It's not been a great omen for the rest of the year, sure, but let's be honest...it's not 2004.
(Anyone who remembers 1992 wanna pitch in at this point as well?)
I've lost interest in the past few years of F1; or at least, distanced myself from the sport's recent declining excitement–to–over-saturation ratio.
It is shaping up like '04, but at least Bottas is allowed to seriously compete against Hamilton. Mercedes can even afford a race or two where they come to contretemps, and even then, only a few stat fanatics would notice by season's end. And like 2004, we have a competitive field that's tighter than ever before, yet somehow too rigid to show flexibility in results.
Yeah, 1992 was snoozy, but it was the first time in five years Senna wasn't at sharp end of the grid. Mansell finally got a measure of justice, though at the expense of not wanting to be Prost's teammate the following year. At least you had some mixing up towards the rear of the grid between the DNQs while the mid-pack shuffled constantly.
I feel like F1 is a sport chasing the hopes and dreams of a younger generation and it's succeeding a bit.
If I was 13-to-25 again, I'd probably be jolly ecstatic that my obscure sport offered so much access these days. But after 33 years of it, I just care a whole lot less about the manufactured drama and "memeification" as the same silver cars win, utter petulance, lacking driving standards, in quiet, gruesome vehicles which run around for the same raft of sponsors on mostly TrackCorp Circuits. I'm not impressed with how many times these millionaires can bark out obscenities or stir each other over minor things, re-filtered with all the elegance of pro-wrestling. Should I expect anything else from 21-year-olds who've lacked life experience before encasing themselves in electronics and carbon fiber?
