Lewis Hamilton accepts Formula 1 races are becoming dull with the lack of competition, claiming he would only watch the YouTube highlights.
There were no changes in position whatsoever among the front three during last Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix, with Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas and Max Verstappen filling those places for the fifth time in seven races.
Unable to match the pace of Mercedes and having to cope with tyre issues, the Red Bull driver called the race at Spa “boring” and the six-time world champion was inclined to agree.
“I feel exactly the same as Max; it wasn’t the most exciting [race],” he said via Crash.net.
“I enjoy myself in the car. I am still able to enjoy the battle, looking where Valtteri is, what times he’s doing, the gaps, trying to get a perfect balance every lap.
“That is still a massive challenge for me but it is just not as fun for people to watch. When you’re in it, it’s a bit different.
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“Of course I would love a wheel-to-wheel race. I hope the next races… the Red Bulls have improved, I really hope we have more of a race. Everyone wants to see us all battling together.
“At the end of the day we’re drivers, we’ve come through all the ranks, we’ve earned the positions that we have. We come in, weekend in, weekend out, devoted and give absolutely everything to go out there and perform at our best.”
Hamilton noted the issue of processional races isn’t new in F1, however, recalling how he’d often fall asleep watching races back in the days of Michael Schumacher’s dominance.
But admits with the extra ways to follow available these days, he probably wouldn’t watch a live race unless prompted.
“If I was watching today I would do the same most likely and watch the highlights because it’s much shorter, unless a friend told me there was a super exciting race on TV so that you watch the whole thing,” he added.
F1’s latest Concorde Agreement, which has been signed by all teams, tries to address some of the issues that have caused the lack of competition through creating a more equal financial playing field as well as the now delayed introduction of all-new cars in 2022, which have been designed to promote better racing.
But another major factor impacting races currently is how they’re all following the same pattern of drivers managing tyres in co-ordination with their engineers to complete one-stop strategies.
“I think one-stop races are always boring,” said Red Bull boss Christian Horner.
“I think that you need to have two to three-stop races. I think that mixes the order up, it mixes the strategy up.
“And I think that we’ve always seen that one-stop races, where drivers are driving under the tyre, trying to conserve the tyre, it is very tough.
“I think that you need some more variability of strategy in order to create offsets between the cars.”
FIA race director Michael Masi isn’t so sure, however.
“I think it’s probably a bit harsh connecting one-stop races and boring races because I think we’ve seen some exciting one-stop races,” he said.
“We’ve also seen some boring two-stop races and some exciting two-stop races. So I think from that perspective, that is not a notion I would support.
“But having said that, the FIA together with Pirelli, F1, the teams and obviously the input of the drivers work together to try and fulfil a number of criteria each year, and it’s no secret that Pirelli have been working closely with all of those parties.
“[Pirelli boss] Mario Isola attends the drivers’ meetings at 4-5 events every year to give an update to the drivers and the teams of where Pirelli is at, and what they’re looking to do.
“So I think the evolution of that is that we will continue working together between all of the key stakeholders with F1, the FIA, Pirelli, the drivers and the teams to have a tyre that is fit for purposes.”