What is F1, anyway?

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genjigonzales

genjigonzales

Active Member
Apr 20, 2011
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Formula 1 is many things to many people. The pinnacle of motorsport. An advertising medium. A moneyspinner. A political tool. A soap opera. A party. A circus. A scandal.

Fundamentally, what do you think is the essence of F1?

Is its lifecycle (and that of all motorsport) tied inextricably to that of the internal combustion engine? When society moves on to other transportation methods, will F1 die?

Is it a grand spectacle of entertainment? With so many other forms and formulas of motorsport out there, does it matter if F1 is not pure racing?

Is entertainment a valid use of limited natural resources? Are sustainability and relevance the overriding concerns of F1's future?

Is F1 man's ability to harness the power of a machine or his ability to get the most out of the equipment he has available to him?

Where does any of this lead to in the future?
 
For me "pure racing", finding the best driver in the world to drive a metal monsters that no other person can maximise. Putting it through it's limits and not just because of fancy overtakes.

Shame it's gone off the path a bit, but it will do for now until jet engines are around in 2040 lol ;)
 
SilverArrow said:
For me "pure racing", finding the best driver in the world to drive a metal monsters that no other person can maximise. Putting it through it's limits and not just because of fancy overtakes.
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Maybe the best drivers have done 'pure racing' in lower formulas and F1 is the gala spectacle.

Like - there are thousands of hard-working, jobbing actors doing rep and bit parts for the RSC or as extras in Casualty, but then there are the select few who earn $20m for six weeks work on this year's blockbuster.
 
Some tough guys in fast cars, going around in circles.
^^
What a ignorant football bummer would say.
 
Formula 1 is a speedy motorsport with the best drivers in the world. They come past like a blur and can spot a braking point while thinking about how precise the steering of the car is.
 
Its a sport that used to showcase the pinnacle of motoring technology.....

It is still a sport to me today, but is now too much influenced by money and political influence away from the races.
 
The "anyone could drive an F1 car" line is an amazingly common peice of stupidity. They couldn't even drive one on the XBOX.
 
It's still the pinnacle of motorsport. The money, ads, politics and scandal are only to be expected in top level sport today; it seems to be true for other sports of a comparable global profile, such as football and cricket, although other sports such as rugby and tennis seem to manage without the scandal or politics in such an obvious way.

As for sustainabilty, well, nowadays they have to appear responsible or at least to be making an effort, although they struggle with relevance to the 'real world'. The thing is though, F1 is such a fabulous monster, I don't think that relevance or reality are part of its appeal. Most sports require just a ball and maybe a bat of some kind and anyone can have a go but motorsport and F1 especially don't offer that kind of real hands-on opportunity.

I think that, racing aside, we watch for the fantastic nature of the whole spectacle; it's as much an overblown, glamorous circus as it is a sport in the conventional sense, and it's something out of reach which exists almost in its own parallel universe.
 
Max Whiplash said:
As for sustainabilty, well, nowadays they have to appear responsible or at least to be making an effort, although they struggle with relevance to the 'real world'. The thing is though, F1 is such a fabulous monster, I don't think that relevance or reality are part of its appeal.
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Thanks, Max. I think that's an important factor - the separation between the technology in F1 and that of our everyday experiences. There's a slender thread connecting Formula 1 to what we do everyday on our journeys into work or at weekends on our our local karting tracks but the extremes to which many aspects of the activity are taken make it quite alien. To bring F1 closer to what we know or are familiar with could threaten its allure.

Whether the final agreement on new regulations does diminish F1's exoticism and improves or further damages sustainability is a gamble, I think. Another aspect to "what is F1?" is the balance between manufacturer teams and privateers. My opinion is that if the balance swings too much towards manufacturers then F1 will lose much of its heart and soul.

Another smaller scale but related question, to try to stimulate debate on this, which I'm very interested in having, is: which driver has done the most to get Formula 1 to where it is today? Some examples might be:
  • Senna - his uncompromising attitude to racing and dubious application of tactics
  • Schumacher - his uncompromising attitude to preparation (and dubious application of tactics)
  • Stewart - his achievement in dragging the sport's attention towards safety
  • Prost - his focus on playing percentages and preserving position
 
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