Formula 1: Lewis Hamilton knows how boring he is making F1

Six-time world champion Lewis Hamilton knows how boring he is making Formula 1 for the fans by dominating pretty much every race.

Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix a Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps went down as many expected even well before the weekend began. Lewis Hamilton started from the pole position and led every lap to secure yet another Formula 1 victory as he nears the all-time wins record set by seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher.

The six-time world champion has now won 89 races and is poised to tie, break and build upon the current record of 91 throughout the remainder of the 2020 season.

But while fans are witnessing history every time the 35-year-old Briton gets behind the wheel, others are choosing not to witness it simply because Formula 1 itself has grown boring due to Hamilton’s dominance and they have better things to do on Sundays.

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The dominance of Hamilton and Mercedes is nothing new. Mercedes are on pace to win their seventh consecutive constructor championship since the start of the V6 turbo hybrid era, with Hamilton on pace to win his seventh world title, sixth in the last seven years and fourth in a row.

Hamilton is responsible for 67 victories in the 128 races that have been contested since the start of the 2014 season. Mercedes have still managed to be victorious in 28 of the 61 races which Hamilton hasn’t won during this span.

But in 2020, that dominance has been taken to a new level. Ferrari, the perennial runners-up to the Silver Arrows, are simply nowhere to be found.

Hamilton’s teammate, Valtteri Bottas, is already well out of the championship battle. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen simply doesn’t have a car to contend with the Mercedes W11, barring a genius strategy call from the pit wall like we were fortunate to have seen at Silverstone Circuit in the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix that prevented Hamilton from leading more than 10 of the race’s 52 laps.

The “best of the rest” has effectively gone from seventh to fourth place this year. The midfield battle is just that — the midfield battle. Hamilton, Bottas and Verstappen have been on the podium together in five of the last six races.

The lone exception came only because Bottas had a tire failure from second place and finished in 11th, allowing Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc to slide into a shocking third behind Hamilton and Verstappen.

Here’s the worst part for the fans who want to watch exciting racing.

Since the season-opening 71-lap Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring, which Bottas led from lights to flag, Hamilton has won five times and earned one runner-up position. In his five wins, he has started from the pole position and has not been passed for the lead on the track.

He has led 295 of the 303 laps contested in these five races. Since Bottas’s win, he has led 305 of 355 laps in six races.

In a full season, his career-high is 587 laps led, a mark he looks poised to break this year, despite the fact that it is a shortened season due to the coronavirus pandemic.

His lead in the driver standings is already 47 points over Verstappen. For Verstappen to close this gap, it would require two finishes outside of the top 10 (no points) for Hamilton since race victories are worth 25 points.

It has been more than two years since Hamilton didn’t finish a race inside the points.

Here is what Hamilton had to say about the fact that his dominance has made Formula 1 racing quite lackluster as of late, according to the BBC.

"“I enjoy myself in the car. I am still able to enjoy the battle, looking where Valtteri is, what times he’s doing, the gaps, trying to get the perfect balance every lap. That is still a massive challenge for me but it is just not as fun for people to watch. When you’re in it, it’s a bit different. But of course I would love a wheel-to-wheel race. I hope the next races…the Red Bulls have improved, I really hope we have more of a race. Everyone wants to see us all battling together.”"

He likened it to himself watching the dominance of Schumacher as a kid.

"“[I] would have woken up, had my bacon sarnie and watched the start and gone to sleep and woken up at the end, then watched the highlights because it’s much shorter…I can’t speak for the fans but, having been a fan growing up and lived in different eras and watching the Schumacher era, of course I know what it’s like.”"

Even he knows.

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The next race on the 2020 Formula 1 schedule is the Italian Grand Prix, another race which Hamilton will enter as the overwhelming favorite to lead the field into turn one and not look back. This race is set to be broadcast live on ESPN from Autodromo Nazionale Monza beginning at 9:10 a.m. ET this Sunday, September 6.

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