Why do people still like and follow F1 so much?

[Whodoyouthink]

Being that I'm still relatively new to racing (before 2012 I had never actually watched a single race before), I haven't been truly spoiled by the F1 of times past. I still think this era's cars are incredibly cool and interesting. I watch because there really are very few other cars that are more nuts than F1 cars. Sure, the racing may be a bit sub par for the pinnacle of motorsport, but it's still very entertaining (to me).

As an American, the best close-to-home-racing I've seen was through Grand-Am and ALMS. But those events are smaller, and obviously the cars don't put the drivers through as much hell as F1 cars do.

See, for me, racing is a bit more than entertainment. It's a source of inspiration. F1 drivers deal with multiple Gs each and every race, and they are always fighting for incredibly small margins of victory. I just find the whole "world of F1" to be truly incredible. Again, I don't have the biased perspective that some of you long time fans have, but I'm not totally oblivious as to how F1 once was, especially before Senna died.

It's just a matter of perspective. I could ask the same for why the hell people still watch NASCAR. It undermines all the other good series in this country, and is in my opinion way too overhyped. Course, after I saw that Top Gear segment when Richard went in-depth with NASCAR, I had a new found respect for it.

All I can say is even though you may dread F1, others don't. Call us stupid, naive, whatever you want. Doesn't change the fact that we enjoy watching it.

 

[Bo]

I think WEC does everything F1 does, and it does it better. The Shanghai 6 hours actually sold more tickets than the Chinese GP.

 

[TenEightyOne]

The cars are no longer interesting. When I started watching in the late 90s there was V10s vs V12s, and they all looked different, not this specish racing you have now.

Spec-ish racing? What do you think the word 'Formula' means?

I've been a lifelong F1 fan but along with Euro-style road racing I love American oval racing too (and I do know the difference), I'd say that my passion for F1 is sustained year-on-year by the edgy pursuit of those final 100ths of a second.

It's the ultimate geek sport, everything is geared towards covering the 200(ish) miles as quickly as possible. Even with the addition of finite-calorific racing the future of F1 is as exciting as ever.

I accept that there are plenty who don't "believe" in F1 and who I'll never persuade otherwise, but my interest in it isn't diminishing at all

 

[AudiMan2011]

I think the reason so many people still follow F1 is because it is the most globally recognized motorsport. I have also been losing faith in F1 since the introduction of KERS and DRS to 'aid' overtaking, but in truth, I think Bernie and the FIA have ruined F1 and there is no 'real' racing anymore.

Bernie turning F1 into his cash cow is simply one of the reasons why I now think Indycar is better than F1 nowadays. Indycar can certainly teach F1 a few lessons in how to make exciting racing.

 

[AlvaroF]

I follow a bit of every motorsport because I like things with engines in general.

F1 is dull because of the inability of the other teams keeping up with Red Bull. They have all the merit of being the best team and I watch carefully because of a) it's well known; b) the story behind and the faith of becoming the pinacle of racing. Also it's overly regulamented and as AudiMan said, it's Bernie's fault.
For me WEC, GT3, WRC, BTCC, DTM and WSR are the ones I try to keep an eye every single bit I can because there is proper racing there, great drivers and cars/teams are diverse and very competitive.

These without being money pits like F1 are way more attractive.

 

[Bo]

A lot of people don't pick up on AutoGP, I think it deserves more credit than it gets. It's a bit like GP2, but without the ladder to F1 money pit thing. The races are only 16 laps, and the racing is top notch.

 

[AnAL0G]

I think WEC does everything F1 does, and it does it better. The Shanghai 6 hours actually sold more tickets than the Chinese GP.

WEC coverage is hard to watch though, the way it's presented on TV.

 

[Bo]

True, over here Motors TV show everything live, but Eurosport HD have the last hour of each race live, as well as the whole LM24 including practice and qualifying.

 

[AnAL0G]

Yeah, but I also mean trying to follow the multiclass element of it. In the 6 hours of Shanghai for example, they basically only followed Audi and Toyota. Very little coverage of anything else.

 

[Bo]

Only because that battle was so close. They do usually try and keep an eye on everything. Just imagine if WEC was given the type of coverage F1 has though...

 

[F1WORLDCHAMPION]

For those who think F1 is always boring have a look at the 2012 Brazilian GP.

 

[LancerEvo7]

In the 6 hours of Shanghai for example, they basically only followed Audi and Toyota. Very little coverage of anything else.

Or like Sebring 2012 where there was a great GT battle at the end but we got treated to Audi cruising through their last lap instead.

 

[AnAL0G]

Or like Sebring 2012 where there was a great GT battle at the end but we got treated to Audi cruising through their last lap instead.

I know. In general the coverage is pretty terrible. I know the races are long and there's a lot going on in the end, but they are so all over the place it's hard to tell what the heck is going on outside of the leaders. They follow Audi for 30 minutes straight with the occasional mention of who's leading the other classes, in between constant talking to pit crew, etc., when in fact many times it's not even a close race in the P1 class. I'd love some kind of online feature like they have with the F1 onboard races so that I could just pick a team/car and really get into the race.

 

[Bo]

I know. In general the coverage is pretty terrible. I know the races are long and there's a lot going on in the end, but they are so all over the place it's hard to tell what the heck is going on outside of the leaders. They follow Audi for 30 minutes straight with the occasional mention of who's leading the other classes, in between constant talking to pit crew, etc., when in fact many times it's not even a close race in the P1 class.

Untrue. Toyota challenge every single round, and RLM do a great job at varying their coverage on the different classes.

 

[AnAL0G]

Still not that exciting for me. I'll be happy to see Porsche in the mix of coverage now. Anyway, I think we're derailing the thread.

 

[AlvaroF]

The coverege in WEC is not that bad, IMO. I saw the first two hours oh the Barahein race and there was a lot of battles covered nicely. The Ferrari almost taking out one of the Audis, the Rebellion engine blow up and a few overtakes. I thought it was covered fairly good. F1, with all the aids to the battle of position, gets a wider cover, that's true, because at the front there is no interest and so the races are less than boring if we cross Vettel out.

 

[Carlos]

For those who think F1 is always boring have a look at the 2012 Brazilian GP.

It's over a year old, that's exactly what is wrong

To me DRS is a problem, or maybe the problem. I'm all for technology but not moving parts. Same for double points at the last race, I don't see why because if there is one dominator there's the change he'll win the championship even before the last race. I think we should give the top 16 points. Then finishing alone gets you 1 point so the 22-17 cars can have a little battle in points. Then they only need to finish 16th to get ahead of the rest and if they don't they all have the same points if they finish every race. What this sport needs most now is low budget teams getting better. If we can throw them in their own battle without making them a different catagory, it'll be good for sponsorships and with sponsors comes money and money offers a chance to invest in a better car.

 

[AlvaroF]

Amem to that! The thing is the low budget teams bit you mentined.

For them to improve their cars, they need money and sponsers and to get money and sponsers they need results and to have good results they need an improved car, creating a vicious cycle that can't be solved.

 

[TenEightyOne]

Amem to that! The thing is the low budget teams bit you mentined.

For them to improve their cars, they need money and sponsers and to get money and sponsers they need results and to have good results they need an improved car, creating a vicious cycle that can't be solved.

That's a very good point and, supposedly, what the budget caps address. Realistically that doesn't work.

Everyone can see how the Red Bull is so good this year but not even the big teams can afford to redesign their chassis to sit "nose-up" in the same way. The big teams can change tack for next year and accommodate as much of that pitch-sensitivity as the new rules allow... but certain teams don't have the budget to wind their ongoing development back that far.

That means that the really small teams have no realistic chance of making the gains. The only one who ever has is Brawn GP but they were able to inherit some of the trappings of the previous year's "1st Division" budget and had Ross Brawn's extra hole, so to speak. Even so, they were nowhere by the end of the season and were lucky to take the championship.

 

[C-ZETA]

Super GT still has the gimmick (if you want to call it that) of pretty aggressive success ballast. Still, it has some fantastic racing and I love the wide variety of cars that are present in the GT300 class.

Except all you see now in GT300 are FIA GT3 spec cars. Apart from that, it's just the Honda CR-Z (which did win the last series), the Prius and the BR-Z. And if you want to watch GT3 cars, at full unrestricted speed...then go and watch the FIA GT series.

Mind you, the racing there really doesn't get close to Super GT.

What the new rules for GT500 will do have yet to be seen but hopefully the racing there should remain competitive. And if they're now unified with DTM, does that not mean that you can use the Audis, Beemers and Mercs in GT500 now? Now that would add some variation. Vice versa for DTM too...

 

[PsuPepperoni]

I'm excited to see what happens when Kimi returns to his championship team, but if Vettel starts walking away with it in the first few races I'll probably stop watching

 

[SagarisGTB]

Super GT still has the gimmick (if you want to call it that) of pretty aggressive success ballast.

You're right. But it has been easy to forget that it's there, as it rarely plays a huge role in deciding races. The top teams still fight for the wins, even when they have a fair bit of ballast on board, and the backmarkers are almost always near the back.

And if you want to watch GT3 cars, at full unrestricted speed...then go and watch the FIA GT series.

FIA GT doesn't run GT3 cars unrestricted though (nobody does), they have BoP just like every other series. In fact, supposedly the exact same BoP as GT300-GT3 this past year. Whether that's true or not, the Super GT GT3 cars are probably a bit faster anyway because of their tires.

 

[Imari]

You're right. But it has been easy to forget that it's there, as it rarely plays a huge role in deciding races. The top teams still fight for the wins, even when they have a fair bit of ballast on board, and the backmarkers are almost always near the back.

I agree. They've done it really well in that it doesn't turn the series into a complete random lottery, and at any given race it's hardly ever really noticeable unless you're looking for it. It does stop things like Red Bull in 2011 happening, when a dominant car and a dominant driver just smash the whole field. Or makes it harder at least, in that if you want to win every single race your car has to be fast enough to do that with max success ballast on board.

It's a better idea for keeping things close than doubling points in the final races of the seasons, at least.

 

[Tired Tyres]

You're right. But it has been easy to forget that it's there, as it rarely plays a huge role in deciding races. The top teams still fight for the wins, even when they have a fair bit of ballast on board, and the backmarkers are almost always near the back.
FIA GT doesn't run GT3 cars unrestricted though (nobody does), they have BoP just like every other series. In fact, supposedly the exact same BoP as GT300-GT3 this past year. Whether that's true or not, the Super GT GT3 cars are probably a bit faster anyway because of their tires.

Check the Fuji rounds here under race results for GT300.

http://supergt.net/en/

Check here for WEC fuji rounds 2012 and 2013, don't bother with the 2013 race obviously.

http://fiawec.alkamelsystems.com/

You'll see the the GT300 and GT300 GT3 cars are faster in Practice, Qualifying and Race than the GTE-Pro and GTE-Am cars with comparable weather. That doesn't happen in Europe where the GTE is faster than the GT3 but not by much.

 

[Coenraad]

I used to watch F1, but i got out of touch with it after too many boring races. Now i haven't watched it for years.

What i preffer now is ALMS and Grand-Am. They have just really exiting racing, and great overtakings due to both competition and multiclass racing. So in 2014 i will be watching the Tudor USCC ( ALMS and Grand-Am are combined into this new championship) instead of F1.

 

[tuj]

Once there was a man named Schumacher and F1 was truly boring.

If you follow the development of the cars, there are lots of interesting things going on in F1 over the past few years. Yes, last year Vettel and RBR dominated, but only because of the tires; Mercedes was fast in qualifying. In 2012, the season was also pretty exciting, with Vettel, Alonso, or Hamilton a potential winner of any race. Vettel only won 2012 by 3 points over Alonso.

Or how about 2009 when the humble, short-funded Brawn GP team dominated the season with their double-decker diffuser that was originally designed by Super Aguri? That was a brilliant season.

 

[Dan]

I think this might be the year I stop watching. I was a Vettel fan for a while, but it gets boring seeing him win all the time. Plus, there's too much controversy and politics in the sport, so it doesn't seem fun to watch anymore. I'm going to focus my attention on Le Mans, despite never having any coverage of GT cars.

 

[IceMan PJN]

Why do people still like and follow F1 so much?

I remember seeing a topic one a board somewhere wherein the guy was musing about having a motorsport addition to the Olympics. He thought it would be neat to have a global motorsport competition with drivers and cars from around the world competing against one another. My reply was that we already have such a thing. It's called "Formula One." F1 goes one farther by not just having drivers and cars from around the world but also race venues from around the world.

This is part of how I view F1. It's like the Olympics for motorsports. Another part of how I view it is history being written in an ongoing story. People complain about stuff like "the same guy always wins" but that's just a saga of history taking place before our eyes. Thirty years down the road when discussing F1 we can say we were there when Vettel broke all the records, won a heap of championships and hundreds of Grands Prix. People have this short-sighted view in which they just want to go into a race weekend in wonderment, having no idea who is going to win, and it's just about that day, but I view each race weekend as just the latest chapter of a bigger, ongoing story. It's not just about what's going on in the moment but how it fits into the grand story arc.

 

[Imari]

I remember seeing a topic one a board somewhere wherein the guy was musing about having a motorsport addition to the Olympics. He thought it would be neat to have a global motorsport competition with drivers and cars from around the world competing against one another. My reply was that we already have such a thing. It's called "Formula One."

The difference is though that the Olympics is about finding the best athlete. F1 finds the best athlete/car/team combination. The Olympics goes to some lengths to standardise equipment and make sure that no competitor has an unfair advantage.

If F1 was in spec cars then perhaps it would be similar, but I doubt Vettel would still be world champion if he was stuck in a Caterham for a season.

 

[AnAL0G]

This is part of how I view F1. It's like the Olympics for motorsports. Another part of how I view it is history being written in an ongoing story. People complain about stuff like "the same guy always wins" but that's just a saga of history taking place before our eyes. Thirty years down the road when discussing F1 we can say we were there when Vettel broke all the records, won a heap of championships and hundreds of Grands Prix. People have this short-sighted view in which they just want to go into a race weekend in wonderment, having no idea who is going to win, and it's just about that day, but I view each race weekend as just the latest chapter of a bigger, ongoing story. It's not just about what's going on in the moment but how it fits into the grand story arc.

I feel much the same.