2022 Canadian Grand Prix - Montreal, June 17 - 19

[Big Tea]

Monaco?

Bahrain and Jeddah maybe. That's about it.
I think fans are looking for battles and overtaking attemps and cars making mistakes under pressure for the lead.

Maybe Hamilton needs to be back at the front to apply pressure.

The animosity between max and Lewis helped make things nteresting. It felt like two real life enemies going at it. Max was always over the top in wheel to wheel with Lewis ceding most of the time except for silverstone. This year there is none of that. Max and Charles have zero animosity. Their wheel to wheel encounters have been too respectful And Charles is not currently even Max’s closest challenger. There is just no juice to the fight, and although the cars can run closer to each other overtaking is still similar and the cars all look like mid 90’s Honda civics with chopped off suspension springs around the track. The show is definitely worst this year.

Sounds silly, but I think all the graphics this year are just a step back also. Just feels so dark and uninteresting. Find myself avoiding to look at graphics now instead of watching for gaps between drivers.

I had realised I am not enjoying it so much too, but not why. I was putting it down to a mixture of so many wet sessions and the new regs with the cars not sorted, but thinking on it, you are right. we are being graphic't to death, and that on board 'drivers eye view' where you can see nothing is making the race into a sideshow. Sort of telling us that if something is worth watching they will let us know where to look.

I just can not seem to get settled into races this year. (Yes, I do like being grumpy )

[siskue2005]

You didn't find Bahrain, Jeddah, Monaco and Canada good/exciting races?

I can see Baku, Imola, Barcelona and maybe Miami not being exciting but the others...

Monaco?

Bahrain and Jeddah maybe. That's about it.
I think fans are looking for battles and overtaking attemps and cars making mistakes under pressure for the lead.

Maybe Hamilton needs to be back at the front to apply pressure.

The animosity between max and Lewis helped make things nteresting. It felt like two real life enemies going at it. Max was always over the top in wheel to wheel with Lewis ceding most of the time except for silverstone. This year there is none of that. Max and Charles have zero animosity. Their wheel to wheel encounters have been too respectful And Charles is not currently even Max’s closest challenger. There is just no juice to the fight, and although the cars can run closer to each other overtaking is still similar and the cars all look like mid 90’s Honda civics with chopped off suspension springs around the track. The show is definitely worst this year.

The rules of engagement has changed this year, there has been specific rules and guidelines for the drivers.
I agree the overtaking is similar and without DRS we will see huge trains.
The low nose is too retro, it looks like 80s and early 90s car, nothing modern

[codetower]

The race threads are so quiet and short these days. Races are OK, but not as exciting as last year.

In my opinion, there are two reasons. Not necessarily because there hasn’t been exciting racing, or that the new specs have ruined everything. But first, except for the first couple of races, so many races have been anti-climactic. We’ve seen 9 retirements (if you count the two failures from RB in Bahrain) from the top 2 teams so far. The top two drivers have had issues In 4 of the 9 races, leaving almost half of the races with a somewhat predictable outcome. Not necessarily boring, but not leaving much to talk about.

Secondly, the two “Protagonists” this year don’t have any perceived animosity (yet) so that filters down to the fans. You aren’t seeing pages and pages of fans arguing who is right/wrong, who’s better, etc. I felt the threads last year got a bit tiresome. Too much quantity, not enough quality.

[Juzh]

There's also no team/FIA coms anymore and driver radios are being cut before juicy responses more than usual this year and there's in general less of them being broadcast. I don't believe 2021 season will ever be repeated in terms of drama and engagement it offered. It was peak f1 broadcast, we just didn't know it then.

[Sevach]

I thought watching Zhou take Vettel on the outside of turn 1 was the highlight of the whole race to be honest.

Somehow they missed Leclerc overtaking the 2 Alpines.
Also a lot of Stroll, felt like the days of local crews covering the GP.

[cplchanb]

There's also no team/FIA coms anymore and driver radios are being cut before juicy responses more than usual this year and there's in general less of them being broadcast. I don't believe 2021 season will ever be repeated in terms of drama and engagement it offered. It was peak f1 broadcast, we just didn't know it then.

2021 was a clear example of what happens when you go too far in terms of this "fan access" zeal and try to push the Americanisation of a european sport.

it caused alienation between fans of different teams, demonised team principals for doing things they have been doing for decades, wrongly made the FIA look like a tool and cast a false narrative on the functionings of F1 for new DTS fans.

some things are not meant to be freely broadcast to the open world such as driver briefings. Fans dont have unlimited rights to everything and should not expect it to be.

[cplchanb]

The race threads are so quiet and short these days. Races are OK, but not as exciting as last year.

In my opinion, there are two reasons. Not necessarily because there hasn’t been exciting racing, or that the new specs have ruined everything. But first, except for the first couple of races, so many races have been anti-climactic. We’ve seen 9 retirements (if you count the two failures from RB in Bahrain) from the top 2 teams so far. The top two drivers have had issues In 4 of the 9 races, leaving almost half of the races with a somewhat predictable outcome. Not necessarily boring, but not leaving much to talk about.

Secondly, the two “Protagonists” this year don’t have any perceived animosity (yet) so that filters down to the fans. You aren’t seeing pages and pages of fans arguing who is right/wrong, who’s better, etc. I felt the threads last year got a bit tiresome. Too much quantity, not enough quality.

this is what happens with the whole expectation vs reality from DTS... thanks to netflix F1 is perceived to be a year long battle to the death, but in reality more often than not its a long stretched out affair.

[PlatinumZealot]

The team coms are funny sometimes but I don't judge the race on them. That's fluff IMO.

[Mogster]

There's also no team/FIA coms anymore and driver radios are being cut before juicy responses more than usual this year and there's in general less of them being broadcast. I don't believe 2021 season will ever be repeated in terms of drama and engagement it offered. It was peak f1 broadcast, we just didn't know it then.

I’ve watched the sport for 35 years and it was quite obvious 2021 was exceptional. 2022 was always very likely to be a return to normal service in many respects.

[Spoutnik]

I looked at the calendar and I was surprised by how far we are in this season... I think the rules have not delivered. Racing can be closer. But the cars are sluggish, and the gap between the top and the rest of the field is worse.
We are witnessing a "non Championship" with the usual Leclerc mega lap and Sainz "almost" lap to secure a Ferrari 1-2 on the grid and then it's a walk in the park for Max.

Many SC saved some races, otherwise the entire field would've been lapped.
I miss 2012 season. 2019 even in that aspect with 3 teams atleast competing for the race win.

[InsaneX_Badger]

Funny that. Was going to say this year felt like 2019 a little. One team in front but with the other two not too far behind and scoring wins and good points but ultimately that front runner was just head and shoulders above the rest.

[Wouter]

We are witnessing a "non Championship" with the usual Leclerc mega lap and Sainz "almost" lap to secure a Ferrari 1-2
on the grid and then it's a walk in the park for Max.

.
During which races was it a walk in the park for Max? Even the last race Max had a hard time getting ahead of Sainz.
If it had been Leclerc, Max wouldn't have won.

[Spoutnik]

We are witnessing a "non Championship" with the usual Leclerc mega lap and Sainz "almost" lap to secure a Ferrari 1-2
on the grid and then it's a walk in the park for Max.

.
During which races was it a walk in the park for Max? Even the last race Max had a hard time getting ahead of Sainz.
If it had been Leclerc, Max wouldn't have won.

Miami, Imola, Barcelona (Leclerc DNF but still), Baku, Monaco in a way because it would've been the case if Perez didn't outqualify him.

In Canada he was never really under threat. I was hoping for Carlos' first win but he was on pole, the pace was good he coped well with the pressure. Ferrari strategy was better but we'll never now if Carlos would've win without the SC.

[Ryar]

We are witnessing a "non Championship" with the usual Leclerc mega lap and Sainz "almost" lap to secure a Ferrari 1-2
on the grid and then it's a walk in the park for Max.

.
During which races was it a walk in the park for Max? Even the last race Max had a hard time getting ahead of Sainz.
If it had been Leclerc, Max wouldn't have won.

Miami, Imola, Barcelona (Leclerc DNF but still), Baku, Monaco in a way because it would've been the case if Perez didn't outqualify him.

In Canada he was never really under threat. I was hoping for Carlos' first win but he was on pole, the pace was good he coped well with the pressure. Ferrari strategy was better but we'll never now if Carlos would've win without the SC.

I wish Redbull add another second advantage with their next upgrade so we don't need to have these borderline discussions.

[Spoutnik]

.
During which races was it a walk in the park for Max? Even the last race Max had a hard time getting ahead of Sainz.
If it had been Leclerc, Max wouldn't have won.

Miami, Imola, Barcelona (Leclerc DNF but still), Baku, Monaco in a way because it would've been the case if Perez didn't outqualify him.

In Canada he was never really under threat. I was hoping for Carlos' first win but he was on pole, the pace was good he coped well with the pressure. Ferrari strategy was better but we'll never now if Carlos would've win without the SC.

I wish Redbull add another second advantage with their next upgrade so we don't need to have these borderline discussions.

Why is it borderline ?