When did F1 go wrong for you (honest answers please!)

[ears]

There's a lot of talk about how boring, quiet, dull, predictable, whatever, F1 is now.

But it can't have always been like that. Everyone who has an interest in F1 now - enough to deride it - must at one time or another, have been entertained by it.

I started thinking about it. And I have to admit, it's not about the technology for me, it's not about the noise, it's not about who's holding up a board with a number painted on it.

It's about whether or not any of the drivers / teams I'm interested in can compete near the front, and whether I like the teams / drivers competing at the front.

The nadir of F1, for me, was the Schumacher era. I just could not watch. The combination (in my opinion) of a dominant car and association between team and governing body to suppress opposition at all costs was an absolute turn off.

I found the Red Bull years similarly frustrating. If the 'number 2 driver' had been given equal opportunities, I could have got interested. But he didn't and I didn't.

So as someone who got interested in Lewis Hamilton right back in the GP2 days and just being unable to help myself, this is not the worst era of F1 for me. His ability to drive a car versus his ability to self destruct always keep me on the edge of my seat.

So I just wondered, honest answers, is it really about the technology? Or is it boring because your favourite driver / team is not winning? Would the Tifosi call F1 boring if Ferrari had had the results Mercedes have had since 2014?

I wonder.

 

[BrainsBush]

I think also the teams want a more challenging competition. Today they planned another extra meeting with the stakeholders of Liberty, FIA and team execs. This is thus another meeting then that one of yesterday. We've read the major upcoming (possible) changes in 20/21 but they want some other changes to be happen sooner as in next season to finally make the races more attracting to both the teams and the crowd.

 

[Jimlaad43]

Still hasn't

 

[Terry Rock]

F1 has always been about money...let's get that out of the way first and foremost.
The sport's failures are not about the money in itself, it's about the rate at which they wanted to haul in that money.
They first got it wrong when they started alienating track-side spectators by introducing massive ticket prices.
In so doing, they essentially discarded a large cross-section of the loyal followers.
The attitude was one of 'you are not really needed, because televised sales has become the main source of revenue'.
Next, they went wrong by trying to appear 'green' above everything else, all in an attempt to grab more cash from folks they figured the'd be able to influence and sell additional products and ideas to.
They forgot about the 'sport' aspect and instead concentrated 98% on the business aspect.
There in a nutshell is everything needed to understand the current failings of F1.

 

[Klought9]

Banning grid girls!

 

[dud]

In my opinion the key to have interesting competition between teams with different budgets needs this:

All fields of engineering must be driven into a zone of diminishing return of investment, but not into flatlining.

Right now the complex engines have too much development potential in return for further research. So rich teams who are in front by -say- 7 imaginary points will make good another 2 points each year, while the semi-rich teams also only make 2 points. So they don't chip away on the 7 points. If there was diminishing return then the rich teams could only gain one point each year and the semi-rich 1.7.

On the other hand, aero has been driven right through the zone of diminishing return into flatlining. Even if you employ Adrian Newey you cannot make the aero much better than the other teams. And there is no way for a better aero package to compete with a better engine.

Hybrids are fine. Don't forget that before the 2014 insanity they already tried electric energy storage and release. That went perfectly fine. And it gave people something to tinker with. And it was closer to what road cars actually use than the 2014 insanity.

 

[hal4000]

"When did F1 go wrong?"
After 1967.

 

[TomcatMF]

When they switched to these POS v6 hybrids. They lost a bit of what made F1 unique when they lost the high pitched sound of the high revving V8s and V10s.

These new power units are amazing pieces of technology, but they don't excite me as much as the older engines did.

 

[UNREALARCLIGHT]

Imho 2010 was when F1 for me really started to die. The banning of refueling combined with the introduction of Kers, Drs and other unnecessary rule changes and gimmicks that really did nothing to bring the racing element back to the sport. Faster cars dosent allways mean good racing.

Sure there has been changes to try and help things but it hasent had the impact that is badly needed to bring F1 back to its glory days. In the last 8 seasons of F1 I have had less entertainment from the sport than I got from 10 years ago wacthing a single season. Mainly 2007-08.

The question still remains: How do we make F1 good again?

 

[tlsmikey]

Hybrids. The moment that came into play, all the fun started to end. Aero is a close second. That also seemed to really take offer in the late 2000's.

 

[pitkin]

I remember my first fleeting glimpse of F1. It was 1985. I remember as a boy going to say good night to my dad. He was watching an F1 race on the TV. Back in those days it was largely highlights that were on past my bed time. I stopped and looked at the TV as one car almost disappeared under the rear wing of the car it was following. The long shot down the straight made it look almost as if there was only one car there. I watched in amazement thinking they were surely going to have an accident. Suddenly the second car swung out from behind, sparks flying high into the air, as if someone had let off some fireworks beneath. Murrays voice leapt up an octave. His excitement was infectious, and I was hooked.
Sadly those few moments were all I saw until the next year. I can't even remember which drivers I was watching on which circuit, but I remembered Formula One and waited eagerly for the next season to start. My best friend had also started watching in 1985, his dad a was huge fan and recorded the races for him, so he had the drop on me for knowing drivers and teams. Luckily I only needed to remember one name in 1986; MANSELL! I became an instant fan, of the driver, his team and the sport. I was sucked in and F1 became my obsession.

I started losing that passion towards the end of the 90's and by 2008 I spent more time moaning with my friend rather than enthusing. Something we still do, yet we still watch, moan, then watch more. I can't pinpoint the exact moment, but I suspect it came during the period of Schumacher domination. Once it was over, nothing really happened to re-ignite the fire for me.

I guess the answer to the question depends on when you became interested. Someone who started watching in the 60's will have a different opinion to someone who started watching in the 2010's. I think things are rarely as good as they used to be, it just depends on when your 'used to be' was.

 

[PsyaNyde]

When Schumacher stopped, I still watch, but it's just missing something now for me, plus all the rules now, It's just not as exciting as it was, maybe i'm just old and jaded lol.

 

[Helmut Skrdla]

It's about whether or not any of the drivers / teams I'm interested in can compete near the front, and whether I like the teams / drivers competing at the front.

True for me too.
I started late with my motorsport addiction, only in 2009 onwards I was regularly watching F1. The Red Bull dominated years were bad, but at least McLaren and Button put up a decent fight and Weber always was a cool guy too..
2013 was the least year of the NA cars, and MCL on the way down already... 2014 onwards it was all over.

Right now there's no driver/team combination that I find very likeable. Alsonso is a decent chap in a broken car, Kimi is fun in his grumpy way but not very relateable, Max is impressive but not a real personality. What F1 needs is personalities like Valentino Rossi.

The other changes are just additional nails in the coffin.

 

[Perun950 RACING!!!]

With v6 turbo hybrid there wos a big gap between engine power and sound is not the best. Mercedes engine had to much advantage over Ferrari and Renault in 2014 in 2015 it wos closer but honda struggled in 2015,2016 and 2017. It is to hard for engine manufacturer's to get in F1.

 

[JayOTT]

It ceasing to exist in 2018 did it. But instead of grabbing that low hanging fruit again, I thought I'd comment on the smaller issues it had prior to the hiatus.

There was a real problem with not being able to keep new teams in the sport, due to the rules not giving a start-up much assistance, and the uneven distribution of money. We saw three new teams enter the sport in 2010, then saw them all die one by one. Sure, HRT was garbage and didn't belong, but Lotus/Caterham and Virgin/Marussia/Manor deserved better. It was especially tragic that Sauber had to kill Manor in Brazil for the sake of their own survival, right when Manor was looking like they had shaken off the backmarker tag for good.

Haas at least hit the ground running, though they had to basically make a deal with the devil in Ferrari to do it. Will that deal come back to bite them in the form of a glass ceiling? If F1 ever comes out of hiatus I guess we'll find out.

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

Not sure when it went wrong for me. I found some of the early 00's years a bit boring due to Ferrari/Schumacher dominating. Kept watching through the years, got way more in to F1 in 2009, not due to the new rules, Brawn GP or anything like that. But ironically enough that I lost the chance to watch it on Norwegian TV, while BBC got the rights back, and I for the first time in my life used Nigerian services to watch F1. It was a new experience being able to follow FP's and everything.

But when I look at my interest, I was born too late. F1 had the most interesting time when it was a bit more open. Not rules-wise but in regards to teams. Yes, I see the argument that the Life's and Andrea Moda's of the world might not help F1's image. Neither did Coloni who in 81 attempts only qualified for 14 races, and in over half the races didn't even get through pre-qual.
However, it gave the dreamers a chance. And sometimes there were upsets. Like Stefan Johansson getting third at Estoril in the Onyx in their debut season while not getting out of pre-qual for half of the races.
This also gave many more drivers a chance to get in to F1. Some shined and got a better seat. Others didn't.

The unpredictability and unreliability in those days also were great. Yes, you could end up With 8-9 cars getting to the finish. But it also meant that there were always a risk that something would go wrong. That tension made it exciting.

Add that the track were bumpier, narrow, With grass and gravel right beside the track. Not airports and carparks of runoff areas, no power steering so the drivers really had to work for it and thus there was a real risk of getting tired and making a tiny but very costly mistake. That also added some tension. You wouldn't lose 1 sec by running a bit wide, you could actually retire. Also due to those tracks, and lack of power steering it looked very fast and hard to drive, really on the limit. It was a wow-feeling. Gladiators on wheels. The best drivers in the world!

By writing this. I understand why I enjoy IndyCar the most these days. Proper tracks. more ground effect, no power steering, smaller teams that can cause upsets but still the best driver and team wins the champ!

 

[XCalinX]

Never. I still enjoy it today.

 

[rubaru]

I didn't really start watching until 2012. So, I basically missed the Schumacher era. Sure I knew who he was, but experiencing and hating the Vettel / Red Bull dominance I can imagine I'd feel the same way about Schumy / Ferrari. Now, it's the Mercedes dominance which, thankfully (?) was split between Lewis and Nico. I think it went wrong for me from the start but I kept watching because it was, to me, more than just the racing. I like the strategy and the behind-the-scenes stuff, too. I like finding out what's going on outside the Top 3 teams because it is still somewhat exciting. Just when I think things are off-putting, something new happens. Whether it's Ricciardo taking the win in Hungary 2016, or seeing Jules Bianchi score a point in Monaco, something is exciting somewhere if you look for it.

With all that said, I think there are parts of F1 that will always tick me off. Manufacturer dominance being a big one (Mercedes). Also, having an obvious #1 driver when both are very skilled and it's too early in the season to know anything (Ferrari). I don't like how the smaller teams keep dumping good drivers for the sake of making a few extra bucks in sponsorship money (Williams, Sauber). The way I see it, a better driver will get you more points and the money comes in the prizes (Kubica, Wehrlein). And what about the seven (!) dry tyre compunds from Pirelli.

I couldn't care less about the grid girls. Or Pirelli Hot Laps. What does get me is variety. Not one winner all the time. I still talk about the 2012 season, with 7 different winners in the first 7 races and from 5 different teams. Maybe Baku will give us something new, like Hamilton or Alonso winning. That would be nice. Four races in, 3 different winners, 3 different teams.

 

[Samuel Fuller]

When they turned the sprint races into a season long endurance race. By limiting components per season. Now when a team is 1-2 they must turn everything down and think about the rest of the season. When a driver is 2nd or 3rd and statistically they have only 70% chance of winning they will turn down the car and think about the season. They should be allowed to go for it. It is not cost saving if it means you lose your fan base. In business you have to spend money to make money. This is no different.