Hopes, expectations and excitement for 2024

[Richard C]

Originally Posted by flatlandsman

tell me a couple of things, for how long?

I think I started watching around 1988 and pretty consistently a few years after that.

Originally Posted by flatlandsman

And mainly what is it that makes you watch it, what do you get out of it, and do you watch much else?

I find it interesting that you use the very narrow "watch" vs. something broader that covers more of the overall experience.

I "follow" F1 (including watching races and qualifying, keeping up on news, participating in social media such as this site) as I enjoy the technical competition of the power unit and manufactures and the on track battles between the teams (drivers, strategists, pit crew, etc.). As to what I get out of it... it is a competition. There is always something of interest happening. I would love to see more F1 races in which there is tighter competition and more lap by lap action (such as driver battles). But... not at the expense of "helping hand" rules (see my comments about BoP below). Because to me those series are fiction. I am not here to watch fiction.

As to "watching". While I may occasionally watch something like a race or qualifying "live", I generally am watching it delayed and have no issues with fast forwarding through and skipping as needed.

What else am I watching/following? I used to follow WRC many years ago when it was much easier to watch in the US. I pretty much almost love endurance and GT racing as much as F1, but give the predominate series stopped having any real technological competition and are ruled by BoP strategy I pretty much lost nearly all interest (at the end of the semi-recent Porsche/Audi era). This may be fighting words for some people here, but for me, WEC, etc. is just one step away from theatrical wrestling.

Maybe that is a bit of a strong statement, but it illustrates how much of a priority I put upon competition that does not include "helping hands" for the purposes of entertainment. I think the fiction element of something like WEC is too much for me. If something like WEC moved back toward something that was focused on working to technical specifications and let the best team win, I would be instantly back to following it.

Originally Posted by flatlandsman

I find truly interesting development interesting but a few million spent on a barge board interests me about as much as watching grass grow, I was lucky to be around when true innovation was there, now the cars look very similar, they are all pushing around the same areas and largely development is seemingly limited.

I get your point to a degree. F1 is a business. And the sandbox in which development is open is pretty small. But also larger than people think. As to "true innovation" what racing series today is doing that? None of the top ones for sure!

Originally Posted by flatlandsman

I think I feel it has grown out of itself in a way, lots of very clever people gainfully employed

I didn't quote this entire thing, but I just don't really get what you are saying here. People are over paid or something. I don't quite understand.

Question back at you flatlandsman... What do you think are good motorsports series that DONT have problems that you say F1 has? I have yet to find a perfect series out there.

Richard