Formula One, in my opinion, is nothing more than a few hamsters running inside a wheelhouse. It’s a pointless endeavour and an utter waste of time for everyone involved, including money and talent. I can list at least 10 reasons why I still hate it. Go ahead and prove me wrong.
- It’s not sports: Don’t call a bunny-turtle race a sport. If you want it to be a sport, you assign the same model of cars to all drivers, and then we’ll talk.
- It’s not a race: What kind of race needs one of its competitors to slow down as part of a team strategy? It’s like Yohan Blake asking Usain Bolt to a slowdown because Jamaica said so.
- Crashes: I was told that the crashes are precisely the most spectacular features of the sport. Apparently, movies such as Death Race were inspired by these races, including F1. If it is true, then it’s deplorable.
- It’s not exciting: Around six blokes are always ahead of the game, and the rest are always behind. I take a nap, shower, grab a coffee and browse back to the channel – they will still be racing in the same race at the same positions!
- It’s a pit race: By the sound of it, races are won at the pit stops rather than tracks. It’s like cricket is won in the dugout, not the field.
- Expensive: Considering you’ll only see the start, finish and one glimpse per lap as an in-field audience! Even 1$ is costly if the deal is to sit there and yawn.
- Technology: there is this popular notion that the money generated is being put to the noble use of inventions in the automobile industry. With investment in the neighbourhood of $ 500 million a year for each team for so many years, I should have expected at the least an alien car craft to be invented! But our cars still break down at the signal.
- Rich-men sport: How easy is it for a new team to make an entry into the circuit? Suppose they do; how many years do they need to compete and log even a single point on board?
- Hype: F1 is nothing more than a Ponzi scheme of the sports world with blown-up go-karting. People follow because it is uncool not to follow. It’s a fashion statement.
- F1 geeks: They irritate me every day with specifics of turbo engines, RPMs, cylinders and other parts, which never amuse me!
This is part 2 of what I had written a few years back.
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Update: Due to many good friends of mine objected to the wording of #3 on crashes being spectacular, I have reworded it to have less exaggeration. But the content remains the same. I can’t believe you never heard about it. One example right away, this author explains the romance between danger and dependency of F1 revenue on it. He writes :
……No one, myself included, wants to see drivers die, but by eliminating the potential for death (as nearly as possible), the danger which led to the popularity of the sport is lost.
The remaining glamour, without the danger, is empty and superficial—glamour for glamour’s sake—an endless parade of celebrities shuffling up and down the pit lane and drivers throwing their cars into turns, knowing the risks have been diminished should they get it wrong.
I still stick to all other points unless convinced otherwise.
The Bach 
🙂 Being nice –
Factual errors –
– No one hopes for a spectacular crash – I don’t know where you got that.
– It is a “team”-sport – the point is that the driver is just one of the team-members and the entire team (design, manufacturing, pit crew, etc) is responsible for getting the car to the finish line ahead of others.
Some things *could* improve (such as budget limits, similar to what is now put in Soccer to make things more fair)
– Race is not won purely via pit-stops – there are clean-overtaking moments which is what racing is all about. There are accidents (small/big) which can change the race entirely. It’s also about strategy and great deal of luck (for e.g. gambling on weather when choosing tyres)
– Ponzi scheme?!! 🙂
“It’s not exciting: Around six blokes always ahead of game, the rest always behind. I take a nap, take a shower, grab a coffee and browse back to the channel – they will be still racing in same race in same position! ” – I think you haven’t seen enough races. Besides, a race beings from the qualifyings which decides starting positions for the teams.
I am not denying it can be boring at times. But then so can be test cricket. Just like cricket, there are options to view highlights instead of watching the entire race, if you are so inclined.
– last couple of points you mentioned are just your feelings – nothing to prove or disprove there!
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Roopesh, Thanks for being nice.
I have updated the post on crash comment, I rephrased it.
A lot of people participating in it do not make it sports. Sports are when something given same conditions. If you want to judge technology, run it through by same team. If you want to judge teams, make them run cars.
And why cricket ? I never said test cricket is not boring, nor golf. Them being boring or not does not make F1 not boring.
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‘Aside from all that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?’
My introduction to your blog is this post on F1, of which I have passing knowledge. All I know is team work, without the pit, without the money of sponsors, a driver alone is nothing. But I can see your point. 🙂
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Dunelight.. thanks for dropping by.
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Dunelight , you have a fantastic blog. Thanks
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YW..I saw you looked at a lot of my shots. Not many people post about Formula 1 and you have some notions about it that I agree with. My husband likes it. I was entertained by how emphatic your feelings were on it while I remain indifferent.
People are interesting in their varying tastes and interests. I enjoyed your blog. 🙂
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Thanks very much… Keep following and more yo come 🙂
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So, you don’t like it, then?
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No sir, I do not like it.
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Joining the affray! Arguably, nothing which is motivated by money can be accounted as a sport. So most Olympic activity, for example, has to be disqualified. I think I would contest that the technological research that F1 initiates has a bearing on so many other activities that the excitement aspect is just a bonus. The research would happen anyway, but a competitive edge adds an inducement. Thanks to F1 your car is protected to an incredibly high standard. the tech, that allows an F1 driver to crash at 200mph and climb out unharmed will help to keep you safe, too. The teamwork that makes it possible to change four road tyres in 2 seconds may not seem to have a direct correlation to the way your executive runs its company, but believe me, a lot of it does rub off. There are so many spin-offs, these are just a couple of examples. Personally I admire the epic level of skill of the Hamiltons and the LeClerks. I don’t begrudge them their wealth, either. I think they earn it!
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