Am I being too cynical?

[cider_and_toast]

Cast your mind back to the French GP. Yes I know that's painful however, stick with me.

After that race it was clear that F1 had serious image problems and the Pre season rule tweeks had failed to produce any change up front. Every single race had been won by Mercedes seemingly with little effort. Mercs potential rivals in Red Bull and Ferrari were floundering with only brief flickers of competitiveness. Added to this, audience figures globally continued to decline, none more so than in the UK with the new PPV TV deal.

France represented the lowest point in an already lifeless season.

Then, we have the next six races, yes helped by the rain making the Austrian GP a bit of a lottery, and we've had 3 drivers on the top step, Max, Lewis and Charles all taking 2. A mix of drivers scrapping for the top 6 and some genuinely interesting and even highly entertaining races.

So what's lead to this massive turn around? The cynic in me says that Liberty have gone cap in hand to the current big three and told them to make it look good.

Is it just a simple case that Red Bull and Ferrari have finally got their cars working? Have Ferrari started backing the right horse and, having let Charles of the leash, are reaping the rewards?

Is it just luck that the shape of the season has changed beyond recognition compared to the beginning?

 

[Chasz]

Honestly, I think it's just the case that we've had a couple of tracks suiting Ferrari and some brilliant driving from leclerc and verstappen.

In the races up to France, Merc had the 'overall best' car and also the rub of the green at certain races (aided by some Ferrari mistakes!)

 

[FB]

In days of yore teams used to rise and fall through the season. Think 1979, Ligier were on top, then Ferrari and Williams ended the season as the top team. But then, of course, you could spend days blatting round a test track trying to improve the car.

Maybe Red Bull and Ferrari spent the break running their CFD systems to breaking point whilst the FIA looked the other way?

 

[siffert_fan]

• To me, it just seems to be the usual pattern: Mercedes run up a HUGE lead early on, then sandbag in the middle of the season to tighten things up, whereupon they will "miraculously" rediscover their dominant pace so that their fans can fawn all over them.

So yes, I am cynical.

 

[Ruslan]

Yea, I think you are being too cynical. Keep in mind Ferrari dominated testing and was definitely in the thick of things the first half of the season, including throwing away a win or two. This could have been a very different first half if there were not Ferrari team errors, Ferrari pit errors, Ferrari mechanical errors, Ferrari tire problems, Ferrari driver errors and a stewart ruling in Canada (or does that also count as a driver error)? When they were close to Mercedes they threw it away. Now that they have a large lead, it is not surprising that Mercedes and its drivers are playing it a little safer. They just have to make sure they get the cars home to take it all.

 

[F1Brits_90]

great minds think alike. i was thinking exactly same & was is answer. to have 5 thrillers 8 -9s 1 good race 6-7s. is it just the old thing you get 2 cars matched on pace. you will have great racing. are we in a new golden age of quality drivers with verstappen, leclerc battling old guard hamilton & vettel. is the 2019 rules helping following cars longer. or is it "new" interpretation that leading to great wheel to wheel action

i think i can completely count out top 3 making the show better. because if that was case mercedes & Ferrari wouldve given red bull engines. but they said they would rather see them leave. than "improve" the show. we would have a budget cap to close up the grid & to help the smaller teams survive. Ferrari caused farce in usa 05 because they smelled only victory of season. sabotaged the race so no one could use Bridgestones. these F1 teams wouldnt pee on you if you were on fire. if Bernie couldnt change. chase Carey has no chance

 

[Angel]

See Mercedes do have a huge lead so I can see how it would be easy to think they're playing nice and letting some other teams win to try and keep people watching, after all they know the title is theirs don't they? Then again are they really that generous as others have said? I tend to agree with Ruslan (which is unusual for us when it comes to F1 stuff )

Whatever has caused it I've been enjoying it. If Mercedes suddenly start to dominate again when we get towards the end of the season I think we'll have a definite answer.

 

[vintly]

No one is ‘playing nice’, it’s as simple as what Chasz said.

 

[F1Brits_90]

yes Ruslan makes a great point that Mercedes at start were lucky & good because for several variables bad luck, mistakes or driver behind being on a mission. we could be in the situation where ferrari won 6 races not 2.

 

[Grizzly]

Yes, you are being way to cynical!

 

[RasputinLives]

I was cynical about Austria but have dropped that now. I think Merc might throw one race for F1 but no more than that - and certainly they wouldn't throw away a win in Germany.