Not sure how I feel about this season ....

[Stan the Bat]

C4 highlights will do , as long as I don't know the results.

Will never get Sky.

Motogp is a must for me nowadays, so will acquire that +moto2 and 3.

[Cabinet Enforcer]

For the last couple of years I have been watching the $ky races on FTA satellite via RTL, you can pick it up on a standard size dish, just needs moving a little, 5live for the commentary, jobs a good'un.

Of course its "only" SD and has some adverts, but it is reliable and hassle free once it is set up. My enthusiasm for the season certainly isn't dampened.

[Teddy Lop]

DoubleD said:

LaurasOtherHalf said:

Quite right StevieBee, I’m sure there are lots more of us fans out there, we just don’t take to the internet to complain about something we like.

F1 is an odd one. Folk love to moan about it, saying things like

"its really boring, I havent watched it for years"

How do you know its boring if you havent watched it for years?!

twas ever thus.

MotoGP is oft thrown up as proper racing and don't get me wrong - it delivers excitement of a form today's F1 simply can't - but tr00 motorbike fans will tell you its not the same since they stopped the V10s, oh sorry I mean two strokes of course, and other bllahh bblergh moan and piss meeearghhhh.

Anyway we're at stowe again this year

[Mark-C]

I'm interested in this season - I always am at this time of year.

I'll follow the test days via the BBC website. For the early races I'll avoid the result and watch the highlights but once they're back in Europe I'll revert to listening to the races live on DAB whilst out running and then watch the highlights if it seems worthwhile.

I'll follow the ups and downs of the season through PH Comments and a few other sites.

[5678]

I love F1, all of it, not just the races, the politics, the rumour mill, the hype, build up etc etc.

Life comes first though, if I'm in and I can, I'll watch all of a weekend on Sky, but if other things come up, then I just watch it later in the day, no real hardship.

IMO, those who say it's boring may just be focusing on the races, if you go a layer deeper than that then it adds another dimension.

[DanTVR]

I agree with the above sentiment. I like the whole package as it were, sure some races aren't that exciting, but without being too artificial, that happens in all racing across the globe since the dawn of motor racing.

I am left confused by people who look back at the good old days of F1 with misty eyes and say it ain't like it used to be. I would love to know what they are talking about as I have watched some of the classic races and just can't see what the problem with today's F1 is. Most of the races are loads of breakdowns which results in a winner which wasn't the best/fastest and usually the gaps between cars fighting for position are more than a lap!

I would dearly love to understand it but I suspect it's a matter of relatable content. I only started watching in 2007 so perhaps my interest will diminsh when my favourite drivers leave the sport or the rules change one too many times.

[HighwayStar]

5678 said:

I love F1, all of it, not just the races, the politics, the rumour mill, the hype, build up etc etc.

Life comes first though, if I'm in and I can, I'll watch all of a weekend on Sky, but if other things come up, then I just watch it later in the day, no real hardship.

IMO, those who say it's boring may just be focusing on the races, if you go a layer deeper than that then it adds another dimension.

Yep, all aspects of the sport... even the plight of Williams and McLaren is intriguing... will they haul themselves up the grid.
8 races in, if Honda aren't delivering anything, will Horner be able to keep it shut? Will Max's head fall off?
There's the racing and everything behinds the scenes.
And... I'm all booked up for Baku, really looking forward to being there.

[5678]

HighwayStar said:

Yep, all aspects of the sport... even the plight of Williams and McLaren is intriguing... will they haul themselves up the grid.
8 races in, if Honda aren't delivering anything, will Horner be able to keep it shut? Will Max's head fall off?
There's the racing and everything behinds the scenes.
And... I'm all booked up for Baku, really looking forward to being there.

Glad I’m not alone in my thinking.

The internet helps massively. I’m a huge fan of Joe Saward, if you don’t read his stuff you should. He also does a podcast with MissedApex which is also excellent.

[HighwayStar]

5678 said:

HighwayStar said:

Yep, all aspects of the sport... even the plight of Williams and McLaren is intriguing... will they haul themselves up the grid.
8 races in, if Honda aren't delivering anything, will Horner be able to keep it shut? Will Max's head fall off?
There's the racing and everything behinds the scenes.
And... I'm all booked up for Baku, really looking forward to being there.

Glad I’m not alone in my thinking.

The internet helps massively. I’m a huge fan of Joe Saward, if you don’t read his stuff you should. He also does a podcast with MissedApex which is also excellent.

Thanks for the headsup... I'll check those out

[bakerstreet]

With the arrival of kids, I can't justify spending three hours in front of the TV of a weekend watching F1. Best IU can do is two hours in the evening watching the highlights and even then I am usually doing my ironing.

On most occasions if I wasn't doing my ironing, I would probably fall asleep!

I do usually read up on the results on BBC news. I have long terms bets with a PM at one of our suppliers on championship winner and victory on first race. Last year netted me a large caramel latte and a muffin! I have upped the wager this year with a large latte, packet of vegetable crisps and muffin of my choice

[Derek Smith]

bakerstreet said:

With the arrival of kids, I can't justify spending three hours in front of the TV of a weekend watching F1. Best IU can do is two hours in the evening watching the highlights and even then I am usually doing my ironing.

On most occasions if I wasn't doing my ironing, I would probably fall asleep!

I do usually read up on the results on BBC news. I have long terms bets with a PM at one of our suppliers on championship winner and victory on first race. Last year netted me a large caramel latte and a muffin! I have upped the wager this year with a large latte, packet of vegetable crisps and muffin of my choice

You wait until you get grandchildren.

Just the 50:50 split gave me a lot more time with them. This season, I'll watch a few, maybe four or five, on Now, plus Silverstone, and the rest I'll take at my leisure.

[DoubleD]

Derek Smith said:

bakerstreet said:

With the arrival of kids, I can't justify spending three hours in front of the TV of a weekend watching F1. Best IU can do is two hours in the evening watching the highlights and even then I am usually doing my ironing.

On most occasions if I wasn't doing my ironing, I would probably fall asleep!

I do usually read up on the results on BBC news. I have long terms bets with a PM at one of our suppliers on championship winner and victory on first race. Last year netted me a large caramel latte and a muffin! I have upped the wager this year with a large latte, packet of vegetable crisps and muffin of my choice

You wait until you get grandchildren.

Just the 50:50 split gave me a lot more time with them. This season, I'll watch a few, maybe four or five, on Now, plus Silverstone, and the rest I'll take at my leisure.

Surely being a grandparent means pleasing yourself?

[Derek Smith]

DoubleD said:

Surely being a grandparent means pleasing yourself?

Have you got a lot to learn.

[DoubleD]

Derek Smith said:

DoubleD said:

Surely being a grandparent means pleasing yourself?

Have you got a lot to learn.

Sounds more like your kids have a lot to learn ha ha

[Jasandjules]

I am looking forward to it, very much. I am expecting fireworks from a number of places and can't wait to see how it pans out.

[Derek Smith]

Last season I was disappointed by the Australian GP. I'll buy it on Now but I wonder whether, if it is as dull as it was last season, it will hurt later races.

[Norfolkit]

LaurasOtherHalf said:

I pay for Sky. We’ve discussed the cost which to be frank is expensive as considering the other options (Netflix for instance) the quality per programme just isn’t worth it-what do we watch that is exclusive to Sky? Very little...

However...

F1 is now probably my only sporting passion now and I can revolve race weekends around family time and make it work. I can’t emphasise enough that I still absolutely love the sport.

So Sky for us equates to something like £600 a year which when I split it down to a cost per hour is actually very little. On an average F1 weekend I reckon I’ll watch 5 hours of it with family - mum and dad, kids, wife, we all enjoy it and make a lot of race weekends family events - Breakfast meets for the fly aways, Sunday roasts at ours for the afternoon sessions and best of all evening races with a nice bottle.

So even if you watch 20 races, 5 hours per event at £600 it’s in my mind, value for money.

We also get everything else on Sky effectively for free-True Detective for instance to name but one.

I won’t claim that’s good enough for everyone but it works for me.

£600 per annum for a hobby that brings my family together isn’t bad value-some of my mates into road cycling spend a heck of a lot more than that on their individual hobbies-and it’s a darn sight cheaper than track days!

Just a differing viewpoint

Same here, motorsport is the only sport I have any interest in and F1 is at thetop of that tree so for me SkyF1(legacy package for me) is worth it as I also get to see all of the F2/GP3(F3 this year) races too. Add to that all of the quali and practice sessions, the Friday preview and the midweek report (although that seemed to go missing to be replaced with a fairly crap F1 produced program).

I guess being retired helps as I have the time to watch as much as I want. Divide the cost by the number of hours watched and it's a low cost per hour certainly compare to actually attending a race although we do go to one European race each year.

[Wh00sher]

It wouldn't be pre season on pistonheads if we didn't have one of these threads would it

I'm looking forward to the upcoming season as much as always. My vices are few and I ensure I have enough spare cash to pay for Sky. I find the coverage excellent and whilst I appreciate not everyone can afford to pay for it, I can't get my head round those who won't subscribe to sky 'on principle'. What principle and who do you think notices?

BTCC is on ITV and free. I've recently subscribed to motor trend on demand so I can watch the V8 supercars but F1 is still the one I watch before any of those.


We say it every year and hope for a close season, fingers crossed we get a 3 way fight this year!

[vonuber]

Have to say I'm not sure how i feel about this season either. I dropped out of last season about halfway through and didn't miss it much, first time I haven't watched a season since about '93.

[TheDeuce]

I think the season shows promise, partly because the Merc victory run seems genuinely under threat. Partly because some of the back markers are looking like they can now play in midfield, and also the established midfield look to making interesting progress. I'm sure the outcome of this season won't be remotely predictable compared to last season.

Also all the young blood coming in, I'm sure that will create a few driver dramas too. We all know F1 isn't as raw as it used to be. But of the recent dull years this one at least looks to be slightly less dull