Alright when was that again.....?

[Bastian93]

And because of all the other memes of course.

Plus: I find it fascinating how dominant Mercedes has been for such a long time now. As they say: It's much more difficult to stay on top than to get there.

 

[FinFan]

I watched the two races this year more out of curiosity then real interest. Haven`t watched a race before in possibly 10-15 years.

The racing isn't any worse then in many other series. I don't like all the gimmicky technical stuff like DRS. I'd prefer hands on racing with simpler cars , not those growing out wings and winglets all over the car like smallpox. I am not a fan of any driver. Back then I liked the Rosbergs, Mansells, Villeneuves kind of guys. Todays drivers are too plain, which can be said for most series. They are schooled to represent their teams and sponsors.

It's also too political and the moment one team comes up with an advantage all the others protest. I remember McLaren winning 15 out of 16 (?) and it wasn't boring at all.

I grew up with F1 in the 80s and liked the more simpler times. But I admit there is a lot of nostalgia imvolved.

 

[Ramjet]

It sucks that we have had 7 years of Mercedes dominance. Really boring really. Not even under the Schumacher/Ferrari years we have had this dominace.
Hopefully, 2022 will be a new start.

 

[David Mann]

I like the engineering and design part of it. It's a pitty cars are so boxed into looking so similar nowadays. I remember when the Ferrari F2001 was presented and I found it so fascinating how different it looked than the 2000 season car as an example.

Also Kimi.

F1 has good and bad parts for me. The speed, technology, and drivers/characters are good. On the bad side, there are too many rules, and the sport has gotten to be too politically correct. Unfortunately for me, the bad stuff makes the sport boring and a bit repulsive.

The rules I don't like include things like banning refueling, forcing teams to use different tire compounds, the qualifying minigame, DRS, and overly restrictive car design rules. I like dynamics and variety that emerge from simplicity rather than rules that try to force complexity, but usually end up leading to the same single solution for everybody.

 

[Loren Thomas]

I voted no - the last year I'd say I really liked it was 2002. After that the gimmicks started. I know plenty of series have gimmicks now, but F1 has way more and worse ones than most. DRS is obviously the most egregious, how something like that can be in a so-called World Championship is an absolute joke.

 

[Squared Circle]

You can complain about the quality of a race or something like engine noises all you want; But each F1 driver, engineer, and team member is operating out closest to 'the edge' as you can get. Every season, every race weekend. And that is always fascinating.

The weakness of F1 (to me) is that that's true for a lot of motorsports - even for those classes where the world champion isn't already obvious before the start of the first race. If I'm wrong this year then yes, I'll say I've missed a season
F1 stopped to be interesting to me when I realized that it's too much about the cars (and worse: the budget) and too little about the driver.

 

[Squared Circle]

I voted no - the last year I'd say I really liked it was 2002. After that the gimmicks started. I know plenty of series have gimmicks now, but F1 has way more and worse ones than most. DRS is obviously the most egregious, how something like that can be in a so-called World Championship is an absolute joke.

Well, I can imagine worse "gimmicks". What I would not have imagined is the "Fan Boost" of Formula E. When I saw this first I thought "Bloody Hell, is that supposed to be Racing or Democracy?"
DRS is desperately needed to have at least SOME overtaking.

 

[GranDoxin]

I have been watching F1 since 1992. Today there is less intrigue in racing than it was then, and I do not like it. Only rain sometimes mixes cards, and we get Germany 2019 ...
In the 90s, there were much more frequent situations where someone of the middle management could win. Because driving car was more difficult, and the drivers were more often mistaken, which led to the descent from the distance. Because everything that they were capable of was squeezed out of the cars, and therefore sometimes crossed the line, and the equipment failed. Motors burned like candles! In a rare race, everyone reached the finish line. And often the leaders went out of the race. It was a great chance for the others.
Today there is practically no such chance. Pilots do not go at full strength - they save engines and tyres.
If you look at the statistics of past years, and modern (approximately from the beginning of the 2000s), you will see that each pilot out of race of about 4-6 times in a season of 16 races.
Today for top comands it is 1-2 times out of 22 races. Thus, the podium is almost always occupied by top teams, and the rest have no chance.
In the younger series, there is an inverted starting grid that allows you to create more intrigue. In F1 there are no such rules. Previously, they were replaced by an accident factor, which from time to time removed each pilot from the game. This added emotion, made worry more, and did race more interesting. It doesn't work anymore.

I also do not like the external changes in recent years, starting in 2009 Then when steps appeared, and then ugly "noses", sound of motors now like a meat grinder...
And now Formula 1 turned into a political rostrum - this is the most disgusting thing that has happened with F1 in all of history!
Therefore, the modern formula 1 for me is a disappointment. I miss the times when tobacco ads were put on the car, not political slogans. It was more honest.

 

[Squared Circle]

I have been watching F1 since 1992. Today there is less intrigue in racing than it was then, and I do not like it. Only rain sometimes mixes cards, and we get Germany 2019 ...
In the 90s, there were much more frequent situations where someone of the middle management could win. Because driving car was more difficult, and the drivers were more often mistaken, which led to the descent from the distance. Because everything that they were capable of was squeezed out of the cars, and therefore sometimes crossed the line, and the equipment failed. Motors burned like candles! In a rare race, everyone reached the finish line. And often the leaders went out of the race. It was a great chance for the others.
Today there is practically no such chance. Pilots do not go at full strength - they save engines and tyres.
If you look at the statistics of past years, and modern (approximately from the beginning of the 2000s), you will see that each pilot out of race of about 4-6 times in a season of 16 races.
Today for top comands it is 1-2 times out of 22 races. Thus, the podium is almost always occupied by top teams, and the rest have no chance.
In the younger series, there is an inverted starting grid that allows you to create more intrigue. In F1 there are no such rules. Previously, they were replaced by an accident factor, which from time to time removed each pilot from the game. This added emotion, made worry more, and did race more interesting. It doesn't work anymore.

I also do not like the external changes in recent years, starting in 2009 Then when steps appeared, and then ugly "noses", sound of motors now like a meat grinder...
And now Formula 1 turned into a political rostrum - this is the most disgusting thing that has happened with F1 in all of history!
Therefore, the modern formula 1 for me is a disappointment. I miss the times when tobacco ads were put on the car, not political slogans. It was more honest.

Could be my age but what we see here seem to be the harmless symptoms of changing times.

 

[cangrejin]

My first F1 race was the one won by Damon Hill in his Suzuka 96 ', in which he was champion.
I was lucky enough to see the entire fight between Schumacher and Hakkinen. I think the best year of that golden era was the 2000 season.
then the f1 "fell", in the years 2002-2008. it declined even more in the years 2009-2015. (my vision). the cars were thin and "scrawled."
now they look much better and more "competitive".

 

[Kevin Troschinski]

Since middle 80s untill don`t know 2010 i was as an F1 addict. Then year by year my interest dropped more and more. Since about 5 years i did not watch one race anymore

 

[mantasisg]

I don't. Because I'd like more down to earth less formal style of the organisation and it being so high end, that it is practically literally at the end, you guys need to restart something for real. I'd like cars that are less aero biased, smaller and more driver involving. I'd like more variety in car designs. I'd like more jazzy races. I'd like few more funkier tracks in the schedule. I'd like tires that could last two races, screw super soft tires that can last only for 15 minutes... And on top of that I think it would be achievable by keeping cars as safe as it is and even improving the efficiency. I am not interested in some reality TV BS behind the scenes, front wings that cost more than my life and gets destroyed at every race at T1 L1, I am not interested at seeing drivers nervous in the room after the race uncomfortably waiting for the podium because they are being filmed for god damn knows what reason, I don't like broadcast that is focused on about previewing car liveries and sponsors instead of actually focusing on race and driving essentials....

 

[Simon Gardner]

It has good points and bad. 2019's championship fight was pretty much a foregone conclusion so whilst that was a bit of a disappointment there were a number of good individual races where the result wasn't necessarily expected, plenty of entertaining battles among the midfield cars throughout the year plus the races such as Germany and Brazil where weather and/or safety cars helped create a more memorable event and lead to podium finishes for some of the smaller teams.

However there are aspects I dislike such as DRS - it stops some races from being a procession but it destroys the racing on tracks where in the past you would be treated to a good fight but now the pass happens before reaching the braking zone. It would be good with the new rules to get to a point where DRS is no longer needed but I fear its here to stay.

The other thing is modern F1 tracks, specifically the ones designed for the purpose of holding F1 races that are ultra smooth, dull and lifeless where the challenge and danger has been ironed out and the consequences of mistakes removed due to the massive run offs. Even putting safety to one side though with the downforce and cornering speed of F1 many of the worlds great circuits that provide great racing and challenges for other categories would most likely be disappointing with F1.
Take Brands Hatch or Watkins Glen, two tracks that seem to come up in facebook threads and forums when people talk about where they'd like to see F1 revisit - both great tracks but both would provide terrible F1 races with modern cars. They would have to be butchered to make them suitable anyway.
It would have been interesting to see how Zandvoort turned out and I guess we get to experiment, partly, with Mugello later this year.
I would happily see F1 with much less downforce and be 10 seconds a lap slower if it meant they could race on some of the old school tracks. That would be preferable to seeing them lap 7-8 seconds slower than qualifying because they are conserving the engine/tyres for the first half of the race like they do now.

 

[Thang Nguyen]

best mate: has insomnia
me: watch the 2019 F1 French GP and you'll no longer suffer from it =))

 

[Charlie Lockwood]

From the outside:
Put simply, there is no sport or sector in the world which combines athleticism and technology on the level that Formula One does.

As someone who has worked in F1:
F1 is not just fast at the race track. At a team's factory, engineers, software developers and mathematicians are expected to (and do) carry out their practice and apply their skills in a much smaller timeframe than in other industries. For example an aeronautics engineer who spends their career in F1 will likely work on as many as 40 different cars! Had they applied their skillset to designing planes, they may only get to work on 4 or 5 if that. This is a quick, basic example, but puts into perspective how exciting F1 can be compared to other industries.

 

[ShredatorFIN]

Honestly, I don't. Most boring form of motorsport. I guess I should when many Finns have done well in it but I simply can't get interested.

Don't like them in sims either (except vintage) because the modern ones sound horrible, the halo blocks vision and they are just too fast for my brain in general

 

[JohnnyH3]

Because, the cars standing still look: hot, sexy, exotic, erotic, fast, wet, rocket like, low to the ground, seating for one, seating in the center, a seating position like no other, so tight & cramped you need butter & a shoe horn to get in, someone else straps you down tight, your strapped down tight, no windshield, no wipers, no roof, strapped to 800hp, 50K for a one set of four tires, where 16 people used to descend on you for a pit stop, a blazing pit stop now is 2.1sec - I mean, I can barley blink! Different countries, different tracks, different beer! The sound is so loud it's like a head full of bee's at max volume next to your ears for almost two hours, WOW! I would take away: DRS, KERS, Turbos. Use old V12 motors & bugger the environment!

 

[François Strat]

I'll go for "No"... Because it now sucks in a very global way !
Regulations, drivers, budgets, cars... Almost every aspect of F1 has been screwed in a way or another !

Honestly, when you have more fun listening to the team radio talk than watching the races, it means a lot !!

I can perfectly understand the modern F1 fans ... But for people like me who witnessed the greatest fights in the 90s (I'm 37), in the most demanding cars you can possibly drive, you can't watch a modern race a feeling OK about it !!

Cheers
Donnie

 

[François Strat]

And to all the younger that actually like modern F1... You'll talk like me in 20 years when the cars will self-drive around the track

 

[pcraenme]

I started watching F1 regularly since Jos Verstappen came into the picture and have been following it since then. So my trigger was a Dutch driver entering F1, but I stuck around in the less interesting/succesful years concerning Dutch drivers. I even organised my own F1 pool for 15 years, but stopped doing that because it took too much time. With Max now, but also some other young talented drivers like Lando, Charles, George and Carlos, F1 is still very interesting.