79 replies to this topic

[senna da silva]

I think they are still incredibly demanding machines with all the buttons, switches, and G's.

 

I always look forward to all the buttons and switches when I go for a vigorous drive. 

 

My 8 year old son, Sebastian Ayrton, always revels in Vettel's wins understandably, which as a Lewis fan pisses me off to no end. 

[tifosiMac]

You would say something like that though if you were a bit long in the tooth. Sounds like a defensive comment from Schumacher. I think they are still incredibly demanding machines with all the buttons, switches, and G's.

Personally I would have thought if it was a defensive comment from Schumacher, he would have said the opposite in order to explain his often poor performances? I also think F1 cars are still incredibly demanding machines to drive nowadays which is why I also said that.

[Amanda1978]

I've been a fan since 1978 and I've learned that there are strange people in this world who will never get F1.  I'm married to one of them.  I've dragged my husband, kicking and screaming, to 6 British GP's and one German GP and he still doesn't like it.  But he is useful as a pack horse - carrying a backpack with my spare camera lens etc, and he's usually good for buying me drinks in the bar later, but he will never enjoy it and when I get into an in-depth technical discussion with other fans or my brother, who is also a fan, you can literally see his eyes starting to glaze over! 

 

But the other side of the coin is that my eyes glaze over whe he starts talking about football.

 

My husband is also not very comfortable with the fact that our two dogs are named Kimi and Rossi.

 

I come from a family of motorsport fans.  I've cousins who were rally drivers, and are motorcycle racers.  My mother, who passed away three years ago, watched every F1 race up until shortly before she died. 

 

So I guess it's in my blood and will always be in my blood 

Edited by Amanda1978, 08 January 2014 - 16:10.

[Mandzipop]

Strange that it has always been part of my life since I was a little girl. I can't remember it not being part of my life. I get asked a lot of questions and sadly the most recent ones are not ones I would have ever wanted to be asked.

 

My dad used to be into it big style and we had a lot of rows about it when I was younger. I was practically disowned due to me being a Schumacher fan. My mum has had it forced into her and although she doesn't like it, she endures it. She knows the rules backwards.

 

However the biggest part is that I went to winter testing with a friend in 2011. She brought along a some of male friends who I didn't know. With one of them it was lust at first sight through rose tinted beer goggles (applicable to both him and me).   We are still together.

[ollebompa]

Personally I would have thought if it was a defensive comment from Schumacher, he would have said the opposite in order to explain his often poor performances? I also think F1 cars are still incredibly demanding machines to drive nowadays which is why I also said that.

 

I've once saw a quote from Alonso saying post-2009 cars were the hardest to drive since he started( can't find it now). Says nohting about the 90's though. 

[tifosiMac]

I've once saw a quote from Alonso saying post-2009 cars were the hardest to drive since he started( can't find it now). Says nohting about the 90's though. 

That would make sense though wouldn't it? If you consider up untilt eh end of 2007 cars were fitted with traction control and other gizmo's. There is truth in Alonso's comment I would have thought.

[ollebompa]

That would make sense though wouldn't it? If you consider up untilt eh end of 2007 cars were fitted with traction control and other gizmo's. There is truth in Alonso's comment I would have thought.

I bet you're right. Early 90's cars also had lots of driver aids but i guess they had very little downforce so they were harder to drive.

Edited by ollebompa, 09 January 2014 - 10:02.

[tifosiMac]

I bet you're right. Early 90's cars also had lots of driver aids but i guess they had very little downforce so they were harder to drive.

Indeed and after 1993 many of these aids were absent for a while. Michaels first two championships were supposedly won without driver aids so I can see his point about modern racing cars.

 

To relate this to F1 in everyday life, many of my family of friends not interested in F1 still look on the Schumacher years of last decade as a reflection of how it is now. I used to hear all too often that F1 was boring because the same guy is always winning and todays present form has undone a lot of the promotion I have given the sport in recent years. I think unless people delve a little deeper with their desire for knowledge, F1 will always be a sport where identical cars just go round and round.

[alpinesmuggler]

[...]

Bottom line: F1 is like mafia. You cannot leave it just like that. Best guess would be persistent virus

Spot on. "If you have to ask about it, you don't really know what it is."

[olliek88]

Like so many here when i reveal my motorsport interest to someone at work/in daily life i often get the "they just drive around in circles" cliche. A few colleagues in particular who are big football (soccer) fans continually remind me just how mind numbingly boring F1 is, my now default response? You need two balls to be a racing driver. 

 

Just to clarify, what i mean by that is you need to be brave, not male. 

[Velocifer]

My football fanatic friends will watch everything that's on TV (and that's a lot!) including analysis and gossip etc, will discuss the weirdest stuff even with others present, get texts with scores in situations it's not really polite to check the phone etc, but will still think it's totally weird that I'm so into F1..  I've just given up answering with depth to their polite pretend questions but it's only fair as I feel and do the same about football.. If they ask something it's typically related to what's made the papers like Vettel and Red Bull domination and why they're so good and if Vettel is another Schumacher in the making and what is it about Germans and F1, what about Mercedes etc.

Other than that it's hardly anything. The biggest 'commotion' I can ever remember was when only 6 cars started a race back in 2005, but was of course mainly to have a laugh at F1.. The 2007 Kubica crash was also quite a topic as the spectacular picture made the sports pages and they were amazed he survived. So scandals and blood is their basic 'interest', just like the tabloids.

So people's perception is not really good. At work I will not reveal I'm into F1 as motor racing has a reputation for attracting a certain type of fan as with football etc and would surely only work against me long term. The family is not one bit interested and don't pretend to be either which is ok. Wifey sometimes asks how Raikkonen is doing (for unashamed reasons..) but that's about it. The kid is still too young to be into sports, but I'm already doubtful as he's not so into playing with cars but will spend hours playing girlie dress-up game and similar on the pad etc..   

So I guess as with many around the world, being an F1 fan is mostly a hobby best kept private but with internet it's not really an issue anyway.

[scheivlak]

Some of my other fields of interest are history, literature and chess. Some people who know me are surprised that I'm pretty interested in sports and they are certainly surprised when I tell them that I follow F1. When I tell them how competing in F1 is an intellectual exercise as well they begin to understand  

[DanardiF1]

I've been lucky to be have brought up liking F1. My Dad was never into football or cricket like his brothers, and when I was a young lad in the early 90's in our Army flat in Germany I would be sat on my Dad's knee on a Sunday to watch Formula 1, whether it was on SSVC (the Army broadcast service, now called BFBS), RTL or, once we were back in the UK again, the BBC. I never got introduced to anything else until I was about 6 or 7 when my Grandad started getting me into football (and thus started the lifelong heartache of being a Bolton Wanderers fan), something I am very grateful for as I know love the sport, but F1 has always been my first love.

 

I found in the 2000's that once I was in secondary school and having to socialise with people that either weren't interested in F1 or straight out disliked it, I somewhat drifted away from it... not totally, but I don't remember much of the 2005-6 seasons, mainly because on weekends I'd be out with my friends drinking and going to Hannover 96 games. I'd always try and watch highlights at most, but I missed a few races those seasons. As I've grown up I've managed to find a better balance that includes F1, football, socialising and my home life, and my girlfriend has become a fan in the 7 years we've been together. In fact she is a prime example of the casual fan and the entertainment level of some recent seasons, as her interest definitely waned over 2013 whilst she would watch most races with me beforehand. I much prefer having someone to watch the races with though, and she has replaced my Dad in that since I flew the nest back in 2008... Me and my Dad still text each other during races as well, and when I go to visit I usually plan my trip around a Grand Prix so I can watch it at home.

 

And that's what I do for F1... I basically plan my life around it. Work, socialising, home... it all gets organised around what race is coming up at what time. Nothing else is as important to me so regularly.

[chunder27]

I have only ever managed to watch F1 with one lass

 

She actually went more than me as I refused even then to pay the stupid ticket prices to go on racedays, I just liked seeing the cars

 

When there were different cars like V12's 8 and 10's and blokes changed properly so you could stand at Woodcote and hear Pirro or Nannini pissing a gear or marvel at how quick Apain or Ayrton managed to change up, or sit on the entry and listen to son=meone like Patrese or Boutsen heel and toeing beaitifully without being drowned out by daft commentary and overly loud PA!

 

Since then, few girlfriends have ever been interested, most coulkdnt care less, and to be frank I prefer it that way, it's my thing going racing, and if she wnats to tag along whoever she is then fine, but you sort of need to know she wants to and isnt going to get bored!

[tifosiMac]

I grew up in Banbury which is F1 country as most of the grid are based within 50 miles. Some of my old school friends work in motorsport for the likes of Lotus, Mercedes. Aston Martin etc so its good to go home and be amongst people who appreciate the sport. I was lucky enough to be close enough to Silverstone to be able to watch races as a kid, but interest even around that area has declined in recent years. My father no longer makes the effort to watch like he used to even though he had access to the full Sky package. F1 used to be a sport discussed in the workplace alongside football and cricket too. I've had a couple of girlfriends interested casually in F1 in the distant past. The further I have moved away the more different the regional interests are. Its a bit like when I visited Italy and had the impression Ferrari were a national religion before I went, but found in southern Italy they prefer football to motor racing.

 

F1 in my daily life really only consists of a chat with a couple of guys I work with and a check online to see whats been happening these days

[sopa]

Some of my other fields of interest are history, literature and chess. Some people who know me are surprised that I'm pretty interested in sports and they are certainly surprised when I tell them that I follow F1. When I tell them how competing in F1 is an intellectual exercise as well they begin to understand  

 

I think "intellectual exercise" is quite a good view on that.

 

To be honest, I don't discuss about F1 with people, who are not interested in it. At least haven't done so recently. I discuss about other things with them. Not everyone is supposed to understand or get into motor racing, so let everyone be who they are.

 

But if there ever is a need to bring out the fundamentals of "why follow F1/motorsports", I like to pick a few basic things to get inspired from

- high tech/world class technology, including endless innovation or at least aiming it;

- top-notch sportspeople, always trying their best and pushing on the limit (well, sadly not so much with cheese Pirellis);

- several facets that makes the sport fascinating: speed, skills (racing, and other), strategy, competition factor itself, etc.

 

I feel sad to read that some people been downplayed for "being an F1 fan" in groups of other kind of people. I think we can find good angles on the sport of which to be proud of. Some people can't of course be helped and they'll never understand. But never mind.

[Collombin]

Being English and having ski racing as my favourite sport, I actually find selling F1 to my friends relatively easy in comparison.

[ollebompa]

I've had some recent experiences.

 

A colleague of mine had come over a pair of F1 model cars wich i was gifted! One was a Renault R25 and the other a BMW circa 2007. They were obviously not the most accurate as the only difference was the livery and they had novelty sponsorship like "Telefunica", still it made my day big time.

 

As a Swede i see lots of people beliving in a Marcus Ericsson WDC this season, so lots of talk around that. I've explaind at least 20 different times its unlikely as is team has a budget 1/5 of the big teams. They then loose some spirit so i feel compelled to add a "but you never know", and it's all good again

Edited by ollebompa, 22 February 2014 - 16:11.

[RedBaron]

"Why can't you just record it?"

[ollebompa]

"Why can't you just record it?"

I don't follow?

[Absulute]

I'm picturing your parents as Frank and Estelle Costanza.

 

SERENITY NOW!!!

[RedBaron]

"Why can't you just record it?"

 

 

I don't follow?

 

Sorry I didn't explain at all! Not entirely on topic but above and beyond anything anyone asks me about the details of F1 they ask me why I can't just record the race on TV and watch it later in response to me putting social plans on hold and doing things around watching the race live. I get asked this constantly especially during fly away race weekends when I duck out from a night out on the weekend to get sleep before waking up at 7am to watch the coverage.

 

Apart from that I'm barely asked anything. Why don't drivers keep inside the white lines I'm asked on occasion and also people not understanding team-mates if everyone is racing each other, how are they on the same team.

Edited by RedBaron, 23 February 2014 - 10:21.

[Murl]

I find there to be more discussion among long-time fans as to whether F1 is worth watching anymore. When people who have been fans for years start to say they are skipping Qualifying and Races it gives you pause. I think it goes well beyond the "Vettel effect". It's like being in love for a long time and then feeling like you are doing things just because it used to be fun. Last season for the first time in years (hell decades) I skipped a couple of races just because I didn't feel like watching. Talking to my fellow fans it seems like I have a lot of company in feeling this way. To be an F1 fan in the USA means you need to invest in getting up really early or staying up late to see the show. I admit that I don't have much interest in taping sports, either I watch it live or not at all.

 

I don't claim to have the answers but I fear my love for F1 is waning.  I will see if the new rule package gets my heart beating as strong again. Perhaps it's me that's changing and the sport is as exciting as ever. Who knows.

 

It has changed, it is not a sport, that is for sure.

 

Would you get up in the middle of the night to watch live WWF? Some do....

 

I don't think it is coming back, somehow. Each year the "show" part gets more important, and the "sport" part diminishes. It must be working for them, because they keep doing it more and more. Cirque du Soleil is still exciting, draws huge crowds. 
 

[AvranaKern]

My mother used to warn others in the room when I sit in front of TV to watch a race: "Oh Schumacher has started, shush!" He is more popular among my family than Formula 1 itself. Get well soon, Michael.

[paipa]

I have never held a conversation about F1 with anyone except my family. When I moved to Germany I expected this situation to improve, but even here nobody seems to be interested. And it's not even the fact that most of my friends and colleagues are science professionals who have a reputation of not being overly interested in sports -- they are crazy about football. But not a single F1 fan among them. 500 million viewers a year my ass.

[Longtimefan]

Sadly no.

The wife is not interested in F1 at all and the rest of the family are just.. Well, let me say 'blinkered' and only want British drivers to win.
Tbh it's a subject I try to keep off, because it can cause arguments. ie- last time we met as a family group F1 was talked about and they were on about how Lewis and Jenson are the best because they are British. Which had me facepalm when the same people don't even who PDR or Chilton are, which leads me to call them glory hunters rather than F1 fans. As you can see, it's better to just avoid the subject

[Maustinsj]

"Do you have to take the corners so fast?"

[ElDictatore]

F1 in my daily life, huh? Well I share most of my time talking about and watching it with my bigger brother. He just got his masters degree in engineering (control systems and dynamics) and was involved in Formula student and is currently trying to get into Formula 1. I'm currently deciding what I want to study. We're both very interested in the technical side of F1 and always discuss a lot of updates regarding that. Watching the race together, trying to read what's the best strategy and all has been part of our lives since many years. People around us don't really understand why we always have laptops with us with the forums and live timing on when we're watching. And why we watch the free practices too.

 

I have a handful of friends that don't watch it regularly or don't understand it fully but enjoy it every now and then. With one of them I like to play motorsport related video games. But most people I know find it boring (aka "driving in circles"). But to each their own I guess.

[Spaceframe]

Nice topic

 

I've gotten many comments over the years.

 

One is the girlfriend-question: "Why do they have to make such an infernal noise?" - I've tried to explain the wonders of fast-revving engines, but somehow it never really makes an impression. The solution is to always make sure the girlfriend has something interesting to do in another room, while I watch an important motorsport event on TV. Oh, by the way, the girlfriend does like to watch Valentino Rossi, as she sees him as a funny and modest character, completely unlike the macho types she gottoknow, when she lived in Itay for a couple of years.

 

Another is the family-question, often raised by my dad: "Why would you want to watch them drive round in a circle, nothing ever happens, in particular overtaking?" - I've had reasonable success in explaining the challenge of driving at the limit in testing circumstances, although some will ask why I don't watch rallying instead, but the lack of overtaking has often caused me to experience an F1 race as two hours of processional boredom. Explanations concerning aerodynamics as a hinderance to overtaking usually provoke a headshake and a sigh...

 

Then there are the friends who does follow racing occasionally - fourty years ago, they wanted to know, how good Tom Belsø really was, twenty years ago they wanted to know, if Jan Magnussen was going to be world champion, today they want to know how long it'll take for Kevin Magnussen to win his first world championship. Fourty years ago, I replied that Belsø was good enough to be in F1, but too old to develop into a GP winner, twenty years ago, I replied it depended on which team(s) he'd be signed to, today I reply that we'll have to wait and see.

 

And finally there are the politically interested friends: "Why do they race in countries that have no or little tradition for manufacturing cars, and from where no driver of real merit ever came? And why do they go to al these non-democratic nations - China, the Gulf States and now also Russia? And is it really true, that the head honcho agrees with Putin's views on homosexuality? What sort o planet do they live on?". To which I reply, "money rules", "money rules", "yes, but he's way beyond 80, so his views might be a bit out of date", and "the planet of money". All of which results in the follow-up question: "Then, why does an intelligentperson like you watch it?", to which my most succesful reply so far has been, "so I can keep updated on the identity of the sponsors, so I can avoid their products...."

[Jon83]

There are only a few people I know that have any interest in the sport and at that, it is not a major interest.

 

One colleague, who is interested enough in sports without being a massive enthusiast, was amazed when I touched on how fit you need to be to get anywhere near F1. Another seemed to think that showjumpers were fitter than F1 drivers.

 

A lot of those I know who ahve no interest will go on about drivers goind round and round with that kind of smart-alec tone I'm sure many will understand.

 

It may be the part of the world I live in but I generally find that this forum is the only place I can have any sort of proper discussion about the sport and for that, I am thankful.