Done with F1

[scottsdad]

For many years I was a quite devoted F1 fan. I started watching in the mid-90s, and very quickly became hooked. I forget what my first full race to watch was, but the thing that got me was that it was like a game of chess - one driver doing 2 stops, the other 3; tyre choices, fuel loads and so on - so that I didn't know who would win until quite late on. I relished the battles that came - especially Schumacher vs Hakkinen. 

My interest in the sport has been on the wane, though, for a couple of years and this year I have not watched it. I've thought long and hard about why this is the case, and I thought I'd put down here what it is that has eaten away at me. 

Starting as far back as 2003, after Schumacher utterly dominated the field in 2002, the FIA changed the rules on qualifying and points to try to prevent him doing it again. Thinking back this was probably the start of the decline for me. That a sport can take such drastic action because of one season of domination, in hindsight, is insane. It used to be 10-6-4-3-2-1. Top 6 drivers scored points, and the winning team took more than anyone else. Remember Minardi celebrating a point in 2001? A POINT! It was important and valuable. Now diluted. The then-introduced 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 extended this and restricted the winner's advantage. First blow to competitiveness. Later F1 adopted the rallying system with 25 for a win and the top 10 scoring. A point is no longer valuable.

The sport has been mucked around and tinkered with ever since. Qualifying moved from the traditional hour-long free for all to the 1-lap nightmare, to the current system - which actually isn't bad. Didn't stop them trying to muck it around again this year. Why, though? WHY? Simple - TV audiences over sport. 

Since then so many gimmicks have come in to 'improve' F1 as a spectacle for the viewer at the expense of the sport. DRS - from inability to overtake to inability to defend. KERS to give a modern day turbo boost. Tyre companies being ordered to build tyres that degrade quickly to force more pit stops. Then think on the ones that didn't stick - the 2016 qualifying, double points in the last race of the season.

Add to this the cost-cutting adventures of Max Mosely. From the mid-2000s onwards teams have had in-season testing cut away to nothing. What this means is that whatever team arrives in race 1 with the fastest car has that advantage built in all season long. Competitors cannot catch up. Drivers are punished for driving cars to the limits with 50 place grid drops and the like. Fans like me know which team will win in March, so why watch? Think back to 2000; Ferrari started so dominantly, and were caught and passed by McLaren who developed like crazy. Ferrari won in the end but it was cracking to watch. This could not happen now.

Finally, live TV. I'm not shelling out good beer money on a Sky Sports subscription to watch a sport that was live on free-to-air TV for decades. Why should I pay now for a product that's worse than it used to be? I object - and how can sponsors like this? Soon all races will be live only on Sky - highlights only for the likes of me. No thanks. That, and the ever-expanding schedule taking the sport to soulless tracks in middle eastern countries with no heritage or excitement have ruined it for me.

It's a cumulation of things for me. I can live with a boring F1 season when one driver dominates. I cannot live with know-all executives deciding what I want to watch and how I should watch it. It has lost the sporting sparkle for me and I just cannot get excited about it any more. 

[Cowshed Chris]

Pretty interesting take. And hard to disagree with.

[lionel hutz]

I'm the same, although I do enjoy Sky's coverage of F1, it's became A Farce in the last few years. The dominance of Mercedes is just off-putting.

Watching F1 2016 YouTuber Championship is more exciting than the real thing, FFS!

 

 

[Dindeleux]

Yep good post and I agree with everything you've said.

2012 was the last great season really and in the last 10 years there's only been 3 or 4 really competitive years where race to race you didn't know who might win.

[vikingTON]

Qualifying and points systems have been "tinkered" with for decades. Oh and the "one hour free for all" of qualifying of your rose-tinted memory actually meant, err, 55 minutes of hee-haw other than Minardis gaining sponsorship coverage. That's why they scraped that format in the first place. 

If you don't like the concept of a sport changing its rules and regulations then you must have stumbled into Formula 1 through sheer ignorance. 

[Dindeleux]

Qualifying and points systems have been "tinkered" with for decades. Oh and the "one hour free for all" of qualifying of your rose-tinted memory actually meant, err, 55 minutes of hee-haw other than Minardis gaining sponsorship coverage. That's why they scraped that format in the first place. 

If you don't like the concept of a sport changing its rules and regulations then you must have stumbled into Formula 1 through sheer ignorance. 

If you are finding F1 as enjoyable now as it was in the past then I would assume you are thick.

[scottsdad]

4 minutes ago, vikingTON said:

Qualifying and points systems have been "tinkered" with for decades. Oh and the "one hour free for all" of qualifying of your rose-tinted memory actually meant, err, 55 minutes of hee-haw other than Minardis gaining sponsorship coverage. That's why they scraped that format in the first place. 

If you don't like the concept of a sport changing its rules and regulations then you must have stumbled into Formula 1 through sheer ignorance. 

I'm aware changes were made before I watched it. Under the old system there were races where drivers' points did not count towards the championship. I actually like the current qualifying more than the old hour-long free for all. More than the 1 lap qualifying also.

My issue was the reason for the changes and the ongoing culture of tinkering for some nebulous "show" at the expense of sport. 

[vikingTON]

As opposed to all the previous changes, which were made with the exact same reasoning. 

[drs]

23 minutes ago, Dindeleux said:

Yep good post and I agree with everything you've said.

2012 was the last great season really and in the last 10 years there's only been 3 or 4 really competitive years where race to race you didn't know who might win.

If all you are interested in is "who might win" then its not the sport for you and I would assume you are a puddle drinker. Always plenty of action and excitement further down the field.

[welshbairn]

Used to follow it avidly until BBC chose to sell most of their rights to Sky instead of an ITV/C4 combo. Got out of the habit despite having Sky now.

[David W]

I used to watch every race weekend, in full. That included recording races when I went on holiday and making an effort to avoid the result until I got home.

Now, whilst I don't really mind watching the highlight version on C4 I actually find it attracts more of my attention during the pre-race features and interviews. I've got the US GP recorded but haven't watched it yet. That wouldn't have been the case a year or two ago; I'd have stayed up later on Sunday to watch it. I can't remember the last time I watched a qualifying session with anything more than a passing interest when it used to be a key part of my weekend.

Maybe it's an offshoot of getting older. However, I think what annoys me most is that things are so static and similar in terms of the cars and races. I want teams to have the chance to be creative, come up with different ways of doing things. I want testing, which means things can change through the season. And I want more options in terms of fuelling, tyres etc which means that there's many more strategies at play.

[supermik]

Still watch it but, now even more so, the result is over by the first corner. There might be one or two overtakes further down the field but any change in leaders only happens if a breakdown or a poor pitstop. I sometimes wonder if sponsorship of the smaller (and most of the bigger) teams is just a tax dodge for firms because not sure if they make much of a return from it.

[sjc]

Would be more interesting if the drivers were to drive for each of the different constructors over the course of the season.....at least then you'd have more of a gauge on who was the best driver and not just who was in the best car.

[Blootoon87]

Formula 1 is mind numbingly boring.

[Trackdaybob]

F1 is just a soap opera these days. Has been for years. 

Scripted off track 'situations and politics' in a bland attempt to make it more exciting. 

It's pish  

[Jupiter Jazz]

Got to say i've enjoyed the majority of races this season, the three tyre rule has helped in opening up strategy options. Hopefully as the engines converge and with the aero changes we'll see a number of teams challenging at the front over the next few years. 

Having a favourite team to follow always helps to keep interests up aswell I suppose.

[ScotlandGer]

I would say I still enjoy the sport.

But I agree with a lot of the first post.

I'm really not a fan of of the DRS / tyres rules etc. of the past few seasons.  Particularly this season, I've found myself watching the start of the race on a few occasions and then just checking the result.  There's a fair bit of artificiality in some of the 'overtakes' / important race moments etc.  It's not just Mercedes' domination imo, but it's slightly dull watching cars that you know will swap places at a specified point of the track / tyres will wear after a few laps.

[CityDave]

I think the problem this season and probably the last is that there is very little change on the grid from race to race not just at the front but right down through the field (the only exception being drivers with grid penalties). Its like the last couple of years during the turbo era in the 80's without the huge gap between front and back, it can be a procession.

There is very little difference between the drivers, all are of a very high standard now and there are less major driver errors like we used to see, we don't see drivers spinning off as much. Teams are well drilled in their pit stops and the cars rarely break down, therefore I think the machinery isn't being stressed enough like it should be at this level. The circuits, many just seem too similar, so the teams don't have much of a problem in setting up their cars. The only difference is the performance of each set of two cars compared to the others, which right now often has team mates lining up besides each other on the grid or just in front or behind. It doesn't mean there is a problem with qualifying. I think the current knockout system is a very good idea and suits the era.

There's nothing wrong with F1 developing new ideas for the cars many end up for our benefit on road cars, but I would like to see a return to a back to basics with more emphasis on the driver, make the cars harder to drive. F1 is supposed to be difficult. Another tyre manufacturer brought in to provide a rival for Pirelli, steel brakes, reduce wing size. Weight penalties??

I don't understand why people are fed up with Mercedes winning all the time. One team dominating F1 has happened so many times before its not new and these people are only repeating the same stuff as what other people have said in the past. Its not Mercedes business to slow down for the sake of the show, its up to the rest to up their game and catch them. But as with many other teams who have dominated F1 in the past, it doesn't last forever.

[StevieLes II]

I have a passing interest in F1 purely for the driver skill though, as I have zero interest in cars, strategy etc . I know it's never gonna happen, but as pure sport and spectacle (and I understand that isn't fully what F1 is about) I'd love to see this format.

Qualifying as normal only happens in the first race of the season.

Then every race starting position after that is determined by the final standings of the last race.

Winner of race one starts last in race two.

Last place in race one starts on pole in race two.

You get the idea.

I know it's not what most of real F1 fans will enjoy but I certainly watch that.

[scottsdad]

Having said what I don't like about the current sport, I thought last night about what changes I would make if I were in charge. Pure wish-list stuff, this, and you might disagree. But here's my two bob's worth:

Keep

Qualifying format

Slick tyres (the grooved ones were horrible)

Bring Back

Refueling

Hard and soft compound tyres to be used by the team as and when, not this artificial 'must use both' rule.

T-cars

107% rule for qualifying times

Development and in-season testing of cars

Live races shown on free to air TV

Abandon

Fast-degrading tyres and the need to use 2 types in a race

DRS

At least 3 races a season - a maximum 17 race season, from March to October.

Punishment via grid penalties for drivers whose cars face mechanical issues.