There’s a part of me that has mentally checked out of F1. Last month, my sister was locked in her room for a week because she had a positive COVID test (she’s fully recovered now and boostered). In addition, my neighbour (who’s 63) has been in a coma since he suffered a stroke before Christmas and it remains uncertain whether he’ll be alive by next week.
I’m not going to lie, I think social media & Netflix has taken over F1 too much. If I don’t like the new regulations, I’m not going to force myself to watch as avidly as I once did.
F1 social media has turned into a place where certain users attack other users for certain beliefs, preferences or who they support and end up arguing with each other in circles for years and years.
Here’s the truth: I think there’s too many people distracted by the circus of F1. When something they don’t like happens, they endlessly complain about it and spam many people’s comments and posts. I’ll admit to complaining an awful lot about F1 and motorsport and I’ve had enough.
I feel bitter that I became so obsessed about F1 when I was 10 years old and had a very narrow set of interests as a child. I’ve spent 20 years being obsessed with this sport, but yet I’ve not got anywhere in the real world. I’ve missed out on building strong friendships, pursuing genuine hobbies and achieving tangible goals because I could not come to terms with my lack of social skills and other issues.
If it becomes obvious in a year or two that I barely have a clue what is happening in contemporary F1, it’s because I’ve finally moved on in life. Honestly, I think a lot of people are going to be dissatisfied with 2022 regs because there will be new problems emerging and I’m not getting my hopes up. 2009 was a major anomaly due to Brawn (when they were called Honda) starting work on their 09 chassis three months before everyone else did. Funnily enough, Brawn was the foundation of today’s all-conquering Mercedes team. But when you look at other regulation changes, McLaren had a super fast car in 1998; McLaren dominated the late 80s when turbos were phased out & the drivers’ feet were placed behind the front axle and Ferrari & Brabham crushed the opposition in the 1960s when new engine regulations emerged (1961 saw power units downsized to 1.5 litres and 1966 saw engines enlarged to 3 litres). And there’s the other problem: the sport has changed regulations far too frequently in the last 13 years. That raises costs and allows the big boys to not only regain the initiative, but increase their advantage substantially.
I’ll be pursuing other stuff like selling T-shirts, art, learning code and doing other things because if I ever reinvigorate my passion in motorsport, it’ll be because I somehow became incredibly wealthy and I bought a ride in BTCC, sportscar and/or GT racing. I lack interest in spending my weekends watching F1 races anymore because I feel like I’m wasting my life. As such, I hope I will not be making posts about modern F1 on my Twitter come the new season (some of you will be delighted about that).
Honestly, I’m fed up of talking about last season because anyone with knowledge of F1 history knows this sport is corrupt to the core and 2021 simply revealed it in true earnest. It’s always been a basketcase of politics, manipulation and in-fighting. I bear no grudges to Hamilton fans who believe he was robbed. I do believe FIA panicked and were desperate to end the final race under green flag conditions, despite Max’s obvious advantage with new tyres. I don’t think FIA were attempting to engineer the outcome of the WDC, but they returned to green flag racing in the most overly laser-focused manner. They didn’t give enough thought or consideration towards the possible reaction to what if Max overtook Lewis to win WDC. Having said that, the damage is done and suspicions that FIA had set up an opportunity for Max to snatch a maiden WDC title cannot be erased.
There is a fantastic Hamilton fan @ffsGiovinco who follows me, who made a great argument in defence of what he thought: “Lewis did what he had to do, just like Vettel did what he had to do in 2010 and 2012”. In essence, I think he meant that he knew Alonso was better over the course of 2010 & 2012, but he didn’t win WDC because Vettel, just like Lewis, had the superior 2nd half of the season and scored those vital wins & points when it mattered the most.
Whilst I believe Max was the better driver over 2021 (partly due to losing his 35 points advantage at Silverstone & Hungary, but ultimately these were racing incidents), the so-called deserving champion (or “moral victor”) doesn’t always win the WDC (Prost lost 1988 because of a dubious dropped scores rule, as well as reliability issues during 83 & 84 and Kimi’s issues during 03 & 05). Ultimately, the notion of the “deserving” champion is trite, subjective and open to debate by all.
After all, there’s nothing in the rules that demands the race director to rush and end the race back under green flag conditions, nor anything that urges protocol to be broken to do so. In addition, Michael Masi stated that no red flag would be shown if an accident like Latifi’s occurred (in response to Kimi’s crash at the same corner in Friday practice). So yes, 2021 Abu Dhabi GP should’ve been the scene of Hamilton’s 8th WDC, but the past 3 seasons of F1 since that infamous 2019 Canadian GP, where a lot of fans got angry at Vettel being stripped of race victory, has nudged the sport towards the wrong direction.
I’ll apologise and I’ll admit to being one of those fools who got outraged at 2019 Canada because I got bored of watching the same driver and team dominate.
If you read this and thought “Well my life’s fine and I’m happy,” then what I’m going to say is not for you, but others who might be reading this:
You need to realise most people in F1 don’t spend their lives being obsessed about the same incidents over-and-over again. When you see one of your favourite drivers retire, you’ll see F1 in a different light. You’ll realise it’s a circus on wheels and that most people in the world have other issues to be worried about.
F1 is no longer one of the most important things in my life. If FIA announced the 2022 season was cancelled and then F1 dies off, I would not even feel sad.
Go and pursue greatness. Stop being obsessed with pushing your political beliefs onto figures in F1 and getting angry about they say or what other social media users say.
Go and pursue some real goals in life. I know some people who leave F1 don’t even have much of a clue about what occurs in the sport these days. The obsessive stressing and fine combing over intricate details is just not worth it for me anymore.
If you have money issues, F1 will not dig you out of those problems. Learn what compound interest is, pursue multiple income streams (good back up if you get fired from your full-time job), investing in gold, silver, stock market, crypto (with robust financial advice of course) or whatever.
If you have emotional issues, F1 will not dig you out of these problems. Go and find a therapist and get treatment. And I’ll say this: in ten years’ time, you’ll be a different place in life. It might be worse (especially if you suffer the worst luck), but with a positive and correct mindset, you’ll likely find yourself in a better place. And you might laugh at the hysteria produced by certain events in F1 history.
If you’re chasing a person you desperately desire love with (but does not care about you), stop being obsessed with them. Trust me, you’ll cringe when you look back in many years’ time when you realise how infatuated you were with them (unrequited love).
Get away from toxic people. Stand up for yourself in the real world. Envision a plan to create a better future for yourself.
Do you have dreams of retiring in the Bahamas? Well, I’ll tell you one thing and that is arguing with people endlessly on Twitter about F1 will not assist you at all.
As for politics, I’ll tell you what really influences politicians: money. Politicians are frontmen/frontwomen for whatever banking institutions throw their weight behind them. Whenever an elections occurs, they’ll say things to encourage people to vote for them, but that’s more or less the only time they are concerned about normal people. Obedience, not disobedience, is what leads to war, tyranny and other societal problems.
F1 is a merely a puppet in the global system. You can drape the venues in whatever messages you want, but they are limited by whatever their fiscal donors permit. The outside world influences F1, not vice versa and I don’t think there’s been one instance where F1 successfully influenced the outside world. Ever.
Not going to lie, I am happy that Kimi Raikkonen is retired. If he never races again, I’ll be even happier because I don’t want to spend another second of my life being obsessed about where he’ll finish in a race. I am very happy about the time I spent being one of his biggest fans, but that wonderful time is consigned to the history books.
I wish everyone the best of luck.
CRYSTAL Racing Acid 