105 replies to this topic

[learningtobelost]

There are dozens of threads in which the forum lynch mob gets to put the knife into the so called "Modern F1", and much of the criticism is probably fair. However, there is a lot of good in the sport at the moment. So I'd like to start a thread in which we actually talk about the things that we like, rather than constantly gricing about the sport that we still watch and comment on with an almost unhealthy devotion! It's a new idea, but hopefully it'll catch on

I'll start:

I can't remember a season where it has been so close between team-mates up and down the field.  It's fascinating. Lewis/Nico is still close and hilarious off track. Seb/Kimi is shaping up to be very close. Massa/Bottas was great last year, I feel it will become closer as the season progresses. The RBR Dan's are pretty well matched at the moment. Max/Carlos is closer than the headlines make out. Perez/Hulk ebbed and flowed last year.  I think the talent pool this year is probably the highest we have seen in the history of the sport. 

[TomNokoe]

I don't mean to sound uppity, but F1 fans are a particular breed of person. The sense of community between the fans is cool.

[Lazy]

The sheer elegance of the engineering, both in the PU and aerodynamics. The MGUH, best thing since sliced bread. Braking, always amazes me. Plus loads more,most of which I probably couldn't define.

[DampMongoose]

I like F1's history.

[Radion]

Grid Girls.

[ElJefe]

To have witnessed Mansell v. Piquet, Senna vs. Prost and Schumacher vs. Hakkinen live.

[Mat13]

Everything, especially the power units.*

 

 

 

 

 

 

*Runs for the door, shielding head

[HuddersfieldTerrier1986]

This may seem a daft thing to say given that some years certain teams have been utterly dominant, but I'd say the sheer unpredictability of the sport. Ok Mercedes dominated last year, but who truly expected both drivers to have similar issues at roughly the same time, leading to a new winner in the sport in Canada? Who can forget Olivier Panis in Monaco 1996? McLaren winning 15 out of 16 races in 1988 and then being unexpectedly knocked out in the other race? A lot of people say they just drive round and round in circles (that's Nascar) and whoever starts first goes and wins, but you never really know what's going to happen in a race until everyone crosses the line (sometimes even after they've crossed the line).

Edited by HuddersfieldTerrier1986, 17 April 2015 - 09:15.

[DampMongoose]

Everything, especially the power units.*

 

 

 

 

 

 

*Runs for the door, shielding head

 

They're waiting on the other side ;)

[hamilton10000]

Any on track battle for the lead is always brilliant. 

But for me the best part of F1 is the race start, as the cars pull up to the grid after the formation the lap the tension builds and then as the 5 red lights appear the tension reaches a crescendo and as they go out you know that absolutely anything can happen. There is nothing in the world quite like an F1 race start for me 

Edited by hamilton10000, 17 April 2015 - 09:28.

[GoldenColt]

The fact that it brings all sorts of people together.

[Kristian]

The history of the sport, which is so rich and varied. 

 

The starts - no other moment in any other sport gets me that much of a buzz as an F1 start. 

 

The general 'geekery' of the fans - go to a race and everyone is so learned on the sport, both technically and historically. Not many other sports are like that. 

[Retrofly]

Most things about F1 really.

 

I love the technical cars and team aspect of the whole thing. The build up, practice, quali Q1,2,3, the start the race!

 

Looking at all the neuances and permiatations of what happening, whats going on. The way weather throws the whole thing into chaos.

 

Watching that split time like its the only thing that exists, my heart sinks as the gap goes up, then springs back into life when i start seeing the minus symbols.

 

The holding of my breath as I watch all 4 wheel men raise their hands, furiously studying the tyres for loose wheel nuts.

 

Calculating gaps, pits stops, tyres in my head tryign to work out whos going to be where.

 

Watching the laps tick slowly down, wishing it was 10 laps shorter.

 

Watching the laps quickly count down, whishing it was 10 laps longer.

 

The feeling of joy/exhaustion/relief when your guy crosses the line with the checqured flag after 2 hours of ups and downs.

[YoungGun]

I like F1's history.

 

This and this

 

[Abranet]

Funnily enough I actually enjoy the new engine technologies.

[Sanzx81]

I like F1's history.

Me too!!
(Although some of it makes me very sad indeed)

[sopa]

Competition among teams may be sparse right now, but despite much-debated paydriver issues I like there is such a good competition in driver talent, especially in the upper echelons. Hamilton, Alonso, Ricciardo, Vettel are all brilliant. Button, Raikkonen, Rosberg all high quality experienced drivers, title contenders or winners; Hulkenberg, Grosjean, Bottas as good younger drivers, who would not look out of place in almost any team on the grid. And then up-and-coming drivers like Verstappen.

[alframsey]

Everything aside from Felipe Massa and lack of wet weather racing; I genuinely do love the sport when I take a step back and really consider the point, what is there not to love? It has fast cars, great racing and McLaren!

[HuddersfieldTerrier1986]

Good point re race starts. I must admit even just sat watching it at home, the tension builds as they come round and line up on the grid before the 5 red lights come on and go out. It's an interesting buzz when they do, after the tension has been building up.

[InvertedLift]

When the worst officiated sport in the world is being officiated, predictably, horrendously I can switch over to F1 and reduce my blood pressure significantly.

 

Edit: On topic the qualifying format is perfect.

Edited by InvertedLift, 17 April 2015 - 10:58.

[learningtobelost]

Competition among teams may be sparse right now, but despite much-debated paydriver issues I like there is such a good competition in driver talent, especially in the upper echelons. Hamilton, Alonso, Ricciardo, Vettel are all brilliant. Button, Raikkonen, Rosberg all high quality experienced drivers, title contenders or winners; Hulkenberg, Grosjean, Bottas as good younger drivers, who would not look out of place in almost any team on the grid. And then up-and-coming drivers like Verstappen.

I feel the same way.  

Honestly, I think that there are only a couple of drivers that would be out of place in one of the top teams. In some cases they would be in the traditional 2nd driver roll, but the talent pool at the moment is incredible. 

[byrkus]

It must be something awfully wrong with your favourite sport if you must search for things, which you actually find positive in it.

 

For me, it's its' history. Including the 1930's.

[Spillage]

For all it's faults, I maintain that F1 is the best racing series in the world. At about ninety minutes the races are the right length (I always feel MotoGP races are just too short) and the driving standards are as high as any other series. Perhaps Indycar can match F1 for entertainment and history, but I can't help but feel it's a bit lightweight next to F1, where you just won't see a yellow-after-yellow-after-yellow race like in Louisiana last weekend. 

[HoldenRT]

The onboards of Q3 laps especially.  You start to realise what the fuss is about.  These guys who get talked about so much, are actually amazingly skilled and capable of performing under pressure in narrow windows of time.

 

That's about it from me at the moment. 

[SR388]

Lewis Hamilton.

The excitement of a Grand Prix weekend.

[Fatgadget]

Using an electric motor MGU-H/K or whatever it is to keep the turbo spooled up is so simple yet absolute genius...Who was it who thought of it?

[Rasputin]

The best part of contemporary F1 is the bounty of opportunities to b*tch aboout it on forums such as this.

[Deepak]

Kimi Raikkonen!

[Fatgadget]

It must be something awfully wrong with your favourite sport if you must search for things, which you actually find positive in it.

 

For me, it's its' history. Including the 1930's.

You have entered the wrong room mate...and don't slam the door on your way out!  

[Giz]

2 hours peace and quiet every other Sunday (or so) from March till November

Edited by Giz, 17 April 2015 - 13:34.

[Atreiu]

Speed, engines.

[Markn93]

Big manufactures spending lots of money to go faster than each other. 

[Coral]

Lewis Hamilton.

The excitement of a Grand Prix weekend.

Same here. Plus, the sense of community on these forums.

[BoschKurve]

I like F1's history.

 

Same here. The love for the history of F1 is about the only reason I continue watching the races.

[CountDooku]

What I love about F1? This front wing:



I love the detail, the madness of spending millions to develop this beauty just to go two tenths of a second faster. From the designer's idea to the CFD model, to the wind tunnel, to the carbon layering, to the hours in the autoclave to the painters and then to the track. It's a piece of art that will be obsolete in just a few weeks! And it just takes one Maldonado to destroy it in a torrent of carbon fibre.

I showed this picture to my girlfriend and tried to explain how many months it took to build this. She didn't get it and just shook her head.

Edited by CountDooku, 17 April 2015 - 17:56.

[Ben1445]

That the Manor F1 Team just about scraped it together and finished the race in Malaysia...

...put a smile on my face 

Edited by Ben1445, 17 April 2015 - 15:16.

[Atreiu]

What I love aboput F1? This front wing:

 

(...) I showed this picture to my girlfriend and tried to explain how many months it took to build this. She didn't get it and just shook her head.

 

I get it, but don't like it. Too much aerodynamics isn't good.

 

Other things I like, Spa, Singapore, Suzuka.

[RealRacing]

That F1 cars are still good looking... when compared to Indy.

 

That there are no ovals.

 

That they still sometimes try to pretend F1 is about fans and racing, and not corporations and marketing.

 

That they still race in Monaco with all the safety requirements and concrete runoff crap.

 

That they are still open wheeled, open cockpit cars.

[redreni]

Moments like after the race at Sepang, when the bottled-up emotion is released and the passion of the teams is there for all to see and feel.

 

And in general, I like the way the sport is almost unique in combining the geeky, the technical, the complex, the thuggish, the aggressive, the irresponsible, and the passionate in one neat package.

[SCUDmissile]

The drivers. Yes a lot of them are pay drivers, but this grid has been more interesting than it has for a while.

 

Lewis, Alonso, Nico, Vettel, Kimi, Pastor, Max, Chilli, Ric, Massa, Button etc. are either good drivers or entertaining. 

[DampMongoose]

Same here. The love for the history of F1 is about the only reason I continue watching the races.

 

Agreed.  Although after 30+ years of watching everything without fail,  I admit that since some point last year I no longer go out of my way to watch any F1 races live anymore.  Not something I ever thought possible...

[quaint]

I get it, but don't like it. Too much aerodynamics isn't good.

Current cars, or front wings don't really reek of too much aerodynamics, but rather the fact that the leading teams will spend just about the same amount of money, no matter how much you restrict the rules to specify on which things they may spend the money on. I don't even care why they do so, it's fantastic.

 

That, and the prestige: F1 still is (and probably always will be) the pinnacle of motor sports, regardless of the things I'd change.

[anneomoly]

The racing. The history. The fact that F1 is still trying to be on the cutting edge of technology, and yes that includes when the goalposts for cutting edge have moved from 'biggest engine ever' to 'getting more and more out of less and less'.

 

The drivers. The personalities. The cat fights. The fact that Manor has risen from the ashes. The fact that no one has forgotten Jules Bianchi nor that Manor partly owes their resurrection to him. The fact that finally, finally the sport is catching up to the rest of both sport and STEM technologies in starting to ask where the women are and even if the discussion is only just starting, at least it's starting.

[viceroy1]

The fact that,in each team, hundreds of BRILLIANT people with countless degrees between them work insane hours to design and produce the fastest possible car, and that dozens of people monitor the car trying to work out the fastest way for the car to navigate a 90 minute race where every thousandth of a second counts, and the fact that behind all that, there's a driver in the car that is so talented that he can drive the car on the limit lap after lap after lap, and the only reason he could drive faster is because of the weight of the fuel is less than the lap before! Incredible! Utterly incredible! As an amateur racer (who's pretty damn good in my own right) I can appreciate the multifaceted dynamics the driver has to juggle. F1 needs to do a better job of explaining this to the public.

We like to joke that "x driver is rubbish" etc, but honestly, the worst F1 driver on the grid is probably better than 90% of other pro drivers out there.

Edited by viceroy1, 17 April 2015 - 17:11.

[garagetinkerer]

Everything, especially the power units.*

 

 

 

 

 

 

*Runs for the door, shielding head

You should also take 'rear' guard action... 

[CountDooku]

I get it, but don't like it. Too much aerodynamics isn't good.

Other things I like, Spa, Singapore, Suzuka.

It's not really about aero or beauty (though that wing is fine as FXXK), it's more about the ridiculous levels of refinement at great cost but for marginal benefit.

I just love things that are detailed and very complex. Like a Patek Philippe Grand Complication!

[Mat13]

You should also take 'rear' guard action...

You're right, I've just been in the v6t sound thread! If only these new engines were louder, it could drown out the whinging!

[Watkins74]

I love the standing starts. I get a thrill every time the red lights start going on.

[Rasputin]

What I love aboput F1? This front wing:

 

 

I love the detail, the madness of spending millions to develop this beauty just to go two tenths of a second faster. From the designer's idea to the CFD model, to the wind tunnel, to the carbon layering, to the hours in the autoclave to the painters and then to the track. It's a piece of art that will be obsolete in just a few weeks! And it just takes one Maldonado to destroy it in a torrent of carbon fibre.

 

I showed this picture to my girlfriend and tried to explain how many months it took to build this. She didn't get it and just shook her head. :(beThat post should p

The above post should be preserved to the afterworld as a symbol for what went so badly wrong with F1, how everybody was talking about road-relevance and cutting cost,

while it was considered ok to waste billions on bizarre aerodynamic teaks with absolutely no benefit for anyone. Not the racing, the audience, the teams or to everyday cars.

[kevinracefan]

What I love about F1? This front wing:



I love the detail, the madness of spending millions to develop this beauty just to go two tenths of a second faster. From the designer's idea to the CFD model, to the wind tunnel, to the carbon layering, to the hours in the autoclave to the painters and then to the track. It's a piece of art that will be obsolete in just a few weeks! And it just takes one Maldonado to destroy it in a torrent of carbon fibre.

I showed this picture to my girlfriend and tried to explain how many months it took to build this. She didn't get it and just shook her head.

it is an amazing piece... and I remember how crude the brawn front wings looked.. just about anyone could build them with some light sheetmetal...