With this state of the regs overtaking is hard everywhere, that’s not a function of the track that’s just F1 this season. Late regulations performance convergence on top of huge dirty air issues. And with the tire situation also being a compounding issue - especially with a forced tyre conservation M-S one-stopper thanks to Pirelli miscalculating with the gap in the C1-C3-C4 selection - the race will almost inevitably be pretty boring.
COTA is a great track for racing with plenty of overtaking spots and huge track width allowing for multiple viable racing lines through several corners. And even on top of that it’s got elevation changes, some nice sweeping corners and an iconic uphill run into the sharp left turn one.
We’ve had plenty of absolute bangers here and other series tend to have great races at COTA as well. This one race being underwhelming doesn’t change that.
Honestly I agree with you… it’s not a bad race but this place is so huge, you get to see some action in the first couple of laps, then everyone spreads out and you get a 1.5 hour parade
If you remove the, not at all common, Leclerc defending against Norris situation, there would have been nothing to watch after the first corner
Overtaking seems very difficult, it’s definitely not one of the best on the calendar.
It’s not bad, but what makes it one of the best?
With this state of the regs overtaking is hard everywhere, that’s not a function of the track that’s just F1 this season. Late regulations performance convergence on top of huge dirty air issues. And with the tire situation also being a compounding issue - especially with a forced tyre conservation M-S one-stopper thanks to Pirelli miscalculating with the gap in the C1-C3-C4 selection - the race will almost inevitably be pretty boring.
COTA is a great track for racing with plenty of overtaking spots and huge track width allowing for multiple viable racing lines through several corners. And even on top of that it’s got elevation changes, some nice sweeping corners and an iconic uphill run into the sharp left turn one.
We’ve had plenty of absolute bangers here and other series tend to have great races at COTA as well. This one race being underwhelming doesn’t change that.
Honestly I agree with you… it’s not a bad race but this place is so huge, you get to see some action in the first couple of laps, then everyone spreads out and you get a 1.5 hour parade
If you remove the, not at all common, Leclerc defending against Norris situation, there would have been nothing to watch after the first corner