Lewis Hamilton thinks Formula One is boring, in fact if you listen to almost anybody on any of the myriad Internet forums or letters to the editors pages of our major motorsport magazines he’s not alone.

Lewis told the European TV network Eurosport “Look at the last race in Valencia - there was no overtaking at all - so it can be a bit dull. I definitely support the move to try and make F1 more exciting.“ he said.

And so say all of us. But at what cost ?

New rules over the past few years have done little or nothing to make the sport’s premier class anything other than dull. Restrictions on engine development, grooved tyres, even taking away the advanced driver aids that offended the anoraks but excited people like me and the major auto manufacturers with their new technology.

I mean when was the last truly revolutionary car in F1s history? Was it Colin Chapman’s Lotus 77, which introduced “ground effects” to the auto racing world, was it Gordon Murray’s controversial Fan car, (hardly an original idea though, Jim Hall did it in the Can-Am a full decade before.) I remember with some affection the six wheeled Tyrrell P34, I had a Tamyia model of that one, but since then not a lot has changed from the standard.

Compare this to Sportscar racing where several new approaches have been tried, Panoz and his front engined ‘roadster’ a sort of “back to the future” concept designed to take full advantage of under car aerodynamics, Panoz also ran a Petrol Electric Hybrid at Le Mans well before the hype of Toyota’s road going Prius. There’s diesel power, Audi and Peugeot  and soon the hybrid concept will be back this time with Zyteck at the Petite Le Mans. While F1 talks about KERS and “going Green” Sportscars have already done it.

Yet despite all this, despite the less than exciting racing, the prima donna behaviour of its drivers and the extraordinary excesses of it’s power mad and indecently greedy administrators, the fact is Formula One still remains the only form of motorsport competition that I still put in the can not miss department.

I mean I try to watch the V8 Supercars, I occasionally flick on to NASCAR if I’m up early enough and should I be home I’ll certainly tune in to local action on Speedweek, especially the Drag Racing.

But F1 is a major must not miss. There’s still nothing in motorsport that compares to the start and first corner of a Grand Prix, sure from that point on things might go downhill just a bit, but for that few seconds no other sporting event in the world can hold a candle to the feeling of anticipation and trepidation that goes along with the start of a Grand Prix.

There might not be much passing but the battle for qualifying still fascinates me like few other forms of entertainment, and for shear glamour, fashion and obscene wealth, F1 remains in a class of its own.

So yes Lewis F1 is boring, there’s nowhere near enough passing and all the cars look and sound the same, but come Sunday night down under, and now thanks to TEN HD earlier in the night and live, the TV goes on, the laptop is fired up and pointed to the live timing and for the best part of two hours I’m in another world.

And guess what? Judging by the number of people watching both at the track and on TVs around the world, I’m not the only one.

: picture: www.mclaren,com