Following another terrible excuse for a Formula 1 race at Circuit Paul Ricard, Sunday’s IndyCar race at Road America featured record viewership on NBC. Through the first eight races of the 21-race 2019 Formula 1 season, it has been nothing more than the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport show. It might as well be called “Formula 1 turn decides each race”, because going back to last season, whichever Mercedes driver has been ahead of the other heading into turn one has won nine of the last 10 races.
This past Sunday’s French Grand Prix was a new low for the sport, even for this frightfully boring season. For the sixth time in the last seven races and the fourth consecutive race, it was Lewis Hamilton driving away from the field to add to his win total.
But what has been a disaster for Formula 1 has indirectly been IndyCar‘s gain.
heel series is is a bunch of left turns (despite the fact that it is a road/street course-dominated series) and that it is only good for becoming a home for drivers who failed to make it in the so-called “pinnacle of motorsport” are getting tired of watching the same old insomnia-curing parades week in and week out.
Just hours after the French Grand Prix concluded, Andretti Autosport’s Alexander Rossi took the field to school in the REV Group Grand Prix at Road America, dominating the 55-lap caution-free race around the 14-turn, 4.048-mile (6.515-kilometer) natural terrain road course in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin en route to winning it by 28.4391 seconds over Team Penske’s Will Power in second place, the largest winning margin in almost a full decade.
Hamilton, himself a past unreasonably ignorant and biased critic of IndyCar and its full-time drivers, praised the series for their usage of the great track that is Road America, and he has been very vocal over the last few days about just how boring Formula 1 has become despite the fact that he has had more success to start this season than he has in any other start to a season in his career.
Can you blame him? Sure, he is playing a part in this boredom by dominating every race, but it’s really not his fault. Imagine playing a racing video game on a beginner-level difficulty. Of course you’re going to win every race, but after a few minutes, of course you’re going to get bored, especially if, at most, you are battling with one other car.
This is not Hamilton being greedy or trying to play the victim card despite how it may seem given Mercedes’ ridiculous continual “underdog” act; it’s called being realistic and sympathizing with a ticked-off fanbase.
Source:Beyond the Flag