Formula 1 is lacklustre this year...

[Klutch9]

Anyone else agree? Formula 1, in my opinion, has been great the past few years (for the most part). 2008 ended with Hamilton claiming the title on the last turn of the last lap of the last race... phenomenal! 2009 saw Brawn racing come out of nowhere and essentially dominate; which sounds boring, but you don't see many rookie teams do much of anything in F1 nowadays, even the ones that have deep roots, like Brawn (now Mercedes GP) did. 2010 saw the possibility of 3 drivers claiming the title going into the last race, and the realization of just how good Sebastian Vettel was. 2011, although I don't remember anything specifically about the season in general, saw some good racing and was enjoyable to watch. In 2012, you had 7 different drivers win the first 7 races! That was fun to watch

Now in 2013... Mercedes do great in qualifying, other teams practice/qualify well, and then Red Bull usually win if not lock up the podium. Very mediocre, IMO. Now, don't get me wrong, Seb and Mark are great drivers with a great team, and what they've accomplished is incredible. But for viewership, it blows. I have always been a fan of the Prancing Horses, and I always root for them, but moreover I just really enjoy seeing good racing, especially at the front of the pack, more than anything else. Hopefully next year will see some tighter competition, with the new aero rules, new engines, new transmissions, etc. Although I thoroughly believe that Sebastian Vettel will win his 4th consecutive title this season, I'm boldly predicting that Kimi will win the title with Ferrari next year. I hope I'm right!

 

[A_Harman]

Yes, I think Vettel is on his way to a 4th title this year. I'm tired of him now. Can't someone else win one?
Next year? The new powerplant rules make predicting a champion impossible. There is so much new technology that there may be durability issues. The guy that finishes all the races will probably just fall into the championship.

 

[Bottom_Feeder]

I agree. While I admire a new player like Red Bull coming in and mixing things up like they did a few years ago, the races are boring now unless you are a Vettel fan, of which there are so many nowadays for some reason. .

F1 is on a downhill slide and I hope the new rules and regs next year make it more interesting. I'm tired of the tire drama for one thing.

 

[shDK]

No doubt the new rules is quite a joker. However. Renault has performed very good and stable making engines for redbull for a long time. In my opinion. Renault makes the best engines. And therefore combined with vettel (why are germans so good at racing?) They will win again.

 

[IndyIan]

A few races have been interesting because of the tires dropping off, but lately I agree with you.
The Redbull is too fast and Vettel doesn't even have to try hard, so he's not likely to make a mistake.
We'll see what Singapore brings though, not much room for error there! A Vettel DNF and podium for Alonso would make it more interesting.

 

[benjamming]

DRS & Pirelli tires that are carp (as directed) certainly harm the sport much less the show.

 

[whip]

Ironicly, back in the good ole days of F1, the races weren't even as close as they are today. I don't think the races are that bad. Yes, there's been better, but there's been way worse.

 

[bdcardinal]

Go back and watch some races from when Michael Schumacher dominated and tell me this season is boring. I'm a Schumacher and Vettel fan, and even in the early 00's I was getting bored of the races.

 

[dparm]

Agree that next year will be more interesting with the new powerplant.

 

[Hounds]

The problem with F1 -- if you're willing to acknowledge there is one -- is the current formula's regulations results in too much car and not enough driver. The simplest way to change that would be to prescribe a fixed aerodynamic number and probibit wings and appendages. Without the current aerodynamic downforce, the positives and negatives of slipstreaming would be minimized, and the drivers would be back to depending principally on mechanical grip. Additionally, were I God of the F1 World, I'd eliminate the spec tire rule but not the number which could be used, and require the tire supplier (suppliers?) to offer whatever they develop to all the teams. You might actually see one car pass another following the green flag.

What we have now is a race in qualifying. After that, absent the occasional mechanical failure, the weekend's outcome is pretty much determined by the length of the pitstops.

 

[Garak]

I've heard that argument several times, with respect to downforce, but I'm really not convinced. We still see the better drivers shining in the race, regardless of where they qualified. KR seems to be able to gain places readily when something goes wrong in his qualification. Vettel had little problems moving up last year when he had to start from pit lane. Even though Michael's return was nowhere near his prime, he consistently gained places during races.

I do agree the tire strategy business can be a bit bothersome. If Monaco didn't have at least a couple safety cars each race, it would turn into a parade in short shrift.

 

[SubLGT]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/110069

"Sebastian Vettel: Red Bull not at fault for dull GPs"

 

[whip]

Originally Posted By: SubLGT
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/110069

"Sebastian Vettel: Red Bull not at fault for dull GPs"

How could it be? The teams job is to build the best car possible. Blame the other teams for not building a competitive car. Maybe now that Ferrari hired an engineer from Lotus, they can actually learn how to use the wind tunnel. Until then, I don't care what kind of engine they use. They won't get better.

 

[A_Harman]

Originally Posted By: IndyIan
A few races have been interesting because of the tires dropping off, but lately I agree with you.
The Redbull is too fast and Vettel doesn't even have to try hard, so he's not likely to make a mistake.
We'll see what Singapore brings though, not much room for error there! A Vettel DNF and podium for Alonso would make it more interesting.


Wishful thinking, eh? Vettel crushed all of the competition in qualifying and the race. Nobody else even came close to leading a lap. Vettel could sit out the next two races and still have the championship lead.
At least his closest competitors had a good day; Alonso 2nd, Raikonnen 3rd.

 

[Garak]

Originally Posted By: A_Harman
Vettel crushed all of the competition in qualifying and the race. Nobody else even came close to leading a lap.

That basically covers it. He dominated that race completely, and had there been no safety car, the margin would have been even greater.

 

[gofast182]

I think there have been a couple good battles in each race but the problem is those battles aren't usually for podium spots which diminishes their significance, I really would like to see more passes for more positions in the race.

DRS, to me, is like singers using auto-tune, sometimes it's tolerable but in the end you always realize its fake and contrived so I could do without it (both DRS and auto-tune).

Tires: having them purposefully go off so quickly doesn't make the sport look good and it doesn't make Pirelli look good (even if they were told to make the tires like that). Let's see one tire change per race and more time driving. I'd love to see two competing tire manufacturers at the same time (I know it won't happen).

Vettel/Red Bull: I think Vettel is somewhat of an [censored] and a poor teammate but he's a stellar driver (to the point of being robotic and boring) and Red Bull have built him the best car. So while I may not want him to win, you can't argue with it when a team has a good driver and the best car. As long as they're not cheating it just means the other constructors all have room to improve.

2014: not digging the new engine, the clip of the Merc. engine I heard/saw didn't sound good, rather dull, actually. F1 needs screaming engines, period. It's part of the sport. Hopefully there are some changes not just to the Formula but racing rules as well to make it more exciting. I'm expecting McLaren to come back with a great chassis next year.

 

[Garak]

Vettel's a good ambassador for the sport. One hardly ever sees him grumble or whine. He does cause others to grumble or whine, but that's not quite the same thing.

As for next year's engine, I guess we'll have to see how it pans out. At the very least it should mix things up a bit.

 

[Ayrton]

I don't think it's lackluster.

Red Bull is always extra strong, after the long 4 week summer break. It's like they plan their season around coming out of that break, better than ever.

Up until the summer break, last race before it was Hungary, we had some decent battles.

Now it has gotten a bit less exciting, but what can you do when a team and driver are so good?

I'm confident at least a couple of the final six races will be thrillers. Nevertheless, I find all the races enjoyable, no matter the outcome or competitiveness for the top position.

 

[Bill888]

No matter how hard they try to equalize the teams' speeds (DSR;KERS; timebomb tires and mandated tire useage, etc.) there will always be one team and driver that is significantly faster than the rest. The combination of Vettel/RB is unbeatable. While I wish we had true competition at the front, what Vettel did in Singapore was absolute art in motion (1.5 sec. per lap over 2nd in F1 is unbelievable.)
What I'd really like to see is a return to fewer rules. Big V10's, choose your own tire strategy, no DRS/KERS. If your team doesn't have the funds to race in F1, they they should find another venue. I'd rather see 10 state of the art cars racing than a watered-down formula with 24 cars merely doing laps.

 

[gofast182]

Originally Posted By: Bill888
...While I wish we had true competition at the front, what Vettel did in Singapore was absolute art in motion (1.5 sec. per lap over 2nd in F1 is unbelievable.)
What I'd really like to see is a return to fewer rules. Big V10's, choose your own tire strategy, no DRS/KERS. If your team doesn't have the funds to race in F1, they they should find another venue. I'd rather see 10 state of the art cars racing than a watered-down formula with 24 cars merely doing laps.

There is absolutely something to be said for both points:

Vettel was putting on a clinic.

10 cars racing rather than 24 cars doing laps, absolutely.