Formula 1’s biggest story coming back from the summer break revolves around soon-to-be World Champion Max Verstappen‘s chance to do something never before seen in the sport: win 10 Grands Prix in a row.
When Sebastian Vettel set the current record at 9 in the fall of 2013, it marked the climax of a period of crushing dominance by the Red Bull Racing driver, where nobody else could get a championship, victory, or fastest lap in edgewise. Just like Lewis Hamilton after him and Michael Schumacher before, Vettel’s run proves that Formula 1 in the 21st century is a sport of dynasties, where observers can easily predict the race winner before the lights even go out.
If that’s true, why does the Verstappen era feel even more predictable? In the conclusion to The Pit Straight‘s summer of ennui, co-hosts Jack Swansey and Alex Gintz break out the calculators and compare the four great dominators of 21st century F1, trying to get to the bottom of perhaps their most controversial question ever: has F1 always been this boring?
The Pit Straight is Frontstretch‘s F1 podcast, available weekly on Tuesdays on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and right here on the web.
Jack Swansey primarily covers open-wheel racing for Frontstretch and co-hosts The Pit Straight Podcast,but you can also catch him writing about NASCAR, sports cars, and anything else with four wheels and a motor. Originally from North Carolina and now residing in Los Angeles, he joined the site as Sunday news writer midway through 2022 and is an avid collector (some would say hoarder) of die-cast cars.