Apparantly if he keeps winning, F1 will lose its fans, not sure why though.

http://www.givemesport.com/395380-sebastien-vettel-is-he-bad-for-f1

Would you watch a football/rugby/cricket match if you knew, with reasonable certainty, the winner?

Doesn’t stop me watching a NZ game.

I’m waiting for the thread based on the small market town in Yorkshire…

Any period of domination by one team/competitor is bad for the fan interest in a sport. Whether that means it’s bad for the sport is another thing.

thought it was about something else too – wasteful packaging and contents taste the same and pretty much free out of taps..

In answer to the OP, that 1 finger salute along with the way he screams “yes, yes, yes, that’s what I’m talking about!” repeatedly when he wins is what makes him terrible for me.

With regard to the dominance of Vettel/Red Bull, that doesn’t bother me as much as all the other nonsense around conserving fuel, mincing around on tyres that will only last a few laps, drivers not being able to overtake on track because there will be a ‘better’ opportunity when they come into the pits to leap frog the person they are trying to overtake.
And a lot of the tracks don’t help. Places like Monaco are impossible to overtake on, even though they are supposed to be the highlight of the calendar and then you have other places with tons of run-off (smooth tarmac, not gravel) so there is little consequence to a driver’s actions. Obviously the racing should be safe as possible, but some of the drivers try stupid manoeuvres safe in the knowledge that if they don’t work, there is hundreds of feet of tarmac to use and get back on the track, rather than 6″ deep gravel that they will get stranded in.
Oh, and safety cars……people work really hard to build up a gap and then the safety car comes out and bunches them all back up so any strategy goes out of the window. They all have GPS, so why not have a system where they can still circulate the track but are held in position, give or take a certain amount of allow for all that tyre heating shenanigans….

clubber – Member

Any period of domination by one team/competitor is bad for the fan interest in a sport.

Apart from when the fans realise they are witnessing something special. E.g. Ricky Carmichael doing perfect MX seasons

Do. It.

it’s true. Sampras completely ruined tennis for me.

OK legend but I expect that people watching MX are a much narrower and specific audience than mainstream sports. And I’ll bet that even there, people get bored of it eventually unless the actual competition in itself is spectacular enough that it doesn’t matter if the competition is lacking.

Do. It.

He he, I was tempted but don’t know enough about the town to do it justice 🙂

Is it like when Ricky Bobby was winning all the time at Nascar?*

*have avoided F1 Snoring for some time now.

there is also the nicking of the win over Webber didnt do his image any good

Yep, Ricky Bobby was a true legend and great to watch, you never knew whether he’d win the race or run round in his underpants……

Look at WRC….

OK legend but I expect that people watching MX are a much narrower and specific audience than mainstream sports. And I’ll bet that even there, people get bored of it eventually unless the actual competition in itself is spectacular enough that it doesn’t matter if the competition is lacking.

I think that’s a fair observation – in fairness to legend though, watching his perfect seasons WAS incredible, just the scale of the achievement was immense, every bit as unlikely as someone winning every F1 GP. By the end of the year you were cheering him on no matter how bored you were of seeing him crush everyone. 🙂

On reflection, it’s also in the nature of the beast – watching RC or Stewart pinned on a 2 stroke is entertainment in itself, so even if they were miles in front they were worth watching. F1 requires such precision that watching one car on it’s own isn’t that much fun – if Vettel was driving with the tyre-smoking brio technology favoured in the seventies, say, his relentless runaway wins would be more entertaining than they currently are.

S’funny this.

Anyone remember the domination of Rossi in MotoGP a few years back, then Stoner..
That too got a little samey but still I watched, Rossi on form is a sight to behold, so too Stoner.

But F1 has always left me cold never mind the drivers ability, it’s the way it’s run and the format they adopt. Some keep asking for a return to the 70’s/80’s style cars and no holes barred racing but thats in the past. All this nonsence about Kirs/Kers/Kirsch and whatnot is playing with what is a simple format.

Fastest car & fastest driver wins. Vettel can knock em’ out day in day out, pretty good IMO, shame he’s taking the Jibes and finger wagging..

One of if not the best driver in the world, haters gonna hate 😉

I hope he dominates this season too.

F1 is different from other sports in that you can’t marvel at the sheer brilliance of man and machine in perfect harmony in the same way you can watching the all blacks or Barcelona dominating an opponent. It needs the competition / uncertainty, otherwise, it’s, frankly, dull. I say that as a massive f1 fan.

Great car ,good driver

Marc Marquez for domination?..

Vettel’s a top driver. Cant deny it. Still a nob.

MY winning new formula for F1….

Flip a coin at the end of qualifying, and get the man in pole to call. If he gets it wrong, run the grid in reverse. 8)

Multi 21!

This season should hopefully be a bit better with the new regs

I’m not that fussed who wins but the format needs a proper shake-up IMO

Drop the flimsy fragile crap they drive round in now and use enclosed bodies, minimum roof heights and cockpit widths – so a proper sized person can fit in.
Weight of driver plus seat should be a proper amount, maybe 85-90kg – if you’re too light, your seat has to be heavier (and not all at the base)
Sure, high power engines and KERS etc but ban tyre stops, or at least enforce a minimum duration for pitstops that is punitive and prevents the ludicrous pit-lane “overtakes” that currently happen

err, IMO

(or flip a coin as tthew suggests – probably unworkable but I’d like to see drivers changing cars every round so we get to see if Vettel’s really the best)

I like Vettel. I like that he gets excited when he wins. I feel he’s (or at least he on behalf of his team and himself) earnt the right to hold up the number one finger when he wins (and is it any worse than Cavendish holding the number of stage victories up when he wins?).

Have tyres that easily last the race even when you’re following someone, not quite enough fuel to last a full race on full boost (but almost), and an aero design that creates a fuel saving slipstream being mandated. Thus trying to be at the front all race would probably not be the best idea. Thus overtaking would be necessary. But maybe, just maybe if you could get a second or so gap and turn the wick up early you might get away, build a gap and try to stay out as the peloton closes. It could turn F1 into a motorised version of cycle stage racing or maybe velo track sprinting – but at least the fireworks would be set the end.

PS Vettel should just have told everyone that the reason he overtook Webber is because it’s a race and they were racing. Confusing for most F1 fans but technically true. And it’s not like there wasn’t previous on both sides.

Why is Vettel so terrible?
Let’s see, he got lucky and spoon fed like a spoilt brat.
He’s generally not very likeable (not his fault).
Thinks he’s bigger than the team.
His celebrations are awful. Though the doughnuts are a nice attempt to please crowds.
Multi-21.
Brazil GP he coulda slowed and let Webber win. How popular would he be for doing that? Loads. But he didn’t cos he’s awful.
Hamilton and Alonso are better drivers.