The near future of F1 is looking dull..

this_is_gav · 26 Feb 2016 at 14:29

Rossi~ said:
Watch MotoGP! Last year was a corker!

I mentioned two wheels in my post.

I was getting bored of MotoGP too - Rossi's title challenge last year gained my interest again, but that was the only reason I followed it.

Road racing on the other hand... that's a different matter, but there's so little of it on TV.

Skeeter · 26 Feb 2016 at 15:28

UTmaniac said:
Melbourne...

Hamilton
Vettel
Rosberg
Raikkonnen
Grosjean
Alonso

All six are cursed now, well perhaps Fernando.

Grosjean? Really?

JRS · 26 Feb 2016 at 19:56

Skeeter said:
Grosjean? Really?

He's a lot more likely to finish there than Freddie is in 6th on current form....

Skeeter · 26 Feb 2016 at 20:49

Fred will be lucky to finish at all.

Doggie2k · 27 Feb 2016 at 20:48

WEC is fast becoming my favourite Motorsport I love it!!

I don't mind Merc dominating I just find Hamilton and Rosberg annoying! Both of them whine when things don't go their way and sulk like 3 year olds.

Plus tyre saving, fuel saving and the lack of noise annoys me

Skeeter · 27 Feb 2016 at 21:12

Doggie2k said:
Plus tyre saving, fuel saving and the lack of noise annoys me

Yet you love WEC? :confused:

smr · 27 Feb 2016 at 21:13

Doggie2k · 27 Feb 2016 at 21:16

Skeeter said:
Yet you love WEC?

Yep they do all that for a reason! They race 6 hours or more

F1 is only a 2 hour sprint race and they should act like it

Slam62 · 27 Feb 2016 at 21:17

Skeeter said:
What the hell? They have just been instructed to make a tyre that degrades and then falls off a cliff for this season!!

Yeah, just saw the piece by Ted on the tyres, twix he called them, thin chocolate on the outside, toffee and then biscuit all in clearly defined layers.
What a daft way to run f1.

I'll still watch it though.

Skeeter · 27 Feb 2016 at 22:18

Doggie2k said:
Yep they do all that for a reason! They race 6 hours or more F1 is only a 2 hour sprint race and they should act like it

They do it because the rules give them penalties if they go to Fast

Slam62 said:
Yeah, just saw the piece by Ted on the tyres, twix he called them, thin chocolate on the outside, toffee and then biscuit all in clearly defined layers.
What a daft way to run f1.

I'll still watch it though.

Pirrelli are just doing what they have been asked too.

dannyjo22 · 28 Feb 2016 at 09:57

UTmaniac said:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/35657259

"Pirelli will be told to produce a tyre drivers can push to the limit in 2017 as Formula 1 bosses seek to make the sport more exciting."

Until one of them gets a puncture and then the sky is falling down again.

JRS said:
Um....this is the big spender era!

Williams built and raced the FW14B and FW15C on a budget that would keep RBR in business for nowhere near a full season. Even the Ferrari juggernaut in the first half of the 2000s was less expensive (to the tune of about $100m per year if the popularly-accepted figures are to be believed) than what we have now.

Indeed even in 97 the Williams budget was under 40m including driver salaries.

Anyway I'm out for this year totally. Sky is going, barely watched a full race last year. If I could get my son interested I might have carried out but there's nothing in the sport for him. At best I might watch the highlights. Last year was the least I have watched since 93. I can't be bothered to hold on to the hope that anything other than knee jerk stupid reactions will be made.

F1 for me is now as believable as a sky pixie. When a small car change is made like the Merc last year and the speed swung from driver A to driver B something is seriously wrong. That a small car change can dictate the winner when one driver is head and shoulders above the other, madness. It's like changing the studs on football boots from round to blades and having a player unable to score

Guerrilla · 28 Feb 2016 at 12:13

It's hard to argue with a lot of what has been said in this thread

still holding out hope they will sorry it out but some of the reactionary changes they make it does make you wonder if they actually know which direction to go in themselves.

As others have said I've been getting more and more into WEC over the past few seasons whereas before I was really just a le Mans watcher... Admittedly my 2 favourite F1 drivers of recent years involvement helped that greatly, I hope the series attracts more ' big name' drivers as it does have a lot to offer.

With that said from a purely enjoyment point of view of sitting and enjoying watching the racing the series I enjoyed watching most last season... V8 Supercars, wasn't expecting that one! Formula Renault 3.5 also had some great races and quite enjoy their setup and short burst of racing, I hope with the changes to that this season it can grow.

Skeeter · 28 Feb 2016 at 13:01

It's a shame Motors TV is on the rocks, as I agree V8 Supercars is great.

smr · 28 Feb 2016 at 13:17

Skeeter said:
The number of people watching is not really connected to the money that the sport gets. In fact, I'd say they are probably inversely proportional. Take the UK in isolation, the Sky TV deal brings in a lot more money than the previous BBC or ITV deals, yet has significantly reduced the viewing numbers.

The same is the case for trackside fans. The venues pay their hosting fees, and then recoup that cost by selling tickets. There are queues of places lining up to host a race with government backing where they will happily sell no tickets as the funding for the hosting fee is not connected to the ticket sales.

So at the end of the day, nobody in F1 really cares if we watch or not.

So if no fans at all turned up to Silverstone they wouldn't care? I think the sponsors would - no sponsorships = no teams = no F1.

Ryan-3 · 28 Feb 2016 at 13:26

Guerrilla said:
the racing the series I enjoyed watching most last season... V8 Supercars

Absolutely this. Although some of the tracks are questionable, especially the street circuits, it provides some epic close racing. I just hope things don't go off the rails with the changes they're making to it next year.

413x · 28 Feb 2016 at 13:34

The annoyance for myself is this

I find it hard enough to talk to anyone about motorsports.. And F1 is still most popular (but it's cack) even on here the other formula are not really discussed like f1

And then it's TV availability to for other formula

There are so many better choices.. But part of the fun is talking to people about it

I like Btcc best, but because I can watch it, appreciate it, and be entertained. I don't need to watch series to enjoy races, but equally I'm not setting a reminder to watch it
It's a shame for. Motorsports in general.. A shame F1 to most UK people is motorsports

Jono8 · 28 Feb 2016 at 15:04

I think they seriously dropped the ball on taking all the races off terrestrial TV

Slam62 · 28 Feb 2016 at 15:13

Bernie's business model is pay to host and pay to view. Has any sport gone free to view after being PTV?
Circuits like Silverstone will lose out if and when the fans stop coming.

Skeeter · 28 Feb 2016 at 17:28

smr said:
So if no fans at all turned up to Silverstone they wouldn't care? I think the sponsors would - no sponsorships = no teams = no F1.

Silverstone doesn't have government backing.

Jono8 said:
I think they seriously dropped the ball on taking all the races off terrestrial TV

F1 is on TV in more places than just the UK. Since the move towards subscription channels the prize money handed out to the teams has been larger than ever before.

Slam62 said:
Bernie's business model is pay to host and pay to view. Has any sport gone free to view after being PTV?
Circuits like Silverstone will lose out if and when the fans stop coming.

Indeed, but there's plenty of other tracks that will fill the gap. We have lost Valencia, one of the German tracks each year, France, and Spa and Monza are constantly under a cloud of uncertainty, yet this year we have 21 races in the calendar, the most ever.

cu3ed · 2 Mar 2016 at 03:32

I think its more to do with some of the newer tracks being completely boring an devoid of any imagination in there design.