Thinking about turning in my F1 fan badge.

[J.McClane]

I have been watching F1 for years, since i were a nipper. Never really understood it back then, but i grew up with F1 and became a huge fan of the sport.

But over the last few years i have personaly found F1 to be a great dissapointment and really very boring. What has happend to the racing? Its more like watching a traffic jam go round and round in circles.

Last season was pretty much it for me, the worst season in F1. So i have decided to give it one last chance with these new rules, see if they help in any way. If this season turns out to be really dull and nothing new comes of these rules then i will have to find something else to do with my Sunday afternoons. Something that does not send me to sleep.

[Lee Janotta]

Welcome to the club. At least we've still got Champcars. For now.

[Mr V]

J.Mc, i think that if after all the changes in F1 this year, we see a repeat of last year, then there will be many fans doing likewise!

[Down F0rce]

I too have oftern thought "why do I bother watching this?" and thought about giving it up. But i just can't, its been part of my life too long now (nine years) to just quit. I think there is still life in the old dog yet, we my be entering in F1 final years but i'm dead certian that it can offer us some good racing yet.

I've also been watching Indycars and Champcars a lot. Some good alternatives there.

[Liz]

I turned mine in when Prost retired and Senna died, but have watched since then the way you can't stop watching a train wreck. Except for Jacques' championshp, its been a steady march down the drain. I have stopped watching until TGF retires, but plan to read the summaries to see if the new rules improve anything.

I did see Max on tv last night telling Sir Frank and Uncle Ron to shut up and drive. And Bernie saying that "We have to think of the fans." So there's obviously division about Da Vision.

[frederick]

I have been watching F1 since the early 80's, when Ch9 in australia started to telecast them regularly in response to Jonesy's success,

I can remember the Turbo era, no re-fuelling allowed, when the last ten laps were an economy run with no-one trying very hard......Yawn!

I can remember Prost and Lauda making the rest look like amateurs for something like 3 seasons, caught up on a lot of sleep during those years

whenever i get despondent about F1 i also remember a sight that will live with me for ever....Rosberg in a normally aspirated Williams at Spa, exiting La Source 100 metres behind a Turbo Alfa and being right on its gearbox by the time he got to the top of Eau Rouge,lap after lap, absolutely flat through Eau Rouge(the old narrow one), pure commitment to a hopeless cause and brilliant to see.

I also recall him winning Monaco that year, from Pole, after a damp practise and Qualifying, never will see car control like that again, until they switch off TC

and i can recall being enthralled throughout the golden years of the late eighties and early nineties with Prost, Mansell, Senna and Piquet going at it

Yes it's true that last year was the F****g pits and that its been a one man show since Mika retired but when you put it in the perspective of the last 22 years, and you can fall back on memories of the good times, you realise that F1 is prone to these Ups and Downs........be patient, it'll come back to us

[RWC]

No you wont see that stuff again when they turn off TC.
It's allmost entirely to do with aerodynamics,they just don't work as good going sideways.

[Lee Janotta]

Well, it's not so much Mika who was making it interesting... The narrow track cars and grooved tires are just stupid and ruin the racing (too damn hard to build a good car/tire package relative to '97!). Plus they're just plain ugly. Bernie, Max, M$, yeah, they've all done their bits to destroy F1, but it's Rory Byrne and Adrian Newey who, just by doing the job their paid to, to the utmost of their ability, have almost totally removed the driver's influence on the outcome of the championship. The two of them are just _so_ far ahead of any other designers... One of the two has designed the championship-winning car for the last 11 seasons (starting in the '92 with Newey's FW14).

So maybe there's hope if they both retire.

[Daiboy]

I have been a fan since 88 whaen Mclaren dominated the championship. I supported Mansell in those days..i was only 8 years old and grew bored of the Success one team had. As i got into the sport more i appreciated the achievements of Prost, Mansell, Piquet and The great Senna, and it was only during '93 i fully understood the passion and skill Senna brought to motorsport. 94 was heartbreaking, and only due to Damon Hill's efforts i remained a fan, at least he made it interesting and at times humourous. The following few seasons werent good for the quality of drivers, but good for the number of Brit's who competed and of course we still had Alesi. And then it was Ferraris turn for domination...alas just as when i was young... the success of one team is boring unless your MS, the unnessasary use of silly team orders only adds to my frustration and it is with great relief that The FIA has tried to spice things up a bit. I dont care who wins anymore, there are not enough personalities to entice the fans at the moment, and i dont care which 'manufacturer' wins (never have done). all i want to see is 20 guys racing each other,i want to see some completley mess it up in qualyfying, i want to see team mates taking each other out because they want it so bad, because they didnt dream of becoming F1 drivers to hold position, until some bloke on the radio tells them how to drive. Maybe i want too much......? but if F1 wants me........

[JR27]

I've been a fan since I went to Mosport Park for the 1972 Canadian GP ( I was 25 yrs. old way back then....'sigh) Over the past 30 years..from the age of the "kit cars", the "Turbo Years", 3.5 litres, and the age of the manufacturers that we are going through now.... there have been some great seasons and some that were not so great. Each year, heck each race for that matter, presents a whole new series of challenges & problems for the various teams/drivers to attempt to solve....I look forward to each race weekend to see just how succesfull they were. I took my kids when they were very little to Watkins Glen in the 70's (they loved the whole atmosphere and they still remember that Friday October 5, 1979 when Gilles dazzeled the world, to Montreal & Detroit in the 80's when they were teenagers....and now my grandsons Aiden & JR are being indoctrinated at a very early age (got 'em both the Mac and Lauren books for their grandpap to read to them on his visits).....looking forward to when I can take'em to their first USGP.... Us Murphy's are keeping our F1 fan badges.......

Murph

[J.McClane]

F1 will never disapear from my life all together, i just won't follow it like i used to.

I'll probaly just stick to the highlights, or see the result on the news. Instead of going out of my way to watch the qualifs and every race live.

I'll have to do something more constructive with my Sundays.....like going the pub.

[chrisgr31]

Must admit it is all a bit boring, especially when you have to watch the terrestial TV feed, which will concentrate usually on the frontrunners, on the local driver.

I want to watch a race where there is a chance someone else may win. I don't want to watch a race and then find the lead driver pulls over, to let the car behind through.

The interesting question is at the moment circuits pay to host a race, their income appears to come from ticket sales, and food sales. If the boring races continue presuably there will be less people in through the gate, less money for the circuit, so no race?

[NiceGuyEddie]

1992 was very boring to me. Never really was a Mansell-fan, nor a Williams-fan. I am however a Ferrarifan, yet 2002 was boring to me as well. Any sport faces the threat of someone getting it better then everybody else. In 1992, Williams managed that with active-suspension, in 2002 Ferrari managed it by putting all teameffort, including Rubens', in the F2002/Brawn/Byrne/Todt/Schumacher-package. Great for success, terrible for the sport. But hey, Ferrari is in it for the win, not for the entertainment.

Ten or fifteen years ago, it was better. It was down to racing on the best tracks in the world, all over the world. No politics, no PR, no backgrid-teams begging for money, no tabacco-issues, when Ferrari was still Ferrari and the best driver wore a yellow helmet.

[ASCII Man]

I thought that the active suspension was only used in 1993?

[Mr V]

Originally posted by ®îjñtjûh
I thought that the active suspension was only used in 1993?

No, it was decided in december 1991 that active suspension would be used for the 1992 FW14.

I am a mind of useless information

[OVERSTEER]

Active Suspension was first used I believe by Lotus in 81 and 87 and by Williams in late 87 and early 88, corrrect me if i'm wrong.

[Mattracer]

I've watched F1 since about '84 and have been a fan of Senna since he started in F1- when he died, I still kept watching but I don't sit on the edge of my chair, I don't get totally immersed in it anymore. It's just not that interesting without Senna, Mansell, Prost, Rosberg, Piquet Berger et al.

I'm not sure if it's the bland personalities or the the blandness of the specs, race formats or a combination of it all.

I'll always watch- I love motor racing so I watch F1, but the spark isn't the same there anymore, unfortunately. At least we've got Kimi and JPM who are young, very good and in good teams. They are the future pillars of the sport.

[Mr V]

Originally posted by Mattracer
At least we've got Kimi and JPM who are young, very good and in good teams. They are the future pillars of the sport.

I agree, F1 could have a bright future with the likes of JPM, Kimi, Massa and Sato to name a few, all these guys have a very exciting style, getting the cars sideways etc (and thats with TC!! ). Gilles is renounded as F1's favourite son due to his passion and driving style, we're still talking about him 20 years after his death, the guys i mentioned all have that "balls out" style, given equal machinery, im sure that F1 could be totally exciting again!

[Jay]

I turned in my F1 Fan badge sometime last year, although it had fallen off sometime in 1998 I used to get excited about Grand Prix...can't say that anymore. It's just a bore.

I think the last real year of F1 was 1997. It died with the grooved tires, narrower chassis and eventually traction control. Let's see I can remember Williams, Ferrari, Benneton, McLaren, Prost, Arrows and possibly others all led races legitimately (not because of pitstops) in 1997... I know, it's hard to believe it ever happened...

Now I mostly follow Champcars and FAtlantic. Also, I can also meet and talk to those drivers which makes it more fun to watch.

[DNQ]

Originally posted by J.McClane
I have been watching F1 for years, since i were a nipper. Never really understood it back then, but i grew up with F1 and became a huge fan of the sport.

But over the last few years i have personaly found F1 to be a great dissapointment and really very boring. What has happend to the racing? Its more like watching a traffic jam go round and round in circles.

Last season was pretty much it for me, the worst season in F1. So i have decided to give it one last chance with these new rules, see if they help in any way. If this season turns out to be really dull and nothing new comes of these rules then i will have to find something else to do with my Sunday afternoons. Something that does not send me to sleep.

I too have lost a lot of interest. There was a time I'd stay up to some godly hour to catch every second of every race. Last year, for the first time ever, I found myself taping races, usually fast foward through them...

Sad that I can watch a whole race in 3mins and miss nothing

This year will be better. But will it be better enough?

[downforce]

"I have stopped watching until TGF retires, but plan to read the summaries to see if the new rules improve anything." Liz

Lol!

I just have to login to ten-tenths to find out what Michael's been upto race after race....from Liz's posts!!

[f1manoz]

A quick advertisement:

WATCH MOTOGP

Hey, Rossi may have dominated last year but there were many extenuating circumstances. This year will prove to be one of the best on record.

And at least there is RACING and PASSING.

[z2252314]

I dont get it, I hate Champcars and all the other garbage that comes out of the states but I dont go whinge about how **** their racing is on their websites. Its quite funny how most of the people who are here claiming to not watch the races are the first ones here giving their opinions after a race.

[av8rirl]

MotoGP, NASCAR and CART (before dwindling grids) for me thanks. I too am giving F1 one last shot.

Being a fan of F1 since around '84, I've found that since around '97, its got progressively worse. I suppose it started on the slippery slope on May 1, 1994.

I was a TGF fan for a while until he started the "NO 1" thing and "the team revolves about me". Still you have to hand it to him for what he's achieved.

The whole personality of the drivers who daren't say anything controversial (come back Eddie, all is forgiven).

Kimi you can drive, but get a personality.

Drivers afraid to race on the track because "they're saving their engines".

The ruination of the tracks with chicanes, slow corners, etc... We need more tracks where having a set of balls counts for something. And Yes, everyone knows its a dangerous sport. Why not modify the runoffs to suit the tracks instead of modifying the tracks to suit the runoffs?

All in all, I think its down to the more PC world (and maybe not just F1). I don't smoke, never have never will, but why ban the smke advertising??? If people want to kill themselves, give them a place to smoke, and let them smoke their brains out without affecting others!

Looks like we're headed for a place like San Angeles in the Stallone & Snipes movie "Demolition Man" or the Tom Cruise movie "Minority Report".

I for one, can wait.

[J.McClane]

JPM is the only thing i see interesting in F1 anymore, well him and the pit girls.