What is the reason for F1’s ‘boring’ season so far?

A Red Bull driver has won each of the first five races, with four of those eventing in a 1-2 finish. However, the racing behind has not been particularly enthralling. The races in Azerbaijan and Miami have caused fan criticism, but what is the genuine primary reason for the underwhelming racing?

The easy blame for a Formula 1 season being boring is when a team is dominating – Mercedes was repeatedly scapegoated during their turbo-hybrid era of domination, where admittedly, despite winning every constructor championship, we were not short of some scintillating Formula 1 seasons. The cars were light, grippy and majestic to watch on track and look at. The only general, consensus complaint was the gap between the contenders and the backmarkers.

The 2018 battle between Vettel and Hamilton was a great watch until Sebastian’s errors in the second half of the season, and obviously 2016 and 2021 were respectably both fantastic season’s in terms of drama. You cannot bank on each season being a 2021 season, and some of the newer viewers have grown frustrated of the lack of enjoyable races.

The main blame, in my view, has to be turned towards the regulations. Formula 1 focused too intently on ‘closer racing’ rather than regulations that created better overtaking opportunities and lighter chassis’ which would have generally added to excitement in the race.

However, the racing has simply reverted overtaking wise to the issues with DRS assistance in the final years of the turbo-hybrid era. The regulations have failed, to be simply said. It appears they went for a quick-fix and did not plan for the future. It was mentioned when the regulations were announced that there were plans to abolish DRS in the near future, but that seems impossible barring another regulation change.

Esteban Ocon’s long-hard tyre stint at Azerbaijan created a train from P10 backwards, where he was not able to be overtaken – at Baku?! There is certainly a finger which must also be pointed at Pirelli, who introduced 18-inch tyres alongside the new regulations. This appears to have limited strategy this season, as the tyres have become harder, therefore having greater durability of good pace in the races.

The changes to tyre allocation in races has also limited strategy as well as created DRS trains – in practically every race this season, the only viable strategy has been a medium to hard tyre one-stop, or vice versa. This has limited innovation in races, as the one-stop has simply been the most feasible. In this department, Pirelli must find solutions as it has created a dull, predictable race.

Formula 1’s shabby attempts to improve the excitement aspect of the sport should also be criticised. The desperation for sprint races is confusing. If anything, at this moment it is simply duplicating the mundaneness of the racing at the moment, and just making it more predictable. This is not the way to fix racing, and Max Verstappen’s views on the matter can certainly be replicated by the purists of the normal format, which surely makes qualifying and the race just that bit more exciting.

It is important Red Bull are not blamed for succeeding with their car (though reprimands will be visible later in the season for their 2021 cost cap breach). Other teams must catch them, and the Imola upgrades this weekend may be the beginning of that, but Formula 1’s excitement does not lie on a championship battle.

Actions need to be taken, or the fans which the sport added from Drive to Survive will be driven away from poor decision making and sub-par racing, something which other racing categories can currently offer.