Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
2019 Formula 1 Season Thread
- Thread starter MOFS
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Utterly dull boring race, but Ricardo was cheating a LOT at the end! They disallowed one of Max’s qualifying laps for exceeding track limits, Ricardo doing the same twice forcing other drivers off the track and gaining places should be heavily penalised IF the stewards decide to be consistent with their own rules..
I did fall asleep for a few laps... it was so riveting..
I did fall asleep for a few laps... it was so riveting..
I think Crofty needs more sleep, so far he’s asked Toto which airport he’s flying from and on what plane?? And had a really really really awkward interview with some French stunt pilots..
Now he’s talking about the race, Yeap the race was that exciting the Sky presenters are investigating what planes people are flying out on!....
Now he’s talking about the race, Yeap the race was that exciting the Sky presenters are investigating what planes people are flying out on!....
I'll be honest, I skipped this one. Series like Blancpain and ELMS, which put on amazing racing, struggle to be interesting at Paul Ricard. The chances of F1 being good there are zero. It's a terrible track designed for testing. ELMS, Blancpain and F1 should go elsewhere. I understand the need to have a race in France, and the lack of good circuits, but it's so bad.
ELMS has no excuse. If it needs a stand-alone event in France then it has Le Mans Bugatti available to it.
ELMS has no excuse. If it needs a stand-alone event in France then it has Le Mans Bugatti available to it.
It doesn’t help the growing figures, mind you the F1 team bosses do NOT like the current UK Sky deal, I don’t blame them:
http://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/formulaone/article-7068559/amp/Exclusive-Sky-deal-turn-viewers-say-Formula-One-team-chiefs.html
I am questioning weather or not to continue to pay Sky for it, it’s hardly cheap and pointless with races like today. F1 team bosses want it back on terrestrial TV, to fortunately Sky seem to get away with buying anything they want with no repocusions.. so if you want to watch it you have to pay for it. Even on Now TV they will charge you £200 ish for a season, plus all the adverts they still have..
http://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/formulaone/article-7068559/amp/Exclusive-Sky-deal-turn-viewers-say-Formula-One-team-chiefs.html
I am questioning weather or not to continue to pay Sky for it, it’s hardly cheap and pointless with races like today. F1 team bosses want it back on terrestrial TV, to fortunately Sky seem to get away with buying anything they want with no repocusions.. so if you want to watch it you have to pay for it. Even on Now TV they will charge you £200 ish for a season, plus all the adverts they still have..
None of the teams gave a toss about the fans and now 6m less are watching the UK, they are suddenly on our side lol. Too late in the short term as fans like me stopped watching regularly 5 years ago. Pretty much all my F1 loving friends who used to go to Silverstone have lost interest in F1 since 2011 when Sky took half the season off tv. Now we have highlights and it’s really not worth tuning in and especially after dull races like this where I now know the result.
F1 has been dull for a few years now but taking it off television and hiding it behind a paywall was always going to push away interest. We have a 5 times British world champion (possibly heading for a sixth) and only around 600k people on average in Britain care enough to tune in. Sad times.
F1 has been dull for a few years now but taking it off television and hiding it behind a paywall was always going to push away interest. We have a 5 times British world champion (possibly heading for a sixth) and only around 600k people on average in Britain care enough to tune in. Sad times.
I think the only thing that can save it is it the 2021 regulations, which reportedly cut drag by 90%. The races need to move away from being a strategy or pole position lead formula to one where overtaking is a realistic thing. The race finish was pretty much the start apart from Seb taking the McLarens and Lando’s issues.
The racing is a major part that will help but the other thing that encourages people to tune in and see for themselves is not having to pay £450-500 a season for a satellite contract. The latter is the main excuse I’ve heard from those no longer watching.
Watched about 7 laps and could see the writing on the wall. Went grocery shopping (oh joy!), came back and saw the stories. One story had the "processional" in the headline. So true. I think I'm done with F1. Got on to the important things like mowing the lawn and washing some rugs. Just like pro football which I haven't watched in 3 yrs, I can find other things to do. Hmmm, have to start prioritizing thos "other things" as to gotta do and want to do. It was a gotta do day for me. So, I'll stay on the forum but I'm done with wasting my time watching what F1 calls a race. Cheers
I think you’re right, but I suspect they'll be looking at a bespoke F1 service Netflix-style next contract.
On a side note Ricciardo got two 5 second penalties. In a sign that F1 is listening, they explained it with a video, which definitely helps control the narrative.
Any 15 laps in IndyCar has more action and racing that the entire F1 season so far. This season is a return to irrelevance for the marquee global racing circuit.
Not a huge Indy fan. Though sometimes I can get VIP tickets to the Long Beach races whether Indy or cup car. That tends to be rather exciting and deafening.
Alexander Rossi got a raw deal in F1. He's amazing and more exciting than any driver in F1 including Verstappen.
He can certainly whinge with the best of them!
But if a true measure of how good you are is the gap between you and your team mate, he’s doing well in a third best car.
Meanwhile Mercedes have more points than Ferrari and RBR added together.
But in all my years watching F1, there has always been one car that is better than the rest. They also (often) have the best driver.
So it’s no surprise that the best car, with the best driver in a team that usually get the tactics right are going to win most weeks.
It’s not Mercedes fault that Ferrari keep getting it wrong.
F1 has long been a one, or two car, show.
Shame really.
[doublepost=1561372345][/doublepost]
Agreed.
Sadly, they won't.
I'd say keep the safety stuff and make the cars less tech heavy.
Channel 4 called it a 'highlights' show, but I don't think there were any. Without DRS would there have been any overtaking?
It's a pretty poor show when the drivers are having to justify why it's become such a boring event to watch.
It's a pretty poor show when the drivers are having to justify why it's become such a boring event to watch.
I haven't kept up with the new regulations, but this doesn't sound right to me. The drag coefficient of an F1 car is approx 0.9. To reduce this by 90% would take it to around 0.1, and that's not possible. That's the kind of numbers these eco-mile and Bonneville salt flat vehicles produce. The Toyota Prius and Tesla Model S, which are very low drag for road cars, are 0.24. And they don't have to produce any sort of downforce (which in most cases adds a lot of drag). Reducing drag would make overtaking worse. DRS would be less effective, slipstream would be less effective, and the car in front would have less of a disadvantage than they currently have.
--
F1 has 2 problems. The downforce produced by the top surface of the car is too easily disrupted. So the solution there is to cut downforce and rely more on mechanical grip. But then your cars will be slower.
The biggest problem F1 has (IMO) is the engines. Back in the 50s-90s, anyone could build an F1 engine. V6, V8, V10, V12. In the 90s, if you couldn't afford a good engine, there was about 6 different versions of the Cosworths you could buy and off you go. This variety creates cars with different strengths and weaknesses. This variation in performance is what produces good racing. Now, the teams have no choice - they have to buy a V6 turbo hybrid. And it has to be a set capacity. So now we have engines which all have the same characteristics. Sure the Mercedes is better, but none of them really stand out in any way. And that's before you talk about how engine manufacturers now have F1 over a barrel because if any one of them leave the series collapses. They have built an empire for themselves and can get whatever they want now.
Other series that have better racing tend to produce it through vehicle variety more than less downforce. LMP1 produced amazing racing because it had cars with vastly different solutions to the same problem. LMP2 was better, but now it's a field of ORECAs it's not as much fun. GT3 racing is crazy because there's so many different cars with different engines, different tyres etc.
You can produce good racing with similar cars (see IndyCar), but IndyCar relies more on mechanical grip with less downforce.
Bottas had the fastest time before suffering a fairly big thud. He seems okay. I think he'll be back for FP3 but I would guess the confidence to beat Lewis would now be gone. Then again, Lewis crashed in the Canadian practice and won the race so there's that. Max also crashed earlier and seems okay.
Edit: Now Vettel completely loses it on a fast lap but manages to salvage the car. FP2 might be more exciting than the race!
Edit: Now Vettel completely loses it on a fast lap but manages to salvage the car. FP2 might be more exciting than the race!
Attachments
Last edited: