And may I say it, disheartening.
I caught Baku 2024 on spanish DAZN the other day and what struck me the most, apart from how goofy looking those cars seem now with the big front endplates, is just how little we know about any given race now compared to those times.
When there was a yellow flag, they used to signal in what sector right there on the timing tower. Now they just put "yellow flag" and not even the commentators know where it is or what has happened. They also used to signal the green flag when the danger was over, now that's gone too.
We used to have the car intervals with 4 digits and constant updates. Now it's just 2 and the timing tower looks naked.
To add excitement, they used to note the number of laps remaining when there was a close fight or an exact number. For example, on that Baku race they signaled when there was 20 laps to the end, 15, 10, and 5. We don't have that anymore, I don't think. Silly thing, but I liked it.
And now on a personal note, it just looked better. The font was better and bigger (I understand they now have to fit 2 extra cars) and being in italics it gave the impression of, I dunno, speed.
Why has the F1 broadcast gone backwards? What's the logic in removing useful information instead of adding it? Is it that not even the pinnacle of motorsports can escape enshitification?