Is a Oval race the missing link between America and F1?

[slimfitcasual]

As an American, I can admit to you guys that ovals bore me to tears. A solid US bred driver would help F1 interest in the states. Hoping Rossi comes through to Haas next year, seems like he has promise.

[sgth0mas]

I see...i was answering why i think it is not whats missing in america. Aside from any technical feasibility, F1 has the very likely possibility of emberassing themselves even more by running 18 cars on a track that is used to 30-40 near spec cars. The nascar and indy show will just be better.

More F1 races in america would be good, but only on road courses.

[dans79]

To grow in America, F1 needs to get it's act together.

It needs to cut down on the constant stream of negatively & drama associated with it.

1) The constant complaining about cost
2) The constant demands/complaints about rules to hinder who ever the top team happens to be
3) The constant complaints about the races being boring or to predictable.

Honesty at times, it seems like the people running/participating in F1 and the European fan base, want to turn F1 into the Motorsports equivalent of big brother.

Most of the American demographic that would follow F1 and go to races (young, middle class, technically minded), can't stand reality TV. A lot of us have enough stupid drama in our day to day lives, so when we have free time, we try and avoid that crap.

[Andres125sx]

So you don´t think Austin GP is good enough to promote F1 in USA?

IMO this is the only new track wich is worth, considering both the country and track layout


And no, to me oval tracks have never been and shouldn´t be part of F1, they´re too different.

1- Tyres are not designed for continuous banking, I think it´s not necessary to mention some past experiece...
2- PU are not designed for races with no braking points and constant throttle
3- Aero is not designed for ovals. Races are boring enough in traditional tracks, imagine if they´d need to keep 2 seconds gap on a oval to take the corner and avoid destroying the tyres
4- F1 fans are not going to enjoy an oval tracks either, we´re used to different corners, brakings, etc. I can´t imagine an F1 race without a single braking point

Basically you´d need to re-design F1 completely, and even so you can´t change fans likings

[FW17]

So you don´t think Austin GP is good enough to promote F1 in USA?

IMO this is the only new track wich is worth, considering both the country and track layout

What COTA is as good as serving pork chops to arabs or veal to indians

[Moose]

F1 shouldn't be concentrating on America at all. It should be concentrating on regaining the support it once had in Europe. A lot of the reason it's lost that is because it's spent far too much effort on trying to become a global sport, and not enough on its core fans.

[sgth0mas]

So you don´t think Austin GP is good enough to promote F1 in USA?

IMO this is the only new track wich is worth, considering both the country and track layout

Im pretty lost on what this even means...

What COTA is as good as serving pork chops to arabs or veal to indians

[FW17]

Im pretty lost on what this even means...

Arabs don't eat pork

Indians don't eat beef

[sgth0mas]

Im pretty lost on what this even means...

Arabs don't eat pork

Indians don't eat beef

But what does that have to do with cota..?

[Andres125sx]

So you don´t think Austin GP is good enough to promote F1 in USA?

IMO this is the only new track wich is worth, considering both the country and track layout

What COTA is as good as serving pork chops to arabs or veal to indians

Not sure what are you trying to say here...

If you mean COTA is trying to sell F1 to a country not interested in F1 I recommend you to read something about GP attendance, for example... (data from 2013)

http://circuitoftheamericas.com/blog/20 ... ost-for-au

- third-highest Sunday attendance of the season, with an impressive total 113,162 fans visiting Circuit of The Americas. This was more than the attendance for the Monaco, German and Bahrain Grands Prix combined

- The United States Grand Prix’s three-day attendance of 250,324 fans put it fourth behind only Britain, Singapore and Canada.

- This total ranks the United States Grand Prix as the sixth best race of 2013 in terms of brand exposure, well above the race average of $124.9 million. This is despite fan interest dropping later in the season due to the early conclusion to the championship when Sebastian Vettel took the crown at the Indian Grand Prix, two races prior to Austin.

[piast9]

I just wonder if one of the reasons for small US audience of F1 is not the lack of oval racing but just the time difference between US and counties where most of the races are held. I am F1 fan from Europe and I really struggle to wake up early in the weekend to watch qualifying or race in Australia, China or Malaysia.

[sgth0mas]

Timing has a large part to do with it as well. Im in the US, and maybe 2 times a year do i stay up late or get up early to watch. Usually i record, and with boring races lately (except silverstone), ive been skipping large portions of the race until i have much more time. A few times, ive actually just asked friends if its even worth watching and skipped it all together. A boring sporting event will get better ratings during primetime when compared to dvr time.

And in all honesty...from a racing point of view, indy and nascar are typically more entertaining road races over Formula. F1 only wins when it comes to new tech, and thats been massively hampered.

[henra]

I have to confess I have voted yes, simply because I personally would like to see F1 cars running at very high speeds in an oval. Should be really just one race in order to keep it's specialty, though. Would also be a very different challenge for the Drivers.
Problem is that it might accentuate car's strengths, since overtaking is not an issue. In other words the Mercs would probably totally destroy everyone else on the grid. So the race might be boring if the other Teams don't catch up with he Mercs.

[notsofast]

I just wonder if one of the reasons for small US audience of F1 is not the lack of oval racing but just the time difference between US and counties where most of the races are held.

This.

It's pretty much futile to try to get ordinary people interested in a 20-race series when only 3 of them are watchable at normal hours.

Maybe a different approach is to merge the IndyCar and F1 series, and to let each driver participate in up to 20 races. That way, everyone around the world can have their fill of races in their timezones, while at the same time there's still a global competition going on.

[sgth0mas]

I just wonder if one of the reasons for small US audience of F1 is not the lack of oval racing but just the time difference between US and counties where most of the races are held.

This.

It's pretty much futile to try to get ordinary people interested in a 20-race series when only 3 of them are watchable at normal hours.

Maybe a different approach is to merge the IndyCar and F1 series, and to let each driver participate in up to 20 races. That way, everyone around the world can have their fill of races in their timezones, while at the same time there's still a global competition going on.

Indy controls cost too much to ever compete with F1.