Will You Carry on Watching F1?

After yesterday’s race and then comments coming out of the Mercedes camp that Verstappen should win all 24 races,then it looks like the only real racing will be middle order battles. I have cancelled my subscription anyone else

I listened live on 5Live yesterday for the first hour because the highlights were on a bit too late for me, I would have listened to the end probably but we had visitors!

I will probably stay in touch with the season but not sure how much of it I will go out of my way to watch/listen to.

I didn't watch most of the Schuey years at Ferrari either.

And I say this as someone who actually attended many GPs at Silverstone.

I cancelled my Sky F1 a while ago, the FIA made it untenable to consider it a sport and justify the costs of it.

Yesterday I did not even manage to get home for the start of the race, previously I would have moved mountains to ensure I was home an hour before the start to watch the build up etc. I watched the last hour (which was pretty lucky given it was Alonso battling)

So I watch it, but not like before.

No, I will still be watching. But then I didn't throw my toys out of the pram during the era of Mercedes/Hamilton dominance either.

Were there similar grumblings when Mercedes were thumping all around them for 5 years?

You cancelled your subscription after the first race of the season? Based on that one race and comments from Mercedes?

I mean....it looks bleak in terms of competitiveness but let's give it a bit of a chance.

To answer your question, if there's further Red Bull dominance, I will much more likely revert to my year 2010-2013 tactic of recording the race live and only actually watching it if I know something interesting happens.

But I'd actually be surprised if F1 allowed Red Bull to dominate in such a fashion.

Think about all those new fans off the back of Netflix - are the Johnsons from middle America going to watch a race series where the same guy/team win every race? I don't think so.

2021 showed the lengths they'll go to in order to make it a 'show'

Even when Mercedes were at their most dominant, they had two drivers fighting each other tooth and nail, with the drivers’ championship direction uncertain until late in the season, and more than a few incidents between the contenders along the way. When Rosberg walked away and was replaced by Bottas, Ferrari were up to the challenge.

This is more like watching the Schumacher-era Ferrai dominance, where you knew the result before the weekend started. Yes, a good midfield fight can go some way to making up for boredom in the lead - at least with the hardcore fans - but millions of people will still be switching off.

I cancelled my NOW TV subscription in about December. Partly it was because I was getting bored of F1, but also I was a bit surprised how much I was paying for it, and it didn't seem worth it.

I'm actually pleased that this seems to be the right decision! I've been watching F1 for more than 30 years (it's difficult to remember how much I was watching in the early days because coverage wasn't as complete back then) I can honestly say, even outside of F1, and in terms of just sports, I can't think of anything I've seen that is so much of a foregone conclusion as Max winning three. The only comparison I can think that comes close is Nadal in his pomp at Roland Garros. And to be fair, that's a knockout competition so there is always trepidation. Max can afford a few slip up and win this at a canter

It doesn't help that they've actually said they've got plenty in reserve - and the aforementioned "could win every GP". I think that's a little far fetched for sure, but Max will win let's say, at least 14 GP's this season. And Checo is firmly second too, which is comfortably ahead of where he was LY

Lewis' wins didn't have this, there was always threat from Nico and yes, Bottas for a good portion, and of course Vettel a couple of times. Where we honestly didn't know until Lewis turned the screw after the summer break/Ferrari got dialled down.

And this isn't a Max vs. Lewis thing, I've sat through many a year where there wasn't a hope of a British driver winning the WC. I actually quite like Horner too.

But this as close to certain as anything I've seen. Honestly - I don't know why people are still watching it. It makes no sense to me. I don't get the "But the midfield battles!" crap either. Not unless you gamble or something? Seems bizarre to me

I'll keep an eye on the results and if I hear there was a fun, classic race, then I might watch highlights, but for NOW? No, glad I'm not forking out for that anymore. I'll use the time for DIY instead.

The biggest irony in the OP, and a couple of other supporting posts, is that the driver we probably saw least of yesterday was Verstappen!

I've followed F1 since the mid 1960s (when it was hardly on TV at all). The intensity of my interest peaked in the Senna, Mansell, Prost, Hill era but began to slide with the advent of Michael Schumacher.

However, I have never completely abandoned my interest in it but I follow it in a very much less intense way than I used to.