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Anyone follow Formula 1?

kann

kann

One Leg Of Fury.
Joined
Apr 29, 2011
Messages
11,568
Location
Cádiz, España
Probably not, but even though it's late in the season I figured I'd give it a try...

I'll save my breath for now. :)
 
I've always wanted to, as the cars fascinate me, but can't recall ever seeing a race on TV.
 
When I traveled to Germany and England a lot, the folks there were avid fans. But here it's indeed difficult to find a wide base here.
 
I only know one person that watched it. She was crazy for it too. Would stay up and watch the races in other countries.
 
I've been trying out F1 for the last couple of years, but I'm still not sold on it. I find F1 interesting, but not exciting. The problem is that not everyone could win. The podium is usually split between the top 2-3 teams, and the race is more often than not decided in the first few turns. Frankly, I'm trying to understand why there's so much passion for it in Europe and Asia. I've followed Indycar my whole life, but F1 is completely different.
 
I'm an IndyCar nut... always have been from back in CART days. My first race I can REALLY remember (though I watched before that) was the '89 (I think?) Indianapolis 500 where Emerson Fittipaldi and Little Al touched in the last laps, sending Al Jr. into the wall. My grandmother got me into racing, of all people! I attended the 100th running last year, and if it wasn't for my daughter graduating the night before, I'd be going to #102, as well. She's lucky I kinda like her...

I've been an off-and-on fan of F1 for forever, as well. Most of the "off" was because, as said, it was hard to find and follow in the USA. It's got some great coverage now, though, on NBC families, and next season will be on ESPN. F1 has pretty much always been a few top teams on the podium every circuit -- it's just the teams that rotate at the top. It used to be Williams and Benetton, then Ferrari with Michael Schumacher and Alonso, Red Bull after that, and now Mercedes. I don't know what it is I love about F1 (though I love all sorts of motor/moto racing), but I've really been engrossed in it the last few seasons. One of my biggest regrets with living in Europe is not getting to a race. It was so damn expensive, though! Formula 1 is a rich man's game on both sides of the paddock.
 
We'll try it again now that 2018 is underway. I'll probably be alone here again, though... :P

If nothing else, I get to vent about how shitty the ESPN/Sky simulcast coverage was. Liberty Media screwed the pooch on this one, though there's much thought that this might be their way of driving people towards the paid subscription streaming services about to come online. I had that thought, myself last night.

FORZA FERRARI!
 
Forza Ferrari!

Hopefully the red team can make it 3/3 this season, and hopefully for the WDC, Vettel is on top of a podium absent of Mr. #blessed.

ESPN has redeemed themselves, and publicly ate their serving of crow. Great to see they took all of the viewer complaints seriously, and will now be airing all quali and races commercial-free via the Sky simulcast.
 
Yup we were wide awake this morning to watch. I’ve already been warned next weekend we will need to be up at 6am. My wife who is probably the worst morning person around was even woke up by my daughter to watch.
 
I watched the Netflix series, Drive to Survive recently, which is about F1. I found it interesting, but the fact that money buys the win makes it much less interesting in the end. That and it seems to be nothing but politics; just one big group. Example, you have the Team Manager of Mercedes married to another Team Manager (or something high up in that Team) and he also runs a Driver training program that consists of a bunch of his competition. I just don't understand how that all flies.

I guess it just appears to me as being a big game of musical chairs. It's an over simplified view, but I see it as being more about the drama between races than the actual races. I do want to watch some actual races eventually.
 
ConDaddy said:
Yup we were wide awake this morning to watch. I’ve already been warned next weekend we will need to be up at 6am. My wife who is probably the worst morning person around was even woke up by my daughter to watch.
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When I was in Hawaii, I'd have to get up in the middle of the night to watch the races.

Mizicke5273 said:
I watched the Netflix series, Drive to Survive recently, which is about F1. I found it interesting, but the fact that money buys the win makes it much less interesting in the end. That and it seems to be nothing but politics; just one big group. Example, you have the Team Manager of Mercedes married to another Team Manager (or something high up in that Team) and he also runs a Driver training program that consists of a bunch of his competition. I just don't understand how that all flies.

I guess it just appears to me as being a big game of musical chairs. It's an over simplified view, but I see it as being more about the drama between races than the actual races. I do want to watch some actual races eventually.
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Well, keep in mind that DTS is designed to hook new viewers by providing a dramatic narrative to it all. There's politics involved, absolutely. Unfortunately, money buys performance, but that is true in any sport -- motorsport, especially. Toto Wolff (team principal of Mercedes) is manages the careers of several other drivers, as well. Those drivers in both Formula 1 and lower tiers are pretty much "junior drivers" for the Mercedes AMG works team -- as seen by George Russell driving Hamilton's car when he was out for the race with COVID last season. I think the most confusing part of all of this in F1, is the car manufacturer and engine supplier combinations. Obviously Williams (Mercedes), Haas (Ferrari), and Red Bull / Alpha Tauri (Honda) are not building their own engines, but it gets really strange when you see that McLaren and Aston Martin are both powered by Mercedes, and Alfa Romeo is powered by Ferrari.
 
I'm generally a motorsports fan, but I just can't get into F1. Since much of the race schedule was canceled last year, rather than watch drivers play video games, I watched the entire WEC season 2019, including all 24 hrs of Le Manns. I found that to be very interesting. F1, however, should be called Formula Snooze!

I just watched the Spanish Grand Prix and I wish I hadn't spent the time on it. To me, a pass in turn 1 lap 1, a bit of pit stop strategy, and another pass in the closing laps of the race isn't exciting. A few years ago, I would just watch the 8 min highlight video on YouTube, but after watching Drive to Survive this spring, I decided to try watching full races again. Nope!

I have enjoyed all the seasons of Drive to Survive, but the actual races are generally boring unless it rains. I'm so tired of hearing Lewis Hamilton whinge about every car that gets in his path, and every perceived disadvantage he has. I think I'm going to just wait until DTS Season 4 of comes out to find out what happens for the rest of the F1 season.
 
I disliked Hamilton going into DTS and disliked him even more after! Today's athletes just don't stack up to the ones from 25+ years ago. They don't even compare. And I'm not talking skill or performance; I mean as a plain old human that has good values and personality.

EDIT: I should quantify this statement a bit, as this is my view on the athletes in the spotlight for the most part.
 
I've followed F1 for quite a while, maybe 20 years. I agree it can be a little boring at the front, especially in the Mercedes/Hamilton domination of the last few years, but I still find it compelling. I'm sure fans were complaining during the Michael Schumacher era, too, but domination as opposed to competition does get repetitive for (many) fans.

It's frustrating, it seems like every time they try to change the formula to try to level the field among teams, there is still always a team or 2 that far outperform the rest and the lower place teams just don't have the resources to crack the code to give them anywhere near competitive performance. The new formula ends up with the same results as the old formula, with a little change up in the mid level teams. I'm not a fan of engine/gearbox allotments, but of course the FIA says that's to make it more affordable. Yeah, and boring. Same with tires, tire management is boring. Let 'em race, burn through (or conserve) tires as their strategy dictates.

They say they implemented the new "sprint qualifying" gimmick this year to get more fan involvement. Just 17 laps more engine/gearbox wear and some more tires. Let 'em use those engines and tires during races and give the fans something to cheer for.

I've been to a couple of races, the inaugural Texas race in 2012 and Montreal for the 2016 race there, so 2 of 3 of the NA races - I don't know that Mexico City will happen for me now, but it still might. Had a lot of fun as far as the travel part, would rather watch the race on TV.
 
Can't believe I've missed all these comments (just used to no action in this thread). Monaco FP3 going on now, and quali in three hours (1500 CET).
 
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