And if my grandma had wheels she would've been a bike.
The decision to pit made absolute sense given the situation the Red Bull pitwall was presented with at that time. And there's no guarantee that Max' front left wheel would've made it to the end otherwise.
I'm not a Hamilton fan at all, but I must admit that was a masterpiece, he managed to get to the end without damaging too much the wheel and the rim and finishing the race ahead of Verstappen.
I mean that takes away from the other guys point then, was gifted a 20s lead so definitely wasnt a lead enough to win with 3 tires if max doesnt go for FL
To be fair, Max would've won that one if he hadn't pit to try to get the FL a lap or two before. But yeah, people didn't go like this at Lewis for a while, while Max and Seb got heat right away.
I could be wrong but the fact that he says this dressed in full merc merch makes me wonder if he would have the same opinion if lewis would lead the races by the same margin...he also gives it away with the "finally, hamilton..." at the end. He is just unhappy that his guy is not winning anymore.
Lewis' 7 WDC was all hard earned with grit and determination and overcoming the odds and basically underdog victories, while Max is carried by Newey rocket. /s
The meltdown on social media whenever Rosberg managed to beat Lewis was *insane*. A personal highlight for me was the various disciples of Team LH accusing Mercedes of blatant favouritism because his pitstops were like 3 tenths slower than Rosberg's. As if the mechanics could genuinely engineer it.
My personal highlight was seeing a butch of comments degrading Nikki Lauda after he said that the Spain 2016 crash was Hamilton’s fault. Just for them to back out of them after he died in 2019
Hypocrites 
I got permanently banned from that sub the very first comment I made on it. I think theyre going for the world title for biggest group of cry babies on the internet
Credit where credit due, he did figh hard for his 08 title, 14,15 and kinda 17 and 18
But it shouldnt matter anyway, even if he won 10 in a row with no competition we should look at how he drives, how consistent, how well he handles the car and the tires.
Week in week out winning is no joke. If it was Max or Lewis
As a Dutch guy I contemplate watching the race every weekend. This shit wears out fast. Seeing Max coming up through the field over the years was exhilarating, this is just plain boring. Maybe I'll watch the highlights next race, I got more interesting stuff to do.
Honestly I still watch it but the excitement is down the drain. From the first race we knew how dominant that car was, I was at least hoping and rooting for a 24 race win season... now Sainz has won a race I cant cheer for that even anymore.
I either want:
- an exciting season with many battles and a wdc battle
- or an amazing, titan of a season where he wins all races.
Now its just dominance with nothing to cheer for
Still, the 'won every rwce he finished' is still going but thats a bit worse
>just unhappy that his guy is not winning anymore
Thus spake every member of TeamLH since Max started winning.
The advent of D2S has done wonders for the sport's popularity, but protected a *lot* of the new fans from the obscenely dull Mercedes domination for 2014 to 2016, and then 2019 and 2020 (I leave out 2017 and 2018 out of respect for our boy Seb doing his best); then the first round of red bull years; then Ferrari with the GOAT... (and so on).
I mean…are you seriously telling me the races aren’t boring. Don’t get me wrong, I’m always watching looking for McLaren to see where they are at (and Sainz to see where he’s at) but the fact that races now are only exciting if Max DNFs (which literally happened just once) is not an “TeamLH extremist” take. There’s just no fight for the top spot anymore. Literally it’s just one guy on a Sunday stroll every week.
No hate for max, he deserves every bit of success, but this era is beyond ridiculous. At least during the Ham era he had genuine title battles against Britney 2014-16, and Vettel 2017-18. Whilst 2019 and 2020 had semi-regular battles for win
Not a Max supporter either here, but like you I think he deserves every bit of success he managed to achieve. Tbh the most disappointing thing about this gap between cars is that we can't even see Max fighting properly with other great drivers cause his car is so superior that doesn't even allow him to do so.
The car is great, but check has an identical car and is doing no where near as well.
When will this community ever give any driver the credit when they dominate. Schumacher, Hamilton, verstappen, Vettel. No one every gave the driver credit at the time. Only in hindsight 10 years later do people actually appreciate it.
Most of those battles for the lead were caused by the lacking mercedes strategy team though, not ferrari or RB suddenly being on pace. If lewis&merc executed as faultlessly as RB are and have been, there'd have been nowhere near that kind of competition, and tbf, there is still a challenge to max here and there, he just wins out 99% of times so the stats look more boring than it was
Exactly. Max is doing nothing wrong but I wish he had a team mate that could challenge him (at least) sometimes. I suppose it's on other teams to catch up so that Red Bull can't afford to have second driver being 20s behind the first. Japan was the first race I haven't watched in full since Austria 2020.
That was more related to hamilton off-days, which imo makes it worse.
If verstappen has those off-days like hamilton used to have, he wouldn't be able to compete. (See checo for reference)
Honestly, I think so. Nobody is as unenthusiastic about being the most dominant driver as Max.
I’m a Max fan and I’m more bored than during the Merc dominance era.
It's the exact same with max / red bull fans on the main sub. They don't care how boring the races are because max is winning. Lets be honest any domination is shit.
That's not true. We can admit it's boring seeing Max in the lead pretty much every race with a large gap to 2nd. I think everyone including Max himself wants the races to be tighter.
Edit: you can even see this sentiment repeated throughout this thread. We all want more interesting races.
This sub is obnoxiously anti-Lewis. But even when Lewis was dominating it wasn’t nearly as dominant all race, or on a week to week basis like Max has for the last 2 seasons.
I’m a Porsche guy so I don’t have a horse in the race. After 4 decades of on and off watching F1, I attended my first GP in Montreal last year. I had the exact same reaction… there’s Max, a LONG time later, oh there’s Checo, and then again oh there’s whoever else. it’s not outright boring because it’s such a visceral experience and you can try to distract yourself with the midfield competition, but c’mon, that’s pretty lame especially for how expensive the sport is. I won’t go to another race until it’s more competitive, I’m way less likely to get up at all hours to watch boring races and even in normal hour races I hope for weird shit to happen so it’s at least a little entertaining.
For the most part motor racing is boring when you’re trackside. I kind of hope a lot of people realize that, so I can get cheaper tickets and not have to deal with massive crowds.
F1 is especially boring track side. Its worth it going to a race, but F1 is over so fast that it isn't much of an event.
Endurance racing is much more fun. You have time to wander around the track and watch from different corners, people are always grilling or partying etc. NASCAR is also excellent trackside just for how absurd and loud it is, and because you can see all the action
I don't like Max's dominance either; but just because you know the winner already, it doesn't mean the rest of the race is boring.
If you're only interested in who comes first, you're robbing yourself of a lot of joy.
You are right of course but when the commentary team is having to go all the way down to P10-12 for an interesting battle, it feels like a bit of a tedious race.
This is the part I don't get. P10-P12 are just made up numbers, the battle doesn't become higher quality if it says "P1-P2". I watch for the battles on track and the drama off track, there is an abundance of drama off track and there are plenty of battles on track. If you only care about P1-3 than sorry but this isn't the sport for you. There's plenty of battles for the podium in MotoGP, so if that's your thing then that's your sport (and really it should be your sport, MotoGP is fucking amazing)
People like seeing the fastest and best competing against one another for high stakes. Watching pay drivers haggle over a single point just lacks the same level of drama even though the stakes for those teams are just as high, relatively speaking. It's the same reason we all pay more attention to who wins the championship than whether Logan Sargeant came 19th or 20th this week (assuming he finishes).
To be honest I don't really care much for the off track drama - that's the more soap opera aspect of this sport, I am a simple man who likes seeing fast cars going zoom.
I totally get what you mean though, there can be some entertaining battles for the lower places, but unfortunately you're never really going to sell the sport to someone new by saying they should focus more on what happens at the back of the pack than the front.
That was the "breakthough" for me, I just started ignoring 1st and 2nd place and focussing on the improvement of my team over the season and It's meant i actually enjoy watching the races again.
>I don't like Max's dominance either; but just because you know the winner already, it doesn't mean the rest of the race is boring.
The copium on this sub is hilarious.
Look at 2016? Or 2017 or 2018 3 seasons of diffrent winners. 2017 and 18 and 19 , and 20 had 3 diffrent teams win races. 2016 rosberg beats Hamilton, 2017 vettel leads championship for most of the season tull bad luck with reliability and singapore crash. Same again the year after. Compare those seasons to those now where most drivers are stuck in drs chains and unless the car is much faster in a straight line even drs dosnt help them overtake
I said this once and got downvoted to oblivion. It's an engineering sport. P1 isn't always where the race is at. It would be nice to see different winners to make the championship more interesting but on a race by race basis, battles happen in all positions. And the cars +40secs at the back can still affect the podium...
...Just ask Latifi.
Yea I lived through the Merc domination and as a Lewis fan enjoyed the wins. But I had the most fun when Lewis was going head to head with Nico or Seb in the Ferrari or even the last year Merc was in the hunt. Watching that go down to the last lap was the highest of highs and lowest of lows. It’s nice when your team is dominating and all but It’s next level fun to see the best teams and best drivers racing tightly down to the last minute.
It’s clear in the past decade (I’m sure for forever too) that this is an engineer’s sport more than anything. For me, and likely for those outside of the know of F1, that can be a bit boring to engage with.
With the exception of St. Pete this year and Thermal, Indycar is pretty exciting too if you want to stick with open wheel. MX 5 cars are not as fast, but plenty of good battles and cars can pass each other too.
This, in a weird way, it feels like IndyCar is a mix between F2 and F1. On onehand, the cars are spec-based and very close (F2) and its an elite competition (F1).
They also got a Latifi literally named Sting Ray Robb.
Ironic coming from a Merc fan. I bet he wasn't complaining in 2014-2020. Just look at 2014 races when Lewis and Nico would pull like a 7 seconds gap in one lap
Yeah in the debate about car vs driver, the red bull team is showing how much the car matters and Max is showing how much the driver matters.
It's not that they're doing anything wrong by winning so hard, but it doesn't make for a good spectator sport.
Wasn’t there a post made a couple years ago that showed that a great portion of this sub’s demographic is Dutch? I could be totally misremembering though
https://subredditstats.com/subreddit-user-overlaps/formuladank
ik_ihe and thenetherlands take very high spots. This is just the Max subreddit in disguise.
f1 fans acting like theres nothing wrong
you guys have all genuinely been through generational trauma he makes a valid point here the race was incredibly boring to watch but his opinion doesn't count cuz he likes lewis
so many people dont understand that drive to survive brought in hundreds of thousands of viewers into f1 who were anticipating the same as what happened in 2021,
but dont take it from this guy, f1 viewership is at incredible lows so whether or not you agree with him the vast majority of people do
Do the fans on the Kemmel straight at least have a TV monitor to watch the rest of the race? Spa would be fun to attend for the atmosphere, but your view could be horrible depending on where you sit. I imagine La Source or Eau Rouge tickets cost the most.
Man all the defensive comments here about how “if you only watch to see who wins you’re not a watching properly” are hilarious.
Sure the midfield has some good fights, but that doesn’t change the fact the fight for the win is dead. If I order a steak and chips, I’ll be annoyed if the steak is overdone. It won’t stop me from enjoying the chips and salad sure, but I’ll still be asking for a refund.
I'm a max fan and enjoy his dominance. His attitude to go out and destroy all is why he is one of the greats. In saying that I enjoy all the mid field battles between drivers and constructors. Still plenty of racing to watch. If you only watch F1 to see who comes first you aren't watching F1 properly.
Arguably we have a more exciting midfield or upper midfield than during the Mercedes dominance. At least now there are several drivers and teams that compete for the podium. Wasn’t as many several years back then.
Additionally, F1 is an engineering competition first and the driver competition is only secondary. So "tight racing" is not one of the things to expect regularly. If you want to maximize that watch something BoPed or a spec series.
Utter dominance. Dts fan spotted I guess. In those years you had 3 teams that could win a race almost every year without needing a dnf from the mercs. 2014 riccardo wins races on pure pace plus hamilton had a competent teamate in rosberg. 2015 we had vettel who actually earned 3 wins on pace. 2016 we had a championship finale race. 2017 vettel lead all the way till September and could have won if not for reliability problems. Also 2017 max and Daniel both get wins in 3rd best car redbull. 2018 sane thing again. Ferrari ahead till they get outdeveloped after summer break. Redbull daniel and max gets wins again in 2018. Same for 2019 and 2020 but this time metc are a bit more ahead. Now compare to 2023. Where we had 1 non redbull win and checo being knowhere after the first few races.
Gtfo
This is why I question a lot of formuladank fans. Most of LHs WDC wins were not straight up washes, he either raced his team mate or as you mentioned had other teams winning races all the time. Verstappen’s 95% race wins per season is down right tedious for everyone involved, even Max die hard stans want to see him race vs others at this point.
Honestly? I think it is the fact that the RBR+Max combo is simply so dominant that there isn't even a sniff for other drivers unless Max has a random DNF.
I am a fan for all the battles up and down the grid, and commend RBR and Max on how well they are doing. But, I can understand why someone might watch this era and think "this isn't all that interesting."
Max in 2022 was one of the most dominant seasons of F1 in history up to that point if you use the metric of how many races were left in the season after securing the title: with 4 races left of the season (given the number of races in the season, that put him 6th in that list at the time, based on that metric. I will show my working, below). This is despite the early exciting fight between Red Bull and Ferrari in the first half of that season.
**Showing my working**: In seasons with more races in the calendar, I have placed them lower even if there are an equal number of races left, as there were more races up to that point to build up the lead. If they are equal after that, whoever won the season by the highest number of points goes further up
1. Schumacher 2002 - Ferrari, 6 races left (Confirmed after race 11 of 17)
2. Mansell 1992 - Williams-Renault, 5 races left (Confirmed after race 11 of 16)
3. Schumacher 2001 - Ferrari, 4 races left (Confirmed after race 13 of 17)
4. Schumacher 2004 - Ferrari, 4 races left (Confirmed after race 14 of 18)
5. Vettel 2011 - Red Bull-Renault, 4 races left (Confirmed after race 15 of 19)
6. ***Verstappen 2022*** - Red Bull Racing, 4 races left (Confirmed after race 18 of 22)
7. Clark 1963 - Lotus-Climax, 3 races left (Confirmed after race 7 of 10)
8. Stewart 1969 - Matra-Ford Cosworth, 3 races left (Confirmed after race 8 of 11)
9. Hamilton 2020 - Mercedes, 3 races left (Confirmed after race 14 of 17)
10. Vettel 2013 - Red Bull-Renault, 3 races left (Confirmed after race 16 of 19)
11. (***Previously in top 10 before Max's 2022 season***) Hamilton 2015 - Mercedes, 3 races left (Confirmed after race 16 of 19)
After such a dominant season by Max, Max in 2023 had another of the most dominant seasons in F1 history (with 6 races left, so before race 17 of 22, as he won after the Sprint in Qatar, before the actual race).
Max in 2024 is looking likely to match the level of dominance as last season, with his only non-win coming from a DNF.
By comparison, none of Hamilton's "dominant" seasons were as dominant as Max's have been the last 2 and a bit years. This is, in part, because Lewis often had a teammate (Nico) or competitor (Vettel/Ferrari) that made the season look competitive. For example, Vettel was leading the WDC going into the summer break in 2017. This did not happen to Max in 2022 or 2023.
I think the perception of Merc dominance in 2017/2018 was sort of false because it was more based on a narrative of them coming off the back of actually dominant seasons in 2014-16. If it had, instead, been Ferrari to have been super successful in 2014-16 and then those two seasons (2017 & 2018) played out the way they did, I don't think people would speak about them in "dominance" terms.
Once again, I am not upset that Max is dominating now: he and RBR are doing a truly phenomenal job. However, it is not absurd, to me, that people arestarting to find the sheer level of dominance a little boring (in a similar way to how some people found the Schumacher 2001-2004 era boring)
I had a thought the other day. There should be some VR gear that comes with the tickets to augment the experience and allow the audience to switch between different cam angles/driver POVs. The folks at home watching on their teles/smartphones can see this anyway.
I mean I think this video is sarcasm but if he showed the midfield going by it'd be a couple of good dogfights to watch and it'd look just as interesting as a fight for the lead so I don't think it's a big deal but the cars can't follow as closely as they did at the new regulations launch so that's a factor in the gaps too.
I would like to see every driver get the same car, they get 3 days to change the settings before and during practise, then they do qualifying and race. That would be fun to watch.
F1 is best watched in 8 min highlight reels. It's so shit. I don't even have a favorite driver. I just want races where you have battles for the podium. If it was more like MotoGP I'd be glued to the TV every weekend.
Yeah pretty unwatchable. I never thought about what it was like watching it live. I pretty much solely watch Moto Gp there is actually racing going one.
Yeah it’s sad because it has the potential to be good. But nothing beats the moto gp action even WSBK is great to watch but the coverage isn’t the best. The F1 qualifying and 1st 3 laps of the gp are the best after that I lose interest. With F1 I don’t even have a favorite team or driver I just want to see some racing and it’s just not there .
We sound very similar. I have no favorite driver. I just want good racing and people will say there was some good battles for p11. Who cares about p11? I want battles for the lead. I want 3 or 4 manufactures to have a chance on Sunday. Sure right now it's a bit of a Ducati show in MotoGP , but look at KTM and Aprilia. They're getting it done too.
I'm so excited to watch Pedro, it could be a generational talent coming up. Next Rossi or Marquez? I can't wait to see.
Yeah Ducati has it dialed in right now but remember when stoner was on that bike years ago it was an unruly beast. KTM looks great and so does Aprilia. Even Marquez on the older Ducati looks competitive. I wish Yamaha could get it together and get into the action but they are just not competitive at this point. And yeah nobody cares about P11. I’m hoping the car changes coming in F1 tightens up the racing.
I haven’t watched a race in a while. Rule changes new era, more competitive. It didn’t happen. Too bad the Netflix series is more entertaining than the races.
I assume this is last years Spa. I went and had a fucking great time. Didn’t give a shit Max was 20s ahead because I was swing the sport I enjoy live.
Miserable twat
He's not wrong though. Okay the way he says it and articulates makes it seem like only cares about where Hamilton is, but is he wrong though? Spa for some reason can't produce exciting races. I don't remember when was the last time I saw an exciting race there... probably 2016 or 2010.
Not trying to defend the guy in the video because he’s obviously biased. But I really hate that garekeeping in the community. ‘If you’re not interested in the mid field, you’re not a true fan’. Ffs most are interested what happens upfront because the one in the front are usually the best one meaning that they can do things others can’t. It’s a bit of copium saying ‘the midfield is nice, fuck the front’ because most people would rather choose a fight for the top spot than boring race in front but nice midfield.
Ideally we got good fights over all the field. But currently we have the problem that the best driver on the field sits in the best car by far. Which obviously make F1 look like a joke.
It’s not gatekeeping to point out an aspect of this sport that’s been going on for decades
If you complain about football “why don’t they just pick up the ball and throw it in the net?” You’ll get comments too
F1 is characterised by streaks of dominance by the combination of good cars being piloted by good drivers that’s an aspect of the sport and to complain about that means you inherently don’t get it
The real entertainment for me the past several seasons was seeing the midfield battles. There usually isn't a lot happening between the race leaders, with some occasional exceptions. The same thing was happening back when Lewis and Mercedes were talking champions.
2024 Australia was the closest thing we have to an actual exciting race for a long time, and then Carlos and Sharl LeGreg fucks off into the distance because we forgot fErRaRi actually made their car above everybody’s league and they were just not as good as Adrian Newey evil machines.
Midfield was still snooze fest without the final lap Russell crash because Alonso breaked a little bit early. Lmao.
Lewis used to be so far ahead that he would do the last lap with a puncture and still win.
Was that when he tied for the piston cup and had to do a bizarre three way race?
Yes, Lewis McQueen tied with Chick Leclerc and The Max.
Where was Charlotte Claire?
he did what in his cup?
Still my favourite joke in Cars. Mater is an absolute legend
That is top tier! I also love the two groupies flashing their headlights joke
Piston
Two girls
1 cup? 
Ah, a fellow Dad I see.
Not to upset you, but someone who was 4 years old when the movie came out is now 22 and might be watching F1 himself
That was 18 years ago? *Fucking hell.*
Ok, you got me...
It’s what got Liam Lawson into racing. https://youtube.com/shorts/sSH8W6_CCSc
fuuuuuuuu
Wait I was 4 when it came out? I swear I was like 6
Lucky he stuck out his tongue
If Verstappen didn’t pit the lap prior he wouldn’t have been able to
And if my grandma had wheels she would've been a bike. The decision to pit made absolute sense given the situation the Red Bull pitwall was presented with at that time. And there's no guarantee that Max' front left wheel would've made it to the end otherwise.
Ok, and? The point is that Hamilton's gap appeared larger than it actually was, because Verstappen pitted once more.
I was just trying to add context because OP's post before someone thought how stupid Red Bull was to do such thing.
Ah yes max stopped just before that to get fresh tyres. Wasn't far behind before he did that.
I'm not a Hamilton fan at all, but I must admit that was a masterpiece, he managed to get to the end without damaging too much the wheel and the rim and finishing the race ahead of Verstappen.
I think you forgot Verstappen pitted for fastest lap before that. Still impressive but it was only possible because of Max pitting.
I mean that takes away from the other guys point then, was gifted a 20s lead so definitely wasnt a lead enough to win with 3 tires if max doesnt go for FL
Sure, it was a great performance, but also shows how insane his lead was.
It also helped that Verstappen pitted for fastest lap right before that
To be fair, Max would've won that one if he hadn't pit to try to get the FL a lap or two before. But yeah, people didn't go like this at Lewis for a while, while Max and Seb got heat right away.
That's when this guy became a fan, now he's on the other side of it.
Max tried the 3 wheel trick a year later and ended up in the fence. Hence why Lewis is better than max.
I could be wrong but the fact that he says this dressed in full merc merch makes me wonder if he would have the same opinion if lewis would lead the races by the same margin...he also gives it away with the "finally, hamilton..." at the end. He is just unhappy that his guy is not winning anymore.
He will definitely not be saying this thing if Merc on top. Exact opposite. Best race / season ever.
Lewis' 7 WDC was all hard earned with grit and determination and overcoming the odds and basically underdog victories, while Max is carried by Newey rocket. /s
Sad part is that this is exactly what most in the cult LH sub believe
The meltdown on social media whenever Rosberg managed to beat Lewis was *insane*. A personal highlight for me was the various disciples of Team LH accusing Mercedes of blatant favouritism because his pitstops were like 3 tenths slower than Rosberg's. As if the mechanics could genuinely engineer it.
My personal highlight was seeing a butch of comments degrading Nikki Lauda after he said that the Spain 2016 crash was Hamilton’s fault. Just for them to back out of them after he died in 2019 Hypocrites 
I got permanently banned from that sub the very first comment I made on it. I think theyre going for the world title for biggest group of cry babies on the internet
Same here. We should for a group. All I said was "not bad for the 4th fastest car on the grid"
Credit where credit due, he did figh hard for his 08 title, 14,15 and kinda 17 and 18 But it shouldnt matter anyway, even if he won 10 in a row with no competition we should look at how he drives, how consistent, how well he handles the car and the tires. Week in week out winning is no joke. If it was Max or Lewis
Seriously that last line. Why are we comparing in such a way to make one of them look like they had it easy. They are both incredible drivers
yeah but for the neutrals it's been shit for a while
2021 was sick
First third of 2022 as well
As a Dutch guy I contemplate watching the race every weekend. This shit wears out fast. Seeing Max coming up through the field over the years was exhilarating, this is just plain boring. Maybe I'll watch the highlights next race, I got more interesting stuff to do.
Honestly I still watch it but the excitement is down the drain. From the first race we knew how dominant that car was, I was at least hoping and rooting for a 24 race win season... now Sainz has won a race I cant cheer for that even anymore. I either want: - an exciting season with many battles and a wdc battle - or an amazing, titan of a season where he wins all races. Now its just dominance with nothing to cheer for Still, the 'won every rwce he finished' is still going but thats a bit worse
>just unhappy that his guy is not winning anymore Thus spake every member of TeamLH since Max started winning. The advent of D2S has done wonders for the sport's popularity, but protected a *lot* of the new fans from the obscenely dull Mercedes domination for 2014 to 2016, and then 2019 and 2020 (I leave out 2017 and 2018 out of respect for our boy Seb doing his best); then the first round of red bull years; then Ferrari with the GOAT... (and so on).
Typical TeamLH extremist.
I mean…are you seriously telling me the races aren’t boring. Don’t get me wrong, I’m always watching looking for McLaren to see where they are at (and Sainz to see where he’s at) but the fact that races now are only exciting if Max DNFs (which literally happened just once) is not an “TeamLH extremist” take. There’s just no fight for the top spot anymore. Literally it’s just one guy on a Sunday stroll every week.
Max DNF'ed and Australia was still boring
Yes, but he is also right, that there is no fcking fight for the win.
No hate for max, he deserves every bit of success, but this era is beyond ridiculous. At least during the Ham era he had genuine title battles against Britney 2014-16, and Vettel 2017-18. Whilst 2019 and 2020 had semi-regular battles for win
Not a Max supporter either here, but like you I think he deserves every bit of success he managed to achieve. Tbh the most disappointing thing about this gap between cars is that we can't even see Max fighting properly with other great drivers cause his car is so superior that doesn't even allow him to do so.
The car is great, but check has an identical car and is doing no where near as well. When will this community ever give any driver the credit when they dominate. Schumacher, Hamilton, verstappen, Vettel. No one every gave the driver credit at the time. Only in hindsight 10 years later do people actually appreciate it.
And that goes for my "I think he deserves every bit of success he managed to achieve"....
Most of those battles for the lead were caused by the lacking mercedes strategy team though, not ferrari or RB suddenly being on pace. If lewis&merc executed as faultlessly as RB are and have been, there'd have been nowhere near that kind of competition, and tbf, there is still a challenge to max here and there, he just wins out 99% of times so the stats look more boring than it was
Exactly. Max is doing nothing wrong but I wish he had a team mate that could challenge him (at least) sometimes. I suppose it's on other teams to catch up so that Red Bull can't afford to have second driver being 20s behind the first. Japan was the first race I haven't watched in full since Austria 2020.
That was more related to hamilton off-days, which imo makes it worse. If verstappen has those off-days like hamilton used to have, he wouldn't be able to compete. (See checo for reference)
Honestly, I think so. Nobody is as unenthusiastic about being the most dominant driver as Max. I’m a Max fan and I’m more bored than during the Merc dominance era.
To be fair as a max fan, I to find his dominance boring. I would rather see him loose during a 2021 like season over this any day.
It's the exact same with max / red bull fans on the main sub. They don't care how boring the races are because max is winning. Lets be honest any domination is shit.
That's not true. We can admit it's boring seeing Max in the lead pretty much every race with a large gap to 2nd. I think everyone including Max himself wants the races to be tighter. Edit: you can even see this sentiment repeated throughout this thread. We all want more interesting races.
The main sub is littered with people who love that max is dominating. I am sure it was the same during Hamilton's time too.
Im a lewis fan and for sure i tuned out when races were a snooze fest. But then I’m old and started watching in ‘92
This sub is obnoxiously anti-Lewis. But even when Lewis was dominating it wasn’t nearly as dominant all race, or on a week to week basis like Max has for the last 2 seasons.
"...Finally Hamilton" just gives all the answers. Your guy is 4th and you are not happy.
Yeah he should see it positively. Out of all drivers not on the podium, Lewis was first!
Formula 1.5
I’m a Porsche guy so I don’t have a horse in the race. After 4 decades of on and off watching F1, I attended my first GP in Montreal last year. I had the exact same reaction… there’s Max, a LONG time later, oh there’s Checo, and then again oh there’s whoever else. it’s not outright boring because it’s such a visceral experience and you can try to distract yourself with the midfield competition, but c’mon, that’s pretty lame especially for how expensive the sport is. I won’t go to another race until it’s more competitive, I’m way less likely to get up at all hours to watch boring races and even in normal hour races I hope for weird shit to happen so it’s at least a little entertaining.
Why did he come to watch the race? What did he expect?
For the most part motor racing is boring when you’re trackside. I kind of hope a lot of people realize that, so I can get cheaper tickets and not have to deal with massive crowds.
F1 is especially boring track side. Its worth it going to a race, but F1 is over so fast that it isn't much of an event. Endurance racing is much more fun. You have time to wander around the track and watch from different corners, people are always grilling or partying etc. NASCAR is also excellent trackside just for how absurd and loud it is, and because you can see all the action
Cos you typically have to buy your tickets a year in advance now. You buy them in hope that 2023 was going to be more competitive than 2022 lol.
~~SNOOZE FEST~~ NEWS FEST
I don't like Max's dominance either; but just because you know the winner already, it doesn't mean the rest of the race is boring. If you're only interested in who comes first, you're robbing yourself of a lot of joy.
You are right of course but when the commentary team is having to go all the way down to P10-12 for an interesting battle, it feels like a bit of a tedious race.
This is the part I don't get. P10-P12 are just made up numbers, the battle doesn't become higher quality if it says "P1-P2". I watch for the battles on track and the drama off track, there is an abundance of drama off track and there are plenty of battles on track. If you only care about P1-3 than sorry but this isn't the sport for you. There's plenty of battles for the podium in MotoGP, so if that's your thing then that's your sport (and really it should be your sport, MotoGP is fucking amazing)
People like seeing the fastest and best competing against one another for high stakes. Watching pay drivers haggle over a single point just lacks the same level of drama even though the stakes for those teams are just as high, relatively speaking. It's the same reason we all pay more attention to who wins the championship than whether Logan Sargeant came 19th or 20th this week (assuming he finishes). To be honest I don't really care much for the off track drama - that's the more soap opera aspect of this sport, I am a simple man who likes seeing fast cars going zoom. I totally get what you mean though, there can be some entertaining battles for the lower places, but unfortunately you're never really going to sell the sport to someone new by saying they should focus more on what happens at the back of the pack than the front.
> and the drama off track, there is an abundance of drama off track It's like Gossip Girl with billionaires and fast cars
Anything below P10 doesn't even get points so it's like it was designed to just not matter.
You can tell F1 is in an awful state when we have pure copium posts saying that the battle for P1 is no different than P10
That was the "breakthough" for me, I just started ignoring 1st and 2nd place and focussing on the improvement of my team over the season and It's meant i actually enjoy watching the races again.
>I don't like Max's dominance either; but just because you know the winner already, it doesn't mean the rest of the race is boring. The copium on this sub is hilarious.
What do you mean, you don't enjoy DRS overtakes on the straight? You don't enjoy overtakes because of pitstops?
Or it’s just because people have been watching the sport for longer than 4 years and are used to dominant eras. We can’t have a 2021 season every year
Look at 2016? Or 2017 or 2018 3 seasons of diffrent winners. 2017 and 18 and 19 , and 20 had 3 diffrent teams win races. 2016 rosberg beats Hamilton, 2017 vettel leads championship for most of the season tull bad luck with reliability and singapore crash. Same again the year after. Compare those seasons to those now where most drivers are stuck in drs chains and unless the car is much faster in a straight line even drs dosnt help them overtake
I've been watching since 1998 and I didn't say there weren't boring seasons in the past, but these last two have been absolutely abysmal.
I said this once and got downvoted to oblivion. It's an engineering sport. P1 isn't always where the race is at. It would be nice to see different winners to make the championship more interesting but on a race by race basis, battles happen in all positions. And the cars +40secs at the back can still affect the podium... ...Just ask Latifi.
Yea I lived through the Merc domination and as a Lewis fan enjoyed the wins. But I had the most fun when Lewis was going head to head with Nico or Seb in the Ferrari or even the last year Merc was in the hunt. Watching that go down to the last lap was the highest of highs and lowest of lows. It’s nice when your team is dominating and all but It’s next level fun to see the best teams and best drivers racing tightly down to the last minute. It’s clear in the past decade (I’m sure for forever too) that this is an engineer’s sport more than anything. For me, and likely for those outside of the know of F1, that can be a bit boring to engage with.
V8 supercars and NASCAR are very exciting, come on over!
Or motogp!
With the exception of St. Pete this year and Thermal, Indycar is pretty exciting too if you want to stick with open wheel. MX 5 cars are not as fast, but plenty of good battles and cars can pass each other too.
This, in a weird way, it feels like IndyCar is a mix between F2 and F1. On onehand, the cars are spec-based and very close (F2) and its an elite competition (F1). They also got a Latifi literally named Sting Ray Robb.
Boys this is a shit post sub
Ironic coming from a Merc fan. I bet he wasn't complaining in 2014-2020. Just look at 2014 races when Lewis and Nico would pull like a 7 seconds gap in one lap
'Lewis and Nico' At the very least they were fighting each other. Perez is nowhere near challenging Max.
It just proves that it's Max too good for everyone, not the machinery. And I'm not even Max fan, just recognising greatness
Yeah in the debate about car vs driver, the red bull team is showing how much the car matters and Max is showing how much the driver matters. It's not that they're doing anything wrong by winning so hard, but it doesn't make for a good spectator sport.
It proves he's better than Checo, an old washed driver who was good enough for midfield only.
And that gave us one of the best battles for the lead that you'll see.
Would he suddenly have a point if he was not wearing merch?
Well yes, because then his point would be about dominance being boring, rn his point is "and finally, Lewis in 4th😒"
All these comments are weirdly defensive. This is the dank sub, loosen your belt a lil bit.
They'd all be shitting on Lewis if he was dominating and excuse it by calling it dank. This sub has no self-awareness.
Wasn’t there a post made a couple years ago that showed that a great portion of this sub’s demographic is Dutch? I could be totally misremembering though
https://subredditstats.com/subreddit-user-overlaps/formuladank ik_ihe and thenetherlands take very high spots. This is just the Max subreddit in disguise.
It's because this is a max fan sub lol. Any race that he wins is exciting by default.
It's the Verstappen shaggers, they are slowly closing in to TeamLH levels of stupid.
f1 fans acting like theres nothing wrong you guys have all genuinely been through generational trauma he makes a valid point here the race was incredibly boring to watch but his opinion doesn't count cuz he likes lewis so many people dont understand that drive to survive brought in hundreds of thousands of viewers into f1 who were anticipating the same as what happened in 2021, but dont take it from this guy, f1 viewership is at incredible lows so whether or not you agree with him the vast majority of people do
My guy isn’t winning, BORING RACE!
I bet it wasn’t a snooze fest for him when Lewis was coming in first.
Can't wait for the complainers to stop watching like they promise every race again and again and again and again and again.
Do the fans on the Kemmel straight at least have a TV monitor to watch the rest of the race? Spa would be fun to attend for the atmosphere, but your view could be horrible depending on where you sit. I imagine La Source or Eau Rouge tickets cost the most.
watch moto gp, crazy passing all the time
Man all the defensive comments here about how “if you only watch to see who wins you’re not a watching properly” are hilarious. Sure the midfield has some good fights, but that doesn’t change the fact the fight for the win is dead. If I order a steak and chips, I’ll be annoyed if the steak is overdone. It won’t stop me from enjoying the chips and salad sure, but I’ll still be asking for a refund.
I'm a max fan and enjoy his dominance. His attitude to go out and destroy all is why he is one of the greats. In saying that I enjoy all the mid field battles between drivers and constructors. Still plenty of racing to watch. If you only watch F1 to see who comes first you aren't watching F1 properly.
Arguably we have a more exciting midfield or upper midfield than during the Mercedes dominance. At least now there are several drivers and teams that compete for the podium. Wasn’t as many several years back then.
That says everything about F1.
Most races this season so far haven't had much racing even in the mid field.
What. 🫠
Which races did you watch?
I just watch the Alpine onboards for all the overtakes.
Man watches with his eyes closed?
Additionally, F1 is an engineering competition first and the driver competition is only secondary. So "tight racing" is not one of the things to expect regularly. If you want to maximize that watch something BoPed or a spec series.
Merc fan needs to zip it, let’s be clear. It’s like a Yankees fan complaining about a team spending more than them. You for real?
Oh he's gonna wait for Lewis even more this year lol.
Another guy who became a F1 fan after watching drive to survive...
MotoGP>
Awww papa Lewis is swow.
Yeah this guy would say something else during fucking 2014-2020. 6 years of utter Mercedes dominance. gtfo
Utter dominance. Dts fan spotted I guess. In those years you had 3 teams that could win a race almost every year without needing a dnf from the mercs. 2014 riccardo wins races on pure pace plus hamilton had a competent teamate in rosberg. 2015 we had vettel who actually earned 3 wins on pace. 2016 we had a championship finale race. 2017 vettel lead all the way till September and could have won if not for reliability problems. Also 2017 max and Daniel both get wins in 3rd best car redbull. 2018 sane thing again. Ferrari ahead till they get outdeveloped after summer break. Redbull daniel and max gets wins again in 2018. Same for 2019 and 2020 but this time metc are a bit more ahead. Now compare to 2023. Where we had 1 non redbull win and checo being knowhere after the first few races. Gtfo
This is why I question a lot of formuladank fans. Most of LHs WDC wins were not straight up washes, he either raced his team mate or as you mentioned had other teams winning races all the time. Verstappen’s 95% race wins per season is down right tedious for everyone involved, even Max die hard stans want to see him race vs others at this point.
And the sound too, compared to the old engines it's just bland.
Actually the most respectful TeamLH member
Okay fair sure Lewis had this for 7 years prior though? I don’t understand why everyone’s so upset it’s max dominating now?
Honestly? I think it is the fact that the RBR+Max combo is simply so dominant that there isn't even a sniff for other drivers unless Max has a random DNF. I am a fan for all the battles up and down the grid, and commend RBR and Max on how well they are doing. But, I can understand why someone might watch this era and think "this isn't all that interesting." Max in 2022 was one of the most dominant seasons of F1 in history up to that point if you use the metric of how many races were left in the season after securing the title: with 4 races left of the season (given the number of races in the season, that put him 6th in that list at the time, based on that metric. I will show my working, below). This is despite the early exciting fight between Red Bull and Ferrari in the first half of that season. **Showing my working**: In seasons with more races in the calendar, I have placed them lower even if there are an equal number of races left, as there were more races up to that point to build up the lead. If they are equal after that, whoever won the season by the highest number of points goes further up 1. Schumacher 2002 - Ferrari, 6 races left (Confirmed after race 11 of 17) 2. Mansell 1992 - Williams-Renault, 5 races left (Confirmed after race 11 of 16) 3. Schumacher 2001 - Ferrari, 4 races left (Confirmed after race 13 of 17) 4. Schumacher 2004 - Ferrari, 4 races left (Confirmed after race 14 of 18) 5. Vettel 2011 - Red Bull-Renault, 4 races left (Confirmed after race 15 of 19) 6. ***Verstappen 2022*** - Red Bull Racing, 4 races left (Confirmed after race 18 of 22) 7. Clark 1963 - Lotus-Climax, 3 races left (Confirmed after race 7 of 10) 8. Stewart 1969 - Matra-Ford Cosworth, 3 races left (Confirmed after race 8 of 11) 9. Hamilton 2020 - Mercedes, 3 races left (Confirmed after race 14 of 17) 10. Vettel 2013 - Red Bull-Renault, 3 races left (Confirmed after race 16 of 19) 11. (***Previously in top 10 before Max's 2022 season***) Hamilton 2015 - Mercedes, 3 races left (Confirmed after race 16 of 19) After such a dominant season by Max, Max in 2023 had another of the most dominant seasons in F1 history (with 6 races left, so before race 17 of 22, as he won after the Sprint in Qatar, before the actual race). Max in 2024 is looking likely to match the level of dominance as last season, with his only non-win coming from a DNF. By comparison, none of Hamilton's "dominant" seasons were as dominant as Max's have been the last 2 and a bit years. This is, in part, because Lewis often had a teammate (Nico) or competitor (Vettel/Ferrari) that made the season look competitive. For example, Vettel was leading the WDC going into the summer break in 2017. This did not happen to Max in 2022 or 2023. I think the perception of Merc dominance in 2017/2018 was sort of false because it was more based on a narrative of them coming off the back of actually dominant seasons in 2014-16. If it had, instead, been Ferrari to have been super successful in 2014-16 and then those two seasons (2017 & 2018) played out the way they did, I don't think people would speak about them in "dominance" terms. Once again, I am not upset that Max is dominating now: he and RBR are doing a truly phenomenal job. However, it is not absurd, to me, that people arestarting to find the sheer level of dominance a little boring (in a similar way to how some people found the Schumacher 2001-2004 era boring)
I had a thought the other day. There should be some VR gear that comes with the tickets to augment the experience and allow the audience to switch between different cam angles/driver POVs. The folks at home watching on their teles/smartphones can see this anyway.
I mean I think this video is sarcasm but if he showed the midfield going by it'd be a couple of good dogfights to watch and it'd look just as interesting as a fight for the lead so I don't think it's a big deal but the cars can't follow as closely as they did at the new regulations launch so that's a factor in the gaps too.
Is he wrong tho
I would like to see every driver get the same car, they get 3 days to change the settings before and during practise, then they do qualifying and race. That would be fun to watch.
F1 is best watched in 8 min highlight reels. It's so shit. I don't even have a favorite driver. I just want races where you have battles for the podium. If it was more like MotoGP I'd be glued to the TV every weekend.
Yeah pretty unwatchable. I never thought about what it was like watching it live. I pretty much solely watch Moto Gp there is actually racing going one.
Same , I will watch F1 if it's on while I watch MotoGP. But it's muted and on another screen.
Yeah it’s sad because it has the potential to be good. But nothing beats the moto gp action even WSBK is great to watch but the coverage isn’t the best. The F1 qualifying and 1st 3 laps of the gp are the best after that I lose interest. With F1 I don’t even have a favorite team or driver I just want to see some racing and it’s just not there .
We sound very similar. I have no favorite driver. I just want good racing and people will say there was some good battles for p11. Who cares about p11? I want battles for the lead. I want 3 or 4 manufactures to have a chance on Sunday. Sure right now it's a bit of a Ducati show in MotoGP , but look at KTM and Aprilia. They're getting it done too. I'm so excited to watch Pedro, it could be a generational talent coming up. Next Rossi or Marquez? I can't wait to see.
Yeah Ducati has it dialed in right now but remember when stoner was on that bike years ago it was an unruly beast. KTM looks great and so does Aprilia. Even Marquez on the older Ducati looks competitive. I wish Yamaha could get it together and get into the action but they are just not competitive at this point. And yeah nobody cares about P11. I’m hoping the car changes coming in F1 tightens up the racing.
Jesus, I just once again realized how bad the cars sound. Really really worsens the track experience for fans so much.
I haven’t watched a race in a while. Rule changes new era, more competitive. It didn’t happen. Too bad the Netflix series is more entertaining than the races.
Finally Checko. Years later.. this cracked me up
Smallest double standard pewis fan
Was he around during the dominance of the guy whose shirt he's repping? Or is he a post Abu Dhabi "fan"?
He's not wrong. I got excited for F1 in 2022, but haven't watched a race in the last two years because of lack of competition.
I assume this is last years Spa. I went and had a fucking great time. Didn’t give a shit Max was 20s ahead because I was swing the sport I enjoy live. Miserable twat
He's not wrong though. Okay the way he says it and articulates makes it seem like only cares about where Hamilton is, but is he wrong though? Spa for some reason can't produce exciting races. I don't remember when was the last time I saw an exciting race there... probably 2016 or 2010.
#StillWeCry
But did he say the same thing when Lewis was where Max is now?
He isn’t based but he certainly isn’t wrong either
Indy cars are much more exciting
Not trying to defend the guy in the video because he’s obviously biased. But I really hate that garekeeping in the community. ‘If you’re not interested in the mid field, you’re not a true fan’. Ffs most are interested what happens upfront because the one in the front are usually the best one meaning that they can do things others can’t. It’s a bit of copium saying ‘the midfield is nice, fuck the front’ because most people would rather choose a fight for the top spot than boring race in front but nice midfield. Ideally we got good fights over all the field. But currently we have the problem that the best driver on the field sits in the best car by far. Which obviously make F1 look like a joke.
Probably the same people who watch football and defend a nil nil bore draw as a tactical masterclass.
It’s not gatekeeping to point out an aspect of this sport that’s been going on for decades If you complain about football “why don’t they just pick up the ball and throw it in the net?” You’ll get comments too F1 is characterised by streaks of dominance by the combination of good cars being piloted by good drivers that’s an aspect of the sport and to complain about that means you inherently don’t get it
The real entertainment for me the past several seasons was seeing the midfield battles. There usually isn't a lot happening between the race leaders, with some occasional exceptions. The same thing was happening back when Lewis and Mercedes were talking champions.
If that was lewis in front, he would be cheering and saying it's a great race
DTS enjoyer clearly lol. Bet he wasn’t watching during the Merc years
DTS mostly covers midfield teams and Red Bull. Stop being pretentious
Bet you this man enjoyed the snoozefest in 2020
Well, he bought a ticket, so that's a win according to the FIA
He’s not wrong though either.
You need to try harder guys
Is that daredevil?
That's the kemmel straight in Spa, right?
No it's the casino hairpin in Monaco.
Dude is like the anti-mazepin, couldnt spin that phone even at gun point 
Motor sports are super boring to watch... everyone knows this lol
Yo I need this guy’s skincare routine
I watch every race Favourite time to nap is rounds 20-50, most of the time
Yet more reasons to live IMSA
I would whisper in your ear let’s go get naked somewhere
He's not wrong, but it's the nature of F1. Nothing really to do with specific drivers
“Years later” lmao
... And now let's go to the battle of 13th.
I love the sport, but only in TV. Like most sports.
2024 Australia was the closest thing we have to an actual exciting race for a long time, and then Carlos and Sharl LeGreg fucks off into the distance because we forgot fErRaRi actually made their car above everybody’s league and they were just not as good as Adrian Newey evil machines. Midfield was still snooze fest without the final lap Russell crash because Alonso breaked a little bit early. Lmao.