Those Hamilton vs Verstappen seasons were insane for the sport, and instead of building on that momentum they went full “let’s reinvent the wheel” mode. The whole Formula E comparison is spot on — it feels like F1 is sacrificing some of its soul (sound, raw power, unpredictability) for PR-friendly “green” points.
Sure, sustainability is important, but fans didn’t fall in love with F1 because it was eco-conscious. They loved it for the drama, the noise, the speed. If FIA keeps taking away those unique traits, F1 risks losing its hardcore fanbase while also failing to impress casuals.
Personally, I think a balance could’ve been struck — keep the hybrid push but don’t strip away the things that make F1 special. Right now, it just feels like they’re experimenting too much.
F1 always had innovations and new stuff, and some stuff became better, and some stuff were bad so they got withdrawn. If the "car noise" is what people want (still can't understand that) then it will be brought back, doesn't really matter, you can make the engine sound like it's v12 even with an electric engine, if the engine noise is all you care about, like they can have formula-e cars make that sound if they want to, it's possible, it's just fake noise, but noise anyway, instead of the original, but that should make you happy enough.
It's obvious that not all innovations and new regulations will be awesome, but I am not as hopeless about it as you guys, I think it is going to be overall fine, some will be bad and some will be better and we are going to perfect it overtime.