Mars Schmidt – Sports Editor

Formula 1 once was the golden child of modern sports due to its sudden rise in popularity from its publicity through the Netflix docu-series Drive to Survive. Now it has recently fallen into repetitious monotony. It wasn’t always this way, but due to a multitude of factors that developed over the years, most races are won by two drivers, Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez, both on the Red Bull team.

Back in 2021, Formula 1 was at its highest point. Mercedes had won seven championships consecutively and a new driver, Max Verstappen, was challenging the reigning world champion, Lewis Hamilton. The season had everything fans wanted to see in

Formula 1: upsets, excitement, disaster, and a rivalry that divided fans from every team. By the end of the season, Verstappen had overthrown Hamilton, and people rejoiced.

This victory was supposed to usher in the end of Mercedes’ dominance and open up the podium to other drivers and teams who have been locked out for years due to Mercedes and Red Bull taking up the top four slots.

However, much to the chagrin of the fans, this was not the case. Instead, Verstappen simply replaced Hamilton on top of the podium, and became even more dominant than him in the years to follow.

As of now, there have been 17 races in the current season, and Verstappen has won 14, with his teammate, Sergio Perez, having won an additional two. Only a single race has been won by a non-Red Bull Driver, Charles Leclerc.

So, why is Formula 1 like this? Before 2022, regulations were set in place to cap teams at a budget, which did sound good on paper. The cap went from 150 million to 145 million. However, that amount still does not come close to equalizing the playing field.

Low-budget teams like Williams have their budget cap set well below the maximum, and their drivers remain close to the bottom of the leaderboard.

Once celebrated for its unpredictability and rivalries, Formula 1 has unfortunately fallen into a state of repetition, with a select few drivers winning every race. The many regulation changes and alterations over the years have proven ineffective, leaving fans craving the excitement that once defined this sport.