It’s a tabloid now, a lad mag in drag. What’s next, top 100 hundred sex tips from F1 drivers? The cover of Lewis Hamilton is so badly “airbrushed” that it makes one wonder if he ever stood in front of a camera at all. And the picture captions? They’re British for God’s sake. Isn’t there anyone there with a real sense of humour?

The only positive that I can find is that the Race Report has been renamed after it’s author. Ugh. it was dying before, I’m thinking it was just taken off life-support.

All this new look does is desperately try to be the Hello of the F1 world, no doubt spurred on by all the new Lewis Hamilton ‘Fans’ (ie people who will have no interest in F1 in a few years/months time once Hamilton mania dies down).

I am ex-subscriber – but after this new look launch – I am now an ex-reader too.

I can forgive Lewis being on the front cover (and the interview itself, because I’ve never heard Lewis give an exciting interview). For one thing, it’s the British Grand Prix build-up and F1 Racing always has a focus on what it perceives to be the “Best of British” for that issue. Secondly, it’s tough being a mid-market magazine and sometimes compromises have to be made. Also, Stuart Codling (the deputy editor) went to Sidepodcast.com and explained why it was going to happen. It’s rare that sort of explanation is forthcoming, and it deserves some sort of kudos.

I find Peter Windsor educative but frustrating. He’s very good at explaining stuff no other writer considers writing about, but he also has a habit of assuming stuff (statements prefaced with “Of course…” often turn out to be debatable) and writing false dilemmas, which mar the impression. His reports are good as far as they go, but I still miss (the original) F1 Magazine’s approach of having one page for every team plus a quick summary and stats.

Good:
- The cover is better – since more stories get mentioned, I find it easier to find the issue I want to find a given item of information
- Murray Walker’s been recruited (and been given lots of space)
- The interviews are different to before; even the questions on tired subjects seem to be asked a different way
- A wider variety of topics (this is a big plus for me)

Bad:
- The loss of the stats and other analytical section seriously reduce the news section’s utility in forum discussions – it’s amazing how many times some stats from F1 Racing has helped to settle a forum argument
- Eddie Jordan’s been dropped
- There seems to be more emphasis on the pictures (attractive for some people, but I buy magazines for the writing)
- The removal of the explanations between questions (though some linking stuff remains between sections, so the situation could be considerably worse)

The overall impression is that this is F1 Racing circa March 2001, plus a shiny border on the cover and minus some of the attempted humour.

mJohnHurt, maybe the “car elbow” Kimi was buying was to defend himself against future collisions by errant rivals…

I’ll give it a couple of months before considering putting a stop to my subscription.

3. They pretend that F1 racing is just brilliant and won’t accecpt that dull processions where we all watch Kimi tool around behind Felipe for 20 laps, nail him in the pits and take the win, isn’t a hollow situation.

2. Peter Windsor’s head disappeared up his backside 7 years ago. sChUmAcHeRtHeGrEaTeStEvEr hit the nail on his head, his writing is very arrogant and he won’t admit he is wrong.

1. Every Piece of news that they print has been published digested, analysed and superseded on the internet before it gets to print.

And finally,
Eddie Jordan has been discredited as a man, a businessman and as a F1 boss. Sentiment is the only reason why he wasn’t run out of town, Andrea Moda style.

but based on the pictures you published here, the new layout and design has very tabloid like feeling … can’t say I like that …

Keith, begin your takeover of future house publishing now.

downside, you’ll be working even harder.
plus side, you wont have to look at our comments.

I have been picking up F1 Racing for almost a decade – until this year. One issue of Motorsport with Nigel Roebuck and I was sold. Never going back.

Personally I don’t enjoy Peter Windsor’s writing – it’s incredibly arrogant and self serving. I have a lot more respect for people who can admit when they are wrong.

Losing Eddie Jordan won’t hurt F1 Racing at all but too little too late for this fan.

Sorry, obviously I got up on the wrong side of the bed Keith – your topic choice today really unleashed some animosity towards the printed press. Perhaps a fan based mag is in order!

Now THAT’S an idea!

Written by enthusiasts, for enthusiasts!

Now we just need a bunch of paddock passes…

Motorsport and Autosport are the way to go for me now. I’ve got a supscription to F1 Racing as a gift for Christmas, but I won’t be renewing it when it expires.

Its become more of a fashion magazine than anything. The photography has always been first rate, but I have no interest in seeing full page portrait shots of Nico Rosberg looking swanky wearing an expensive suit in a Monaco casino. If I want that sort of thing, I’ll pick up my girlfriend’s Cosmo thankyouverymuch.

I’ve always thought that drivers further down the grid have gotten a raw deal too. The top four/five drivers in any given season dominate the magazine features, which you could argue makes sense, but I wish they’d give the same sort of coverage to the likes of Sutil and Bourdais. The drivers and teams battling for 19th place put in no less effort and commitment than those that are winning and their stories deserve telling.

Overall, the magazine seems to be slowly but continuously dumbing-down. There are a lot of well-written articles, but they’re becoming increasingly hard to spot in amongst all the glossy fashion shoots.

I also noticed the out of date picture at Magny Cours (tut tut)

Peter Windsor can be a bit odd. His unusual style produced erratic results (at least for me). Sometimes, his articles were spot-on. Other times, they seemed to be drifting with no real sense of purpose.

And… ANOTHER Lewis Hamilton interview? Didn’t they just do that back in January? (Although I do understand that Stuart Codling was still the EIC then.) But even so, it seems they’re running out of people to put on the cover, even if they really aren’t.

the magazine is also taking the itv approach of disregarding every driver on the grid bar hamilton. im a big hamilton fan but its beyond a joke hes been on the front cover about 7 times already. they made no attempt to get alonsos side of last year at maclaren which would have been a good interview i think.

i still find alot of the magazine good to read and i will continue buying it i just hope this new look doesnt carry on being so hamilton orientated

while roebuck makes excellent articles, too much adverts and too many historical articles for my liking now.

other publication feel too biased towards certain drivers and teams, I feel Murray Walker, Roebuck, Mark Hughes and Ted Kravitz are the only ones that aren’t.