The Greatest Show on Earth

cider_and_toast

Exulted Lord High Moderator of the Apex
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So with less than a week to go until the new season how many of us will hear this statement at home, at work or in the pub from friends and relations?

"I don't watch F1 it's boring, It's just a procession, how can you watch cars going round and round?" or words to that effect.

This season has the potential to be one of the best for a long long time. I know we say that every year but there are 4 world champions on the grid, 10 drivers who have won at least 1 race and a host of new drivers and teams to provide the unkown element.

So how do you go about convincing your friends, wife, husband, kids or pets not to miss the Greatest Show on Earth?
 
I think F1 is a bit like Marmite, you either get it or you don't.

What I have noticed though is if people just give it a chance, a lot of them tend to get hooked.
My other half for example never misses a race or the build-up program now.
The same goes for my brother's wife to a certain extent, by all accounts she's really looking forward to this season.

I try to educate people whenever I can as to what F1 is all about (whilst pointing them in the direction of a rather handy website :whistle: ) but it's all about watching the races I think and with such a long off season and 2-3 weeks between races, a lot of people get bored and drift away.

Anyway, who cares about them :D

Roll on this Friday :cheer:
 
Yes, F1 is Marmite. :sick: :snacks: :popcorn:

It's simultaneously appalling and appealing! :spank: Oh the humanity!

2010 has all the ingredients to be the most exciting season since the mid 70's. :thumbsup:
The last season I remember being quite as eagerly anticipated was in 1994, with Ayton Senna's move to Williams and the introduction of refuelling!... :unsure:

The prospect of half a dozen cars - most of which with novice drivers - lapping 4 seconds off the pace does not fill me with confidence for driver safety though... :bored:

Some other aspects of the rules give me pause, I suspect we'll have a few extra first corner shunts and we'll see a lot more of the pace car. ...

But damn it I'm on tenter hooks!
 
After bitter experience I find it best not to try too hard to get family and friends interested - they will only interrupt me at the key moment to quiz me on the finer points of pitlane etiquette or marshals' flags!

I can't say I'm massively excited about this season to be honest. The media make every season seem the most anticipated one ever, naturally. The less I build it up, the less likely I am to be disappointed when it doesn't work out.
 
GordonMurray said:
After bitter experience I find it best not to try too hard to get family and friends interested - they will only interrupt me at the key moment to quiz me on the finer points of pitlane etiquette or marshals' flags!

I can't say I'm massively excited about this season to be honest. The media make every season seem the most anticipated one ever, naturally. The less I build it up, the less likely I am to be disappointed when it doesn't work out.
I'm with GM on this, maybe a little more excited than he is - I always hope for the best and expect the worst (it can be done - a cautious optimist!). Best not to try and "convert" anyone, just don't answer the phone during races.

New teams, new rules, new driver/team combos - we will have a flavour of this season after the first 3 races, I think - maybe then I will devote Sundays to gardening.
 
When I get the "they just go round and round" thing from peeps, I just relate it to their own sport, but not in a negative way.

it's not about the going round, it's the who's doing well relatively, should that driver be in that position? what's the back story to the team, is that team punching above their weight?

most people 'get it' and agree after I explain it, some might then watch others might not..
 
I'm so strung out with F1DT's I had the Beeb's classic races repeating right through last night. So much so that In my dreams I was trackside when Nigel Mansell spun his Ferrari on his own oil with a blown engine and I swear I got sprayed with it. Could even smell it! How do you explain that to an F1 non-fan and get away with it? The men with white coats would be hauling you of in a bats-blink.

Can't wait? that's an understatement.
 
Could have been worse, you could have been hauled of by the men with white goats !!

LOL

Less than 24hrs to go until practice 1.

Almost there.
 
cider_and_toast said:
So how do you go about convincing your friends, wife, husband, kids or pets not to miss the Greatest Show on Earth?

You cant convince anyone, Many critics fail to realize how complex F1 really is. We know how technical and sophisticated this sport is, Its pure science and engineering at its highest. Either you appreciate that or you don't.
 
After yesterday you'd be hard pushed to persuade any "non-believer" that F1 is worth following.

Unfortunately this one race is going to generate reams of bad press but there won't be anything to counter it when there's a good race.
 
To be honest, while it wasn't a classic I'm struggling to see what was so badly wrong with it. There will be worse races than that this season (Valencia anyone?) and there were worse races than that last season (Valencia anyone). I had the luxary of watching the race in our local pub so a couple of pints helped to oil the wheels some what (and a large roast beef dinner as well) but the race was ok.

Until Lucious Lucy lost her spark there was only about a 2 second gap between Alonso and Vettel. Who knows how that may have played out. Massa said he was having serious fuel regulating issues which meant from about half way he was trying to conserve fuel and keep his engine cool so he had a mechanical issue.

Murry was telling us 20 years ago that in Formula one, catching is one thing but getting past is another and as we know from our various stat's threads nothing much has changed there.
 
cider_and_toast said:
To be honest, while it wasn't a classic I'm struggling to see what was so badly wrong with it. There will be worse races than that this season (Valencia anyone?) and there were worse races than that last season (Valencia anyone).
LOL I think this season was just so hyped with the return of Ferrari and McLaren, Team GB vs Team Deutsch, Schumacher at Mercedes, Alonso at McLaren, refuelling ban, etc., that many people and especially, maybe, newcomers were expecting... well, the greatest show on earth. I think part of the problem was starting it off at that circuit.

IMO, the early start and part-time characteristics of Albert Park are a very good way to start a season. I hope Bernie's learned that Bahrain isn't.

I also think Brazil or Suzuka is the best way to end it!
 
cider_and_toast said:
Murry was telling us 20 years ago that in Formula one, catching is one thing but getting past is another and as we know from our various stat's threads nothing much has changed there.

[Tongue-in-cheek]That was more to do with trying to overtake the likes of Master Weavers Arnoux, de Cesaris and Ayrton Senna, who often demanded that his car be 3ft wider than everyone elses.[/Tongue-in-cheek]

Nowadays they don't even have to block to stop being overtaken.
 
I hope Bernie's learned that Bahrain isn't.

Not a chance !!! That's more down to who is the highest bidder.

Nowadays they don't even have to block to stop being overtaken.

Yeah, and in the unlikely event of another car getting close enough to make the driver ahead weave a bit, he's only aloud to do it once otherwise that's not fair and he get's a penalty.
 
As the saying goes "no publicity is bad publicity".

The snoozegate conspiracy theory:
F1 fearing a dip in interest deliberately manufacture a "snooze fest backlash" in order to increase F1 media coverage!
 
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