Yeah, true, but Sainz was still hunting him for something like 20 laps at the end. Verstappen didn't just drive off into the sunset.
So you only like competition when someone doesn't outcompete everyone else? For my part, I like competition where the playing field is even for all. If someone dominates fairly, then good on them and it's fun watching the others innovate to catch up. One of my favorite things about F1 is that the focus spans multiple seasons, and you can watch teams go from the back of the pack to the front over several years (or the reverse). I don't care to watch a spec series focused on competition between drivers from race to race. I want to watch huge teams of designers, engineers, strategists, and yes even drivers with monster budgets creatively evolving and duking it out across decades.
This is part of the problem. I do not feel like there is a level playing field for all, but that's another discussion. Watching seven years of Mercedes run the table was not enjoyable. It would have been preferable if it was Ferrari, but not by much. It would still be like the Twilight Zone episode where the guy goes to heaven and can't lose at the casino, only to become bored and realize he's actually in hell. If there's no actual risk of not winning, where is the sport?
Here's the rub with "Merecedes running the table." Hybridization, at the time it existed, was only in Germany. Porsche, Audi, and Mercedes were "ahead of the curve." Italy didn't know about hybridization as none of their cars had it.....except the Laferrari but that was with the HyKers system and you needed over a million euros to by one.. France (Renault).......pffft. Mercedes R&D'd the new formula for F1 long before anyone else....it was hybridization but with a turbo....and that's why Mercedes dominated the sport from F1 thru 2014 thru 2020 to include rules and regulations that sealed that domination. We're in 2022 now and we don't have a team running away a second per lap with rules and regulations that seal that teams so called "dominance." We also have a psuedo budget cap which more than likely will get changed......but not to over $400 million USD's. RedBull got it right. Mercedes got it wrong...they over complicated their car. Ferrari is dealing with a new engine and reliability issues that I feel will plaque them for 2 years time PLUS the porpoising. Renault aka Alpine, is still trying to figure themselves out....they're lost.....and nobody wants their PU.
You want to see designers design--give them a 600 Kg weight limit with the current technical and safety rules.
Toyota, Honda certainly had a lot of experience in Hybrids. More in the "better mileage" than the "higher performance" category. Yawn. Guess who voted FOR the cap ???
If you want a "level playing field" in F1, with intense competition, different winners, and no domination, you are watching the wrong series !! You get that in a specs series where the drivers matter more than the cars. Indycar is for you. F1 has never been about parity, and there has always been significant differences of performances between cars, even when the rules were less complicated. There has always been rich teams, and minnows, trailblazers and followers, creative engineering and imitators,
I can understand that. If I was living in the States, rather than in Europe, I would probably never have bothered with F1. Watching Indycar races on Youtube, I can see they are far more lively than GPs, and the suspence lasts up to the last lap.
William, I don’t think it’s too much to ask for teams not to get special treatment. It is completely unacceptable to change the rules for one team while another is not allowed to fix their reliability issues under the current rules.
Oh, the other battles on track. Something else to break up the monotony of nothing happening VER vs SAI
I must say, my favorite part of this year so far has been Russell schooling Sir Lulu all weekend at most tracks, and the Brit announcers being unable to make enough excuses for him. I missed having this in Canada due to Georgie's bad weekend, but I hope he returns to #1 at Merc at Silverstone.
Mercedes board should have put huge pressure on FIA since the beginning of the year. They simply cannot accept to lose. Truth is their concept isn’t enough competitive.
Agree. Carlos said that Ferrari had a .3 advantage over Red Bull here in the race (With DRS I guess), but needed 6 tenths to pass Max. If we look back at 2016 Canadian GP when Max held off the much faster Rosberg by simply placing his car correctly, it's hard to disagree that 6 tenths minimum was needed to pass Max, if not more. Carlos maximized his position on Sunday.
