Five reasons to watch Formula One in 2011

The new F1 season is about to start, and there are many reasons you should be glued to your set.

By Conor Hogan

During the '90s and early '00s, Formula 1 was massive in Ireland, thanks to exciting races, Eddie Jordan's team, Peter Collins’ excitable commentary and the lovable rascal that was Eddie Irvine. Disinterest began to set in, however, as Ferrari began to decimate the opposition, the races became a little dull, Irvine retired in '02, Jordan declined and was no more by '05 and RTÉ lost the TV rights. As such, there was a natural decline in interest in this country.

People who haven’t been watching lately, however, have been missing out. Last season’s title race was arse-clenchingly tight, while 2008 had one of the most nail-biting finishes to a season in history. Just to get you revved up (sorry), here are five reasons you should watch Formula One in 2011.

1. New rules

There have been a few adjustments this season that should make things exciting. For starters, the new Pirelli tires have been devised so that they will wear away far more quickly. This will of course mean more pit stops and completely new strategies.

Pit stops are often the most exciting moments of a race – as the video below aptly demonstrates. Who can forget the Eddie Irvine's three-wheel disaster at the 1999 European Grand Prix that ultimately cost the Northern Irishman the Driver’s Championship.

A complete redesign of the rear wing, meanwhile, should make overtaking easier. Add to that the reintroduction of the turbo-boost that is KERS and a standard procession becomes less and less likely.

Team orders also make a return from their illegality, and this should play into the hands of past masters Ferrari. Unlikely to utilise them, however, are Red Bull, where the rivalry between Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber (the highlight of last season) became extremely heated.

2. Five World Champions competing

There have been five different champions in five years in F1, the last four of which winning it for their very first time. The only one of those men not competing in 2011 is the Iceman Kimi Räikkönen, who is competing in the World Rally Championship.

Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button and Sebastian Vettel will once again be joined by the determined living legend Michael Schumacher, who is hoping to make up for what was a somewhat disappointing comeback season last year.

3. Monaco Grand Prix

In the same way non-tennis fans tend to watch Wimbledon and non-golf fans watch the Ryder Cup, the Monaco Grand Prix tends to attract even the most casual of television audiences. There is just something magical about the circuit/streets of the world’s smallest autonomous nation.

The most glamorous and unusual race on the circuit is usually packed with incident, often brought about by the inevitable torrential downpour. Monaco traditionally has a high drop-out rate and the safety car driver is usually busier than most weekends.

Dominated by Prost and Senna in the '80s, it has had the odd unlikely winner too. Olivier Panis, for instance, managed a victory in 1996, despite starting from 14th on the grid, in a year where only four drivers even managed to finish the race.

4. Grid girls

Despite their prevalence in F1, Race Queens, or Pit Babes as they are sometimes called, are actually banned in American motor sport because of accusations of chauvinism. But isn’t banning women from doing something actually far more chauvinistic?

As you can clearly see, this lady has a wonderful personality

5. Ridiculously even

Michael Schumacher is undoubtedly the greatest driver in the history of F1, yet his domination of the World Championship in the early-to-mid-noughties transformed proceedings to tedium. In 2001, for instance, he won by an astonishing 67 points – clinching the title with six meaningless races to go. The following year, Ferrari took the constructors title by a margin of 129 points, while in 2004 they had 143 points to spare over BAR.

Since 2006, however, the Driver’s Championship has been decided in the final race in all but one season (2009 when Brawn’s Jenson Button clinched the title in the second last race). Last season couldn’t have been much more exciting, as four drivers were still in contention come Abu Dhabi.

Button and Hamilton pour champagne over Champion Vettel

Fernando Alonso looked like he had the Championship wrapped up after his victory and the double-retirement of the Red Bulls of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber in Yeongam, South Korea. A couple of disappointing results for the Ferrari man, however, and back-to-back victories for Vettel meant that the 23-year-old German surprisingly clinched the title.

Changes in the scoring system have greatly aided the excitement too. 25 points for a win instead of ten has made it much easier to haul back massive leads. The number of drivers earning points in races has also risen from six to eight to ten in the last decade, meaning that even when things go wrong, the top teams can still keep ticking over. Smaller teams also have a much better chance of picking up points than teams like Minardi ever had in their 20 years in the sport.