Good Racig Vs. Close Championship

[PG_Gabriel]

Would you rather:

Have the extremely exiting racing with lots of passing that we have experienced this year, but with a run away title leader...

Or, The mostly dull races that we used to see, but a down the the wire championship fight?

[Canada Darrell™]

To be honest I don't think it would matter at this point in Vettel's career. He is the class of the field right now and would be ahead no matter the situation.

If you look at past history of modern-day professional sports you can see a trend that happens whenever a unique talent comes along: rules get changed to try and reign in the superstar.

Tiger Woods comes along and pretty much embarrasses the sport of golf with his runaway victory at The Masters in 1996. What happened? Courses got longer and in particular par 5 holes to try and deal with his ability to hit the long ball. Problem was he was too good in all other facets of his game and he went on to dominate the sport for the next dozen years.

Wayne Gretzky comes along and decided to personally erase hockey's record book and inserted his name in virtually every major category. What happened? The NHL attempted to reign him and his team in by changing the rules. The space behind the net was reduced due to his "setting up office" behind the net. The introduction of coincidental minor penalties in order to cut down on 4-on-4 play. The problem was he was too good and finished his career with 61 record..an obscene number in any sport.

Michael Jordon....what did the NBA do to try to stop MJ from making the rest of the league look like a bunch of amateurs? For one they shortened the 3 point line to try and help offensive players score. BIG MISTAKE! In the 3-year experiment Jordon almost doubled his career highs in 3 point percentages. In their attempt help teams relying on a perimeter offence attack they pretty much handed MJ the keys to the castle!

And back to F1...you can bet next year will see a bunch of changes designed to reel Vettel in but I truly believe that we are witnessing a huge talent finding his wings and we're in for a treat for the next decade here.....

[lkjohnson1950]

As said in Schumi's Secret Blog, we shall see how he does when he doesn't have the best car. Although, I never believed the Williams had as much of an advantage over the Benetton as everyone claimed. And in all those races where Hill pitted first, handing the opportunity to Schumacher to do his thing, why did Williams never try something different? No driver can dominate in a slower car, Senna couldn't, Clark couldn't, Prost, pick your favorite, in racing you have to have the car.

Lonny

[Canada Darrell™]

As said in Schumi's Secret Blog, we shall see how he does when he doesn't have the best car. Although, I never believed the Williams had as much of an advantage over the Benetton as everyone claimed. And in all those races where Hill pitted first, handing the opportunity to Schumacher to do his thing, why did Williams never try something different? No driver can dominate in a slower car, Senna couldn't, Clark couldn't, Prost, pick your favorite, in racing you have to have the car.

Lonny

Amen to that! Key word there is "dominate". A great driver can eek out a few more 10ths from a crap car where lesser drivers can't but you can't win without a great car relative to the rest of the field.
Why I put Vettel on such a pedastal these days is how he is kicking Webbers a$$ in a virtually identical car. Is Webber that bad of a driver? Nope!  

[PG_Gabriel]

I agree Vettel is a class act, but forget about drivers. For straight entertainment witch would you want?


   A: A championship run away, with exiting races
Or
   B: Boring races, with close championship

[Ian]

Give me an exciting race anyday, we've all got a driver we'd like to see become WDC, but I'll go for great racing with loads of overtaking and scrapping.

[Canada Darrell™]

Gotta go with exciting.

[John S]

I'm in the exciting races camp too. The championship is just the end result and not the reason I follow F1. A race is not only about the car out front, there is more enjoyment for me seeing good scraps throughout the field.

Too much interference from the stewards when drivers attempt overtakes, and the stupid blue flag rule, spoil the racing more than any dominant car IMHO.

Until a couple of years ago we could rely on reliability causing a bit of a lottery to shake up the points table even when one team was running a clearly superior car. Without this the points table becomes just a statistic as far as I'm concerned and the sooner the title is wrapped up this year the sooner we'll get to balls out racing for it's own sake. 



 

[David]

Has to be exciting racing like we have seen this year, with lots of passing? In saying that the last few years when it all came down to the last half dozen races with a few drivers fighting for the championship, that was gripping too? I can't choose, I just love F1 pretty much any way it's dished up, and when it bothers me I can always come on here and moan. Hope this helps with. 

[Monty]

Simple answer for all 'race' fanatics is close exciting racing.
I know some people get behind one driver or one team but I just love good close racing. I would rather sit and watch a fantastic race than worry about who gets what points.

However, (moves into amateur phycologogist mode) there must be a lot more to what makes people follow F1. I am a BTCC enthusiast. Tin tops provide much better racing than F1, you get three races per meeting so it's better value for money, the drivers are approachable, there are some good looking drivers for the gilrs and there are pit girls for the guys. However, touring cars do not get the following F1 gets. Obviously the mix of noise, spectacle, technology, venue and perhaps even politics makes F1 what it is and is probably why it has a following by such diverse people.

Now I have had these deep and meaningful thoughts I must get back to picking out the ear wax that built up due to the noise at Silverstone. 

[Wats-on]

To be honest, I don't really care if every race is exiting but the chamionship not, or the other way around. In both versions something keeps you watching the races every time!

That is my opinion, of course. I know that if we can expect a different race winner every race, that then I don't mind watching dull races. On the other hand, if we got exiting races, who cares that one is running away with all the points?

I can enjoy a good, heavy fight for P20 as much as a fight for the win...

[cosworth151]

I'll go with exciting racing, too. As Wats-on just said, a good dice for P20 is just as much fun to watch.

[Alianora La Canta]

This year, I've found the races hit-and-miss. As a general rule, the less DRS there's been and the more unpredictable the weather, the better the racing has been. However, at its worst (Malaysia, China, Turkey, Valencia) it's been nearly unwatchable. The latter of those three should not require any explaining. The first three is because powerful DRS makes overtaking predictable and makes it so the pole-sitter is bound to win. Canada and Britain were wet, so there's only been 3 good dry races in my book this year, one of which (Monaco) was marred by injuries and ignorance of red flag regulations.

If the racing was reliably good, I would be content with a not-very-close championship (that's how I got through the Schumacher years - the midfield racing was good even when it was predictable up front). We had close racing in 2008, 2009 and 2010 as well and in two of those years the championship was decided in the final race. That hasn't been the case in 2011, so I don't see this as being an either-or situation but a "neither or both".

[Jericoke]

I prefer the close racing with a runaway championship.

The problem with a close championship is that drivers begin to play it safe for the guaranteed points.

On the other hand, when a championship is wrapped up early, the drivers have an opportunity to drive for FUN.  Who cares if a pass is risky?  It's not you'll win or lose the championship if you mess up.

[Scott]

I prefer the close racing with a runaway championship.

The problem with a close championship is that drivers begin to play it safe for the guaranteed points.

Absolutely, and how annoying is that when the WDC leader is coasting in 5th while those trailing him in the championship are duelling it out at the front?  A WDC leader playing it safe is just as bad as team orders in the scheme of things.

On the other hand, when a championship is wrapped up early, the drivers have an opportunity to drive for FUN.  Who cares if a pass is risky?  It's not you'll win or lose the championship if you mess up.

If only...but it rarely happens.