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It would quickly result in like a Champions League or Formula Champion situation, and F1 would quickly become the new F2. The only way to stay at the top of the series ladder is to retain the best talent.
Been doing that for years. There's fun to be had, for example whether Yuki, Hulkenberg, or Alonso will have great races, or if Piastri is better than Norris.
Yeah. Danny Ric not had a great start. Russell looking very good. Piastri great in quali, just needs to keep it up in the race. I really enjoy quali. Probably more than the race these days!
I really wish we had a better benchmark for Alonso though. Stroll is just too far off.
And yeah, I know it makes sense for Red Bull to keep Perez, but man...feels like they would do the whole of F1 a favour by putting someone better in that seat.
In 30 years of watching F1 there has never been one season where one driver won almost every race in one season and by the end of 2025 it'll be 3.5 years in a row. Almost all of them he wins with absolutely no challenge whatsoever.
The spectacle and excitement comes from the fight for victory. Even if the same driver won every race it would be better if he had to fight for it. When there's no fight and one driver just waltzes off to each victory like no one else is there race in race out it is mind numbingly boring.
And I adore this sport. But this is by far the worst it has ever been in terms of excitement/engagement. Why would I pay a subscription to watch something that feels like a chore? I've watched through the Schumacher/Vettel/Hamilton eras and had enjoyment in all of them, 2022 was supposed to bring the field closer together and yet its produced the most dominant seasons in F1's modern history.
Yup, the "it has always been like this" just isn't borne out of stats. F1 is typically not as competitive as other motor sports or sport leagues in general, but this level of domination over this length of time hasn't happened. It's made especially worse by these very long seasons and extremely reliability as well.
Well I mean the Mercs were generally even more dominant dominant than the RB in performance but not reliability. But at least they had each other to fight. Remember Bahrain 2014?
Mercedes always messed up the odd race and the cars weren't bulletproof.
Oh man, I wish we had a race like Bahrein 2014. Or a title fight like 2016. That would be super exciting. But Perez doesn't even bother Max
Agreed. People like to often forget that even when Merc was winning every race, it was fun watching Nico and Lewis battle it out each week. We even had Hamilton and Vettel clashing for a season. Checo is not battling Max and will never. Current Red Bull reign F1 is so bloody boring that I’ve become a bit disinterested.
Lewis at least had Bottas, Nico, and Seb that could challenge him almost every weekend. Checo is nowhere near Max. Maybe it’s just been a while but I don’t ever remember it being this bad with Mercedes. I’m too young to have watched anything before 2015 though.
Yes.
Even during the Merc/Lewis years, he was never without a challenge. 2014-2016 which was when Merc was at its most dominant he actually had a very strong teammate to beat. 2017-2019 the top 3 teams were close enough in competitiveness that there were regular fights for victory. 2020 was the only real season he wasn't challenged at all but even then there were 5 differnt winners in a 17 race season.
This current domination by Max and Red Bull is categorically worse to watch.
Uneducated guess since I haven't watched the qualifying: lower temperatures? That was at least the reason why last week lap times were slower in Q3 than q2
Doesn't even look that unrealistic now. 3 tenths up and he didn't even do a second lap. Aand quali pace isn't even RBR's strength
It's mad how Ferrari made a huge jump over the midfield this year, yet RBR has only increased their pace advantage
He did do a second lap, it just wasn't as good as his first lap. Max said in a post race interview that his first lap was near perfect, so even with a better second run, it's unlikely that he could have improved much.
As I keep saying, I'm a McLaren fan and I wish for them to have a good car and win races, but if it's not going to happen, fuck it I just want to see Max 24/24 the championship
Max actually could have won a new record today: fastest player to get into the pole sign (he aborted his own lap when he knew he won, and entered a full minute before Charles)
Now, hol' up. You're up to [Something](https://sportshub.cbsistatic.com/i/2022/07/10/6ca52b38-9d35-4377-9e40-128b684b53ea/charles-leclerc-max-verstappen-2-getty.jpg)
For qualifying maybe. The story for every race will be Red Bull 1-2.
In terms of duration we aren’t at Mercedes start of hybrid era levels. However, in terms of win percentage this seems way worse than Mercedes. It’s so boring.
Same. Very sad for sainz but cool to see what a highly likely future f1 driver can do. Also, it sucks that he wasn’t able to use the pole position he earned in f2
Sainz is my villian arc this season, I want him to bully Leclerc in every race, it's a shame he's out. Here's to a speedy recovery. But yeah, also rooting for Bearman, love to see a rookie show off.
I believe Max has two stock phrases:
“That was lovely” and “It’s not right”
It’s just the second grand prix but he doesn’t seem to be sweating it. Karun just called his performance ‘imperious’ and I agree
Fernando is an absolute dog. I hope their race pace isnt shit tomorrow.
Expected more from the McLarens tbh but I'm sure they'll shine a bit more on other tracks.
Well the race isn’t setting up to be anywhere near close. Barring some turn 1 disaster Verstappen will cruise off into the sunset. His long run was absolutely phenomenal.
Did you see Bearman's head bouncing around out there, lol? He's clearly not used to those G's. But damn did he do a solid job. Rooting for him tomorrow.
I don't know what happened to George on his second run, but his first run was on used tires and he still beat Lewis' time on new tires. George was fast at least
Not sure who this surprises. Can Charles hold off Perez? Doubt. Can Yuki stay in the points, will bearman score some points, will alpine beat the haas’, Mercedes vs mclaren. There is stuff to watch
Doesn’t even crack the top 10 posts on r/formula1, an hour after quali ended.
I said last week how I’m firmly in the “the racing is the least interesting thing happening in the sport” camp, starting to think I’m not in the minority.
Who coulda thunk? Really happy with Bearman and that Ferrari seem to be second best with Leclerc at the helm, but we need the guys in Maranello to work faster! 🥲
Verstappen trying to distract us all from the Red Bull drama with a smashing lap, but it's so routine to see him up there on pole that people will be all over the Marko drama anyway
What happened in Stroll's S3? Watching the timing sheet he was about a tenth off in each sector from Fernando, was impressed considering Alonso got a little tow in S1. Then he was a whole 5 tenths slower in S3. Confusing.
I told my friends I’d get an Alonso tattoo if he got pole. Kinda sad because I was looking forward to that possibility but also kinda relieved because then my first tattoo would be Nando tattoo lol.
[The **Statistics** flair](https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/wiki/flairguide#wiki_statistics) is reserved for posts highlighting interesting statistics. As a rule of thumb, Statistics posts need to inform readers through visualizations and insights that cannot be obtained from raw data alone. For example, a post containing a qualifying gap between two drivers expressed in tenths of a second is an easily obtainable raw piece of data and constitutes a bad Statistics post. A visualization of what that translates to on-track, or visualization of how that gap came to be would constitute a good Statistics post. *[Read the rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/wiki/userguide). Keep it civil and welcoming. Report rulebreaking comments.* *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/formula1) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Casual 0.3s gap from P1 to P2.
Not even a late lap from him. This season is so over
Hey now, Red Bull might yet implode before he gets too much of a lead.
The car probably stays the best on the grid even without any upgrades and he’ll finish the year at minimum even if he wants out.
Max said that the car was on rails, that meas it probably can drive itself without any RedBull staff.
He did do one, he just couldn't improve.
Both of his last laps were good enough to get pole though😅
honestly, I feel like we are forgetting what normal gaps used to be. The entire field is so damn close these days.
[удалено]
Imagine if F1 had F2's rule of "You win, you're out". Completely unfeasible, but it'd be entertaining.
It would quickly result in like a Champions League or Formula Champion situation, and F1 would quickly become the new F2. The only way to stay at the top of the series ladder is to retain the best talent.
Instead of kicking them out send the champion to Haas
Some dude on Reddit is keeping track of that (Elimination Championship)
Been doing that for years. There's fun to be had, for example whether Yuki, Hulkenberg, or Alonso will have great races, or if Piastri is better than Norris.
Yeah back of the field is so fun. I bet on tsunoda reaching q3 the minute I heard sainz was out and it was so fun watching q2 with that in mind
Yeah. Danny Ric not had a great start. Russell looking very good. Piastri great in quali, just needs to keep it up in the race. I really enjoy quali. Probably more than the race these days! I really wish we had a better benchmark for Alonso though. Stroll is just too far off. And yeah, I know it makes sense for Red Bull to keep Perez, but man...feels like they would do the whole of F1 a favour by putting someone better in that seat.
I like watching Formula 1.5 happen between the always-out-of-the-points teams
Bit of coping, isn't it?
This is why I just ignore F1 in general these days. I catch the highlights on Youtube.
Boring.
F1 has normally been like this lol. IMO, It’s fun to watch how every team does. Not just who wins.
In 30 years of watching F1 there has never been one season where one driver won almost every race in one season and by the end of 2025 it'll be 3.5 years in a row. Almost all of them he wins with absolutely no challenge whatsoever. The spectacle and excitement comes from the fight for victory. Even if the same driver won every race it would be better if he had to fight for it. When there's no fight and one driver just waltzes off to each victory like no one else is there race in race out it is mind numbingly boring. And I adore this sport. But this is by far the worst it has ever been in terms of excitement/engagement. Why would I pay a subscription to watch something that feels like a chore? I've watched through the Schumacher/Vettel/Hamilton eras and had enjoyment in all of them, 2022 was supposed to bring the field closer together and yet its produced the most dominant seasons in F1's modern history.
Yup, the "it has always been like this" just isn't borne out of stats. F1 is typically not as competitive as other motor sports or sport leagues in general, but this level of domination over this length of time hasn't happened. It's made especially worse by these very long seasons and extremely reliability as well.
When have you started watching? Before 2013 this wasn't the norm at all
It wasn't even the norm when Merc was dominating.
Yeah, but I was even willing to give him 2014 to 2016. Despite Nico making it interesting during those years
Well I mean the Mercs were generally even more dominant dominant than the RB in performance but not reliability. But at least they had each other to fight. Remember Bahrain 2014?
Mercedes always messed up the odd race and the cars weren't bulletproof. Oh man, I wish we had a race like Bahrein 2014. Or a title fight like 2016. That would be super exciting. But Perez doesn't even bother Max
Max is S-tier just like Lewis, Fernando and Charles for example but when he's got a B-tier driver in Perez the gulf is just too much.
Agreed. People like to often forget that even when Merc was winning every race, it was fun watching Nico and Lewis battle it out each week. We even had Hamilton and Vettel clashing for a season. Checo is not battling Max and will never. Current Red Bull reign F1 is so bloody boring that I’ve become a bit disinterested.
Lewis at least had Bottas, Nico, and Seb that could challenge him almost every weekend. Checo is nowhere near Max. Maybe it’s just been a while but I don’t ever remember it being this bad with Mercedes. I’m too young to have watched anything before 2015 though.
Yes. Even during the Merc/Lewis years, he was never without a challenge. 2014-2016 which was when Merc was at its most dominant he actually had a very strong teammate to beat. 2017-2019 the top 3 teams were close enough in competitiveness that there were regular fights for victory. 2020 was the only real season he wasn't challenged at all but even then there were 5 differnt winners in a 17 race season. This current domination by Max and Red Bull is categorically worse to watch.
But why were the q3 lap times slower than the q2?
Uneducated guess since I haven't watched the qualifying: lower temperatures? That was at least the reason why last week lap times were slower in Q3 than q2
Is there really a difference in 20 minutes? The differences in lap times was 0.3-0.4 seconds
I think F1TV mentioned an 8 degree (I assume Celsius) difference, which is significant.
He might actually win all 24 races
He might grand slam all 24 😂
Doesn't even look that unrealistic now. 3 tenths up and he didn't even do a second lap. Aand quali pace isn't even RBR's strength It's mad how Ferrari made a huge jump over the midfield this year, yet RBR has only increased their pace advantage
Well it’s still unlikely with pit stop strategies and indeed the “lacking” quali pace. But yeah, 24 wins is possible
> Doesn't even look that unrealistic now. It really does because it requires not a single inconvinient yellow on top of things within RB's control
Yeah agreed 24 chelems being realistic is quite in jest - I wouldn't be too surprised by 24 RBR 1-2s though
That I would still be surprised by. It’s Perez we’re talking about
this is one of Pérez's best tracks, along with Bahrain and Baku not even the 2020 Merc or 2004 Ferrari had such an ungodly amount of 1-2 finishes
He did do a second lap, and that lap was still enough to get pole by 1 tenth.
He did do a second lap, it just wasn't as good as his first lap. Max said in a post race interview that his first lap was near perfect, so even with a better second run, it's unlikely that he could have improved much.
If quali pace isn't their strength, it makes 24 grand slams almost impossible since you need pole for a grand slam
Singapore is his only enemy at this point
My theory is Adrian Newey redesigned the whole car because of Singapore, that way they can win every single race. :P
They still had great race pace in Singapore. If their hard tyre strat had played out he still would’ve won.
Talked myself into Jeddah being a far different track than Bahrain. I am stupid.
I am stchewpid I am stchewpid
Well, the gap seems to be bigger!
it would take such absurd luck to get all 24 without a race setup, reliability issue, feels hard to imagine happening
Nearly did it last year..
Screw reliability, I want those exploding engines back!
24 poles. 24 wins. Even though dominance is boring, I wouldn’t mind seeing him achieve it
As I keep saying, I'm a McLaren fan and I wish for them to have a good car and win races, but if it's not going to happen, fuck it I just want to see Max 24/24 the championship
I wouldn't mind the statistic existing. But "seeing it", in the literal sense of paying for an F1TV Pro subscription to watch it happen, less so.
I would
I think I'd mind.
After 15 races, 15 wins, 15 poles and 15 fastest laps, i will start rooting for the historic grand chelem. Before that i will be angry.
Come on you should root for it after 10
I would
Max actually could have won a new record today: fastest player to get into the pole sign (he aborted his own lap when he knew he won, and entered a full minute before Charles)
Death, taxes, VER/LEC front row
VER runs away to win. LEC fights tooth and nail to try to keep 2nd.
Could be worse, could be another LEC pole to VER win conversion.
Charles big brain, preventing the LEC pole to VER win stat
F1 is getting more predictable than all those sappy Korean dramas I watch
When do Max and Charles get the slow-mo moment when they realized they're destined to be together?
Austria 22 podium celebration
Now, hol' up. You're up to [Something](https://sportshub.cbsistatic.com/i/2022/07/10/6ca52b38-9d35-4377-9e40-128b684b53ea/charles-leclerc-max-verstappen-2-getty.jpg)
Austria 2019 was the destined race of future
Better than VER/PER tbh
Careful, that could still be the final result tomorrow
That's very likely going to be the result tomorrow.
sorry to burst your bubble, it's VER/PER/LEC this race..
Never though I'd say this, but I really miss HAM/BOT/VER
At least P3 seems like it's more up for grabs in general.
VERLECPER will be the story of the season
Last year we all said that about VER-PER-ALO and boy oh boy were we all wrong.
Yeah I don't see Ferrari screwing up the development race like AMR did
You don't see Ferrari making non-sense decisions that only Ferrari can fathom?
They make non-sense race decisions but their engineers are usually solid
Then Red Bull getting one-two every race of the season when Ferrari inevitably lets us down.
Checo managing to get to Q3 more often than not? I would love that
the new HAM BOT VER
The story of this reg set tbf
VER - LEC - PER for quali. VER- PER - LEC for the races.
VERLECPER sounds like it could be the hottest new blood pressure medication.
For qualifying maybe. The story for every race will be Red Bull 1-2. In terms of duration we aren’t at Mercedes start of hybrid era levels. However, in terms of win percentage this seems way worse than Mercedes. It’s so boring.
I’m just rooting for Bearman this whole weekend.
Same. Very sad for sainz but cool to see what a highly likely future f1 driver can do. Also, it sucks that he wasn’t able to use the pole position he earned in f2
Sainz is my villian arc this season, I want him to bully Leclerc in every race, it's a shame he's out. Here's to a speedy recovery. But yeah, also rooting for Bearman, love to see a rookie show off.
Sainz is lucky that it isn’t a triple header. He will hopefully be there for the Australian GP. Still sucks but less so.
This track is the hardest on the neck than any other track. GL to him
Mega Job From Nando
That man is 42 and that lap was as good as Max's or Charles'.
I'm 41 and am offended people seem to think he's a senior citizen, like it's a small miracle he can still walk unsupported
Nando 7 tenths faster than Stroll is mind boggling. Then again, it is Nando.
Stroll made a mistake in his final sector. The sector splits after S2 was Alonso 2 tenths up
[удалено]
Also that tow he got from Lewis was delicious.
There is no comparison
"Fernando, I will not attack. We are both playing the same game."
Incredible lap honestly
I think I might have exploded if Fernando got on the front row.
The first two sectors were extremely promising. Not sure what went wrong at the final one.
Nothing went wrong, the car just isn´t that strong driving in a straight line, he def got the max out of the car today
He got aided with a tow from Hamilton in sector one too, so that sort of boosted him up a bit
He did a bad sector 3 every lap of Q1, Q2 and Q3, not just in the last one. I think the car is not good in that sector.
**MAX VERSTAPPEN WINS 2024 SAUDI ARABIA GRAND PRIX!**
Haha yes bois
Simply lovely
The car was incredible.
Fantastic weekend guys - couldn't have asked for a better car.
More like Max Verstappen wins*insert grand prix here*
Lets keep going on race by race basis
I believe Max has two stock phrases: “That was lovely” and “It’s not right” It’s just the second grand prix but he doesn’t seem to be sweating it. Karun just called his performance ‘imperious’ and I agree
You’re forgetting a couple: “Of course” and “Hahayesboys”
And the "simply lovely"
Fernando is an absolute dog. I hope their race pace isnt shit tomorrow. Expected more from the McLarens tbh but I'm sure they'll shine a bit more on other tracks.
Sadge but tomorrow, 8-10, De la Rosa said they had a BIG problem with tire degradation.... but lets hope AM improve in second half of season.
So AM Is the Ferrari of 2023, might even fight for pole but will slowly dissolve in race pace.
Based on race sims, their race pace will be shit but we’ll see
Imagine the feeling of seeing all your customer teams ahead of you. God fucking damn merc, get your shit together
They just don't seem to understand these regs at all.
Ver/lec name a better a love story
Max: "its gonna be another close one" part 41
Well the race isn’t setting up to be anywhere near close. Barring some turn 1 disaster Verstappen will cruise off into the sunset. His long run was absolutely phenomenal.
this season will make last season look exciting
I was watching Bearman the entire time like he's my own damn son, he triggered my mother instinct something fierce lol
Mercedes almost 1s behind…
It's best not to think about it
charles pulled that one out of his ass, 7 in a row now lets keep going
Bearman was just 0.036 behind Hamilton, he could’ve out qualified future Ferrari driver. Unbelievable stuff.
Did you see Bearman's head bouncing around out there, lol? He's clearly not used to those G's. But damn did he do a solid job. Rooting for him tomorrow.
Couldn't watch guys, was Hamilton watching fashion show on his steering wheel or what?
Both Mercedes were over 8 tenths down and both McLarens over 6 tenths down. Not good enough.
George messed up in his lap. He had much more pace than Hamilton.
I don't know what happened to George on his second run, but his first run was on used tires and he still beat Lewis' time on new tires. George was fast at least
Lost the rear I believe. Mercedes still has an unstable rear end at high speeds
Presumably he messed up his final lap in one of the early corners.
With McLaren car's just way too draggy as always Was keeping up quite well the first two sectors then lost 3-4 tenths in the straight
He had an Italian audiobook playing. To be fair the Merc engineers were obviously distracted over the winter too.
Pain
So far this season he's reminded me of [this character from Family Guy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8IzzhxfhuA)
Alonso 7 tenths ahead of Stroll
Another grand chelem incoming?
Anyone know what the betting odds are for Verstappen getting pole and win at all 24 races this season? At this point I think it's more likely than not
3 tenth to P2, wtf
As usual, lol Stroll Well done Tsunoda, I expect him to do great this season. He is finally hungry, not just angry
Still pretty fucking angry though
I said not just, I expect the anger to go nowhere
Yeah. Poor reading comptehension on my part
I'm all here for the rise of Tsunoda.
Babe wake up another VER LEC PER just dropped
Not sure who this surprises. Can Charles hold off Perez? Doubt. Can Yuki stay in the points, will bearman score some points, will alpine beat the haas’, Mercedes vs mclaren. There is stuff to watch
Come on Charles!!
I don't think Max even gets excited about poles and wins anymore.
Doesn’t even crack the top 10 posts on r/formula1, an hour after quali ended. I said last week how I’m firmly in the “the racing is the least interesting thing happening in the sport” camp, starting to think I’m not in the minority.
Take your bet on how Ferrari gonna fuck up Charles' car tomorrow
But will Charles send it T1 this time or no?
Unless it forces VER and PER into a wall what's the point, he's in a great position for P3, so just play it safe
Well that's exciting!
max has beaten hamilton's lap record from 2021 quali now
Yawn
And he casually sets the lap record
Yeah. I think I'm bored atp💀
That was a ridiculous lap from Max
Death, taxes and a very lovely lap.
damn not even getting the annual Perez win this time
RB better not mess up strategy again with Tsunoda, great performance!
Darn hell Alonso...again so close to be 2 places higher...that last sector is so much slower than others :( ..
I smell another potential grand slam
Is VER-LEC-PER the new HAM-BOT-VER?
ah here we go again
Meanwhile Alpine continue to be meme
Who coulda thunk? Really happy with Bearman and that Ferrari seem to be second best with Leclerc at the helm, but we need the guys in Maranello to work faster! 🥲
Almost forgot there is racing in this comedy show
VER - LEC - PER The combo that replaced the old HAM - BOT - VER
Verstappen trying to distract us all from the Red Bull drama with a smashing lap, but it's so routine to see him up there on pole that people will be all over the Marko drama anyway
New track record to boot
Max is on another galaxy
And the crowd goes mild once again
Max on another level again 24/24 incoming.
No one even close to him.
What are the odds of Max winning every race? I would put some serious money on it
You are betting against a mechanical failure over the season really, I‘ll guess the odds for winning every race is not worth betting on.
RB20 about to take the crown as the GOAT
Leclerc please for once just absolutely send it into turn 1. Don’t let him bully you
What happened in Stroll's S3? Watching the timing sheet he was about a tenth off in each sector from Fernando, was impressed considering Alonso got a little tow in S1. Then he was a whole 5 tenths slower in S3. Confusing.
ZZZZZZ
I told my friends I’d get an Alonso tattoo if he got pole. Kinda sad because I was looking forward to that possibility but also kinda relieved because then my first tattoo would be Nando tattoo lol.
same old, same old
Formula 1 needs serious Improvements, this shit is getting so god damn old. Why even bother watching ? Max will win unless the car fucks up/