As you surf the InterNet (actually I prefer to trawl the Net myself - you are never quite sure what will turn up in your Net), CompuServe, America On-Line, or the other services, or if you read some of the magazines and journals, you may get an over-powering sense that most people seem to be finding the 1995 Formula One season to be a little bit on the boring side.

Okay, so I understate the case a little. Most people seem to find the 1995 F1 season to be BORING. The race starts, Schumacher and Hill dice for a little while, they have pit stops, Schumacher disappears off into the distance, wins the race, and then sprays champagne over as many people as he can. End of coverage. BORING.

No, this isn't going to be another lecture on what we can do to make F1 more exciting - there's been quite enough said and written on that subject. Just have a quick look back at that last paragraph. Right near the end. What was that I said? "End of coverage"? THAT'S the problem. The racing at the front may be boring, but further down the field there are some great battles going on. And all the people watching the race on the TV rarely get to see them.

Of course it's boring! Watching ... well, FOLLOWING ... two cars ... well, ONE car ... driving around a circuit isn't exactly my idea of fun, either. Lap after lap, corner after corner, straight after straight, sign after sign.

Sure, we have cameras all over the place. On the side of the circuit. Above the circuit. In the pits. In the cars. Everywhere. And the technology in bringing those pictures into our living rooms is, in its own right, leading-edge stuff. Basically, if someone sneezes at an F1 race, the TV viewer not only gets to see it, but also gets to see 16 different slow-motion replays of that sneeze and its after-effects.

But that's not the problem. All the TV people seem to focus on, is the front of the race. The leaders. Schumacher disappearing off into the distance. The great TV viewer rarely, if ever, gets to spend a lot of time seeing what happens down the field.

I wonder how many people reading this have actually been to a GP? Sorry, but I'm going to tell you something you already know. For the rest of you ... read on. Watching a race on TV - ANY race - is never the same as being there.

Sure, you'll hear that you missed out on the atmosphere of the place. And you can counter by saying that at least you got to actually see the so-and-so incident. You'll hear that you missed it when the great whatshisname came out of the team's pit and spoke to the fans. And you'll reply by saying that you got to see the victory celebrations on the podium.

Fair enough. But there's one thing you'll never get with the current type of TV coverage of motor races around the world. There's one thing you'll never get if you don't actually go to a race: the *flow* of the race; the *feeling* of the race.

Don't laugh. Each race has its own feeling. I'm not talking about the atmosphere that you get as you stroll the public areas. This is the feeling you can get only by sitting down somewhere and actually watching and absorbing the race. You can't get it by sitting, isolated, in a sponsor's box (or the media centre) and watching the coverage on the TV monitors. You have to find your spot on the circuit, settle in, and watch the race.

And part of that is the flow. The feeling is something that you get for the entire meeting and for the entire race. The flow is slightly different - that can come and go.

The feeling is something you get when you see, in the last seconds of the final qualifying session, when he already has pole position tied up, Ayrton Senna come hurtling around the last corner before the main straight, clipping the kerbing, with the car just about to launch itself into the air - but he has such mastery and control over the car that it only lifts one wheel. You KNOW that he's about to start a fast lap, one that is going to demolish the opposition. You just know it. It's a glorious feeling. And at that point, you already know who is going to win the race, leading every lap. It just hits you. The feeling. And it sticks with you for the entire meeting - and perhaps for ever.

The flow is a little different. The flow is what TV really misses out on. As you sit in your spot, you get to know when a particular driver is going to go past. You can tell when another driver may be 30 seconds behind, but is catching. And you watch the gap shrink, lap by lap, until they are together, fighting for position.

It's difficult to put these emotions into words. I'm not even sure if all the other people who are at the race with me have the same thoughts. I think they do. And that's what makes being at the race so much better than watching it on the TV. And that's what the TV misses out on. And that's why the TV coverage of F1 can make F1 seem so boring.

It could be a fantastic race ... down the field. But the TV cameras will stay focused on the leader, because he is the leader.

I suppose they could just give us the whole race from one camera in one spot. Then we might just possibly get some sense of the flow and the feeling. But - guess what? - I think that would be boring!

But that's just me.