Formula 1: I don't get it

secretsam

It's supposedly very popular. It dominates TV schedules, and the Radio (F1 on the radio - someone please explain how that works?). But it's dull, dull, dull. It's so dull they get excited about tyre choices :shock:

And why do its fans insist on wearing "team kit"? ie a shirt with lots of company names on it? "But it's no different to a cycling team jersey" some say. But that has a defined function: it's a cycling jersey. A "team kit" shirt is just a shirt, ruined by lots of silly logos.

I just don't get it. Am I alone?

qube

No. Fell out of love with it about 2 decades ago.

finchy

I watched it for a couple of seasons in my teens, then got really bored of it. Could be worse, could be NASCAR. At least they bother to put curves on a F1 track.

chris_bass

I think it would be a lot more interesting if they all had to drive the same car.

Who was the last person to win the championship who wasn't in the best car?

homers_double

Chris Bass wrote:

I think it would be a lot more interesting if they all had to drive the same car.

No, because the teams which invest in R&D or have the best of the best (of the best, sir!) should be able to use their skills to the teams benefit.

Or are you hinting that all the teams are almost identical with the restrictions placed on vehicles??? :?

p.s, I think F1 is about as dull as a dull thing on a very very dull day.

chris_bass

homers double wrote:

Chris Bass wrote:

I think it would be a lot more interesting if they all had to drive the same car.

No, because the teams which invest in R&D or have the best of the best (of the best, sir!) should be able to use their skills to the teams benefit.

Or are you hinting that all the teams are almost identical with the restrictions placed on vehicles??? :?

p.s, I think F1 is about as dull as a dull thing on a very very dull day.

I guess but it is much less about driving these days, whoever can make the best car wins, which is impressive but they could save a lot of time and just hand the trophy out now.

lostboysaint

It got shit when pit stops and "strategy" became a part of it, to try and "liven it up". It didn't need livening up. Few manufacturers could make a car that could last a race, few drivers had the physical and mental capacity to drive at the limit for that long and there was much, much more overtaking as a result. Of course certain manufacturers still tended to rule the roost but the stats showed the decrease in real, on the track overtaking* as soon as dear old Bernie decreed that it needed livening up.

*as opposed to this "pit stop overtaking" bollocks now!

tangled_metal

Would any of the current crowd survive in say the f1 from the 50s or the 60s? Less about the driving more about the car and team. Never watch it...boring d

kajjal

It's just tedious unfortunately. Imagine it would be a lot better if you were there in person.

debeli

You don't have to 'get' it. Nor do you have to like it. Many people (very many people) don't get stage racing or track racing.... It's OK.

Formula 1 is slightly dull up to a point, as it has become processional and event-free in recent years, but it remains the pinnacle of international motorsport nonetheless. Most drivers in any other formula would give everything for a chance in F1.

I do not find it entertaining to watch, although I did in the days when deaths and serious injury were less rare. What that says about me, I do not know.

If you want to be entertained by motorsport, I'd point you towards MotoGP or WSB (for tracks) and maybe MotoX for sheer thrills and spills.

But best of all, head out in the summer to your local Autograss event.

F1 is an intrnational multimedia commercial venture. It sells and it sells well. But you don't have to 'get' it or like it.

rick_chasey

Big fan.

Like any sport, once you get a bit nerdy about it it's very interesting.

I've always been a fan of very tactical racing, no idea why. Born that way.

So I love road cycling, especially 1 day racing, and I enjoy formula one as well.

Helps I used to do a bit of go kart racing too, but I liked F1 before I did that.

earthvspace4XTuUWcX

I watch and enjoy it up to a point, I think it could be better and recent seasons spoilt by some of the rules and regulations. I think the technology and R and D is impressive. I find cricket boring, and don´t ´get it´ but can understand why some enjoy it. Horses for courses.

DeVlaeminck

I don't hate it, I enjoy some of the pre-race programmes, just the actual racing too often seems a bit of an anti-climax. Like most I enjoyed it more back in the day. Not sure it would be better in person - I've never been but I have watched motorcycle racing live and while I don't mind watching it on TV in person I found it dull as ditchwater.

Rigga

I love all the politics and strategies of f1, I love the pit stops and the mind games that teams play on each other. The racing? That's the boring bit.

frisbee

F1 is tedious. MotoGP is the pinnacle of motorsport.

rick_chasey

Raikkonen '07.

Alonso got very close more recently.


For those who said it'd be more interesting if they had the same car - that formula existed for a few years. A 1 racing. It was rubbish.

orraloon

BTCC for me. Door handle to door handle racing, contact sport n all. F1 fairies.

byke68

Did watch it for a few years but realised that I was staying in watching cars going round & round when I could have been outside on hot summer sundays doing other things.

seanoconn

Rick Chasey wrote:

For those who said it'd be more interesting if they had the same car - that formula existed for a few years. A 1 racing. It was rubbish.

Yes but it didn't have the best drivers.

VTech

The problem with F1 is that restrictions stop what could be great racing. Also money is the main factor, less than half of the drivers are there on merit and undeserving of a seat in an F1 car.
People also forget the safety features they have on their road cars which have come from F1 technology.

Bring back engine choice and fuel stops for me.

ai_1

I watched it for several years in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Then got a bit bored with it, missed a few races and lost interest. As with many sports, the more you know, the more enjoyable it is. Stage road cycling is incredibly boring for those who don't know much about it. Many non-fans would suggest that nothing interesting happens until the sprint finish. Likewise I think soccer is appallingly boring. If you could be bothered to watch for 90mins you might see a goal or two. Many games end with no-one having scored at all! The rest of it is just guys kicking a ball around. From my perspective, it also seems obvious that the sport is dysfunctional when they often have to resort to penalty kicks to decide the outcome. This essentially constitutes switching sports because the first one failed to deliver a result. The cycling equivalent would be if they only timed to the nearest minute so often got ties and then held track sprints to decide the winner. I'm sure there's lots to enjoy in soccer, but only when you invest yourself in it. From the outside there appears little to enjoy.
I started watching MotoGP about the same time I stopped watching F1. It's much better to watch IMO even as an occasional viewer. However I don't seem to watch much besides rugby and cycling recently. Not a concious decision, it's just what happens!

debeli

cyd190468 wrote:

Schumacher in 94. The Benetton wasn't even the second best car.

There are those who point to the absence of a filter in the filler neck, the probable use of traction control , the low ride height (taking too much off the plank) and various other shennanigans made things slightly uneven in Schumacher's favour that year.

About the only thing that didn't give that team an unfair advantage was the honesty, probity and gentlemanly conduct of the team boss, Flavio Briatore, who was and who remains one of the most honest people in sport.

Schumacher was clearly a huge talent and was driving a car so tuned to his needs that no-one else could drive it (shades of Stoner at Ducati). But he was not driving an inferior car and he had a tream around him who were prepared to 'prepare properly'.

lostboysaint

MotoGP and WRC are the pinnacles of motorsport and "pilot" involvement.

VTech

Group B was the very best.
This is probably the best drive of all time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEuZG37gFdM

First.Aspect

The appeal of F1 goes far beyond the racing. Unless you follow the technical and political side of things, the racing is without context. And visiting an actual race is a sensory experience. Hot dogs mixed with burning rubber, unburned fuel from exhausts and a rather loud noise. You don't have to like it yourself, but its a bit trite to dismiss is out of hand.

As for whether its an interestig spectacle compared to other sports - you can't possibly claim that the first 5 1/2 hours of the Milan San Remo, or flat stage of the TdF are more interesting than a car race, surely? You have to be awfully keen to dredge any interest from a group of domestiques launching a sponsors' airtime attack before being entirely predictably reeled in 10km from the line. Some people would think that dull.

I could say similar things about any form or cricket. Or baseball. Or rugby - what the hell is all that thigh grabbing about? - and surely there's something wrong with the rules if 80000 people and 30 players all need the ref to explain what's just happened?

All of these are also trite comments.

sloppyschleckonds

I've worked with people who are absolutely fanatical about it.

They've ever never been to a race.

VTech

SloppySchleckonds wrote:

I've worked with people who are absolutely fanatical about it.

They've ever never been to a race.

How can they be fanatical without having been to a race ?
I do think that a lot of people who would like to go can't due to the outrageous pricing over the last few years. Its upwards of £750 for a family of 4 if you want to drive, park, get in and eat a very small amount of food.

I honestly think that no family sporting event should be more than the average person earns in a week.
Having said that, they really have no need to drop the prices because the events sell out without the need.

Wunnunda

Pretty much only the British GP sells out like that though? The German. don't seem to give s shoot...

F1 is a symptom of most motorsport IMO. Because we' ve got so clever at this stuff we can pretty much engineer anything GIVEN THE FUNDING, and therein lies the problem. Once one manufacturer with, effectively, bottomless pockets enters the contest then others either follow (reducing the event to willy-waving between big brands) or don't bother, in which case one team dominates for years turning it into a bore-fest. (Ferrari/Schumacher era being typical). The cost capping answer is fine to a point (if you believe the spending is properly audited, of course...) but as it inevitably results in standardised elements to reduce cost then it moves inexorably to being a single make drivers championship. Great for someone like Red Bull, who would love the marketing opportunity, but it's not F1. At least not as I understand it...

ugo.santalucia

After Senna it got too techy and too boring... nobody really cares in the western world... not sure how they manage to run the show, to be honest

turbotommy

F1 feels a bit soulless to me

I get the impression it's propped up by a relatively small band of financiers. it wouldn't suprise me much if it wasn't around in 10 years time.

Lookyhere

VTech wrote:

The problem with F1 is that restrictions stop what could be great racing. Also money is the main factor, less than half of the drivers are there on merit and undeserving of a seat in an F1 car.
People also forget the safety features they have on their road cars which have come from F1 technology.

Bring back engine choice and fuel stops for me.

Yep, all very true, F1 ia sanatised for good reason, no one wants dead drivers, but it might be better to make the tracks safer and the cars faster and more driver "friendly"

at the moment, after the start or unless there is rain, its boring.