Rate the race: 2011 European Grand Prix

2011 European Grand Prix

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What did you think of the European Grand Prix? Rate the race out of ten and leave a comment below:

Rate the 2011 European Grand Prix out of ten

  • 10 (1%)
  • 9 (0%)
  • 8 (1%)
  • 7 (5%)
  • 6 (15%)
  • 5 (18%)
  • 4 (17%)
  • 3 (16%)
  • 2 (15%)
  • 1 (13%)

Total Voters: 541

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1 = ‘Terrible’, 10 = ‘Perfect’

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F1 Fanatic holds polls on each race to find out which fans thought were the best and worst races during a season. Please vote based on how entertaining and exciting you thought the race was, not on how your preferred driver or team performed.

See the results for past seasons here:

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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230 comments on “Rate the race: 2011 European Grand Prix”

  1. 3/10

    It’s late Sunday night here, I had trouble staying awake.
    Typical Valencia procession.

    1. very dull, its horrible to see brilliant tracks with so much history being endangered to make way for races like this.

      1. Worse than previous years as even the start was boring!
        You used to be able to count on the first few laps to be at least a little interesting.

        1. Actually, the fact that every car finished the race is very telling.

      2. It is F1 problem not track.
        Did you see GP2 here today and yesterday?it was so much fun to see,with very overtaking maneuvers,very actions.

        1. Hi,

          A track can be good for GP2 and not for F1. It’s not exactly the same thing, I think!

          This track is made so that rich people can show off their boats… Rip Monaco off its history, thrilling qualifications, the fact it’s a (real) urban track and the walls so close, but keep the long uneventful races and you get this “Valencia GP”.

      3. Which tracks are endangered?

        It has nothing to do with the quality of the track, more so the money that can be generated.

    2. Please Bernie, it’s time to dispose of this track. Flat as a pancake with banal concrete walls and no racing since it got the race. Plus the fact that Spain already has one GP, a country with no GP heritage.

      1. Bring back Adelaide :)

        1. Never going to happen.

        2. I say bring back Magny Cours! Such a fast track with tricky corners. I’m sick of tracks with slow corners like Valencia.

          1. magny cours sucks as well. The real track in france was clermont ferrand, but that’s like the old nurburgring, so it’s not possible. But paul ricard it’s a better option, close to spain and italy, fast and beautiful racing there. I was there in 1989, and slept at the camping inside. Good memories, that’s for sure. Prost won like he ususally did in france. He had something special at his home race.

          2. Mangy course ?

            No thanks, it sucks the sweat from a dead man’s crotch !

      2. Dear Bernie,

        about that idea of water sprinklers you had laughed out of court a year back……

        I was just wondering…

        …how much would it cost to install at Valencia ?

        1. Probably not very much. Just get some of the people on the boats to slosh buckets of harbour water in the direction of the track.

          1. Now there is a grandiose Idea, they might actually start to enjoy being there!

      3. How do you propose a country earns any racing heritage?

        Typical knee-jerk reaction?

        1. I would suggest that having interesting race tracks that provide good racing should be the place to start….

          Barcelona is a mediocre track that only rarely gives great races… and Valencia… sorry but 4 years and I can only think of 2 exciting moments… and one of those was watching a driver come within a hair’s breath of being killed… which doesn’t count when it comes to making great races.

          1. Good racing is subjective ultimately though, and being subjective doesn’t guarantee you a decent profit on your investment.

          2. Good racing is subjective ultimately though

            Maybe so but bad racing is universal and as you can see from the poll result above and the reaction in these comments this circuit is almost universally hated because it repeatedly produces boring races.

      4. i wouldn’t say no heritage dude. You don’t know what you are talking about.
        Pedralbes in the 50’s montjuit in the 60’s and 70’s, jarama in the 70’s and 80′, jerez in the 80’s and 90’s ,and barcelona and valencia nowadays.
        If that is not heritage tell me what is.

        1. Well said . I won’t comment any further as it then becomes racial , and no point . I only watched the start and up to lap 7 , and realised it would be a sort of procession. But quite a few other tracks can be the same , not just Valencia. I’m thinking that re-fuelling , with it’s obvious dangers , definitely did add an extra excitement to F1 . FIA should look into bringing it back , together with DRS and KERS , may mix strategies up enough to avoid totally processional races.

        2. Fair enough, I didn’t mean to sound confrontational. My bad. But I hope you see my point that testing and two GPs is surely too much for one country in a ‘world championship’, regardless of who it is.

    3. Totally agree with you. They have to drop Valencia. It’s a must. It sucks.

    4. i agree, it was 7 am here in south america. I thought it was me the only one who couldn’t stay awake.
      having some race tracks around the world so great, running in valencia it’s another f1 nonsense. Fota needs to adress that, becuse bernie won’t.

  2. Even Pirelli tyres, DRS and KERS couldn’t save Valencia. Cut it from the calendar, Bernie.Turn it into a go-kart track or something.

    That being said, the midfield, particularly DiResta, Alguesuari and Kobayashi, had some fairly decent action but hardly anything edge of the seat.

    5/10

    Also slow those Bulls down. Yes, it’s good for them that they’ve got a superbly designed car and F1 is all about innovation as well as skill but it’s not providing a good championship. The team sure are enjoying it but the viewers aren’t, apart from RBR fans. It’s hardly making the championship leader sweat. I want to see Vettel fight, not coast to the chequered flag.

    Hopefully the EBD ban rule at Silverstone will see something drastic happen to them, otherwise their dominance will make the WDC as boring as this race was. Let’s see those RBRs in the wars and lets see more of the Renaults, Mercedes and Ferraris on the podium or winning.

    1. Even Pirelli tyres, DRS and KERS couldn’t save Us from Valencia.
      RBR and Vettel have nothing to do with this, this track sucks. Hats off to the drivers remembering layout at all.(well Maldonado and Petrov almost didn’t)

    2. I dont like that Redbull is dominating all the races, but I dont want the rules changed just so they dont, its not what F1 is about.

    3. I don’t really get it and I guess I will never get use to the idea of slowing down the best performer. It is a sport, the best wins. Why should someone introduce rules to slow them down?? It is like suggesting that Usain Bolt should run barefoot so the others can catch up with him

    4. I don’t think viewers are unhappy at all – most of the races this year have been absolutely sensational. Valencia wasn’t. It’s a shame because there are some really nice flowing corners at Valencia, but the track as a whole has yet to provide a memorable race.

  3. 5/10 Best Valencia Race by far, but According to every other race, a little boring.. Ads Summed it up well; We have been Spoiled in 2011! Even still, i found it interesting to watch for the first half, with a very promising strategy battle heating up.. too bad it petered out into an extremely boring finish

    1. 6 out of 10 for me. It’s a shame that people are going to vote ‘1’s and ‘2’s because that’s a complete over-reaction.

      The ending was really boring, yes, but up until the final stops we had what appeared to be a possible 3-way fight for the win. How often does that happen, let alone around Valencia? Also, we saw a wealth of overtaking through the field thanks to DRS and even outside of the DRS zones. Yes, it was not close to being a classic compared to the unbelievable races we’ve had this year, but this was easily the best race this circuit has produced, thought it would’ve been a lot better if it was closer at the finish.

      I also think that people are suffering from ‘Vettel Burnout Syndrome’ after the utter domination we’ve seen so far this year. I strongly believe that if someone like Alonso or Webber or Hamilton had started on Pole and had won in the fashion Vettel had, this race would’ve been rated a lot higher.

      If the 2008 and 2009 Valencia races were 2 or 3 or 4 out of 10 (and I agree, they were), a 5 for this race is far more accurate in my opinion.

      1. I absolutely agree with Mag.

        1. I absolutely agree with Mag.

          Have you ever disagreed? :P

      2. 6 out of 10 is a good score. 6 to me means a pretty good race but not amazing.

        This race was no where near good.

        We saw one moment of action so 1 is a fair score.

      3. I agree here, for Valencia it was a pretty good race. And the battles throughout the field were nice enough. FOM at least used some of the nice camera angles as well (the wall there :-) ).

        Sure Vettel managed it at the front, but I actually enjoyed myself for all but the middle 10-15 laps, so it was OK, not great.

      4. 6 is too kind. 6 is the kind of race I wouldn’t be too embarrassed to introduce my non-petrolhead friends to f1 through.

      5. Yer I gave it a 7 but I completely agree with everything you’ve said Mag

        1. Me too, it wasn’t really that bad. Last year we’d have been raving about this race. I think Mag is right that people are suffering from Vettel burnout.

      6. I also think that people are suffering from ‘Vettel Burnout Syndrome’ after the utter domination we’ve seen so far this year.

        That coupled with the fact we’ve had an amazing run of fantastic races. Anything less than a classic is boring in the opinion of some.

      7. A British driver winning is a guaranteed 2 points improvement in the voting here.

        Can’t disagree with most people’s assessment of this race though. A 5 is generous, and I can’t believe that we have to put up with at least another 3 years at this circuit. I’m hoping that rumour of them defaulting on the payments earlier this year is true, Valencia can join a long line of F1 tracks which never should have happened.

        1. UKfanatic (@)
          28th June 2011, 0:25

          you right Toro Stevo about everything, I just think that valencia highlights all about the season including the rules problems

      8. i disagree. that race earned its 2. believe me, absolutely zero viewers were converted into fans today, and a couple more like that will drive fans away. i watch every race multiple times, but i won’t be revisiting this – i nearly turned it off halfway through. fall asleep? sure. turn of a grand prix? unthinkable!

      9. Agree with you man. Valencia wasn’t all that bad, infact it was as interesting as the Australian GP this year. I think its a combination of the Vettel win and Mclaren failure that made so many people vote 0 and 1s.

        This was probably the best Valencia GP I’ve seen, and I scored it a 6

      10. as with everyone else, i agree!

        my choice of rating it a 6 is also associated with the scores of the other races. For example i rated Australia about a 7.. it’d be unfair to rate this a 2

      11. @Mag, maybe that’s because you watched it live, not on tape delay on Speed. I got no enjoyment from the race but I scored it ‘2’ because a worse race is marginally possible, e.g. with 90% of laps under the safety car.

        1. We’re halfway through the Fox races, only 2 more and they’ll be back on Speed.

    2. My thoughts exactly and my score too.

      1. 5/10
        There were so many duels ready to entertain us, like Buemi vs Di Resta vs Kobayashi vs Petrov, but even if they were all very close the action was very limited and the only overtakes we saw were due to drivers having older/harder tyres. Drivers followed their rivals for laps before trying to pass them at the end of one of the two DRS zones, and seldom did we see a nice manoeuvre.

        1. Yeh like Scumacher fighting Maldonado for seventeenth.
          Where are all those guy’s raving about Schu?
          and Rosberg seventh!.
          There was something missing from todays race,
          I know it was the safety car.

      2. Mag, you’ve said it all. I also gave it a 6.

  4. Worst F1 2011 race, but the best Valencia race so far.

    1. yeah good point …. so pireli bring back old spec tires

      1. No, just remove Valencia.

        1. @sato I think he meant the softer Pireli tyres that have been replaced…. At least I hope so. Bridgestone…. *shudders*

          4/10
          It is F1, but I didn’t sit through every lap like I did Canada. I was far from glued. I can’t say I particularly enjoyed the race, it was all a bit meh.

      2. uh what? that’d make it even worse. i think the super softs should have been brought to valencia instead of the softs.

        1. the tracks rubbish for racing- never been a good race there

    2. yeah i agree, personally i think it is the racing track, it is such a poor layout

    3. Agree best Valencia but worst race of the season!

  5. poor race…

  6. woThis is a sports car track not a F1 track it really needs to be removed from the calendar

  7. Tedious. So Tedious. Clearly no amount of gimmicks can redeem this utter bore of a venue.

    3/10

  8. I’m comparing it to the other races of the 2011 Season. If I gave Canada a 9/10 then this has to be a 1/10.

    Terrible race. Terrible circuit.

    Want to improve the show? Never race at Valencia again.

    1. Maybe a little harsh! :P But I agree, the sooner we drop this awful track, the better.

      1. Nice to drive in videogames, for me at least, but the show entertainment has been little in four years. Enough of this track.

        1. it is kinda fun to hotlap in F12010!

    2. its not the track….. its the tires

      1. d1sciple (@)
        26th June 2011, 14:53

        It’s the track! The tyres were dropping off in performance but the problem was just the lack of action due to the boring circuit style.

        1. yeah and there are no epic corner sequences or elevation in the track. the cars are hardly ever challenged.

      2. its not the track….. its the tires

        its not the track tires….. its the tires track

    3. I just realized why the race was boring. The RBR was just perfect with engine reliability and aero. And I know what you would help. A new rule that allows you to choose either an aero upgrade or a reliable engine. and then the team is given like 3 bad engines of the 8 n aren’t told which ones are bad. So every engine chosen is a gamble.

      1. hhhmm not too sure about tht

      2. Yeah…No, thats not what F1 is about.

        1. :P No actually I said that because last year the championship was so exciting because vettel had engine failures n stuff. and they are like really reliable this year. so i was thinking. M not saying they should really do that this year. :P

    4. If you go by that, never race at Catalunya again either, but I dont have a problem with that, I dont like either Spanish circuit.

  9. Almost no difference in strategy meant we didn’t get the late lap time differences and hope of late overtakes that we’ve had earlier in the year. Still, Alonso put up a fight but Vettel was supreme. I give it 5, an average race, but an average F1 race still beats watching most other sports!

  10. 6. Not bad by Valencia’s standards, but another anti-climax. The championship situation is more worrying, though.

  11. Boooooooring. Hardly any meaningful overtakes.

  12. By this year’s standards this was pretty dull, but lets be honest in any other season this would have been a decent race, so I gave it a 7. I was kept interested all the way through, I think this race goes to show even when we don’t have much overtaking in a race we the tyres and multiple pit stops are enough to keep it interesting.

    1. Exactly. I wouldn’t say I was kept interested for the whole race, but I was on the edge of my seat up until about 10 laps from the end.

      1. To quote @vee8‘s twitter feed

        I’m on the edge of my seat. But only because I slumped a bit when I fell asleep

        1. That’s just exaggeration. How was this worse than a lot of the races we had last year?

  13. Gave it a 1. I pretty much wasted a good bit of my sleep just to see probably the most boring race of my life. Sure hope they cut this track soon because its just a waste of time.

    1. d1sciple (@)
      26th June 2011, 14:55

      Bahrain last year was worse.

      1. Then good thing I missed that race by accident. I feel so horrible now, missing a big chunk of my sleep just to watch this painfully boring race.

    2. yeah this was very boring but some races last year were even worse

    3. I was not excited even when Alonso overtook Webber, the DRS passes can be forseen two laps earlier.

    4. there have been by far worst races than that

  14. 3/10. Awful. It’s a shame races like these count as much as the one in Canada.

  15. 2 balls domenicali go home!

  16. Boring..boring..boring

  17. I painted my garden wall just before the start of the race…

  18. Drop this race and keep turkey on the calendar, have 19 good races next year and Bahrain.

    1. I guess you mean “and drop Bahrain”?

      1. no meant drop this one and bring the calendar down to 20 races, we know that Bahrain will be on next year and it will be as dull as ever

  19. Solid 6, managed to keep me interested.

  20. 3/10

    Pretty boring overall. I have my theories as to why. I’ll put them into a guest article soon.

    1. Good, looking forward to that PM.
      IMHO 3/10 is a bit lower than it deserved, but on the other hand 2011 has certainly raised the bar for what we expect of a race.

      1. Well, here’s hoping Keith publishes it. The basic premise is that Valencia has twice as many traction zones – areas of the circuit where the driver is accelerating hard out of a slow corner – as other circuits. Montreal has just four of them; Valencia has eight. So what I tried to do is address this problem by suggesting an alternative configuration for the circuit that cuts half of these traction zones out. It’s actually pretty radical and calls for the organisers to convert the circuit into a figure-eight design by way of a temporary bridge.

  21. Previous seasons that would have been maybe a 7. That was barely scraping a 5 for this season. The mid-field action, of which there was quite a lot, saved it from being any lower.

    Clearly this track has been properly confirmed as no good, even with the DRS gimmick, and they tyres didn’t really do their job so well.

    Also, 24 cars finishing a race is rubbish. These cars are too good now, and the track clearly isn’t challenging enough if no-one managed to find a wall. I miss the days when you only had 10 finishers, which always ended with some real surprises when it came to handing out the points.

    Roll on a wet/dry Silverstone, please.

  22. Time and time again it’s borne out that if you removed Vettel from the race you might have had some excitement. As it stands he just adjusts the repelling magnet he has against second place as needed and I switch off early.

  23. The Last Pope
    26th June 2011, 14:54

    That was really boring! 2/10

  24. Very boring.
    This race circuit just lacks any atmosphere.
    Even with a double DRS activation, it was all but impossible to overtake.
    The circuit can’t hide. Even the beautiful water front has warehouses built directly in front of it. Yes mooring points for boats, to stare happily at the team trucks.

  25. Went for a 2

    Taking in that we’ve been spoiled this year with brilliant races.

    Minus Eddie everyone we’ve herd talk about Valencia says that it lacks the F1 atmosphere and doesnt have the buzz of F1 races and thats after 4 years now!

    And of course the main part of F1 on track action wasnt really helped even with 2 DRS zones to me says Valencia is a failure as a racetrack. I like sector 3 myself leading to potential brave pass into the last corner but the rest of the track is rubbish. Like DavidS i was almost falling asleep. Sorry F1 but the Indycar last night was a hell of alot better.

    Roll on Silverstone and a proper F1 race!

  26. 6/10, the best Valencia race so far, which isn’t saying much. It was nice to see Alonso get second, with the other highlight being Schumacher passing Sutil with no front wing.

  27. Dull dull dull dull dull, silverstone has to be good or bernie will have a conniption fit

  28. Well, this race was brought in because F1 became popular in Spain after Fernando won 2 championships and Michael retired.

    Now that VET is winning everything, Germany will get an extra round. Lets make Nurburgring as the European GP and Hockenheim as German GP!

    1. Gaston (@golarrazabal)
      26th June 2011, 15:42

      Well, it used to be that way not too long ago, I think. Or the Nurburgring got the Luxembourg Grand Prix? Something like that.

  29. 2/10 Absolutely rubbish.

  30. Alonso_McLaren (@)
    26th June 2011, 14:58

    Torture for TV viewers。

  31. 5/10

    It was never a great track and the race never really got exciting.

  32. 2/10. Boring, boring, boring.

  33. Boring.

    Can’t be bothered to put more words to it, it’s not worth it. If it’s on next year’s calendar, it’ll be the first F1 race for over a decade I’ll purposely ignore. I’ll check the points standings afterwards, because there’ll be some changes.

  34. As plain as possible or, as boring as ever possibly they can… 2 out of 10 doesn’t seem too stingy.
    Also no exception to hear that weird screaming from SV though weird not hearing “THAT’S WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT!”

    1. The Last Pope
      26th June 2011, 15:07

      I think he just has a mp3 recording that plays automaticly when he finishes the race.

  35. I decided to take the whole 1 to 10 rating range into consideration. Average F1 races I’ve been giving a 6, but the standards gone up, so I’ve moved the scale down a bit.

    2/10 +1/10 for the record number of finishers = 3/10. Valencia just doesn’t work.

  36. Fell asleep. Valencia is not a challenge, its got to go.

  37. i always have to go through hell every sunday night i wish i was a neutral fan. webber has had 0 luck this year. nothing has gone his way.

    1. oh btw race gets 6. it wasnt that bad. all the mclaren fans on here are just upset because their team didnt get enough tv time. it wasnt worse than any of the other races this year for me.

    2. This is the first time in about 3 years I’ve started to think maybe it is better if he doesnt get another year at Red Bull.

      It’s just painful time and time and time again. Even if on the rare occasions he does get a decent start, rather than battle with the guy in equal machinery, he just leads the rest of the pack…. and not by a great deal either.

      I know Red Bull admitted last year they were making the car for Vettel but I didnt think it would have this kind of effect this quickly.

      1. it won’t happen but imagine a three way swap, webber to ferrari, Massa back to Sauber, Kobayashi to red bull. It would certainly make things interesting

        1. Webber at Ferrari… thats just weird.

  38. The Last Pope
    26th June 2011, 15:04

    Interviewer: So Sebastion why did you enjoy this race so much?

    Vettel: Because I didn’t have to watch it.

    1. Actually I think he was enjoying it like many of us like perfecting laps when doing racing games.

      Those are the ones no one has to watch, luckily enough :-D

  39. Judging from the comments, I won’t be watching the race (tape delay) Fox is showing in the US.

    My morning suddenly freed up. Coffee, anyone?

    1. Yes please! Almost fell asleep :P

    2. The Last Pope
      26th June 2011, 15:10

      Best to record the highlights and then watch them back in fast foward.

  40. This is the worst track on the calendar. Abu Dhabi has that nice transition from day to night to look at, what does Valencia have? Just loads of boring concrete walls.

    A couple of overtaking moves, so I’d give it a 3/10. But no real excitement in the race at any stage.

    1. Actually, I like the layout of Abu Dhabi – fast sweeping corners and slow chikanes.

  41. Another very poor race at a dismal circuit. The few passes we saw were mainly predictable DRS fare.

    1. How can Bernie continue to justify 2 races in Spain especially when they are both on such poor circuits

      1. Its pretty suprising, isn’t it. The is the first time a country has the honour of hosting races in not one but 2 of the tracks offering least exiting viewing for the fans!

    2. Button’s pass was the only highlight I can remember. Admittedly I decided to make some pancakes instead half way through.

      1. sweet or savoury?

      2. Sure, it was the only pass by a McL, the rest does not seem to exist. It’s not Valencia’s fault that the Maccas did such a poor job there. For the rest of the world there was an exciting race (would have been much more exciting without Seb, but you can’t blame him either).

    3. Lets just pretend Vettel does not exist.
      What a title race weve got going! And what an unpredictable race we just had, lots of lead swaps! Its anyones season!

      1. haha if only we could just disqualify Vettel for this year.

        1. at least the battle for 2nd in the championship is good.

  42. Valencia’s a pretty but awful track. The race was ok though; it had strategies, overtakes and an interesting battle with Alonso and Hamilton. This was by far Valencia’s best race but the problem is this year we’ve been spoilt and I honestly believe if this race happened a couple of years ago it would score much higher. I gave it a 6 but I found it quite interesting in parts even if it wasn’t exciting.

    1. I think it would have made the top 5 of races in 2007, 2008 and maybe even in 2010 if it had been like this. So i agree with you.

      But only just up to par for 2011 as OK.

  43. An absolute bore of a race. Drop it from the calendar. I actually chose to do laundry after the second set of pit stops instead of watching this procession. Upon my return? Nothing changed. Completely shocked that Vettel could muster even a yelp of celebration at the end of it. 2/10 only because we witnessed the history of Karthikeyan being the first to finish 24th in an F1 race. Earth shattering news.

  44. 6/10. Was tempted to give it 5/10 as I seemed to lose interest around the first pit-stops but I think there was some good action in the mid-field.

    I agree with others – by Valencia standards this was quite good but this was the most boring race this year. The track just strings the cars out too much – think MB said that Vettel in the lead at lap 10 was something like 20s ahead of Michael Schumacher in P12. Given that , the rules seemed to have worked quite well to produce some action at least.

  45. “zzzzz”

    Had to wake myself just to post how crap it was

  46. it musnt be long now before vettel will be wrapping it up

  47. Dar4Ferrari (@)
    26th June 2011, 15:19

    this race was about as interesting as the red flag period in canada…4/10 and that’s being generous i think….great drive from alonso though given his difficulties on the prime with rear temp and grip

  48. it wasn’t that bad, better than many races last year. We’re just used to much more excitement in 2011! There was some action at some points, and DRS didn’t really give you the passing, only made it possible to pass, so it worked perfectly. It was an okay race.

    1. Agree. Its refreshing to have not such a ridiculous race, based 100% on strategy. DRS worked well too. I liked this race. 6/10. Just happy to see a normal race.

  49. How much longer do we have to endure this borefest of a venue (I refuse to call it a circuit or track), I get more excitement picking fluff from my navel.

  50. 4/10

    Pathetic circuit, pathetic race. An improvement on the previous races which were 1-3/10 but that doesn’t say much.

    We have 21 races lined up for next year and a calendar of 20? I know which one I want to drop and the majority of fans will agree with me. However it’s Turkey that’s probably gonna be dropped. A strange world indeed

  51. Most boring race of the year, sad, sad, sad gave it a 5

  52. 3/10

    Two points for Jaime’s performance; Daniel Ricciardo is overrated, he is being outclassed in Formula Renault by Wickens, Korjus, and Vergne.

    One point for Schumacher overtaking with a broken wing.

  53. Dull dull dull. Even Pirelli tyres and KERS can’t cave this place. I duly expect it to be announced soon that it will continue for the next decade then.

    1. *save. Although I would like to cave in the whole place

  54. Dear Jean & Bernie,

    As committed F1 fans, we’re writing this open letter to both of you knowing how you both love and listen to your audience feedback.

    We know you both love Valencia, especially since you did manage to convince the Spanish authorities to convert a manky old harbour and fish market into a modern F1 track with all the safety features. We know how you also got your buddy pal Mr. Tilke to design the place and hopefully those nasty rumours about the kickbacks from the contract awards to Mr. Tilke’s company are completely untrue and baseless.

    We are especially aware of your desire Bernie (may I call you Bernie?), to convert this fishing town in Spain into a modern Monaco with the wealthy in residence but not suffer the pitfalls that Monaco has which is a severe lack of any racing. I’m sure you’d agree that lots of expensive cars following each other isn’t very exciting right?

    We, as F1 fans, are also aware of the agenda tabled by Max to encourage the green agenda into F1. While this is a laudable effort, we’re not convinced that DRS and especially KERS are the way to go. Let’s face it, KERS is heavy! The batteries that go to making it up aren’t really that efficient in storing energy and the materials that make them up can be pretty toxic stuff too. You banned Beryllium alloys from engines for example. Assuming you’re not using Lithium batteries, what with the fire hazards, i’m fairly sure that digging all that nickel and cadmium from the ground isn’t too good for the environment either!

    However after throwing a few ideas around, we think we’ve got a solution for you. The best bit is, it’ll fix both of your problems! Yes, one solution will fix both! (well certainly at this track and Monaco).

    We suggest you take the KERS off the cars, run the race weekend as normal but simply stop the race after say … three laps? A lot less fuel burnt is a good thing right? And the race result, well since it doesn’t really change all that much after lap 1 … who’ll notice? You can even park the cars on the circuit for the rest of the two hours so the TV can get good sponsor coverage! Is this not a good idea or what?

    So Jean and Bernie … whaddaya say?

    Yours Faithfully,

    Franton.

    1. My sarcasm mode is worn out now I think.

  55. Tulip Wednesday
    26th June 2011, 15:35

    The race today, was in my view, lacked a certain, edge-of-chair gripping sparkle.

    Last race, with Jenson moving through the field was extreme excitement. Now, we have so many safety rules, so many limitations, so much ‘health and safety’.

    The race is won or lost by the pit mechanics and thier abilities. This is not what we want.

    Sorry, but the race has become too safe. Racers need to be giiven room and encouragement to be daring, to be dangerous, to win races because they have a need to!

    TW

    1. The Last Pope
      26th June 2011, 15:41

      100% Do not agree with this.

  56. Anand Jayaraman
    26th June 2011, 15:36

    Dreadful race. Competes very high with AbuDhabi for the most boring race of the current circuits. Bring A1 ring or Magny cours back instead of this nonsense called a F1 parade

    1. Yeah but Magny Cours was just as boring if not even more boring! As for Austria the original track was awesome but the redesigned Tilke version that was last used is a bit better but was a little bit Mickey Mouse for me compared to the original..

  57. UKfanatic (@)
    26th June 2011, 15:36

    5/10

    Good fight throughout the field, nice moves, strategies, but, there was no fight for the lead, only for second place, which isnt surprising, last year Vettel complaints about car development made redbull fully engaged on his style and nothing more, the combo is great and they would have won all races this year if it werent some small mistakes, china and canada. In my opinion redbull were always controling the racces, they didnt push 50% of the car for reliability reasons, this has been the most dominating season in modern F1, only just because last year they had lot more technical issues.

  58. Oh dear, people are so spoilt this year.

  59. Tulip Wednesday
    26th June 2011, 15:38

    Rated 2/10, the view of the water was nice.

  60. It was way better standing out in the rain, cold and wet, waiting two hours for the race to restart in Canada but leaving before the restart for fear of becoming ill.

  61. Anand Jayaraman
    26th June 2011, 15:39

    I guess the anticipation of the 2 hour red flag period in Canada was more exciting than watching this 2 hours of racing in Valencia.

    1. Lol, very boring race. It was like Lewis wasn’t in the race.

      1. Yeah, the comment says it all. A race with no Maccas at the podium is sure to get an awful rating here.

        An 8 for me. True, there was no fight for number 1, but very rarely there is. A exciting struggle for #2 and lots of midfield battle made for a pretty good race. So much better than the Montreal demolition derby (how can anybody call THAT a race?)

  62. That race was snoring.

  63. very poor race. i gave it a 4. awful track, no history, no challenging turns. terrible tyre choice by pirelli. only 2 of the top drivers performing well. only positives were some nice battles in the midfield. it really cannot be more than a 4 can it?

  64. Definitely the most boring race so far. Even the 2011 gismos couldn’t prevent this one, so despite the track’s width and massive DRS zones it just didn’t entertain, even with the Alonso – Webber battle and others through the field.

  65. The worst race of 2011 by far. The only interesting bit was watching JB overtake Rosberg.

    I also think it’s true what JB said. McLaren are being too conservative. If they’re not winning, they need to just take risks. It’s not like scoring consistently is going to win them the Championship now.

  66. Schumi passing with a broken wing and Webber gesticulating like a madman saved my score from being worse. 4/10

  67. Another dull race, at the worst track on the callender.

  68. I give this race three disparaging comments about Alonso and Ferrari out of a possible ten.

    See? I can be funny and self-aware! God knwos we need something to liven things up after that race …

    1. If you were self-aware you wouldn’t call that funny

  69. Scored 6. A little bit processional, but showed that a number of lessons are being learned:
    – the Pirelli tyres are still a lottery; how many times on beeb did Brundle and Coulthard mention “deg”?
    – the teams appear to be getting more used to fast moving strategic changes
    – wheel nuts can still be a problem
    – Valencia has got to be the most boring F1 circuit.

    But I came away with two conclusions:
    – Vettel is very good, an intelligent and thoughtful driver (yes, in a good car, but this does not detract from his abilities)
    – Schumacher has proven finally that his comeback is dead on track, he can really beat HRT, Virgin, Lotus and an unlucky rookie in a Williams.

    1. Schumacher was 17th because of his broken front wing. Before the contact he was 8th only behind the Ferraris, Red Bulls, Mclarens and Rosberg.

      1. You write “because of his broken front wing” which is a tad impersonal. He broke his own front wing, coming out from pit lane, when he hit another car. The stewards apparently ruled “racing incident”, but Schumacher had his hands on the wheel and his feet on the pedals. As a past WDC he might have been capable of being a few tenths earlier (or later) or a foot further to his right. But he got himself into a totally avoidable “racing incident.”

        Q.E.D.

        1. The way you wrote it:

          Schumacher has proven finally that his comeback is dead on track, he can really beat HRT, Virgin, Lotus and an unlucky rookie in a Williams.

          Was such that you were saying he only had the pace for 17th all weekend. I said he had the pace for 8th. It was really a “racing incident”, equal blame for Petrov and Schumacher.

  70. I’m disappointed because I’m visiting my family this week and they have HD so I was looking forward to a good race i HD. Not only did Eddie Jordan have some almost normal shirts, but it was a boring race. However, I had my baby niece and some food to distract me so I survived. 4/10 – the ‘big test of Pirelli and DRS’ failed completely.

  71. Terrible race as always.Again very hard for overtaking and this SLOW backmarkers will deffinitly got someone killed because they don’t move out of way to faster drivers. Finger boy even ****** me more then often.He will not be top driver for me until i see some overtaking and wins if he starts from 4th or beyond.I personally call him SEGA MEGA DRIVE KID.If he is first he wins and just driving against the clock.Like in some video game.What is happening with Mclaren??
    Anyway race is 3/10 for me.DROP this race from F1 please!!!

    1. So, he should screw up qualifying just so he can make up the places he should have had in the first place, which somehow makes him more of a top driver. Consider how funny your post is.

  72. I love F1 – but I hate seeing it reduced to this kind of yawn-a-thon. Why oh why does Bernie think a place like Valencia is going to produce a great place to race? A blind man could point out the flaws with this tragic excuse of OAP Sunday driving! It needs to be deleted from the F1 calender, but alas, Bernie and the smell of cash means next year we will have to put up with this crap again. Really annoyed my afternoon was interrupted by this.
    2/10 from me – and thats because I am in a generous mood.

  73. what bad race

  74. Well i was wrong, dull race, very dull race, i give it a 2. Vettel is now as good as champ, i have a feeling it’s going to be another Schmey type of domination by Vettel over the next few years. It’s strange, i liked him when he first started, but the more he wins, the more he annoys me :p

  75. I give it 2 out of 10. In my eyes this was the second most boring race ever, (Indy ’05 takes the most boring prize) I’m an F1 nut and I sit glued to the tv every second of F1 coverage over a gp weekend, but not today. After a few laps I could just tell that this ‘racing track’ would produce yet another dull procession, so I turned up the volume, opened the patio doors so I could hear the commentary and I sat on the patio in the sun with a good book. The best bit was the BBC’s red button forum after the race, more interesting than the race itself.

    If I had to pick a highlight of the race: Button passing Rosberg, after that there was nothing.

    I remember in 2008 before the first race there,Someone else may remember, Autosport ran an article in their preview, that they said Valencia would be the race of the season! No way, 4 races there and all 4 of them dull.

    I personally think that as it is titled the ‘European Grand Prix’ that it should be held at a different circuit each year to give F1 the opportunity to race at tracks they dont currently get the chance to. A little like the German gp alternating between Hockenheim and Nurburgring, I think it would be a good idea to see the European gp, for example be held at Imola one year, then Estoril in Portugal the next, followed by Paul Ricard, Brno… lots of places to choose from. Thats probaby just me with my head in the clouds though!

    Also if Valencia really want their grand prix, why not ditch this dull one and use their permanent race track? Because I thought they had a circuit there that the f1 teams used to test at a decade or so ago, or am I just imagining that one?

    1. I agree with that, there should be a better spread around Europe for the European Grand Prix. Plenty of good circuits we just don’t see any more. Think I might add the A1 Ring to the list (I liked it, probably because I don’t remember the old Osterreichring).
      As for this race, the Red Bulls were given more of a run for their money, and we had at least some overtaking thanks to DRS and KERS. Still, no retirements. Cars failing every now and then used to shake up the order (Hill blowing up at Monaco in 96 for instance) and everyone finishing tends to produce lots of cars running in pairs.
      3/10 to be generous.

  76. If you needed proof that its the track that is primarily responsible for the races that it produces (over DRS and new tyres) then here it is. Valencia was dull. Again. It will be next year as well.

  77. Quite a dull race, good battle for 2nd place but the rest was just too boring. Only highlight was BBC cameraman flirting with the grid girl while Eddie and Jake was chatting with that Spanish tenor.

    Oh well, it was also amusing Martin Brundle calling an f1 car gutless. He had a point though.

    1. They are gutless. Did you know that they have no more peak torque than a 2.5 litre road going petrol non-turbo engine?

      It’s always the same thing with naturally aspirated engines, where your only real way of increasing power is to increase rpm. Unfortunately this has a drastic effect on torque further down the rpm range. And then when you keep reducing the capacity of the engine, the problem just gets worse.

  78. 4/10. Only Button’s overtaking maneouvre on Rosberg and Heidfield’s pass on turn 3 were worth watching. Maybe you can include Alonso just avoiding the wall after lapping Trulli as another reason to watch the gp, but in reality, it was really boring. At times I found myself trying not to sleep despite getting more than 9hrs of sleep the night before.

    There were some good midfield battles, but no battles where it really matters, upfront. Hence, it can’t get a higher rating than 6.

    The biggest problem this circuit has is that it is completely flat and since there are no steep uphills, cars cannot slip stream well like what happens in Turkey, Spa, Brazil and Malaysia (turn 4). Just like at Abu Dhabi, there are also too many chicanes. Joining turn 2 to turn 5 and increasing the run off area into turn 6 by artificially increasing the land available can really increase the circuit’s potential. It’s not an expensive solution either.

    Anyway, when does the circuit’s contract run out? :)

  79. It was a very bad race but i was there in 2008 and as Captain Kurtz said “The Horror, The Horror”

  80. Yawn factor 10 Mr Sulu..

  81. Mike the bike Schumacher (@mike-the-bike-schumacher)
    26th June 2011, 17:58

    Spain’s got 2 tracks and there the 2 most boring tracks on the calendar.

  82. 4/10. Now that is very generous from me. I watched it on the IPlayer and I just skipped 20 laps because I knew nothing was gonna happen. Turns out nothing did actually happen.

  83. This ‘procession’ makes me question what the benchmark for every race should be. Obviously we can’t have Canadian levels of excitement every 2 weeks, but which of this year’s races (let’s exclude Monaco since it’s unique no matter what happens) but if we had something as interesting as Turkey as the average I’d be happy with that.

  84. I scored it a 3, if it was a few years back it probably would have been a 7. I remember years ago actually falling asleep during races – I didn’t this time but it lacked any action at all. Just goes to show that no matter the controversies over various rule changes, the show has been improved a lot over the last few years. Valencia has been deathly dull since day one, and if even the latest regs can’t make it exciting, then I agree (especially as it is the second Spanish race) that it should be looked at again. Remember that this is the European GP – surely this isn’t the best of the currently unused tracks in the whole continent? Kill it Bernie, kill it dead.

  85. Circuit zolder
    26th June 2011, 18:30

    It’s a real shame that they don’t use the Ciudad del Motor de Aragón for the Spanish or European gp.

  86. that was boring as hell. the 1 and only highlight was alonso’s pass on webber – other than that, change the channel.

    speaking of channels, fox was nice enough to delay the broadcast for 4 hours, and treat us to just as much advertising as racing. if rupert seals the deal, every f1 race will be this terrible.

  87. 5/10 for me. I couldn’t give any lower.

    It was pretty uneventful but you have to take the rough with the smooth. I’m not going to complain considering ee had tue magnificent Canada two weeks ago. It’s naive to think every race will he a white knuckle ride but it certainly wasn’t a disaster. The only way, in my opinion, you could score lower than 5 is if someone purposefully went out of their way to create a dull show.

  88. Watching gray paint drying would have been more interesting.
    Gave it a 5, I’m thinking that was generous.

  89. 2/10.

    There was nothing particularly memorable here. We quickly found that none of this year’s changes did anything to improve this circuit unlike any of the others thus far. Only 7 drivers were on the lead lap at the end of the race. While Webber and Alonso was mildly interesting, it ended up anticlimactically through DRS ease and gearbox failure so I would say the interesting battles through most of the race weren’t in the top ten. Finally, Fox delayed showing it in the States so I couldn’t really do anything on the internet lest I spoil this dumpster fire.

    Valencia – DO NOT WANT

  90. Leyland94 (@)
    26th June 2011, 19:04

    Admittedly the race was fairly boring, I think people are probably more aware of a lack of action after the events of the last race in Canada, probably the best race of the season. It would have taken a special race indeed to follow Montreal and impress people.

  91. Usual boring Valencia race. Gosh kill this track already.

  92. I played it last night on F1 2010 & found it to be quite fun..I wonder what it’s like for real? Do the driver like it?

    1. I agree it’s fun on the f1 2010 game but thats probably because its easy to be consistent on, and thats part of what makes it’s races boring. I got a top 20 time on that track and i’m not even very good at the f1 game!

  93. 3 – The trouble is I’ve got used to thinking, “oh no, it’s Valencia next” and it didn’t disappoint, it was a boring race. I actually dozed off for a bit, but it was soon after lunch here ;-).

    The camera work, the commentary (of course) and the depiction of speed are about the only positives I can give it.

    We are invited to rate races from 1~10, some races are going to be 10 (Canada was close for me) so surely some races are going to be a 1 although I’ve never voted 1 before. 3 seems fair as there were very few redeeming qualities about this race. We shouldn’t avoid the very low scores and call them a knee-jerk, we have to take the whole spectrum of terrible to perfect into the account and this – whilst not downright terrible IMHO – it came pretty close as a viewing experience.

    Although I don’t think I voted at the time, the only race I can remember which I would give a ‘1’ would be the US GP at Indy when only six cars took part.

    Just my 2p worth :-)

    1. gotta love that 3 peeps have voted it a 10. didn’t know seb and his family had registered here. way to go keith! :-)

  94. The worst track from calendar

  95. dull race. 4/10. the only highlight was seeing eddie jordan wearing bagpuss.

  96. Awful race, couldn’t finish quickly enough. Races like that go a long way to undoing any good will F1 has picked up in the whole season!

  97. I didn’t watch the race as I was out in the sun all day yesterday. I came back last night and thought I might watch it on the iPlayer. But then I read that Finger Boy had lead from start to finish and the enthusiasm just drained away. This morning I’ve come on here to gauge the overall reaction . . . and it’s so poor, I don’t think I’ll bother wasting my life watching what appears to be a dismal race at a dismal circuit.

  98. Recorded it as I was forced to miss it live and watched it at about midnight, it was SOOOOOO boring for the first time this year I wasn’t sucked in.

    I even started browsing the internet near the end. There wasn’t much hope after the first stops of much happening. Further down the field with Koby and co. there were some interesting battles but the Sauber was painfully slow on the straight. When there were about what 4 or 5 cars in a row and Koby was second in that chain I thought – right, onto the straight DRS open he’ll get a run on the guy in front. The got to the straight DRS opened and he went backwards!

    2/10 for me, lost interest in the race really. Best bits were midfield battle, Alonso taking Webber and Button’s comment at the end:

    “WOW it wasn’t the most exciting race was it?”

  99. I slept… :(

  100. Quite a dull and boring race, although I have to commend the ‘slower teams’ as they had some good and tight racing. Pity about the rest though!

  101. I’m thinking of starting a petition to have the swing bridge opened at certain times during the GP. Either that or sprinklers. Any thoughts?

  102. Best race in Valencia track, but the worst of the season so far.They need to drop this sooner rather then later.

  103. Dull.

    Even with the new tyres, KERS and DRS this track was still dull. I ended up doing something else and just listening to the coverage in the background in case anything happened.

  104. I’m surprised so many are that negative about the race. There was a battle for second, a strategic battle for fourth, and some battles in the midfield. This was only a boring race by 2011’s chaotic standards.

    Of course, I do sympathise that this is the ‘Race that the Championship Ended’. Also, if you’re not a Vettel fan (and I’m guessing there are plenty of those around on this site), then it was disappointing to see him resume his dominance, when in the run-up many expected Fernando and Lewis to really challenge him.

    1. Trust me ,if Jenson won again it would still be the most boring race track in the world,even the drivers hate the place.

  105. Dullest race since Bahrain 2010. I gave it 4/10 but it would have been a 2 or 3 if not for Button’s overtake on Rosberg, Alonso’s on Webber, and Hamilton’s hilarious pit radio “I can’t drive any slower!”

  106. Mark in Florida
    27th June 2011, 21:35

    Other than Alonso’s move at the beginning of the race it was a snoozer.I fell asleep three times trying to watch the race.The racing at the back of the field was much more exciting. To bad the world feed only watched the procession at the front.

  107. Only a 5 from me and that was probably being generous, dullest race of the season so far.

    How much longer can they continue to have two races in Spain when neither track seems to be able to produce great races. If the two tracks were of the standard of Interlagos or Montreal I could understand it.

  108. According to this link, Valenica GP is going to be extended until 2021, and it will be the only Spanish GP.
    http://www.cadenaser.com/deportes/articulo/valencia-queda-exclusiva-formula-espana/serpro/20110628csrcsrdep_9/Tes

  109. I’ve had enough of this race now, it’s a total joke to even call it a race.

    It’s more like 57 Parade laps to show off sponsors.

    Mind you, the ammount of safety car proceedures we have now at the first sight of a few spots of rain, smudging the pits babes mascara, a precession (was) becoming the norm.

    I just hope that the exciting races we have seen this season have not just been a fluke. The new Pirelli tyres seem to be gaining durability. Which (without refuelling being a variable in races) is worrying, because this was the reason that the races had become more exciting.

    NOT due to DRS (IMO). ;)

  110. The worst race of the 2010 season so far I give 4 / 10 for this race

  111. every report i read on this race described it as ‘thrilling’ and ‘action-packed’. i would actually agree with these.
    the alonso/webber battle lasted for the whole race. i dont think vettel was ever more than 3 seconds ahead for most of the race. it was unpredictable. if it was boring i think i would have noticed.

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