The end of the Hungarian Grand Prix has seen us reach the end of the first half of the 2015 Formula One season. However it has been far from the season many had hoped it would be, with Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton continuing their domination, apart from a few hickups. The only ‘real’ challenge to the Silver Arrows appears to be the Ferrari in the hands of Sebastian Vettel, the German remaining in the hunt for a possible 5th driver’s title.
Viewer numbers are in decline and the powers that be are scratching their heads on how to provide more exciting racing to win over the new fans. Meanwhile there are other figures who appear to be trying their best to only highlight what the sport is doing wrong (Horner and Mr E to name two).
Silverstone and Hungaroring saw Williams, Ferrari and even Red Bull take the fight to the current world champions but will that last the season or was that small flashes excitement and service will resume as normal after the break?
With that in mind, how would you rate the season so far? Use the comments section to tell us why you voted the way you did.
Really bad except for maybe 2 or 3 races. But that wasn’t really an option in the poll.
Do you want it to be an option? 🙂
Well, it would get my vote. And I’m guessing I won’t be the only one who choses that. 😉
Duly noted, will keep that in mind of the end of the season poll. Mr E and co has 4 months to make it happen then!
Let’s hope the old and classic tracks provide some show
Hick-ups: 7up for hillbillies
Agree with Bruznic
The worst season I have ever seen with the exception of Hungary. Very lucky I was actually there too!
The interesting races were Malaysia, where Ferrari really surprised Mercedes cars with its pace, Monaco, where a bonehead decision to pit Hamilton gifted Rosberg and Vettel first two steps on the podium, Silverstone, where both Williams cars beat Mercedes cars at the start, and Hungary, where Ferraris beat both Mercedes cars at the start again. Spanish GP was also pretty interesting. That’s five interesting races out of ten. So it’s not an entirely bad season.
To be frank and undiplomatic, this season isn’t going to be a season that will really penetrate my long-term memory bank and be encoded so as to be available for immediate recall in years to come… 2014/15 will need a bit of Wiki’ing to remind me of how things transpired in any detail over those years; outside of Lewis having won the two WDC’s in a Mercedes that was one of the most dominant cars – in an engine based “token-upgrade” formula – in the history of the sport.
But for me, it’s not the avg. +1sec/lap car domination at the vast majority of tracks that’s made it a season, or two, that I’d characterise as “bland, with an occasional bit of spice that’s usually as a result of a Mercedes fuck up”. They’ve a well-earned dominant car and worked the formula regs the best; so kudos to them. It’s just a really shit formula generally… the sport is on the ropes, in my opinion.
Coming back to some diplomacy, the last few races have been good. I’ve rated them highly in their immediate aftermath. But again, in retrospect, my “pleasure” is relative to the season, or two, that we’ve been subjected to and also, it’s because of the Mercedes fuck ups. That sort of enjoyment lasts only so long, doesn’t it? Watching a sport because a driver and team might fuck up, so I can give it a 8 or 9 at TJ13.
Another indictment of this season is that it’s made the Red Bull years seem like they were actually good years in F1. That’s all that needs to be said really.
Again, I don’t blame Mercedes or Lewis/Nico. The formula itself is poor, and in my opinion, thrust itself into a set of technical and sporting regs that’s a bit of mini-WEC crap.
I often hear that the sport is on the ropes. But at the same time, would it have been much different if Hamilton and Rosberg were employed by McLaren in 1989 and 1988. Or at Ferrari in 2000-2004? The truth is that F1 has been susceptible to long periods of dominance by a single car. In the second half of 1980s, it was McLaren. In the mid-90s, it was whoever with Renault engine, but mostly Williams. 2000-3004: Ferrari. 2010-2014: Red Bull. Now Mercedes. I don’t know what’s a possible solution to this conundrum without pissing off much of fan base. One possibility would be to make the chassis and engine specs so tight that it is pointless to spend more than X amount of money, but then F1 would be a spec series.
It’s not the domination that’s the issue for me… it’s rarely actual GP racing anymore. We get Q3 then car management etc… I won’t go on.
If the domination of Mercedes wouldn’t be there, and if the lack of power from the Renault engine wouldn’t exist, than it could been have a great season so far.
Why would Renault power make any difference at all? Red Bull made a shit chassis that can barely stay ahead of the Toro Rossos. The ones who could do a lot better with more power are probably Ferrari cars.
Up and down. Mercedes’s dominance remains crushing and none of F1’s serious problems have been solved. My interest remains more based on inertia than genuine excitement.
On the other hand, it just may be that something as simple as manual starts has the potential to turn things on their head and make a much better second half to the season.
The driving in the mid-pack is fun to watch.
On a different note A free demo day in the Netherlands on the Dutch MotoGP track with demo runs from Max Verstappen 87.000 attendees thats more then austria.
Assen, if only it was wide enough would be a perfect track for F1….
Hungary aside ..a very poor and boring year. We can’t expect every year to be classic gold but I struggle to understand why no one try’s something a bit different to upset the form of the Mercs, The greatest moments in F1 history are the upsets, the heroics and the david vs goliath battles. We only need one or two of those in a long season to transform it. However I think the formula needs some work to allow a return to those days…
For one, the other factory arms are tied because they all agreed to limit the engine development based on “tokens”. Mercedes massively over-spent before the system was in place and is now comfortably ahead. Can’t complain about fairness of this since all manufacturers agreed to this in advance.
I’m enjoying the season, we can’t have a classic every year and it was unlucky we didn’t get an epic Seb vs Lewis duel last time out. The action has been fine, I just wish the coverage was better.
The FOM TV director doesn’t have the right instincts and we don’t have the crucial ES state on screen any more so we can’t see the tactics and racecraft. As for the Formula1.com website and the app… I have to use 2 phones and a laptop just to get a driver tracker and all the sector and laptimes displayed! Clueless.
Seb vs Lewis could only be epic in your imagination as Vettel would be bringing knife to a gunfight against Mercedes at this point.
This is not the best season, but it’s a lot better than 2013, where the first half was raced on fragile and exploding tires and the final 9 races were won by Vettel (Hamilton hasn’t yet accomplished that feat despite the dominant car)
I think number based poll options wold be better. 0 for the worse season ever/possible, 5 for the best.
Copy that for next time.. Was a bit of tongue in cheek options.