My Problem with Modern F1

[Motowntom]

In the end we all vote with our wallets and viewing habits.... We"ll see.
Cheers

 

[Jozsusz]

Those late 80s, early 90s days when it was so accessible.

Not just to me, but to Eddie Jordan, to Osella, Dallara, Tyrrell, Benetton, Williams.

Where with a bit of nous and genius you could turn something really striking out - Harvey Postlethwaite's groundbreaking Stukka Tyrrell, the beautiful Scuderia Italia Dallara with the raised nose, Adrian Newey's 'porpoise' Leyton House and subsequent Williams FW14.

I still say, if you took the advertising, colour schemes off all the 1991 F1 cars and just made them all black, I'd still be able to tell you which was which.

It's just not accessible any more, F1.

And the removal of live F1 from FTA UK TV, well, I don't know what they're thinking.

To (slightly mis)quote another famous film script...

It had it .. then it lost it.

Well I can still recognize all... even if all would be black

 

[Jozsusz]

Too many tracks (and 5 of them are sh.it), refuelling not allowed, complex hybrid engines, asphalt runoffs, limit of engines that you can use during the season, not enough top speed, and not active Aero.

You do realize that the car on your picture was never refuelled during a race?

 

[keto95]

Tilke CAN design good tracks.

Maybe he can, but I haven't seen any in F1 so far.
All of his tracks are 100 in a dozen; too flat out, too safe, too wide.
No heart, no soul. It all started with the ruining of the old Hockenheim.
So you see, I'm not much of a fan of the Tilke tracks.

 

[Jozsusz]

Maybe he can, but I haven't seen any in F1 so far.
All of his tracks are 100 in a dozen; too flat out, too safe, too wide.
No heart, no soul. It all started with the ruining of the old Hockenheim.
So you see, I'm not much of a fan of the Tilke tracks.

Istanbul Park... A1-Ring... COTA...

 

[keto95]

Istanbul Park... A1-Ring... COTA...

Instanbul might be the only one that I like, A1 already existed but was rebuild and actually nothing changed. But that's about it for me.

 

[Andy_J]

You do realize that the car on your picture was never refuelled during a race?

He hasn't posted a picture.

 

[PE4]

I would make them use unrestricted ICE (engines) that burn hydrogen.

 

[ears]

He hasn't posted a picture.

He means the MP4/5 in the profile picture.

Although it could be argued that with no limit on spare cars, McLaren had 3 of them in the pits and may or may not have refuelled any of them during any given race.

 

[Elaphe]

Problem solved.... just watch Indycar, though all you folks in Europe will have to stay up a bit late, but it's worth it. It addresses almost all your dislikes of F1.
Cheers

We have rallies.

 

[Tricky Dicky]

I watch F1 more than any other sport and my view is that if it was just about the car and the driver on the day I would agree with all the negatives but really you have to look at the whole package. To me it is as much about the the tactics, the teams and the team principles. The style and presentation of the garage. Compare the engaged and interesting insights you get from Toto Wolff and Mercedes to Maurizio Arrivabene and Ferrari.
If cars are so sanitized by the regulations how do Mercedes keep such a lead as a constructor?
No matter how good the car and driver a choice of tyres or split second mistake in strategy by the team can win or wreck a race. Not to mention stewards decisions.
The shifting relationships between the drivers are as facinating as they have ever been.
And you still need the racecraft and attitudes of drivers when it counts.
If I was to watch a race knowing little about F1 maybe I would fall asleep but taking everything together I think its pretty gripping.

 

[LeSunTzu]

We have rallies.

Indeed, rallies have successfully solved the issue of overtaking.

IndyCar is great too this year: on ovals they have to avoid close racing like plague and the optimal strategy is to race alone whenever possible.

 

[santiagomo87]

I haven't followed F1 much lately, I want to like it but I'm falling asleep every race. Moto GP on the other hand wow! I've seen a couple good races in GT3 and GP3 is getting me hooked too.

This is a picture of me and my brother in the last of the good days, too bad I was too young to enjoy it fully.

https://ibb.co/dwQSgz

 

[Ben Lee]

Instanbul might be the only one that I like, A1 already existed but was rebuild and actually nothing changed. But that's about it for me.

Nothing changed? They destroyed possibly the best track in the world to build the A1 Ring and nothing changed?

 

[Cote Dazur]

Apparently nostalgia sells very well these days.

 

[keto95]

Nothing changed? They destroyed possibly the best track in the world to build the A1 Ring and nothing changed?

If you mean the old Österreichring to A1-ring, then you're right.
I mean A1 to RedBull-ring nothing has changed.

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

when i started getting interested in formula one (mid 70s) the point really was to finish the race, cars were so haphazardly put together that it was not unusual for only 7 or 8 cars to reach the finish even though 26 or even 28 started the race. Don't know why people glorify the many overtakes supposed to have taken place. They weren't there, it's probably because you only got the best of of every race and not a full feature live screening in most countries. Condensed to seven or eight minutes, it really looked a lot different compared to what actually happened on track. (I know i well get roundly beaten up for saying this, lol. i have a feeling, though, stats will bear me out.) What was much better, though, was the fairly straightforward approach to many issues, quali was an hour of tracktime and the fastest lap put you on p1, race was started once everyone was more or less in the right spot, you only pitted if you maltreated the tires or picked up some other problem, noone talked to you while you were driving, you could ignore pit signs claiming you had not seen them etc. etc.
All in all, far more open and less constricted than today where one feels like drivers only carry out orders rather than doing their race and calling all the shots. We have the same in soccer, where every metre you run and every pass you make is quantified and endlessly compared, slow-moed and analyzed to death.

 

[Vincent.C]

Two problems for me :
- too complex hybrid power unit with excessive cost ;
- poor tyres : tyres wear unfair (1 pit stop per race even if they use soften tyres) ; cannot follow other cars without destroying tyres

 

[Brandon Wright]

Long time F1 fan here, watched every race and qualifying session for about the last 20 years and have even attended several. I loved getting up early in the morning to watch the race from some far flung location. F1 was my religion, but this year it has finally started to falter and I'm quickly falling out of love.

The things mentioned in this article are a small part of it but the main thing for me is that the cars are broken, they cannot race, they cannot pass, they're too fragile, and they're too complicated. When a top team car is fighting through the backmarkers they can overtake, sure, but once they get to the leaders they just sit there two car lengths behind and that's that. It's bad, and unfortunately I don't see it changing much. I don't need crazy passes for the lead every lap but I want to at least know that overtaking is possible, and right now, for the most part, it is very unlikely. (This applies to more than Formula 1 too)

The other big factor is we lost our wonderful broadcast team this season and now have to watch the Sky F1 feed. I tried to keep an open-mind about them but we're well over halfway through the season now and I just do not care for them or how they present the race.

I never thought I'd say this but I fear my time religiously watching and following F1 is winding down. Maybe the new cars in 2021 will improve things, but I highly doubt it.

 

[SAGY31]

Actually when I look back at the time I watched F1 it's always just nostalgia talk and not knowing about better racing on 4 wheels back then. There has always been huge differences in speed between top 2 teams (sometimes just one top team) and the rest. You could never tell who's the best driver on the grid because of this differences.

Even though I only started watching endurance racing, V8 supercars and Indycar about 3 or 4 years ago, competition is just way more exciting to watch in comparison to F1. Nowadays I just watch race highlights. Every year I attempt to watch a couple of full races and usually get bored before half race distance.