Can't finish a race anymore...

Bram Hengeveld · Oct 23, 2016

...without falling a sleep. If F1 continues to be this boring in 2017 I think it will be the last season I'll watch.

Let's hope the new car regulations add some excitement.

Deleted member 130869 · Oct 23, 2016

I fell asleep for about 6 laps today. Engagement value has diminished so much in the past 5 years, from a time where it was already tough to watch.

Qazdar Karim · Oct 24, 2016

That Porsche Supercup race before was amazing though

I believe without the "same car for everyone", f1 will never be exciting.

Deleted member 130869 · Oct 24, 2016

With everything being too technologically advanced, and so many shared/spec parts, and the heavy aero influence and dependency, it won't matter what tracks they'll use and what gimmicks will be available.

For the love of god, no spec series. The beauty is in variety and a calendar that can allow for surprises. Like Arrows being able to run much better at Monza than anywhere else, 15 years ago, despite being a poor car.

fortyfivekev · Oct 24, 2016

Agreed. I think for me MotoGP and WEC have taken over that spot in my heart that F1 used to have. I had no problem waking up at 6am yesterday to watch MotoGP but really can't be bothered with F1. CoTA doesn't help, it is a boring track for any series, real or simracing. If F1 raced at Road America, Watkins Glen or Mid-Ohio I would be a lot keener.

Paul Jeffrey · Oct 24, 2016

Sadly got to agree with Bram. I've been a dedicated Grand Prix fan since the 80's and basically haven’t missed a race or quali since about 91 or 92. Fast forward to 2013 and it started getting hard to be excited about Formula One, so I slowly found myself recording the racing for watching later, and missing quali altogether. Fast forward again to 2014 / 15 and (unbelievably for me) I found 8 times out of 10 not even bothering to watch the race, just reading up on the result on the net. When I do sit down and watch one (like yesterday), I wonder why I've p***ed away my time on something that doesn’t even get close to being exciting.

Next year we get rules with yet more aero dependency... well that's going to kill something that's already dead.

Touring Cars, that's where it’s at (even though that’s not what it once was either...

).

burrito · Oct 24, 2016

F1 has managed to make it all about overtaking in the pits, without re-introducing refuelling! What an achievement.

Andy_J · Oct 24, 2016

I still love Formula 1 and have done since my old man took me to Silverstone in 1979 when Alan Jones took pole. Make the most of it before it goes electric like those pathetic electric milk karts (Formula E or whatever it's called

) that they race now.
But I always look forward to rule changes that might spruce it up a bit.

P*Funk · Oct 24, 2016

I've taken to watching old CART races on F1 weekends.

4 8 15 16 23 42 108 · Oct 24, 2016

I think I have watched zero F1 races this year. I spend my time with visiting racetracks or other stuff. My motorsport newspaper nakes me read through more than a dozen pages per race anyway.

Paul Jeffrey · Oct 24, 2016

P*Funk said:
watching old CART races

Aww man those were the days....

I've got my money on Zanardi pipping Vasser to the title....

Saying that, I always like the Team KOOL Green cars, even if Paul Tracy drove for them !!

fortyfivekev · Oct 24, 2016

Paul Jeffrey said:
Aww man those were the days....

I've got my money on Zanardi pipping Vasser to the title....

Saying that, I always like the Team KOOL Green cars, even if Paul Tracy drove for them !!

I was at Laguna in '97, awesome weekend that was! Big fan of PT back in the day, could always rely on him for some action.

Half the problem for me is that modern drivers have no passion and not much character (even Kimi is a boring family man now). I like Max and wish more teams would take on young guys who still have some b*lls.

Paul Jeffrey · Oct 24, 2016

Aww maaaaaan, you've done two of the things I'd sell my soul for. Been to Laguna and watched a CART race. Sweet mate, bet that was simply epic...

I watched the watered down CART at the UK Rockingham back in, I think, 2001, and that was pretty good. Laguna is just the dogs bollocks tho

Frank · Oct 24, 2016

Has it been any different the past 10 - 15 years, I mean there are some exciting races and I still enjoy the great moments, even if they are few. But in my eyes there wasn't much more excitement 10 years ago (except for the sound, we need the damn sound back).

Mark Aalberts · Oct 24, 2016

Paul Jeffrey said:
Aww maaaaaan, you've done two of the things I'd sell my soul for. Been to Laguna and watched a CART race. Sweet mate, bet that was simply epic...

I watched the watered down CART at the UK Rockingham back in, I think, 2001, and that was pretty good. Laguna is just the dogs bollocks tho

CART died when Greg Moore lost his life, at least it did for me to be honest. They had a few good years still but once they turned it into Champcar it was pretty much done. Recently I actually started to watch back old DTM races out of the early 90s thats some proper olds(C)ool racing.

Deleted member 130869 · Oct 25, 2016

Frank said:
Has it been any different the past 10 - 15 years, I mean there are some exciting races and I still enjoy the great moments, even if they are few. But in my eyes there wasn't much more excitement 10 years ago (except for the sound, we need the damn sound back).

No, it hasn't. Exactly that, it had been mundane for quite a while before except for the occasional oddball situation. But aero wasn't as crazy as it got in 2007 and 2008, there were the engines you mentioned, and we also had a less uninspired circuit line-up. The FIA was already messing around with the qualifying format endlessly, trying to shake things up. It is fair to say F1 has been a downward sloping struggle for the past 15 years.

kedy89 · Oct 25, 2016

Races are plain boring imo. I watch the start (if at all) and that's about it. Got the TV running in the background in case there's some action for once, but it's barely needed. Turned from motorsports into a show.

Ho3n3r · Oct 25, 2016

It's a mini endurance championship with open wheelers at the moment, which is directly opposed to the DNA of the sport. I find it boring. F1 needs to be a sprint. Too many restrictions keeping it away from being that at the moment, added with excessive penalties if you just fart in another driver's direction - and then suddenly no penalties for bad behaviour (inconsistent). Also, track limits are non-existent at some races, and once in a blue moon it's so strictly enforced that times disappear off the timing tree faster than Lewis Hamilton on a pole lap.

It's basically confusing(for the casual viewers) and dull.

Don't get me wrong, endurance racing has its place in racing, but that's WEC.

fortyfivekev · Oct 25, 2016

Paul Jeffrey said:
...I watched the watered down CART at the UK Rockingham back in, I think, 2001, and that was pretty good. Laguna is just the dogs bollocks tho

I went to the Rockingham races as well. The first year was literally watered down but the second year was a lot better. I like to tell people that I saw the fasted ever racing in the UK. It's not very often you get to see cars lapping at 215mph in Northamptonshire!

Indycar isn't what it used to be but at least it's better now than the IRL years. Penske was too dominant this year but the races still have some unpredictability that F1 doesn't have any more. You can't have a global sport where only two guys can win on a regular basis. Until F1 sorts that out it will continue to decline.

TomcatMF · Oct 26, 2016

fortyfivekev said:
Agreed. I think for me MotoGP and WEC have taken over that spot in my heart that F1 used to have. I had no problem waking up at 6am yesterday to watch MotoGP but really can't be bothered with F1. CoTA doesn't help, it is a boring track for any series, real or simracing. If F1 raced at Road America, Watkins Glen or Mid-Ohio I would be a lot keener.

I don't know what you're talking about, CoTA is an excellent track. I have been there for 3 F1 races, and all three were very exciting (2012 being the best IMO, and 2015 a close second). The width of the track provides a lot of overtaking opportunities, even in areas where you wouldn't think they would do it (like the esses from turn 2-5, and the "stadium" complex after turn 12 where I saw a lot of overtaking). This year was not as exciting, but the VSC when Verstappen's car died took away what likely would have been an epic wheel to wheel battle for 2nd between Rosberg and Ricciardo. But that's racing.

The fact that Red Bull has enough pace to keep Mercedes honest makes things interesting at the front again, and it bodes very well for next years championship when the gloves come off for engine development (the token and homologation was the stupidest regulation of the turbo hybrid era).

People really suffer from ADHD a lot. Not every race is going to have a lot of overtaking. Sometimes it's the strategy that makes it interesting (like Williams attempting a one stoppper), but then things happen that mess up the strategy and the teams need to adapt.

I would say the only thing I am missing now is the sound. I miss the high revving engines. That was something unique to F1, part of its signature.