Hamilton: Not my job to convince people to watch F1

Lewis Hamilton says Formula 1 is anything but "boring" for him right now amid Mercedes' difficulties, but insists it is not his job to convince fans to remain impassioned with the sport despite the current lack of track action.

Formula 1's revamp last year of its technical regulations was welcomed by drivers who felt that Grand Prix racing's new generation ground-effect cars allowed for closer racing and more overtaking.

However, with teams developing their car's away from the sport's aero rules, downforce levels are once again on the rise while dirty air has once again appeared in the wake of the current crop of cars, which is hindering slipstreaming and overtaking.

Compounding the problem is the FIA's trend towards shortening DRS zones, as was the case in Baku and in Miami, a move that also heavily impacted overtaking.

After last month's less than entertaining Azerbaijan Grand Prix that was dominated once again by Red Bull, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff urged F1 to focus its attention on making the racing "less boring", a view shared by George Russell in Miami last weekend.

"F1 created these regulations to help overtaking and following, and since they were introduced every single team has sort of developed naturally away from their initial intentions, as you develop the car," Russell said.

"So every car on the grid is very different compared to what, let's say, they were intended to look like 18 months ago or two years ago now or whenever it was.

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"And yeah, I think the overtaking is slowly getting more difficult but also because the slipstream isn't as large as well with these new cars so it's slowly going in the wrong direction for overtaking.

"I think the sport took a really good turn for the better when these new cars were introduced, but we need to take it to the next step now."

A crucial lack of overtaking, wheel-to-wheel battles and track action can have an impact on fan engagement.

If fans perceive that the sport is not delivering on its promises of increased overtaking and exciting races, it could potentially lead to frustration and disappointment.

However, Hamilton points out that the current situation is not of the drivers' making.

While he insists that it's not his "job to convince people to watch a sport", the Briton does acknowledge that Formula 1 as a whole needs "to do better as a sport".

"I mean, I'm not watching it, so it's not boring for me," he said.

"I'm challenged every single day, trying to get back to the front, so it is definitely not boring from my perspective.

"But like, as a racing fan, I can understand as there's not much competition like with the NFL and NBA at the moment. That is not my doing.

"We need to do better as a sport, we have already tried to bring teams closer, but it never seems to work.

"All I can say is we're working as hard we can to close up and get back to [giving the fans] some more excitement."

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