In terms of pure racing, this has been one of the best starts to a season in the seven or eight years I've been watching! (Mostly due to the Bahrain and Jeddah, I thought Australia was okay but nothing special, but that's because it's a pretty middling track in my imo). When I started watching was when the regulations had changed and Mercedes were miles ahead of everyone and while it was interesting to see Red Bull get closer (and the midfield all get closer to each other, as well) over time, it's nice to see that the new regulations seem to be more or less working and we have lots of competition from the get-go. Also, as a self-professed Red Bull/Verstappen Hater, it is very funny to see him get two DNFs in three races. Big fan of that little shit having a miserable time with it lmao. Unfortunately, it probably means Perez will be having similar issues if this stuff persists and I've been a long-time support of him because he was such an underdog for so long but if it makes Verstappen and Christian Horner upset then that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make.

Going in to this season I honestly felt like I might quit watching because it had become such a drag so much of the time. Thinking about the politics of F1, how much compartmentalization is required to enjoy the racing, how poorly the organizations and the drivers responded in 2020 and 2021 to BLM, and a whole list of other things. The drama at the end of last year really burned a lot of good will I had towards the FIA and the trust I had in them to even run a good sporting event. But so far this year it's been good! People and roles got changed to hopefully avoid another Abu Dhabi 2021, regulations made the racing significantly more competitive, and that's been enough to at least keep me watching for a while longer.

It does feel a bit weird to look at the grid and realize that I'm either apathetic towards or actively dislike most of the drivers. And even the ones I do like there's only like two or maybe three that I ever actively root for. It makes me wonder why I watch but I this point I've committed so much time and energy to keeping up with this sport for years that I feel like if I stop I might just, I dunno, burst in to flames or something.