2020 Istanbul not Constantinople GP

Well, that was an unexpected Pole position...

Praying for rain tomorrow to avoid another Mercedes parade...

Well we got one anyway- Hamilton won. Again.

First half of the race was good...

It was a great race until Hamilton took the lead and then it went downhill. 1 spin from hamilton and it would have been a classic but nope.

I have to concur with the assessment that this had all the potential to be a brilliant race, but for a few fatal words: "HAMILTON WINS LOL". I stopped watching Formula One previously during the Schumacher domination period and by all accounts, Hamilton will have an unopposed path to title #8, with titles #9, #10 and #11 well within grasp if Mercedes makes a good transition into the 2022 rules.

I'd like to think he'll call it a day once he's got the 8th title and 100 wins, and retire to become... well, I think we all know what he'll become.

But I have this horrible sense of foreboding that you'll be right...

He'll retire to become... an Extreme E team owner. Oh wait, that's already...

Not quite what I was thinking, but along those lines...

I have the gut feeling that next season may be his last season on the grid. 8th tittle record, 2022 rule changes, 37 years... Besides, even though he's really competitive, I think he has reached a point in his career in which he has no much more to win. Yes, he can win a 9th, 10th... but I think that the way he has been winning (with the most powerful car on the grid by far, and little real competition) ironically is tarnishing his legacy.

I mean, obviously he's an awesome driver, one of the best in history, but his championship era has been extremely boring and dull (a reminiscence of Schumacher's 2000s titles, but even longer). I wonder what will people remember more in the future: Hamilton's 7 titles, or Senna/Prost's 7.

I'm more likely to remember the titles from the early days of my F1 viewing (Senna, Prost, Mansell and the Red Baron's first two pre-Red), plus Jenson Button's title...

Klon wrote:*autistic screeching*

Aside: isn't it great to be able to mention Jenson Button without that happening?

Anyway, where was I? I'll remember Jenson's title as up to that point it had been so very unexpected - he'd won one race by a major fluke, not covered himself in glory in 2008 (and quite rightly won his second Reject of the Season) and then... that! With a team that had been moribund over Christmas, as well.

I think the problem with recent seasons is not just that it's been four seasons of Sebastian Vettel in the box seats followed by seven seasons of Lewis Hamilton (even if Britney spoiled his party one year) - it's that I've been watching for 30 years now and one season just seems to merge into another - the 2010s Back Three have all gone, the dreary red/white/black/silver colour schemes (that reflect the equally colourless situation on the roads, and I'm not exactly helping on that front), the lack of variety in engine manufacturers, and the recent Formula 1.5 debacle... it's all merging into one Whole General Sort Of Mish-Mash now. Back on t'old forum (which I am steadily losing hope will ever return), there'd be threads along the lines of "what was your favourite race of the last decade", and I'd be unable to come up the details for most of them, unless it was famous or notorious in some way (Canada 2011, Monaco 2014, Japan 2014, for instance). But I'd know a lot more fine details about races that had happened 20 years earlier, which had not been erased by the march of time.

I think what makes it even worse for this year is the fact that we have had 14 races this season and half of them have had the same podium. Hamilton, Bottas, Max. Even when Schumacher was dominating at least there was some variety. 12 races have been won by Mercedes this year and they have won nearly 70% since 2014. Only 1 podium this year has not had any of those drivers on it (Italy- which was the best race of the season by miles)

I can't really blame Mercedes as a team nor can I blame Hamilton for being better than everyone else. However, the fact remains that as soon as Hamilton took the lead of any race recently especially this weekend, there were more groans than cheers as fans knew what was coming.

Blame Bottas for not competing with Hamiton. Blame Red Bull for not bothering to help Alex Albon compete and seeing to be happy to revolve around Max which is leading to this. Blame the FIA for allowing this situation to go on like this. We only had 4 seasons of Red Bull domination and only two rather dull seasons (2011 and 2013). Yet they changed the rules to stop the red Bull domination. I was as happy as anyone else when Australia 2014 happened and Vettel stopped winning. Now I find myself begging the racing gods to let something Happen to that car with Hamilton driving. even the Tv directors are bored showing the Mercedes which has meant formula 1.5 has had a lot more exposure this season.

Add to the face that we will have this next season too (unless Hamilton doesn't sign a contract with Mercedes-can I just say that I am bored with the not signing the contract saga. Its boring everyone now. Could they just get on with it. Skype it and just do it) Maybe Red Bull will have Perez/Hulkenberg in the seat with Max. Maybe Alonso might do something with Alpine. Maybe Ferrari with Sainz and Leclerc can get back on top. But I can just see another domination season with Hamilton.

Will we look back on his era with pure pleasure as I did with Schumacher's- I doubt it.

(Sorry about the rant)