I think I'm done with F1

[Graz]

I've been a fan for 35 years. Now I don't have rose tinted glasses on so I'm not going down the 'it were better in ma day' route but the way F1 is going is turning me right off. The hold of CVC, the driving out of the smaller teams in order to be able to move to three car and customer teams for the big guns, the increasing craziness of Ecclestone's decisions, the increased alienation of fans...I could go on.

Horner spouting out of him (in his usual one-eyed fashion) on the BBC website yesterday is a case in point. A few days ago, he was telling the small teams to stop carping about the costs and keep discussions in house - which is what they were doing but the Red Bulls of this world were not listening. Yesterday he was on saying that F1 should revert to the V8's because of the cost of the new engines and it's driving the small teams out of business....make your mind up there Christian.

We all know what Horner is really saying is that Red Bull's engine is crap and he wants to be able to spec it up to the Mercs but isn’t being let. But it's very convenient for him to play the 'cost' and 'forcing small teams out' card when it suits him. If he stood back and listened to himself he’d realise how stupid he must think we all are.

For years, motorsport and F1 in particular has become more and more about greed and business than sport and it's at the point now that for me at least, it's not worth watching anymore. I can’t enjoy it with all the other stuff going on.

Surely there is enough money for everybody to not only survive but compete - if the pot was shared equitably. How F1 can have only certain teams dictate the technical regs and money splits and other teams are frozen out is beyond me.

The 100 year deal between Ecclestone and Mosely was a disgrace and surely should have been at the time and still should be investigated? It doesn’t look like an arms-length transaction and it’s led to the ruination of F1 that we’re seeing now.

I'm not going to get into the 'this that and the other should be done' argument. All I'll say is, CVC, Ecclestone and some teams being more equal than others is not good.

I'll watch the last race and the anarchist in me wants to see Rosberg win the title with the help of the double points. Hamilton probably is more deserving of the title but F1 is getting everything wrong these days that a good shot in the foot would be quite amusing.

Following the last race this year and the cold turkey of the off season, I plan on not watching or actively keeping abreast of F1 anymore. Thankfully there is a rich history to our sport which I will indulge in more.

[Pontlieue]

I'm probably done with it as well. I have been following F1 for 15 years now, and I'm now 19, so I followed it for almost my entire life. But over the last few years, the direction for which the sport was heading has become increasingly frustrating. The cars are ugly, the technical regulations are a mess, the sporting regulations even more, the distribution of F1's income has brought half of the teams close to collapsing.

Thankfully there are still other forms of motorsport, like sportscar racing and IndyCars.

[spider]

Fact is, until audiences slide off so dramatically it'll force change, you've just got to ride out the nonsense that is the sport at the moment. The Nico / Lewis saga has just about kept the masses engaged. Though I'm not fussed if I miss a race any more - meh.

I'm afraid we've just got to wait until new faces are in charge at the top. They will be one day. So just hanging tight.

[Born Racer]

For me, the rot hasn't set in. I think I'm enjoying the racing far, far more than in the last decade, but the lack of free-to-air broadcasting was a major mistake with wide ramifications.

The double points at the last race is ridiculous, clearly. If Hamilton finishes 3rd to Rosberg's win in Abu Dhabi, he's runner-up.

[Graz]

Originally Posted by Pontlieue

I'm probably done with it as well. I have been following F1 for 15 years now, and I'm now 19, so I followed it for almost my entire life. But over the last few years, the direction for which the sport was heading has become increasingly frustrating. The cars are ugly, the technical regulations are a mess, the sporting regulations even more, the distribution of F1's income has brought half of the teams close to collapsing.

Thankfully there are still other forms of motorsport, like sportscar racing and IndyCars.

Problem is, the new person after Ecclestone could well be mini-me-Horner...

[bella]

if bernie has any say at all in who follows him, then i'd say horner is unlikely.

for me it's not so much that f1 is done, it's more that it has slipped down my list of important things to pay attention to. that's a combination of telly options, changes in lifestyle and spare time, and finding other series far more absorbing and easier to get into. essentially, there's still cars going around a track racing each other to the finish, and that i can't ignore for too long

[steve_r]

Having sat through the mind-numbingly boring period int eh late 90's and early 00's when Schumacher dominated, his teammates were not allowed to challenge him, and the only overtaking occurred in the pits, I am no way going to walk away now. The on-track action is enjoyable, to me at least.

Having said that, Horner's contradicting bull-ship statements that the OP picked up on merely go to demonstrate the looking after no.1 attitude of the big teams that has led us into this financial mess in the first place. Perhaps ginger spice will talk some sense into him.

[Paradise City]

Originally Posted by Graz

I'll watch the last race and the anarchist in me wants to see Rosberg win the title with the help of the double points.

Whenever the pundits piously say that they hope the title doesn't come down to the double points thing - my face erupts into a sly grin.

I'm not done with F1. But I don't watch qualifying, don't watch the punditry and F1 itself has tumbled down the priority list. DRS did it for me - I just hate that stuff.

[Graz]

Originally Posted by steve_r

Having sat through the mind-numbingly boring period int eh late 90's and early 00's when Schumacher dominated, his teammates were not allowed to challenge him, and the only overtaking occurred in the pits, I am no way going to walk away now. The on-track action is enjoyable, to me at least.

Fair point. That period ground me down, now I've snapped!

[old man]

As a septuagenarian enthusiast this whole F1 thing is just a part of the scene that I enjoy along with many other parts of motor sport. In the last 12 months I have been to F1, Sports/GT, Historic meetings, Club events, Kart races and BRISCA stock cars and enjoyed them all. I like cars. I have worked with them, raced them, bought and sold them, built them and have in one way or another been involved all my life.

We have seen F1 built into what Joe Public thinks is Motor Racing, he sees nothing else because it sucks up money, TV time, Magazine space, Newspaper interest and leaves the rest out in the cold. If you had told me in the 50's how F1 would be what it is today I would not have believed you but it is what it is. The big teams think it is too big to fail but I am quite certain they are wrong, it is a bubble that can burst, a house of cards (chose your analogy) and perhaps that is what should happen, sad though it will be for the thousands that now work in it but quite seriously, employing 1300 people to run two cars 19/20 times a year is ridiculous and will stop if the team is beaten regularly.

We can do without it, motor sport will carry on and something will fill the hole that it will leave. I will miss it but I can watch something else and see if Lewis or Nico or Sebastien can cut it in Touring cars, sportscars, or rallying, it would not be the end of my interest

The amazing thing just now is the silence from the FIA who should be leading the way. Perhaps they want it to collapse into a lawyer fest of broken contracts so they can get out of that 100 year deal and start again, who knows?

What is needed is some common sense, customer teams to fill the grids and bring in new blood but Bernie, his lawyers and the big teams may not let that happen

I am an incurable enthusiast fascinated by the mess F1 has created for itself, and as I said , just love cars!

[VIVA GT]

Originally Posted by old man

As a septuagenarian enthusiast this whole F1 thing is just a part of the scene that I enjoy along with many other parts of motor sport. In the last 12 months I have been to F1, Sports/GT, Historic meetings, Club events, Kart races and BRISCA stock cars and enjoyed them all. I like cars. I have worked with them, raced them, bought and sold them, built them and have in one way or another been involved all my life.

We have seen F1 built into what Joe Public thinks is Motor Racing, he sees nothing else because it sucks up money, TV time, Magazine space, Newspaper interest and leaves the rest out in the cold. If you had told me in the 50's how F1 would be what it is today I would not have believed you but it is what it is. The big teams think it is too big to fail but I am quite certain they are wrong, it is a bubble that can burst, a house of cards (chose your analogy) and perhaps that is what should happen, sad though it will be for the thousands that now work in it but quite seriously, employing 1300 people to run two cars 19/20 times a year is ridiculous and will stop if the team is beaten regularly.

We can do without it, motor sport will carry on and something will fill the hole that it will leave. I will miss it but I can watch something else and see if Lewis or Nico or Sebastien can cut it in Touring cars, sportscars, or rallying, it would not be the end of my interest

The amazing thing just now is the silence from the FIA who should be leading the way. Perhaps they want it to collapse into a lawyer fest of broken contracts so they can get out of that 100 year deal and start again, who knows?

What is needed is some common sense, customer teams to fill the grids and bring in new blood but Bernie, his lawyers and the big teams may not let that happen

I am an incurable enthusiast fascinated by the mess F1 has created for itself, and as I said , just love cars!

Well put old man. I've trying to word what I would say to add my comments to this thread.
I'm (only slightly) younger than you but agree completely with what you've said, thank you for saving me the trouble!

[Gingers4Justice]

Agreed old man! F1's increase in popularity has been rather predatory; CVC's gain has been the rest of motor sport's pain. If any good is going to come of this crisis, it's going to be the rise in profile of other series and other areas of motor sport. It would be brilliant, for example, if Motors TV got a few more viewers from folk otherwise focused on F1 and F1 only.

I'm only 20 so that's the only world I've ever known, and I'm perfectly happy. I understand the rest of motor sport is basically left for the anoraks. But it does feel frustrating that the WEC round at Silverstone is so poorly attended - those priced out of the GP, if only they knew what was out there instead!

The reality will more likely be that many casual F1 fans will just give up on motor sport altogether.

I wonder what future motor sport historians will make of what's going on now. Certainly, there'll be large chapters devoted to it...

[VIVA GT]

I think that one possible reason for the decline in interest of ALL forms of Motor-Sport is a fundamental change in the attitude of younger people today, compared with 'when I was a lad!'
When I was a little boy, (in the late 1950's - 1960's) I was totally obsessed with cars could recognise and name every single vehicle I saw on the road. This interest in cars was what led me to become interested in car racing.
Maybe this interest/attitude was fuelled by my father, as although cars had been around for a long time by then, they were still a relative novelty/luxury for the normal working man? With his engineering background he also took a more technical interest in the things, which also spilled over into me too.
Winding the clock forward 50 odd years, cars are so completely common-place and therefore no-longer a novelty.
I get the impression that there's not the same level of fanaticism shown by young (boys OK, I'll be politically correct and say) youngsters nowadays, they appear to have totally different interests (whatever they are) so they do not develop into motor-sport fanatics like I did for those reasons?
As 'old man' said in his post above "I just love cars"

[old man]

Well, here you go, back to what, the '50s was it when F2 became the F1 grid?

http://plus.autosport.com/tools/pdf-...884.1373558528

(not sure if that works!?)

[djinvicta]

Also, todays road cars are computer glipped. You cant work on them as youngsters as we could the A60s, Minis etc.

[S griffin]

The gimmicks in F1 has ruined some of the skill and with smaller numbers on the grid less drivers are getting the chance or getting kicked too early, like di Resta. The pitstops also ruin things, you know you can watch it for a few laps, it looks like a good race and then I remember they HAVE to make a pitstop, which only really means the action will be broken

I won't be watching Abu Dhabi, as I hate the double points farce.

[djinvicta]

Remember with relish putting an MGB engine in an Austin Cambridge and hanging on to the wheel while sliding over a bench seat. Todays youngsters would ask, whats a bench seat? A girlfriends dream....

[JeremySmith]

It feels like F1 lacks a *captain* at the helm... A sport that involves so many brilliant minds, its just totally beyond me... Organised chaos comes to mind !

[Paradise City]

The very act of plugging a laptop into a motorracing car has always just felt that bit wrong to me. Something just not right about that.

[ECW Dan Selby]

Originally Posted by Paradise City

Whenever the pundits piously say that they hope the title doesn't come down to the double points thing - my face erupts into a sly grin.

I'm not done with F1. But I don't watch qualifying, don't watch the punditry and F1 itself has tumbled down the priority list. DRS did it for me - I just hate that stuff.

Yup. DRS reminds me every race why i'm slowly becoming less and less excited.

I used to watch every practice/qualy/race. Not anymore. Don't even usually watch qualy.

I'm sick of them implementing crap and not listening to us. I'm sick of the politicking while there's bigger problems to be fixed. I'm sick of having to hear about the small teams being bullied out of the sport. I'm sick of the idea of 3 car teams with all the big wigs who'll turn their back on the sport at the drop of a hat. I'm sick of the cookie cutter tracks (seriously, why can't we experiment a little? Short track? Long track? Fast track?)

I liken F1 to Napster (and the likes). It gets popular, then gets way too fat and full of its own sh!t, then kills itself.

Over-dramatic, I know. But it does get on my wick.

I know people say the late 90's were crap, but I loved the 98/99 seasons, part because that's when I first got in to it, but still.

Plus, the new engines are so f'ing quiet. I know it's an old issue, but it's not the same. They don't look fast, they don't sound fast, and now they're killing the small teams... Yuck. Time for someone to step up, me thinks.

I almost wish the FOTA split happened a few years ago (remember how big that got..?).

Selby

[chillibowl]

Originally Posted by Paradise City

The very act of plugging a laptop into a motorracing car has always just felt that bit wrong to me. Something just not right about that.

i hold the opposite opinion but im not sure why i do other then i grew up being told 'more technology' is the answer to everything.

it is easy to say it is a generational thing but at the same time you see the same affliction effecting every age group these days...a growing negative reaction to the pervasive level of 'technology' intertwined into every aspect of our lives.

[Casper]

The times they are a changing. Our kart is managed on a laptop, ignition, carburettor, data retrieval etc, the electronics on it are worth a stupid amount of money and we log about twenty channels.

[old man]

Originally Posted by Casper

The times they are a changing. Our kart is managed on a laptop, ignition, carburettor, data retrieval etc, the electronics on it are worth a stupid amount of money and we log about twenty channels.

Interesting comment Casper, how much lap time do you feel you have gained from the 20 channels?

The lengths teams go to now is amazing, it was explained to me at the CIK-FIA European meeting at PFI in August that one of the winners had arrived on the Tuesday and set about choosing from 6 chassis to be used at the meeting, he chose two, one for the wet and one for the dry. It was not absolutely clear if the choice was fully objective but one could understand the reasoning. As I looked round the awnings everyone had two karts, wet and dry, when we karted we had wet and dry tyres

Of course those who did not win will point to that sort of fact to explain their failure.

This is how costs escalate and many potential participants are put off by the costs of this level of sophistication.

[August]

I'm feeling that way, too. F1 was very much clean of all show gimmicks until few years ago when they introduced things like DRS, purposefully rapidly-degrading tyres, etc. And double points this year, still possibly deciding the title for Rosberg. Add to that going to uninspriring tracks in places where no fans are.

Thank God this is happening during an increase in manufacturers in the WEC. With manufacturer involvement it's at least somewhat comparable with F1. And the current state of F1 gave me a reason to get interested in the WEC, I can save those six hours for a WEC race by skipping two F1 races.

Another series I'm watching more nowadays is IndyCar. Following it has always been a bit difficult but in the last years I've watched some occasional races and finally I've been able to follow it enough to feel somewhat familiar with it. Unfortunately it lacks the technical competition of F1 but there are things that make it more enjoyable to watch. F1 is losing variety in tracks whereas IndyCar has a lot of variety. Road courses, real street courses as opposed to urban road courses like Sochi, and ovals. And I think it was JPM who said F1 takes itself too seriously. F1 just feels too corporate whereas IndyCar is fun.

Nowadays I don't anymore follow all sessions of F1 like I used to. Previously I did everything to avoid clashes with F1 races, nowadays I can just as well skip the race. Won't even be looking for a replay. And I don't follow F1 news like I used to. Only some themes around the series' future interest me, like how many teams there will be in 2015 and how many cars per team. The success of Williams has been my main interest this year, without it I'd probably have completely given up with F1.

I'd just love F1 to reset itself back to 2001. Or 1980s would be even better. Or even 2010 would be good.

[Sodemo]

Various things have eroded my interest in F1;

- Moving away from V10s / V8s
- The move in 1998 to grooved tyres and narrow cars
- The gradual destruction of classic circuits (in the name of "safety") to suit one series which races for one weekend a year
- Terrible new circuits
- DRS, ugh
- Moving to Pay Per View
- Generally not any drivers that I personally want to support (I was a big Montoya and Kubica fan).

Every year they chip something new away from the sport that I used to love, however some things have got better. I like they banned refuelling, that was a good thing, they moved back to slicks, which was a good thing in theory and I like they have improved driver safety with things like the HANS device, so not all changes are bad, but most are...