Ricciardo out qualified by tsunoda again. Tsunoda the only driver outside top4 in Q3, great quali by him.

Lance stroll out q1 smh

more entertaining than any race over the last 3 seasons

I've been watching F1 for as long as I can remember. Maybe as early as grade 5? Back in those days, it was on at 4am and I barely had a chance to watch it. Occasionally i'd figure out how to set our VCR to record on a timer, but that wasn't easy.

Once I got my hands on a PVR, close to 20 years ago, I've maybe missed less than 5 races. I watch them all.

And then a few years ago when TSN switched to sky sports coverage, I watched every pre race show, and every post race show.

I have to admit. This year, i've lost interest. I'll watch the race in 30 highlights, or just watch the last 5 mins of Q3.

Part of it is that I can't commit hours to watching it on Sunday anymore. I can barely commit enough time for NFL.

But also, the racing is awful. It's boring.

If the racing was good, I'd find the time, even if it was after 10pm when everyone else has gone to bed.

At least during the era of when Mercedes one over and over again, there was competition and tension between both MB teammates. Like Lewis and Rosberg.

It also doesn't help that Max is so unlikable.

I didn't even watch the recent season of Drive to Survive!

I've also cancelled my F1tv subscription. For $100 it's not worth it. The in car radio was cool, but they are starting to censor it, which is stupid.

Anyone ever watch f1 in person ? I don’t watch sports of any kind but I thought it might be fun to go watch Le Mans or f1 this year. I’m not even sure if there’s anything to see besides giving yourself neck pain trying to follow all the fast moving cars

Unfortunately F1 is as hot as it has ever been, so expect it to keep going in this direction

Watching racing in person at all is kind of stupid in a way lol... you only see the cars when they go by the exact spot you're sitting in.

The rest of the time you're watching on a screen. Might as well just watch at home?

I have no idea what the point is besides hearing the engines scream in person. Maybe if you had a really high vantage point you could see the whole track, but then you lose the visceral noise of the cars? It's not a great spectator sport.

I dunno, I always had an amazing time at Indy. It’s more about the spectacle imo

Also, the seating makes a huge difference, obviously the pricier tickets will be where the overtaking happens etc. I’m planning on going to either Montreal or one of the US races in the next few years.

In terms of the racing, I’d agree it’s gotten to the point where I PVR and just fast forward the entire race. Ironically Vegas was probably one of the best races in the last 2 years or so after all the whining that went along with it. A track that actually encouraged passing and action

Yeah when you go to any sport, it's more about the experience than being able to analytically watch what's going on. I've been at Canucks games with epic finishes that happened at the other end of the rink that I could barely see, and it still left me with feelings I'll never experience again or forget.

Went to the Canadian GP in 2012. Was fantastic on so many levels.
Sat at turns 1/2 so saw a lot of action and a wreck right in front of us.

That was a great year for racing though. These latest ones, not so much. I'm so glad I got to hear the last of the NA high RPM screamers (even though they were neutered by that point). In person they sound so absolutely insane it can't even be put into words. I'll say, watching them on tv does not give you ANY appreciation for how mind blowingly fast these cars. It's instantly apparent when the Ferraris and Porsche cup support races run and you're thinking "these guys are pretty quick" and then the F1 cars come out and you're like "how the fuck is that car already here again?"

The hype at these new regulations making "closer racing" is a farce. Even Mercedes' dominance wasn't this boring. Shouldn't have fucking changed anything from 2021's regs.

I watched in the 00's mostly, and just came back 2 seasons ago. What do you think are the regulations that cause the problems?

I don't think anything specific about the regulations are a problem. Moreso the fact that they changed them in the first place under guise of "better racing".

What we've historically seen any time new regs are released is one team nails it we get this dominance period, but other teams catch up and there's convergence among the design concepts. 2021 was that point of the previous regs.

I think 2.4V8 era probably produced some of the best championship battles:

2006: Schumi/Alonso down to last race
2007: Raikonnen/Hamilton/Alonso down to last race
2008: Hamilton/Massa down to last race
2009: Button early dominance, and then fall off cliff, but managed to clinch it in the end
2010: Vettel/Alonso down to last race
2011: Ok this season sucked with Vettel Dominance
2012: Fantastic season, first 7 races had 7 different winners. Amazing championship battle down to last race, and a total nailbiter of a race. Vettel suffers damage, recovers runs the rest of the race missing part of his sidepod to up to a position high enough to pip Alonso again in the championship.

I got more excited even reading your synopsis of the seasons than I have felt about any race the past 2 years lol

Yup this is the era I watched (and the Schumi years before it), thanks for bringing back those memories . I might have stopped after the 2011 season actually.

The shanghai GP was pretty good the whole weekend was with that wet sprint race too

Man Alonso really needs a winning car

Stroll blaming Danny was absurd

Having only gotten into F1 since COVID and not seen the China track before, must admit it's a pretty well designed track with some interesting corners.

Hoooooo boy… RPM’s latest video isn’t going to last long on YouTube, it’s just…. Yikes

Not many things get me to break out laughing out loud in front of my computer and the latest had me in stitches hahaha

I tried watching the GP 3 times yesterday, first attempt: live at midnight. Fell asleep by lap 10.

Second attempt, woke up ~6:00am put the race on again, fell asleep again by lap 15

Then tried to watch it again in the evening, 8:00pm, restarted from the beginning both my son and I fell asleep ~ lap 10 again.


Sums up about how exciting the race was I guess.

Sadly all these races have been snoozers. Max is way too far ahead and has no competition.

Even during the Merc dominance, you had Ferrari/Vettel in the beginning, then Rosberg, then Bottas 2.0/3.0/4.0 and Max

We need somebody to seed rain clouds over the track wherever they go for some wet shenanigans every weekend.

Do you guys only watch the races for whos winning? I thought it was an interesting race, lots going on with strategy and deg.

If you only care who wins this season is going to be fucking rough.

Rich

Oh shiiiiit!!!

Reality: hes probably retiring to be honest

HOPIUM: NEWEY TO FERRARI OR AM!

I wanna see Newey at Ferrari just to see Hamilton and Leclerc in top tier machinery go head to head with each other. It'd be Senna/Prost all over again.

As impactful as it was to see Hamilton go to Ferrari, Newey leaving Red Bull is a bigger move. Newey has the "secret sauce" for the current regulations and will instantly catapult the team he goes to, to be title contenders. Be it Ferrari, Aston, or even Merc, this is huge.