Mercedes and Andrea Kimi Antonelli are making all the usual noises about the championship fight not being over until it’s over.

As well they should: after all, for Antonelli to be crowned this weekend he needs the team’s other driver to finish no higher than ninth. That’s not a result Mercedes are looking for.

All the same, it’s hard to imagine Mercedes doesn’t have a pile of ‘Kimi Antonelli: F1’s youngest world champion’ T-shirts stashed away somewhere.

Barring some incredible turnaround over the coming races, there is an inevitable sense of anti-climax to this year’s championship conclusion. Any realistic hope Antonelli’s rivals had was extinguished long ago. The title will almost certainly be awarded long before the final race, wherever that might be.

Last year three drivers went into the final round of the season with a chance of winning the world championship. But that was a rare treat. More often than not someone wins the title before the last race. The fact that is possible is what makes occasions like last year special.

But this year’s championship fight would not feel special under any circumstances. I have been following F1 for almost 40 years and in that time it has never been harder to appreciate the drivers’ abilities, or be impressed by their efforts.

The hideously overcomplicated, energy-starved 2026 power units disguise the skills of the world’s greatest drivers so effectively it’s hard to imagine how they could do it better. The faster and more demanding the track, the more inadequate the power units are to tackle them.

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F1 and the FIA have tried desperately hard to keep selling the show. But they know they have committed a terrible mis-step which has ruined the championship. The reality of the situation can be gauged by the haste with which they rushed in fixes and prepared to ditch the disastrous new formula after potentially just four seasons – one-third the life of its predecessor.

While F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali reassures everyone that fans are too stupid to understand the shortcomings of the current cars, the reality is rammed home by the depressing accounts of those who have to drive this year’s cars, such as Charles Leclerc.

“In Q3 at Spa I did a very good turn one, but by being a tenth-and-a-half quicker through turn one I lost two-and-a-half tenths on the straight,” explained the Ferrari driver earlier this year. “So in the end I was a tenth slower despite having done a better job through the corner.”

A world driving championship title has no value in a series which punishes drivers for driving well. F1’s hype cannot change that.

Following F1 has always involved a degree of filtering out the variables to understand who is really performing well. Which driver has the best chassis or engine? Who has been affected more by unreliability? I have always found making sense of this part of its appeal.

But in 2026 that has gone from being merely difficult to impenetrable. This is even more so in race situations, where the invisible Overtake Mode tips the balance, ensuring no pass can ever be taken at face value.

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There is little sign the modest tweaks to the 2027 engine regulations will significantly improve the situation. The best-case scenario is most of the grid turns up for IndyCar’s new race at the Circuit de Catalunya, conveniently timed to fall between the Austrian and Belgian grands prix. Surely there will be at least one driver who fancies getting back into a single-seater which doesn’t automatically slow down before reaching a quick corner?

I wish I could say Antonelli’s performance this year, and his likely coronation as F1’s youngest ever champion, has convinced me he is one of the series’ all-time great talents. I certainly see no reason to believe he isn’t.

But I can’t truthfully say I believe he is, nor that I would feel differently whoever won this year’s title. When the contest is this bad, who cares who wins it?

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