Still the "Pinnacle"?

[Hondo]

The exotic, specially formulated fuels are gone. The technology and the methods of it's development have been severely curtailed. The tire selection has all the excitment of bidding a prison laundry contract. The price has been lowered to where any astute businessman with skilled salesmen can buy their way in, along with a chassis and motor. A standard CPU is used. Reliability standards. Safety car. All manner of regulation that seems to stifle rather than stimulate the racing action. Drivers selected for the sponsorship money hanging out of their back pockets more than the skills they bring to team and track.

Can anyone still claim F1 is the pinnacle of auto racing and keep a straight face? Still the pinnacle? If your answer is yes, then why?

Personally, I shuddered cold chills back when they brought in the paddock speed limits. I knew for sure the dumbing down of F1 had begun.

[VkmSpouge]

The price has been lowered to where any astute businessman with skilled salesmen can buy their way in,

An entirely good thing.

Drivers selected for the sponsorship money hanging out of their back pockets more than the skills they bring to team and track.

That has been going on for a long, long, long time.

Can anyone still claim F1 is the pinnacle of auto racing and keep a straight face? Still the pinnacle? If your answer is yes, then why?

What would you claim is the pinnacle of motor racing?

[Sonic]

Yes. But only because the challengers have also suffered from all of the things you have mentioned.

[ioan]

Yes, because the lap times are being lowered continuously.

[Hondo]

The "Pinnacle" of anything does not lower it's standards to make access easier. When it does, you spawn off things like the IRL. Formula Ford is easy to get into for everybody, I've never heard it called the Pinnacle of Motorsport.

I don't think there is a pinnacle right now. F1 has become another spec series. I would guess that one reason for lower lap times each year is improved tire technology each year. If lap times are the basis for being the Pinnacle, then Autocross should be the Pinnacle. One car, running alone against a clock.

[ioan]

The "Pinnacle" of anything does not lower it's standards to make access easier. When it does, you spawn off things like the IRL. Formula Ford is easy to get into for everybody, I've never heard it called the Pinnacle of Motorsport.

I don't think there is a pinnacle right now. F1 has become another spec series. I would guess that one reason for lower lap times each year is improved tire technology each year. If lap times are the basis for being the Pinnacle, then Autocross should be the Pinnacle. One car, running alone against a clock.

Pinnacle = The highest point; the culmination. (http://www.answers.com/topic/pinnacle)

I believe that if 20 years ago F1 was the pinnacle of motorsport and it did constantly become faster than it was it still is the pinnacle, unless there is another wheel based motorsport that is faster than F1.

[Saint Devote]

This is an old tired discussion - personally I really do not care if it is the pinnacle or not.

For me it is the most enjoyable, exciting and pretty of all racing. It has a rich history and an international flavor that no other sport can claim.

I love formula 1 - it is also the quickest of all racing and requires the quickest drivers, that to me anyway IS the pinnacle.

[macksrallye]

Yes, because the lap times are being lowered continuously.

No offence intended ioan but that is a pretty pathetic reason. If that is the case though i could reasonably argue that v8supercars, the australian f3 series, world rally championship or my local autocross is the pinnacle of motorsport. Having said all of this I see what you're getting at.

Even with the regs being so tight nowadays designers & teams are still pushing the envelope, just not in ways we are used to (double diffuser anyone). I think the stress that f1 as a sport puts on the drivers & their teams means you do have to be something special to be involved in any way, shape or form. That's why to me it is still the pinnacle.

[V12]

I'm in two minds - firstly F1 becoming more accessible is a good, very good thing. At the height of the F1 tech boom in the late 80s and early 90s was also the period when F1 had its highest number of entrants.

But yes, I do regret the "dumbing down" aspects in the technical rules, safety cars used at almost US levels these days. Even worse is when I get the likes of Mosley and Briatore telling me as a fan what I care and don't care about. F1 isn't exactly WWF or NASCAR-like but I do get the feeling it's going to be on a bit of a slippery slope if it isn't careful.

[CCWS77]

I would define the pinnacle of racing as those teams and drivers best in the world at getting from point A to point B using rules X. What rules X are doesn't matter much in terms of defining the pinnacle of racers. That matters more to those whose expertise lies more in shaping what the rules are then in actually competing in whatever the rules happen to be. I welcome any rules changes that screws over the political and financial players who intend to win by shaping the rules in a way they can foresee. What the mechanical result is almost doesn't matter. throw some darts at a board to determine the rules every year so the actual skill of those competing is the only thing that would matter. That doesn't lessen the essence of it as the pinnacle, it would increase it. The politics that makes people doubt it is even actually about the best racers getting from point A to B is what risks derailing it as the pinnacle.

So in short if you want to measure if F1 is losing some of its pinnacleness based on mechanical or procedural rules changes you don't like then you are not even using the right measuring stick.