Just wondered if people watch the A1gp and if so do they also watch F1.

For me, like many F1 has become dull. The A1 appears to bring racing back into OW racing, just wondered what people think of the series now it has had time to get established.

Been sort off and on watching A1GP, it is exciting sometimes, but it really isn't fun to watch after a while I think.

There are only 3 or 4 top teams that they focus on the most, and even then, they aren't the 'best' drivers I think. A1GP kind of takes some lesser known drivers under its wing, and it is neat to see some of those drivers... it just isn't all that great to watch with some of the track choices they have I think.

For me, Champ Cars and F1 are the main motorsports worth watching if you like open wheelers. F1 isn't all that dull, how is it dull? It is surely interesting to watch this new season unfold, and F1 has always been exciting at the starts and finishes... but never in between. A1GP is no different though, there is hardly many good battles at the finish, and it just gets boring to watch. Happens in a lot of racing series even.

I ignore that fact as much as I can though, and I can really only rate a series being 'exciting' if it has aggressive driving, fast drivers, and some accidents. You don't find a huge amount of that in open wheel racing because it is so dangerous (versus sedans for example). I'd watch BTCC, V8's, or WTTC if I wanted to see some good door-to-door action. F1 is just the 'sex appeal' for us guys, and the cars (and drivers) are amazing to watch, that's all I can argue for F1 being better.

A1GP is really a 'behind-the-curtains' sort of series, they aren't really spreading the word, and it is really hardly acknowledged as a true race of nations by most motorsports fans. Personally, I see it kind of dying off with how much that series lacks. Unfortunately... because I'd like to see it grow into a bigger spectacle.

Quote from Tweaker :

Been sort off and on watching A1GP, it is exciting sometimes, but it really isn't fun to watch after a while I think.

There are only 3 or 4 top teams that they focus on the most, and even then, they aren't the 'best' drivers I think. A1GP kind of takes some lesser known drivers under its wing, and it is neat to see some of those drivers... it just isn't all that great to watch with some of the track choices they have I think.

For me, Champ Cars and F1 are the main motorsports worth watching if you like open wheelers. F1 isn't all that dull, how is it dull? It is surely interesting to watch this new season unfold, and F1 has always been exciting at the starts and finishes... but never in between. A1GP is no different though, there is hardly many good battles at the finish, and it just gets boring to watch. Happens in a lot of racing series even.

I ignore that fact as much as I can though, and I can really only rate a series being 'exciting' if it has aggressive driving, fast drivers, and some accidents. You don't find a huge amount of that in open wheel racing because it is so dangerous (versus sedans for example). I'd watch BTCC, V8's, or WTTC if I wanted to see some good door-to-door action. F1 is just the 'sex appeal' for us guys, and the cars (and drivers) are amazing to watch, that's all I can argue for F1 being better.

A1GP is really a 'behind-the-curtains' sort of series, they aren't really spreading the word, and it is really hardly acknowledged as a true race of nations by most motorsports fans. Personally, I see it kind of dying off with how much that series lacks. Unfortunately... because I'd like to see it grow into a bigger spectacle.

Yep, my series of choice now is the Aussie V8s. I find the idea of the A1 interesting as all the cars are the same so its like LFS in the respect of setup and driver make the difference while F1 is about the cash the teams can throw at the sport.

I have always stayed far away from any kind of Formula car racing. I just don't like open wheel cars. Having said that, A1GP is the one forumla car series that actaully gets my attention. I like the format and I like the cars.
Other than that, I follow most Touring, SuperTouring and GT racing on the planet, but this years favourites so far has to be SuperV8 and SCCA Speed World Challenge.

I'm gonna watch both. A1GP imo a really good league. Of course there are racers there that stand above the others. And unknown driver? Dutch driver Jos verstappen use to race Formula 1 ( now Jeroen Bleekemolen is racing A1 for Netherlands ). Not that unknown. People with money join this league. Look at that guy that always spins off and shit, i thought it was pakistan or something. It's hilarious just looking at that guy trying to do a lap.

IMO A1GP better then formula because of the cars more closer to each other and the budget of the team doesn't matter as much as in F1.

my regards,
Tom

I quite like A1GP, but am put off by the whole NAWS thing (Don't know if they actually use NOS, but the effect is the same)

What annoys me about F1 is that they've got so many things right in terms of it being an event, but the sport hasn't been all that interesting for a long time. A grand prix still has all the charge and excitement of an important and prestigious occasion, but it's always a bit of an anti-climax once the lights go out. All that money thrown at developing racing cars that can't overtake.

Well unfortunatley i can't see that changing untill the cars become far less reliant on downforce to stay on the track

the only thing that i dont like about A1, is it seems the teams are made up with guys from any country, as apposed to the chinese team being all from china, germans in the german team and so on.

splitting hairs maybe, but look at football teams in the world cup.

Quote from GFresh :

I quite like A1GP, but am put off by the whole NAWS thing (Don't know if they actually use NOS, but the effect is the same)

It's an ECU thing, not NOS.

A1GP cars aren't very spectacular to watch, I'd even go so far as to say that (for single-seaters) they look a bit clumsy sometimes, certainly no top-level series machines (imo). That doesn't help them, but aswell as that there's the switching of drivers, which isn't good in my opinion, and must be confusing to some people, and also the fact that there is vitually no publicity in the general media. I often miss races because I didn't know it was on.

I don't really look out for it though. It's not great entertainment, the racing is sometimes ok, no better or any more spectacular than you see in national ss series' though, but it generally lacks drama. (Not helped by the empty grandstands at some circuits which the F1 circus sets alight).

GP2 FTW!

The most exciting OW race I saw recently was a GP2 race some months ago. I can't remember which one it was ATM, but it had me nearly as much excited as a typical MotoGP race.

You know, overtaking and stuff.

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A1GP cars aren't very spectacular to watch, I'd even go so far as to say that (for single-seaters) they look a bit clumsy sometimes, certainly no top-level series machines (imo).

That is the problem - they will replace them at some point, rumour has it that it might be the proposed Lola champ car which the CCWS rejected over the new Panoz.

I'd love some 06 spec (or Lola's proposed 07 car) to be the new A1GP car, potentially with the old cars as some sort of "A2GP"?

I watch A1GP most of the time but it isn't all that spectacular imo. I don't see that much overtaking. Last year for some reason was more exciting than this year.
The problem is that it really doesn't bring anything new to the table. Not one single thing is unique from other classes. Well, maybe the driving for your nation nonsense. Why is it nonsense? It's just a bunch of GP2 teams running a car for a certain nation in most cases. If it would really be a nations cup, then the teams would be FROM those nations, not just the driver.
Why compare F1 to A1GP? Because of the "1" ? They're completely different series. A1GP better compares to GP2, whereas F1 better compares to Champcars.
And any series that allows goofs like Nur Ali to "compete" can't be taken seriously, GP2 is such a better class!

Quote from joen :

Why is it nonsense? It's just a bunch of GP2 teams running a car for a certain nation in most cases. If it would really be a nations cup, then the teams would be FROM those nations, not just the driver.

That is part of the issue ...

I quit watching A1GP when Jos Verstappen stopped with it... (he was quite good sometimes, now I don't even bother watching it)

only F1 for me now! =D

Quote from thisnameistaken :

What annoys me about F1 is that they've got so many things right in terms of it being an event, but the sport hasn't been all that interesting for a long time. A grand prix still has all the charge and excitement of an important and prestigious occasion, but it's always a bit of an anti-climax once the lights go out. All that money thrown at developing racing cars that can't overtake.

Exactly... and what pisses me also is that formula one takes all the media coverage just because it happens to be "formula one". If GP2 and F1 would swap names, guess what would happen... At least here in Finland formula one practically steals all the media coverage together with WRC rally and both of them are amazingly boring. Thanks to internet, I can also enjoy DTM, Le Mans series and ChampCar...

Well, I thought the WRC was working out pretty nicely until the last couple of years, but it seems to be going the way of F1 now - too much conspicuous courting of commercial interests which get in the way of the sport. At least rally still (for now at least) has interesting drivers, which is more than can be said for F1.

Quote from avellis :

GP2 FTW!

The most exciting OW race I saw recently was a GP2 race some months ago. I can't remember which one it was ATM, but it had me nearly as much excited as a typical MotoGP race.

You know, overtaking and stuff.

Yup, GP2 is great...and last years race in Turkey was one of the bast races i've ever seen, mainly due to Lewis Hamiltons storming drive.

Quote from thisnameistaken :

Well, I thought the WRC was working out pretty nicely until the last couple of years, but it seems to be going the way of F1 now - too much conspicuous courting of commercial interests which get in the way of the sport.

Yup... I also think that the main problem is that they (= FIA monkeys) want to make make rally look more sexier than it is and try to make it more appealing for mainstream audiences. IMHO completely wrong approach. I mean, F1 is sexy because it just is F1, rally has never been so mainstream. Nothing sexy sitting in the middle of nothing in a bad weather waiting for cars to drive by and so on... you get the point. I was actually surprised when David Richards (owns the commercial rights to the WRC) said last year that rallying is FIA's 2nd most important series...

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At least rally still (for now at least) has interesting drivers, which is more than can be said for F1.

Not sure about that... ok there's Grönholm with his funny straight-foward comments and Solberg... others are too bland, especially Loeb. If you meant wide range of competitive drivers, not sure about that either and that's mostly because of only three factory teams, private teams simply have no chance against them. If you look at 5 years back the situation was so much better.

Quote from deggis :

Nothing sexy sitting in the middle of nothing in a bad weather waiting for cars to drive by and so on... you get the point.

rally raid videos are pretty darn sexy though

i dont get a1 round here... id like to watch it though

I watch both, but A1 lacks a certain something and I don't find that I'm too concerned to miss a race or three, unlike F1 where I hate to miss a single minute.

With all that boosting going on in A1 it is very hard to determine who has performed well due to driver skill and who has just out-boosted his opponent. A1 needs to ditch that arcade boost button and then they will have a world class racing series.

Personally I watch F1 more, but enjoy the A1GP a lot more than F1. The A1GP is on Sky Sports though so I don't always get to see it, but I love the close racing and actually seeing the drivers fighting the rear end. The actual quality of the TV coverage is very good, and there isnt much politics. If something needs fixing then they do it quickly, teams help each other out too and the fan is the number 1 priority, no red tape like in F1.

Nothing can replace the F1 circus. Do your hear me? NOTHING.

At least you got the circus bit right, bunch of clowns with the same old tricks