[Rumours] Rate the season 2019

[F1Pete]

There is a rate the race thread after every race so why shouldn't we have a rate the season? Not sure if a poll is appropriate, but it would be interesting to see how this season has been for everyone overall. This includes all the news on and off track.

I rate this season as quite mediocre. There wasn't really anything exciting overall...6.

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[Greem]

Hamilton won, Mercedes won, Mclaren made a resurgence, Verstappen finally put a bit more of a lid on his temper, Vettel didn't, Ferrari disappointed again despite having a brilliant new boy, the new young guns turned out to be an affable cheeky and very likeable bunch, some of the races were great, some were OK, some were dull.

In light of that, I'll choose Kimi. That's how this works, right?

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by Greem

Hamilton won, Mercedes won, Mclaren made a resurgence, Verstappen finally put a bit more of a lid on his temper, Vettel didn't, Ferrari disappointed again despite having a brilliant new boy, the new young guns turned out to be an affable cheeky and very likeable bunch, some of the races were great, some were OK, some were dull.

In light of that, I'll choose Kimi. That's how this works, right?

Depends if your location checks out....

[Razzzor]

I think about a 5. I want to see a battle for the title otherwise when you know who's going to win it 1/4 of the way into season it's not really that enticing anymore. Tune in to see who wins the race? Does it really matter unless the race is something like Brazil and actually exciting? If it's like Abu Dhabi and we watch Hamilton lead every lap from pole and set F.lap, that's enough to put me to sleep.

I actually forgot to watch Abu Dhabi until almost a day after it finished. I completely forgot it was even on. I remember the days of waking up at 5am for Canada or US GP and not being able to sleep because of F1 being so exciting. This season has just been another bore of Hamilton finishing first or second and even the short period that Ferrari's cheating allowed them to get closer and actually win some races, they were also throwing races away that they could have won. Then FIA clamped down and they're back to being half a minute slower. FIA might as well let them cheat for the benefit of it producing some different results for once! So I watched just to see Leclerc beat Vettel and win a couple of races, and for Verstappen to remind us he's probably the fastest in F1 now. Would be nice to see him go to Mercedes in 2021 alongside Russell or Ocon and have him fight Leclerc (who will reaching his peak) and an aging Hamilton who may be starting to decline in speed, at Ferrari.

But this year was very very boring. In fact, if I did get to watch them all live, then I'd watch the playback for Formula 3 before I watch Formula 1. Meaning F3, probably F2, FE, Indycar, even Super Formula, was more exciting for me this year. Oh and I completely missed Japan due to Bathurst, so put Supercars ahead of F1 too. So yeah, 5/10.

[steve_r]

I give it an 7 or maybe an 8.

I know this is higher than almost everyone else. My reasoning is that there was a run of absolutely fantastic races through the middle part of the year. Good close racing, lots of passing. Yes, there were one or two duds (as there will always be), but for the most part the racing was fantastic. I cannot remember such a good series of races in very recent years.

I like LeClerc, and I have enjoyed seeing him emerge and finally put some pressure on Vettel from within the team. Verstappen again showed some real talent. And the rookies have generally performed well. Norris and Sainz are funny and lighten things up.

It loses a point for the lack of a consistent challenger to Hamilton for the WDC and the fact that there was very little excitement in the WDC from just after the halfway point of the season.

It loses another point due to the fact that only 3 teams can even hope of winning a race, with the others in a different league altogether. So much that when one of cars from the big 3 qualify out of position, the other teams deem it unnecessary to even defend against them during the race.

[Skam85]

Originally Posted by steve_r

I give it an 7 or maybe an 8.

I know this is higher than almost everyone else. My reasoning is that there was a run of absolutely fantastic races through the middle part of the year. Good close racing, lots of passing. Yes, there were one or two duds (as there will always be), but for the most part the racing was fantastic. I cannot remember such a good series of races in very recent years.

I like LeClerc, and I have enjoyed seeing him emerge and finally put some pressure on Vettel from within the team. Verstappen again showed some real talent. And the rookies have generally performed well. Norris and Sainz are funny and lighten things up.

It loses a point for the lack of a consistent challenger to Hamilton for the WDC and the fact that there was very little excitement in the WDC from just after the halfway point of the season.

It loses another point due to the fact that only 3 teams can even hope of winning a race, with the others in a different league altogether. So much that when one of cars from the big 3 qualify out of position, the other teams deem it unnecessary to even defend against them during the race.

I agree with this.

While the overall season result was mundane and predictable, Germany and Brazil were instant all-time classics and it's rare to have one, let alone two of those in a seasons. There were some brilliant individual races this year, and the midfield battle was fantastic. The two McLaren drivers alone, both on and off track made this season enjoyable.

[Aysedasi]

Torn between a 6 and a 7. If the mid-season momentum of great races had kept up, I'd have gone higher.

As to the drivers, Leclerc had a great showing but rather petered out. Albon is a star of the future for me (if he is allowed to be by RB) and I hope that the cheeky smile we see so often from Norris is maintained next season!

[GT6]

Pretty boring season i think Mercs were too good and that rather put everyone else in the also ran positions, over all would give it a 4

[chillibowl]

somewhere between 6 or 7 for me.

there were a great string of races, some great performances from Leclerc and Max and, as mentioned, Sainz and Norris were gret fun plus Albon!!!

as for the negatives, title decided early, another year of Ferrari tripping over themselves, and Renault, Haas, RP, Williams were no where (although Haas' antics were entertaining).

biggest disappointment was Bottas though. clearly he is driving a great car but this season was a step back for him. i like VB and dont wish to be critical but his seat is being wasted and to be fair he is deserving of more criticism then Vettel imo.

but overall, some nice rivalries emerging and with some of the proposed rule changes, i feel encouraged about the direction the sport is heading.

[F1Pete]

You have to wonder how much his (Bottas) relationship breakdown with his wife affected him....pretty hard to focus 100 percent.

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[S griffin]

After the doom and gloom of the French GP, we then started having some pretty good races. Of course yet again the title didn't go down to the wire, but it wasn't quite the domination by Merc we have had. The wins were shared quite a bit, meaning we have hope for the future.

Overall a 6

[F J Nedos]

If it weren't for Kimi...

[hoffman66]

Have to be honest, I watched very little of it, was quite happy to find results online or on radio or tv news, something I used to hate.

Sows how disinterested I am with modern F1, it now ranks one of the lowest forms of racing I would actually watch and one I would NEVER pay to watch

[Richard C]

Originally Posted by hoffman66

Have to be honest, I watched very little of it, was quite happy to find results online or on radio or tv news, something I used to hate.

Sows how disinterested I am with modern F1, it now ranks one of the lowest forms of racing I would actually watch and one I would NEVER pay to watch

Oddly, my participation this season has been more to talk about it (here) than to get pulled in deeply into watching races. Given my personal schedule I just rarely am able to watch races live. So when I record and watch later, I catch myself fast forwarding through much of the race. There have been some moments/races in which it has been interesting, but it is the exception and not the rule. I fear 2020 will be much of the same. I am holding out hope that 2021 will be different in a good way.

As to rating? How to rate? 1 to 10 with 10 being the best it could potentially be? I would say the sport could be much better. So even an "average" F1 season these days is pretty bad IMHO. So I would say a generous 4/10.

Richard

[F1Pete]

Richard, I found myself doing the same thing. In the past I would never fast forward any part of a race and I found myself doing that many times. I used to treat qualifying the same as the race. This year I found I would skip qualifying altogether and just watch the race. I have never done that until this year. In the past I would get up and watch the races live in the middle of the night and ruin my following day from being so tired, but it felt worth it.

Are watching races worth it these days? Some truly aren't.

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[steve_r]

Originally Posted by F1Pete

Are watching races worth it these days? Some truly aren't.

And some truely are. There have always been good and bad races.

[BertMk2]

I watched a lot less F1 this season - thanks to the coverage moving behind a paywall. The Channel 4 coverage was still pretty good (and I enjoyed the "on the marbles" podcast) but the amount of race footage Channel 4 can show is restricted by Sky so there's an imbalance in the coverage.

An overall score for the season? 5 i think. There were some really good races but the Mercedes steamroller does suck the enjoyment out of things somewhat.

[Aysedasi]

I've watched pretty much the same and virtually all as highlights. Which has been a blessing on a fair few occasions.....

[GT6]

Not being willing to pay extra to sky i watched live C4 races and highlights either on sky1 or channel 4. Season had it's highs and deep lows so overall i think 5 is about right

[chunterer]

There were some absolute humdingers this year. Some cynics suggested that 3 belters on the trott coming after the world complained about one of the dullest races in recent years was a bit 'convenient' lol
The fact that Lewis clinched another title does not mean the racing was poor. In fact at times it was some of the best we've seen for a long long time.
In the case of Leclerc v Max at Silverstone, possibly the scrap of the decade.

[Coloni_Subaru]

Not that great,
Germany and Brazil were highlights , Rest was meh, combined with screaming croft bit fed up with f1