One of the most unpopular Champions?

[Mr1Croft]

With Sebastian Vettel set to become world no.1 for the 4th year in a row, why does he really have such a bad reputation with spectators?


Or is his dominance his downfall?[size=78%] [/size]

[Muttley]

Does anyone really care who wins the Annual Moving Billboard Scalextric Championship?

Admittedly the races can be occasionally be quite a spectacle (ie when there's a big crash, which is probably why most people watch), but it's not really sport is it when so much depends on how many millions the different teams throw at the engineering?

[Rios]

Does anyone really care who wins the Annual Moving Billboard Scalextric Championship?

Admittedly the races can be occasionally be quite a spectacle (ie when there's a big crash, which is probably why most people watch), but it's not really sport is it when so much depends on how many millions the different teams throw at the engineering?

As opposed to football in which money has no relevance at all.....

There have been F1 champions before who've dominated and still been popular.  Like Schumacher before him Vetel's unpopular due to a lack of sportsmanship and lack of grace.  That's not generally a problem in Germany for example, but come to the likes of the UK which does value those attributes highly and hes never going to popular while someone like Webber is.

[River Don]

It's not like footballers and the stadiums they play in aren't plastered in billboards. Is it really a sport when so much depends on the millions the clubs throw at it?

[Muttley]

As opposed to football in which money has no relevance at all.....

But the difference is that, while both sports have got a human element (drivers & players), the biggest determining factor in F1 is the engineering.

When two football teams take to the pitch, it is still basically "mano a mano"  and the equipment (boots, kit?) doesn't really influence the outcome - that is down to the skill of the players, and maybe a bit of luck too.

But when F1 drivers line up on the grid, no matter what the relative driving skills of the individuals, you know that the result is mainly predicated on the car, not whether Sebastian Vettel is really a better driver than, say, Paul di Resta.

Now, if you put them both in the same sort of car with same tyres, then you'd have a proper competition between drivers and the only "external" factor would perhaps be the mechanics. I watched Renault 5 Turbo racing a few times in the 90s and that was exhilarating stuff.

Wasn't there a rival to F1 launched a few years ago where the teams were country-based and all had the same car? I presume it couldn't compete with the F1 monster and so flopped. That sort of concept is far more interesting to me than F1.

And as for the knobheads in the office who "support" Ferrari or Maclaren for no reason (mind they're the same ones who support "ManYoo" from the comfort of their Sky subscription!)

[RedJ]

Yes there was (a rival launched) - I think it was called something like A1 racing. Never really got much press coverage so probably why it flopped.