Is 2021 A Good Season to Start Watching F1?

With the growth and spread of many different online streaming services, it’s easier than ever to pick up a new passion in sport as the week to week shows become that much more accessible than they used to be as they were once tied behind expensive package deals for television – one motorsport that has seen a good uptick in viewership in particular over the past year or two has been within Formula 1 but there are certainly those who’d advise against new viewership largely due to how stale the grid can be at the top, but could 2021 be shifting those expectations?

(Image from f1-fansite.com)

To start, the first race of the season has certainly shown the possibility for this to be the most exciting in recent memory – some changes to race regulations with the desired impact of bringing the cars closer together may have already started to work as a few weekends ago in Bahrain the expected frontrunners of Hamilton and Verstappen battled it out right towards the end of the race, but with McLaren also poking their head in to the top five too and a refreshed Ferrari keeping pace, the start of the season is already looking quite different.

Many will be looking forward to the upcoming race this weekend at Imola to see if the same can hold true, if Verstappen can continue applying pressure in the Red Bull and if Perez can fill the second seat well enough to challenge Bottas, we could start seeing some more double Red Bull podiums, and although many here will consider Hamilton to be the betting favourite at the biggest sites not on Gamstop, it will be much harder to discount the Red Bull’s this year.

Then there is also next year to look forward to as well with further stringent regulations coming in to play once again in an effort to bring the teams closer together with changes to things like aero testing time for the bigger teams, and that only brings more excitement to the current year too as it could be the groundwork for shaping the next couple of years at the same time, and will allow fans and new viewers alike to see over a short period of time just how impactful the bigger changes will be with the goal of bringing a more competitive racing environment.

If you’ve never watched a race before, or have been a little on the fence watching bits and pieces here and there, this year could certainly be the best opportunity for finding your new passion – with a higher number of races than ever before, and this closer grid, expect some exciting battles and some very close racing, and perhaps even foster a passion that could grow to see the sport go through big changes over the next few years and continue to be the most premiere motorsport in the world.