Hello, I'm guest poster Alex Andronov, and I have a problem. You see every time I read another furious debate about what Formula One should be I kind of glaze over. I like Formula One. Some things are kind of annoying about it, but mainly I love it. I can tell because although I have a passing interest in other sports, I hardly ever watch them. On the other hand I make time in my life to see every race of the year, I usually catch qualifying but I rarely bother with free practice. I mention this so you can compare my fandom to yours. Oh and I've been watching since 1987.

Never standing still

In the time I've been watching I think there might, honestly, have been a million rule changes. F1 now really isn't like F1 then, is that a good thing? Is that a bad thing? I'm going to guess it's good because I have had the option since 1987 to stop watching and I haven't.

So when people start complaining about rule changes that have happened or should happen, I kind of glaze over. I kind of assume that they will either make the show better or they will make it worse and if it's boring enough not to bother watching any more then I guess I'll stop watching. I don't mean that I will threaten to stop watching on the internet - no point in that. Honestly Bernie isn't reading! I mean I would just start skipping a few races or only catching it if I'm around. But that's not happened yet, because every rule change so far has made me intrigued to find out how it will pan out.

The main problem it seems with these debates is that F1 is different things to different people, I see a lot of online debates about the things people hate about F1 but I don't see many people talking about what they love about F1. I do sometimes question why some of the debaters keep watching, my guess is that their favourite thing about F1 is complaining about it - which I suppose in a rather twisted way is valid.

I have a rather strange theory that F1 is such a big global phenomenon that the reason there is so much debate about each rule change is that people's reasons for watching are so varied that people are essentially talking about different things when they are arguing. Are we really interested in the sport or is it a show? Different people will have different answers. So my theory goes that if we all list our favourite things about F1 they will also match to a list of least favourite things about F1 just for different people.

The mission

So here's your task: in the comments please tell me your favourite thing about F1. Just pick one thing. Pick the overarching thing that keeps you coming back week after week. Not about a dream future or past F1, about F1 now. You may also list your least favourite thing BUT you must use fewer words on your least favourite thing than your postive thing. Also if you want to debate somebody else's favourite thing make sure you add more words about your favourite thing before you start.

Here's mine as an example:

My favourite thing about F1 is the overarching story line. I don't have favourite drivers or teams. So currently I want drivers other than Vettel to do well. In part to close up the championship, but also so we get more answers and excuses about Vettel's overtaking. I think the team principals and Bernie are all part of the show. I like the new guys but I think I am currently missing the bitter rivalry of Flav, Ron and Jean. Doesn't mean I want them back, but I want to see one of the current crop sneakily upset one of the others so the need to win seems personal and a bit crazy. So yes the story and the characters are my favourite part of F1.

My least favourite thing about F1: Fans who threaten on the Internet to stop watching if a rule is changed, but don't stop watching. If you are interested enough to watch to see how it turns out then write, "I'll watch to see how it turns out, but I am not confident it will go well".

Pretty simple huh? So please tell us your favourite thing about F1!