[Official] Rate the race- Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

[nicanary]

Surely a race with four top drivers battling it out for the entire race distance, occasionally split apart by differing tyre strategies, but all coming together for the last few laps, rather like a clubby handicap race, ... surely THAT'S a 10.

Abu Dhabi had LH walking away before retirement, then KR effectively walking it, with a few battles lower down the order - the real interest was SVs fight up the order, hugely aided by the safety car periods.

Some people must be easily pleased - or are they so used to Bernie's Boring Beanfeast that anything "different" has them wetting their pants. I don't do the rating thing, but if I did it would be about 7.

[Aysedasi]

Ok then, I wasn't generous but that was my immediate post-race view. I still say 9's and 10 's were seriously generous.

[chillibowl]

Originally Posted by nicanary

Some people must be easily pleased - or are they so used to Bernie's Boring Beanfeast that anything "different" has them wetting their pants.

there is truth in that as i found the last two races very average indeed. India i gave a 6 and Korea i gave a 4.

but a few days on i still stand by my 10. from the view on my couch i found it one of the best races of the year.

again its all opinion but i do try to judge each race in relation to the others as best as i can. 4 i think is the lowest score i have ever given a race and Abu Dhabi was light years ahead of Korea hence the big bump in score.

[nicanary]

Originally Posted by chillibowl

there is truth in that as i found the last two races very average indeed. India i gave a 6 and Korea i gave a 4.

but a few days on i still stand by my 10. from the view on my couch i found it one of the best races of the year.

again its all opinion but i do try to judge each race in relation to the others as best as i can. 4 i think is the lowest score i have ever given a race and Abu Dhabi was light years ahead of Korea hence the big bump in score.

Fair enough. I'm just interested in what score is going to be awarded when there is a really superb race - like French GP 1953.

Does the rating go to a "Spinal Tap" 11?

[Greem]

Originally Posted by nicanary

Does the rating go to a "Spinal Tap" 11?

Oi! That's my line!

[nicanary]

Originally Posted by Greem

Oi! That's my line!

What's My Line? Ah.. Gilbert Harding, Barbara Kelly, Eamonn Andrews (?).. happy days. Men in black ties introducing television, ladies in gowns, buttered crumpets for tea, warm ample-bosomed mummies, not like these Kate Moss types .... that thrill trying to avoid TB and polio..

Sorry, got quite lost there...

The old Monza slipstreamers. they were 10s
Le Mans 1969, that was a 10.

As the chocolate-bar ad goes..... get ma drift?

[chillibowl]

'Why don't you just make ten louder and make ten be the top number and make that a little louder?'

cant say i am familiar with the events of France 1953 but if a race like that came along again, like any sensible person talking to Nigel, i would have to reevaluate what i consider a 10 instead of creating an 11.

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by chillibowl

there is truth in that as i found the last two races very average indeed. India i gave a 6 and Korea i gave a 4.

but a few days on i still stand by my 10. from the view on my couch i found it one of the best races of the year.

again its all opinion but i do try to judge each race in relation to the others as best as i can. 4 i think is the lowest score i have ever given a race and Abu Dhabi was light years ahead of Korea hence the big bump in score.

Maybe that's where my approach differs then. I don't score a GP in comparison to the others in a season. I score a GP as to how good I felt that GP was - fullstop. I would have undoubtedly scored it (a little) higher if I'd been comparing it with some of the preceding borefests.

Originally Posted by nicanary

Fair enough. I'm just interested in what score is going to be awarded when there is a really superb race - like French GP 1953.

Does the rating go to a "Spinal Tap" 11?

No, I go all the way to a 7..........

[nicanary]

Know what, I hadn't considered there might be any other way than comparing the race with ALL other races. Doh!

If you rate the race simply on a par for the season, then yes, Abu Dhabi was pretty good. Shows how bad the whole thing has become. (IMO).

[Mekola]

7. Cool race, Lotus victory...

[chillibowl]

Originally Posted by Aysedasi

Maybe that's where my approach differs then. I don't score a GP in comparison to the others in a season. I score a GP as to how good I felt that GP was - fullstop.

its by no means not an exact science and to further complicate matters, i think enjoyable races that occur near the end of the season will get a bump over say the exact same race if it had happened earlier in the season.

for example if it had happened earlier in the season i would have been far more critical of the sloppy driving which occurred. circumstances of the title battle meant that i found merit in the avoidable incidents so i didnt see them as a negative.

nicanary, just a friendly question (hope it comes out that way) about the French GP of 1953...how much of that race have you seen or how much of it was even filmed?

many years from now if someone writes a book or a good article about some of the nuances of this race that TV failed to capture would your appreciation of it increase? like wine do races get better with time? on the flip side its quite possible i will read something tomorrow which makes me wish i hadnt given it a 10.

[nicanary]

I was all of 2 years old when the race took place. I have dvds of 50s racing and there's probably something on one of them, but I have to be honest and say I can't guarantee it.

It has just gone down in motor sport history as one of those thrillers we get now and then, with dicing for the entire distance between top aces in equally competitive cars, and in this case there was the added bonus of a rookie beating Fangio. I fully understand that aero packages today don't allow such close racing, and modern F1 has to be judged on what it has to offer, but to me it's the most exciting style of race. Hence my reference to the classic Monza slipstream battles.

Maybe you're right - in a few years' time when F1 cars have enclosed cockpits and wheels, and the cars set off at timed intervals or some such, we'll look back at 2012 and think it was a classic era. I am not a complete nostalgist - many races back in "the golden age" were not as great as rose-tinted glasses like to recall, with sometimes only 6 or 8 cars still circulating at large intervals. Some of the entertainment was just watching drivers (and you could actually SEE them!) working hard at the wheel just to get round the bend in lurid slides. Back in the day when the average family car was probably flat out at 60mph, and had to slow to 30 to get round a corner, these seemed daring deeds.

So I suppose it's all relative. But apart from Vettel's charge (considerably aided by the safety car) I can't see anything outstanding about that last GP. Wish I had been born 15 years earlier.

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by chillibowl

many years from now if someone writes a book or a good article about some of the nuances of this race that TV failed to capture would your appreciation of it increase? like wine do races get better with time? on the flip side its quite possible i will read something tomorrow which makes me wish i hadnt given it a 10.

Possible - and fairly said. Might affect my judgement of it too. (I'm doubting that as I say it, but you never know!).

Originally Posted by nicanary

So I suppose it's all relative. But apart from Vettel's charge (considerably aided by the safety car) I can't see anything outstanding about that last GP. Wish I had been born 15 years earlier.

At last, a brother in arms........

[Bononi]

Old times... not so old really.

[Marbot]

Ah! Those Rose-tinted spectacles are so blinding to the times when even the great Senna had those mediocre race performances for which he gave no credible explanation for. Ah! Those long hot summer days of decades gone by. *sighs*

[wolfhound]

Edd Straw has an interesting view on the Abu Dhabi GP liking it to a film blockbuster thats all action but no real substance in the way that the plot is contrived. He compares it to the recent reimaged version of Total Recall. I can see his point. I know it is only available to subscribers but the link is below.

http://plus.autosport.com/premium/fe...-in-abu-dhabi/

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by Marbot

Ah! Those Rose-tinted spectacles are so blinding to the times when even the great Senna had those mediocre race performances for which he gave no credible explanation for. Ah! Those long hot summer days of decades gone by. *sighs*

Yep, rose-tinteds or not, I'd have them back tomorrow.

Originally Posted by wolfhound

Edd Straw has an interesting view on the Abu Dhabi GP liking it to a film blockbuster thats all action but no real substance in the way that the plot is contrived.

Yep, sounds much like my view.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by chillibowl

'Why don't you just make ten louder and make ten be the top number and make that a little louder?'

"This goes to 11."

[W.A Trichlorostyrene]

This felt like a GP2 race. And I'm not sure if that's a good or a bad thing.

Some great battles. A great charge through the field from the championship favourite(Hamilton at Istanbul 2006 anyone...?). A certain sense of desperation and impatience in midfield. Some clumsy incidents, and a truly scary crash. Two Safety Cars. One controversial incident under Safety Car. Some off track excursions, and some unsafe track rejoins too, leading into more incidents. An unexpected, yet experienced winner. Some unexpected points scorers too - those who were smart enough to keep their nose clean for the whole race, basically.

We are only missing a Monday morning reversed grid sprint race here...

[Adam43]

There was a bunch of drivers who drove superbly and they were mainly World Champions. There were a bunch of drivers who drove like novices, they weren't.

[Marbot]

Originally Posted by Aysedasi

Yep, rose-tinteds or not, I'd have them back tomorrow.

Well you can't, so there!

It is what it is.

[nicanary]

Originally Posted by Marbot

Well you can't, so there!

It is what it is.

Somewhat reluctantly, I also accept that point. Bernie's F1 or nothing? No contest.

[Bononi]

It all depends on what "nothing" means...

[nicanary]

Originally Posted by Bononi

It all depends on what "nothing" means...

Presumably it would be legally impossible for any organiser to hold an f1 race outside the "circus". (More's the pity - oops rose-tints again!)

[F1Pete]

I wanted to vote 11 but my only option was 10.