3 Races Into The F1 Season And ZZZzzz
Just over a month ago, I canceled my $80/yr subscription to F1TV, due to a general lack of interest on my part, after years of one team dominating the sport, and the fact that I have not at all missed Formula 1, even with the significantly delayed start to the season, with the first race happening July 3rd through 5th.
Now, three races into the season with the fourth, Silverstone, coming this weekend, I feel no different, having watched full delayed coverage of the Austrian, Styrian, and Hungarian Grand Prix’, which resulted in three Mercedes victories, one for Bottas and two for Hamilton. It could have easily been three 1-2’s, but for Hamilton’s time penalty for causing a collision with Alex Albon at the Austrian GP, and Bottas’ terrible start, almost jumping the lights at the Hungarian GP, dropping to 7th, but recovered to 3rd.
I used to write race reports on this here blog for the majority of races, but this season, I have not at all felt the urge to do so, not even remotely. I have not bothered watching any race live, watching the race as much as two days after broadcast, when I found a couple of hours to spare. The midfield battle has kept me interested enough to decide to subscribe to F1TV Access, for $2.99 per month, which is replays only, no live coverage, which is absolutely fine by me as I have rarely watched live in the past two years.
The following is not related to my personal interest in F1, but Lewis Hamilton needs to STFU about Black Lives Matter. Not that I don’t support BLM, but Hamilton has been bleating about drivers not kneeling before the race, at every race, criticizing his colleagues and the sports management. F1 has its own #weraceasone anti-racism program, but it seems that Hamilton wants everyone to follow his lead, wearing a different shirt to everyone else, which kinda flies in the face of the ‘We Race As One’ slogan.
It’s great that Hamilton is using his significant social and media platform to highlight the injustice that black and colored people are facing around the world. But I feel that he should not be trying to shame others into following his lead, it’s not F1 driver’s job to fight racism or any sports job to fight racism. Honestly, the only way F1 could fight racism is to take the sport away from countries like the United States, where racism is such a problem at an institutionalized level, but that will never happen.
Back to F1TV, during the first live broadcast at the Red Bull Ring, the Austrian GP, F1TV still had streaming issues, despite being in year 3 of the service. This did not affect me as I never watched the race live, but Liberty Media/Formula 1 gave me an extra two weeks of F1TV Pro, so I can now watch both Silverstone races, the British GP and the 70th Anniversary GP, instead of one, before my Pro subscription expires.
Final thought; maybe F1 could just hand Mercedes the constructors title, and Lewis Hamilton, the drivers’ title, as it’s not like Bottas has the skill to beat his six-time world champion teammate on the race track. Then have a B championship, with Mercedes sitting out the remainder of the season, so we actually don’t know which team will win the race. The thought of another four months of easy Mercedes wins is galling.