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I think we found something you're a little passionate about here Glad you could take a break from designing and test fitting parts to talk racing!Who was competitive before Merc? MERC/AMG definitely didn't field the fastest car in the V8 era. Same driver(s) though, in Rosberg and Hamilton. Was there this much angst when Schumacher was racking up the wins and championships with Ferrari? When Vettel was dominant with Red Bull? So now you have a TEAM that's managing to stay one step ahead of the others (for this long), while still losing engineers to other teams, and they still manage to field cars with a balanced- chassis, PU, aero, and driver.
.... and for that people it's best for the sport to 'level the playing field.'???
Ferrari was close several times, in the V6TH era. They had a well sorted car. Team members crashing into each other, tire failures, engine failures, oiling scandal.. all of that stuff culminated in good old Maurizio Arrivabene losing his job as Team Principal. Ferrari hasn't been the same since.
Toto runs a much tighter ship. Like, I would love to work for a guy like that. He is the epitome of "Hate to lose, more than you love to win" and its apparent in the trophy case.
Prior to even the V6TH era, F1 viewership was on a decline. That's not due to a dominant team and people not enjoying watching Red Bull win. In my opinion, the sport isn't what it was, 15-20 years ago. What's changed, you ask? Safety. The chance of a spectacular crash and possible death doesn't really exist, like it did in the 90's and earlier. That part of the spectacle is near gone. It's in our nature. We want to see a train wreck. A broke car on the side of the road doesn't slow traffic as much as two cars that collided. That's just the truth. The masses want to see carnage. Then there are those that actually want to watch racing.
The FIA has been scrambling, since then, on manufacturing better racing. DRS, stickier tires, wider tires, more aero, revised qualifying, and at it's onset, a perceived 'slower car' with a V6 turbo hybrid. Well, jokes on them. Merc figured out the V6TH PU right out of the gate and began destroying everyone. Not just the power of the V6TH, but also the reliability. Then they began creating better aero and now an even better chassis. I mean, they were matching Red Bull's lap times on hard tires, in basically Limp Mode and driving the slow line.
If I was an owner of one of the losing teams on the paddock, and I was standing there watching my car get dominated by a car in Limp Mode, I would fire my staff and quit F1. I obviously am not ready to run with the big boys.
Not that I disagree too much with what you stated, but I will admit I was getting bored when RB was dominating, as well as with Schumi destroying everyone. I realize that even though I like watching Hamilton, those who aren't a fan of him are growing VERY tired of seeing him favored every single race.
I think it's a huge achievement what Merc has been able to do. This type of dominance is what turned Ferrari into a legendary F1 team. I wonder how Mercedes will be viewed in the future? Will they have a similar following as Ferrari or McLaren? They'll need to stay in F1 if that's going to happen. Wonder if that's what they're after long term, or if they just want to rack up a bunch of wins and go for a mic drop.