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I have been an F1 fan for more than 30 years, but if I'm honest for maybe half that time there have been few races with more than a spark of interest in them.
When the stakes were more modest, the cars were - usually - more evenly matched. And although absolute speeds were lower, the ability of cars to stay on the track was also a lot less.
But as Max Moseley said when he announced his retirement recently, F1 has made many team owners billionaires. To paraphrase him, that's despite them not being businessmen, just that however much money they throw at winning, there are still millions left over. The result has been that development cycles for these cars is now 3+ years and it's very rare for more than one team to have its cars putting out peak performance in a single season. Especially since there are only 3-4 teams spending enough money to ever be really competitive.
The result has been, rain and exceptional conditions apart, processions rather than races. F1 is still a special sport, but nowhere near as exciting as it was through the 60s, 70s and 80s.
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