Quote:
Originally Posted by flatlandsman
Personally I hope the bubble bursts completely, people realise that F1 is just the emperors new clothes and that the racing and everything else does not really live up to the hype. But, erm, people are dumb. And erm well just people...
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Could you elaborate?
Indycar has a better racing product, but the lack of technical development and political intrigue sees it with a far lower profile than Formula 1, even in the United States.
There aren't the high stakes of having the Italian national team, the French national team, the works Mercedes etc either...
Meanwhile, Formula 1 always turns on the stories, be it Red Bull budget cap breach, Ferrari (alleged) fuel flow cheating, Ferrari flexi-floor, Mercedes porpoising, Aston Martin flexi-front wing, Rossi & Permane out the door at Alpine, Binotto out at Ferrari, Piastri contract saga (albeit Indycar did have some similar sagas) etc etc etc...
By contrast, a series where the only things that teams can change are the shock absorbers and the engines & chassis are (more or less) twelve years old provides for little technical intrigue.
Even though the Formula 1 drivers are mostly boring racing nerds, Formula One management does an excellent job of promoting them.
On paper, the World Rally Championship and MotoGP should be more exciting forms of motorsport, yet they are not as popular. (Arguably Red Bull as the promoter does a poor job of promoting the World Rally Championship, it seems far below its popularity peak in the late 90's and early 00's.)
WEC loses the technical competition aspect, because there is BOP that literally changes circuit to circuit, so you lose the aspect of pure technical competition to a set formula that you have in Formula One.
Quote:
Originally Posted by flatlandsman
it's amazing when in fact 10 laps of a WEC race has more interest.
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WEC is fake. Toyota built the best car yet are not allowed to win all the races, especially Le Mans with a severe adjustment against them a week before the race despite assurances from the ACO that BOP would be fixed until after Le Mans. That's silly isn't it?
Formula 1 may have a more prescriptive rule set but it provides for fascinating competition in the details of the aerodynamics -- having a suspension to provide a stable aerodynamic attitude, having an underfloor that with careful pressure distribution with minimal sensitivity to ride height, and using the sidepod shape to effective guide air over the topside of the car, now that the bargeboards from 2021 were removed.
Meanwhile in LMH and LMDh, the aerodynamic surfacing doesn't really matter as there is BOP to make downforce and drag identical anyway; it doesn't matter how good or bad, big or small your engine is either, you can just tune it up or down as needed (unless it's so uncompetitive like Vanwall that you have no hope anyway); so what's the point of it all?
I'd much rather WEC have a set formula like a 4.0L V8, all chassis and engines (including works cars) must be homologated and available to privateers for a low fixed price, and have at it as an engineering competition. If the Toyota-Toyota is the best and everyone buys one of those that's fine, if the Ferrari-Ferrari is the best and everyone buys one of those, that is also fine.