MovieChat Forums > Rush (2013) Discussion > F1 back then vs F1 now.

F1 back then vs F1 now.

posted 10 years ago by Stewatson35
14 replies | jump to latest

I know that they made all these changes for the safety of the drivers, but F1 used to be exciting to watch. I used to love the days of Nigel Mansell l, Senna etc.
but it's gradually gotten more and more rules and regulations, to the point that everything needs to be set up with NASA style precision.
In the 70's there were a few rules about how big your car could be, but nothing like the rules of today.
This movie portrays somebody coming from near the back of the pack to win. These days you'd be lucky to see them pass 1 car.
This is just me, but today's af1 I find really boring. I appreciate that it takes consistency and great driving, but when 30 people are all doing the exact same thing, it's just boring. At least back in the day you could see an actual race with people going up and down the leader board.

[–] bayblue71 10 years ago

I don't watch it anymore it's not the same back in the golden days of the late 70s 80s it was brilliant fun to watch edge of the seat stuff after Senna died f1 turned a corner with safety and new regs now you can pick a team and guess it will win the championship

[–] Stewatson35 10 years ago

I know right, the sport used to be insane! I remember watching it in the 80's with all the Marlboro sponsors etc. and I remember it being exciting.

Then came the rule and regs, and things have just turned into a boring sport where 1/100th of a second is like a week. It's nothing like the golden days of racing, where everybody had differently set up cars, none of this "front spoiler must be EXACTLY this, or exactly that".

Obviously they changed a lot after Senna died, but it took something away from the sport, and I'm just not interested in people shaving 1/1000th of a second off their lap time. You don't see racing any more, just people going round the track as fast as they can, and I find that boring. You're lucky to see a few cars overtaking.

[–] FourFiveEight 9 years ago

I honestly think you're just clouded by nostalgia, I started watching F1 during the 2012 season because the Senna film made me see what F1 is all about and the racing was every bit as exciting as I had expected.
There are the races here and there which aren't as exciting as some but for the most part I have enjoyed F1 these past few years since I started, it used to be I only watched the race then in 2013 I started to watch Qualifying and some practice sessions now I try and watch everything.
At one stage I downloaded the 1989 Japanese Grand Prix where Prost and Senna came together controversially and the racing wasn't all that different than it is now, just the coverage wasn't quite as good and the commentators were different.
I think I watched the Race where Nikki Lauda took his 3rd world championship as well and though the coverage was quite poor compared to modern standards the racing objectively was the same you just have less breakdowns then you did back then.
You just look on Wikipedia at the results and it's littered with purple boxes because you had retirements left right and centre to the point where they modelled the points system because of it. I hadn't realised until recently but Alain Prost would have won the 1988 world championship had it not been for the point system, 1989 he'd have won it long before Suzuka even started and 1990 would have been a lot closer Alain would have won 3 back to back titles and Senna perhaps would be remembered perhaps as a 1 time world champion and Alain a 6 times world champion.
You could argue endlessly about they had this and that back then vs now but it's all about nostalgia, just like the people today who bemoan the loss of the V10 era, it was faster back then sounded better back then etc etc never mind that the racing wasn't better. Nostalgia, nothing more.

[–] Stewatson35 9 years ago

I'm not clouded by nostalgia. You said you started watching in 2012, so you don't know what the sport used to be like, even 20 years ago.

The sport is on the line, and by that I mean there are so many regs on tyre size, lift, downforce, various engine part sizes and weights.

This sport is now 30 odd people who can drive a car at full speed, and as all the top cars are the same speed, it's just lost its edge.

Maybe you're right saying I'm lost in nostalgia, but no, I started hating this sport the more and more regulations they enforced.

Since you've been watch for 3 years, you won't remember the epic races between Mansell and Senna. Real racing with actual overtaking. Just ask anyone from that era, and they tell you exactly the same, it was a completely different sport that I stopped watching because it got boring as hell.
You say it's exciting, we'll watch a race from 20/25 years ago. You'll find it's a different sport to what it used to be.

[–] denise1234 9 years ago

Stewatson35^

SO agree.

Bit of trivia: Going back a bit further, my Mom knew Stirling Moss back in the day, and she actually got to drive one of his cars round the track 

"Shake your hair girl with your ponytail"

[–] Stewatson35 9 years ago

That's so cool. ;-)

[–] gasivodo 9 years ago

YES!

the end..

[–] ilaritoivonen 9 years ago

Its true that todays cars have too much *beep* regulations but also alot of good rules safetywise. Still I think there has been some crazy good racing and overtakes even this millenium. For example Häkkinen over took I think it was 24 cars (there eas only 22 but he did 4 cars twice) in total in one race. Scumaher also pulled stunts like that quite often

[–] tumbling_dice-93918 9 years ago

Today´s Formula 1 is boring, I don´t watch it anymore.

[–] defcon79 9 years ago

Agreed 100%

F1 these days is about who has the most money to spend on the best engine/spoiler tech (i.e. within .1 % of the allowed regs, since they are all the same specs) which is more than enough to win.

The driver, race strategy, car setup, course - all of that is irrelevant. Even the tires are standardized now and e.g. if Pirelli screws up, everyone suffers the same way.

Put the 20th place guy in a McLaren Merc (or Renault last year) and he gets on the podium - there is zero difference in skill - they are all the same and just hope for no mechanical failures.

If they replaced racing with another qualifying lap, the results really wouldn't be different.

[–] Stewatson35 9 years ago

Yeah, so true.
The irony being that Laudner actually changed the sport to what it is today, but they wouldn't continue to sponsor F1 races if someone died each time they raced!

But yeah, skill doesn't really seem to play much of a part anymore. It's 1/8th of a mm here, and a 100th of a gram there.
More money, more research, more chance of winning. I don't watch it anymore.

[–] intermissiontime 9 years ago

All of motorsports has changed drastically. NHRA nitro racing has been shortened to 1,000 ft because of the death of Scott Kalitta. F1 has certainly seen a lot of changes after Sennas death, but I still love watch those two motorsports. Nascar and Indy Car racing I can do without, but F1 is still the ultimate class in auto racing. And NHRAs 10,000 hp Top Fuel dragsters and Funny cars are the most visceral sight and sound in all of racing.

[–] intermissiontime 9 years ago

And if anybody thinks F1 is boring, hopefully people got to see the end of the Austrian Grand Prix that just concluded. Great finish!

[–] mcgmcgmcg 8 years ago

All professional motorsports in the world have changed in the past 40 years primarily due safety reasons.
For the better really. No one wants to see drivers killed and the technologies available mean great racing with driver and spectator safety are paramount.

No cash here!! Here, no cash!!! Cash, no!!!! Robbo? No Cash!