F1 overrated and boring?

F1 has been boring for years , sadly WRC is going the same way 😔

If only there was a way to avoid watching it….🤔

But it seems it’s interesting enough to start a thread away from the usual F1 thread to say how uninteresting it is.

I’m surprised it took until page 2 for that comment.

The drivers are just too metronomically competent at the head of the field. We need more shit driving on worn-out tyres, lunatic overtaking attempts, and a few more breakdowns or at least slow-downs at the worst possible moment. And get rid of most of the data-feeds to the engineers and race radio. I don’t want the drivers to know what the gaps are except via the pit boards.

And more fights in the gravel traps, please.

The M50 in Dublin will give you all of that, with added cows crossing.

Honestly, you could probably stick a camera on a gantry over the M62/M6 junction and get enough thrills and spills to keep me interested.

Maybe keep a herd of skittish cows on the exit from the pit lane at Silverstone?

These days I’d much rather see drivers rotate through the teams through a season, allow teams to develope the cars more between rule changes (which means higher budgets), or standardise the car specs.

I reckon separate the drivers championships and constructors. Every race lucky dip matches cars to drivers. And reverse the grid order.

If only there was a way to avoid watching it….🤔

But it seems it’s interesting enough to start a thread away from the usual F1 thread to say how

I dont watch it, I suspect quite a few posting dont as well. But I also suspect quite a few would watch if the sport was more exciting (which is obviously subjective), I guess for me at least, the interest lies in the possibility the sport would regain the excitement I remember it offering.

I’m not sure clogging up the main thread with whinging about it being a borefest will be well received by those still enjoying the sport.

Have to say, pretty clueless and uninformed post and mostly the expected clueless responses I’d expect on a cycling forum.

Tour de France is always boring to wat h when the favourite wins. Far too much waffle before and after and silly rules that nobody understands. Much better back in the day. All about having the best bike.

Football always boring to watch as Man City always win it. All about how big owners budget is, also involves silly rules and lack of transparency with decisions. Much better back in the day when Man Utd won everything. Far too much waffle going on.

Tennis, ah yes it’s utterly mind numbing as that dodgy Djokovic fella keeps winning. Again silly rules and was much better back in the day with Sampras winning everything.

Cricket… that’s just glorified rounders innit, with added silly rules.

Rallying, again ridiculous rules, all about the car and tyres, and obv not really a sport at all. Much better back in the day when Tommi Makinen was unbeatable.

I dont watch it, I suspect quite a few posting dont as well

How do you know it’s boring if you don’t watch it 🤷‍♂️

Isnt that all just hob-nobbing  on corporate expense accounts though?

This is a pretty ill informed comment too, tbf…..nearly half a million people go to Silverstone over the course of the British GP weekend…..do you really think they’re all on expense accounts?

How do you know it’s boring if you don’t watch it

Youre right there may have been a dramatic turnaround this year. But last year Verstappen won 86.36% of of races, I’m not interested when there’s that level of dominance.

Who is leading the championship this year? How many different winners have there been?

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It is equally as boring working in f1 i can assure you.

I think it’s interesting from a scientific perspective, it’s cutting edge tech in terms of engineering, aero etc.

Not that fun to watch though unless someone has a big spill.

F1 has been boring for years , sadly WRC is going the same way

My first and only F1 hero was Jim Clark.

Group 4 was the pinnacle of rallying and the RAC Rally lasted 5 days (and nights).

Yes I really am that old.

Give F2/F3 a go. It’s not as fast as F1, but as the drivers are younger and less risk averse, there’s more daft moves/big crashes/death and injury. Which is all some of you seem to want.

It’s demise accelerated when they introduced DRS and the hybrid engines.  DRS is an utter joke.  Pathetic attempt at manufacturing overtaking.  As for the engines, they’re awful.  The old v8 and V10s (and the V12s) were always spectacular even if the racing was a bit dull.

Even as a kid I never understood the fascination with F1.

Really don’t care how many Gs drivers have to endure in a turn.

Rally seems like more of a test of driver skill.

They should bring back something like the Can-Am series. Very few rules or limits.

Now I know where the Wacky Racer cartoon got its ideas.

it’s cutting edge tech in terms of engineering, aero etc.

It’s not…. It’s cutting edge within the confines of the rules and regulations.

Like I said above, bring back a Can-Am type series. Then you’ll see real cutting edge engineering.

Rally seems like more of a test of driver skill.

Kind of agree, but not on driver skill, different skillset for a different sport…WRC is much more interesting, from a spectator point of view, as there’s just more stuff happening, visually.

It’s not…. It’s cutting edge within the confines of the rules and regulations.

Which are there, in the main, to make sure we have the same number of drivers finish the season, as start it.

a 2000hp, fan assisted, active aero/suspension equipped monster would be incredible, but would kill anyone that tried to drive it fast. (Along with anyone unfortunate enough to be in its way when it crashed)

Redbull did a project in Gran Turismo, a restriction free racing car, then had Vettel try and lap the Nurburgring GP track with it, he couldn’t keep it on the track (I know it’s a sim, but still)

Touring car was where it was at, Volvo estates, Laguna’s and other car shapes you could recognise from the real world all leaning on each other through the corners, without worrying a wheel was going to fall off. Proper elbows out racing.

F1 has always been tedious.

” We need more shit driving on worn-out tyres”

I could just stream my dashcam if you want that kind of thing

BTCC can be a great thing to go and see especially at a circuit like Knockhill up until 4 wheel drive Audi or Seat diesels had their day. The TWR Volvo estates ,BMW M3, Ford Mondeos were all great to watch and their sound but can’t come anywhere near watching a F1 cornering standing eye level at Silverstone

The technological feats that F1 achieve are staggering, what the cars and drivers do defy comprehension. And that’s the rub, it’s so otherworldly that unless you are fortunate enough to get that view at that moment it’s lost through watching it on a screen. It’s impossible to relate too. The tracks and cars have no real world reference points to convey how incredible they are. But that’s not racing, it’s a demonstration of how technologically fantastic they are.

With a touring car, it’s the right shape and size, it still had a real world scale to it, it was relatable and so much more tangable. Add to that the ability to lean on each others doors three abreast through corners and it was magical and took your breath away.

a 2000hp, fan assisted, active aero/suspension equipped monster would be incredible, but would kill anyone that tried to drive it fast. (Along with anyone unfortunate enough to be in its way when it crashed)

Yeah, but I, and many others would watch that! Who doesn’t like watching cars crash?

Used to go to Arena Essex as a kid and used to sit up on the banks with a couple of mates when we were older. That was great fun!

It’s just traffic.

Who doesn’t like watching cars crash?

Into crowds of fans/marshalls? I’ll pass, thanks.

Interesting thread with comments on many sports.

The fact is though that the people doing all these sports are incredibly talented and make it look easy.

F1s downfall imo is that the technology has made it dull as the cars are so highly developed that a driver can’t make much difference.

Im sure they are already at a point where a computer can lap a track quicker than a human. Not sure they can do that in a rally car yet ?

Rallying has got more dull to watch though in recent years with increased downforce and very trick differentials etc. I’d rather watch 1970/80/90s rally cars than the latest ones!

F1s downfall imo is that the technology has made it dull as the cars are so highly developed that a driver can’t make much difference.

The technology has made it look dull to the casual observer, to use F1 as an example… the amount of sheer concentration 100% of the time, just to be competetive, requires a certain high skill, but that goes for any sport I guess, but F1 races last a long time, so there’s a mental endurance test in there as well as having a good car.

Apart from onboard camera work the IOM TT is fairly dull to watch & doesn’t involve much if any overtaking* but it’s great fun to be there in person, I imagine a F1 event is much the same.

* I do know why

On the subject of elite sport, I found it quite amusing that the Oxford V’s cambridge boat race competitors were warned to try not to get into the water on account of the high levels of pollution and disease in the river.

What I like about F1 is the politics.

Sainz knocked out of his seat, had appendicitis, returns dicks all over their “number 1” driver. Danny Ricardo returns to do here haw… Tsunoda the number two dicks all over him.

I don’t think it’s that bad. Rallye on the other hand. So boring, like downhill mountain biking and time trials, so boring, shouldn’t have to watch the times to see who is winning. Hard pass.

After the first corner F1 is often pretty boring, these days I only watch recorded highlights anyway and even then I fast forward through large chunks of it (and sometimes don’t bother if I hear the result first). For me it was a bit more watchable when Brits have been in winning cars as was slightly more invested.

What they should do, as a demonstration of AI, is have a fast car driven as around as a drone, with a computer driver, hogging the best line.
Remember TCR, the poor relation to Scalectrix. That, but in real life.
That’d be awesome. 👍

Into crowds of fans/marshalls? I’ll pass, thanks.

I suspect there are ways that are just as safe as today’s safety standards have raised the sport too, but allows unpredictability of results into the equation.

It doesn’t have to be a binary choice of “dominant car and driver travels the world winning the majority of races” or “mass death”.

What I like about F1 is the politics.

Probably indicative of the difference between those into the sport and myself, who apart from the few years between Schumacher’s dominance and Hamiltons, hasn’t really watched the racing. And not just the politics, but also the technological developments, circuits and so on. Whereas I just wanted to watch people go really ******* fast and not know in advance who was going to win the championship, or even the race in question a lot of the time.

It’s all subjective.

Someone said once, can’t remember who ‘F1 is high speed chess’.

It’s an endurance race, like any endurance race it’s going to lack thrills and spills.
It’s changed in recent years with Netflix and overhyped, I can see why people would be disappointed when they actually watch a race.
There’s almost always been a dominant team, it’s just extra dull if there’s a clear number 1, like the Schumacher Ferrari era and now the Verstappen RedBull era.
To some extent Mercedes dominance was Dull, but Ferrari put up a fight and the Rosberg/Hamilton fight kept it interesting.

Im sure they are already at a point where a computer can lap a track quicker than a human. Not sure they can do that in a rally car yet ?

You’d be wrong then – there was the Roboracer attempt a few years back, and a new autonomous series kicks off in Abu Dhabi later this month. Expect slow times, many failures and strange car behaviour.

On the other hand I reckon you could build a machine to play darts pretty well – but plenty of people still seem to get excited about watching it.