rip|TEAM

I have been watching just about any type of open wheel racing for the past week or so.
IRL
GP2
GPAsia
F3
F2
Formula Renault
Superleagues Formula
and
F1

My first question is:

Out of all the open wheel racing series why does it seem like F1 has the least amount of action? I mean after 10 laps the cars are all spread out and it becomes all about pit strats and tires and stuff.

My second question is a multi part question:

Has it always been like this? If so, then what makes F1 so popular? If not then did it change over night or gradually?

BTW If anyone is interested in the entire 2009 season of GP2 send me a message I can help you out? When I say all races I even mean the sprint races.

Out of all the open wheel racing series why does it seem like F1 has the least amount of action?

Each team makes their cars from the ground up with no standardized parts (more technical freedom) and since it's the premier open wheel league there's a greater difference in the amount spent between the haves and have-nots.  I think a two years ago there was some bit about McLaren spending a few million dollars on a new front wing near the end of the season which would gain them like a tenth of a second per lap.

Has it always been like this?
Since I've been watching (from late 80's), yes.

If so, then what makes F1 so popular?
History, most technically advanced racing, watching the best drivers in the world, fan appreciation for the process to end up at the top of the podium (a good car, a good driver, a good quali session, a good strategy, and good execution).  
F1 isn't good for the instant gratification oriented people, it's like a slow burning tension that is released with the occasional truly great performance.  Like a rookie on a crap team outperforming expectations, or a truly well setup pass that may take a number of laps to execute (Alonso is the king), or a breathtaking quali performance (man and machine making a perfect connection for one lap), or a wet race (strategy execution and amazing driver skill), or a veteran driver showing up a potentially more talented but raw driver (Button v Hamilton/ Prost v Senna), or a race manager/tacticitian schooling the rest of the field (Schumacher).  

None of these things you'll be able to appreciate by turning F1 on the tube and watching for 5 minutes. 

Nascar this ain't.

Biggest reason, the faster the cars, the more the mistakes are amplified in distance.

Yes. F1 is different to every other series you listed. All those series are basically single-make. All the cars are essentially the same, save for freshness of parts & setup. So they will naturally be close in performance, resulting in more frequent position changes.

But F1 is not about that. F1 is about each team designing and building their own cars from scratch, within whatever the rules are that year. It's a technology & ingenuity race every bit as much as it is a contest between drivers on track.

So a major variables exist there, some teams make awesome cars while others are less good, which creates larger differences in performance than you'd see in a spec series.

IMO there are two main issues in F1:

- Grip ... too much of the car's grip comes from aerodynamics that are easily affected by the car in front. It needs to come more from mechanical sources (springs, tires and so on).

- Qualifying ... may as well make it a random draw or have everyone on a rotation through the grid over the course of the season. Qualifying currently puts the fastest car out front and the slowest in back ... If you wanted a race without overtaking, that's how you'd do it.

Aero tight is a very good point!
 
Also I agree with Buz, the rules in F1 have always favored Ferrari, oops, I mean the fastest car.

Yh, i've been saying it for years now, BAN WINGS! They had overtaking the 50s and 60s no prob.

On the excitement issue, check out the Australia race edit on the F1 site...  pretty damn good this week!

http://www.formula1.com/video/race_edits.html

it was exciting this week ... but would it have been without the rain?

I watched some of it this week but fell asleep before it started to rain. I will watch it this weekend.