MotorsportChat]

I think it's the season that will mark the next generation. What I mean by that is the names we'll be talking about on here for the next decade or so - and those are Verstappen, Leclerc, Russell and Norris. Verstappen and Norris have had an exceptional start, Leclerc has shown he can help rebuild Ferrari into something worthy of competing *near* the top, and despite Russell's issues at Imola, the fact he was racing a Mercedes in a Williams says it all. 

 

I reckon Hamilton will retire if he wins the title, Raikkonen will probably go to, and then Vettel and Alonso will run out their contracts. So some of the world champs are sort of bringing the twilight years of their careers to the closing stages.

 

Can't wait to watch it all unfold.

[shure]

I can't predict the outcome this weekend, which is already a huge positive for me.  If it stays like this I'll be happy, regardless of who actually wins in the end

[Augurk]

When I read the opening post my first thought was: So who's going to open up the salvo and talk of all good things that will happen to Haas this year? 

[Augurk]

Anyone?

[PlatenGlass]

Hamilton v Verstappen could be the Schumacher v Alonso we had in 2006 and the Senna v Schumacher we should have had in 1994.

[JHSingo]

The problem with a season as long as this is that there's still ample time and opportunity for somebody *ahem* Mercedes *ahem* to get into a groove and dominate a run of races. Which, to be honest, is what I kind of still expect to happen. 

 

So far, it looks like this season is a lot better than last. But, it's only a very small sample size of two races. If the gap between the top two in the championship is less than a race win (and those top two aren't both Mercs) by the time we get to the summer break, then sure, I'll concede that it is a good season. But F1 has promised a lot and delivered very little in terms of exciting championship battles since 2012, so I'll hold off on reserving judgement on this year so far.

 

We'll see. 

[Arn]

I haven't been this excited about a F1 season, since I was a teenager rooting for Senna.

 

For some time now, I have thought that Verstappen, Leclerc and Russell are the cream of a new generation, that is the most talented I have seen, since I started watching.

 

And finally it looks like one of them has a car capable of fighting Mercedes and Lewis. I just hope Red Bull won't have their usual reliability issues. If they can avoid that, I see Verstappen beating Lewis with equal cars.

[masa90]

2019 and 2020 were really bad seasons. Even with these two races I have gotten more out of the sport than most of 2020 for example.

[PlatenGlass]

2020 was a weird one. The season battle was non-existent but within that there were some classic individual races.

[jpm2019]

a season can be exiting point wise with lots of dull races.

 

also the opposite can happen.

 

So far so good.... 

[noikeee]

2020 was a weird one. The season battle was non-existent but within that there were some classic individual races.

 

Yeah I agree. It was a fairly good season on track and an absolutely dreadful season on the calculator looking at the points table.

 

This one seems to be set up really really well, but perhaps it's good to start with low expectations and then be pleasantly surprised. I think it might be unrealistic to expect the battle at the front to remain as crazy tight as it is for the whole year. Maybe someone goes on a really good run of form, or there's a couple dropped points scores and it ruins the battle. But it does look good doesn't it. We missed a proper 1-on-1 fight both driver and team, it's been too many years since the last one. Lewis v Vettel should've been it but that was deflated really really quickly.

 

I also hope for Perez to occasionally feature (though he's been a little disappointing so far), and maybe for McLaren to close down the gap and nick in a win in a bad day for the top 2, that would elevate this season from "looks really good" to "fantastic".

[Bleu]

2020 was a weird one. The season battle was non-existent but within that there were some classic individual races.

 

Some years ago I rated seasons on three qualities. IIRC they were unpredictability, quality of racing and quality of championship battle. Yes, the last one would have scored badly for last season but first two were not bad.