Formula 1 2022! looking like another damp squib!
After an amazing 2021 season, with Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen going hammer and tongs, coming down to the final lap of the final race, 2022 has turned into a massive disappointment after the first couple of rounds where Verstappen and Charles Leclerc exchanged race wins. Since then Max Verstappen has won 8 of the 11 races, holding a 109 point lead over Perez and Leclerc, Verstappen could sit out the next 4 races and still be in the championship lead, of course, he won’t do that!
With Ferrari looking super competitive in pre-season, and the first four race victories being shared equally between Verstappen and Leclerc, I was really looking forward to another exciting season. But, with Verstappen claiming eight victories to Leclerc’s one over the next 11 races, the excitement has fizzled out.
After seven years of Mercedes dominance, and four years of Red Bull dominance before that, it’s extremely disappointing that after one season of parity between two teams, we are back to Red Bull dominating. If you are a fan of a team or driver in the dominant car, this is great, for people like me, a neutral, a racing fan, this is terrible, and what am going to write next will definitely trigger some people.
I would like to see F1 become a spec series, where everyone has the same chassis and power unit, where team strategy and driving skill decide races, not who has the best car. Then we can do away with stats deciding, in some people’s minds, who is the best driver, the best driver is the one who wins on race day, not who has the best overall car. This is somewhat aimed at Lewis Hamilton fans who like to claim that it’s Hamilton’s skill when he wins, but the car’s fault when he doesn’t take the chequered flag first.
But a spec series won’t happen, and the perpetual one team dominating the sport will continue, while the neutrals, myself included will bitch and moan about how the title is decided by who has the best chassis/power unit combo, before the final quarter of the season starts. At least, the Dutch GP created some tinfoil hat action with Perez’ spin denying others a chance at pole position in the dying moments of Q3, and Yuki Tsunoda pitting for a loose wheel, then coming out again, only to stop four corners later, causing a VSC, which definitely benefitted Alpha Tauri’s sister team Red Bull and Verstappen.
Of course, I think it’s all nonsense, it was purely coincidental!