Quote:
Originally Posted by davyboy
I'd be very interested in how others saw things this past weekend. I'm particularly interested in the views of younger enthusiasts as they're the demographic F1 is completely failing to appeal to... so if you're under 30 when you comment on this and feel OK about letting us know, please do.
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I'm 20 so I'll add my tuppence to this.
The problem with Formula One, I think, is that the cars just aren't doing anything new. My main passion is endurance racing and so immediately, the 'hybrid' technology doesn't seem new or exciting to me - in fact, quite the opposite. In the WEC, most of the intrigue comes from watching three very different answers to the same question and the different characteristics which come with that. I find it hard to get excited about the differences between three different types of 1.6L V6s, all of which harvest energy in precisely the same manner. So I've not bought into the what the new rules are trying to do from Day One - they just smack of "you WILL be innovative, and here's the strict list of rules to help you with that".
When I say the cars aren't doing anything new, I'm talking about a much wider issue. When you watch the Goodwood Revival, it's fantastic watching the variety, despite the fact that the whole weekend covers a period which barely spans across four decades. The pre-War cars look drastically different to the 50s cars, which in turn look drastically different to the rear-engine 60s cars which succeeded them. There is also a spectacular difference in speed from one era to the next, as clear as day to the naked eye. That's because the development of the racing car was rapid - each season, manufacturers and designers brought something new, exciting and unprecedented to the table. That is not to say that the machine was more important than the man - quite the opposite. The machinery the drivers were risking their lives to race were so new and exciting, the drivers appeared to be super-human and became heroes.
That is what captured people's imagination.
The ICE and the current chassis regulations are right at the end of their development curve now and teams are spending millions on the tiniest of gains. The cars don't look significantly different to the untrained eye from those of the mid-90s (let alone each other), and they're not significantly faster - in fact, they're a fair bit slower than they were a decade ago. For 20 years now, the cars have essentially been the same - no wonder people are losing interest, and that's despite it being arguably the most intriguing WDC in my lifetime. At Goodwood, it would be dangerous to have a race with 40s and 60s F1 cars because of the speed differentials, whereas a well set-up late 90s F1 car wouldn't look out of place in a historic 2010s F1 race.
That is why Formula E is exciting. The cars are slow, the technology is basic and grossly underdeveloped, and if the manufacturers show enough interest we'll see the most rapid development of the motor car in top-level motorsport since the arrival of winged F1 cars.
I'm loving this season as an enthusiast, but when the championship is fought in cars which look 20 years old to the casual fan, on rubbish tires, in completely proven technology, it is little wonder that the powers that be are starting to get nervous about relevance...