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Off topic: Does anyone happen to have an invite to the racing torrent site? I have a friend who'd like to join, but I'm all out of invites. PM me if you are willing to donate an invite

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I shagged a couple of loose balls for her in warmups.

It got pretty serious again this year. But it became silent again during the summer, just before they should start hiring riders.
The remarkable thing is that Betinni isn't allowed to say why the team won't be happening next year.

I can't disagree with this more, I love every moment of the action packed races we're getting atm, every time they go side by side I fear the worst (Lewis VS Nico at COTA? "SHIT! LEWIS HAS HIT NICO OFF! OH PHEW ALL OK NOW! ) and some of the passes we're getting atm would go into the top 10 of the decade 10 years ago, it's just there's so many of them these days that it's hard to single out one. (Also that people see great racing and like to try and talk it down by sneering about DRS and Tyres even though the overtakes themselves still take an immense amount of skill

I'd rather there was too much action like now than absolutely zero action in the refueling/grooved tyres/traction control era where we'd go 3/4 races with the only position changes being via the pit lane. Awful.

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RIP Birmingham Wheels: here's some of the crash videos I recorded when it was there:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIaKIE ... 5t9d5PvoHA

Twitter:

http://www.twitter.com/paulhadsley

I think they're two very different things. Comparing them isn't as logical as you might think. Until 2002 the question of action wasn't really considered - yes, they had made changes to the cars in 98 to create more overtaking and introduced refuelling a few years before for the same reason, but the 2002-03 changes mark a turning point in the way the FIA managed the sport. Everything that's been done since has made F1 a completely different sport from what it was

Even TV directing has changed radically - watch a late 90s race in full and you'll see that all the focus is on the guys at the front, so you don't even know if you've got a five-way battle for 15th, whereas now the director will desperately search for a close battle even if it's for a meaningless place. That's something that didn't even kick in until the last 10-15 years and we don't fully appreciate that - and in some ways I think it's a bad thing because it's just promoting this idea of F1 as a hyperactive sport rather than allowing it to build tension in the way other sports do

Watching an F1 race is an absolutely bizarre experience now, because it's nearly 2 hours long but you're not allowed to take a break at any time - they're constantly bombarding you with stuff on the screen. It's gone from being football to being basketball. More "scores" hasn't necessarily made it more interesting. Races are still the same as they always were - there's just more there to distract you

Unfortunately with DRS I think the 'temporary solution' is now the permanent fix which knocks my love of F1 down another notch with every one of the easier DRS highway passes I have the displeasure of watching.

To be completely honest I'm at a strange point right now,

Since 2011 with DRS & to a lesser extent the High-Deg tyres i've just been slowly losing interest, I no longer really enjoy the races or the racing as I used to. I just don't enjoy watching the DRS passes, Especially the ridiculously easy one's & at times I've hated the way the tyres have impacted things.
But on the other hand I love the new formula because I love how the reduced downforce & the new power units with all there extra torque & stuff have made the cars more interesting to watch been driven. Seeing drivers having to be careful with there right foot exiting slow corners & watching cars moving around that bit more is what i've been hoping to see again ever since Traction Control came in for 2001 & tamed the V10's.

So I'm at this strange point where in one way F1 has gone in a direction I like but on the other side I hate the (as I see it) artificial nature of some of the racing since 2011 & further proposed/implemented nonsense like double points & Standing restarts as well as the political bullshit & what happened to Jules at Suzuka has just taken a massive amount of the passion I once had for F1 away.

More like Manure GP

You know, I see 5000 of these "I'm losing passion for the sport" posts on this and many other forums, yet I never do see that passion actually being lost.
IE, if you still have the passion to type that much about the sport on a niche forum such as this.....you still care.

10 years ago I was the Champcar fanboy, but I only went that way because I'd turned my back on F1 and its overtaking-less races, I went searching for something more exciting. Hello CART.
If you actually lose passion for the sport you also lose passion for posting negatively about it and wishing it was better too.

There's such a air of negativity around the sport atm, probably for good reason in regard to the finances and bernie etc, but all that is overshadowing we are witnessing a pretty cool championship battle and the racing product is hugely enjoyable these days, if you allow yourself to enjoy it

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RIP Birmingham Wheels: here's some of the crash videos I recorded when it was there:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIaKIE ... 5t9d5PvoHA

Twitter:

http://www.twitter.com/paulhadsley

BUT THE RACING IS FAKE AND MANUFACTURED

GOLD MEDAL FOR THE WINNER AND SPRINKLERS INSTALLED AROUND THE TRACK FOR RANDOM RAIN PERIOD PLZ

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RIP Birmingham Wheels: here's some of the crash videos I recorded when it was there:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIaKIE ... 5t9d5PvoHA

Twitter:

http://www.twitter.com/paulhadsley

YES

and full course cautions, no more local yellows

I think the issue with the negativity is that the product has the potential to be one remembered as a golden era, but the respective power brokers and "stakeholders" aren't interested in that. They are only interested in their ROI, where as we the fans are only interested in the show, not the politicking in governance.

Here is a radical and stupidly easy idea to fix the income issue. Pay prize money for each finishing position per race, to be distributed quarterly, with a bonus payment at the end of the year for final position in the constructor's standings.

Teams get cash flow for the season rather than I presume at the end of the year. Teams would know exactly how much money they would be getting per race (after the race of course) and would be better able to balance their budgets with it.

For example 1st place gets $6 million, 2nd $4 million, 3rd $2.5 million etc down to last place getting $20K.

At the end of the year 1st place in the constructor's gets 40% of their final tally 2nd 30% etc down to last place 5%.

You are still rewarding final constructor's positions, but you are also giving a known monetary incentive for someone to take a position. If the difference between 4th and 5th is say 500K, some one like Force India might just say go for it, rather than playing it conservatively.

But this would most likely never happen cause its purely a performance based structure. Ferrari, Red Bull and McLaren want their guaranteed slice of the pie, and as I said in an earlier post, I can't fathom how the FIA has let the teams dictate the sport basically.

Actually I did lose my passion. I have troubles keeping my focus on the television when F1 is on.
I don't make sure I'm home in time for F1 anymore.

I kinda feel bad if I think about it. There was a time I didn't want to miss a second of free practice. Now I'm just not that bothered anymore. F1 lost a lot of it's charm the last couple of years.

Agreed, I used to read and watch everything possible. Now I have cancelled my subscribtion on Autosport, don't bother to program qualifying when I'm not home, and only turn on the TV 2 minutes before race start. I still watch every race, but nothing more than that.

Perhaps this is more to do with age and maturity than the actual sport?

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BTCC Pick Em's Champion 2010
Formula Fun Cup Champion 2013
http://www.the-fastlane.co.uk

I don't think so. I'm still very into other sports.

I get more pleasure from watching feeder series than I do from watching F1. It feels so artificial. Just push a button and pass your opponent.

I feel the same but also partly because of what kals said. As I kid I could look up to drivers like Hakkinen and Schumacher but now some drivers are even younger than me.

Age absolutely has a factor in this. I'm a dad now and a husband. Time cannot be spent watching everything and reading into everything.

But it's also losing its appeal. I'm the kind of guy that can root for the underdogs but those are disappearing. 2010 saw 3 new teams but those are now gone. When I started watching there where tons of underdogs and even if 1 fell, the was another coming in. At the same time there where talks of others joining. The Sauber announcement was well ahead of their actual entry. Dams even had Jan Lammers as a testdriver for a while. They didn't join in the end but there always seemed to be a buzz of new teams, engine manufacturers, tyre manufacturers or big sponsors coming in.

I miss that. Even with the new engine rules the only new one will be Honda. While everyone expected Audi to finally step in, Toyota and BMW coming back. Maybe finally see Hyundai step in. But there barely are any rumors of those entering any time soon. It looks like everyone is ignoring F1.

I came to the conclusion a while back that if I genuinely prefer "old F1" a lot more than present day F1, that's fine as long as I remember that "old F1" isn't coming back - there's no way of reversing technology, undoing safety changes or bringing back old drivers so don't expect a few rule changes to make it like how it was before. Granted, I'm still not entirely happy with the way F1 is today (as shown by my whinging) but I'm more at peace with it than I was a year or two ago, and I've been able to enjoy this season more than the last couple

But the races I enjoy watching most of all these days are the old races I haven't seen before. We're quite lucky to have quite a lot of them on Daily Motion. I'm working my way through 1996 at the moment - it's great procrastination

Age does have an effect. Like Mika Kimi said, the drivers are now younger then I am and like BTCC last year, they're starting to be half my age! Verstappen will be next year, that's making me feel really old

for manufacturers F1 should be profitable, and for the teams, it should be a sport to say "we worked hard and won". Bernie should be aware of that, as both parts aren't achieving any goal

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Motorsports trend for 2024: everything is a bad taste joke now