What makes a GP boring?

[fer200979]

What do you think makes a real boring F1 race?

I found it much more interest when they have Safety Cars coming out to the track.

[i70q7m7ghw]

It tends to be when someone sticks a heavy car on pole and it leads the first stint. I find it hard to understand why the strategies always seem to work on the basis of slow long first stint, fast second and/or third stint to try and grab some places. I would have thought a longer final stint would be more suitable for defending a position gained in an aggresive start to the race.

Alonso's strategy at Hungary was interesting, unfortunately we never saw how it worked out, but I think it's the way to go. Teams like Brawn should settle for nothing less than pole, and if that means going light then so be it. Watching light cars follow heavy cars because they can't risk overtaking because of the championship is what makes races boring. Imagine if Jenson was in P1 at Hungary and then he had tyre problems, we would have got to see him defending like crazy against a racey Lewis/Kimi!

[Harrelson]

Drivers

I don't mind when there is no overtaking but my heart starts thumping when drivers are catching the one in front (taking out huge chunks of time) and the one in front cant respond. I love Lewis and Vettel for this reason

Some or should i say most drivers just seem to have a brain fade when they are behind another car and even if they are faster never seem to make an impression. The Brawn drivers and Massa seem to suffer the worst

[roost89]

I tend to find F1 races boring when there's a lack of action. Not overtaking in itself (I can live with the few overtakes that we actually see, I actually prefer it) but the procession of cars one after another with no-one making a mistake.

Also as Diesel said, slow cars keeping faster cars at bay because the car behind can't overtake. However it is really good to see when drivers have a dig into turn one with their lighter car. They might not make it but that's not what matters.

So procession of cars going around perfectly and fast cars being stuck behind slower ones.

[jddh1]

Drivers

I don't mind when there is no overtaking but my heart starts thumping when drivers are catching the one in front (taking out huge chunks of time) and the one in front cant respond. I love Lewis and Vettel for this reason

Some or should i say most drivers just seem to have a brain fade when they are behind another car and even if they are faster never seem to make an impression. The Brawn drivers and Massa seem to suffer the worst

Are you kidding? Vettel is not good if stuck behind a driver, but he's young. I think Button does not fade. He's made a few passes on cars in front of him, including some KERS cars.

[Harrelson]

Are you kidding? Vettel is not good if stuck behind a driver, but he's young. I think Button does not fade. He's made a few passes on cars in front of him, including some KERS cars.

Remember how Vettel hunted down Webber in Turkey until he had to be told on the radio to "give up" basically. He has the spirit to fight and this for me makes watching him exciting

[-KMR_NH-]

So procession of cars going around perfectly and fast cars being stuck behind slower ones.

I agree with the first point but not with the second. Ok, the race of the fast one is spoiled, for sure. But in this case, you'll always have a nice battle which is interesting to watch even without overtaking.

But I agree, if the race lacks overtaking it still can be interesting but a procession is a no go and makes a race dull.

[ESPImperium]

Ive always been a fan of 3 points being up for grabs for the drivers not in the main classification of points, as long as they overtake the most people. Say if you start 18th but finish 7th you get 2 points but if you start 20th and finish 10th you get the full 3. There should be something for the guys lower down the order to at least have a chance of getting something from the race.

But with that i think what should happen is that the rules be frozen, nothing tinkered with for 3 years, the cars are already covered by 1.4-2.2 seconds depending on the track, if the rules were frozen i think the cars would become even closer, maybes .4 or .5 to .8 to 1.1 seconds 1st to last, whitch would encorage teams, and drivers to take more risks and get the points for most overtaking in a race. It may mean that one person.

Thats the only way i can see teams and drivers creating more overtaking. It may even lead to cars dropping 7th and 8th just to get the 3 points for overtaking yes, but if it creates overtaking shurly its a good thing???

Id also like to stop the blue flag willy-nilly usage, only after a maximum of 2 laps to the start/finish line will the slower driver be entitled to let the faster guy go. People may not like it but i like the idea of the US style of the "its the fastest guys job to try and find a way passed" thing. But i do like the blue flag, but id make it the start finish line as the only place it is waved, but only after 2 laps, add some drama that way. Add some strategy into the equasion for the guys on the pit wall.

[Touring23]

What do you think makes a real boring F1 race?

Track.

[Shrek]

I'm thinking they need a mandatory safety car break with 10 laps to go now that will make it exciting

[ISLAMATRON]

It is not about the lack of overtaking... it is about the inability of the cars to race closely and side by side, the slicks helped somewhat alleviate this problem, but then the DDD made it considerably worse

[myurr]

For me what makes a race boring is when there isn't any variation in pace. Fast car out front basically cruising, slower cars behind all just holding station as they're not fast enough to catch let alone pass those in front.

The most exciting races seem to be those where a car is fast at one stage but slower in another. Be it rain, mechanical problem, struggling with the harder tyre or tyre wear, or just a dodgy set of tyres. Whatever it is, it's great to see a driver make up a gap and then see another driver able to charge later on, close the gap and challenge.

Exciting races are often helped by quality driving from a world class driver struggling with the car and conditions. Think Hamilton and Raikkonen at Spa, both struggling for grip in the wet, yet engaged in a titanic battle. There was a huge amount of talent on display and the difficult conditions made for a great display of the drivers skill.

So in my ideal world the cars would be harder to drive and there would be more variation between the cars relative paces throughout the course of a race. Hopefully the lack of refueling next year will help with the latter, as different cars and setups cope better with differing levels of fuel throughout the race. Maybe much less downforce coupled with harder tyres would make the cars difficult enough to drive in the dry to make mistakes more common whilst also helping overtaking.

[modbaraban]

It's not the lack of overtaking. It's the lack of intentions to overtake. At some circuits it's so hard to overtake or follow closely that nobody really tries to. That is boring. Remember Silverstone this year? There was very little overataking but a lot of fighting for position so it was a joy to watch.

Monaco is an exception as even the 'parading' cars are spectacular to watch there.

[Scotracer]

Status quo.

[DaveKillens]

Formula One is about car racing. Racing, you know, competition, trying to beat the other guy and all that stuff. So my idea of "racing" is watching cars and drivers attempting to pass if they are within striking distance.
Watching cars circulate 1.5 seconds apart isn't racing.
If I want to watch a procession of high technology, I'll go to the airport and watch the airliners take off and land.