Well, that isn’t really too hard to guess. It was amazingly boring. From the pictures of Chase Carey who didn’t have a clue of what to say to Putin, who he was sitting next to during the race, to the way Wehrlein and Ericsson made it to the finish. (IMHO: totally invisible)

I had promised myself to watch the whole race (and nothing but the race, so help me god). The last couple of times I walked away to make myself a sandwich, or do some house-hold chores just to keep active. And during those “breaks”, lo and behold most of the action took place making me miss most of it.

Ferrari seemed to have the faster car at Sochi in both free practice as in the race. Unluckily Vettel pucked uf his start (AFAIK Vettel drove his 50,000th F1 kilometer during this weekend: just a little fact for the people liking those kind of fact-thingy). It wasn’t even that bad, it might even be that pole isn’t the fastest place to start from in Sochi. Über-borer Bottas beat him to the corner, and country-man Räikkönen could close the door on “I am sure the problem were my brakes/tires/eye/gloves today” Hamilton.

Verstappen pulled off my highlight of the race by guestimating a hole where nobody saw a hole (including your truly) and make up 2 places at the start. The heating of both tyres and brakes kept him from coming up with something more spectacular during the race.

Of course we had Alonso getting out of the car on the first warming up lap. But let’s be honest: this is becoming BAU (Business As Usual)

Some patterns are already forming:

Mercedes’ proving they have a car that’s performing well in the lead, and doing less well in dirty air. Ferrari’s ability to stay out longer on the same set of tyres. Vandoorne not being able to make life difficult for Alonso. Honda making life difficult for Alonso (but as said: this is becoming the default). Stroll not keeping up to Massa (if you would have asked me at the beginning of the season, I would have estimated differently) Verstappen just losing out on the qualification battle to Ricciardo, but making up for it right at the start. KevMag finding a way to somehow f-up his race. Hülkenberg doing well in the Renault, while Palmer doing the reverse. Carlos and Daniil close, but the Spaniard simply stronger between the ears.

Ocon seems to be on the right track. Getting closer and closer to Perez. Wehrlein and Ericsson: completely invisible. (Yes, I have to repeat myself, otherwise you might forget they’re there)

In the words of a racing driver: “bwoah”.. Nothing to get excited about…

“But Jefe, it was Bottas’ first win, and Vettel seemed to close in on Bottas at the end of the race.”

True, and every “virgin” winner should be celebrated (with cake, confetti and a conga line!), but could this guy please grow a personality? (Vallteri, if you read this, I dare you to do a 3 question interview with me) This racer simply doesn’t yank my chain. Toto’s comments are more exciting than his.

“Well, but at least this year’s overtaking maneuvers are spectacular, and we can do without DRS” No, no, NOOO. We see less overtaking, so we have to wait far too long in between. We don’t see enough battles. I really don’t care the cars are faster this year. I really don’t care they look wider. I just care I see less of what makes F1 worth watching. That former racers think DRS falsifies the competition: I could not care less. I just think of it as part of the game. Wouldn’t it be grand if drivers could play leap-over for a couple of rounds?

A new aero package is coming up for Red Bull for the upcoming Barcelona weekend. I am keeping my fingers crossed for some better race excitement.

“But Jefe, didn’t all of this turn you off so much that you will stop watching F1?” Well yeah, but no. Stupidly enough I might even want to go to Barcelona..