133 replies to this topic

[EarnardBeccelstone]

So, my interest in F1 has been waning over the past two years, and I have been set to wondering: is it me or is it F1?

 

I've been following F1 regularly since the mid-1990s and avidly since the very early 2000s. Call it two decades of being a fan.

 

Five years ago, I wouldn't miss a qualifying session or a race, and I'd ardently follow practice when I had the opportunity. I was interested in the drivers, the cars and the inter-team politics and competition.

 

Now, I find myself having to struggle to find legal methods to watch half the F1 races in a season (i'm in Australia) and my interest in the sport has dropped precipitously.

 

I'm still fascinated by the cars and the technology, but they just don't quite do it for the the way that they did 5, 10 or 15 years ago. I do like the new engines, but I'm not a fan of DRS, and to a lesser extent the lack of refueling and the enforced single tyre maker.

 

However, I've lost almost all interest in the drivers in the sport (barring a part nationalistic/part mancrush support for Ricciardo and a warmness to both Finnish drivers), and the political side of things has progressed, at least in my eyes, from intriguing to puerile and adolescent.

 

I'm also less interested in the competition between the teams - at a time when I should be more interested than before. I've been a long-term Williams fan and its great to see them back towards the front of the grid.

 

The new tracks, with the exception of Austin, do very little for me. I love Malaysia, I'm tolerant of China and Bahrain and I miss Turkey.  Korea and India were workmanlike, nothing more. Abu Dhabi is rubbish, so is Singapore, so is Sochi. So they tracks have been a mixed bag. I like that Austria and Mexico are back, but I'd love to have France back as well.

 

Part of it, I think, is the certainty I have that Mercedes are going to win on any given weekend, bar mechanicals. However, when Ferrari and Schumacher were winning absolutely everything in the early 2000s, i didn't feel this ennui.

 

So, my question is this:

 

Has F1 gone past a peak?

Is it better now than it was five or ten years ago, or is it worse?

If it has gone downhill, what can be done to bring it back up?

[ToxicEnviroment]

1) Yes

2) Worse

3) Nothing

[anbeck]

F1's peak was certainly in the mid to late-1990s. Until then you had teams join the grid and stay there (Jordan, Sauber, Stewart) and the budgets were growing by the minute. I think it went downhill from there, although in various area it lagged. The Schumacher-Ferrari years certainly created a TV audience and therefore interest bubble (which to everybody in his sane mind must have been seen as clearly unsustainable and not part of a linear growth curve), and manufacturers like BMW and Toyota joining masked the fact that F1 had become unsustainable by then. It was only the financial crisis which then was a catalyst that made those problems evident for everybody to see.

 

If you split up "peak" by various factors, such as 

- sporting peak

- marketing peak

- money-flow peak

- technological peak

- TV audience peak

- etc.

you will of course come to different conclusions (sporting peaks probably in the late 80s and early 90s, then a return in the late 90's with the Schumacher-Hakkinen years, whereas technology had different peaks in itself, like electronics in the early 1990s, maybe another with the BMW V10 engine a decade later), but I think as far as F1 is concerned, the writing that it was going downhill was on the wall from the late 1990s onwards. Schumacher's Ferrari years masked that decline, and everybody in F1 was (like in a cartoon) running past the abyss, not wanting to look down.

[FullThrottleF1]

Do we really need another thread for this?

[sjakie]

I'm way past my peak as a fan. I thought that F1 was past its peak a couple of times but every time it could more or less re-invent itself.

 

I started to lose interest arount 2000 as the running of the race started toi become predictable: start at two, first pitsstop at 2:15, second on 2:45, finish around 3:15 depanding on track configuration which became more or less the same...

 It was Imola 2004 which was more or less the last straw. It finished and I the only thing I could think of how on earth I could waste two hours on nothing. From then on I only watched highlights, read articles but didn't bother to watch live.

 

But that 's my thought about F1. I noticed that the sport remained its popularity levels throughout the world. It had its troubles when Piquet and Prost retired, Mansell fled to the US and Senna died but it managed to get back on track. Same after the Schumacher years and I think it will now. If it gets me back on board is something I doubt.

[sjakie]

Do we really need another thread for this?

 

Well, the moderator can Always merge a thread

[DampMongoose]

Q1. No it's progressing well for the shareholders

Q2. Better, the sporting element has all but been removed

Q3. The following will help keep everyone happy:

 

1.  More 3 Car Teams with none of the tiny budget minnows cluttering the place up

 

2.  Less old fashioned European circuits with their so-called heritage and tiny budgets

 

3.  More On-Track Short Cuts

 

4.  More Artificial Wet Races

 

5.  Higher Circuit Hosting Fees

[ToxicEnviroment]

F1's peak was certainly in the mid to late-1990s.

 

everything passed its peak after late 90s

 

except for NASCAR

 

because NASCAR figured its not about racing itself. Its an enterntainment bussines

 

just look at this production

 

 

NASCAR is the best product enterntainmentwise. And productionwise. Racing nots so much.

 

NASCAR is Hollywood.

 

F1 missed that opportunity 10 years ago. Now its too late. Because its is neither pure grand prix racing anymore, neither show. Its nothing really. It is still alive only because of that catchy moniker "F1"  Without that moniken F1 is zero.

[Knot]

Do we really need another thread for this?

 
If you don't like it, don't participate.

[midgrid]

But NASCAR spectators and viewing figures have also declined in recent years.

[Buttoneer]

Do we really need another thread for this?

 

Well, the moderator can Always merge a thread

 

If you don't like it, don't participate.

Please lets not discuss how much you do or do not like a thread. If you don't wish to participate, walk on by to a thread you prefer to contribute positively to. There's no value at all in having this sort of exchange.

[Knot]

In terms of viewership, F1's peak was in the early 2000's Schumi era.

 

Viewers have been evaporating at an alarming rate since 2009....down some 75 MILLION viewers since Todt took charge. South America  have lost 50% of the audience last year alone. These are last years numbers, and I'm sure this years figures are going to look FAR worse.

 

All this shows is that KERS doesn't work. It shows that DRS doesn't work. It shows that pretending to be green doesn't work. It shows that hybrid power doesn't work.

 

More than anything, it shows that FIA doesn't work at all. They flew rallying into the ground (once hugely popular, now almost dead) and they will do the same to F1.

 

The teams should have left FIA when they had the chance.

[DampMongoose]

 It is still alive only because of that catchy moniker "F1"  Without that moniken F1 is zero.

 

F-Zero... now you're talking!!!

 

[Disgrace]

Both motorsport as a whole and television are past their peaks in my opinion. Cars are irreversibly becoming rolling multimedia devices that drive themselves and hardly anyone below a certain age will even own a television, never mind pay for content that isn't on demand. Perhaps we need another world war to drive industrial production.

[FullThrottleF1]

Both motorsport as a whole and television are past their peaks in my opinion. Cars are irreversibly becoming rolling multimedia devices that drive themselves and hardly anyone below a certain age will even own a television, never mind pay for content that isn't on demand. Perhaps we need another world war to drive industrial production.

 

Would it be wrong for F1 to become a more specialist sport?

[beqa16v]

In terms of viewership, F1's peak was in the early 2000's Schumi era.

 

Viewers have been evaporating at an alarming rate since 2009....down some 75 MILLION viewers since Todt took charge. South America  have lost 50% of the audience last year alone. These are last years numbers, and I'm sure this years figures are going to look FAR worse.

 

All this shows is that KERS doesn't work. It shows that DRS doesn't work. It shows that pretending to be green doesn't work. It shows that hybrid power doesn't work.

 

More than anything, it shows that FIA doesn't work at all. They flew rallying into the ground (once hugely popular, now almost dead) and they will do the same to F1.

 

The teams should have left FIA when they had the chance.

Re-watch races from mid 2000, they are utterly boring, way worse than today. Its a global motorsport problem, newer generation is not that much into racing we have to admit. F1 should go another way, become cheaper and do not require gazzilion viewers to stay profitable. F1 needs so much money these days, its not worth for anybody. If i could come up with something I would say

 

to improve the show:

- maintain DRS, this is not 80s any more, car characteristics are different, overtaking is tough;

- make cars shorter and wider, this will make them more manuverable and able to change direction and make amends midcorner easier, hence make wheel to wheel a bit less risky and oversteer a bit less costly. BTW, nobody notices that wheel to wheel was better in 80s because there was much better view from cockpits in that era. I am racing in sigle seaters and I can tell you that these days you dont see a car besides you unless it's nose is next to your front wheel, you just know its there and have to drive intuitively.

- keep the refueling banned, reintroducing it will make strategies more rigid and more predictable, less options for strategic manuvering.

 

to keep costs down

- scre the hybrid stuff for a while, leave just V6 turbo;

- screw this electronic rear brakes;

- standard front and rear wings, standard diffusers;

- other standardized parts where possible;

- single tire supplier;

- MORE FAIR DISTRIBUTION OF OBTAINED INCOME!

- and for gods sake, limit the number of adjustments possible from the steering wheel during a race, this is just bizzare! I just hate this stuff! Leave just basic stuff like brake bias, engine mapping and diff settings. Steering wheels of late 90s were just fine.

Edited by beqa16v, 04 June 2015 - 11:12.

[sopa]

It depends, what you mean by "peak", but financially the peak was probably around early-to-mid-2000s. This was a time, when we had influx of big car manufacturers (Toyota, Renault, BMW, Honda), but tobacco sponsorship still hadn't completely vanished (BAT, Mild Seven, etc were around). Budgets were enormous. Team budgets actually remained enormous till the 2009 recession.

[sopa]

Oh, and it is worth remembering the 2004 cars were the fastest F1 cars we have ever had.

 

Interesting to think. The Schumacher total domination periods are one of the most boring things people have ever witnessed in F1. But incredibly in some aspects F1 was at its ultimate peak at that time.

[FullThrottleF1]

2004 was filled with all those comments that a Minardi could have been on pole with said time in 2003. 

Edited by FullThrottleF1, 04 June 2015 - 11:20.

[HoldenRT]

Long past it's peak.  But maybe it can peak again, you never know.  (Probably after Bernie has passed away)

[ViMaMo]

You are getting old for F1

[Fatgadget]

In terms of viewership, F1's peak was in the early 2000's Schumi era.

 

Viewers have been evaporating at an alarming rate since 2009....down some 75 MILLION viewers since Todt took charge. South America  have lost 50% of the audience last year alone. These are last years numbers, and I'm sure this years figures are going to look FAR worse.

 

All this shows is that KERS doesn't work. It shows that DRS doesn't work. It shows that pretending to be green doesn't work. It shows that hybrid power doesn't work.

 

More than anything, it shows that FIA doesn't work at all. They flew rallying into the ground (once hugely popular, now almost dead) and they will do the same to F1.

 

The teams should have left FIA when they had the chance.

I reckon that can largely be attributed to the dearth of hot shot F1 drivers from that neck of the woods. 

On the whole though I reckon there are far more other things these days people entertain themselves with than watching racing cars going round and round in circles!...Rallying and speedway and dog racing used to be very popular once upon a time...

[P123]

I'd say in terms of popularity all motorsport seems to be past it's peak.

[maximilian]

F1 feels increasingly sterile, and it's a turn-off.  These days I look forward to FE and Indycar, even though I still watch F1 - but then comparing the racing/viewing pleasure factor between the 3 series (IndyCar being IndyCar notwithstanding), F1 regularly comes out on bottom.

[CaptnMark]

F1's peak was certainly in the mid to late-1990s.

 

 

Probably Jerez 1997, end of Qualifying. Or maybe lap 48.

[JHSingo]

'Past its peak'? Not sure.

 

Lost its way? Definitely.

[Massa_f1]

It's going to be different for many people I would think. My interest was at it's peak between 97-01 having started watching in 94.

 

I obviously still enjoyed the Schumacher years 02-04 considering he was my favourite driver, but enjoyed the years he was involved in a championship fight more.

 

2003 was great as there was a fight for the title, and some of the races that year were very entertaining.

 

Hakkinen vs Schumacher was great for the sport worldwide in my opinion. As were the regulations and rules at the time.

 

The sport has lost it's way. It can turn around, but it needs change for the better. Not like the changes we have seen since 2009.

Edited by Massa_f1, 04 June 2015 - 12:33.

[ANF]

I would like to think that F1 reached a peak in 1991. Before the dark times. Before the driving aids.
The next peak would be before the driving aids were reintroduced in early 2001.
And now... I don't know. It's driven more by data than the throttle, isn't it?

[Szoelloe]

Past it's peak? Absolutely. The last peak, at least. And the next one seems to be very far away.

[krapmeister]

In terms of viewership, F1's peak was in the early 2000's Schumi era.
 
Viewers have been evaporating at an alarming rate since 2009....down some 75 MILLION viewers since Todt took charge. South America  have lost 50% of the audience last year alone. These are last years numbers, and I'm sure this years figures are going to look FAR worse.
 
All this shows is that KERS doesn't work. It shows that DRS doesn't work. It shows that pretending to be green doesn't work. It shows that hybrid power doesn't work.
 
More than anything, it shows that FIA doesn't work at all. They flew rallying into the ground (once hugely popular, now almost dead) and they will do the same to F1.
 
The teams should have left FIA when they had the chance.

Surely a significant chunk of that 75 million has to be because of the trend of F1 moving from being broadcast on free-to-air tv to pay/subscription tv channels?

[ViMaMo]

If we had seen some great battles for championships past few years, maybe it wouldn't feel this way.

[Kristian]

I'd say its 'peak' for me in my lifetime, bizarrely, was 2002, even though that was a predictable season. Just becuase those were still the pre-parc ferme days of qualifying super engines, unreliabiltiy, gravelled tracks, etc. Since 2003 its when the changes lost some of F1's purity, the long-life regs came in, circuits got sterilised and taken into countries with no F1 heritage, etc.  

[Dan333SP]

I'm also in the "past peak" crowd. I started watching like most of you guys in the mid 90s.. I used to watch every session that was aired on TV live and would plan my weekends around watching every race, and then DVR came around and I started watching some on a delay and fast forwarding through the slow bits in the middle, then at the dawn of the Vettel era I started skipping races entirely and reading the results online. I'd go back and watch if it seemed like an interesting result. Now, I still watch the races, but I'll generally watch them on my laptop in bits and pieces while doing other things, and it just doesn't draw me in the way it once did. In fact, on this day each year for the last 15 years I'd be headed to the airport to fly to Montreal, but this year I just couldn't justify it and will not be attending.

 

I think part of it is me growing up a little and having new priorities. I was a kid when I started watching, so I was ravenous for knowledge and literally had a little scorecard on my wall with drawings of each car and I'd mark down who had pole/FL/the win each weekend. I collected every book I could get my hands on, I still have a tiny grid full of diecast cars from every era, dozens of hats and shirts and whatnot. Big fan. Now, I'm married, I have a full time job, I have a lot of other interests, I've become a fan of professional cycling as I've developed my own amateur racing, so I just can't commit the same time/interest to F1. God help me whenever I have kids.

 

It's hard to separate how much of my decline in interest is down to my life and circumstances changing, and how much is down to the sport's "progression". I've always been a huge fan of the sound of a racing engine, and I won't get into details but suffice to say I hate the new engines after hearing them in person, so that's a big loss for me. I don't feel like any of the current drivers (other than Danny Ric) are worthy of "idol" status like MSC was to me. That may be because I'm older than most of them now, whereas when I was a kid they were men doing something I dreamed about. The cost savings thing/green focus is lost on me too. I miss qualifying engines and tire wars and special fuel blends. I miss unreliability and entire 2nd teams devoted to testing almost year round. I understand why those things are impractical, but that really drew me in. I miss having the cars slowed down with new rules, only to have the engineers work around them and set new lap records each time they visited a track. I know the racing wasn't wheel to wheel, but I didn't care, I loved the speed and the sound and the sense that the cars were on the very edge of the envelope. Waiting for a V10 to crack 20,000 rpm was thrilling, the aero appendage wars in '07-'08 was thrilling, watching a 2nd place driver complain because his teammate is driving too slowly and hurting his tire life is not.

 

I don't really know where it goes from here for me as a fan. I hope people are still drawn to the sport and I'll probably still watch most of the races at some point, but my greatest joy is re-watching older events and flipping through my photos and books of a bygone era. Probably just another part of getting older- the inevitable onset of nostalgia for all things youthful.

[aramos]

The biggest problem with the sport is they have been chasing their tails with car regulations and have been making the sport worse for it. The viewer problems are due to cost of both television and tickets.

Also as the teams have become more professional some of the variability that made the sport interesting has been lost. It's been 6 or 7 straight years now of being able to predict who wins every race before the weekend even stats.

[Brazzers]

F1 began its decline post 2008 season. The cars are just **** 

[aramos]

And it's hard to tell if it's past it's peak or just in a temporary state. But it's no were near as exciting as it once was. 2010 was the last year of the sport being brilliant to me. Every season since has felt more and more tired.

[Kristian]

I think F1 is one of the few sports that, amongst its hardcore fans in particular, relies on his history as part of its appeal - I'd say pretty much every buildup show of every race has historic footage detailing some story about a driver or circuit. Same with magazines - there is usally at least one decent historical article in the F1 monthlies. Hell, for years Motorsport Magazine purely existed on F1's history. 

 

I think in 20 years time all the historical features of F1 will still be Senna, Villeneuve, Clark, etc. and on circuits such as the Nordschliefe or Monza. I just can't see people getting rose tinted about the era of saving engines around Abu Dhabi.... 

[P123]

If we wind back 15 years people were complaining about grooved tyres, drivers having no personality, Schumacher coasting 2/3rds of every race to an easy win, 'Ferrari International Assistance', repeated FIA championship manipulation through questionable rulings and penalties, repeated half arsed attempt to backtrack on the ruining of qualifying, etc.  There has always been complaints about F1.  It's always had it's drawbacks.  It's never been perfect.  These days we have DRS and the engines are too quiet and slightly misguided complaints about the engine (non) freeze regulations. 

 

People think that falling TV viewership backs up their complaints, yet TV viewership is dropping all over, and has generally been dropping in F1 for well over a decade.  F1 (as in FOM) does the square root of nothing to promote the sport.  It relies on the TV model alone, whilst moving it to pay TV and reducing the reach of the sport.

[FerrariV12]

I'm also in the "past peak" crowd. I started watching like most of you guys in the mid 90s.. I used to watch every session that was aired on TV live and would plan my weekends around watching every race, and then DVR came around and I started watching some on a delay and fast forwarding through the slow bits in the middle, then at the dawn of the Vettel era I started skipping races entirely and reading the results online. I'd go back and watch if it seemed like an interesting result. Now, I still watch the races, but I'll generally watch them on my laptop in bits and pieces while doing other things, and it just doesn't draw me in the way it once did. In fact, on this day each year for the last 15 years I'd be headed to the airport to fly to Montreal, but this year I just couldn't justify it and will not be attending.

 

I think part of it is me growing up a little and having new priorities. I was a kid when I started watching, so I was ravenous for knowledge and literally had a little scorecard on my wall with drawings of each car and I'd mark down who had pole/FL/the win each weekend. I collected every book I could get my hands on, I still have a tiny grid full of diecast cars from every era, dozens of hats and shirts and whatnot. Big fan. Now, I'm married, I have a full time job, I have a lot of other interests, I've become a fan of professional cycling as I've developed my own amateur racing, so I just can't commit the same time/interest to F1. God help me whenever I have kids.

 

It's hard to separate how much of my decline in interest is down to my life and circumstances changing, and how much is down to the sport's "progression". I've always been a huge fan of the sound of a racing engine, and I won't get into details but suffice to say I hate the new engines after hearing them in person, so that's a big loss for me. I don't feel like any of the current drivers (other than Danny Ric) are worthy of "idol" status like MSC was to me. That may be because I'm older than most of them now, whereas when I was a kid they were men doing something I dreamed about. The cost savings thing/green focus is lost on me too. I miss qualifying engines and tire wars and special fuel blends. I miss unreliability and entire 2nd teams devoted to testing almost year round. I understand why those things are impractical, but that really drew me in. I miss having the cars slowed down with new rules, only to have the engineers work around them and set new lap records each time they visited a track. I know the racing wasn't wheel to wheel, but I didn't care, I loved the speed and the sound and the sense that the cars were on the very edge of the envelope. Waiting for a V10 to crack 20,000 rpm was thrilling, the aero appendage wars in '07-'08 was thrilling, watching a 2nd place driver complain because his teammate is driving too slowly and hurting his tire life is not.

 

I don't really know where it goes from here for me as a fan. I hope people are still drawn to the sport and I'll probably still watch most of the races at some point, but my greatest joy is re-watching older events and flipping through my photos and books of a bygone era. Probably just another part of getting older- the inevitable onset of nostalgia for all things youthful.

 

Definitely agree with parts of this. While I do genuinely think it was better in the 90s, my age in relation to the drivers is also playing a part. The likes of Mansell and Hill were like superheroes to me and I'd dream of one day maybe being able to do what they did. Hamilton is two years younger than me. I can appreciate and respect the skills of the current drivers, and there are people like Vettel I actually find a bit relatable despite the age gap, but I no longer hero worship them.

 

I'm still fascinated by the technical aspects of motorsport, but as that gets more and more eroded through regulation and it becomes more and more about the drivers, it kind of leaves me with less and less to get excited about. Probably why I've gravitated more and more towards the WEC in recent years - the series is full of very talented drivers (and arguably more paid professionals in absolute number than in F1), but it's the car that's the star there (more so than F1 in any case).

[mclarensmps]

The answer to your first question as to whether F1 is past it's peak will have a different answer based on the age group answering. For some, the peak will range anywhere between the 60s and 90s (even the 00s), depending on whom you speak with. 

 

I personally think relative to all of these periods, F1 is not what it used to be, but I think it has a lot to do with the viewer's perception of F1 along with the technological shift that is constantly being undertaken by the sport. Gone are the days of wrestling a car for mechanical grip, being unsure of taking Eau Rouge flat out, focusing on mechanically "driving" the car (Manual gear shifts). Now the driver is essentially playing a video game, changing fuel modes, engine maps, brake settings per corner, harvesting and deploying ERS, managing DRS. So the actual aspect of driving a car has completely changed, and to be quite honest, it's become completely irrelevant to people driving real cars.

 

Most new cars pretty much do all these things by themselves for a driver (without them having to think about it), so really, it's just a technological shift we're talking about. If a viewer is okay with it, then they will enjoy it just as much as us older folk enjoyed the earlier generations of cars, and driving style.

 

Thus, for me, F1 is past it's peak, but I am still interested in it. I may not watch every race live, but I do iplayer all the races and usually watch them on the same day (while avoiding any news of the results, even though the results these days are pretty predictable ). I am sure I will probably go back to watching live races once McLaren become competitive again (if??? ), that also has a lot to do with my personal interest.

 

Is F1 worse or better than it was 5 or 10 years ago? 

I think in some ways it is better and in some ways it is worse. I think ERS and DRS are a positive element in F1, to make the actual on-track racing more competitive. However, I think the cars have become less exciting, and although I am no racing driver, I get the impression that the cars are a lot easier to drive now, than they used to be. I think the fuel limit, fuel flow rate, and engine freeze are silly, because I personally don't think that fuel efficiency marketing BS has any place in a sport where the goal should try to make the fastest things possible. 

 

Leave things like Fuel efficiency for road cars, or for a series that's built around the concept of conservation: Endurance racing...

 

What can be done to bring it back up?

Make it more exciting so people return to the tracks. Make it more accessible so that more people return to the tracks. Remove the paywall, so that more people tune in on TV. Remove the engine freeze so that teams on the back foot have a chance to catch up to the guys at front. It was mentioned I think by JHSingo earlier in this thread: I think F1 has kind of lost it's way at the moment, but it's not completely broken. It can be fixed.

[DampMongoose]

No point comparing F1's early days as a reference but Modern F1 as I'd see it peaked in the late 80's, there were still some proper characters left amongst the drivers, the 16 or so circuits were where fans resided/attended on a few classic layouts without tarmac fields and the cars were technologically advanced without the limitations/gimmicks we're now used to.  For me, F1 started down the slippery slope however, and began to lose it's way with the changes made prior to 1994 and particularly with the knee jerk reactions to both cars and circuits following Imola. 

 

If F1 was more dangerous as far as the tracks were concerned, it would inherently be more exciting to those watching regardless of how close the actual racing is. 

[Gyno]

Problems I have with Current days F1.

 

The tracks are to wide and tarmac runoffs, makes the cars look like they are going slow and doesn't punish the driver when they make mistakes.

The camera angles are all wrong, gives no sense of speed either.

The cars looks like crap, front and rear wings are out of proportion and the cars are narrow and long.

They sound crap also, you dont get a smile on your face when they start up or goose bumbs all over your body when they rev up.

Drivers run slow delta times through out the race and never pushes.

Not to mention the stupid DRS.

 

Used to watch every single practice and even the warm up before the race.

THe last 3 races I only watched the qualy and the start and first few laps and then turned the TV off and went outside.

Just doesn't exite me anymore like it used to, mainly because the cars are so damn slow, even in qualy at Monaco I first tought Lewis was on a warm up lap before the commentators said it was his timed fast lap in Q1.

 

The Nurburgring 24hr race was more exiting to watch then F1 races these days are.

Cant wait for Le Mans 24hr race, cant say the same about Montreal F1 race.

[Watkins74]

I think motor racing has unique challenges, If you look at the sport of say Baseball, Golf or Tennis they basically have the same rules as they did 100 years ago. Trying to control technology is very difficult. Plus the fans say one thing but want another. They cry for open rule books but hate it if their team isn't first. 

 

Look at Indycar. They became a spec series and as soon as they tried to spice things up with aero kits, fans are upset that Chevy is ahead of Honda

[Kristian]

Its interesting to read old threads about this kind of thing... this one is from 11 years ago; lots of similarities, and some signs of changed times ("too many harmless gravel traps" haha): 

 

http://forums.autosp...redibly-boring/

Edited by Kristian, 04 June 2015 - 16:20.

[Quickshifter]

It has become a latest fashion to bash F1 these days. I am an ardent Mclaren fan and despite Mclaren struggling at the moment my love for F1 has not diminished one bit. There may be a million things wrong with formula 1 at the moment but there are a million reasons to follow f1 as well. F1 is the most widely followed and supported motorsport racing. there will always be eras where one driver or team dominates even then there are so many stories to be told. Constant moaning in a zillion threads about what  is wrong with formula 1 is getting tiresome actually. Last year despite the dominance of the Mercedes team it was great to see the tow drivers going for it for the championship. This year Ferrari's renaissance is a story in itself and Honda's entry despite the struggles has brought some excitement. Plenty of overtaking does not mean outstanding racing. Tactics, pit strategies and intra team battles are still captivating to watch. Max and Sainz have brought a great spark to the F1 racing.

 

Been following this sport for a long time now and my interest in the sport has not waned from the times of Hakkinen's championship wins to now when Mclaren are struggling to score points. As a Mclaren fan i love to see how the team with such heritage and history is going to work its eway back to the top. Ferrari has shown some serious improvement and it would be great to see how their journey back to the top is going to unfold. Attempts are being made to make the racing more interesting and closer and fans need to be patient. Yes there is no harm in voicing the criticisms but moaning constantly in a zillion threads about f1 is not going to make things better. For me a sport is not only about who wins and by how much margin, rather it is about the fascinating side stories that emanate from the main plot.

Edited by Quickshifter, 04 June 2015 - 16:34.

[redraven9]

I have watched some early 2000's races and they were pretty boring to be honest. Schumi pole-win, or Schumi starting from second, early pitstop, quick outlap, and Schumi finishes first.

[KWSN - DSM]

I do not think F1 or any sport for that matter have a Peak as such, I see it more as a cyclic progression upwards and downwards, each high being a Peak that point in time with each bottom being the bottom that point in time. Right now I see F1 as on a slide downwards, I see F1 as not yet having hit bottom in this cycle.

 

There are many reasons for this being the case, there are many reasons why the current gloom will once again be a vibrant exiting sport with a curve sliding upwards and possibly passing previous peaks. I have been harping for years over making the series a closed franchise, I think that is more than the incredible amounts needed is a reason for the current slide. The fact that drivers we all agree should be in F1 can not force themselves into a seat is a reason.

 

1970 - 43 drivers competed in one or all races for 27 different entrants.

1975 - 57 drivers competed in one or all races for 26 different entrants.

1980 - 41 drivers competed in one or all races for 20 different entrants.

1985 - 36 drivers competed in one or all races for 18 different entrants.

1990 - 40 drivers competed in one or all races for 19 different entrants.

1995 - 35 drivers competed in one or all races for 14 different entrants.

2000 - 23 drivers competed in one or all races for 11 different entrants.

2005 - 27 drivers competed in one or all races for 10 different entrants.

2010 - 27 drivers competed in one or all races for 12 different entrants.

2015 - 21 drivers have competed in one or all races so far for 10 different entrants.

 

Not all drivers are equally good, not all teams are equally good or strong, but numbers make a difference. Right now being locked in to teams struggling for survival and half the number of drivers than what used to get the chance in a season makes for less appealing spectacles.

 

1990 among those not scoring a single point:

Yannick Dalmas - Went on to become 4 time Le Mans winner.

Michele Alboreto - Previous F1 wiinner, went on to win Le Mans.

Emanuele Pirro - Went on to become 6 time Le Mans winner.

Bernd Scheider - Went on to become Mr. DTM winning 6 championships.

 

There were quality even at the lower / non-scoring end. F1 is a Drivers Championship as far as most are concerned, they are looking for 'their' driver but when he do not get a chance to prove himself then the bickering, complaining, loss of interest start.

 

F1 is not unique, part of the F1 ills are ills of other sports.

 

I take less enjoyment from the Olympic games than what I used to.

I take less enjoyment from Soccer than what I used to.

Baseball have been relegated to seeing headlines about who is winning or losing, some times can not avoid on the sports radio.

Basketball have been relegated to seeing headlines about who is winning or losing, some times can not avoid on the sports radio.

Ice Hockey only starts for me when Playoff start, regular season is way too long, and crowning a Stanly Cup winning in June is asinine.

I do not recall when Boxing last piqued even a fleeting interest.

 

So all the federations selling soul, tradition and history for ill gotten mammon is the core underlying problem for all of them.

 

[Tapz63]

It's hard to keep an interest in something that is constantly changing. As a kid, I saw some f1 with my dad, and me and him would root for DC in the Mclaren. I lost interest when I saw that he had joined Red Bull. Mclaren still had Kimi, but it just wasn't the same.

A year later though and Hamilton joined the team, hearing how he had been signed by McLaren as a boy and been trained by them, was like hearing someone had just lived my dream. I started supporting him and could enjoy f1 again, rooting for him and Mclaren.

I don't know if I will support a driver the way I have for those two. And if that is the case I doubt I will keep watching. Don't get me wrong I love f1 and motorsport in general, but with no-one to support I imagine I would lose interest as many here claim they have.

[Atreiu]

2015 F1 is better than it was between 2011 and 2013 (pirelli, KERS, DRS, frozen outdated engines). But this is very far from a highpoint in its history. And it definitely doesn't compare favourably against either 2010 (faster cars/tyres, multiple genuine contenders) or 2005 (faster cars, V10s, tyre war - better than pirelli, German and French GPs).

 

There is no realistic hope for a quick improvement. I don't know.

[chipmcdonald]

To me it's very simple.

 

The "cars" are no longer representative of what "car racing" should be about IMO.

 

It is about car racing, right....?