F1 2024: Saudi Arabian GP - Jeddah (Mar 9)

[NickyC]

Horribly boring, I'm struggling to see how it can get much worse for viewers of this sport. I'm even fast forwarding through the "Race in 30 minutes" option on F1 TV.

F1's product right now is complete garbage.

[Killed by Death]

Originally Posted by NickyC

Horribly boring, I'm struggling to see how it can get much worse for viewers of this sport. I'm even fast forwarding through the "Race in 30 minutes" option on F1 TV.

F1's product right now is complete garbage.

Most entertaining part was Bearman

[GuidoK]

Originally Posted by Killed by Death

Most entertaining part was Bearman

Indeed. I don't call a rookie with literally 1 hour of seat time beating a 7 times world champion.....'boring'....
I call that sensational.

[M5Rick]

Jeddah highlights.

[NickyC]

Originally Posted by GuidoK

Indeed. I don't call a rookie with literally 1 hour of seat time beating a 7 times world champion.....'boring'....
I call that sensational.

All it did was prove F1 has everything to do with the car. That was plainly obvious in what we saw today. An 18 year old with almost no seat time beats a seven time champion. How could that remotely come down to driver skill?

It's the car, and it's why this sport has become unbearable to watch. The outcome is predetermined, with 18 cars on the grid having no chance at victory. There is no competition, and in sport there is always supposed to be competition. F1 absolutely sucks right now.

[GuidoK]

Originally Posted by NickyC

All it did was prove F1 has everything to do with the car. That was plainly obvious in what we saw today. An 18 year old with almost no seat time beats a seven time champion. How could that remotely come down to driver skill?

Then how was there someone driving around in exact the same car but in front of Bearman?
No, Hammy drove behind Bearman because he was underperforming. This whole weekend he was meh.

And tbh F1 now sucks way less than 5-10 years ago when top teams had over half a billion per year budgets and lesser teams had less than 50 million.
Now at least it's fair as everyone has the same monetairy means, and winning teams even get less development time.
If you think that's unfair, you're no true fan of the sport. A team that performs better with the same means (or in this case: lesser means!)...outright deserves to win.

But if you don't like it, why are you watching?
Because it's gonna be like this all year, just as it was last year and the year before....
Your complaining every time is just a nuisance....
If you want to see a racing class where everyone drives the same car, go and watch some cupcar class.

[Rono63]

Over the last 25 years one team at a time has had a dominant period. Ferrari, Red Bull, Mercedes then Red Bull again currently. The seventies and eighties were more competitive mainly due to the cars not being very reliable.
The most boring era I think was when Mercedes was winning with a large horsepower advantage.

[Arcades]

It has mainly to do with Red Bull's car is so far ahead that Max hasn't needed to try extremely hard in these races. No other team these past... year and a half has put enough pressure on Max and Red Bull for the races to be interesting.

Mercedes being behind is... Mercedes fault, not anyone else's. I don't follow F1 anywhere as close but just watching their car this week, it has been bouncing again. Probably not as bad as before but it is bouncing and that is probably why Mercedes is behind again.

You pair someone like Max, who is a generational talent, with a RB19/RB20, and all the other teams basically playing catch up the past two years that pretty much means unless something catastrophic happens, Red Bull won't really lose. That or Red Bull just implodes on its own due to whatever the hell is going on with them on the inside. It isn't Red Bull's fault every other team got it wrong when the rules changed. Just have to hope Ferrari, McLaren do well enough to push some pressure on Max and Red Bull in the later races.

It isn't like these dominate era's never happened before in F1.

[GuidoK]

Originally Posted by Rono63

The seventies and eighties were more competitive mainly due to the cars not being very reliable.

Pre DRS was also quite boring. There was just no way to overtake guys like Senna. It was very normal to be stuck behind a slower car for half the race until the pitstops.

[HeelToeShift]

Originally Posted by NickyC

All it did was prove F1 has everything to do with the car. That was plainly obvious in what we saw today. An 18 year old with almost no seat time beats a seven time champion. How could that remotely come down to driver skill?

It's the car, and it's why this sport has become unbearable to watch. The outcome is predetermined, with 18 cars on the grid having no chance at victory. There is no competition, and in sport there is always supposed to be competition. F1 absolutely sucks right now.

The car is important to a degree, but in the current regs, the driver means quite a bit especially seeing as F1 has never been this competitive up and down the grid and on top of that, it is fiscally equal for every team, and the top team gets less development time. I dont think you get any more fair than that. Max literally destroys the field in a way no one has since Sch and unlike Ham, he doesnt have 80-100 more hp than every other car on the grid, never got secret tire tests, and they arent doing it by spending $50-100MM more than everyone else - he is doing it purely on what he is able to do with the car.

[Killed by Death]

So, Checo is finally doing what he is supposed to do. I'll quit banging on him now...He needs to do better qualifying but is finally getting results

[TheBingoBalls]

Originally Posted by Rono63

Over the last 25 years one team at a time has had a dominant period. Ferrari, Red Bull, Mercedes then Red Bull again currently. The seventies and eighties were more competitive mainly due to the cars not being very reliable. The most boring era I think was when Mercedes was winning with a large horsepower advantage.

I mean to each their own but how was Mercedes' era more boring even if they had an OP engine? There was WAY more competition for race wins during Mercedes' dominance than there is since the ground effect era started.

Now we're forced to watch the rest of the top half of the grid because VER is so far ahead after LAP 1.

[Killed by Death]

Originally Posted by TheBingoBalls

I mean to each their own but how was Mercedes' era boring even if they had an OP engine? There was WAY more competition for race wins during Mercedes' dominance than there is since the ground effect era started.

Now we're forced to watch the rest of the top half of the grid because VER is so far ahead after LAP 1.

[NickyC]

Originally Posted by GuidoK

was last year and the year before....
Your complaining every time is just a nuisance....

Then block me or get used to it, because I'm not going to lie to myself and act like this a fun sport to watch. It's not, it's complete garbage right now with predetermined outcomes and ZERO competitiveness. Take the DRS gimmick out and nobody is passing anybody unless RB has a bad qualifying and then passes everybody in front by lap 4. It's just SOOO exciting to see people fight for 7th and 8th place, wow what a thrill! I will continue to fast forward to the "Race in 30" deal on F1 TV, and even that is a complete waste of time.

[NickyC]

Originally Posted by TheBingoBalls

I mean to each their own but how was Mercedes' era more boring even if they had an OP engine? There was WAY more competition for race wins during Mercedes' dominance than there is since the ground effect era started.

Now we're forced to watch the rest of the top half of the grid because VER is so far ahead after LAP 1.

Not to mention the fact we at least had Rosberg who was a thorn in Ham's side and won a DWC, even Bottas to some degree fought back. Now, we're saddled with the best driver of a generation, the best car ever, and his teammate Checo is just absolutely thrilled to take 2nd every race with the best job on the planet. There is no fight in that dog. The whole situation is absolutely terrible. This isn't racing, this isn't competitiveness, this is a Sunday display of fast cars and nothing else. BORING.

[G30M]

[a5m]

Originally Posted by NickyC

Not to mention the fact we at least had Rosberg who was a thorn in Ham's side and won a DWC, even Bottas to some degree fought back. Now, we're saddled with the best driver of a generation, the best car ever, and his teammate Checo is just absolutely thrilled to take 2nd every race with the best job on the planet. There is no fight in that dog. The whole situation is absolutely terrible. This isn't racing, this isn't competitiveness, this is a Sunday display of fast cars and nothing else. BORING.

Yea, you can really tell this year Checo has given up and accepted being the #2 driver. He even seems happy to be losing to Max, whereas last year he at least believed he can put up a fight and beat him

Have to agree, this is going to be a boring ass season. Might as well watch the first and last 5 minutes of the race, and even then it's a waste of time. Shame.

[GuidoK]

Originally Posted by NickyC

Then block me or get used to it,

Oh I'm used to it, probably like all of us here.
I'm so used to it that I don't recall your whining when Hammy was always driving in front.....
It's not that you don't like current F1 because it's boring, you don't like current F1 because Hammy is winning 0 races....

Like others have said, F1 pretty much has been dominated for long stretches of time since decades by the most succesful team of that era. Whether it's ferrari with Schumacher, Merc with Hammy or RB with Max or Vettel.
The big difference with old times is that nowadays teams have the same means/amount of money, so everything has become a lot more sportive and fair, instead of that really rich teams just could outdevelop their problems with huges soms of money. Now the best team driving in front really is the best team and not the richest team per se.
And like in any sport, the best team deserves to win imho.

[Marcoose]

Congratulations to Verstappen and RBR.

The new kid made this a barely watchable race. Yeah, another race that the FF button got a workout.

[GuidoK]

Originally Posted by a5m

whereas last year he at least believed he can put up a fight and beat him

And where did that got him?
If there wasn't this huge battle for P2 between teams last year where per quarter different teams brought different succesful updates, he probably wouldn't have finished 2nd, as a lot of drivers took points from eachother from time to time depending on who's got the best updates at that moment.
For Checo having the believe that he can actually beat Max is just wishful thinking. Max is just on another level. The main thing for Checo is to concentrate on how he can drive best, not how fast Max is.
Checo's role is to be a Bottas, or a Barichello, not be a Rosberg. He's not good enough to become a WDC. There are 3 teams where the difference in talent between the two drivers is huge. RB, AMR and Williams.
With AMR and Williams it's very questionable if the #2 driver belongs in F1...

[a5m]

Originally Posted by GuidoK

And where did that got him?
If there wasn't this huge battle for P2 between teams last year where per quarter different teams brought different succesful updates, he probably wouldn't have finished 2nd.
For Checo having the believe that he can actually beat Max is just wishful thinking. Max is just on another level. The main thing for Checo is to concentrate on how he can drive best, not how fast Max is.
Checo's role is to be a Bottas, or a Barichello, not be a Rosberg. He's not good enough to become a WDC.

Not a mindset a competitor should have. Regardless, it at least added some excitement and reason to watch, since he's the closest competition, but we don't even have that anymore.

[GuidoK]

Originally Posted by a5m

Not a mindset a competitor should have.

True.
But if you have a driver as strong and talented as Max, you don't need a competitor, you need a team player.
That is why MERC opted for Bottas and not some other strong driver after ROS left.

They survived the strong competition between ROS and HAM purely because they had a car that was miles ahead of the competition. If that wasn't the case, it could have lost them titles.

That's why Barichello drove with Schumacher. He didn't want a strong co driver. He had to focus on how to get and keep the Ferrari fast and reliable.

And even how strong RB is now, it's always a risk. Look at how much advancement the competition made last year by constantly bringing updates. Yes the RB came out on top but there were moments that the competition came close and Max' driving skills and superior strategy had to make the difference.
And it's always a big gamble how the next year will start.
Yes RB did it again with making a dominant car, but that's just because the competition now drives around with basically copies of the RB19, not the RB20. But at the end of the year....a lot of cars will probably at least look like the RB20, and the gap will close, just like last year.