I think I won’t be watching next season. Max probably (in my confused mind) didn’t deserve last year’s title, but this year he certainly does.
But the sport feels pretty funked and run by the TV company for viewing figures.
I think Masi really screwed the dog last year, but it was one of the all-time great seasons of F1. Hamilton and Verstappen both drove brilliantly and Red Bull and Merc both did fantastic technical jobs. It really was so close that it just came down to one bad call from an umpire, happens all the time in sports. I don’t particularly like Max, but he didn’t do anything wrong, he drove brilliantly, time to move on and accept that he is a deserving champion.
The 2022 championship was much more normal, I think. One team produced a better car plus had a driver who could get the best out of it, by mid-season there was no doubt over who would be champion. Max drove brilliantly, he deserved the championship, but if Leclerc or Hamilton or Norris or Alonso or Russell had been switched with Max and had Perez as teammate, they would have won the title too. F1’s always been like that – the best car nearly always wins, and the best cars are nearly always driven by the best drivers.
Hopefully the financial and resource restrictions will close things up and produce closer racing where the difference comes down to drivers more than designers. The 2022 Indycar season was a great example, multiple teams and drivers in contention right to the end, Scott Dixon made one mistake at the Indy 500 and that cost him the championship. That’s normal in Indycars, hopefully F1 will become more like that.