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Best races of the decade nominations thread

Posted: Sat Jan 11, 2020 3:34 pm
by Mod Aqua
The Formula 1 website ran a vote to get the fans best races of the decade, so I thought it would be a good idea to run one of our own. However, as we can't run a poll with 200 options on it (and I don't think people can remember that far back in detail, so there will be a recency bias) I'm going to run this thread for nominations for a week (until Monday 20th January, 23:59 GMT )

In this thread, people can nominate races they feel are worthy, preferably with a short sentence or two explaining why the race should be considered for the shortlist.

You can nominate as many as you want, and you can renominate races already suggested. The more nominations a race gets, the more likely it will get selected for the shortlist.

The ten races selected by Formula 1 will probably make the shortlist, unless there is a compelling reason for any of them to be pushed out in favour of a better ones (but that would require at least 11 better races to be nominated)

When the shortlist is complete, I'll set up a sortable poll for order the races from best to worst and we can crown the PF1 Forum's race of the decade...

The F1.com shortlist can be found here:
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/arti ... Du2mI.html

10: Hungary 2014
9: Bahrain 2014
8. Australia 2010
7. Germany 2018
6. Azerbaijan 2017
5. Europe (Valencia) 2012
4. Brazil 2012
3. Brazil 2019
2. Canada 2011
1. Germany 2019

Re: Best races of the decade nominations thread

Posted: Sat Jan 11, 2020 5:26 pm
by pokerman
A list of races disrupted by rain or crashes, sometimes both, just about all needing SC's, I kind of don't like the message it might send out to the powers that be. :(

Re: Best races of the decade nominations thread

Posted: Sat Jan 11, 2020 5:33 pm
by Alienturnedhuman
pokerman wrote:A list of races disrupted by rain or crashes, sometimes both, just about all needing SC's, I kind of don't like the message it might send out to the powers that be. :(
Bahrain is probably the most pure of the 10 in that regard, as since while the safety car did close up Hamilton's gap to Rosberg, it didn't end up affecting the result and I think the reason it made the list was the sheer spectacle of Hamilton and Rosberg going for it, 3 seconds a lap faster than the rest of the field and Hamilton holding off Rosberg with a tyre disadvantage.

There is also clearly a bias to newer races, and orange army effect with the F1 poll. Max Verstappen is certainly blockbuster, but to have 2 of the top three races? Hockenheim was a complete lottery race in which I don't think a single driver failed to have an uncontrolled spin (except possibly Vettel) - yes it was an entertaining 2 hours, but it was the closest metaphor to F1 Russian roulette we have seen for quite a while.

Re: Best races of the decade nominations thread

Posted: Sat Jan 11, 2020 6:12 pm
by mikeyg123
pokerman wrote:A list of races disrupted by rain or crashes, sometimes both, just about all needing SC's, I kind of don't like the message it might send out to the powers that be. :(
Your nominations?

Re: Best races of the decade nominations thread

Posted: Sat Jan 11, 2020 6:15 pm
by mikeyg123
I would nominate Spa and South Korea in 2010, USA 2012, Hungary 2013 and Baku 2018.

Re: Best races of the decade nominations thread

Posted: Sat Jan 11, 2020 11:25 pm
by pokerman
mikeyg123 wrote:
pokerman wrote:A list of races disrupted by rain or crashes, sometimes both, just about all needing SC's, I kind of don't like the message it might send out to the powers that be. :(
Your nominations?
I wouldn't know were to begin, I probably can't remember half the races, it's just disturbing to me that SC car races are invariable referred to as great races if they turn the race somewhat into a lottery.

Re: Best races of the decade nominations thread

Posted: Sun Jan 12, 2020 7:04 am
by mikeyg123
pokerman wrote:
mikeyg123 wrote:
pokerman wrote:A list of races disrupted by rain or crashes, sometimes both, just about all needing SC's, I kind of don't like the message it might send out to the powers that be. :(
Your nominations?
I wouldn't know were to begin, I probably can't remember half the races, it's just disturbing to me that SC car races are invariable referred to as great races if they turn the race somewhat into a lottery.
In F1 you need something to trigger a good race. As long as you line cars up in speed order for the start that will always be the case.

You know that I personally think the safety car should be done away with or only used in extreme weather conditions, so I'm hardly in favour. It's certainly used far to often now.

If the 6 nations turned into touch rugby there would be uproar. That's basically happening in F1 and nobody says a word.

Re: Best races of the decade nominations thread

Posted: Sun Jan 12, 2020 8:02 am
by cmax
Germany 2011 - Hamilton v Webber v Alonso. Each of them led at some point in 2 stop race and in what seemed to be equal machinery on the day. There was overtaking where each overtook the other and strategy played all along until the final pitstop.

Thr crop of it was the two similar moves that Lewis made on the bend of turn 2 at Nurburgring. One in defending against Webber and then using the same tactic Webber failed to complete against Alonso and successfully overtaking him on the outside and eventually winning the race.

Re: Best races of the decade nominations thread

Posted: Sun Jan 12, 2020 12:13 pm
by Fiki
mikeyg123 wrote:In F1 you need something to trigger a good race. As long as you line cars up in speed order for the start that will always be the case.
That was always a great safety feature, and one which with a correct technical formula, doesn't make "good races" impossible. The present formula is geared to only one thing: lap records. That means interesting and challenging tracks are neutered. Doing away with the Spectacle Car is only a first step; having more than one tyre supplier would help, and so would a ban on tyre stops and a ban on races controlled from the pits.

I wish I could remember more races, but I simply can't anymore. Good races are hard to find, I will have to look at the ones brought up by the forum.

Re: Best races of the decade nominations thread

Posted: Sun Jan 12, 2020 12:57 pm
by pokerman
mikeyg123 wrote:
pokerman wrote:
mikeyg123 wrote:
pokerman wrote:A list of races disrupted by rain or crashes, sometimes both, just about all needing SC's, I kind of don't like the message it might send out to the powers that be. :(
Your nominations?
I wouldn't know were to begin, I probably can't remember half the races, it's just disturbing to me that SC car races are invariable referred to as great races if they turn the race somewhat into a lottery.
In F1 you need something to trigger a good race. As long as you line cars up in speed order for the start that will always be the case.

You know that I personally think the safety car should be done away with or only used in extreme weather conditions, so I'm hardly in favour. It's certainly used far to often now.

If the 6 nations turned into touch rugby there would be uproar. That's basically happening in F1 and nobody says a word.
Well maybe the likes of us say a word or two but why bother spending the money on the cars that the teams do if F1 is best served with chaotic races, why have the excellence if people just want a WWF version of F1?

Re: Best races of the decade nominations thread

Posted: Sun Jan 12, 2020 1:34 pm
by mikeyg123
pokerman wrote:
mikeyg123 wrote:
pokerman wrote:
mikeyg123 wrote:
pokerman wrote:A list of races disrupted by rain or crashes, sometimes both, just about all needing SC's, I kind of don't like the message it might send out to the powers that be. :(
Your nominations?
I wouldn't know were to begin, I probably can't remember half the races, it's just disturbing to me that SC car races are invariable referred to as great races if they turn the race somewhat into a lottery.
In F1 you need something to trigger a good race. As long as you line cars up in speed order for the start that will always be the case.

You know that I personally think the safety car should be done away with or only used in extreme weather conditions, so I'm hardly in favour. It's certainly used far to often now.

If the 6 nations turned into touch rugby there would be uproar. That's basically happening in F1 and nobody says a word.
Well maybe the likes of us say a word or two but why bother spending the money on the cars that the teams do if F1 is best served with chaotic races, why have the excellence if people just want a WWF version of F1?
Yes I agree. The problem F1 has is that it kind of beat itself. Teams all got to professional, too good. Then you have all the compromises that have been made to the sport for safety and you have the situation we are in. Sometimes good stuff comes up organically like Silverstone this year before the put out the utterly pointless safety car, but it's very rare these days.

It doesn't help that in my opinion they are using safety features like the safety car to spice up racing rather than purely for safety. I saw too many instances of the safety car being released but the incident cleared before safety car conditions actually took effect for me to continue to believe it's used sincerely.

Re: Best races of the decade nominations thread

Posted: Sun Jan 12, 2020 4:14 pm
by pokerman
mikeyg123 wrote:
pokerman wrote:
mikeyg123 wrote:
pokerman wrote:
mikeyg123 wrote: Your nominations?
I wouldn't know were to begin, I probably can't remember half the races, it's just disturbing to me that SC car races are invariable referred to as great races if they turn the race somewhat into a lottery.
In F1 you need something to trigger a good race. As long as you line cars up in speed order for the start that will always be the case.

You know that I personally think the safety car should be done away with or only used in extreme weather conditions, so I'm hardly in favour. It's certainly used far to often now.

If the 6 nations turned into touch rugby there would be uproar. That's basically happening in F1 and nobody says a word.
Well maybe the likes of us say a word or two but why bother spending the money on the cars that the teams do if F1 is best served with chaotic races, why have the excellence if people just want a WWF version of F1?
Yes I agree. The problem F1 has is that it kind of beat itself. Teams all got to professional, too good. Then you have all the compromises that have been made to the sport for safety and you have the situation we are in. Sometimes good stuff comes up organically like Silverstone this year before the put out the utterly pointless safety car, but it's very rare these days.

It doesn't help that in my opinion they are using safety features like the safety car to spice up racing rather than purely for safety. I saw too many instances of the safety car being released but the incident cleared before safety car conditions actually took effect for me to continue to believe it's used sincerely.
Indeed, in Brazil after his engine blew up Bottas took care to park his car out of harms way, this surely could have been covered by a VSC but no a SC is called which then triggered mayhem and then we have apparently the 3rd best race of the last decade.

Re: Best races of the decade nominations thread

Posted: Sun Jan 12, 2020 6:16 pm
by KingVoid
Canada 2010
China 2011
Abu Dhabi 2012
Canada 2014
Hungary 2015
China 2018
Britain 2018

Were all very unlucky to miss out

Re: Best races of the decade nominations thread

Posted: Sun Jan 12, 2020 9:42 pm
by JN23
I've picked one from each season (apart from 2014 because I couldn't decide)

2010 - Australia
2011 - Canada
2012 - Brazil
2013 - Hungary
2014 - Bahrain/Hungary (tough choice)
2015 - Hungary
2016 - Brazil (not many races stand out this season unless I'm forgetting something)
2017 - Baku
2018 - Britain
2019 - Germany

Re: Best races of the decade nominations thread

Posted: Sun Jan 12, 2020 9:50 pm
by Honda_PD
That USGP in the rain a few years back was awesome.

Re: Best races of the decade nominations thread

Posted: Sun Jan 12, 2020 11:04 pm
by JN23
Honda_PD wrote:That USGP in the rain a few years back was awesome.
2015. That is a good shout and not something I had considered