What attracts you to F1 and not other racing series?
There's simply nothing else like it.
For starters I grew up with it being a regular Sunday afternoon staple on the BBC with Murray Walker commentating on the likes of Lauda, Prost, Senna, Piquet and Mansell while Fleetwood Mac's epic outro to 'The Chain' would wail in the background. The racing itself may have had it's peaks and troughs -Mercedes dominance is just a continuation of Red Bulls dominance which was in turn Ferrari/Schumachers dominance and so on but there's always been the time periods in-between and the occasional freak season like Brawn's dominance of 2009.
There's the whole pageantry of it all with spectacular locations like Monaco and Singapore sparkling in amongst a whole variety of circuits from the beauty and speed of Spa to the stark floodlit desert of Bahrain and the backyard thrills of Albert Park (quite literally in my case - When I first moved to Oz I was living across the road from the pit straight)
Theres always been a great cast of characters both in and out of the driving seat. Hot-headed Senna, the Playboy antics of Hunt, Kimi's complete lack of fucks given, Danny Ricciardo's infectious personality, the ruthless personification of evil that was Bernie Ecclestone, Niki Lauda's bluntness, dodgy fuckers who are always lurking in the background like Flavio Briatore, the stoic determination of Frank Williams, Murray Walker's eternal gaffes - I could go on all day.
Sure the racing isn't as good as it used to be but tbh people have been saying that ever since Fangio won his second race.
Yes, it may not have the amount of overtaking and lead changes of Touring Cars, V8's or Moto GP but that makes position changes just that little bit more special - it's similar to the difference in emotions expressed to a goal in AFL vs a goal in Soccer. Plus at the moment we've got a genuine title battle on our hands and even when we are in the depths of title supremacy such as Merc's last 5 years there are still some great battles further down the field.
As for the competition? I like NASCAR enough to have driven across the USA just to attend a race (which got f***ing postponed because they don't race in the rain forcing me to postpone my onward flight and almost miss my Sister's wedding!) but there is a bit too much result-engineering involved with their mandatory yellow flags and whatnot. It's also a chore to watch on TV as I've an incredibly low tolerance for ad-breaks. The same can also be said for Indy Car.
WEC is interesting and I'd love to be able to attend a proper 24hr endurance event but as a series it's not really gripping.
WRC I love for one of the reasons I love F1 - the sheer variety in locations. The driver skill is unsurpassed too but unfortunately time-trial racing will never have the same thrill as head-head and the WRC themselves are a bit shit when it comes marketing their broadcast rights.
I can take or leave Supercars. The racing is always great to watch but I dunno, other than Bathurst I just don't have the same engagement with it as I do with F1. It just seems that little bit 'sunday league' or VFL.
DTM, Super GT and all the other cool little series' just lack exposure so there's no point following them.
Finally Moto GP. I'm pretty sure the only reason I don't get into that as much as I should is probably a sub-conscious self-preservation instinct because race bikes are affordable and I have no self-control when it comes to hobbies!
