WEC better than F1

[steveaki13]

I have watched F1 since a lad in the early/mid 90s and for the first time I believe that WEC and therefore the Le Mans 24 hours is a better sport to watch than F1.

You get to see more differential between cars. I mean Nissan taking part in this years Le Mans had designed a really different LMP1 car to the rest.

We get great racing in all 4 categories and right up front as seen in Rounds 1 & 2 of the WEC when we had lead cars battling, racing and passing without DRS or such rubbish.

Today with 10 minutes of the 24 hours to go we had Audi's boss in the Porsche garage shaking hands and congratulating them on there inpending win. Again a better spirit I would bet than F1. I can't remember that happening recently.

Also judging by Hulkenbergs reaction to winning it means alot to take part and win it.

So this is all the thoughts of someone who has loved F1 since a boy. It has been my favourite sport for parts of my life.

Yet the last 5-8 years my love of F1 has bit by bit wained. Until I now wonder if F1 should look at WEC. Cos from what I can see its now a better motorsport.

[AAReagles]

Yeah Steveaki13: I agree word for word of what you stated.

Though I followed the sport a bit longer than you, I would have to say that the current F1 status has changed enough for me to follow endurance racing instead. Never before did I ever feel that way - as I used to consider F1 AND Group C as equals since they both ran on the same challanging circuits. IMSA GT and Can-Am being the only others to remotely rival the aforementioned. Indy 500 was tops too.... at one time..

[Brown, Jon Brow]

And none of that fuel saving nonsense...........

[Mekola]

Wonder if now WEC is getting back the best days of Group C in current sportscars...

[zako85]

To be honest, F1 is looking bleak relative to many many other competitions.

Formula E: a surprisingly good first season. Good tracks, good racing, good competition. The top three drivers are separated by just a few points towards the end of 14-15 season.

MotoGP: MotoGP is always great to watch thanks to frequent close battles, but this season Yamaha and Ducati have finally produced decent bikes resulting in a very good season so far.

IndyCar: same as always, but Indy 500 was fantastic, probably the best in the last 5-10 years.

WEC: I thought the first two races of season were incredible, and 24 Hours of Lemans was the most anticipated race of the year of ALL motorsports.

With such background, F1 looks kind of bleak this season. I still enjoy watching F1 races for the moments like Vettel having to start from the back or Monaco GP changing by an accidentally inept pit call. The midpack competition is quite interesting, if you followed the discussion about who can possibly finish 5th in WCC this season. But the current season is bad for PR and F1 is not attracting new fans. A constant talk about losing more European GPs doesn't help much.

PS: I think Bernie knows who needs to be done to fix F1 racing. Mercedes should hire Alonso ;p

[journeyman racer]

Jumping the gun, aren't we? Doesn't matter what the flavour of the month is, F1 is no1.

[tbtstt]

Fully agree with the original post; WEC has been the best FiA tarmac racing series for several years now in my opinion (not that it need to be good to outshine F1 in it's current state ).

Unfortunately until certain individuals are removed from the FiA they will never acknowledge that but, to be perfectly honest, I don't really care. As long as the manufacturers and the fans realize how good the WEC is and continue to support it, then that's good enough for me!

[N4D13]

I haven't ever watched WEC, but judging from the comments in this thread, it sounds like I should really start watching it ASAP. Know any broadcasters? I don't care much about the country.

[AndyL]

You get to see more differential between cars. I mean Nissan taking part in this years Le Mans had designed a really different LMP1 car to the rest.

It was spectacularly slow though. Meanwhile in F1, McLaren get ripped to shreds for their development project, which is a lot closer to the front pace than Nissan's was in LMP1. While Le Mans is a magnificent event and probably the greatest car race in the world, I don't think people are judging it by the same hyper-critical standards that are invariably applied to F1.

[truefan72]

It was spectacularly slow though. Meanwhile in F1, McLaren get ripped to shreds for their development project, which is a lot closer to the front pace than Nissan's was in LMP1. While Le Mans is a magnificent event and probably the greatest car race in the world, I don't think people are judging it by the same hyper-critical standards that are invariably applied to F1.

good point.
I wouldn't call it slow though, but the other point is very valid. It is essentially a 2 horse race (with one parent VW) and the other manufacturer Toyota is having a very bad 2014 RBR kinda year. Although they are pretty much stopping 2015 development and starting on 2016 now. Nissan are having a mclaren year too, and the Rebellion is like the Midfield runner with no chance to ever crack the podium.
I really enjoyed the LeMans race, mainly because i like the way the cars look and there was some good track battles. But that is mainly due to the longevity of the race rather than the default nature. In a 24 hour race there were maybe 8 good racing situations between the top 2 teams. Other than that, the race lead pretty much switched during pitstops. In the last 7 hours the porsche 19 lead hovered anyway from 1 lap to about a half lap lead and it became a procedural race until the end.
Yes it was fun, but I wouldn't compare it to F1. To me its apples and oranges. with all the different classes, cars and the length

Out of all the years, this year's LMP1 class is pretty much a mirror image of F1.