F1/ Formula E/ Motorsport Thread

Discussion in 'General Football & Other Sport' started by hornmeister, Nov 14, 2010.

  1. Fizzy drinks companies don't get into F1 because racing cars are in their DNA they do it because it's a marketing tool, and that means they won't stay around forever

    What cheeses me off is they were central to the break up on FOTA and happily went running to Bernie the dwarf to sign a them-only deal which screwed negotiations for everyone else including the small teams

    RB imo have been nothing but a bad thing for F1 and if they do go I will be more than happy
     
  2. csdxl

    csdxl One Millionth Post

    In my view, the future of the sport relies on convincing more of the big automotive brands to get on board in a works team capacity. We're talking about the likes of Audi, Aston Martin, Jaguar (again), BMW, Ford, Renault etc here. F1 needs to act like the pinnacle of motorsport again. FOM should be breaking down doors to incentivise these brands to get involved in F1 because a) it'd inject some much needed excitement and competitiveness back into the sport overnight, b) adding big hitters will rid the sport of perpetual sulkers like RB and the financially smaller teams hanging on for dear life every year, and c) for all it's failings F1 still offers a solid testing ground for road car technology and a great marketing tool for car brands.

    Take Mercedes, who have been a great example of what can be achieved by a major car brand with the right attitude and resources. The subsequent boost to their brand's image off the back of getting involved in F1 as a successful works team, rather than just an engine supplier, has been monumental. I haven't got exact figures or statistics to hand to back this up but their gains across social media have been well documented and I'd be very surprised if that hasn't led to a noticeable increase in car sales.

    Even if it hasn't, though, it's all part of the bigger picture of demonstrating excellence and building brand loyalty, something Bernie doesn't quite seem to have grasped as one of F1's major selling points. He writes off the impact of social media and young people as not being of interest to brands/sponsors because they aren't big spenders. Maybe not now Bernie - but a 15 year old watching an exciting F1 race might see a successful, progressive brand and quite possibly buy many a Merc or whatever later on in life as a result. Google/Microsoft are currently investing eye-watering sums in schools and educational projects - they won't make a dime off that, but they see the benefit of building that brand loyalty early doors with the aim of raking it in down the line.

    It's a long game, but with F1 in it's current dreary state and the electric/self-driving car revolution on the horizon, this type of thing may well be the saviour of both the sport and the major car brands. They need to realise they are missing a trick if they don't exploit one another to survive. And whilst I have every respect for the current franchise teams (RB), customer teams and 'B' teams, they aren't going to inspire any one and won't be particularly missed if adequately replaced.
     
  3. The race teams had a chance in a lifetime in to fix F1 in 2012 by either negotiating as a FOTA group from a position of power, or carrying out their threat to form an independent race series...

    ...but as soon as Bernie flashed the cash Red Bull and Ferrari stabbed FOTA in the back and went running to Bernie to sign contracts giving them ~£200 Million per year.

    So out of the £1.1 Billion revenue a year Bernie and CVH cream ~£400 M off the top, Red Bull and Ferrari are given ~£400 M Judas money, and the other £300M is spread amongst the rest of the teams. In terms of fairness it's about on par with La Liga TV revenue share.

    Lets hope Red Bull have left by 2020 and Bernie has retired or died... we then might get a sport that races on popular historic tracks instead far east borefest Tilkadromes, with sensible admission prices, and fair distribution of revenue to all teams.
     
    Last edited: May 12, 2015
  4. wfc4ever

    wfc4ever Administrator Staff Member

    Bad mistake from Mercedes.

    Hamilton won't be happy!
     
  5. The Voice of Reason

    The Voice of Reason First Team Captain

    ****ing Krauts stitched up Hamilton YET AGAIN :rant::rant::rant::rant::rant:
     
  6. csdxl

    csdxl One Millionth Post

    Rosberg celebrating and whooping like he earned that win is frankly embarrassing.

    Hamilton must be absolutely seething. These decision-based mistakes only ever seem happen to him and maybe right now he's wondering if that 3 year contract was such a good idea. Situation is becoming a bit like Vettel/Webber at Red Bull - don't tell me it was just a coincidence Webber always suffered the bad luck/reliability issues.

    Anyway, best thing out of this race was Verstappen. With the exception of his crash, the kid was an absolute machine today. Great racing.
     
  7. scummybear

    scummybear Reservist

    Why shouldn't Rosberg celebrate? Yes, Hamilton deserved to win. But he didn't. Rosberg did, fair and square - it was Hamilton's own part of the team who made a big mistake, that's completely independent of Rosberg. It's like saying we shouldn't have celebrated the Brighton win because we got lucky with a patch of sand!
    Plus he was probably pleased with joining Senna, Prost and Graham Hill by getting 3 Monaco wins in a row.

    That said though, Hamilton was robbed. On a circuit like Monaco it's all about track position, why would you even gamble with that with only a few laps left?! Bizarre decision, but these things happen in racing - and not just to Hamilton (Force India and Paul Di Resta come to mind).
     
  8. The Voice of Reason

    The Voice of Reason First Team Captain

    Rosberg should have been a lot more gracious about his victory IMO!

    He should have followed the example of many footballers who do not go over the top with goal celebrations when scoring against a former team!
     
  9. scummybear

    scummybear Reservist

    My first ever dislike (I think)! It's a proud moment for me, I've become a man.

    He was hardly gloating and recognised Lewis deserved to win in the post-race interview:
    'I am very, very happy, of course, but I know there was a lot of luck today, Lewis drove brilliantly and he would have also deserved the win, for sure, but that's the way it is in racing.'

    And the interviews were quite somber, so much so that Vettel felt the need to lighten to mood. He wasn't obliged to celebrate like a player in front of a former team, that's a totally different situation. He celebrated his win, referred to his luck and how his team mate deserved to win, and didn't overly rub it in Lewis's face. I don't think he did anything wrong, people need to stop being so sensitive when Hamilton doesn't win. **** happens, he'll win the championship anyway.
     
  10. The Voice of Reason

    The Voice of Reason First Team Captain

    Rosberg was more or less forced to make those comments IMO, but he was going well OTT before that interview.

    I maintain that he should have taken a leaf out of the Pro Footballers unwritten code book and not over celebrated, at the very least not in public; I for one would have thought a lot more of him had he done so.
     
  11. scummybear

    scummybear Reservist

    You may well be right that somebody had a word in his ear, or it could've been after the adrenaline of driving within millimetres of walls at 150mph had worn off. We'll just have to guess on that one.


    As an aside, I've just read this on Sky Sports from Lewis:
    I can't really express the way I feel so I won't even attempt to," says Hamilton. "You rely on your team and I saw a screen and it looked like the team was out and I thought Nico had pitted. I couldn't see the guys behind so I thought they had pitted, when the team said to stay out I said 'these tyres are going to drop in temperature' and what I was assuming was these guys were going to be on options and I would be on the harder tyre so they said to pit. So I came in with full confidence that the others would pit."

    So Lewis assumed the others had pitted and implied he would like to pit too, due to tyres cooling. The team complied but didn't calculate it correctly and refuse his request.
     
  12. the most embarrassing f*** up I can recall any team making

    I imagine Lauda went mad behind closed doors
     
  13. wfc4ever

    wfc4ever Administrator Staff Member

    Just after he's signed a new long term contract!

    Opps...not a good start.
     
  14. wfc4ever

    wfc4ever Administrator Staff Member

    Have to catch the highlights - sounds like a genuine thriller.

    I didn't hear Bernie threatening to scrap the race this year...

    Was that because the weather was good?
     
  15. Optimistichornet

    Optimistichornet Penguin Assassin

    it had everything really today. best race of the year so far I reckon.
     
  16. Jumbolina

    Jumbolina First Team

    It even had a Mercedes 1/2. I just never know what is going to happen next!
     
  17. Smudger

    Smudger Messi's Mad Coach Staff Member

    It really is becoming a tedious procession dominated by one or two teams. There need to be some really fundamental changes in the near future and more driver skill fundamental to the outcome of races as opposed to who has the best car and engine package.
     
  18. miked2006

    miked2006 Premiership Prediction League Proprietor

    Bring back the Schumacher Ferrari days if you ask me!

    Being serious, fuel strategy as well as tyres should mix up the strategies and make the sport more interesting again. Ferrari are the team which really needs to sort itself out. Now Newey has gone, I don't expect Red Bull to compete. It's become an engine makers game, and Mercedes dominance will take serious investment to overcome.

    I'd quite like something like only allowing one hot lap between the top 10 for pole, with 5 minutes in which to do it. And maybe a bottom seven one hot lap with the bottom three not qualifying for the race.
     
  19. Jumbolina

    Jumbolina First Team

    No sure we can afford to lose 3 cars off the grid though!

    My issue isn't just with Mercedes - it's the fact the gaps between every team are big. Ferrari/Williams are miles ahead of Force India/Lotus. Anyone with a Renault engine is stuffed. And then there's McLaren...............

    It's surely never been so dull. I used to love F1. Now I don't even watch. Just check the result to make sure it was yet another Hamilton/Rosberg front row and yet another Mercedes win followed home by the Ferrari and Williams.
     
  20. UEA_Hornet

    UEA_Hornet First Team Captain

    I think they could Jumbo. Silverstone saw the 2 Marussia cars ending up 3 laps back by the end. That's abysmal.

    In fairness Sunday was an entertaining race - although only because the Mercedes' had a poor start and then the rain intervened at the end. I genuinely don't know what they can do to make it better. They've tried lots of gimmicks but they just get gamed out by the teams and designers within a few races. And the idea of bringing Mercedes down to everyone elses level seems like a retrograde step to me.
     
  21. Jellyman

    Jellyman Squad Player

    They need to so something to level the playing field again. The big problem with F1 is that as soon as it goes slightly stale, it can be very tedious to follow. Once people start turning off then the advertisement money dwindles and they're in real trouble. Huge couple of years for the sport, they need to make the right moves to make sure F1 stays as a major sport.
     
  22. nascot

    nascot First Team

    The British GP is the only one I've watched this year. I used to love F1 but it's so stale and predictable. Much prefer something like the Blancpain GT Endurance Series, 60+ cars and racing for the full duration (3+ hours).
     
  23. hornmeister

    hornmeister Tired

    There are plenty of racing series out there where there's identical cars and the difference is down to drivers only.

    F1 should be the pinnacle of the sport. They should be allowed to pretty much do anything. The lack of testing and development mid season is hurting teams that are trying to catch up. I'm all for letting them pretty much have any and all technologies as the cars get too fast, reduce the engine size. The resulting technological developments with have beneficial filter down effects to general car production.
     
  24. csdxl

    csdxl One Millionth Post

    Hear, hear.
     
  25. nascot

    nascot First Team

    Great, if you want to continue watching 22 cars hundreds of yards apart just driving round a race circuit.
     
  26. Jumbolina

    Jumbolina First Team

    Isn't the problem at the moment the lack of testing time so you can't catch up. Mercs are great, but in the past other teams could pound the test tracks between races and work out solutions. Mercedes engine better than Renault, but Renault are restricted by this "engine tokens" thing in terms of making improvements so Red Bulls are permanently out of the running, ditto McLaren with their Honda engines.

    It seems to me whoever is quickest at the start, is quickest at the end now. I used to enjoy the development race over a season.
     
  27. nascot

    nascot First Team

    Not the testing aspect, but letting them do whatever they want to do. There would be such variations between the cars. One thing they could do is give an upper budget for every team so the richest don't have such a big advantage.
     
  28. hornmeister

    hornmeister Tired

    That has been mooted. Offer more development tokens for people that stick to a budget for example. I just don't see it myself. It's got too complicated. Fans are getting frustrated and penalties for this added time for that for breaches they never see.

    I'd allow as many or few tyre stops as people want. Having more than one tyre manufacturer and a full choice of compounds will also make things interesting. We need to cut down on the regulations and let people race, rather than try and control it. Allow DRS and active aerodynamics wherever and whenever people feel they need it. As long as the engine size and physical dimensions, weight and safety are regulated everything else should be a free for all.
     
  29. nascot

    nascot First Team

    There wouldn't be any racing though if they were left to do what they wanted. It would just be 22 cars of varying levels of technology driving round a circuit. There's a good reason why all motorsports have restrictions/regulations and that's to make it interesting for the viewer. It's just F1 doesn't seem to know how to get it right. I'm all for using the most advance technology though. As you say it's the pinnacle of motorsport so they should be leading all development. Also mid season testing should be allowed.

    As for tyres it was crap when it was two manufacturers. One was better than the other so regardless of how good the car or driver was they would win/lose depending on the tyres. It become a battle of tyre manufacturers instead.
     
  30. andrew2209

    andrew2209 First Year Pro

    Jules Bianchi has died aged 25 from his injuries sustained at the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix. A sad day for Formula 1, he was a great up and coming talent, and it's tragic to see him die at such a young age.
     
  31. wfc4ever

    wfc4ever Administrator Staff Member

    Maybe not unexpected but sad news nevertheless.
     
  32. Smudger

    Smudger Messi's Mad Coach Staff Member

    It was a most unfortunate accident but then again many in recent years have been like the death of Henry Surtees. A sad loss.

    F1 has become a game of budgets. There is no way the smaller teams can compete anymore or progress up the grid with time the amount of money certain teams pump into technological development, the number of staff they have, the way they siphon off the best young drivers.

    Teams sey up by individuals like McLaren, Tyrell, Williams would have a very hard time of getting anywhere if they were to have started today. You need a large number of very rich companies or an enormously wealthy benefactor to get anywhere. With systematic testing and large R&D budgets the chances of a smaller team getting one up on their competitors with a technological innovation are limited. In fact the most they get are technology hand me downs often from the previous season.

    It's a vicious circle. If you're not successful getting sponsorship is hard and with a low budget the chances of success are strikingly small so in time what sponsors you have drift away. You cannot balance the budget and the only way to continue is to go down a formula or just shut up shop. The way things are F1 might end up with just 4-5 teams in the near future. The odious troll in charge however seems not to care so long as he plays the Mercedes and Ferrari tune and dismantles the history of the sport.

    This provides a refreshing and motivating change.

    [video=youtube;n9qZu7h5ys0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9qZu7h5ys0[/video]
     
  33. Meh!

    Meh! Pre-Dictator

    HA! Hamilton completely ballsed that up!!!
     
  34. Mercedes have got to fix their starts, they have been abysmal this season
    Good driver by Lewis to get baco to 4th - drive through was a bit harsh
    Feel sorry for Rosberg, Kimi
    Lewis has increased his champ lead
    An entertaining and eventful race
     
  35. wfc4ever

    wfc4ever Administrator Staff Member

    An eventful race!

    Red Bull were pretty competitive all weekend.

    Bad race for Williams.
     

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