F1 continues to underwhelm in 2015

69 comments on “F1 continues to underwhelm in 2015”

1. 

   OmarR-Pepper - Vettel 40 victories!!! (@)
   29th June 2015, 16:08

   And yet, me, as most hard F1 fans, will watch Silverstone’s race, just to make sure if this one is not the thrilling race we all are waiting for. Then it turns out it is not, just another Mercedes 1-2, another McLaren’s double DNF, another Kimi’s poor show compared to Seb’s “thank guys, sorry we couldn’t push harder”, another Williams “could have been better”, another Manor forgettable race, another RB/TR “what if the engine were more powerful”, another Lotus and Force India respectable but average result.
   1. 

      DaveD (@daved)
      29th June 2015, 17:17

      Sadly, you just summarized 80%+ of F1 races today.
      1. 

         Tiago Sá
         29th June 2015, 21:11

         That’s why 2009 was so great.
         1. 

            KwekuQ (@kwekuq)
            30th June 2015, 14:33

            2012 too started out brilliant. Alonso made that season for me.
   2. 

      Nicholas Sylvain (@heartbreakridge)
      29th June 2015, 17:34

      I think I will always watch the F1 races, but you’re spot on as to what we are likely to get for the forseeable future. So far this year, Indycar has been a LOT more interesting, with a genuine multiple contender race for the championship and fairly unpredictable race results – latest example is this weekend’s race at Sonoma where a guy who hadn’t won in 100+ races won!
      1. 

         Jonny Edwards (@racectrl)
         29th June 2015, 17:47

         For me Indycar demonstrates why refuelling works but there will be plenty on here that will still argue the point and bring up stats about how all the overtaking happens in the pits blah blah blah.
         1. 

            Nicholas Sylvain (@heartbreakridge)
            29th June 2015, 17:51

            Ironically, Sonoma also showed the potential for hazard in refueling when Rahal drove away from the pits with the fueling assembly attached (and taking the front assembly with him in the process). I still don’t understand why he didn’t get an immediate in-race penalty.
         2. 

            GT Racer (@gt-racer)
            29th June 2015, 23:12

            @racectrl refueling works completely differently in Indycar so its effect on the racing is less than it was in F1.

            In F1 refueling strategy was the thing teams built there races around, They came up with there strategy on Saturday & were then locked into it for the 1st stint regardless of what happened to the car on track.
            It was the thing they used to pass cars because it was easier & less risky that trying to make places on track (Hence why the level of racing/overtaking dropped during that period & rose again afterwards).

            In Indycar they start the race on full tanks, Don’t pit until there about to run dry & fill the tank to the brim on every stop (Unless they need a bit less at the final stop). The only variable in strategy you get is if somebody gambles during a caution & stays out while others pit… But even then 90% of the time they all end up making the same number of stops.

            Reintroduce refueling in F1 & you will just go back to what we had before, Most of the ‘racing’ would be done via strategy in the pits & you would see far less on the track, Which BTW was something throughout that period that fans constantly complained about & something that a lot of people in the F1 paddock also grumbled about which is why there was so many behind closed doors attempts to get refueling banned by the teams who were critical of what it was doing to the racing. Especially early on in its time in F1 as i’ve discussed before.
   3. 

      Imre (@f1mre)
      30th June 2015, 17:53

      But if we see a truly fantastic race, we will forget all the previous poor ones and we’ll be happy to be a fan of this sport.
2. 

   jayteeniftb
   29th June 2015, 16:25

   Hate the Race poll would get higher ratings.
   1. 

      Akshat
      29th June 2015, 18:20

      +1
3. 

   rsp123 (@rsp123)
   29th June 2015, 16:37

   Dull racing. Declining fan numbers. Sponsors vanishing. Uncertain future for several teams. No French GP. No German GP. Other historic races at risk. Suspicions of corruption. Poor management. Weak governance. Teams threatening to leave. Has F1 ever been in a more parlous state?
4. 

   spafrancorchamps
   29th June 2015, 16:50

   I’ve been a huge follower of F1 since Spa 2008 and didn’t miss a single race since then. But after Canada I was like “screw it”. I’m done with watching this circus at least for this season. I’m curiously looking forward to the silly season and hope for improvement next year. This year I might watch Silverstone, Spa, Monza, Suzuka and Brasil, and hope for some rain to save this season. But other than that….
5. 

   glynh (@glynh)
   29th June 2015, 17:13

   I wonder how these past few years will be viewed in a decades time… with 1 clearly dominant team we’re in a similar situation to The Vettel/Red Bull era but most people rarely mention that now and instead focus on the positives. I grew up watching Schumacher win his titles and remember the complaints then but now everyone points to the those days as what F1 should be like with the engines and racing ‘on the limit’.
   For example if someone is asked to name their top 10 races chances are that a lot of them came from a time when one team is dominating, maybe in a few years people will add Bahrain last year and some races from this year to their list.

   Personally I’m really enjoying F1 at the moment and rate last year as one of the best seasons I’ve watched (it definitely had memorable moments and races). F1 certainly has it’s issues but I wonder how much of the recent polls have been skewed by people voting 1/10 as a protest for one thing they don’t like like DRS or a Mercedes win.
   Maybe focussing on the positives not the negatives would make F1 seem a lot better.
   1. 

      nehir
      29th June 2015, 17:49

      I watched Schumacher and Vettel, they’ve won championships on a row, but it was never as boring as it is with Mercedes. I would need to go back more than 10 years to remember a season as bad as 2014 or 2015. And I would need to go back another 10 to remember two seasons in a row as bad as 2014 AND 2015.
      1. 

         Jonny Edwards (@racectrl)
         29th June 2015, 18:08

         Really? I agree that the Schumacher/Vettel years weren’t that bad but i completely disagree that 2014 was a bad year. It had some races that will live long in the memory (Bahrain, Canada, or even Hungary)
         1. 

            OmarR-Pepper - Vettel 40 victories!!! (@)
            29th June 2015, 19:37

            @racectrl fun you mention Canada and Hungary as 2 of the top races… both of them not won by Mercedes cars. Check Malaysia’s rating this year and you can see a pattern.
            1. 

               Jonny Edwards (@racectrl)
               29th June 2015, 19:57

               Oh, there is no doubt that fans love a bit of variety when it comes to winners! I think those races were some of my favourites because the race result was up in the air until the final few laps.
         2. 

            nehir
            29th June 2015, 20:00

            Personal opinion of course. But a couple of races that reminded me of the good old times didn’t really do it for me. If anything, made the rest of season sorta unbearable.
   2. 

      Duncan Snowden
      29th June 2015, 17:55

      “I wonder how these past few years will be viewed in a decades time”

      A Golden Age. I’d put money on it. I’ve been watching F1 for over 30 years, and it never changes: there are always people claiming it’s boring, that it’s on its way out, that other series are more entertaining, and if only it was like it was ten years ago, it’d be perfect. The era everyone’s harking back to now, V8s and refuelling? I was probably one of the people you remember complaining. Back in the early ’90s – my favourite era – “boring”, “processional” (there’s a word that’s never far away) F1 was about to be eclipsed as the global pinnacle of motorsport by CART (yeah, that happened). And in the ’80s, the turbo cars were ludicrously overpowered, impossible to race, and we should all have gone back to DFVs. It’s always the same.

      Does F1 have problems? Of course it does. You’d have to be blind not to see that there are teams struggling for money, that audiences are down a bit from their peak, and that one overly-dominant team isn’t good for attracting the sort of casual viewers who only care about who wins but are essential for the long-term health of the sport. But all this doom-and-gloom risks provoking a massive overreaction that could have far worse consequences.
      1. 

         Charles King (@charleski)
         30th June 2015, 9:04

         +1

         But shhh! You can’t jump in and spoil the ‘F1 is doomed’ narrative by pointing this stuff out! It’s a vital part of the heritage of F1 and we need to encourage the next generation of fans to join in and keep it alive by whining as much as possible. I suggest F1Fanatic schedules regular links to Private Fraser clips so fans can practice the proper attitude.
   3. 

      darry
      29th June 2015, 17:56

      I think Vettel maybe had the most enjoyable to watch and hard-fought domination of all times. It felt more humane, driver-driven. Really quality field with record number of champions equipped with race winning cars fighting for the championship. It was epic.
      Not like we are looking at the past with rose tinted glasses. It was 2 years ago!
      1. 

         JohnNik (@johnnik)
         29th June 2015, 22:29

         Yes you’re absolutely right.
         Vettel and RedBull went up against Alonso and Ferrari, Kimi and Lotus, Hamilton, Button and McLaren, and to an extent his own teammate.
         At the mo it’s just which Merc will win? Its not the same.
         1. 

            mikcey
            29th June 2015, 22:59

            “Vettel and RedBull went up against Alonso and Ferrari, Kimi and Lotus, Hamilton, Button and McLaren, and to an extent his own teammate.”
            It sounds like a beautiful story. Unlike what’s going on nowadays.
            There is no narrative. Watching races I realized FOM is doing a so-so job of broadcasting an exciting race. Maybe Bernie is doing it on purpose.
   4. 

      mann
      29th June 2015, 18:05

      “rate last year as one of the best seasons I’ve watched” – how long have you been watching?
      “(it definitely had memorable moments and races)” – 2011 had some CLASSIC races, was it also one of your favorites?
      1. 

         glynh (@glynh)
         29th June 2015, 18:41

         @mann I grew up watching f1 but I’ve followed it properly since 2007. I don’t remember any seasons when I haven’t enjoyed most of the races but last year kept me gripped with a close championship, races like Bahrain and Canada and some nice mid grid battles throughout.
         1. 

            mann
            29th June 2015, 20:02

            So you watched 2010 and 2012, but they never kept you gripped as 2014?
            1. 

               glynh (@glynh)
               29th June 2015, 20:35

               I would rank 2012 the same, they were certainly good years too but for one reason or another I really enjoyed last year. Even though I don’t support Hamilton I really enjoyed the title fight and and I felt that there were very few boring races.
            2. 

               mann
               29th June 2015, 22:44

               Vauv. I mean I can understand to an extent that you liked the season overall, but to say that “there were very few boring races”, I cannot empathize really. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder lol.
   5. 

      Velocityboy (@velocityboy)
      29th June 2015, 18:08

      I think the biggest difference between now and the “glory years” of F1 is that the current races are or seem far to predictable. When everyone is on the same tires and the same strategy there is little if any chance for a slower car to pull off a surprise win.
      In addition, by giving points back to tenth place I think the teams became far to conservative. Why for example should Williams try a risky strategy when they are almost guaranteed 5th and 6th place. And why should they take a chance to get a 3rd or 4th when they can comfortably get the points and money for 5th and 6th?
      In the past we at least had teams taking chances in order to better their finishing position and that along with dodgy reliability added an element of unpredictability to the races. Right now we all know that Mercedes are going to be 1 and 2, followed by Ferrari and then Williams. Rolling the dice when you always know they’ll land on 5 isn’t really exciting.
      1. 

         glynh (@glynh)
         29th June 2015, 18:49

         My prediction championship results say otherwise.
         Being serious though I do agree with you. For the teams especially the regulations are so tight that trying different strategies is no longer worth a risk as they can (usually) predict everything to a fine margin. It could be argued that means they have to overtake on track but as my favourite quote goes; ‘we spend all weekend getting the cars in order then expect overtaking’.
         1. 

            Velocityboy (@velocityboy)
            29th June 2015, 19:07

            Sometimes I think the best thing that could happen to F1 would be to ban computers. That could mix things up a bit.
   6. 

      OmarR-Pepper - Vettel 40 victories!!! (@)
      29th June 2015, 19:45

      @glynh the difference between RedBull / Vettel’s domination is that he didn’t dominate 4 years in a row. He dominated 2011 and 2013. True. (even though 2013 saw him winning it all just after summer break, the season was going quite even before it). 2010 was a real wrangle among the greatest drivers in the grid (… and Webber, hahhaa! just joking) and 2012 was an epic battle between Alonso and Vettel, and maybe it spiced the things that they were from 2 different teams). Now you know, or almost 90% sure, that the 2 Mercs will lock the front row in quali and almost always in the race. So that predictability for the win makes it boring for non-Merc fans (as it was boring for non-Vettel fans to see him score 9 in a row in 2013). And I know many people state “F1 is not just about who wins”, but that sound more like the excuse of the losers. Even there’s a mug on F1F with “second is the first loser”, right?
      1. 

         sare
         29th June 2015, 20:05

         I think the main difference is, then it was more like Vettel dominating, now it is Mercedes dominating.
      2. 

         rm
         29th June 2015, 20:14

         In 2011 non-Red Bull cars won 7 of the 19 races, or 37% of the time. In 2013 non-Red Bull cars won 6 of 19 GP’s, or 31.6% of the races. At the time this was considered an outrageous level of domination, one which threatened the continued existence of F1 as a sport. So many people claimed at any rate.

         From the start of the 2014 season to now we’ve seen non-Mercedes cars win just four of 27 GP’s, of 14.8% of the races. What’s odd is not that some people are complaining, what’s odd is that so many people who complained loudly from 2010 to 2013 about “domination” are now complaining about complaining.

         I suspect that in their hearts even most Hamilton fans would prefer to see Mercedes fall off to the point that they’re merely as dominant as RB were in their title winning years. That would mean that non-Merc cars would win another five or six races this year. At this point that would look like parity!
         1. 

            jale
            29th June 2015, 22:48

            Why are you comparing RB to Merc? Do you realize Mercedes is on its way to dominating the most dominant cars of all time list whereas you couldn’t get a RB in the top 10.
            1. 

               Johanness
               30th June 2015, 5:19

               uh Jale, I think you need to read his post again. You totally missed the point. Well said RM btw
6. 

   Rick Lopez (@viscountviktor)
   29th June 2015, 17:22

   Can you put the table that compares it to past grand prix, so the score of last years Austrian Grand Prix aswell?
   1. 

      Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
      30th June 2015, 7:56

      @viscountviktor The 2015 race table is there, and there’s only been one Austrian GP since Rate the Race began.
7. 

   Jonny Edwards (@racectrl)
   29th June 2015, 17:41

   For me the second half of 2013 was much like the start of this season in that today’s regulations make it very easy for a driver, or team, to dominate quite easily. I’ve always been a big advocate of refuelling mainly because it adds an element of unpredictability. Throw in a safety car and you have mayhem. With the current rule set there is a very little that can happen and this has pretty much been proven over the course of this season.
   1. 

      nihale
      29th June 2015, 18:02

      2013 second half happened probably because everyone decided to focus on 2014 (that worked out really well) and Vettel was in a good mood with RBR that wasn’t breaking down as frequently as the previous models.
      I think the regulation changes for 2014 is the reason for everything.
      1. 

         Jonny Edwards (@racectrl)
         29th June 2015, 18:25

         The way i saw it is he had an advantage, got into T1 first and created a 5-6 gap. At that point all he had to do was mirror what his competitors were doing and stop for tyres when they did. So simple he did it 9 times in a row.
   2. 

      Mashiat
      29th June 2015, 18:02

      How does refuelling add a level of unpredictability? All it would ensure is that the Mercs will be pushing hard, unlike now, and the gap between Mercedes and the rest of the field would increase big time.
      1. 

         Jonny Edwards (@racectrl)
         29th June 2015, 18:22

         Allowing teams to decide what fuel load to start the race with would lead to teams/drivers running different strategies which automatically leads to unpredictability. Throw in a safety car while those strategies are playing out and you have even more unpredictability.

         The problem today is that the top 10 all start on the option tyres meaning everyone is pretty much doing the same strategy and very little happens as a result.
         1. 

            Jonny Edwards (@racectrl)
            30th June 2015, 11:00

            Just to add to my comment – GP2 allows every driver on the grid, regardless of position, to choose which tyre to start on. For me this leads to a lot of mirror strategies at the front end of the grid that can be quite interesting to watch play out. A very simple change that would make a huge difference to what we have now.
8. 

   Timothy Katz (@timothykatz)
   29th June 2015, 18:26

   Another race weekend. Another race that I avoided watching.
   In years passed, I would have made strenuous efforts to watch every race of the season; late night, early mornings – you name it. But this year, all the negativity has really got to me and I haven’t watched a single live lap of any Grand Prix. And to be honest, I don’t think I’ve missed much.
   Don’t get me wrong, I’ve watched lots of other classes of very enjoyable racing. It’s just that F1 seems to have less of a sparkle at the moment and I’m finding better things to do with my time. And from what I read about viewing figures etcetera, I don’t seem to be the only one.
9. 

   Becken Lima
   29th June 2015, 18:45

   It’s very curious to notice the mindset of those F1 ‘fans’ nowadays…

   Short attention span and heavily infected with the entertainment industry. They need adrenaline all the the time, like those block busters, like Avengers, where we have action, explosions and demolition at each 5 minutes.

   Although we use to watch A SPORT, wouldn’t be time to Bernie get some advice from Marvel?
   1. 

      zekeri
      29th June 2015, 20:09

      I think that’s becoming an excuse. I don’t have a short attention span, don’t really like social media, am not an adrenaline junky, don’t like the blockbusters, but F1 is pretty much unwatchable at the moment.
      1. 

         Jonny Edwards (@racectrl)
         29th June 2015, 22:39

         I’m the same. I watched 18 hours of Le Mans. I’m not an impatient person.
10. 

    WheeledWarrior
    29th June 2015, 20:26

    Biggest problem in F1 now IMO is total lack of unpredictability. Cars being almost bulletproof, no gravel traps punishing driver mistakes, no chance of catching up because lack of in-season testing, DRS making overtaking a joke, silly grid & driver penalties handed out everywhere, starting behind SC when it’s raining and only racing when circuit had almost dried out again and so on…

    All of the above make for very processional racing in which Ferrari can’t catch Mercedes, Williams can’t catch Ferrari and the rest can’t catch Williams. McLaren and Manor don’t seem to be catching anything. Who cares if you run wide or make a mistake, you\ll only lose a few seconds or a place or 2 at most. Why bother making a risky move to overtake if you’re sure to get a penalty because you brushed the other car AND you can just drive by on the straight using DRS?

    And why do Pirelli even bother making full wet tyres? They are never used anyway.
    1. 

       Daniel (@collettdumbletonhall)
       29th June 2015, 20:39

       Summed it all up perfectly.
    2. 

       zekeri
       29th June 2015, 22:50

       Well I think Williams might be just as fast as Ferrari, even faster….
       1. 

          evered7 (@evered7)
          30th June 2015, 9:00

          They are already faster, in a straightline. Once that is wiped out, Williams won’t be a road block for Ferrari anymore.

          I don’t see them catching Ferrari anytime soon. The two races they were on podium were both supposed to be one stoppers and both times Ferrari inflicted defeat on themselves, once through driver error and once through pitstop mess.
11. 

    Aficionado
    29th June 2015, 20:39

    It’s hard making sense of all of this. There’s so much dissatisfaction with F1 right now that the lines are all blurry, and it’s a confusing mess to sort out. There’s lower viewership, lack of a level playing field, anything to do with Bernie (it seems), dissatisfaction with the car technology, boring Tilke-tracks, etc, etc. etc., and they all seem to be interconnected.

    I think it’s a bit boorish to take the same approach as Todt and Wolff and chalk it up to perception (you infantile fans are just being negative, after all), so, instead, what would you choose as the first thing to fix, hoping it would have a ripple effect out to the other problems? I’m going with the unpopular idea of a spending cap/better distribution of prize money, or maybe Mosley’s idea of freeing up development restrictions for teams who stick to a cap. I think that would naturally encourage more teams to enter, make for better competition, lead to more ‘clever’ technological advances instead of the ‘dump in scads of money to get ahead’, and increase viewership. My friend, on the other hand, thinks that’s rubbish.

    What one thing would you guys/girls do? Cheers :)
12. 

    sanson
    29th June 2015, 21:08

    I watch every f1 race and even before the race stars i know who will be first and second. Who cares about who will be third. That makes this f1 nowadays very boring. I would spice up a little bit with spraying the track with water so we would have a simulation of rain. How hard is that to make? We have night races….so why not wet races? And no team would know when it would start rain. It should be planed before the race when it will start raining and when it will stop. So no complains from the teams for giving advantage of any of teams. So easy solutions to spice up f1. I believe at least 30% of races should be in wet conditions.
    1. 

       @HoHum (@hohum)
       29th June 2015, 23:28

       Thanks Bernie, but no thank you.
13. 

    Clark Finlay (@ck2000)
    29th June 2015, 21:45

    I think this year the problem has been the expectation versus the outcomes, we expected a big battle between Marcedes drivers, a fight from Ferrari and a closer midfield. The battles between mercedes drivers never really appears, the tires are good enough to have one stop races and the lead driver gets priority in the stops and the strategy will be not be different. A driver needs to be a far bit faster to overtake another on an equal strategy. The Ferrari may be better than last year no doubt but still doesn’t have the raw pace and probably did luck into a win with Mercedes making mistakes. Even the battle for second in the constructors is likely to not to build up as it could as Ferrari seem to have the pace on Williams and only need to stop making errors which will likely happen when they realise the Mercedes are just to fast to catch.
    1. 

       terry
       29th June 2015, 22:54

       I think Williams is just as fast. Maybe in-season development, or setup changes, or suitable tracks, or something. They are not really so much slower that you can definitely say they are slower. For all we know their drivers are underperforming to be honest. Ferrari-Williams are like Lotus-FI-Toro Rosso. Too close to call it.
14. 

    svianna (@svianna)
    29th June 2015, 22:39

    I have been following F1 for 4 decades now. I believe that there will always be people dissatisfied with something. the major difference now is the fact that social media allows for the coalescing of criticism and a mob mentally ensues, almost instantaneously.

    I, for one, love the fact that the current power units can extract so much power, while consuming so little fuel. For me, that is the kind of technological development that makes F1 the apex of motor racing. In 8-10 years, many of us will be driving road cars wit some technology that is related to today’s F1 power units.

    Porsche 918, Ferrari LaFerrari and the McLaren P1 are the hypercars of 2015 with a lot of technology derived from motor racing, including F1.

    Progress means change and most people are change-adverse. The one prediction I can guarantee is: no matter what FIA, FOCA, etc make, we will ALWAYS have people whining about the “current state of F1”.
15. 

    GT Racer (@gt-racer)
    29th June 2015, 23:33

    To be perfectly honest I really don’t think things are as bad as a lot of people seem to think. There are indeed problems with F1, The cash distribution is wrong, The TV model isn’t great & there are things within the regulations that should be altered…. But I seriously don’t think the quality of the racing is anywhere near as bad as a lot of people are constantly saying it is.

    People complain about the racing this year but the racing is far better than it was 10+ years ago, There’s a lot more close racing, A lot more on-track action & a lot more overtaking than we used to see say pre-2010.

    Yes fine the championship fight hasn’t been a classic, Mercedes are dominating & Lewis has been soundly faster than Nico…. But the racing behind is indefinitely better than it used to be & as a result of that i’ve been enjoying the races a lot more than I used to in the days where literally nothing happened anywhere down the field when it came to close racing/overtaking.

    I put forward an opinion a week or so ago that I felt that the initial years of DRS/Pirelli tyres (2011/2012/early 2013) with 50+ passes at every race & all the crazyness with the tyres generated have raised people’s expectations & that now anything other than what we had then will be considered dull.
    For instance if this years race at Montreal had occurred in say 2004 it would have been considered a classic because there was a lot more close racing & overtaking going on through the field than we traditionally saw back then, But put Canada 2015 in 2011 or 2012 & its a lot less impressive compared to other races those years where the DRS was generating 50+ passes & the tyres were falling off a cliff every race & jumbling up the order from race to race.
    1. 

       GT Racer (@gt-racer)
       29th June 2015, 23:39

       Just one more thing.

       You see a bit of evidence to me theory by looking at the years I mentioned (2011/2012/early 2013). Most hailed the early parts of those years as classics because of all the passing & crazyness the DRS & High-deg tyres were generating. Yet towards the tail end of those years when teams figured the tyres out & the order stabilized you had cries that the races were boring again, Even though there was still a lot more going on through the field than there had been over the years prior.

       The early parts of those years raised expectations & changed people’s view of what the racing should be like so even when the racing towards the end of those seasons was still better than the previous decade it still wasn’t as crazy as they felt it had been a few races prior so a lot of people felt the tail end of those years were dull.
       1. 

          Becken Lima
          30th June 2015, 11:56

          great points.

          I hear people here saying they want unpredictability, but I remember some complaining when Maldonado won, accusing F1 of being fake because a car able to save tyres better was not representative of the real F1 forces at that moment.

          So how you can please these people?
          1. 

             Robbie (@robbie)
             30th June 2015, 13:18

             For me the direction started going the wrong way with the introduction of DRS and hi-deg tires. If those things provided variety at the beginnings of some seasons, I still couldn’t erase that asterisk from my mind that it was due to these gadgets, and less about driver vs driver. So I can’t say my expectations were raised at the start and then dashed as the season went along.

             DRS simply doesn’t belong and is an indication that they can’t break their addiction to downforce so need to mask that with fake passing and drivers waiting for the DRS zone to make their passes. Poor tires make for drivers passing disadvantaged drivers, which is less apples-to-apples passing than it should/could be. And now we have processions anyway.

             If we are going to have processions, I would prefer to at least know the drivers are on something closer to their and their cars’ limits. Right now it is only about managing systems and tires. No limit is being met other than the artificial limits created by the restrictive regs wrt to fuel and tires.

             Close driver vs driver racing via a much greater ratio of mechanical grip to aero grip, and simplifying by getting rid of the gadgets is imho a recipe that could not fail and would only improve the racing and the perception of F1. DRS passes will never be memorable nor talked about ad infinitum for decades, nor will a driver mastering fuel and tire conservation be rated amongst the Great Racers. They are barely racing right now.

             Unpredictability would be great and would go a long long way to improving the current situation, so let’s have it from the drivers actually being able to show their talents that they spent their youth honing. Real driver vs driver racing, not fake driver vs disadvantaged driver running/monitoring/doddling would please me, and I think millions upon millions of others.
             1. 

                GT Racer (@gt-racer)
                30th June 2015, 17:13

                @robbie

                nor will a driver mastering fuel and tire conservation be rated amongst the Great Racers.

                Alain Prost?

                His greatest strength & the thing that earned him the name ‘The professor’ was his ability to look after his equipment & in the 80s especially a big part of that was managing fuel & tyres.

                Like today maximum fuel load was heavily restricted in the 80s (To prevent the turbo cars from running full boost during the races) & it wasn’t uncommon to go the full race non-stop so tyre management was a big factor back then.

                He even won the 1986 championship because of fuel/tyre management in the final race. Others had tyre problems or ran of fuel… Prost managed both perfectly & ran of fuel as he crossed the line to win the race & the championship.
             2. 

                Robbie (@robbie)
                1st July 2015, 1:20

                @gt-racer Yeah that’s fair, but I think you’d agree that Prost was at least taxed to a much greater extent than today’s drivers. And Prost was an anomoly, hence the earned nickname, whereas all of today’s drivers are forced into the same conservative strategy as everyone else, and there is much less sense the drivers are taxed at doing it.

                Consider Prost’s cockpit vs. today’s. The conservation was all in The Professor’s hands. The tires behaved way differently. He had to have sped at least sometimes, given his incredible numbers, and that meant the luxury to sprint having conserved, not tire and fuel limiting running at all times. Whole different feel to it now than then imho.
16. 

    ILuvSoundtracks (@)
    30th June 2015, 10:16

    That’s my rating so far for all these races…:
    * AUS: Boring
    * MAL: Exciting
    * CHN: A bit exciting
    * BHR: Lack of drama
    * ESP: Lack of drama
    * MON: Lack of drama
    * CAN: Lack of drama
    * AUT: Lack of drama

    When will this Lack of Drama streak end?! :P
    1. 

       Hamiton44
       30th June 2015, 21:18

       Bah lack of drama, Mon lack of drama haha. No drama in those too haha…
17. 

    Illusive (@illusive)
    30th June 2015, 10:44

    You know what i’d like, a poll to find out the average age of a viewer and whether they find today’s F1 boring or exciting along with their nationalities.

    This should help us able to find where F1 should be going in a few years time and also in which countries F1 is growing so that they could focus on those countries.
18. 

    Hamiton44
    30th June 2015, 21:16

    lol at Mal having a high ranking, Vet dominated never under threat people clearly just voted and said ah great Ferrari can challenge this year. Yet in no way is that better than Australia im sorry or China Ham was masterclass did not dominate with stupid gap. Also stop with 2014 was boring, far better title race than 2 of Vet years far far better. Drama too the end so much bad luck by the better Merc driver and he as too win loads and loads in a row too win the title. And in the end Nico gets retirement, and the double points gimmick 2014 was a very good year i prefer another team so it was like Ferrari and Mclaren in 07 and 08. I watched 4 years of Vet winnng and Vet is hilarious with his great fortune being sarcastic when the Merc wins. At least let Ham have just 2 years eh Seb?. I mean he had a winning car last year and won a race this year, sounds abit like Lewis Hamilton in the Mclaren. Vet as the WC should have won 3 races last year but his teammate won 3. Hams ratio was usually around 3 a year with Mclaren.

    I will be fine with Ham winning as his fan this year. But of course will welcome variety im a fan of F1 but a retirement for Ham in Silverstone things get very interesting. Ros has been fastest in 2 out of the last 4 races. That is what i like a close title race and we have it AGAIN. Merc will not dominate forever. Ferrari have made so much progress. We will be watching Vet vs Ham again very soon it is ineveitable. And that is really the only thing that can be better imo than Ham vs Ros. Alo is the only guy i would not mind winning another title before Ham and Seb inevitably does(Vet has age on his side). Alo is to talented to win 2 WC. Hopefully Ham gets his 3rd which will be well deserved and Alo quickly gets one as he is probably wasting his last peak years. Alo aint getting better as a driver now.

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