I remember F1

Since the new F1 season is starting tmrw I am remembering being at the F1 USGP in 2003[was there 2000 thru 2007], when F1 sounded amazing and the cars looked amazing. I also remember during those past seasons always setting my alarm clock for early coverage. Seeing Schumi and Rubens and the total atmosphere of F1 was great. Now in my opinion it doesn't interest me anymore as they look and sound rediculous. I respect the drivers and teams but the powers that be really need to stop changing what is supposed to be the pinnacle of motorsport. The engine is now called a power unit for crying out loud. And the new halo makes the car look like a flip-flop.

 

I was at that race, probably sitting pretty close to where that photo was taken too.

 

Part of the problem is that we're too good at making stuff these days. Back in the day they were developing new technology, while there is new discoveries all the time they are usually at a material level. Their innovation is at a micro level that we can't see. If a company like Ferrari or Mercedes made a car that made full use of everything we know it would probably be undrivable for a human because their minds couldn't keep up and their bodies couldn't deal with the forces.

I don't really know how they fix that, I'm also not totally convinced it's not us that's the problem, we're just turning into old fogies that don't like the new things.

I think they need to start looking at removing down force though. Downforce is the reason they can't over take, it's the reason they can't go faster (because failure in a corner could be fatal), and it's the reason the cars look weird.

 

Couldn`t have said it better myself, started watching in 96 and stopped last year. I just realised there was more things i hated about f1 than i liked. (ugly looking cars, hoover sounding engines, classic tracks destoyed Hockenheim, sliverstone, nurburgring etc. no refueling, drs, meaningless 50 place grid penalty or some bullsh!t and now halo) it doesn't interest me anymore as well... gimme those earth-shattering v 10`s.

 

Agreed. Plus they make them too reliable. Back in the day even if someone had nearly a lap lead on the rest of the field there was still the suspense that they could suffer some random failure that would turn the race on its head. That rarely happens anymore (and not just in F1).

Well, maybe, but the fact that the season opening IndyCar race (featuring new bodywork that removed a lot of topside aero and put things back in the drivers hands) was so exciting would tend to suggest that the F1 cars are more the problem than the old fogey fans. For me a big part of the draw towards motorsports was about watching the drivers control something that was out of control and was trying to destroy them at any given opportunity. You don't really get that in modern F1, the cars look effortless to drive (even though they aren't) and rarely do the drivers look like they're taming an out of control beast. Combine that with the nearly comprehensive lack of on-track overtaking at the front of the field and it just makes for a dull experience.

That being said, F1 is still my favorite and probably always will be. I know, I can't explain it either.

 

+1

 

Downforce is a predominant thing in F1 since half a century, and we can't say that back in early 90, the beginning of Schumacher's era, F1 was as it's now.
The involution has begun with the introduction of electronics, that has shifted the balance more from driving to managing.
This F1 is to all about manage tyres, manage batteries, manage fuel, manage oil burn, manage engine, manage ERS deployment, etc.
It's a point where without software and electronics aids the drivers are unable to handle those complex, and expensive, machines.
They should literally ban all the electronics and let the drivers drive alone, then the natural evolution would be to step back to much simpler, not necessarily slower and less technological, cars, more accessibility to new factories, and less predictability of the races.