What’s Wrong With Formula 1?

I’ve never been what you’d call a die-hard fan of modern Formula 1 racing, but I’ve always done my best to follow along with the motorsport and watch the races on television when I’ve had the chance. But these days I’m finding it less and less fun to even casually follow the sport – and it doesn’t sound like I’m alone. Whether it’s the current engines, the tracks, the lack of passing or the continued dominance of one team, watching the average Formula 1 race these days feels almost like a chore.

Yesterday I caught the second half of the Russian GP and found myself more entertained watching Vladimir Putin during the post race than by anything that actually happened on track. While I know there’s interesting stuff happening further back in the field if you follow things very closely, many people see a format where a car from the fastest team takes pole and then wins the race with ease – over and over again. And if there is a shake up in the running order it’s usually caused by a computer malfunction rather than an actual track battle.

Now, it could be that my simple American attention span is just too short for Formula 1 in 2016, but there’s been more and more evidence of the motorsport’s declining popularity across the world. Even compared to just a few years ago, I see far fewer people talking about F1 today. Many of the sport’s drivers, teams and commentators have also raised issue with the current state of the sport, and next year a new rules package will make the cars significantly faster than they are right now. But whether that has any effect on the actual excitement remains to be seen. Are faster, grippier F1 cars what we want? Or do we want something else?

I thought now would be a good time to get a discussion going to see whether you guys agree with me about the current lack of interest in Formula 1 and hear some ideas about what could make the motorsport better. Are you satisfied with the sport as it is? If not, what kind of changes would you like to see in Formula 1?

Mike Garrett
Instagram: japanifornia
mike@speedhunters.com

Photo from Mercedes-Benz Media

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1

I am currently following closely the evolution of McLaren Honda. The race yesterday was  epic to see to my eyes especially the battle between Button and Sainz. I think there are many things wrong with F1 today, but F1 is and will always be the exciting sport that it is.

2

It's too artificial. In the past, there may have been boring races at times, but it was real. Now there are lots and lots of gimmicks that detract from the value of the race. These might be forgiven if they produced exciting racing consistently, but they don't. Hence: Throw away DRS, throw away mandatory pit stops and tire compound changes, stop messing around with quali, and allow more freedom in terms of car design. Of course, the argument against that last point is one of cost, but the teams spend that money anyway, just optimizing much smaller margins and getting the most out of the gimmicks.

3
flaco_valencia

F1 is supposed to be all about wild innovation. At least it used to be. It should be inherently dangerous and risky to a certain degree if it is going to push the limits of what's possible. F1 should be treated like an unlimited class with basic parameters and safety regs, but a blue sky rule book on everything else. Bring back innovation.

4

What is wrong with F1? in short, the cars are uglier and slower than before and the roaring v10's and v8 engines have been replaced by redicoulosly expensive and complicated engines that sound more like floor polishers than proper racing engines. Furthermore, the current rules have created a situation where the drivers conserve rather than battle it out in both qualifying and the race thus we have robotic drivers to look at rather gladiators who fight each other with screamingly fast cars that took a high amount of balls and skill to drive. 

I miss the glory days of f1, especially the 2004 season when the v10 cars were at their peak!

5

F1 is like religion to me and I also think the last few seasons were awesome, this season is NUTS with accidents and crazy battles. Truly shows driving genious like hamilton and vettel. Haas is in, killing it..... F1 rocks as always. But, the problem is that there is too many silly rules that prevent drivers from racing. Too much strategy, fuel conservation, having to use diff tire compounds, preserve engines and these stupid engine tokens. And this crap about not being able to talk to drivers and offer advice.
Stop the rules, people have stupid money in every team now, let em spend it how they want so we can see technological leaps unlike ever before. You want a safer cockpit, go ahead? U want ur own wheel/tire and size? Go ahead. U want michellin vs pirelli? Go ahead. U want a new engine every race? Sure! U want NA V12 instead of hybrid V6? Sure Just give basic dimensions and engine rules and let em go crazy.

6

I have followed Formula 1 since the late 90s with my father. The evolution of the sport HAS produced amazing cars, and technology, however due to the regulations all of those innovations aren't being pushed and used as they should be. 
   Adrian Newey of Red Bull said it best, that "Evolution in racing must happen, the technology that we have now compared to days of past are exceptional, and would allow us to go much fast, while allowing our drivers to be safe"
I like to have the wet dreams of imagining that maybe one year, they'll do away with the rules, and allow people to go crazy with what they build, and drivers would be able to focus on racing and not the politics that have plagued F1.

7

No more drs, no more kers, v10, v8 or v12 engines. The end of brake adjustment, no more radio. More power less control.

8

I honestly think the biggest problem with F1 is negativity from fans and pundits. A big issue is this apparent aversion to change, which is ridiculous, because if Formula 1 didn't move forward or change in some way it would become stagnant and pointless. Track records have already been broken this year, and the previous lap record in Bahrain was set in the V10 era.
While there are problems with the rules and the cars are significantly different than the V10 screamers of a decade ago and even the more recent V8 powered cars, the racing this year has been really good. 
The sound of the new 1.6 turbos doesn't translate well to TV, they sound much better in person. Not the ear piercing assault that one would associate with F1, but each manufacture has an identifiably different sound, and they sound incredibly futuristic and cool. The Renaults have characterful whistling turbos, the Honda emits a coarse growl off throttle, the Mercs have a nice, strong touch of rasp to the exhaust and the Ferrari sort of sits in the middle, sounding particularly good on downshifts.

Fuel saving and planned tire deg hurt the spectacle as drivers can't push the whole time, so something needs to be done about that, as the current formula makes it tough for drivers to follow another car in dirty air without destroying their tires due to lack of aero grip. So either bring back refueling and make tires that last longer so you can keep the pit strategy element, or engineer a car that makes use of ground effect and is less inhibited by dirty air.
Tl;dr: F1 is better than most people say it is, I still love watching it, but I'll admit it's far from perfect.

9
CharlieJoiner

Wait till you watch motogp!. Nick Harris, the commentator, said eat your heart out F1 fans during one of the motogp race last year. F1 is boring. Motogp needs pure skills, not electronic intervention, pit crew, strategy pit stop etc, Screw F1

10

Limit funding so lesser teams get more of a chance to rise and increase interest for more teams, relax rules to create more design adaptation and "rule breaking" for advantages without banning it straight away, the cars that we all remember are the ones that pioneered right? Loud exhausts that's about it, there are plenty of BIG personalities which bring in fans to root for their country.

11

CharlieJoiner  you'd be surprised about the amount of electronics the bikes have on them stopping them from wheelie-ing off the line etc. Whilst I don't disagree that it requires more skills because it's a bike, I'm just saying that even that sport has been dumbed down a bit.

12
ArthurNascimento1

bernie ecclestone.  if you want to bitch about anything related to whats wrong with the sport, the buck stops with ecclestone.

13
90nissanS13@my350z

mlhz  They still use DRS, KERS went away as the new Hybrids are much more efficient and practical and they still use radio, it's just limited to put more responsibility on the driver.

14
90nissanS13@my350z

mgizzle  Right, that's the only reason Rosberg has done so well for the last 4 races. Everyone get all bunched up and he just drives off.

15
90nissanS13@my350z

Amin_nfs  They ended up using last year for the R&D since they weren't competitive. It really shows this year!

16
90nissanS13@my350z

Kyvat needs to stop fu@king around.

17
VictorTereschenko

Unfortunately, the support races are more interesting to watch that F1 itself. And I was very surprised to find out that there is a lot of good racing down the field but I never catch on TV because this guys are not going to win and become a champions. It looks like everybody want to look at their favorit driver driving alone that the good battle of some "avarage" drivers from "avarage: teams.

18

Simple technical solution would to institute a rules set for safety, only allow 10 gallons of 87 octane gas for the race, and everything else is open rule book. Spectator participation should entail free world wide television and Youtube broadcast.

19

While some things could be made better, I don't think picking the tail end of a race at a boring track is entirely fair...

IMO money is the problem. Cars have gotten horrendously expensive without a matching benefit to entertainment, and classic races are being bought out by new money countries wanting the fame and prestige.

Save the fuel economy and tire saving for endurance racing. Fast laps are way off qualifying pace, and it shows. Make it so every driver is driving every lap to the limit, and aero rules need to allow cars to follow more closely without destroying their tires.

20

Its easy.... V10.

21

Parity

22

Not giving ridiculous penalties for engine changes and wheel-to-wheel racing.

23

And some sort of reverse grid format somehow.

24

There should be less restrictions on the cars!

25

90nissanS13@my350z hahahahahaha savage

26
bluestreaksti

JakWhite I recently thought about a budget cap too. Might be hard to work out but the idea seems good.  Basically forces the teams to innovate.  Speaking of which, about the only time I hear of F1 is regarding past creations.

27
bluestreaksti

@Steven Ellis Maybe the autonomous racing thing will be like this because they don't have to worry about driver safety.

28
bluestreaksti

Since I've never really watched F1 just reading the comments has got me interested...

29

getting rid of engine tokens and fuel restrictions, allowing the engine manufacturers to raise the rev limits, tune the engines to the "edge" and bring some unreliability into the equation. it wont make the races a procession and really see the capabilities of the engineers.. its whats F1 is supposed to be about.

30

i agree with you.. honestly i have never really put any effort in watching it plain because once the grid is set then it never changes. all the racers do is do lap over lap its like watching nascar except nascar has some fun when u see cars get all mangled up. lol

31

1000 hp limit and 1 engine has to last 3 races without anything but an oil change.  No ground effects, no traction control, no power steering, no abs.  Electronic suspension is allowed and the driver has to cause all gear changes and car inputs.    With the exception of some safety requirements this is pretty much the rule book.  Put a horsepower limit so the teams are forced to find speed by either getting absurdly light or doing crazy aero things but make all braking and steering inputs entirely unassisted so that it's as much about driver fitness and skill as it is the car's design.  Run whatever displacement or orientation you think is best. Engine and chassis development is frozen at the beginning at the season but aero, suspension, etc. you name it is all good to go.  #makef1greatagain

32

Rule #1 of future f1. No rules. Let the teams run their imaginations and bring whatever they want to the track. And if a car is the best in what it does don't ban the car like they did back in the day with the "ground effect" Lotus or the Fan car.
And let the drivers drive, no rules on limiting the times you can go off your racing line and if the drivers want to have a dog fight with wheels almost touching and one of the cars almost hitting the pit wall DO NOT penalty them for dangerous driving beacause racing is dangerous and every driver from karting to f1 knows what they signed up for. Or did'nt they? As the older generation(drivers) fades away from f1 are there one's that still know what real racing is?

33

You want to get interesting results 1 rule all cars must have an odd number of cylinders

34

Speedhunters good drivers with stupid cars. This is F1 now.

35

Speedhunters stupid engines and stupid rules.

36
FuelEconomyKilledTheCarsWeLove!

its boring and the drivers are all prima donnas, which is okay to a point until its less about the driving and more about the drama.... bring back the proper sounding engines! and maybe have teams with only one driver so there is less bullshit!

37

Formula 1 has become too much of a show for my taste.

I stopped watching it in 2011 with the introduction of DRS. I felt like it had been the final straw on a series of dumb rules that were turning the sport into a farce.

I don't think the dominance of a particular team/driver has anything to do with it, as back in the days of Ferrari and Schumi, or McLaren and Senna/Prost people were still very much interested in the sport. Me included.

Nor do I think the 'lack of overtakes' is a problem. Overtakes aren't really all that common when you think about it, and that's what makes them so compelling. Drivers don't aways battle tooth and nails, so when they do we know they mean business.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGQZ9XNq6mU






To me there's something wrong with the cars, as well as the feel of the whole thing.

Those F1 prototypes, as fancy and as fast as they are, simply aren't compelling to me while only a decade ago this wasn't the case.
DRS, tires with articifial wear & tear and electronics where there should be none are just some of the things that push people away.

Once you get over the cars, there's the feel of it all.

They go to mediocre race tracks, sometimes in horrible countries (middle east, anyone?) and design rules in such a tight and limiting way that we end up with nearly-identical cars.
Cars that don't seem to be suited for GP racing, instead cruising to preserve tires and fuel.

This works for endurance racing, but not GPs.

And talking about endurance, just look at the WEC for comparison. A few years back the lmp1 class had 3 different hybrid systems (flywheel, batteries and super-capacitors) and 3 different engine types (N/A V8, turbocharged V4 and turbo-diesel V6).

Plus a bunch of other interesting technologies on those things.

Plus a bunch of entries from other classes (gt3 is aways awesome).

Open rulebooks, genuine racing, proper circuits and respect to the fans. This is why WEC is so awesome.


And why F1 isn't.

38

- boring engines
- artificially bad tires
- corruption
- Bernie Ecclestone
- constant meddling with rules

Points 2 and 4 deserve some explanation. Bernie Ecclestone is a horrible, corrupt little muppet. He is destroying the sport and abandoning it's history for the sake of more money in his pocket. Rich dictators who want the prestige of an F1 race in their country and are willing to line Bernie's pocket for the privilege.

39

I was an F1 fan since before I can remember.  Still have all the books from the 70's that detailed the whole season...  F1 was fun and exciting then.  Cars needed to be controlled by skilled drivers... either that or by drunk/hungover drivers. (James Hunt anyone??)  I wish they could go back to those days.  
Get rid of the ridiculous aero, keep things simple.  But they have too many idiots in charge all wanting the rules their way. 

No worry for me though.  IMSA racing is exciting and I get to watch it for free on YouTube!!  So long F1, you've lost yet another fan because you're a bunch of boring, stuck up turds.  Wont miss it. Besides, I can't even watch it these days, they only sell the viewing rights to guys like Sky TV, who simply charge too much to watch anything...

40

Simply the formula 1 is becoming a proving ground for the normal cars, since they becomed turbocharged. ...in fact Now a lots of cars , that in The past had a Lot of Beautiful screamer engines Now are turbocharged, twincharged..ecc But Who give a f**k about efficiency, fuel consumption and all the rest ? No everyone! But they still use the dumb turbo engines that are unreliable, they still Take the fuel limits and numerabile of engine limits and the stupid qualification system almost ruined the little show of the f1 that was almost funny to See. 
(Ps yeah i'm a fan of n/a and turbo cars ... But on the road ... not in The f1 ... The f1 need to be screamer ... at 18k rpm !!!!! ☺☺☺)

41

Number*

42

Car racing was about the heros  not 4 wheel computers and truckload of the rules.
After the Schumacher the game is over.
No body give and damn fuck about the Formula and rallying. 
They are dead Long live drifting...

43

I Aldo don't think current F1 got that much more "boring" than F1 from decades ago. Maybe its just that the media and entertainment around it got faster. Following a 90 minute race is a chore compared to endulging in 6sec Vine clips.
But also IMO most current tracks are problematic. Optimised for camera coverage and ad banner placement, very wide (=cars appear slower), too flat. Some feel too artificial even regarding architecture (those Arab tracks), like F-Zero, there is no connection to the real world.

44

Out of the almost 20 drivers, the only ones who will end up with the win are Nico, Lewis, and Sebastian. Kinda sucks for everyone else and makes each race pretty predictable. I'm calling in now, Nico will take the 2016 championship by the Japanese GP

45

How about keeping all the current regulations, only difference is that all cars must look like a Ford Fiesta? I would want to watch that. How about changing Bernia and replace him with Jeremy Clarkson? I would watch that.

But seriously, the engines they have now make sense because it is technology relevant for the car industry. Hybrids are the future. But the aero? Who the fxxk is gonna use that aero tech. I say ban all aero. Make the cars look like Lotus 49.

And the modern tracks are boring. All stop-n-go hairpins. Let them drive hillclimbs. Danger? Remote control them. Boring? Let them pull caravans.

46

Whats is wrong with F1 you ask?
Bernie Ecclestone that's what is wrong!!!

47

I would much prefer to watch Rallycross, STCC, DTM, One make championships, or GT Sports/Masters. They show cars you can own and have then add the excitement of the moment. bad decisions and door slamming and close racing. 
While Formula 1 is as much about the strategy as it is the driving. there is so much money spent to ensure that their strategy, and mechanical reliability is sorted that the most exciting part of the race is usually the opening sprint from the line. Admittedly the strategy use to excite me however when everyone has their car and strategy sorted it becomes quite boring.

where as rallycross with the joker lap and other twists in other forms of sport it is more engaging and easier for drivers to shift the tides with a better setup for the conditions and driver skill on the day.

48

I want F1 cars with machineguns on them. And armored seats, of course. That would save the sport.

49

I must admit it seems like every year, I lose more and more interest in formula 1. (And im British)

50
Jeremyhughes20G

I think the chassis ecu control needs limited with tc,abs ect. All manual shifted transmissions (paddles, buttons on wheel ect), have a capped power to weight ratio, open up changes in chassis design, open up engine development but with requirements with hybrid/ turbo/s , and add a race podium weight balast for top 3 or similar cars to carry between rounds. Just a bit more freedom all around so it doesn't look like a grid of clone cars painted differently.

51
conspiracymaybe

https://youtu.be/4LjVnkBmbKo?t=1h2m10s
Illuminati? I don't follow... But,
1:2:15... Apparently to Illuminati watchers what he pulled with his left hand was the 666 symbol.

52

It is no longer a case the F1 is the fastest cars being driven as hard as possible by the best drivers.  If they can get back to the fastest cars and attract the best drivers then I might get interested again.

53
skunkworkssr71

Also caught the second half of Sundays race, and also concluded that putins post race breeze shooting was far more interesting than anything that occurred on the track. All recent f1 has been just as underwhelming for me.
My solution to bring back the drama and excitement is simple(but undoubtedly too radical); no more teams with drivers. 11 2 car teams, 22 drivers, 22 races, every driver spends 2 races with each team.

54

Jeremyhughes20G There already is no TC or ABS on current F1 cars, and they shift with paddles? This year they switched to a single clutch paddle for the starts, which has worked to split them up off the line a bit better.

55

Even the guys at the bottom of the line-up are superb excellent drivers, the decision on the podium and the finish of the race is dictated only by the car itsefl. The team with the biggest budget and the most advanced development is going to win no matter who drives it. Schumacher in the Ferrari, Alonso in the far supperior Renault, Vettel in the far supperior RedBull, Button in the BrawnGP and now Hamilton/Rosberg in the Mercedes. Only way to spice things up inmy opinion is to try and make the cars as equal as possible if that is even possible.

56

Well this has opened a can of worms haha. 

The problems with F1 in my opinion are:
1. Bernie Ecclestone
2. Bernie Ecclestone
3. ...
4. Ok, maybe throw Jean Todt in there too.


you get where I'm going. There's too much corruption in the sport, it is and always will be a commercial sport (as most are, and generally those that aren't, want to be - Formula Drift anyone?). However they've taken it way too far, holding races in parts of the world where nobody gives a sh*t about the race (Bahrain, Abu Dhabi), or at tracks that happen to have the most funding. Russia is a prime example of the latter, while it's a country with some interest in the sport, but the track is dreadful. Year after year it's provided a great first turn (T2/3 in this case) then a crap 50+ laps after that. It's diluting the sport, and selling it's soul to the highest bidder. All so that Putin and the Govt. get a day out and can claim the money they wasted on the olympic park is being put to good use.


As for the cars, having been to F1 in both the v10 and V6t era's, yeah the noise isn't as good - although sitting on the track edge at monaco in the v6 ero, it is nice to be able to still hear things that night. Pushing modern tech and being at the forefront of vehicle R&D is important to the sport, and to the teams. Wouldn't it be great if the next NSX is AMAZING because Honda learned so much from F1, and you can't say that Mclaren aren't pumping out some great road cars these days after years of F1 experience? 

The problem? It's not the tyres, or the fuel. Tyres will always degrade, and fuel will always be consumed, no matter what you do teams will need to conserve them at some point during a race. The problem with the cars is the aero. They can't follow each other, and without added in driver aids they can't overtake either. Increase mechanical grip, decrease aero grip. That way you'll have closer racing, and the team with the biggest and most expensive wind tunnel doesn't get the biggest advantage. It'll keep costs down for all the teams and help to even out the performance across the field. It's not hard to implement, and wouldn't require huge amounts of re-tooling or knowledge for the teams.

57

Get rid of Bernie..... hes too long in the tooth now.

Fix the aero rules and get rid of these over complicated front wings to allow the cars to follow each other closer...

get Ross Brawn in to write the technical rules as he actually knows what he is talking about (If you can drag him away from his fishing boat)

Make the sport more accessible to fans, they treat the pits like area 51 and the drivers like bloody political leaders.

Get it back to free to view, the sport has enough money as it is.... no wait Bernie has enough money.... tear up the Sky contract, Channel 4's coverage is far better

Oh, and most importantly of all..... listen to the fans, does anyone remember the fan survey from last year? It seems F1 doesn't

I still love F1, I live in Woking and support Mclaren (yes, even through the hard times), and still follow it very closely but so many more motorsports have my interest too that if it gets any worse, that Sky subscription wont last for much longer.

WEC is very quickly becoming the new F1 :-)

58

I think the way F1 has been marketed plays a big role in how fans perceive it. First of all, most of the english medium media reports come from one source, Britain. Which is understandable as most of the teams, mechanics, team principal's, etc come from there. So we only receive reports from one point of view basically and everyone tends to copy and paste these reports. 

I like the technical aspect of F1 more than the racing itself, so find all or most of my news on F1technical.net which is the most unbiased form of reporting for me. 

At the moment F1 is not seen as the pinnacle of motorsport anymore by fans, there are quite a few other disciplines within motorsport that rivals it, and yet the media is still trying to market it that way.

The other thing is that teams have too much say, If Bernie or Todt had more say in decisions then we could blame them, but teams can't even decide on whether want...

59

Cars are losing testosterone.
Too much efficiency. No balance.
Change to eco friendly gas, then bring back h pattern gearboxes and v12's. No launch control. Keep DRS and KERS. No traction control or abs. Mechanical and aerodynamic grip, less tech.
Make the cars slower, or faster.
Also, make F1 so its more about fighting to win, rather than stupid as fuck fuel and tire strategies. Why not make it just all out war for 70-80 laps? I'd watch that.

And a Congo f1 broadcaster... Or Jeremy Clarkson.

60

Yesterday I caught the second half of the Russian GP
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


And thats the problem. You re not a fan, you re just one of these casual Motorsport "Fans" who switch to F1 because they have nothing better to do. Of course you re not entertained when you re not interested in the sport. When I tuned in into Nascar 10 years ago and it was boring because I didnt know the teams the drivers etc., but would I say Nascar is actually boring? No. After I started to learn about the cars, drivers and rules it get more interesting. Even though I'm not a real Nascar Fan, but i like to watch great events like Bristol.


The most annoying thing nowadays are the people so called "Motorsport Fans", but they aint Motorsport fans, they're just consumers and when the sun comes out the go to barbecue rather than watch an race. I cant take these people serious and you are the perfect example.

F1 is great how it is since about 3 years. More overtakes than ever, more powerful engines than the glorius V10, more torque and better looking cars. Sound is the only thing which isnt good, but there is nor Morosport series where its good nowadays besides Nascar, V8 Superstars and Motor GP. People act like they dont watch F1 because the sound, but they didnt watch before either. When the sound was great they had something else to critisize.

I cant also hear the argument that one team is dominateing. This was ALWAYS the case, this is racing and this is normal. Williams, Ferrari, McLaren, Red Bull, Renault, Mercedes. All of them had dominating phases, why? Because the Formula allows it and its right so. You arent limited by a BoP or EoT nonsense like in the WEC. When a manufacturer do a good job he should dominate. Thats fair. 

No offense to you Mike Garett, but please watch F1 how a real fan should watch it or leave it alone. Dont make these dare assertions because you cant make a true statement of the F1 when you follow just the second half of a race.

The real problem is that people who have nothing to do with F1 critisize it, because its still the most popular series. But the real fans dont do it. That is the biggest misunderstanding regarding the F1. The media is always negative, no matter what happen and I'm sick of it.

P.S: Sorry for my bad english

61
Gianluca FairladyZ

too much restriction + politics kill the sport! my Z has a better engine sound than the actual F1 engines, this can't be true???!!!!

62

Gianluca FairladyZ Which restriction you talking about? There is no engine freeze like people always talking about. Ferrari made a huge step forward, Renault too and even Honda. 

Restrictions regarding the aerodynamics are mandatory. Without them the cars begin to look ugly and the overtaking is much harder.

The sound isnt good, but sound is not everything. I bet 99% of people here complaining about F1 never even watch a full Season. 

This year we had 4 races, two of them were great and 1 was turbulent, 1 was boring. Whats the problem? People must stop expecting a show where every driver can win the race in the last lap. If you want a show like this you should watch wrestling.

I'm watching F1 since 95' and the last 3 years were more entertaining than the whole V8 era(besides of 2008).

People dont like F1, i get it, but dont judge when you dont know it properly.

63
racerlordheiman

Or rather, what's wrong with nowadays' Motorsport.

The obvious one definitely is domination-win every rounds means winning the whole season, but the process is too boring that you know a certain team will win all of the race whoever takes the checker flag first.

Fewer factory teams to participate, fewer variation of the cars, less rivalries on field...there's more...I feel like wasting my time watching any live races now.

64
Gianluca FairladyZ

@V8V12 Gianluca FairladyZ  my dear friend, i watch formula 1 since 95 as well. so you're not the only one being a fan here, just that i said that.

i'm a big ferrari fan and being italian i support them, in good and bad times. but when you have a gap of 0.8 seconds this is just too much, and it will be monotone again. this year we'll see win rosberg. until they change rules again, so that another team can win again. you remember, when schumacher won 5 championships in a row? then they changed rules and there was red bull,bravo, well done!

so my argumentation is just my point of view from me. For me at this point moto gp is much more entertaining and interesting. and compared to the past seasons it lost a lot of audience, and this is evident compared to the viewer number etc! Even Seb says that he likes more the V8 or V10's so....????

65

I completely agree, I think the issue is the lack of variables.  Manufacturers and such.

66

@V8V12 I as a fan of F1 and racing in general, totally agree with you! Word by word! Great comment and point of view!

67

Rules are to blame. All teams run virtually the same car; the manufacturer doesn't really make a difference.

68

Dill Pickle No, its basicly the total opposite. Lets take GP2 for example, everyone has literally the same car so it depends on the driver to make up a good pace. Thats totally different in F1, each manufacturer can build his own car to a certain limit and therefor the faster car wins. Mercedes has hands down the best engine in F1 right now, thats the only reason they can go about 6 tenths of a second faster than a Ferrari or RB or whatever. If every team would have the same car then the driver would have a much bigger impact again. But thats not the problem, there are series all over the world where manufacturers battle each other with totally different cars and yet still have almost the same pace. GT3 for example. I think Ballance of performance (BoP) is the modern way to equalize cars without everyone running the same car. In my humble opinion BoP would be a MASSIVE improvement in todays F1 but untill then, let the biggest budget win.

69

I went to the F1 when it was still tje V10, the the v8 which revs to around 20k rpm. It was unbelievable when they flew past. When they introduced turbo, it wad the last time I have watch since. Also the fact that race teams determine a champion had left a bitter taste in many mouths.
The animal had died a long time ago.

70

Glad to see the race from live timing and tracker than live show U0001f601

71

It is not visualy entertaining. See how rallycross is on its way up, cars pushing each other out of the way rolling on the roof and continuing the race. Same with drifting, would you watch if the cars did not shoot flames and make loud noises in a cloud of smoke?
Same problem WRC is challenging, it is just not entertainment for the masses.

72
turbo BEAMS ae86

sound like someone eating there pie

73

@V8V12 Great point of view.  I agree totally.  Seems everyone complaining about Mercedes domination in the Hybrid era are forgetting how dominant Red Bull was in the years immediately preceding that.  There have always been cycles of dominance in F1 going back to when I first started following in the early 1960s (yeah - I'm an old fart - get over it).  Through the years you had Lotus, Brabham, Ferrari, McClaren, Williams, Red Bull, now Mercedes who rose to the top - oftentimes for a few (or in several cases) multiple years in a row (look at Ferrari during the Schumacher/Barrichello years).  A major part of this is which team/designer are the best at working the regulations to the "nth" degree and then building a team with great drivers for the cars.  I think it will be very interesting to see what happens with the 2017 regulations as there might be a new team that really "gets it right".

74

I couldn't care less about F1/WTCC/WRC etc. Too boring. Only World RX and drifting are fun to watch.

75
JulixnReadinger

I have been interested in WRC lately I find it hard to get into F1 Races.

76

TurboHippie I second the idea of getting Ross Brawn back to handle the tech rules.  He would be excellent.  Also, get someone in a a benevolent dictator (and a successor to Bernie) who gets rid of the Team group that wields too much power over changes.  Needing unanimous approval for certain changes is stupid.  Open up fuel regs so we don't see economy runs and reducing aero downforce would also help.  But, you cna't blame the teams in there now for exploiting the regs to the fullest.  The rules are right there for everyone to take advantage of.  Some just do a better job.

77

I find it funny how delusional F1 fans are, its' dull. They can't, won't admit it themselves but that is exactly how it is. Spending hours on a Sunday morning to sit and watch a race where the only competition is on the first corner and/or when an engine fails. It used to be exciting, it no longer is.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Zx1y-R3JZU


But but F1 is great umm kay..... Those silly cars with V8's and V10's... you'll soon be saying that Electric engines are more exciting......

78

JoeKendall agreed, I praise the teams who find the loopholes in the regs and produce these phenomenal cars, the Brawn, The Redbulls. Look back even further and you have The brabham Bt46, the 6 wheeled tyrells, to name but a few.

and more onus on mechanical grip would help

79

I've followed F1 since 1998 and the current breed of cars are by far my favourite, I know they dont howl like the old V10's or V8's but they are at the cutting edge of modern technology, which is where they should be. I also think they they are much better looking than anything the 00's could come up with... too many aero flick ups and other tat stuck on the engine covers that ruined them.

I do however think there is an issue with F1 and nothing to do with the on track happenings, 2016 has been very entertaining so far, the use of 3 tyre compounds at each race has really spiced it up. No, the problem lies upstairs with too many people saying F1 is broken... its not, its just a little dented and needs a small shove in the right direction from us, the fans! Bernie needs to listen to our ideas no matter how stupid!

imagine this....

Everything happens as normal through the weekend, the current rules and cars are kept but qualifying is reversed. This would force the teams to build cars that can follow closely through corners to be able to over take. Scrap the fuel flow limit and allow the teams more hybrid power.

To keep qualifying entertaining and stop Lewis Hamilton from being the slowest on Saturday to take pole for Sunday you offer points for Pole. 10 down to 1 for the top 10 drivers. Imagine a Manor / Sauber sat on pole with a chance of a points haul and Hamilton, Rosberg, Vettel & co all lined up with 20 guys in front of them. Not only would the championship be harder fought but the little guys would have a better chance of scoring points and causing an upset, the midfield would become much more competitive and our Sunday afternoons would be livened up no end!

I admit its likely the same guys would still win the races & championship but a well driven Force India with a decent bit of space starting much further up the order at somewhere like Monaco might just sneak a podium or even a win.

It could work....

80

It's not speed what is the most important. The current F1-cars are already very fast. Like insanity fast. What people have been crying about are the engines, because they went almost silent. But that's just one tiny part of the bigger picture. It aint sensational anymore. Apart from a crash by a overconfident Maldenado, nothing really interesting happens. Now he's gone, whats left? I used to watch every week until like four years ago. Then I got my own car and Sunday was my only day with good time to spare.
I tried to join the spectatorside lately but just like you mention, there aren't big battles anymore in my opinion. The sound is terrible, the speed is still there but if you are watching at home that isn't enough. Teams play tactical games, that's the smart thing to do. But not entertaining. I want a big circus from start to end with a lot of sensation. Not before or after the race, during. Like, overtaking all the time. Maybe some rubbing (I know, maybe a bit to much to ask), spectaculair action. That's why I prefer to watch other racing classes more often.

Just to clarify, I don't hate F1 these days. The technology is mindblowing, you can only appreciate that. Fact. But I watch F1 from my couch at home, thousands of miles away. I can't see if Hamilton is .003 of a second faster this time around. That's why people are getting bored, if you ask me.

81

DavidFRogers Sorry, but I tried watching Formula E and fell asleep.  I still enjoy F1, but appreciate and enjoy watching GP2, WRX, WEC, IMSA, and (V8) Supercars when I can.  No electric cars for me!

82

I havent cared about F1 since the engine freeze in the mid/late 2000s. F1 was an engineering competition, and it became a spec series. I tried to keep going along with it anyway, but the cars then got ridiculously ugly and awkwardly proportioned and that seemed to only get worse over time.

83

Its now many years since ive watched F1 with a passion, but ive tried to keep up and watch a couple of races each year, but i have to say.. its getting really boring, just like when Loeb were in WRC, not entertaining to watch. For me the most exciting part of F1 was all the crazy battles, but there just aint any of them left.. So thats why ive began watching Nascar. (say what ever the f you want, that shit is thense and close racing all weekend!) Many people bash on Nascar for only going in sircles but seriously, have they ever sat down and watched one of the restrictorplate races? i dont think so. Thats the tightest most intense highspeed racing ive yet to see. So i think ive seen my last F1 race for now.. Nascar is where its at for me.

84

Everyone who thinks f1 is even somewhat watchable needs to go back to the late 80's early 90's to see what entertaining racing is. It's daring, it's dangerous, it's borderline insane. Screw technology. The current cars are underpowered, over aero'd (if that's a word.) and solely focused on safety. The engines of the era I mentioned were making in excess of 1500 hp in qualifying trim without all the techno gubbins of the modern cars that help keep them on track. Go watch senna pilot a car with a stick shift and 1000 some odd hp around monaco and come back and tell me that modern f1 races are watchable.

85

@f1is boring i totally agree.. they NEED to pull the technology out of it and make it a drivers race again... Now whoever has the most money will pull out all the stops to win..

86

Personally, i stopped watching after schumacher retired the first time. From then on the rules changes so much to "level the playing field" it ruined it. Ive switched to end until f1 .ng u.til f1 is exciting again

87

Bigger grids with multi class action no wait that WEC. Fast cars with noise no wait that's nascar or Aussie V8. Great tracks no wait that's VLN. And maybe that's the problem choice! each of us on here find better racing elsewhere and F1 is no longer the sole pinnacle point for motor racing. It's supposed to be a spectacle and it can't even compete with a grid of cars from the 70s at Goodwood. Bernie your fired!

88

Fix the ridiculous distribution of revenue and prize money so that smaller teams can afford to develop over a season and remain competitive. 900+ hp cars without traction control and abs are not easy to drive and the sport has single handedly pushed the boundaries of volumetric efficiency for ICE with the new power units. The cars are not a problem. Aero restrictions would prevent the engineering solutions we've seen like blown diffusers, f and s ducts, and Coanda effect crap. Underdog upsets like brawn and red bull would not have happened without very clever engineering and aero.
Despite runaway victories by Rosberg, the start of this season has been phenomenal. Hamilton and Vettel are capable of bringing home victories but bad luck has prevented good results from them these last few races. This does not mean the racing has been dull. For fucks sake a red bull podiumed this year and Ric had a chance to win before some bad luck if his own. People complaining about the result are no different than those who complain about a soccer match because few goals were scored. Great engineering, good driving, and fierce battles throughout the field make for a good sport, not just who ends up on top.
Russia is a shit track and will always be boring after the first 10 laps. Qualifying formats have had some ups and downs this year but ultimately nobody cares. This season has been far better than those previous so please don't write bashful articles on an entire sport based on a single 1/2 race.
Getting an actual enthusiast to compete with black flag posts would be a good idea because making some half assed comments and asking for audience input does not a good motors ports article make.

89

Looking at 70's and 80's machines racing, the cars literally look alive; they're skittish coming down the tracks, oversteer is everywhere and sparks of protest with every bump. The drivers look like they're on the edge of life with them versus their own cars before they even consider other drivers on track; the sounds of that fight passing by literally stirring the soul. I don't know what to call it but bring back that look or feel; bring back those kind of monsters that even the audience could tell wants to eat you at every corner, that confused yet beautiful chaos of oversteer, that feel of the drivers being one with their absolute beasts of machines. 
Not all this clean shit racing where asses can't dance and tails can't wag if you catch my DRIFT!!!

See what I did there?

90

I agree Mike. F1 has come into it's malaise era. Mercedes got the jump in the technical rules for the 1.5L turbo formula and have run away with the series. They simply have the best power unit and an almost limitless budget for R&D. Been a fan of F1 since the early 90s and when I tuned in for the first race of the new turbo era I was underwhelmed. Its just not competitive when you set P1, with the same car, same team and just run away with the race. Then its just a battle for P2 and P3, with the usual suspects Ferrari and Red Bull jostling for podiums and points. Yes there is is some exciting racing in the middle of the grid, but honestly who wants to see that?

To turn things around I think that lately WEC, IMSA, ELMS, Blancpain GT, and the Pirelli World Challenge series are bringing better close racing and really bring back the notion of any given Sunday. Look how many manufactures show up in these series and every round its anyone's race. For instance look at what CGR did at Laguna Seca this past weekend in the GT LM class. Usually you have the C7.R's dominating this class, but with the newcomers of the M6 GTLM, the 488 GTE, and Ford's new GT there is actually a question mark to who will actually win the race. Maybe this is due to BoP, and a looser rule book, but todays current F1 is a far cry of what it used to be even ten years ago.

/rant

91

@V8V12 I agree in large part with you V812, and as someone who has watched F1 religiously for far longer than she of you guys from the mid-90's this negative sentiment ruins things more than the actual racing taking place. I like you Mike, I really really do, but the media does more harm than good sometimes, especially with a nuanced form of motorsports like F1. 

Sometimes you just have to let them race -- this year is interesting to see if Ferrari can truly come back, is Red Bull/Renault competitive, and how is the rebirth of the Mclaren/Honda partnership doing...lots of interesting story lines and the fact Hamilton has underperformed and had terrible mechanical luck could mean a very exciting later part of the season if he can close back on Rosberg to take his 4th, or not.

It's a bit like politics, the rhetoric is so admonishingly negative, the public begins to buy into it.

But I also agree about the technical aspects of the rules, while the hybrids are mightily impressive they are hamstrung by tiny displacement and lack of outright immense power, the drivers have even said so multiple times. My old school take is a lot like Hemingway's opinion of racing, and too much safety is curtailing the element of danger that propelled F1 to the heights of years past. We (as a Western society) are obsessed with safety and while losing a driver is sad, that part of it was the one true element that made the racing so insane (Indy cars used to be a lot more exciting as well...). Safety has it's place, don't get me wrong, it just seems to dominate the rules in such a way that has become more processional at times.

We have reached a cost/marketing/consumer driven pinnacle where to get everything a hardcore fan wants would be ridiculously expensive...but then I sometimes say fuck it, why not. Sometimes I'd rather see 4-5 teams with unlimited budgets simply go at it, gloves off, open rules save maybe displacement, and really make a car that makes the hairs on the back of our collective necks stand up and go WTF??!! 

Merc or Ferrari or RB want to drop hundreds of millions, billions even, then I say let them. It's their coin. But the overwhelming feeling of too many limitations is indeed taking some of the visceral bite out of the sport. And I hate chicanes for the most part...some of this problem is track related Mr. Tilko. 

The fact some races this year are already 4-5 secs quicker per lap than last year, shows us we need cars 20-30s a lap in truth. Let the men be men...death comes to us all, maybe 250mph is not a bad way to go, and it would be one hell of a show!

92

mlc5309 *endurance racing until formula 1 is exciting again

93

what´s wrong ,ask Bernie :)
1st :N/A engines
and tless "Tech-transfer" to road cars (  Ferrari wouldn´t like that at all), in the past road cars took their benefits of F1 (all that wonderfull V10, which some had in their line up, e.g ), but nowadays, where roadcars become more and more drivable computers ?
They need to go backwards, bring back the soul , our digital driving world has lost, at least in motorsports you should be able to enjoy some more of the raw and less eco side driving and racing has to offer, when it is more and more less possible in our everyday world,even  due to some sane reasons.
2nd:they need to cut (some) costs:
F1 was never cheap, but the developement of those v6-turbo-hybrid things alone is crazy, get some high reving V6 or V8,
for Eco friendliness on maybe on E85, put a -one make for all- Kers system on it to underline the eco thing

as well as the Aero Components
and
3rd : Simplify the rules

94

thanks to F1 being as boring as it is, I've started following much more exciting sports like WEC or Rallycross!

95
jbfromsiliconvalley

#1 problem is the lack of mechanical grip coupled with down force levels of the front wing. The front wing limits overtaking as it washes out the following driver. This limits overtaking/passing, making the races boring processionals. I think they should ban front wings all together and allow ground effect down force from the car's main body. Also if you allow for more mechanical grip, you can lower the overall down force required and still keep up your cornering speeds.

Also the hybrid v6s don't have that sweet f1 sound.

This is my no means a complete list as I have chosen to avoid commenting on the politics.

96
TarmacTerrorist

Bernie is trying to take the sport with him. He knows he is nearing the end of his life and has decided to ruin F1 for everyone else.
Possibly because he is making mistakes as he is elderly..... or he really is an inherent bastard.
Obviously I have no proo-- errr... I guess the state of the sport and the fascicle "knock out" qualifying speak for themselves.
*puts Tinfoil helmet back on*

97

The major problem is that F1 is too safe and easy.
 The tracks have too much safety measures and few challenges.
 The cars are too stable, they don't break because they run under their limits.
 A teenager that master racing simulator can race an F1. That's why FIA raised the age limit to 18 years. This way, that won't be so clear to the public.
 There is also a silly concern with emissions. Something only worthfull for street cars, in my opinion.

98

@V8V12 So only 'Real fans' should watch it? don't be such a snob!! Racing is Racing, people watch it because they want to feel the adrenaline, be amazed about the skill of the drivers, and to cheer for your favorite driver, hoping he will win the race against all odds! A race should be exciting. And apparently F1 is not. You blame the spectator when he gets bored, I blame F1 for being boring.

Now you may like the current F1 and rightly so. But F1 needs a large fanbase to keep attracting the big sponsors and thus competitive manufacturers. These annoying 'Consumer' fans you talk of are really important for the sport.

99
CharlieJoiner

Mad Panda Garage  Watch motogp and you see what I mean. I watched both F1 and motog in the 80's 90s and only watch motogp the last 15 years. Opening race in Qatar and last year race in Australia (Phillip Island) wre a testament to competitive racing not this fancy F1 momma boys

100

Aero that means cars can't follow each other couple with tires that burn up too fast when following is silly.

1 of the biggest improvements to be done would be sharing more radio and telemetry with viewers, staying with onboard shots for longer periods and providing a free lap tracker and live timing on the F1 website. It's great being able to see drivers put in fast sectors to undercut and other drivers react based on the strategy cues they are getting.

I agree with Martin Brundle that we should get rid of blue flags - getting through traffic is a skill - with better aero, tires and the current radio ban, lapping would be good fun.

I don't mind the dominance of 1 team over the others, Mercedes did a better job than the rest, good for them. People said the same when it was RedBull or Ferrari or Williams or McLaren before that. The fight between teammates and the struggle for everyone to catch up to Mercedes is exciting.

101

I think there's a lack of interest due to accessibility of the sport. In order for a person to watch formula 1 on television, they have to pay for an specific channel to watch it and be available to watch it depending on the location of the race weekend (I woke up at 4:00AM, in order to catch the Russian GP). Also, if you're interested in starting a formula one team, you'll need A LOT of money.


Personally I have no problems with this formula, the racing is still good, especially with the new tire rules. I'm interested in the constructor that can get close to Mercedes this year; I hope RedBull gets a great engine upgrade because their chassis is fantastic this year.

102
Bobby Boucher

your whats wrong with F1.. we should be happy with what we do have.. the engines are awesome.. the power assist sets are well.. well... killer tech. The grip is there.. aero is there.. I don't get what you all think is wrong with the sport. Is every football game the best game you ever watched? Nope.. is every porno you ever watched the best porno you ever watched? Nope.. Take the good with the bad, don't be a critic, be a supporter.

103

Needs more manual transmission

104
RonaldoEduardo

Firespiting v12´s or v10´s or v8´s, naturally aspirated, without rev limiter. 
Cheaper engines for the little teams.
Bigger teams with 3 or more cars with different sponsors if they want.
Small teams can buy cars of the last season from the bigger teams.
Possibility to the smaller teams to race the season with only one car.
End of changing tires when pitting.
Standard wings for everybody.

105

It's the coverage. I miss Peter in the pits. I miss Bob Varsha. Steven was great when he was young and nervous, but now he's just tiresome. Also, we really don't get to connect with the drivers, much, because coverage s all technical and nothing personal, and it appears the drivers are all super-introverts and clearly hate having to be transparent to their audience. How are we supposed to care and root for someone who generally avoids us?

. I hate to say it but in the US, there would probably be more interest if we had more American drivers.  I miss fuel stops, like, big time. They always added a lot of drama. Also, try more things... changing track layouts in the middle of the race, or handicap drivers based on public opinion, or something! Those are somewhat ridiculous, of course, but, jeesh...come up with some crazy ideas and at least give the audience a reason to watch. I'm not for going backwards and making the cars more dangerous. But, The one thing I can count on during a present-day F1 race, is a good, 1.5 hour nap.

106

The problem is technology, its too good. Back in the day you had serious tyre sidewall flex, large amounts of suspension movement, MASSIVE power and no downforce. It was the driver literally battling to keep the car on the track. Bring that back and the excitement will come back.

107

Right now, thi biggest problem it has is the new Qualifying rules...  and Pastor Kvyat...

108

JakWhite CharlieJoiner Lots of electronics in MotoGP. It has been "dumbed down" a little this year due to the Magneti Marelli spec ECU, which is now required to be used by all teams. You'll often see MotoGP fans comment how advanced the current prototype bikes are and call for the return to the glory days of 2 stroke 500cc machines. it's still super exciting with the four "aliens" and a pretty competitive field.

Not sure what F1 can do to improve. Refer to Hamilton's comment a month or two ago about how much more exciting it is to watch MotoGP over F1.

http://www.crash.net/motogp/news/228235/1/hamilton-rossi-is-incredible-i-need-to-try-a-motogp-bike.html

110

I think there is nothing wrong with the current F1. The problem is the fans. There is way more to formula 1 than what meets the eye. Im talking about the technology, the ideas and the unorthodox ways of engineering. Tell me in which motorsport are you going to see forward facing exhaust system like the one Lotus ran in 2011, or McLarens F-duct, or Mercedes interlinked hydraulic suspension in 2013 or its split turbocharger in 2014 ect, etc, ect. Thousands of these genius ideas. Then you put these differently engineered racecars in the same race, to me its fantastic. 

If you are a true f1 fan, do your research, educate yourself, learn how formula 1 cars work, how they go fast and why don't they, then you can criticize all you want. Just don't be the 99% world's population who just watch something and criticize on how they can make it better.

111

Well the reason I love gt championships, lemans and time attack is because there is such a variance in cars, engines and tracks. You don't have almost identical cars all with essentially the same engine buzzing around with little to no noise, you have a great variety of different styles, engines and noises etc hitting your senses that just makes for more interesting viewing. Formula 1 just isn't dramatic enough for my tastes and the engine note leaves much to be desired.

112
CameronKruger05

The only way formula one will be "like it was" is when Bernie and his boffins decides to give engineers and designers the power to do what they want,Like they did in the 60's and 70's.
Right now ,The world needs to understand as technology changes ,so does sport.

113

@That Guy Also deaths, many of them...

114

EMyrdal So what you say, is if I sitt down and and watch NASCAR it will be fun, and all that. (I have, and i like it. ) The same can be said about F1, to only watch a couple of races thrue the season the race will be dull. you have no intrest in the smal teams, and only se that the same team and driver win, and i agree, thats no fun.
But this years seson is interesting, who can take the trone away from MB? Ferrari looks fantastic, and only bad luck have prevented him from fighting with Rosberg and so on.
As you say about NASCAR, invest som time, and F1 will and is fun to watch!

115

Would you like it better if 1-2 driver died every weekend? Just for fun.. This isn't the Roman Empire's Colliseum anymore.

116

Ramah_Nyang the lack of ferrari wins is what ails F1

117

HannsMunyefu :) Hardly.

118

It's fine as it is.


Granted there's not a lot of overtaking, but the overtakes that do happen are all worked for and watching the driver trying to figure out where he's going to make the pass is all part of the drama.


On another front, F1 is an engineering formula first, true they have constraints in which to work, but the fact that all the teams come up with different cars to each other each season means the rules are about right. If the constraints were too tight, it would be like a single make formula, GP2, Formula Renault 3.5 etc. Teams are also able to continue engineering their cars through the season, meaning that the car they end with is not the same as the one they start with. This makes F1 fascinating in a sense, maybe one team gets the hole-shot on the rest, but you can see progress being made by others to close the gap as the season unfolds. Ferrari went from also rans in 2014 to race winners in 2015, Red Bull have gone the other way, but how are they going to make it back to the front? This is one of the many reasons why F1 is still interesting!


Plus, who else races in Monaco baby?

119

bstang Forward facing exhausts?  Sidecars - 
http://scrcv.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/garage-sidecar.jpg
Interlinked suspension?  Citroen WRC Xsara and Dakar cars - 
http://adsves.weebly.com/uploads/2/1/8/2/21829402/596052906.jpg


Split turbocharging (which came from the mercedes TRUCKS division)?  How about a turbine powered turbo charger divorced from the engine??
http://www.jsteele.co.uk/Motorsport/Interesting%20Hillclimb%20Cars/MANIC%20BEATTIE/slides/IMG_0297.JPG
You want true engineering genius, just look to the smaller forms of motorsport where the rules actually allow it :)

120

6 Hours of Spa this weekend, just saying. No F1 needed.

121
MichaelCraigEccles

bstang Exactly. Self-confessed casual F1 follower watches half a race and writes an article about how boring he thought it was... brilliant.

122
outofworkwizard

nothing exciting ever happens! they need to pull loads of the over complicated rules and liven the job up...i understand they try to keep an even field by restricting the biggest variables - but if they opened up the rules on power/weight/tyres and restricted development funding then i think more excitement will ensue and better talent would be developed. Think about it, a completely unrestricted field on vehicle style, power and weight would change driving styles and team tactics and allow more overtaking - which the sport dearly lacks.

123

I never was a fan of formula 1.In germany many of my friends watched it in their teenage years but it seems nowadays the sport became so abstract so scientific that a normal person has no touch with it anymore.
i mean its complete NASA stuff, not one thing on those cars a ordinary person can understand.The reglement is complicated, the cars themselves are more Spacecraft than cars.So i guess that is what makes those races so damn boring for many.
Just my opinion on it.

124

10thchamber I certainly can appreciate the technology, I'm just not sure if that makes it more entertaining.

125

outofworkwizard Less restrictions might be nice, but whatever rules they have no are obviously allowing one or perhaps two teams completely dominate the field.

126

MadCatJasper Fair points. There's definitley interest things happening if you are deeply invested, but I guess the challenge is retaining the more casual audience - myself included I suppose.

127

MichaelCraigEccles bstang There will always be a group of fans like you guys who closely follow the engineering developments and that's completely fine. Isn't part of any sport attempting to win over casual viewers though?

128

Riddlah Self-driving F1 cars next?

129

Mook Genius Well said. The cars are different enough to be exciting, but not so different where one team completely dominates.

130

JosefWalker There's got to be way to back to that feeling while retaining the safety advances that have been made since, right?

131

Jay_TrackAddict Very unlikely something like that would ever happen, but it would be damned interesting to watch!

132

@V8V12 No offense taken. I completely understand the nuance that comes with F1 - or any motorsport for that matter. And no I might not be a "real F1 fan" but I'm certainly not the first or only one to raise some of these questions. Finding a balance between entertainment/safety/budget/competitiveness is never going to be easy.

133

JustAPost

134

Maybe I was spoiled because I witnessed the good years of racing, the 70 and the 80, but I find that Formula 1 is almost a monotype serie now. All the cars look and sound the same. Even the drivers are clones of each others, they all use the same line because they all practiced on the same simulators. In the 70 you could recognize a car just by the sound of its engine. Some drivers were late brakers, some were drifting more than other and of course ther was Villeneuve ...

135

Biggest problem with f1 is the fans. They complain non stop, and compare it to other types of racing...not all racing needs to be the same.
First and foremost, F1 is an engineering formula, where car design actually plays a role in who wins on Sunday. It is not a spec species like NASCAR, Indy, V8s, BTCC, or Super GT. It does not use BoP like sports car racing. If you can't apprciate the engineering battle that takes place before the lights go out, youre not an F1 fan.
Absolutely there needs to be work done to balance out the money side of the sport, but if you make F1 spec, or use BoP, you kill the formula.
Next, F1 does not need more overtaking. The Chinese GP featured over 120 overtakes ffs. That's rediculous. An overtake loses its significance with that many taking place.
F1 needs cars which can race closely with one another, but it doesn't need more overtaking just for the sake of it. That's how we ended up with DRS.
F1 doesn't need mandatory caution periods, or caution clocks, or reverse grids, or success ballast, or any of these schemes that other series use to promote "close racing".
What F1 needs the most is for those who call themselves fans to buck up and get their learn on in regards to the sport, instead of tuning in once in a blue moon, having no clue what is going on, and then saying "this is boring."
Fans aside, F1 needs to do a better job of connecting with people. Their social media rules are a joke. They also need to stop the exclusivity bullshit and bring the sport back to the people, as opposed to reserving it for Rolex owners.

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Twitch_6 They should start by broadcasting it live on the internet like IMSA .

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The entire problem is that there are not two great drivers and two teams having a season long battle. Formula 1 just needs such a "story". Al the years that F1 was truly great had a two driver's from different teams clash. 
Schumi vs Hakkinen, Schumi vs Hill, Schumi vs Villeneuve, Senna vs Prost, Hunt vs Lauda. Williams vs Mclaren, Ferrari vs Mclaren, Lotus vs Ferrari. They even make movies about this kind of stuff. Two people from two teams, one you like and one you dislike, fighting it out on track, occasionally even running into each other (on or off track). 

Today F1 is just about what silver car will take victory. A few years ago it was about which of the blue cars would take victory. Battles for 3rd are just not as exciting as battles for the win and championship.

Succes balast would also help. Look at touringcars. They fit the whole grid in the gap between 1st and 2nd in an F1 race. There are 24 hour races that finish with less gap between 1st and 2nd then the gap between 2 cars in one lap of F1 qualifying. 

F1 needs some changes. That's for sure. Although I will be missing those two hours of sleep on Sunday afternoon...

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I'm not trying to be that hardcore guy, but in regards to the drivers all being the same.....maybe you're not watching enough, or don't know what to look for.
There are very different styles on the grid right now.
Vettel and Hamilton, the outright qualifying kings who can produce a spectacular lap on demand better than the rest of the grid.
Rosberg, the "professor" (part 2 of course) who makes up for his lack of raw skill with emmense amounts of preparation and detailed understanding of all aspects.
Raikonen, fastest guy on the grid if the car behaves the way he wants it to. With the ultra soft tires and a good car, bo one is more violent and precise with their car placement around the track.
Button, Mr Smooth. By far the smoothest driver on the grid, both in his throttle and brake work, and also the way he rotates the car through the corner. Button is also second to none at using every last milimeter of road available...yet is also one of the best at respecting track limits (unlike Vettel). Button also has some of the best racecraft on the grid.
Alonso, still one of the best. No one gets more out of a car package than Alonso. He's rather violent with the car, but he pushes it to the limit.
Sainz, locks up his brakes...a LOT
Ricciardo, under rated, gets great results with an underpowered car, using its superior chassis to get the most out of the Corning speed. Knows how to drive to the car's strengths.
Verstappen, the crazy kid. Violent with his inputs and line choice, but effective. Also willing to go for overtakes that most others would back out of.
Massa, a crafty old bugger who had mastered utilizing the straight line speed of his Williams to mask its poor handling characteristics.
Perez, best, maybe second only to Button, at managing the tires and running strategies counter to what most due. He really is a master at saving his rear tires.

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I do understand the engineering it's just the rules and regulation that need to change

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I do understand the engineering behind it all its just the rules and regulations that need to change, the qualifying needs to change, rules and regulations about the cars need to change, and they need to talk to the drivers and give their feedback on issues in formula 1

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If the performance of the various teams was closer to equal, we would see the battles between great drivers. Hamilton, Rosberg, Vettel, Raikonen, Alonso, Button, Ricciardo, Massa, Bottas, Verstappen, Perez, Hulk, Sainz....the grid is stacked with tallent. Most have rubbish cars though.
Also, not every great battle needs to be from two different teams. Fangio vs Moss, Hill vs Villeneuve, Prost vs Hill, Piquet vs Mansel, and of course, how can you forget two years of Senna vs Prost.

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You mean the old qualifying rules?

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What F1 need is first get rid of Bernie and the monopoly of his friend. Make it more open so that new teams can enter and battle for supremacy diversity is always good. And in my opinion make it more analog and les digital. Technology is great no doubt about it. But currently this cars can pretty much race by themselves without the real need for any driver. F1 needs to change the equation of the % that the driver really make and raised.
I read it and hear it over and over again. Back in the day, the 60's, 70's, 80's and early 90's. And its true. Why? Because the Driver really make the difference back in the day. When the equation was like 60% car and 40% driver to say a number. The cars need technology no doubt but come on gave the drivers the chance to show what they are made of. Just watch a qualy lap of Senna or anybody on those years and you can see they where pushing to the edge. You see a qualy today and is like watching robots.
Don't get me wrong im not saying that F1 needs better driver because they have good drivers. But the equation now is like 95% car and 5% driver or maybe even less.
Also this generation of drivers come on...are they race drivers? Or are they delicate models for brands?
We wanna see excitement and only drivers can do that. We wanna see a James Hunt having a cigarette and drinking a beer, a Senna that get piss off and occasionally slam on somebody else car so that the other guy can't win. And I mean a Senna not a Pastor Maldonado. Controversy is good. Racing and specially F1 is a dangerous business no matter what people try to say.
We need A Kimi Raikkonen that keeps telling the reporters live don't ask me stupid questions...or that he push the photographer and fell right on his ass for being annoyingly invading his space.
This are people who compete to Win. When you compete there is no mercy and no friends only winners and losers.
At the end of the day F1 is a entertainment business...and in any entertainment business we need Underdogs, Heroes, Villains, Good Guys, Bad Guys the Ones in the Middle and the Ones that can switch to either side in any given moment.
And Women it is Time that F1 let Women Race.
Maybe im to old school. Or maybe everything is to Soft cause people have emotions and feelings.

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I can agree with that.

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EliThanos i agree with most of this, except
"And Women it is Time that F1 let Women Race."
Since when is that forbidden??? at least 5 women raced in F1, and if you include test drivers you had Susie Wolff participating as recent as 2014 ... they are just not good at it.
Its a simple fact that F1 is a physical sport, and as much as women may have similar reflexes to men, their bodies are not as strong and as enduring. Sure, there are exceptional women that stand out from the average. The problem is that F1 is a sport where you compete with men that stand out from the average men.
I'd love to see women racing in F1, they do race in other things like 24hr racing. But they do it in heavier cars, with fewer Gs involved. Hence they dont get such a penalty from the physical differences.
IE, Sabine Schmitz great driver, with a couple wins in Nurburgring 24hr races ... yet she barely stands out in a men's field.

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I've always had a theory that what F1 needs, is to go back in a couple technological items, and that would redefine the sport.
Change the rules so that you have:
1) No power steering
2) Left foot clutch
3) Manual gearbox
4) Forbid any kind of telemetry for the cars during races
5) Only the engine's ECU allowed, forbid any other computer on the car
6) Open up the rulebook so that the car's design is more open to different configurations
Basically ... go back to the late 80s.
1-2-3 change A LOT the way the driver interacts with the car. The driver position will need to be more upright like they where in the 80s. Which affects not only how the car looks, but the overal physique of the driver. And how his skills relate to the performance of the car.
4 forces the driver to be a critical part of the car during the race, to know how to comunicate with the pits, to be the one who knows whats going on.
5 no active aero, no stability assist, just the powerplant controlled by an ECU. The rest is up to the driver, want him to change anything? give him a dial.
6 let engineers play with different ideas ... like they used to.

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Glad to see Im not the only one that think the way I do about F1 for the most part.
But Im not saying that Women's are forbidden to race. Im just saying there's to many machismo when it comes to hire a female race driver. And if they do they better be hot to use them as a piece of meat for advertisement.
Come on Dude Female Test Rider don't count. Is not the same to be a test driver than a active driver competing in the championship point. If is not written the same way is not the same.
And its that same mentality you just explain the problem. Saying that and I quote their bodies are not as strong and as enduring.? Really? Try to gave birth and see how much pain you can endure..!!! As your mother about that one with all the respect. Women are as skill, strong and competitive as men. Fewer G forces you said.
So you are saying that women can go to Space and experience 3g during a rocker launch, get in a High-g roller coasters and have as much as 6.3 g, drive a Top Fuel drag racing that can make 4.2 g, be a pilot of a aerobatic plane or fighter jet 9 to 12 g, Alpine ski racing 5 to12 g but they can't drive a Formula 1 car? Seriously?

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Make F1 a real open wheel sprint race with everyone running at the same time for a set period of time. The race should not have a set number of laps to complete, but rather how many laps are complete before the 2 hours are done. Like a time attack that runs for 2 hours non-stop and everyone is running at the same time. Only 3 rules. 

1. A minimum weight rule and overall set dimensions for length, height and width.
2. Anyone found using aerodynamics that specifically hinders those behind them will be penalised or disqualified.
3. 2 car allowed per team.

I would watch that...

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Twitch_6 The drivers are not the problem.
The cars due to the current regulations are the main problem.
F1 i s obviously meant to be the pinacle, but as soon as any variety and freedom is removed the only way it's the pinacle of anything is in its cost.

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There is a ton of passing this year in F1, have you seen the past few races with my boy Lewis coming from the back to finish second simply amazing what he is doing although I fear the championship is almost out of reach this year but  to use Lewis's moniker "Still WE Rise" (and yes i know its "Still I rise").

As for the cars; faster is better but more mechanical grip is needed to make the racing more interesting. For example the balance of performance that IMSA uses speaking specifically of the GTLM cars relies heavily on mechanical grip and weight for the GT cars to be competitive with each other, in conjunction with horsepower restricters. In F1 horse power restricters are impossible because the sport is based around better technology and manufacture engine building. But the areo needs to be monitored to allow the speed of the cars to be closer to each other. And finding mechanical grip is less expensive then aero grip because a wind tunnel isn't needed, this would give lesser teams a chance to be in the mix.this is a way for F1 to make thing less expensive. And we all love cheering for the under dog. 

Also at least here in the US they don't have control over what camera are showing what. I find that NBC euro broadcast pays to much attention to the leaders and big name and not the close fights that are going on they just show replays of them which is not the same as monitoring a fight for position for several laps./


But i must admit RacingPast has a great idea the timed event like that of an IMSA series would make for more all out racing instead of pacing yourself.

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Coyote_ar I totally agree with this MAKE THIS HAPPEN F1 PLEASE!!!!!

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Chase_Retriever

TakodaWuff The total Merc dominance is definitely boring. Also totally sucks half the races start at 2-3:00 in the morning.

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Chase_Retriever

TakodaWuff There's really nothing they can do to change time zones but you already know who wins so why stay up late it feels

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Chase_Retriever Mhmm totally agree

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Im seeing a lot of people reference how good the 60-90s were in F1, and I think it might partly be because our mechanical and technological advances are exceeding the realm of "entertaining". Engineers are paid to make the car get out front and stay out front, which we can all agree is the opposite of entertaining. 
Engineering teams should be allowed to build a fast car, but within the limits of what everyone can agree is an F1 car (satellite and factory team alike), and without designs/computers that artificially keep a car out front.
I think we need to have an honest agreement about what the point of F1 is, winning or fanbase retainment?

156

I have never followed it personally, i just dont think it comes accross as being fair, teams with massive funding seem to dominate the sport....
Make it a level playing field, take the driver assists off, keep the safety aspect obviously and give them all a gearstick to use.
That would be ace :)

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Coyote_ar MAKE FORMULA 1 GREAT AGAIN

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Twitch_6 it sucks plain and simple, these new engines are engineering feat but nothing more.

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Mike Garrett 10thchamber Exactly, are the tech in it is certainly a feat, but it's not supposed to be an engineering convention but a fucking race with machines that stir up passion in us. Every so often I tune in on Youtube and watch the old 12clndr F1 cars, and crazy turbo bmw with turbo black holes, seeing Senna lap some circuits etc. THAT was racing that was visceral. 

Formula 1 is so dead. 
Actually only thing I like to watch these days are time attack series with modified cars and lots of freedom.

We need to go back to pure driving experience before they install google software and let the cars pilot themselves 'round the track.

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JumentoRider Everyone's is certainly entitled to their own opinions, but I'm not quite sure how you came up with your conclusions.  

"Too safe"?  If it were "too safe" then we wouldn't have lost the great talent that was Jules Bianchi in 2014.  If we didn't have the safety regulations that we do then we may have even lost Alonso a few weeks ago after his horrific crash.  Would death make F1 more exciting for you?  Frankly, with the knowledge of how much safety is in the car I would imagine that would give the drivers more confidence to push the limits of the car.  

"Too easy"? Do you have any idea what a driver has to manage during just a single lap?  He's adjusting perimeters of the car (i.e.- brake bias) on the fly for each section of the track.  He's having to think about maintaining specific brake and tire temperatures to ensure maximum performance. He's constantly checking sector times to ensure he's staying competitive and within a certain target.  All the while managing huge G-forces, attacking and defending against rivals, and planning for each upcoming turn, braking point, and exit point.  Oh, and don't forget about the lack of assists on the car which means that he's also managing braking to prevent lock-ups, and throttle inputs to avoid smoking the tire or losing the stability of the car.  Which also means that he's considering the conditions of the track at all times.  All of this for each lap, and for 90+ minutes at a time with proven consistency down to tenths of a second.  Yea... sounds easy...

"The tracks have too much safety measure and few challenges"?  The safety measure statement is simply ludicrous.  Why wouldn't there be safety measures?  Why shouldn't the FIA do what they can to protect the drivers?  "Few challenges"?  Why is it then that we so so many crashes and run-offs?  Shitty drivers?  

A teenage that masters racing simulators is likely (read: not always) a couch potato.  It's unlikely that they would have the physical fitness to last 5 laps at the limit of an F1 car if they could even get the car to work well enough to last that long.  Sitting behind a video game doesn't give the gamer any sense of the actual speed required to compete in F1.  His/Her neck muscles alone would be shot if they tried to keep up with any F1 driver.  Not to mention the lack of reaction times/reflexes needed to drive the car, and the mental fortitude to accelerate when your brain is saying "slow down!"  Furthermore, it's not like someone can just put their name down and race in F1.  You're way off base on why the FIA raised the age limit.

"Silly concern with emissions"?  I'm not going to touch this one in an effort to avoid turning the conversation into a discussion about global warming.

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Chase_Retriever TakodaWuff  Haha! well said.

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I don't have a problem with how technical the cars are getting, I have a problem that they're all getting technical in the same way, and in barely perceptible amounts. Let the engineers lose their minds on it, we'll get crazy, clever things that may or may not work. Terell six-wheelers, those freaky, mid-mounted stub wings, sure, they were ugly, but they were clever! Open up the engine rules, I wanna see v12s going up against twin-turbo sixes. If you need to restrict them somehow, put a power cap on them. I'm seeing comments that are saying it's not a spec series, but it certainly seems that way to me.

But, then again, I'm a heathen American who finds no greater entertainment than 24 Hours of LeMons.

Hrm... That makes me wonder... Maybe a budget cap would be the way to make it more interesting, as opposed to any tech restrictions.

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Reading through this comment section gives a good idea of how lost the average F1 fan is. Sad really.
People say they want closer racing, but at the same time they want to open the regs. You do realise that the more you open the regs, the less likely it is that two or more teams build cars which produce similar lap times. Look at the closest racing around...V8SC, BTCC, Super GT, & NASCAR. All of these are extremely regulated. GTE and GT3 have variety, but use BoP to artificially close the gap.
The other thing with opening the regs is you open the door on spending. You can't open the regs, ask the engineers to get more creative, and at the same time reduce costs. It doesn't work like that. Manor, Sauber, FI, won't be able to compete with the engineering might of Ferrari or Mercedes.
Next is the Luddites, who think it would be great to forget the last 20+ years of innovation (innovation which occurred during much less regulated eras), advising things like "go back to manual transitions!" Other than NASCAR and V8SC, name another race series that uses manual transmissions? Are these Luddites aware that in NASCAR and V8SC, even though they have clutches, they don't get used when they shift? Clutches are hardly ever used. Sayig F1 needs to go back to fully manual transmissions indicates a fundemental misconception of how a racecar is driven.
Again, people have rose tinted glasses when recalling F1 from the 70s, 80s, and 90s. Yes, there were some amazing moments, and thrilling season long battles....but there were also a lot of very boring races and seasons. As good as Senna vs Prost was, McLaren broke all the records for team wins, quali, 1-2 finishes, etc. Senna and Prost might as well have been the only two on the grid, as the superiority of their cars made them odds on favorites to win without challange (sound familiar?). After McLaren's dominance in the late 80s, Williams took their turn at producing a car several seconds a lap quicker than their rivals. Mansel and Prost walked to their respective '92 and '93 championships. Schumacher with Benetton did the same thing in '94....hell, the opening race of the '94 season at Interlagos, Schumi lapped the entire field, including 2nd place! The further back in F1's history you go, the more you find evedence of one team completely dominating a season. This is not new in the Merc, Redbull, or Ferrari eras.
Lastly, to those who tune into the odd race and claim F1 is boring....when was the last time you tuned into a random sports game...baseball, basketball, soccer, hockey...and that game happened to be a thriller from start to finish. You know why Sports Center can show you a 3 minute highlight pack that sums up the game at the end of the night? Because even though the game is 90 min, 3 periods, 9 innings, or 4 quarters long, you only need to watch 3 minutes of it to see all the interesting bits - the other 95% of the game was boring. So tuning into an F1 race and expecting it to be a thriller from start to finish is asking it to do what basically no other pro sport is able to accomplish, aside from those once in a blue moon games....and F1 has races like that, Hungary 2015 is a pretty good example.
I find it a little ironic reading some of this stuff in SH specifically, as SH recently has made an effort to try to encourage people to be more positive when being critical of something which doesn't exactly suit their taste. If Rocket Bunny widebody kits is not your thing, then move on to something that is your thing, and put effort into making your thing as good as it can be. IF you don't understand the Rocket Bunny look, do some research, learn what you can. If you still don't like it, move on. It doesn't help anyone to sit around pointing out everything that is wrong with the Rocket Bunny scene though.
So again, if you find F1 boring, here's some advice:
1. Learn more about it, so you fully understand what you are watching.
2. Make an effort to follow it more closely, so you are aware of developing storylines, and so that you are actually watching it when the good races happen, instead of only tuning in once in a while and happening to catch a tame race.
3. If you understand what you are watching, and follow F1 closely, and still find it boring, then move on to another series that you do enjoy, and support that series as best you can. If you can't find a series that interests you, maybe racing isn't for you.

164
turbo BEAMS ae86

Twitch_6 99% wrong

165

Twitch_6 I must protest to the long hyped myth that regulations can do anything at all to regulate cost. The only thing that can reduce the money spent on the sport is to make it less interesting to invest in the series. If you block development in one area, the money is just spent on something else instead. There are two main factors that gives value for the investment (at least). Technical development and publicity. Technical development is more rapid, more motivated and more effective in an competitive enviroment. They can test more in a race weekend than they can anywhere else. This knowledge is then passed on to all sorts of industries. Publicity is everything from tv-rights and the average dumbhead reading logos on the cars, to exposing your technology and motivate entire company empire to perform like their supported formula 1 teams. Even a huge rule restructure will never change the fundamental cause of why money are being spent on the sport. History has shown that many times over.
My examples on this comes from MotoGP, so I don't want to talk to much about it. If you restrict one technical solution, the result is another technical response to solve the same problem as the one that were restricted, but usually more expensive than the restricted one. It happened again and again.

It is a myth that cost can be regulated. Cost can only be regulated by making the sport less interesting and less technologically relevant.

This engines are the most interesting they had in years and years! It is very important for the series. This is the future. But this aero is stupid. I don't know enough to see why the wings are usefull. There is no doubt however that they make racing difficult. In many ways the race is decided on qualification. The race hypnotises me to sleep, while a MotoGP race keeps me on the edge of my chair.

It is possible that if I study Formula 1 for a long time and follow all backdoor dramas and gossip I will eventually understand how great the sport is, but I can also spend that time on more useful things like sitting on my porch watching the grass on my lawn grow.

The most exciting thing in Formula 1 is tech development. The races are boring.

166

Twitch_6 The thing is that what you have mentioned here is your opinion, just like the rest of us. We were asked "What's wrong with Formula One?" so we shared our opinion. 

Opening up the rules is attractive for manufacturers, if they have a clean sheet to work from then they do it their way. The cry for cutting costs was when rules were restrictive and the only solution to improve or stay ahead was through spending.

Again this is my opinion and you are allowed to disagree...

167

RacingPast Twitch_6 You are right, but still missed a bit. The cost is only big or small related to the value of the work done. If you introduce a rule change and all teams develop new technology, they get a lot of useful experience and knowledge in return for their investment. It is expensive, but the results are wiorth more. in times of stagnation and engine freeze or similar horrible situations, the money might not produce much, as cars circulating on a circuit was never the primary reason to go racing. Racing is a testbed fot high-tech and a marketing channel. Any question of cost must be seen in relation with these two things.

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MichaelCraigEccles

Mike Garrett MichaelCraigEccles bstang Appreciate the reply.
I'm not sure though, Mike; certainly not if it comes at the expense of the sport itself.
F1 is a complex sport, and I don't think attempting to simplify it to appease casual fans is necessarily in the sport's best interest.

169

Formula 1 has been broken for a while now, it says a lot about a sport when it has the most advanced engines ever seen and does nothing but rubbish them. 
This whole "we hate this sound" thing is a complete and utter non-issue, the current engines don't sound too far from the 1980's turbo engines, did anyone complain about the sound back then? No, they embraced it.
Did anyone in ALMS/ILMC/FIA WEC/Le Mans complain about the Audi's when they turned up with a diesel? Did they complain when Audi and Peugeot were going head to head with diesel engines? Did they complain when Porsche turned up with a hybrid V4? Did they complain when Toyota ditched the RV8K engine with a turbo charged V6? No, they embraced it.
Then we get to "Hamilton-mania", when media coverage is biased towards one driver to the point that when he doesn't win it's a conspiracy and that apparently only this one driver permission to win a race, it gets very boring.
I would strongly recommend you ditch Formula 1 and watch some real motorsport that isn't a DRS assisted spectacle of exclusive VIP hospitality packages and pop concerts. Go watch (in no particular order) FIA WEC, Super GT & Blancpain GT, once you ignore the plastic prestige of Formula 1 motorsport becomes a far more beautiful world.

170

Twitch_6 You're saying the fans should stop complaining about the regulations and that they shouldn't compare it to other series, then you say first and foremost f1 is an engineering formula (not a spec series). The problem is many people are complaining because the current regs take away most engineering freedoms. Ie- with the new engine rules they set a fuel flow limit. They could have left it there but they also specified the engine size, number of cylinders, max bore size, v-angle, and specified the exact position of the crank centerline. Among other things. There is simply no positive reason for that much regulation.

Maybe you should take a glance at the wec. It absolutely makes f1 look virtualy like a spec series yet is arguably more competitive. From an engineering perspective it's simply much more interesting.

171

Epic shot! Three guys on the front who all have Finnish passports! Fastest nation in the world. ;)

172

We want a trackmania at that point

173

Ole Havard RacingPast Twitch_6 I have to agree with Twitch_6, if you have watched motorsports throughout history, everything that was said is complete truth.  Furthermore, look at WRC...the golden era of the sport was Group B...all the cars were high hp crazy machines...yet people were killed and the team with the most money to spend of R&D won.  Driver skill was not the major motivator.  Its the reg's that keep the sport close and interested.  Look at spec Miata and all the other spec races...if you don't want to hear about Hamilton...then you must have hated schumacher.

Good piece Twitch...totally on point.

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I would like to see far less aero regulations, less passing hindrances, and less of everything to do with Russia.  My family left that nasty country for many good reasons, which are ALL still viable decades later.   I don't want to here ignorant American's giving false praises to a vicious dictator.

175

I think their needs to be a lot less restrictions in all forms of motorsports just about as we have a lot of modern technologies that owe their existence to racing and in current motorsports there is very little innovation.

176

@ehh, I do watch WEC as well, and enjoy the hell out of it. Silverstone was great, I'm stoked for Spa this weekend.
I don't put F1 on a pedestal, to me it's just another in a long list of series that I follow. But I do still like it, and it bugs me a bit when under informed people, who refuse to take the last 60+ years of F1 history into consideration, constantly complain that it is boring.
Racing wise, F1 is as exciting as it's ever been.
Yes, there is a serious gap in performance between some of the teams, but that's the way it has always been. I'm not saying that's a good thing, but for someone to say "I used to watch F1, but now it's boring", in regards to the actual racing, that's hogwash. F1 through the 90s and 00s was processional as fuck.
Yes, the cars are different than they used to be. Everyone who has never driven them claims they are easy to drive. And I will concede that a 17 year old with all of one year's open wheel experience stepped in and did very well. That said, opening the regs up isn't going to cause the engineers to design more difficult to drive, or more dangerous to drive cars. Easy to drive is consistent, consistent is fast, that's just the way it is.
Yes the new V6 cars were slow to begin with, but after a few years of developing, they're now approaching old track records (although not in race trim, the fuel flow wrecks that. I will also concede I don't like the fuel flow regs. F1 doesn't need to be "green").
The only place I can really agree with people who have fallen out of love with the sport is if their gripe is with the tracks. And it's not even that I agree, but just that I understand them. The calander is still filled with great tracks though. Spa, Silverstone, Gille Villeneuve, Suzuka, Albert Park, Sepang, Hungaroring, Interlagos, Monza, Monaco, Catalunya, COTA. Bahrain, Singapore, and Hockenhiem catch a lot of flack, but over the years, they have produced some fantastic wheel to wheel racing. People are writing off Baku before even seeing it, but it's probably going to be pretty spectacular and offer a great dynamic between its various sections....like an urban Fuji or La Sarthe.
Like I said, I like WEC, but if you want, we can play the same game with them as people do with F1. Yes, there is some close racing, but you're only talking about 4 cars right now. Toyota finished 50 seconds behind at Silverstone. Last year, Porsche blew Audi and Toyota out of the water. Audi had some luck on the endurance side of things which netted them some wins, but in raw pace, Porsche was in another league. Same thing with Toyota the year before. I don't even think we need to bring up the LMP1 privateer teams :P
The tracks they race on are all F1 tracks bar Le Mans. They even race on the hated Bahrain and Shanghai circuits! All WEC tracks have massive paved runoff, just like F1.
If you compare WEC LMP1 cars to the Group C cars of the late 80s and early 90s, there are massive parallels with the comparison of F1 car of now and that same 80s 90s era. The group C cars were monsters, 1000-1500hp in qualifying trim, manual gearbox, no abs, no traction control.....don't forget, our beloved WEC cars all have traction control today...F1 doesn't ;)
Yes WEC allows different engine configurations in the same class, and it's awesome!! I love it! But don't forget, those different engine configs are ballanced to achieve similar performance. It's escaping me at the moment, but there is a specific acronym that is for the BoP of the LMP1 engines. They are less regulated than F1 in some ways, but more regulated in others. Audi is also saddled with a slower pit refuel rate to compensate for the fuel milage advantage they have because of thier desiel.
You can play the "it was better back when" game with any racing series. For better or worse, they're different today. If a person can't find a way to adapt, to be able to look at the racing differently, find new things to be impressed by, new things to pay attention to, then like I've said, maybe racing isn't for them.

177

This comment section is a shit show. There are a lot of philosophies and it depends on who you ask. The best explanation I have heard from someone who has a few decades of F1 experience was this:

1) less grippy tires - allows braking zones to become longer there for allowing more time for passing in braking zones. The problem is drivers love sticky tires. 

2) No more paddle shifting. Go back to manual gear boxes. This idea I love. 

3) Take away power steering - Alain Prost drove the redbull car and said it was too easy to drive. That says a lot about the difficulty. 

4) Cable throttle. When you make a cable throttle and take away computer mapping you make the power delivery via the right foot more direct. When it's more direct if someone makes a mistake on input they slide. A little slide here and there means people will catch you. 

5) No DRS - this is totally artificial and a slap in the face to racing 

The comment section as stated by another poster shows how little people understand racing. At the end of the day it's entertainment. I say we up the power, go back to the driver making the difference.

178

Coyote_ar They had telemetry in the 80s.

179

@Murph Ole Havard RacingPast Twitch_6 Maybe the "people" don't want to watch "real" racing. From F1 to moto GP it's always been the characters and their stories who have captivated the masses. F1 seems like they are trying to adapt with all the changes that have been going on.

180

@Chris definately agree with the cable throttle.
All the rest are worth considering but have pros and cons.

181

I wouldn't say cable throttle, but direct pedal-barrel mapping is definitely needed...not this stupid "torque demand" aka traction control they get away with now (and it's radio communication that is killing the show?!)
This way they will spin the wheels, so a more durable tyre will be needed, and we get our track action from drivers under pressure getting a poor drive of the corner, not any artificial tyre deg, drs, etc. Another plus is there are fewer marbles, so more lines can be run through the corners also promoting real overtaking.
But less grip from the tyres won't make anyone happy. If F1 is going to stay the fastest class of car we need better tyres and less aero. Just watch any lower downforce racing and you'll clearly see how much more exciting it is... There absolutely nothing magic or difficult about this.
I think the while F1 weekend needs a revamp, it's boring as there are so few support races. I think there should be a spec car challenge that is essentially an old school v8 twin turbo low downforce unsophisticated missile that all F1 drivers plus guest drivers from feeder/Indy etc series and they go out for a 30 min sprint race in reverse F1 championship order and knock the hell out of each other.

182

Twitch_6 I was waiting for you to bring up how far behind toyota were lol. Though i will point out that was in a 6hr race.

The only b.o.p. regs with lmp1 engines are those used to balance the diesel and petrol cars to account for the different energy densitys of the fuels.
Beyond that they have no b.o.p in lmp1. So they arn't artificially kept close together.

The tracks are an issue, herman tilker really needs to retire. But the problem isn't just new tracks being built that are boring, rather forcing tracks to pay in the vicinity of $10M per year to host a race in f1. That is the key reason spa for instance is dissapearing off the calendar. The way i see it anyone who considers themselves a motorsport fan should want those tracks like spa that are both outstanding and historical to continue to be used at the highest levels.

183

JonathanW people always say remove downforce to make following other cars easier.
But i don't believe that's needed. If they allowed more downforce to be made by the floor of the cars and reduced the reliance on (and/or size of) wings then they counld easily make the same or more downforce with much less loss when following another car.

184

So F1 should also leave England, Italy, Spain, Austria, Germany, China, Australia, Japan, America, Canada, Brazil, Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, Malaysia, etc. All governments have messy pasts, it's the way the world is.

185

@ehh, I haven't heard any talk of Spa being dropped from the F1 calander. There's articles every other month about potentially losing Monza or Silverstone, but I haven't read anything about Spa. In truth, it's probably just Bernie flexing his muscles, using PR and media to get what he wants.
I agree that the fees which tracks must pay to F1 are extreme and rediculous....but you're a little short with your 10mil estimation. I don't know what other tracks have to pay, but I know the COTA deal was for 20mil per race to begin with, with an increase in price for each following year. To host the 2016 USGP, COTA will be paying upwards of 30mil.
Also, Tilke himself is not the problem. He designs fantastic tracks, just look at Atlanta Motorsport Park. The problem is the people who hire Tilke, and the constraints they put on his design process. China, he had no say in the land selection. The government picked a flat piece of land, and said "make us a track." At COTA for example, Tilke played a role in selecting the land, and the track turned out much better (as an aside, China is actually a decent track, despite what the casual haters say. It's flat, but it features many interesting, flowing corners....like Silverstone in many ways). Tilke designs the tracks exactly the way the FIA and Charlie ask him to design the tracks.
It was a 6 hour race, but where were the Toyotas after the first 2 hours (typical GP length)....still about a full lap behind. And don't forget, we're talking about "close racing" between all of 6 cars, 9 at Le Mans. We keep talking about LMP1, but don't forget GTE. One of the Ferraris started from the pit lane and then served a 3 minute stop-go penalty for an engine change....and came back to finish 2nd in class!!! The winning car was the other Ferrari. Where is the close competition there????
You're probably right about the engine BoP, or lack there of. I'd have to look it up again to be sure. I'll point out thoigh, in terms of how "unregulated" LMP1 is, the cars are also limited on how much horsepower they can make, as the FIA only wants them going so fast at Le Mans. The current cap is right around 1000hp. All three teams have indicated that were it not for the regulation, their cars would be producing quite a lot more (a conspiracy theorist might see this as the FIA using safety at Le Mans as a way to hold back the LMP1 performance, which is constantly closing on F1.....the FIA took steps to ensure F1 stayed at the top in 1993 when Group C was challanging F1, so they could be doing the same again.)

186

@Chris, you make some good suggestions. I think we've read or watched some of the same material :P
Less grippy tires. I definitely see up side, increasing the challenge for the drivers - but could you tollerate another series, say WEC LMP1, or Super Formula, being faster than F1? Of course, you could make up for the loss of mechsnic grip from the tires with more downforce, but is that what we want...?

187

Yes you are correct that if they went back to a sliding skirt type of design with less reliance on wings then the overall downforce levels could be comparable whilst not compromising overtaking so much. But still it's a long way from a lap time improvement for following like in many non-aero categories that give the closest battles like classic formula Ford and motorbikes.
Personally I feel that active aero should be encouraged, since this is an area that road cars are using more and more, so if I was to reinvent the F1 regs I'd go for that and scrap the flat floor rubbish... There's an artificial performance cap if ever there was!

188

EliThanos i would suggest that having a female driver would give teams plenty of extra exposure and therefore money. So the question has to be asked, are there just currently no women who the teams consider to be good enough to be in the top tier.
After all with the vast majority of those driving in motorsport being male statistically you would expect most of those who make it to the top to be make.

In the current media climate if there was a female prodigy who was clearly in say the top 30 or 40 drivers in the world then i find it hard to believe she wouldn't be picked up by an f1 team.

189

Twitch_6 you're probably right about the fee being more then 10mil, i can't remember which currency was stated in what i had read previously.

You have a point about tilke having a lot of constraints put on him and yes china is fairly good considering the land it sits on.
I would add though that cota is one of the best newer tracks but the best aspects of it were effectively demanded by a few of the locals involed in the design.

Your example of gte is all to do with b.o.p. which although normally provides closer racing then that i'm not really an advocate for.

The lmp1 cars are limited by fuel flow and hybrid energy per lap.
Beyond that they can basically do what they want within those boundaries.
Which is a polar opposite to the way f1 writes their regs.
The 1000hp limit is only for le mans (apparently for safety concerns for what is a very old, fast, and in places narrow track). But with the actions of the fia in the early 90's as you elluded to it still makes you wonder.

190

No innovation in motorsport???
F1 and LMP1 use incredibly complex hybrid and energy recovery systems, regenerative braking, and feature aerodynamics which are amongst the most advanced across any industry.
In LMP1, they're pushing 1000hp out of 2.0L 4-bangers.
Look at the new Ford GT....how is that not innovation.
Formula E is nothing but innovation, and it's progressing rapidly.
Robo-Race will debut next year - fully automated, AI controlled.
Look at the new flat paint being tested by teams like Redbull, Williams, and and Renault.
The tire tech in WEC is amazing now, with teams regularly double stinting tires, while maintaining incredible pace.
Look at the massive amount of safety innovation. Alonso walking away from his Australia shunt. Heartly walking away from what could have been a massive crash at Silverstone were it not for the aero devices which kept the car right side up. Look at the crash Tassi just had at Spa in TCR race 1 - full speed, completely straight into a wall, and Tassi walks away.
If you think there is no innovation, you aren't watching motosports.

191

Twitch_6 Less grippy tires is tried. They had this threaded ones a few years back. I am not impressed by the entertaining effect from that rule change. Won't work. How about changing the point system to make winning more important?

The interesting histury thing is that Formula 1 was never a fist fight. I just watched a season review from 1982 and the narrater comments that a rare thing occurred when racing car is racing each other. 

The factories wants a series where they can develop technology. These guys meet to discuss regulations.

The hard truth is that you, the viewer doesn't matter much. Thats why they have races in places like Quatar, where there is no people at all except the ruling family and slave labour with no money.

In the backrooms and the afterparty, big contacts and butsness deals are made.

Imagine what the cost of this huge circus. a few hundre thousand people buying a ticket and a soda won't do it. Or the average tv viewer buying sixpack of red bulls. Now, that will make a difference.

You need to think big to understand F1. There is nothing like it, and alive for so many years. Impressive. It takes a Bernie to do something like that.

192

Why don't we add a budget cap and remove some power, Aero and design restrictions? As a team you have to decide, do you want to spend more money on aerodynamic performance in the hope of balancing out your weaker engine? Or do you dump all of your money into an engine to maximize efficiency and power?

193

As much as I enjoy F1, it could definitely become better.
I'd like the governing body of F1 to make it a bit more like the WEC. If you look at the current WEC races... It's like a 6 hour sprint race from start to finish... Not to mention the 24 hour gig at LeMans. There's so much action I watch it in suspense. Whilst some of the F1 races have made me fall asleep on occasion..
Now what can F1 learn from WEC?
- First of all, they should open it up for different tire manufacturers.. This brings more variation and suspence to the races.
- Next, they should cut the crappy 100 litres of fuel BS.. And bring back refuelling at the pit stops.
- They should definitely make the cars faster but also safer by adding a protective roof to the cars as we don't want accidents like Jules Bianchi's (RIP).
- The DRS should be changed with a more powerful boost system - allowing for a lot more power during undertaking, so that perhaps cars that are more mid-field can use this to catch up with the front runners.
So basically, just do a copy-paste when it comes to LMP1 cars in the WEC and you're good to go :)
Hope the Ferrari's catch up to Mercs soon as I feel bad for Kimmi, not having won a GP in a while..

194

Though this season of F1 has seen some very entertaining racing, in general, the cars have such powerful aero that there is no action.  Its like watching slot cars and waiting for something to happen, but it never does. 

Its like watching DTM/Super GT and V8SC/WTSC. The former have exotic cars and technology, no doubt.  But, the racing is very bland.  Watch the WTCC/V8SC, which have, as part of its marketing strategy, purposely avoided too much areo and maintained (what the average fan thinks) is a manual gearbox and you see a lot of crash and bash and wild overtaking.  I'm not sure this new Class One will be that great.

If you have ever watched 'Adrenalin - The BMW Touring Car Story' there is this bit with Joey Hand explaining the old days of touring cars "".. the best thing about driving a touring car verses a single seater.. is that you can rub"

And, there should be a massive effort to get US support.  How can you not have an economic and technological powerhouse involved in F1?  The problem is, its too European for the Americans. Or, the American aren't  European enough for the Europeans?

195
Vittorio Jano

The only thing wrong with the F1 is the tarmac run-off area. It ruins the whole race when you see drivers making multiple mistakes in a race with no real punishment.

196

I agree, they could use a drop curb or some other device so when going off track it is still safe but you can't come back on without following a route that losses you time...

197

Vittorio Jano There are so many things wrong with F1 that just talking about the run-off area is a bit pointless. They do lose time but yes maybe it could take them longer to rejoin. I don't think all of the tracks would want to bother with that though. There are a lot of gravel areas as well which would need changing.

198

@Brap_Brap A budget cap is interesting as the top teams are spending 100s of millions of Euros more than the smallest teams. However, F1 is supposed to be the pinnacle of racing engineering and innovation won't thrive like that.

199

There are too many changes that need to be made. It's far from ideal. I know it's a business and they're interested in making money but they'd make more if they listened to teams and fans. They just do their own thing. They'd soon improve things if we stopped watching, so maybe that's what we should do. We have the power to change it, just stop watching for a few years.

200
Vittorio Jano

DanTrim Vittorio Jano Well, there is quite a significant difference between ending your race in a gravel trap and losing a second or two by going wide on tarmac. Otherwise I don't see that much problems with the current formula. There could be more mechanical grip and less aero to make racing closer. People and FIA are trying to come up with all kinds of crazy ideas to make a better show, while forgetting that racing should be the priority and it's racing that makes the show, not gimmicks.

201

turbo_child Couldn't disagree with you more.

Re-fueling in the pits was amazingly boring to watch and anyone who watched f1 knows as much.

Drs adds 30 kph to a car's top speed in f1 which is more than enough or would you like a magic button that just guarantees the overtake even moreso? also a front runner is a front runner for a reason it's because they build the best cars and have the best drivers, a stupid gimmick that means average drivers catch them would mean top teams would lose incentive to stay in the sport or to invest as much as they currently do.

LMP1 and WEC are completely different to f1 and doing a ''copy-paste'' is just a lazy way of saying you are a WEC fanboy (especially with that comment about closed cockpits)

202

Super GT racing is bland???? What are you watching? Okayama and Fuji have been unreal so far this year!!

203

Dan96
Whoa Dan!
The gist of that comment was simply my two cents in the discussion. I think the above-mentioned things would probably help. And I'm not a WEC fanboy, just started watching it since LeMans last year. Been following F1 since for over 10 years now. I don't want to see any more deaths in the sport - hence the comment. Hope you get that and not that I'm saying this just for laughs. 

And why not have a boost button that could guarantee an overtake? The thing that's been happening for years now is that the team who wins the championship gets the most money from F1 to further develop their cars. If you think about it it's been a long time since we've seen anything other than AMG, Red Bull or Ferrari dominate the whole show for years (with some exceptions). How are the mid-runners supposed to get close to the kind of funding the top 3 teams get at this point? I know this might be semi-irrelevant but still... don't you agree that this to an extent impacts how it all plays out on the tarmac?



Refueling gave it a tad more suspense imo. You can't say anything on the tires though, right? They should get a few other players in there..


It almost sounded as if you were offended by the comment bre. Didn't mean to hit that fuse with anyone. 

Really looking forward to the next race in Spain!

204

Safety makes things boring.
Also the cars need less down force. Double diffuser needs to go so there can be more passing.

205

Twitch_6  Its not like V8SC or WTCC! (to be fair, I have not watched as much of it so I may have unfairly lumped it with DTM)

206

@Guvnor2, Super GT doesn't have as much door banging as BTCC...nothing does lol. But it definitely has as much or more action on track as V8SC.
Also, Super GT is more of an endurance format, so it's not meant to always be as tight as things get in a 20 lap sprint race. That said, there is always some close racing somewhere in the field of the majority of Super GT races.
Last race at Fuji had an intense battle in the closing laps between the iconic CALSONIC GTR and the MOTUL GTR. Doesn't get better than that :D

207

Twitch_6  Cheers.  I might start watching Super GT a bit closer (it doesn't seem to be as widely televised around the world as it should be) 

Either way, touring car racing (being DTM, Super GT, V8 and BTCC) is more entertaining than F1 and I put that down to parity and door to door crash and bash.  I think BTCC/WTCC needs to combine with V8SC somehow. 

The old days of touring cars had some awesome racing.  Bring that back!  Someone needs to do a mini-doco on the best touring car racing around the globe from the 70s to 90s.

208

Easy 

1) make qualifying and the race about who has built the fastest car - not the car who can conserve the best. 

2) Bring back testing but only at the GP weekends. So bring back Thursday practice and extend practice times on Friday and Saturday. Why? Because Formula 1 is about innovation not conservation. This will attract the big manufacturers with deep pockets while the guys at the back of the field can go and race in something that better meets their budget limitations like V8SC.

Stop trying to make F1 less expensive and more green.

209

I disagree about it being boring. Last year was boing in the latter part of the season for sure. The first four races of the year have been very good actually. The new qualifying format to me is shit, however the racing itself has been extremely competitive. Let's not focus on the fact that Rosberg is currently being unchallenged; but look more at the fact the from 2nd to 19th position is being fought for as if each position were first place.

Haas has come in with a bang to shake things up. Ferrari, Redbull and Toro Rosso have been advancing rather quickly. Williams is trying not to be left behind and definitely don't want Redbull or Toro Rosso to surpass them. Mclaren has had a bleak future and somehow they are actually becoming better each race thus far. There isn't extreme amounts of passing every lap but majority of the teams are fighting with each other in the mid pack like crazzzzyyy. This is why it is so interesting this year. Nobody is settling for just any position; they're all hungry.
There's lots of drama with the top racers already as well. Lewis, Vettel, Raikonen and Riciardo have all given points away to Rosberg freely and they're all desperate to get back into contention. The only part that has been boring is knowing that Rosberg was going to win races because unreliability of the cars. It's the longest season yet and it's going to be full of drama; guaranteed.  


There are certain tracks that are notoriously boring with respect to a lack of passing. I'm sure that's going to be the case in Spain. Anyways, some races you just won't like, others will be fantastic. Everyone can't like F1 but for those who like it the only real complaint is the lack of venomous sounds from the exhaust and the qualifying. The competition is thee stiffest in yeeeaaarrsss between all of the teams, all of the drivers are really talented and fast, the cars are qualifying just as fast and faster, and doing average times as fast as the V10 era cars so they're definitely not slow either. You may say it doesn't intrigue you but those stands on Sunday afternoon DEFINITELY aren't empty; that's for sure.

210

turbo_child Dan96 the funding model giving the lions share to the top teams has to be considered a bad idea. Yet there never seems to even be a conversation about wether or not that should change.

211

Coyote_ar I don't know if you've even watched F1 since the 80s since some of the things you want to change to are what we have now and were actually removed since the 80s.

- So left foot clutch and manual gearbox. Virtually impossible in today's single seaters not only in terms of space and maneuverability but also from effectively karting drivers grow up with paddle shifting, this wouldn't just ruin it for current drivers but also for future generations hoping to make the step up. In terms of the driver sitting upright, well this changed in effect to Sennas death, by having the driver in a more reclined position both gives a better center of gravity but also lowers the amount of body that can be injured in an accident.


- Forbidding telemetry during the races? Really? Since possibly the thing wrong with F1 is fan engagement you want to remove a part of F1 that could actually be used to engage fans. Not to also say that we are now in a data driven environment where very decision made anywhere is made by reviewing data, telemetry in F1 is literally pushing the boundaries for data acquisition that is now being pursued in almost every business type in the world. Also telemetry in F1 has been around since the mid 80's, not quite to the degree as we have today but it was there, even Senna was an advocate for telemetry. Finally since the ban on radio the driver does need to know more as to why every team runs a PCU8 display giving the driver enormous amounts of feedback so that they didn't have to be fed the information.


- The SECU (Single ECU) is the only ECU that is in the car. There are other controllers for this that do the injection and steering wheel interface etc. but there is only one place that controls the PU. There is no stability assist (unlike the late 80s early 90s), there is no active aero, there's no active anything. The driver gives the PU a power demand target that the PU (whether this be the ICE or MGU) MUST hit, the way the power is delivered is down to throttle shaping, which is basically what the majority of sports cars do these days with "Sport" buttons.


- Effectively the rule book is pretty open. In this day and age where we are driven from data different configurations can be tried and tested quickly. Essentially if you changed the rules you'd end up with the cars looking basically the same because essentially you push to the limits you are given and everyone knows that you need some regulations.

212
beetfarmer1989

I'd like to see shorter races with less cars on the track. No tires changes, no pit strategies. The FIA World Rally Cross has a winning viewing model. That sport is exciting, active and easy to follow. I can't sit and stare at a TV for 3 hours for a full F1 race. And all the action is cut down to 30 second high lights any ways.

Cut the field down to 10 cars for a total of 15 minutes of racing. Then the F1 drivers will drive all out for 15 minutes. No worry about preserving their tires or not having enough fuel. Hammer down the whole race.

213

So what you are saying Prost predicted a teenager winning a F1 race? Very interesting..
Your ideas are very nostalgic and I would love to refute every point but the one I want to discuss is the 'fly by wire' comment.
Ever wonder why there are so many switches on the steering wheel? Most cars have the ability to switch engine maps via dial as well as brake setups. The best drivers in the world in all racing series literally change the ECU map and/or brakes at many turns a lap. This is the forefront of technology as F1 should be. If you want to complain about Formula 1 it should be that its no longer a Formula.. Formula racing is literally an equation.. chassis x + engine y = car. Today Williams and Mclaren are not dominating but its Ferrari and Mercedes. It would seem you are in favor of eliminating manufacturers and leave it to the driver.
But since this is Speedhunters..I just think you are a Honda guy butthurt Mercedes is winning off their technology

214
GripHooligan86

we want 1970- 80s f1.

215

@OBEEWON Your like 7 years too late. Double diffusers was banned in 2009. I say get rid of DRS for starters and ban those silly multi element front wings.

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Make all the cars the same. That way its down to the DRIVERS skill, not tech.  And please bring back the SOUND!  Only a low-flying jet sounded better .I get better excitement watching cars go round the local ring-road now as there's usually a V8 or a loud exhaust or some overtaking! . I have to admit though, I actually thought something was wrong with my TV's volume the 1st race of the new rules with the hybrid engine's .I turned it off after 20 min's and haven't watched it since. Oh, the days of Senna and Mansell...That was racing!  Did I mention the sound?

219

It's really boring today. i watched de 2008 Grand Prix on Brazil, pretty amazing race not so emotional as to watch the 80s or the early 90s races but a superb fight to the champioship. Ecclestone is a idiot he was Brabham team boss in the past he wanted only money when he entered to F1 business and left team to the cockroachs, for the category he don't give a dammit to sport quality, wants money, introduced stupid things (DRS, Recovery energy, hybrid systems) that's what makes F1 boring i think a engineer could be really entertained watching this machines racing but for normal people really annoying. no disaster (crash, mistakes and etc, only penalties), no engine broken, no manual gear.

220

"It could be that my simple American attention span is just too short for Formula 1" I LoL'ed at this...
I want 3 pedals, exhaust, drivers driving like human beings... not robots just running the laps... no fear, making a stuped pass in hopes of a win, not nailing a good starting point and just holding it till-it's-over. A race...

221

Yeah!

222

Resections are there because the cars are so dang fast now, people would just die... like motorcycles on the pikes peek race, lots of deaths.

223

Make them front engined, and make them go sideways

OFFICIAL SPEEDHUNTERS SUPPLIERS