Boring!

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Originally Posted by Kevincal

I thought the first 10 minutes of the race was outstanding with a ton of action. The rest of the race was just your average F1 race, but not "boring" in my opinion...

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I agree. Boring is a standard usually set by Magny-Cours.

I wonder when we will see the first safety car period, as that will spice up races for people who cannot find it interesting.

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Originally Posted by Malllen

I agree. Boring is a standard usually set by Magny-Cours.

I wonder when we will see the first safety car period, as that will spice up races for people who cannot find it interesting.

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"debris caution"

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Originally Posted by wedge

This year's race was a whole lot better than last years which was surprisingly dull and processional for Tilke track.

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I didn't see this race, but I was under the impression that dull and processional were the norm for Tilke tracks.

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Originally Posted by Erki

I personally count most of Tilke's tracks as artificial measures for creating overtaking.

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Why? It's a proven fact that a long straight with a large braking zone on a wide enough circuit will create overtaking.

John Hugenholtz set the precedent most memorably with the first corner at Jarama and Tarzan at Zandvoort.

Love him or loathe him, but apart from Shanghai, Tilke tracks have consistantly provided the best races with overtaking in recent years.

Though most people would prefer cars CAPABLE of passing on challenging, flowing circuits like Suzuka, Nurburgring, Bremgarten (insert former grand prix racetrack here) to make for good racing, rather than stop-go circuits like Bahrain catered for cars that cannot overtake in order to make the racing better. Even with Zandvoort and the Tarzankurve, the whole circuit has a FLOW to it that most Tilke tracks completely lack.
Really, the Tilke tracks are generally a bandaid solution and when aero developments continue to the point that f1 cars cannot pass on a circuit like Bahrain, or the new Fuji Speedway (errgghhh) then you're left with useless circuits that noone likes and will be forgotten (bar Bernies marketing strategy).

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Originally Posted by CarlMetro

Speak for yourself. There are many on here, myself included, who have been watching F1 for more than 30 years.

I'm glad to see so many of you still think it was entertaining. That's just what Bernie and Max want to here. Personally I just don't see how there was any excitement after the first 10 laps. Even towards the end, with Kimi 'catching' Lewis when Lewis had obviously turned down his engine, ther was no real excitement for me because even if he had caught him there was no way he would have got close enough to pull off a pass. Kimi sat on Lewis's gearbox for long enough earlier in the race and couldn't do it then so I had no doubts that he wouldn't do it at the end of the race.

Like Tinchote I'll start taping the races in future :\

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I would suggest that you have edited out all the boring races from the 'good old days' from your memory. Maybe there are fewer races from the current era that will go down as legendary in the same way as Monaco 1961, Monza 1967 or Dijon 1979, but in each of those seasons there were also, it goes without saying, races that were just as dull as anything we see today.

as a life long F1 fan I'd gradually stopped watching over the last few years (since 2001) partly as I couldn't stand watching yet another Schumi win every other weekend, or hear James Allen singing his praises for 2 hours (yes James we know....), seeing Williams decline into the midfield and frankly because the "racing" was rubbish- I found better things to do with my Sunday's

but since Schumi's gone into retirement I've found that I can indeed watch F1 again, the race in Melbourne was dull, but then it usually is, by Sepang standards I thought this one was ok

Martin Brundle hit the nail on the head during the commentary- remove all those hideous winglets and aero aids and it would improve the chances of overtaking- look at the new Champ Car- that's how to do it, or look at GP2- produces great racing- but has no aero aids beyond front and rear wings- oh and ditch those grooved wheels and go back to proper slicks

Nowadays I won't make any special effort to get home to watch it but I'll probably see Bahrain as it's on at a time of day when I'm usually at home (unless it clashes with NASCAR on NASN), last year pretty much the only european race I saw was Hungary, the rest I either missed entirely or only caught the end of- 10-15 years ago that wouldn't have happened

Let’s recognise Formula 1 for what it is, or more importantly, what it isn't...

F1 is not a motorsport that lends itself to on-track overtaking.
Formula 1 differs from other motorsports in that it is much more of a constructors’ series, where a team puts together a package consisting of a car, engine, driver, etc. The purpose is to construct a package from the ground up that will dominate over other teams. This philosophy naturally results in a lack of overtaking on track because each team has a distinctly different package. Other motorpsort series rely on “spec” chassis, engines and other components (e.g. CCWS) which results in similar equipment on track, and thus, closer racing.

I follow F1 for more than its bi-weekly race. I follow the evolution and development of the teams as a whole, the “behind the scenes” world and how it manifests itself to the teams performance.

If you want to watch a bi-weekly race with overtaking might I suggest you watch another series :mark:

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Originally Posted by fousto

the massa LH race was quite good. At least massa has some balls

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:D Yep... that was some serious racing between Lewis Hamilton & Massa. As in most racing... when the leader's not being challenged.... he's often able to gain ground when those cars just behind him are dicing for position.

:dozey: We have Speed TV over here broadcasting F-1. Our announcers do a good job with explaining whats going on but... their TV feed comes from the country holding the race... so these guys are at the mercy of trying to follow whatever is being broadcast.

When the feed is from Italy... almost all we ever see on TV is the Italian Stallons.

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Originally Posted by schmenke

Let’s recognise Formula 1 for what it is, or more importantly, what it isn't...

F1 is not a motorsport that lends itself to on-track overtaking.
Formula 1 differs from other motorsports in that it is much more of a constructors’ series, where a team puts together a package consisting of a car, engine, driver, etc. The purpose is to construct a package from the ground up that will dominate over other teams. This philosophy naturally results in a lack of overtaking on track because each team has a distinctly different package. Other motorpsort series rely on “spec” chassis, engines and other components (e.g. CCWS) which results in similar equipment on track, and thus, closer racing.

I follow F1 for more than its bi-weekly race. I follow the evolution and development of the teams as a whole, the “behind the scenes” world and how it manifests itself to the teams performance.

If you want to watch a bi-weekly race with overtaking might I suggest you watch another series :mark:

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That's all very well, but overtaking was possible when the ethos of F1 was as you describe. It is in part a simple matter of aerodynamics, alterations to which would not in any way diminish the status of F1 as the pinnacle of motorsport, nor reduce the behind-the-scenes machinations that you enjoy so much.

I should add that I find it rather sad that overtaking seems to have become a dirty word as far as some F1 fans are concerned — that overtaking is something that happens in lesser formulae, that it's somehow beneath F1. While I don't like the idea of spicing up the racing through any artificial or manipulative means (which do not include aerodynamic alterations), this should not be the case.