I’ve had an on and off relationship with Formula 1 over the years. More off than on, but it’s been fun to dive in every few years and watch some parade laps. I even had the pleasure of attending the inaugural US Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas in 2012 back when F1 cars still sounded like there was a caged demon being electrocuted whenever the throttle was pressed.
After a fairly long hiatus from following the sport (last time I actively watched, McLaren was still good) for reasons that don’t matter, I decided to give it another go for 2023 because I needed something to care about. And I’m going to use this as an opportunity to have something to write about.
Unfortunately, the cars don’t sound all that great now and they pretty much look the same (the Aston green is nice), but whatever. Here are some fun takeaways from Bahrain and what I’m looking forward to in Jeddah.
- Just cancel the season and crown Verstappen as champ given the pace of those Red Bulls. Wow.
- Ferrari is cursed and I wouldn’t blame LeClerc for putting many holes into his hotel room’s drywall. Made for some great memes though.
- Alonso still racing is cool. Same for Hamilton. Hope they both have good seasons (the former is off to a good start).
- Ocon’s comedy of errors. A penalty for failing to take a penalty properly and then one for speeding by a fraction of a km/h. Wouldn’t blame him for punching some drywall either.
- McLaren…wow. How the mighty have fallen.
- Aside from McLaren, there isn’t anyone particularly awful. Used to be there’d be 2-3 shit-tier teams.
Overall, not really enough drama to write a longer post about. There were a handful of good passes and a couple of good drives (Alonso and Gasly) but otherwise, it was parade laps with the lead never even remotely in question. Verstappen’s gap was so huge he didn’t even lose P1 briefly while pitting. Bahrain is a whatever track. Saudi Arabia will be entirely new. From the map, not sure what to make of it. But I bet Red Bull wins.
