i reckon at least one person other than me will be interested in this, so…
the new F1 season properly starts tomorrow with the first race on Sunday in Australia. testing was mostly been Mercedes and Ferrari insisting that the other team is faster than them, and McLaren breaking down a lot - i expect that the true order between the teams will be revealed over the course of the weekend (spoilers: Mercedes have been sandbagging and will win easily), the new regulations will have ruined overtaking, and McLaren will break down a lot. i’m still somehow vaguely excited for it all though.
also vaguely planning on going to a race this year - looked up how much tickets for the Spanish GP would be and they weren’t ridiculous, plus it’s close to Barcelona so that’s good, but we’ll see.
below are some frankly inevitable polls (assuming i’ve got them to work anyway) - who do you think is going to do the business this season?
One of the more tedious things in all sports is ultra-successful, perma-winning sporting behemoths trying to play the underdog card. Mercedes are 1/2 favourites for the constructors championship, ie the massive odds-on favourites, Lewis.
Always makes me think of those sorts of people who come out of exams with massive grins going “Oooh, I’ve totally failed that exam, so hard wasn’t it, 96% you say, well I never.”
I’ve voted for Bottas but tbh I might as well have voted for Ocon - I can’t see anyone other than Lewis winning right now which is pretty depressing, BUT, I am more excited for this F1 season than I have been in years
If the Ferrari’s as quick as Mercedes reckons it is (and that this is in fact sincere) then Vettel will be a very good shout for the title. Over the last 3 seasons (even allowing for last season) I think he’s been the best driver.
Hungary is a really good race to go to apparently (according to a mate who’s an F1 die hard), the tickets are really cheap and it’s pretty close to Budapest (20km or so)
I’d really like to go to Spa, pretty easy to drive out there and camp or something and drink ludicrously strong Belgian beers. Plus the track is iconic and it gets good crowds.
Excited for this season, although I’m worried that the faster cars are going to make it even harder to overtake.
I’ve been to the Spanish GP so I would say a race not renowned for overtaking + speculation that this year’s cars find it more difficult to overtake + watching from one spot = not the most exciting race to watch
Plus the circuit is a bit of a pain to get to - train to Montmelo and then you have to walk to get the bus to the circuit. But you get bang for your buck with general admission in getting to watch GP2 and the other races, and I think you get admission to the pit lane on the Thursday as well?
I imagine it would be better if you camp on site and take in the atmosphere but there ya go
Budapest is dirt cheap and normally a very exciting and eventful race (bar last year), maybe Monza as well? Shame Germany isn’t on the calendar this year with Hockenheim as that was cheap as well last year.