Last week’s Bahrain Grand Prix was given an average rating of 7.96 out of ten by F1 Fanatic readers as Sebastian Vettel held onto win ahead of a charging Lewis Hamilton.
It’s the second-highest score this race has had since we began Rate the Race in 2008. Is it another sign the 2017 season could be more action-packed than we expected?
Here’s what you had to say about round three of the championship:
The first part of the race was awesome, with five cars nose-to-tail for the lead.
Then it all hell broke lose with accidents, ensuing tyre changes and restart battles. However after halfway it calmed down and Hamilton’s position was the only question mark. Overtaking is not as bad as critics say and the championship is looking very close.
Michal (@Michal2009b)
Battles throughout the field, from the Mercedes fighting the Ferraris, with the Red Bull of Ricciardo joining in at times, to the great tight battle between the four midfield teams – Force India, Williams, Toro Rosso and Haas with Renault, Sauber and McLaren being an interesting scrap.
I feel like we’ve come back to the eighties, with one of the best rule changes in F1 and a high attrition rate. Surprisingly for me, I didn’t find the extreme dearth of close racing that was feared. Loving this season so far.
Trayambak Chakravarty (@Major-dev)
F1 has really taken back the initiative.
Forgot there was a World Endurance Championship race today with only two teams in the top class, same liveries and over ten seconds a lap slower. To think some thought LMP1 was on it’s way to out F1 as the top motorsport series a few years back.
All the races in F1 have been decent this year and tiny things in the races going either way could of meant Ferrari or Mercedes winning all the of the opening races.
Markp
While many of you are warming to 2017-style racing, the quality of the television broadcasts remains a concern for some.
The coverage has been appalling this year by FOM. Odd camera angles and random replays and cuts all over the place this year. And worst of all they have got rid of the time tracker from the bottom.
On the race, was very interesting. Felt sorry for Bottas being relegated to a number two driver already.
Yes (@Come-On-Kubica)
The team orders point came up a few times in your responses:
The race started decently, but the Safety Car and the repeated team orders ruined it for me.
EagleMk1
Better than Australia, but I still miss overtaking among the top guys. Another race decided by pit strategy, which is good, but not enough for me.
It’s a pity Verstappen was out so early, although it seems to me Red Bull didn’t have the pace to follow Ferrari and Mercedes.
Ed (@Eanton32)
The first race of the season provoked concerns about how difficult overtaking would be this year. The quality of racing in Bahrain provoked mixed responses.
Clearly overtaking is still a big problem, if Vettel, who was at least one second faster then Bottas can’t do it here with long straights and DRS this season is going to be decided in the pit and not on the track.
Melvin
I think overtaking is in the best state it’s been in since I’ve started watching F1 (1999 season). The overtakes are all hard-fought and well deserved, yet we still actually get overtakes.
The last few years of just cars whizzing by each other constantly whenever they are behind somebody is a lot less interesting to me. Over the past few years there have hardly been any memorable overtaking manoeuvres as they’ve either been easily done by DRS or easily done due to massive differences in tyres. That seemed like an improvement when compared to the previous few years of it being almost impossible to overtake but it really wasn’t great.
I don’t really understand what people want with regards to overtaking if this isn’t it?
@Shadow13
Bahrain Grand Prix reaction from Twitter
The #BahrainGP was an absolute cracker! The great racing up and down the grid proved that overtaking is possible with the 2017 cars.
— Gregor (@gregor_milby) April 16, 2017
#BahrainGp great gp yesterday nice to see f1 is back and enjoyable again.
— wenger's a parasite (@TwittaTwats) April 17, 2017
F1 this season feels like 2007/08 2 teams fighting like crazy for victories and 1 team ready to pick up the pieces if it all goes wrong.
— GingerAndy (@GingerAndy96) April 16, 2017
I think everyone knows why f1 fans keep decreasing, cause always 3 team in the podium and others don't need to watch dy
— Vousmevoyez (@kimguan04) April 17, 2017
#BahrainGP was exciting. Congrats to Seb for the win. C'mon Red Bull we need @danielricciardo on the podium.
— Fred Weimer (@wingdisk) April 17, 2017
After the tension of the Bahrain GP yesterday – I'm kinda glad we have one weekend without f1 to recuperate
— Banu Baarthi #5 🏎💨 (@F1fanatic94) April 17, 2017
I really hope the Russian GP will be better… I'm already sensing it will be boring
— Marcus To The Max (@MadForMarcusE90) April 17, 2017
#lewis lost #f1 racing takeover skills. Driving on front in clean air is easy. I Cannot pass this guy! Only bottas by team order twice.
— Schuurman #GoMax (@henkschuurmanf1) April 17, 2017
Sebastian Vettel won the Bahrain Grand Prix. F1 has gotten so much more exciting this year #F1 #ferrari
— Adam (@the_whitasian) April 16, 2017
Great to see Seb Vettel on top step of podium after Bahrain F1 Grand Prix. Half expected him to conduct the Italian National Anthem #Schumi
— Kath Turner (@Camgart) April 17, 2017
Just caught up with the #BahrainGP – another cracking race! We definitely have a championship fight on this season! #F1
— Reginaldo Rosario (@Regi1700) April 16, 2017
BOT had to let HAM pass him that he could challenge VET, but he wasn't able to do that, so why Lewis didn't give position back to BOT? #F1
— Jari Kultalahti (@JariKultalahti) April 17, 2017
finally caught up on the F1 like hours after it happened. Good race. I had Hamilton down to win though.
— Jess (@ChocaMoccha) April 16, 2017
F1 is so boring
— XY Republik (@Jaywill1886) April 17, 2017
Not as good as china but still enjoyable. Mclaren with 4 DNFs 1 DNS and a last place?! Lance Stroll is receiving a baptism of fire into F1
— Alex Saikia (@PsychiaAlex) April 16, 2017
F1 is interesting cause I've never seen Vettel or Hamilton battle head to head in the ten years they've been in F1 together
— Michael McFarlane (@crossdrilled) April 16, 2017
What a race! Another win for @ScuderiaFerrari @F1 #Bahrain
— BDtSDTV (@bdtsdtv) April 16, 2017
This is gonna be one hell of a #F1 season #BahrainGP
— BPoBF (@sterencengomani) April 16, 2017
Woohoo! #Ferrari wins #BahrainGP That's 2/3 this yr Great pace but that was with Hamilton's 5secs penalty Lots of wheel2wheel 4sure this yr
— Vishal Agarwal 😐 (@vishal1982) April 16, 2017
Just finished watching the #BahrainGP fantastic race congrats Vettel this season is going to be very entertaining to watch #F1
— Michael Flavel 🇦🇺 (@michaelflavel) April 16, 2017
So look like team order are back what race but could of been so much more . #f1 #BahrainGP #TeamOrders #AskCrofty #SkyF1
— aibhran (@ickelave) April 16, 2017
Unlucky Liberty Media but I think you've bought a duff one. No racing. I'm checking out. #f1 #BahrainGP
— Jonny Huntridge (@jhuntridge) April 16, 2017
Hope @F1 gets better. These new changes just haven't worked. 3 bang average borderline boring races so far 😴 #SkyF1
— Mathew Midgley (@MathewMidgley) April 16, 2017
What a #BahrainGP! @sebvettelnews third win. @LewisHamilton comes from behind–beginning of a great @F1 battle.
— Barbie O'Connor (@BOCauthor) April 16, 2017
Enjoyed the #f1 race today. Gutted for @ValtteriBottas. A win will come this season I'm sure of it. Hopefully sooner rather than later!
— Adam Storr (@WestDiscGolf) April 16, 2017
All three big races this weekend #WEC, #ELMS, #F1 were good. Let's just pretend that #BTCC didn't happen.
— Tomasz Kubiak (@tomekkubiak) April 16, 2017
What an amazing race 🏁 I hope the rest of the year is that exciting 🏎🚥🏆🎉 #BahrainGP
— Viktoria (@viktorya97) April 16, 2017
Just caught up on the #BahrainGP after a day out. Not as good as China, but better than Australia.
— Toby (@TobyJones22) April 16, 2017
Today's @F1 was brilliant. I enjoyed it. #F1 #BahrainGP
— RubyRose (@RubyFidler00) April 16, 2017
F1 is a beautiful sport as long as Mercedes isn't winning. Glad to see Vettel's second victory of the season over Hamilton.
— Hamza Hashim (@hamzahashim02) April 16, 2017
Pleased for Vettel winning again. He looked like a kid at Christmas afterwards! Enjoyable race; best of the three so far, I reckon. #F1
— Nick Chenery (@SportyPigF1) April 16, 2017
Am I the only one bothered that in the race F1 cars are like 5 seconds slower than qualifying? I get that there's a lot of fuel, but (cont.)
— Jack Mulkey (@hulkthemulk3) April 16, 2017
On reflection from the first 3 races, I'm very happy with the direction #F1 is taking in 2017! Exciting and relatively organic racing!
— Jason Rodgers (@JRodgersSport) April 16, 2017
Lap 17/57 battle between Mercedes and Ferrari. This is what makes this sport exciting. #BahrainGP #F1 #Vettel #Bottas
— Emily Harmsworth (@lemoniegb) April 16, 2017
This won't go over well but @F1 just might be the worst racing that ever existed in the world and I'm including @NASCAR
— Keith Zimmer (@KeithZimmy5600) April 16, 2017
So GUTTED for Bottas. Began pole, forced to gift 2nd place to Lewis TWICE. Bad tyres? Just let them race #F1 #BahrainGP
— Louise Freer (@FreerSkincareUK) April 16, 2017
My goodness just watching the replay of the @F1 #BahrainGP 👍🏼👍🏼. It was a wild one. @NBCSports #F1 @ScuderiaFerrari 🏁
— The Paddock (@marko_g333) April 16, 2017
Looks like it's going to be a very interesting season #F1
— Paul Heare (@PaulHeare) April 16, 2017
Dear @F1 I'm in overheating for theese amazing GPs 🤣 3 incredible races, 2017 rules give us the very F1 #skymotori #BwoahrainGP #Divanopoli
— Cosimo Pignatelli (@cospignatelli) April 16, 2017
Totally checked out of #F1 last season but more enthusiastic this year. Ecstatic 4 Massa return & enjoying Alonso's race-by-race meltdown
— F1 Female (@f1_female) April 16, 2017
Looks like a Hamilton/Vettel title race. This might be an interesting season. #F1
— Michael (@MichaelH0894) April 16, 2017
Loving the new era of F1, most exciting race I've watched in a long time #BahrainGP
— Nadir Parkar (@NadirParkar) April 16, 2017
Another dull albeit slightly less dull than normal #f1 race. Maybe no pit stops at all is the answer?
— neil luxford (@neilluxford) April 16, 2017
#BahrainGP is a cool track and race.
— Shane 🐯 🏁 💯 (@OatesShane) April 16, 2017
Well, we asked for close competition and that's what we got folks! #F1 #BahrainGP
— Laura (@autumnof83) April 16, 2017
F1 has come alive. The current competition between Vettal and Hamilton is both healthy and respectful. The season will be memorable.
— Martyn R-Slater (@robinsonslater) April 16, 2017
https://twitter.com/P_ill_8up/status/853701754705379328
Just caught up with the Bahrain GP. Decent race 👍 Vettel and Hamilton in a different league to their teammates this season. #f1
— Steve Whitfield (@Ste_Whitfield) April 16, 2017
#F1 is a bit good this season. Roll on the next one
— Stephen Baysted (@StephenBaysted) April 16, 2017
Right now I'm 50/50 on whether to skip the #RussianGP or not… we'll see. #F1
— Kevin (@justkevie) April 16, 2017
Glad to see Vettel back in the #1 spot. Nothing against Hamilton, or Mercedes, but it's nice to see @F1 become competitive again #BahrainGP
— #JOANNE (@Lane_Boy_ZA) April 16, 2017
Caught up on #BahrainGP. @LewisHamilton cheats but @ValtteriBottas forced to play baby sitter & let him through. Boring @MercedesAMGF1 😴 #F1
— Ratcatcher (@Ratcatcher7) April 16, 2017
Loved the teamwork from botas and Hamilton #BahrainGP
— Eddy Benz (@eddykbee) April 16, 2017
Motorsports us meant to thrill & excite but Formula One no longer does these things. #BahrainGP was not a "thriller"
— Gavin Smith (@GavinSmith83) April 16, 2017
Just watched the #BahrainGP & I must admit its a corker! Best GP in past 3 years, one of best in past 7 years! This championship is on fire!
— Andrew (@ESPImperium) April 16, 2017
What a race #BahrainGP was again. McLaren need to get it together (bye bye Honda!) and Lewis v Seb will be epic. Keep the faith Bottas!
— Richie Rooster (@rnendick0705) April 16, 2017
Surely way too early in the F1 season for Mercedes and Ferrari to start with team orders. Very very disappointed with this.
— Barbara Read (@BarbaraRead60) April 16, 2017
Enjoyed that race! Well done Seb and @ScuderiaFerrari #BahrainGP
— lovingthehoneybadger (@danielANDlewis) April 16, 2017
How anybody can say F1 is boring is beyond me. Great race, exciting season ahead. #teamLH #BahrainGP
— chris james (@CJJAY89) April 16, 2017
Just caught up with the #F1. Tense & exciting race!
— skybluemandylou #44 (@skybluemandylou) April 16, 2017
Damn.. Hell of a race. Mercedes ve Ferrari.. Lewis vs Sebastian.. A massive battle in horizon this season. — watching F1
— Sandeep Mohapatra (@sandeep113) April 16, 2017
#BahrainGP 48 overtakes with 18 DRS passes. Maybe these new regs aren't so bad for passing after all! #Formula1 #F1
— Ian Maddison (@ijmad) April 16, 2017
That was a good race even though I'm a Hamilton fan it's good to see how competitive Ferrari ate. And I've got money in Vettel too #F1 🏎🏎
— Chris Peck (@MrCPeck) April 16, 2017
Also today's F1 race was the best I've seen in ages.
— Road to El Dylrado (@NoobsliceZA) April 16, 2017
Cracking day st the F1, cars are fast and noisy again.
— Welsh 'n' Thirsty (@WelshnThirsty) April 16, 2017
The race i wanted but not the winner i wanted.#BahrainGP .
— Babatola Juwon (@Jaybent04) April 16, 2017
Any hopes of repeating 7 or more different winners in the first 7 races dashes by Vettel, are we back to Vettel dominance? #F1
— Kahran Vohra (@kahran_vohra) April 16, 2017
It's great for the sport that #F1 is producing races like this again! #BahrainGP #KeepItComing #SkyF1
— James Taylor (@JRTaylor97) April 16, 2017
Coverage of past 2 races has been terrible. In China we saw little of Verstappen's 13 position gain and same today with Perez #F1 @F1
— Rory Sexton (@rorysexton) April 16, 2017
Great F1 race at #BahrainGP today, 2017 looks to be a good season for racing with more overtakes happening without DRS.
— Ian Maclean (@IanMacleanMusic) April 16, 2017
No DRS, please. It's killing #F1 .
— Sylvia (@15woodlane2) April 16, 2017
What a fool.I thought I would tune it a see a real f1 race between 2 teammates how wrong was I @SkySportsF1 @mercedesamgf1 @f1
— Diane Cullimore (@DNicoros) April 16, 2017
For God's sake, tell the FOM TV production team to pull their finger out for future races re. on-screen TIMINGS @C4F1 #C4F1 #BahrainGP @F1
— Yan Lee (@Yan1Lee) April 16, 2017
F1 is seriously good this season
— JayMW (@JayLDN213) April 16, 2017
I know team orders are allowed but making Bottas let Hamilton through at this stage of the race. Is it too early. #Formula1 #BahrainGP
— Thapan Chand (@thapanchand) April 16, 2017
What a load of f1 rubbish today. Time trial is all it is. Five second penalty for going slow uuhh glad i didnt watch it
— The Springer (@456suzuki100) April 16, 2017
Bin the most boring race of calander #BahrainGP cause it's always crap! Total #yawnfest. 👎
— Justyn Greentree (@Extremekiter) April 16, 2017
Good old F1 danger of a race breaking out so they penalise a driver for driving too slow in the pit lane #F1
— Andrew Harnett (@HarnettAndrew) April 16, 2017
What a season we have in store, great race, plenty of talking points. Wow! #BahrainGP
— George Howson (@GeorgeyHowson95) April 16, 2017
I think F1 is gonna be very interesting this season. Ferrari taking back it's dominance. It about time
— Tsholanang_Zwane (@tsholanangp) April 16, 2017
Made the mistake of watching the @F1 #BorainGP (with lots of FF >> ) #Bormula1 #ThatsWhatImTalkingAbout #cringe #EuroPopBoy #BahrainGP
— Nigel's Tweet (@nigelstreet) April 16, 2017
The best #BahrainGP since '14 for mine. A bit of luck and out and out speed made things very comfortable for VET. Championship on! #F1
— Morne Esben (@Morne13) April 16, 2017
F1 miles better when it's not just one team!
— Joe Westwell (@bigborski69) April 16, 2017
The #BahrainGP was the most exciting F1 race I've watched in a while. This season is great so far.
— Jean Luc (@JnLcGrmn) April 16, 2017
I suggest that Liberty should watch an afternoon of BTCC. That is what I call racing, in all classes.
WAKE UP F1……..— Ian Silcock (@ISilcock) April 16, 2017
It was a good race, need more of it, that's it for the #BahrainGP next up its the #RussianGP hopefully Kimi's problems can be sorted by then
— Mohsin ツ (@Mohsin_N17) April 16, 2017
Nice to see some real racing on TV thanks to #btcc rather than the parade that modern #f1 has become.
— Wonko the Sane (@Graeme_Skinner) April 16, 2017
That #BahrainGP was one of the most exciting races in recent years – drama, overtakes, action. That's what we are talking about. #F1
— Simeon Kichukov (@simeonkichukov) April 16, 2017
Good F1 race today as well, well done the Vettel.
— Pete Scully (@petescully) April 16, 2017
Well that was an exciting race! I'm looking forward to this season 😊🏁 #BahrainGP
— Daniel Bond (@MrSpuddix) April 16, 2017
It seems to me that currently F1 is being billed as exciting based on the pit stop strategy more than the racing.
— William Jersey (@EarlofJersey) April 16, 2017
Any highlights of the race that weren't in the pits? #BahrainGP #F1
— Liam ingram (@Ing305) April 16, 2017
#f1 still boring, the changes seem to have lessened the overtakes. There was zero excitement in the last 40 laps.
— Formie (@formbob) April 16, 2017
So who said #F1 was boring and predictable, huh?
— Alex Coates (@AlexCoatesy) April 16, 2017
Still, great to have such a competitive @F1 season now. On to Russia. Mercedes reaction anyone?
— Nick Winn (@Winn1) April 16, 2017
You know F1 fans are desperate when they rate that race 9/10 😂😂😂
— Stuart Rowles (@StuartRowles) April 16, 2017
I love the drivers spirit this year. Good sportsmanship but amazing racing 😁 #F1 #BahrainGP #MercedesAMGF1
— Samantha (@SmarzX) April 16, 2017
Oh you’re kidding me – just found out there were team orders in the third F1 race of the season! F1 is an absolute joke.
— Nick (@nickistically) April 16, 2017
Really enjoyed the #BahrainGP , action all the way through. Hopefully lots more races like that this season. #F1
— Chris. (@TFC_Chris) April 16, 2017
The crowd at #Bahrain was 1/10th of any GP on calendar! @fia Race at places where people & fans can live their heart out @F1 #BahrainGP #F1
— Jainam Mehta (@Jainam09) April 16, 2017
WOW! what an incredible race, and with just three races in it is clear this is going to be a great F1 season :) #F1 #BahrainGP 🏁
— Craig Stephenson (@craigstephenson) April 16, 2017
It was worth the wait. Today's #F1 race was one of the best I've seen in years. Real nailbiting stuff.
— Richard Miller (@Richard_Miller_) April 16, 2017
F1 races are always less interesting without Mad Max…..
— Philip 父 Wilkinson 父 (@PW57WHU) April 16, 2017
Amazing f1 race today :)
— Blargypaston (@Blargypaston) April 16, 2017
Just caught up on the #BahrainGP, great race, @LewisHamilton was on amazing form. Huge respect for visiting the @RoyalNavy too. #TeamLH
— Andrew Yeates (@AndyDavidYeates) April 17, 2017
Great race yesterday I think – F1 is getting better at last !
— David Evans (@DMEvans1069) April 17, 2017
In other news… Really happy to have covered three people to @F1 thanks to an awesome Bahrain GP!!
— Dan Conn (@danjconn) April 17, 2017
Finally watched F1 Bahrain GP not a bad race could have been closer at the end if Hamilton didn't get the penalty
— Pete (@motorsportpete) April 17, 2017
Bit late I know, but yesterday's F1 was very good. Bottle really mixed it up by taking pole, just a shame he had issues during the race
— Drewski (@drew060609) April 17, 2017
Team orders makes a mockery of the F1 drivers' championship
— Kate (@Kate76404341) April 17, 2017
Can't be arsed with F1 anymore….. The cars are boring and the drivers are boring!
Take me back to the 70's & 80's & 90's
— (((SonOfMerlin))) (@AndyGersFan1973) April 17, 2017
If you think #F1 is boring, not this year! Many changes have been made and this is going to be an exciting season! 🏎 #AutoCentral
— George Mienie (@GeorgeMienie) April 17, 2017
Im two days late, but the #BahrainGP was one of the better races in a long time. #F1
— Daniel Condor (@DanCondor13) April 18, 2017
Another fairly pedestrian race. This season hasn't yet come alight. #f1 #BahrainGP
— Dionysos Tryphon (@DionysosTryphon) April 19, 2017
Bahrain Grand Prix Rate the Race Results
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Alex (@arobbo)
20th April 2017, 11:24
I wonder if this year will end up like 2010, were the race in Bahrain was one of the lowest ratings but then the next round in Australia it was one of the highest ones, not that Australia ’17 was as boring as Bahrain that year…
Christopher Rehn (@chrischrill)
20th April 2017, 11:28
The type of racing seen so far this year is clearly polarising viewers. Some say it’s boring, some say it’s better than perhaps ever before.
One reason for this could be the reduction in overtakes. Casual viewers will enjoy DRS style passes more. Hardcore fans will happily wait 10 laps for a fantastic non-DRS overtake. Is F1 catering to the proper F1 fans instead of the masses this year?
We need the masses onboard to make the sport take off, but those of us frequently posting on websites like this are more than likely not the typical F1 fan.
Aidan Edgar (@aidanedgar)
20th April 2017, 11:34
I never thought of it like this. But in fairness, you do raise a good point
frood19 (@frood19)
20th April 2017, 11:39
@chrischrill i think casual fans can quickly spot how hard-earned an overtake is. the building of suspense is key to this. if hakkinen cruises up behind schumacher at spa in 2000 and sails past using DRS then any casual fan will say ‘meh’. but if he has to slowly but surely winch himself into position, get rebuffed at 200mph and then make a cracking pass on the next lap, i defy anyone not to be even a little bit excited by that.
the test is if you can sit with a non-fan and explain the drama of what is going on – i would find it hard in scenario 1, but i would be on my feet shouting in scenario 2 (in fact, i was actually at that race, the last one i attended!)
John H (@john-h)
20th April 2017, 11:54
That’s a bit of a bold assumption, not sure I agree with that. Actually, does anyone enjoy DRS style passes?
Christopher Rehn (@chrischrill)
20th April 2017, 12:18
@john-h Apologies, I meant “more than hardcore fans”. I don’t mean to say casual viewers prefer DRS style passes over non-DRS passes.
I do believe a casual viewer will be more likely than a hardcore fan to enjoy a race with multitple DRS overtakes, because it creates an illusion of things “happening” all over the race track. Meanwhile, I can be perfectly excited with nothing happening for 10 laps if I can tell that something is building up to happen. 10 laps from now, someone will have to pit and should emerge about 5 seconds behind some other guy. These things won’t excite the casual viewer because it’s too abstract.
shadow13 (@shadow13)
20th April 2017, 12:40
One of the key differences between casual fans and hardcore fans is the knowledge of all the drivers and teams by the hardcore fans – this means when say if Alonso is defending from a Red Bull hardcore fans will be excited as they understand the talent of Alonso but the difficulty he will face in keeping a Red Bull behind and so even if we see no overtake here but a frustrated Riccarido/Verstappen trying to overtake for a few laps it would be exciting. Now view it from a casual fans perspective – its a red bull trying to overtake a mclaren – both good teams, probably the mclaren is better (isn’t that the team that button/Hamilton won in?), and yet the red bull can’t get past for ages…i.e. nothing is happening except for the off attempt by the red bull which doesn’t work.
This is why I think @chrischrill is correct in that casual fans would in this scenario prefer to see an easy DRS overtake as its all about the immediate action for them, whereas for the hardcore fan this would just rob us of Alonso’s talent in attempting to defend from a Red bull.
Robbie (@robbie)
20th April 2017, 13:01
I’m not convinced that a casual fan is so removed from a fanatic that he or she is fooled by DRS vs non-DRS passes. If a casual fan is indeed watching some races and hearing commentary during the race and catching some of the pre and post-race stuff then they’ll learn pretty quickly the difference even if they’re not seeking info outside of the actual race airing.
I also think that F1 is not ‘catering’ to anyone specific right now, as they themselves didn’t quite know what they had on their hands with the new technical regs until they actually raced in anger.
My advice to F1 would be to keep aiming for an enthralling product on the track that does not need DRS as a bandage to too much aero influence, and then the product will be even better and ALL fans will be thrilled.
Konstantin
20th April 2017, 14:18
My Mother can be called a ‘casual fan’ whatever that is, she watches part of the race while doing something else usually. Never enthralled by any of action.
She is a fan of Alonso and wants him to do well. For the bahrain GP she asked who is driving the second Mercedes car and had no idea who he was. When I tried to explain what DRS was, she was uniterested. She only understood what it was used for when I told her that Alonso got stuck behind Petrov and could not win because of it. However I doubt she will know what kind of overtake it was without the commentator explicitly saying so.
My Left Eye (@blik)
20th April 2017, 11:40
I’ve never seen a bad F1 race. Tech, tactics, development efforts no matter the outcome, failures, lows and highs all keep me interested. I’m also a Kimi fan.
Fukobayashi (@)
20th April 2017, 13:29
Baku 2016 has to be a contender surely.
My Left Eye (@blik)
20th April 2017, 14:58
The castle, buildings and the unknown were more than enough to entertain my simple mind.
Philip (@philipgb)
20th April 2017, 19:17
For 90 minutes?
My Left Eye (@blik)
21st April 2017, 6:42
Same can be said about anyone watching the Olympic marathon, Boston and NY marathons and the TDF over three weeks for hours at a stretch. It’s not about instant gratification it’s the preceeding race dynamics playing into the current race and the unknown of the next lap. So much plays out beyond the direct image we view.
Yes (@come-on-kubica)
20th April 2017, 21:00
@blik US GP 2005. Try to defend that.
Markp
20th April 2017, 22:09
US 2005 was ok as a 1 off just like watching testing. I could watch 1 car on its own lap all day.
My Left Eye (@blik)
21st April 2017, 6:48
Easy……….you remember it and easily recall it to make a point. You watched it and I bet you could tell a story around it to someone that doesn’t follow F1. In hindsight you could say the race was a farce but the drama around the practice, tyres, manufacturers and greater consequences that made it a farce was great, it all added to F1 and you and I watched it.
David Not Coulthard (@davidnotcoulthard)
21st April 2017, 8:12
@blik @come-on-kubica Especially if it stays a rare enough occurrence (which it seems set to – I hope I didn’t just jinx anything)
GeeMac (@geemac)
20th April 2017, 11:59
I’m glad I’m not the only one who is annoyed FOM don’t have the “interval ticker” along the bottom of the screen anymore.
I often watch races after they are broadcast and don’t check the news until after I have watched the race, so not having access to the gaps is a massive hindrance to following what is going on all through the field.
Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
20th April 2017, 16:37
Yes, that is a good point. I usually do watch the race after it is over, so you can’t even run the Live Timing in the background to see what is happening, but even if you do happen to watch it live you only need to pause the race (I watch via the internet) so you can get a cup of coffee and then the Live Timing is running ahead of the race.
GT Racer (@gt-racer)
20th April 2017, 17:52
@geemac The ‘ticker’ is permanently at the side now where you can see all positions rather than having to wait for it to scroll through.
I actually prefer this to what was there before as you can see everything at a glance rather than waiting for the scroll. It’s also something that FOM have gotten a lot of feedback on the past few years as been something fans wanted, Hence why they made the change.
GeeMac (@geemac)
21st April 2017, 8:34
@gt-racer Yeah, they do put times up on the “tree” at the side, but on occasion they do take the times off of that so there are times in the race where you have no timing info at all. As @drycrust mentions, you don’t really have the option to use the Live Timing App when watching the race later if you don’t want the result spoiled.
Joachim (@gullanjr)
21st April 2017, 9:59
I usually see the race afterwords and I have the F1-app, and in the app I can see the live timing without spoilers. There is a setting in live timing calles “no spoilers” you can trun on/off. So when I see the race after it have been, I open the app, click on Races, and the on the “R” and it’s downloaded and I can follow it, pause and fastforward along as i watch the race. It works really good.
My problem is to try avoid Instagram, twitter, online sports-pages and so ond and don’t get it spoiled that way…
Hollidog
20th April 2017, 12:33
Completely agree with Come on Kubica’s point about the FOM coverage. It really seems to be all over the place this year with regards to the graphics, the tyre graphic changing all the time, the timing loop thing coming and going between races. At least they finally got the tree up on the left which makes it a lot easier to follow qualifying.
Also, Keith, do we really need to see 112 tweets on the bottom of this article? I respect the opinions of my fellow Fanatics, but not those of the twitter masses
Strontium (@strontium)
20th April 2017, 14:14
It’s great to see a wider opinion, but the ability to click to show / hide the tweets would be ideal if possible. There are a few too many to scroll through :)
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
20th April 2017, 14:17
Can I just check, just should see the Tweets within a horizontal scrolling box rather than just one on top of the other – is it displaying correctly for you? It would look a bit much otherwise!
Maciek (@maciek)
20th April 2017, 14:26
Showing horizontal here… (chrome, mac)
tom (@tom-2)
20th April 2017, 15:12
vertical for me…. long scroll. I am on Desktop Chrome (57) also
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
20th April 2017, 22:50
@tom-2 @strontium OK that’s not right, something mustn’t have cleared in the cache for you guys. I’ll look into it. In the meantime you can probably fix it with a hard refresh (Ctrl-F5/Cmd-F5).
Strontium (@strontium)
20th April 2017, 16:49
Vertical, iPhone
GeeMac (@geemac)
20th April 2017, 17:03
Horizontal (PC, IE11).
ruliemaulana (@ruliemaulana)
20th April 2017, 19:08
Horizontal (PC, Edge).
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
21st April 2017, 13:28
And just for variety…
Not displaying at all (PC, Firefox 52)
Biggsy
20th April 2017, 13:17
I feel we need more tweets in order to properly judge it.
Maciek (@maciek)
20th April 2017, 14:24
Hmm, funny, I thought it was a good race, but nowhere near a ‘cracker’. Although what’s clear for me is that drivers can once again push, rather than conserve, and that is only a good and great thing.
+what’s with people complaining about the tweets under the article? just don’t read’em if you don’t like’em…
OmarRoncal - Go Seb!!! (@)
20th April 2017, 19:20
@maciek some people are being shown the tweets vertically, so I guess it’s too much scrolling down.
Duncan Snowden
20th April 2017, 16:18
Oh, second-best Bahrain. Okay. Seems about fair. I’m not sure I’d agree 100%, but I’ll go with it. It was a solid enough race.
When I saw the headline, I was about to come on and rant about how there’s no way it was the second-best race of the last decade. :)
ILuvSoundtracks (@)
20th April 2017, 17:44
I hoped for something exciting right after the safety car came in to the pits. The race wasn’t that great as I expected, but still it was fine.
GT Racer (@gt-racer)
20th April 2017, 18:04
I disagree with the comment about FOM’s coverage been worse as I think the changes they have made have all been for the better.
They have gone back to using lower angles, To holding those low angles longer & using slower zooms/panning in order to bring out the speed of the cars. This is something fans have been asking them to do for a number of years now, To go back to the F1 digital+ style of covering things.
The only problem with the coverage has been that some of the new systems haven’t worked as well as they did when they were been tested. The mini sectors been incorporated into the timing graphics for example is something that was tested & worked flawlessly pre-season but is something that over the 1st race weekend caused other systems to crash with getting to the bottom of that proving difficult since it all works fine up until the point cars get on track.
There is also some new stuff planned that hasn’t been seen yet as the problems they have suffered has prevented them using all the new toys they have in store.
It goes back to what I said a few months ago. The reason you were seeing wide shots, Slow panning & a focus on ad’s the past few years is because Bernie/CVC were asking them to cover it that way. Liberty have gone back to letting the TV team do things the way they want to do it & the improvements are only going to get even better as the year goes on.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
20th April 2017, 18:07
Surprisingly low rating nevertheless. I agree that the race was perfect up until the SC, and it lost a lot with Max retiring with brake failure, other dnf’s made the field look scarce and finally fom not only keeps trying to plug their new app but also don’t like to film some drivers and battles.
Friederike (@rike)
20th April 2017, 19:02
I think the race got so good reviews because be have a mix up and that makes it exciting. I’m not sure I actually like the racing better yet , and I think there is still plenty of room left for the actual racing to get more exciting,
jayteeniftb
21st April 2017, 17:54
So much for hating the tyre tyre tyre performance formula. Good on F1 for not revealing those messages.