Axle,
I too enjoy many other forms of motorsport. My concern is the F1 may become dumbed down to the extent that it loses its place as the pinnacle of motorsport. In some respects I personally think it really lost that accolade to Le Mans prototypes a long time ago since the prototype series have at least embraced the technological challenges of alternative fuels. Like F1 they have exploited refinements in aero design to the Nth degree and experimented with all the othe tech' advancements in rolling chassis design, etc. F1's one remaining claim that I wouldn't challenge is that F1 cars are the fastest racing cars on the planet (excluding those drag things that only go faster in a straight line, of course).
That's why the statistics interest me as they tell me parts of the story I don't get to see through the narrow window of my TV or, on the rare occasion I make it trackside, the limited view I get from a particular location.