The Lost Formula

I started watching Formula 1 racing way back in 1994, although not very religiously. Those were the times when the championships were dominated by Renault and Williams, Senna had crashed and Schumacher was still a rookie.

I was introduced to it by one of my brother's friends. I would sometimes go to his house to watch it, since we didn't have Cable TV. The sport really impressed me. The sound of the cars, the speed, the acceleration, the atire and just about everything.

But that was then. A decade later I had begun to think about F1 as the Americans do.

Have you ever tried sleeping while watching a game of Football on the TV? It’s almost impossible, because every time you close your eyes and think of dreaming away to the dreamland, there's a roar from the crowd indicating that something has happened. It’s been close to just 12 secs since I thought of taking a trip to Dreamland. You are snapped back to reality to see what's going on!

Now let me tell you what actually happens when you are watching F1. Once the cars have zoomed away from the line, you have an almost constant background din, as soothing, if you turn down the sound down a bit, as the waves on the beach. And you never hear the crowd oohing or aahing, simply because there seldom is anything to ooh or aah about. (You might heard a boo when Barrichelo made way to Schumacher!). As a result of this you probably know who is going to win and you will be sound asleep by lap two. The FIA boasts of viewer ship of millions all over the world, but I wonder how many viewers were actually awake.

The big question is why so many people have tuned out of F1in recent years, and the simple answer is this: its mind-numbingly numb, You have no idea which driver is which, you can't see them doing anything other than turning a steering wheel, and when they get out, they weigh 5 kilos less and they talk like they're flatlining.

What I am trying to say is, I would want to re-discover the love for this sport and enjoy it as much as my colleague, who keeps his Sunday evening’s to watch F1 every fortnight, and I admire the car makers making machines with such cutting edge technology and design, but make it look like a race sport, not a parade of cars ooning around.

Else, if things remain this way, switching to NASCAR or Monster Truck Racing is imminent.