The F1M Forums

F1RacerFan wrote:I, too, have lost a bit of interest over the past 5 or 6 years. I loved the 8 and 10 and 12 cylinder cars and the shriek they made. I'll never forget walking across the bridge in Montreal in 1994 and hearing that sound for the first time. There really is no description. I never heard anything that loud. We made a point of going again in 2013 to hear the shriek for the last time. It's not just that though. It just looks like a video game now. I still have favorite drivers and teams but I agree- the cars just don't have same appeal as those from the 90s. That's just my opinion though. I will say that I'm a little tired of Lewis and Toto and the Mercs just dominating. I know these new guys are trying to make it a better show- and there seems to be more accessibility now- but watching the lead cars 40, 50 seconds ahead of the pack by mid race takes a bit out of it. I guess I'm old and I'll have to decide for myself whether I'll keep watching.

I'm hoping that the budget caps they're talking about will help. When Mercedes is spending 300-400 million euros per season for 2 cars its a bit ridiculous. Figure out a way to get the teams down to 100 employees again and we'll get back to what made F1 exciting.

I’ve only been an F1 fan since 2004 and I’m in agreement that it’s gotten boring. If Ross Brawn and the FIA can rein in the spending they might turn it around. However then Mercedes might take their ball and go home. That wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing. If just the midfield was racing, F1 would be great again. But the Big 3 are too greedy right now.

jorgeralvear wrote:I’ve only been an F1 fan since 2004 and I’m in agreement that it’s gotten boring. If Ross Brawn and the FIA can rein in the spending they might turn it around. However then Mercedes might take their ball and go home. That wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing. If just the midfield was racing, F1 would be great again. But the Big 3 are too greedy right now.

Mercedes is gone very soon I believe. I don't think they have much of a reason to stick around when they aren't dominating, so if they lose this year I wouldn't be surprised to see them take a step back as only an engine manufacturer again.

Times will change at some point. F1 has always been subject to dominance. I have become more loyal to f1 over the years and moved away from NASCAR and indycar. I am fundamentally happy with f1. NASCAR just keeps getting worse and for me, anyway indycar is making a combeback in my opionion and will pay more attention this year.

As long as f1 stays in a 2 hour format that is usually on Sunday mornings I am probably going to watch. I know that is a low benchmark but if they will give me some consistency in rules, championship and format I think I can live with the rest. I like watching my racing on Sunday morning and not being committed to a 5 hour time block or even an afternoon time block. We get a few races on this side of the Atlantic but most of the races for the U.S. are televised in the morning slot which is just perfect for my Sunday.

I also like the run and done aspect. I don’t like a race stopped short of the track blocked or something critical otherwise run the race and get it done. I prefer as a rule to not see caution flags, safety cars etc.

Back to the original point I am happy to see the year started. I don’t hang on every moment of testing because it has limited meaning. However it has a lot of meaning if your car won’t start(Williams).

Back off topic, I feel sorry for the small teams in NASCAR this year. I see they have new 1.5 mile track rules for less power with big spoilers. Sounds like a formula for a crash fest every weekend so small teams will be rebuilding twice as many cars. I think there will be a lot of complaining as the season goes because if you have a Daytona style crash scenario every weekend it is going to get expensive. I don’t plan to watch much personally, I just can’t stand where nascar has gone.

I’ll watch this season for sure. Just like all the other seasons over several decades. I was hoping the new owners would take some chances and change the rules so the cars look better. They are pretty ugly imho. But, I’m a loyal fan that’ll keep coming back.

We can all find something to dislike about F1, however you can look at any point in f1 history and find something not to like. Even going back to the so called glory days, things were not near as great in reality as they were in hindsight. Now matter how good any given race was prior to the late 1970’s you almost had to be present to see a race. Being able to watch races on a regular and predictable basis on Television is a fairly modern thing. The past is almost always better than the present if you start thinking it were the good old days.

I feel F1 is presently the best show in town on four wheels. I plan to keep watching until they ruin it by adopting nascar rules or turn it into pay per view.

For me the low point of f1 was when they did an exclusive contract in the u.s. with speed vision which a lot of cable providers did not offer so I had about a 10 year run where my only access was autoweek. If it is not available, imagine that, I won’t watch. This spanned most of the Michael Schumacher Ferrari era.

Under present rules there is a strong incentive to drive conservatively under certain circumstances and be strategic about when to go flat out. The engine rules and excessively soft tires have encouraged drivers to back way off at many races depending on circumstance to optimize their tires or engine life vs try to improve race position. I think they are going to run harder tires maybe this year but. I think a couple more engines per season would be good also. Three are too few and also two few.

cbk57 wrote:We can all find something to dislike about F1, however you can look at any point in f1 history and find something not to like. Even going back to the so called glory days, things were not near as great in reality as they were in hindsight. Now matter how good any given race was prior to the late 1970’s you almost had to be present to see a race. Being able to watch races on a regular and predictable basis on Television is a fairly modern thing. The past is almost always better than the present if you start thinking it were the good old days.

I feel F1 is presently the best show in town on four wheels. I plan to keep watching until they ruin it by adopting nascar rules or turn it into pay per view.

For me the low point of f1 was when they did an exclusive contract in the u.s. with speed vision which a lot of cable providers did not offer so I had about a 10 year run where my only access was autoweek. If it is not available, imagine that, I won’t watch. This spanned most of the Michael Schumacher Ferrari era.

Under present rules there is a strong incentive to drive conservatively under certain circumstances and be strategic about when to go flat out. The engine rules and excessively soft tires have encouraged drivers to back way off at many races depending on circumstance to optimize their tires or engine life vs try to improve race position. I think they are going to run harder tires maybe this year but. I think a couple more engines per season would be good also. Three are too few and also two few.

Agreed! To your first point, I've observed that some people tend to have a fondness for the past and a resentment for the present but may not realize those feelings have existed in some form or another in every era. I suppose it's just human nature. I'm sure there were people lamenting things like the addition of wings in the late 60's, the banning of turbos in the late 80's, and the addition of the halo in 2018. Same theme, different era.

So,

I'm back - and i've seen the 2019 cars in person.

I didn't take my full camera kit because we were too cheap to buy check in bags, so hand luggage only!

Here's some of what my Phone managed to get!



Mercedes looked clean all day, no errors from Lewis despite all of the laps he had completed.


Mclaren looking nice in the new livery.


The bargeboard detail on the Toro Rosso is really nice.


The Red Bull looked very good through the corners - However i've now seen the livery with my own eyes, the yellow and red bits are fluorescent colours! my 2018 Red Bull project could be inpacted by this as the decals I planned to use are not fluorescent.


Seb did the most laps on this day.


The silver on the Force Canada Racing Point Sport Pesa BWT India is actually closer to the 2006- 2015 Mclaren chrome. very reflective and a nice touch.


Grosejean in the Haas broke down right in front of us, we were the only two people on the Hill so he gave us a little wave!

Here's a video of the full incident.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/gUdWt3uPRjs


The Mclaren hits a cone, RIP cone.

Tyrone wrote:So,

I'm back - and i've seen the 2019 cars in person.

I didn't take my full camera kit because we were too cheap to buy check in bags, so hand luggage only!

Here's some of what my Phone managed to get!



Mercedes looked clean all day, no errors from Lewis despite all of the laps he had completed.


Mclaren looking nice in the new livery.


The bargeboard detail on the Toro Rosso is really nice.


The Red Bull looked very good through the corners - However i've now seen the livery with my own eyes, the yellow and red bits are fluorescent colours! my 2018 Red Bull project could be inpacted by this as the decals I planned to use are not fluorescent.


Seb did the most laps on this day.


The silver on the Force Canada Racing Point Sport Pesa BWT India is actually closer to the 2006- 2015 Mclaren chrome. very reflective and a nice touch.


Grosejean in the Haas broke down right in front of us, we were the only two people on the Hill so he gave us a little wave!

Here's a video of the full incident.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/gUdWt3uPRjs


The Mclaren hits a cone, RIP cone.

Despite using your phone, those are pretty good pics!

I am still excited for the new season and the new cars after following for over 30 years.

I stopped looking too much into the preseason testing times as I found that it never represented the actual pecking order during the season.

I found the same thing with the magazines. When I was moving several years ago I found my pile of Autosport. Looking through the stories a lot of them turned out not to be true. Not race report stories but gossip type stories.

I have seen rule changes and dominant teams/drivers and it will eventually swing to another driver/team. They will always play with the rules to try to make the racing closer or more exciting. Most of the efforts will fail but then again I feel a pass should be hard fought over and not happening multiple times a lap.

The aerodynamics have gone completely over my head with all the little fins and flips all over the place. It also makes modelling a current car a nightmare.

With their history I do hope Williams and McLaren do much better this year.