Thread by @shaunjlawson

Could anyone who thinks Formula 1 isn't WWE for cigarette companies speak now please?

Verstappen confirmed as Champ. Which is surely preferable in the FIA's eyes to a last lap of the season overtake in front of the world being overruled by people in smoke-filled rooms.

What won't be preferable in their eyes is when Mercedes take them to court.

Some 'sport'.

I am, more broadly, in two minds.

On the one hand, Verstappen is a complete prick. Reckless too. On the other, he's led the Championship virtually all season long and is certainly a much improved driver.

Also, Mercedes' dominance has been astonishingly tedious.

Every bit as much as Ferrari's was in the early 2000s. That isn't good for the sport either - and my views on that don't magically change just because Hamilton is British and Schumacher was German.

I've never been convinced Lewis is the woke hero he's claimed to be either.

But he's certainly a better role model for the sport than Verstappen!

But overall: the day I feel sorry for someone who's already won 7 World Championships is a day something inside me dies. Dominance of this extent is boring. When it's underpinned by a machine, even more so.

And besides, it's all a complete and utter circus in any case. More so than any other major sport.

I mean, Mercedes v Red Bull. It's like McDonalds v Burger King, Coke v Pepsi.

Apart from utter weirdos like Ferrari fans who whoop and holler at cars going round a track, who really cares?