My Word F1 used to be a LOT better.
Discussion
I am too young to remember it (no, really) but now I am watching it on Freeview 301, the GP of the early 90s etc.. was sensational. Really thrilling stuff, the drivers look sooooooo much more on the edge and they certainly took a lot more risks and fecked up the overtakes a lot more as well... Damn it makes the current F1 look dull.......
And I bet there was someone watching in the 90's saying that the 80's were better, And someone watching in the 80's saying that the 70's were better etc etc etc.
There will always be great races in the past but I have to say apart from the BS politics the 2008 season was one of my favourite ever and I have watched since the late 80's.
There will always be great races in the past but I have to say apart from the BS politics the 2008 season was one of my favourite ever and I have watched since the late 80's.
been watching since middle of the 70's, and it always seems the new season is going to be nowhere near as good as the previous year, but then along comes something to make it interesting, see massa's refueling rig goof last year!! Have to say though, my favourite years were the turbo years, nothing like watching senna doing a banzai single qualifying lap!!
I could not agree more.
I too am too young to remember but am a huge fan of historic formula 1, mainly thanks to the influence of my dad who knows more than there is to know about f1 in the 60's and 70's (seriously, im talking chassis numbers and what shade 'real' mclaren orange is
)
there just seemed to be so much more passion in it and the cars were more mechanical genius rather than technological marvels.
dont get me wrong i still enjoy the f1 of today and appreciate that changes over time that have got the sport to where it is today but wish i could have been around to appreciate the 'good old days' too
yes this is my first post to so hi to all..
I too am too young to remember but am a huge fan of historic formula 1, mainly thanks to the influence of my dad who knows more than there is to know about f1 in the 60's and 70's (seriously, im talking chassis numbers and what shade 'real' mclaren orange is
)there just seemed to be so much more passion in it and the cars were more mechanical genius rather than technological marvels.
dont get me wrong i still enjoy the f1 of today and appreciate that changes over time that have got the sport to where it is today but wish i could have been around to appreciate the 'good old days' too
yes this is my first post to so hi to all..
snowy slopes said:
been watching since middle of the 70's, and it always seems the new season is going to be nowhere near as good as the previous year, but then along comes something to make it interesting, see massa's refueling rig goof last year!! Have to say though, my favourite years were the turbo years, nothing like watching senna doing a banzai single qualifying lap!!
Agree absolutely after watching him in various F1 cars from Toleman onwards. It used to be said that if Senna was on a flying qually lap, and he got a grain of sand under one of his tyres, he'd be in the crowd. 100% commitment and confidence in his ability and equipment.
The days of turbo / skirted ground effect cars were a bit of a giggle too - when a skirt lifted and stuck. First thing a driver would know about it was when he braked for the corner, and his car was about 30% of the weight it should have been. Ouch...
cqueen said:
No he's right, modern F1 is dull as anything compaired to the 90's.
What? Did you see last season or '07?When in the nieties were there 6 different winners in one season?
90's F1, particularly '96-'99 was often soul crushingly dull. Some early ninties seasons were decent but come-on, there is some severe rose tinted glasses usage going on here.
Craig@CMR said:
reminds you of how obvious it was that shoe-maker deliberately took hill out though.
Yeah, I just saw that on channel 301 as well, I must confess I can't quite believe that he 1. Did that
2. Got away with it
It sadly looked contrived (and I think Schumacher is a superb driver as well)
Nobody You Know said:
And I bet there was someone watching in the 90's saying that the 80's were better, And someone watching in the 80's saying that the 70's were better etc etc etc.
My Dad for one! Everything was better before.What struck me, especially with the 86 race, is how different the cars were from each other then. Williams were quicker, McLarens used their tyres better, and this made for good racing. The cars looked different, took different lines into corners etc
It seems like the last 15 years or so the regulations have moved towards making cars almost identical, the idea being that is puts more emphasis on driver skill. All it actually does is make the smallest difference the most important, so someone who is .03 of a second quicker in qualifying is .03s a lap quicker in the race and is 3 seconds clear after 10 laps.
Better when you have a big differences handing the advantage to different cars throughout the weekend.
Better for overtaking too. There's all this talk about aerodynamics making it impossible to pass, but there's actually few enough times when a car is stuck behind another unable to pass. Ultimately speed differentials are the only thing that facilitate overtaking. With the cars so evenly matched there is hardly ever a big enough difference to make a pass feasible.
I will however concede that since I started watching F1 in the mid 80s there has always been the possibility of very dull races. Sometimes a driver and car package is just far ahead of the others and can pull out a comfortable gap and maintain that throughout the race. Realistically there will always be that possibility with a 90 minute race.
The main thing that's put a downer on it in 'recent' times (if we can call 15 years that!) is fuel stops IMO - ok, the fuelling strategies often provide an extra twist in the plot that wouldn't be there otherwise, but all too often places exchange hands in the pits rather than on the track!
Varying levels of boost and the slipstreaming opportunities presented by huge amounts of wing seemed to add something to the action too (tho maybe that is the rose-tinted specs syndrome as I was only a youngun at the time!..) that said, the last couple of seasons have been some of the most entertaining in years!
Varying levels of boost and the slipstreaming opportunities presented by huge amounts of wing seemed to add something to the action too (tho maybe that is the rose-tinted specs syndrome as I was only a youngun at the time!..) that said, the last couple of seasons have been some of the most entertaining in years!
t boring too.I think the fact that the cars don't move quite so much nowadays makes it look a bit less exciting. It's almost back to the ground-effect days. But that said, if you are sitting at the trackside it's just as thrilling due to the noise, the smell, the delicious burgers, the other people, the build-up and the races taking place down the field which are not covered on the TV. But nowadays with lots more in-car footage and such, the presentation is much better. I've a neighbour who hasn't got a life, but what he has got is a 54" TV so he's got a lot of neighbours as well. It really makes the racing exciting and you can sit too close to the TV and there's still lots of detail. And with the investment the BBC's put into it this season, it should be better still.
All races have boring periods when little is going on at the front. But there's always something interesting going on down the field. All we need is more overtaking. There's nothing more frustrating when you're at the circuit with your stopwatches and you see some young driver closing in on the car in front and the gap gets smaller and then he's just a bit less than a second behind and the excitement has gone.
But that's been the norm for years.
I think the 90s provide better nostalgia than the 2000s as someone in the group will remember the details of the latter and torpedo the bull. But the 90s, that's a long time ago and if you're in the pub, the first couple of pints fogs the memory of that long ago so you can tell sotries of nine abreast into Club. I remember that. It happened every race.
All races have boring periods when little is going on at the front. But there's always something interesting going on down the field. All we need is more overtaking. There's nothing more frustrating when you're at the circuit with your stopwatches and you see some young driver closing in on the car in front and the gap gets smaller and then he's just a bit less than a second behind and the excitement has gone.
But that's been the norm for years.
I think the 90s provide better nostalgia than the 2000s as someone in the group will remember the details of the latter and torpedo the bull. But the 90s, that's a long time ago and if you're in the pub, the first couple of pints fogs the memory of that long ago so you can tell sotries of nine abreast into Club. I remember that. It happened every race.
I used to video tape the highlight programmes starting with the 1983 season and certainly, even watching the old recordings now, there was much more variety and interest going on up until the mid 1990s.
I have to say it was the Schumacher period of dominance which almost killed F1 for me. Whilst I could appreciate his skills, he had too many character flaws for me to ever really admire him and I have to say, the racing his picked up a lot since he departed the scene.
Last year was a cracker and I am really looking forward to 2009*
I have to say it was the Schumacher period of dominance which almost killed F1 for me. Whilst I could appreciate his skills, he had too many character flaws for me to ever really admire him and I have to say, the racing his picked up a lot since he departed the scene.
Last year was a cracker and I am really looking forward to 2009*
Nobody You Know said:
cqueen said:
No he's right, modern F1 is dull as anything compaired to the 90's.
What? Did you see last season or '07?When in the nieties were there 6 different winners in one season?
90's F1, particularly '96-'99 was often soul crushingly dull. Some early ninties seasons were decent but come-on, there is some severe rose tinted glasses usage going on here.
Every season has its fun moments and its dull - Hakkinen's overtake at Spa '99 was part of a brilliant race.
For me, the dullest part was the Schuey years 2000-2005 - it was like reading a book that you knew the ending of before you even picked it up - he'd qualify near the front, trundle around for the first stint, then when everyone went in the pits, he'd scream around, and pop out of the pits somewhere higher up. Repeat ad nauseam for many race victories. It meant the fight for the win almost never involved overtaking. It's supposed to be motor racing, not chess.
For me, the dullest part was the Schuey years 2000-2005 - it was like reading a book that you knew the ending of before you even picked it up - he'd qualify near the front, trundle around for the first stint, then when everyone went in the pits, he'd scream around, and pop out of the pits somewhere higher up. Repeat ad nauseam for many race victories. It meant the fight for the win almost never involved overtaking. It's supposed to be motor racing, not chess.
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