I wanted to take some time to share some possibly uncommon thoughts I have surrounding F1. This isn't going to be a post where I go off on one saying 'I hate this driver for these reasons' blah blah blah. This is a post where I say 'hey this iconic thing about the sport doesn't actually excite me'
So lets get into it!
The Monaco Grand Prix
This historic and iconic race is of probably one of the last races on my list of Grand Prix's I want to go to. And on the complete flipside, I'd LOVE to go to Monaco! I can see me just sitting outside a bar in the sunshine, drinking rose wine, people watching and looking at nice cars drive past. So why wouldn't I wanna go to to the Monaco Grand Prix?
From what I've seen on Monaco race weekends and through Drive to Survive, the Monaco Grand Prix (I can't stress this enough, this is my opinion) has become full of questionable kinds of people, the hanger-oners, people who are only there for the Social Media posts, the people who are all about image and don't actually care about or like motorsport. But maybe that's just me being insecure about myself, bitter that I'm not there and will never be able to afford to go there... Wow, that got deep!
Another thing that doesn't appeal to me about Monaco as a Grand Prix is that it's a street circuit. Which leads me to my next thought...
Tracks>Street Circuits
I, by far, prefer races that are held on tracks and not street circuits. There's more space to race, the circuits look less like a race around a prison (seriously, those big metal fences used on street circuits are so prison like, I know there's still fences like that on race tracks but it just hits different) and there's less likely to be crashes that cause serious and frequent delays due to the tightness of the track. Overall, I feel that the quality of racing is better on a race track than a street circuit. You certainly get more laps of racing on a track, that's for sure.
The British Grand Prix
I need to apologise to my fellow Brits now. I feel like I wouldn't enjoy attending the British Grand Prix. A couple reasons for this... First, I imagine there's a lot of drunk Brits there, which is never fun, especially if you're not one of them. Trust me, I've been in both situations; the drunk Brit and the sober person surrounded by drunk Brits. I'd probably offend someone by saying that Lewis Hamilton isn't my favourite driver (absolutely nothing against him). As I always say, thanks to the girlies at TG1F Podcast, "Why be upset when you can just have fun!"
The second reason I don't think I'd enjoy the British Grand Prix is spending that much money to sit out in the rain for hours. Let's face it, it's Britain, the weather is as unpredictable as Ferrari's performance. You can guarantee it'll spend some time raining which, yeah, makes for exciting racing but I'd rather sit in my home with cheaper food and drink, warm, dry and probably over £1000 better off with no threat of someone fighting me over my opinions...
Single Team Dominance
I think the reason it took me so long to get into F1 was that I found it boring, the same people were winning over and over and I just thought the BTCC was better. Like I've always had F1 in my life because of my parents but I've not enjoyed it until the last couple of years. I'm looking at you Mercedes and Red Bull...
Since the change of car design and race procedure has allowed for closer racing and more overtaking opportunities F1 has become a spicier sport to watch. Yeah there's still some predictable things, like Red Bull's dominance but the grid has been shaken up! Look at Kevin Magnussen getting his first pole last year! Look at Alonso this year in the Aston! Things are getting somewhat exciting in the F1 world because the grid is being shaken up with the ability for closer racing!
Celebrities on the Grid
And to come a full circle, another thing I don't love about some race weekends (Monaco, Silverstone and Miami especially) is the celebrity presence on the grid. Sometimes there's just too many (since all celebrities come with an entourage). Especially when the mechanics and engineers are trying to finish setting up the cars on the grid. How can you focus enough to function with a million people around you?! Each team should be allowed one celebrity guest on the grid per race.
Not only is it the amount of celebrities on the grid, it's how rude they can be to media personnel who are just trying to do their job, I'm looking at you Martin Brundel! Honestly, watching Marty B doing is grid walk is so painful and anxiety inducing when he's being shunned by celebrities. Honestly, it's almost like if Sebastian Vettel came back as a pundit and no one wanted to talk to him because he's no longer racing.
However, it seems that the FIA are starting to crack down on this aspect due to Brazilian football star Neymar Jr being on the track during the formation lap at the Spanish GP (god that sounds like he got lost on his way back to the toilets or something...) Anyway, I'm not saying celebrities shouldn't be allowed to have passes for a GP, I'm saying I'm not watching F1 for the celeb element so less screen time dedicated to them please!
Anyway, I think we've basically discovered I'm not a people person... Let me know if you have any opinions on F1 that could be considered controversial in the comments, or reach out via my social media channels linked below!
Comments
Post a Comment