Another year of Formula 1 is about to begin. Well, technically it began early this year because of Ramadan, so Free Practices 1 and 2 are already over. Each year, F1 makes a new intro video, which is shown at the start of each televised viewing. This year’s intro sucks.

The F1 intro follows the tradition of showing the drivers in reverse finishing order from the year before. I don’t have a problem with that, but there are so many things wrong with this year’s intro. There’s no overarching theme. Maybe the editors were drunk or just don’t care.

F1 can do better. The video below is a great example. It’s awesome.

But, I’m here to bitch about this year’s opening theme. I have never liked that drivers don’t get equal time on screen. Also, this year’s transitions between drivers also seems off.

The drivers’ names are difficult to read. Why would you put the same color lettering as the same color background?

The entire video is too busy and chaotic. I do not like this new intro at all. If you look at the 2023, 2022 and 2021 intros, they are much nicer, clean, and enjoyable.

Someone, somewhere said, “hey let’s zoom in way too close on Logan Sargeant to begin.”

Kevin Magnussen is just…there.

Zhou Guanyu gets two shots instead of one. I prefer the second shot. I don’t mind either though.

Daniel Ricciardo has his usual smirk, which makes me want to punch him.

Nico Hülkenberg gets two shots, but the first one has you going, “Wait. Who the hell is that?” It also doesn’t fit with his next shot or anyone else’s shot.

Valtteri Bottas turning around doesn’t fit with the rest of video. It is also too jarring after just seeing Hülkenberg.

Yuki Tsunoda was done dirty. He doesn’t even look real there. I went back after the first viewing to make sure he wasn’t a mannequin or cardboard cutout.

Alex Albon is staring like he just wants this shit over with and I can’t blame him.

Esteban Ocon is walking – walking past the camera, to where?

Pierre Gasly is looking at the camera like he’s making sure it’s on. It’s Gasly though, so he can do whatever he wants.

I kind of like Lance Stroll’s take – looking down then at the camera and transition.

One person commented on Reddit that Oscar Piastri’s look is him telling you at 3 a.m., that he’s just vomited.

Oh, was George Russell on the screen? I blinked and missed him. Half his screen time is in darkness as well.

Carlos Sainz has a weird edit where his head seems like it’s trying to catch up to the camera movement. This is a bad editing job.

Lando Norris looks like he’s on a catwalk somewhere. The edit from being in the dark to him walking is strange. In the dark, it’s a close-up of him, then, bam, he’s walking at you from far away. You don’t have time to react to this bizarre edit because they’re on to the next driver.

Charles Leclerc looks sad, like he’s going to cry. His face also looks off. I’m not sure if it’s out of focus, but if it were a picture, I’d swear they gave him the Hamilton treatment and smoothed it too much.

Fernando Alsonso didn’t get enough screen time, but I liked it for the most part. I would have just zoomed out a smidge more.

Lewis Hamilton looks like he’s about to jump somebody who owes him some money.

Sergio Perez looks scared, like when you realize someone is filming you. Either that or Red bull told him to smile or he’s fired.

Max Verstappen is doing the same pose and smirk as last year.

I absolutely love the music and have for several years. This opening sequence though, it’s garbage. The video is clunky. It seems like short clips were shoved together with no forethought about how to connect anything.

It’s almost like a bunch of people had ideas of how the video should look and they went with all of them. Given that some drivers had more than one shot, this could have been edited with one shot per driver, with equal time and more similar shots of each driver. This could have easily been tied together better and been an awesome intro.

Damn it, F1. There’s 26 races this year and I’m stuck with this for the opening all season. Oh, and it’s not just 26 races. It’s Free Practice 1, Free Practice 2, Free Practice 3, Qualifying, and the race where I get to see it.

They should go back to something like the 2020 opening. Everything just fit better.

Anyway, first race of the season is this weekend. Don’t bug me.

P.S. Formula 1 also wants you to go to YouTube to see the video so they can get money from clicks. There’s nothing I can do about it. This also sucks, mainly because I have to turn off my VPN to see the videos, which is stupid. F1 is an international sport. smdh