Formula 1

The Golden Miller

I'd be interested to hear a few general opinions on this, which is why I'm posting here, because I was just pondering it earlier. Is F1 really the global juggernaut we're led to believe it is? I used to follow it in passing until Jordan sold, and after that up until about 09 when Alonso started getting the better of Schumacher. Some great races, as there was with Schumacher and Hakkinen and many before that. But it's a bore since.

I genuinely don't know one other person who follows it, not anymore anyway, despite the fact it gets moderate media attention, even here. I've heard experts say it used to be about 60% car/40% driver and then in the 90's/00's maybe 80% car/20% driver skill. I'd reckon now it's 97% car/3 % driver now. What really is the point of the sport anymore when the driver has so little influence? Maybe I'm just ignorant on the nuances, but the whole f1 season seem's rubbish now.

From what I'm led to believe, the Williams Senna put on poll in the 94 San Marino grand prix that he died in, was quite poor, but it was driver skill that got him that top spot. You just wouldn't see that now. So I don't know about anyone else, but I think the sport has become a bore and an absolute waste of time. It wasn't always been but has become so over time. No driver skill being the difference anymore. I'd be interested to hear how others view the sport?

I'm old enough to remember the fierce rivalry in the late 80s/early 90s among Prost, Mansell, Piquet and the charismatic dynamo Senna. When the latter died in that ****box Williams, a large part of Formula 1 died with him. Schumi took over, and the sport turned into a rote procession with the exception of the Flying Finn rattling his cage for a years. There used to be some great characters like Berger and Villeneuve before the current crop of automatons. Post millennium, I tuned out as it was all about the car. Tweak here and tweak there, I couldn't give a hoot if Hamilton reaches double digits in championships and gets more dodgy hair plugs.

YFlyer

And not Nicky Lauda?

.anon.

It's not 97% car, 3% driver, or anything like it. If you put them all into identical cars, Hamilton would still win. And it wouldn't be Formula 1 because it's always been an engineering championship as much as a driving one. The best drivers generally find their way into the best cars.

I haven't watched it in years because it's hidden away on some expensive satellite channel. I'd say that's what'll kill it in the end.

YFlyer

.anon. wrote: »

It's not 97% car, 3% driver, or anything like it. If you put them all into identical cars, Hamilton would still win. And it wouldn't be Formula 1 because it's always been an engineering championship as much as a driving one. The best drivers generally find their way into the best cars.

I haven't watched it in years because it's hidden away on some expensive satellite channel. I'd say that's what'll kill it in the end.

Senna would. He proved it in La Mon

.anon.

.anon. wrote: »

It's not 97% car, 3% driver, or anything like it. If you put them all into identical cars, Hamilton would still win. And it wouldn't be Formula 1 because it's always been an engineering championship as much as a driving one. The best drivers generally find their way into the best cars.

I haven't watched it in years because it's hidden away on some expensive satellite channel. I'd say that's what'll kill it in the end.

Well he didn't win it in '16 :pac:

You've hit the nail on the head with them losing out with it being on Sky. They sold the rights for short term gain. Used to be any Monday after a race the back page would be about F1 (unless there was a big soccer game on) and a British driver winning the title would be Sports Personality of the Year almost by default.

YFlyer

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Well he didn't win it in '16 :pac:

You've hit the nail on the head with them losing out with it being on Sky. They sold the rights for short term gain. Used to be any Monday after a race the back page would be about F1 (unless there was a big soccer game on) and a British driver winning the title would be Sports Personality of the Year almost by default.

Jemson no

YFlyer

YFlyer wrote: »

Jemson no

Nico Rosberg.

YFlyer

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Nico Rosberg.

Silk knickers man

Potential-Monke

I think, like soccer, the more technical it got, the less entertaining to the general fans. The "real" F1 fans will debate millisecond time increases due to efficiency in modern engines with modern tyres, etc, etc. Most general consumers don't care about that, they want to see head to head battles, overtaking, close calls, crashes. It's all gone very safe (probably rightly so too) but I think that takes some of the thrill out of it. I used to watch a good bit in the late 90s, and watching some modern races, they barely overtake anymore. The sense of danger is gone, and that's part of the thrill of F1 for me, like basically any rally stage, the unknown of what could happen, the close calls or last millisecond saves.

I'm sure someone can come along and explain why there's less overtaking, most likely due to the technological marvels that are the cars these days. But it's like watching soccer, very few games are actually entertaining. And the players, or in F1 case, drivers, it's nearly more about them than the event. Maybe some day the danger will come back, and we'll slowly move towards a Death Race scenario. I'd pay money to see that!

Potential-Monke

Potential-Monke wrote: »

I'm sure someone can come along and explain why there's less overtaking

I doubt it, mostly because there's far, far more overtaking than there was in the 90s or 00s.

Potential-Monke

Deleted User wrote: »

I doubt it, mostly because there's far, far more overtaking than there was in the 90s or 00s.

I will admit to not watching a full race in a while, so that has changed since I was last watching it. Or maybe I just felt like there wasn't enough. I dunno. I was only ever casual anyway. Even the highlights of modern races aren't that interesting tbh. Something is missing.

KungPao

No real characters any more, and even if they have something about them, the team and sponsors comes first, no controversy please.

The only ones with a bit of edge are Verstappen and Vettle really. Australian lad is cool, but too nice.

I miss the days of Rothmans and Marlboro, random massive engine blowouts, fights in the pit lane. You used to smell the petrol through the telly in the 90s. Way too clean and technical now. Cars sound like toys compared to the screams of yesteryear.

Too many boring tracks, in some god forsaken desert or made up street track that’s impossible to overtake.

fergiesfolly

I've been watching the Formula 1 series on Netflix recently. These guys aren't automatons. Very passionate, driven, sometime viciously confident, other times crushingly paranoid. The in-team politics, tensions and backstabbing really gives another layer to what we see on screen on Sunday afternoon.
What I would love to see, is some of today's top drivers take an 80s or 90s car round a track and compare lap times to the likes of Senna, Prost, Schumacher or Mansell.

gifted

Turn it on....watch the start as far as the first corner....switch channels for 50 or so minutes...turn back to race to see chequered flag.....or you could throw a bit of paint on the wall and watch thst.

antodeco

Driver names being spelled incorrectly bis really breaking my heart

Anyway, F1 is still 75% predictable. When you get to watch the 25% that's when F1 is really good. I'd recommend watching Formula E. It's like F1 bumper cars

Hangdogroad

Very popular in England, I used to work in a call centre trying to flog Sky Sports via cold calls to UK customers. Youd be surprised at how many of them said theyd no interest in football but a huge amount of them followed F1. Also worked with an English guy who was a F1 fanatic, all hed talk about.

BanditLuke

So little of it is to do with the drivers anymore it's just beyond boring.

Wanderer78

It has fallen foul to what has happened to many sports, 'corporatisation', it's as good as fcuked now!

I still watch a bit but it’s far too sanitary in every respect now.

Sky King

Wanderer78 wrote: »

It has fallen foul to what has happened to many sports, 'corporatisation', it's as good as fcuked now!

Yes, no commercial interests when Bernie was in charge eh?

Like many here, I watched every week in the 90s but it got boring so I lost interest.

Wanderer78

Sky King wrote:

Yes, no commercial interests when Bernie was in charge eh?

Yup, that was the start of the corporatisation process, it's gone super sized now, so it's as good as fcuked now, at least during the Bernie era, privateers had some sort of chance, now, they can't even get on the grid. Another element of isolating the fans was selling the viewing rights, no wonder many watch illegally, including myself. You can go on and on.....

dulpit

I suspect 2 big reasons that people are saying they used to watch in 90s but not anymore are that it's no longer shown on rte, and there's no Jordan.

Shame really, I used be the person who got up early for grand prix, eating my Sunday dinner in the sitting room away from everyone watching them.

Once the Middle East gets too involved in a sport it’s on the downhill.

Mantis Toboggan

Love drive to survive on Netflix, well worth a watch if you've not seen it already.

Wanderer78

ReginaldSmythV wrote:

Once the Middle East gets too involved in a sport it’s on the downhill.

I wouldn't necessarily say it's a region or race problem, more of a money and wealth problem

Wanderer78

Wanderer78 wrote: »

I wouldn't necessarily say it's a region or race problem, more of a money and wealth problem

Don’t do that, it’s a sneaky low act going out of your way to get someone carded. I never mentioned religion or race, it’s purely based on wealth and we’re seeing the sport becoming centred around the area more and more. It’s not the only sport either.

SEPT 23 1989

the general public turned off when the chance off men dying was reduced to near nothing

greenspurs

i was a massive F1 fan through the 90s, went to a couple of Races also.

I then just stopped watching it , once Hamilton took over.
Races were dull traffic jams after the first corner.
But the major reason that has killed the spontaneity and the thrill of F1 is the technology.
Fractions of a second, and pure overkill of margins to gain a millisecond is boring.

FIA meddling (abit like the law makers in football) with rules and restrictions is killing the mainstream love of F1 , all you have left now really, is the hardcore follower that would sit down and watch a 2hr race.

I think the netflix series has rekindled interest in the formula though. It shows the drivers behind the helmet that you see doing a couple of hundred kmph on a sunday.
These lads are supremely talented, and it is a cutthroat profession.

Also the tracks dont help, most of the street circuits make it very difficult to overtake, and the ones in the deserts seem to concentrate on the bling around the track, than on the track itself.. but i guess they pay big bucks!

I think this years championship will be very close, as Red Bull seem to have the car to really bother Hamilton and Mercedes!
I really hope so!

lertsnim

I still watch as do a few more I know. Most people I know who would watch stopped when it went to Sky Sports. Not the juggernaut it once was since they took it off free tv.

.42.

Ive only been really following F1 for the past few years and I think its a mix of Cars and Drivers and Team Orders.

Cars - George Russell Jumps from Williams into Hamilton's Mercedes car in Bahrain and would have won except for mechanics messing up costing him the win.

Drivers - Each team has 2 identical cars yet its predictable which driver is faster within the team.

Team Orders - Team Members are not allowed race each other in the bigger teams.