Sad state of affairs in F1

I can't find any fault with this post. Pretty much 100% spot on.

 

Yup, Mosley has turned F1 into his own private battle ground.

Staying in bed on Sunday morning has just got more appealing..

 

It truly is a sad state of affairs. I had planned on going back to Monaco for next years race, and at this point, wonder if the race will actually be a 'F1' race or some other substandard series, operating under the guise of F1.

I am inclined to support FOTA breaking away and forming a series around the traditional F1 venues.

 

Well I DVR the entire weekend so no worries there I still love the drama and passion of great drivers working their butts off (well, some more than others,) with equally passionate teams. I just hate all of this peripheral crap.

 

Yep Joe I'm with you on that, cretin Mosely want stop me watching yet.

 

Not that I was stepping out on a limb, or that I was alone with these sentiments. But I've always been very vocal about Bernie's "blind" foray into these markets, typically at the expense of a longer-standing event/venue. I questioned from Day 1 the merit of events like China, Bahrain, Turkey and Malaysia. And now Singapore. In the name of progress, Bernie cut off a piece of his nose and snubbed an existing fan base by axing or leveraging loyal venues. When things were good, he got greedy and over-extended the series. There were those who thought this was good and necessary for the sport as I recall, and they defended Bernie's moves. Now he's going to start losing more events and he also risks losing premier teams. And he'll have to do some groveling (or make concessions) to some 'old friends' if the sport is to continue.

 

20,000 fans. Ugh. I too DVR the whole weekend. Don't forget this weekend starts a run on FOX. Gotta love it - show 4 races on FOX hoping to broaden the exposure in the US - and what will those prime-time viewers see......

A gazillion empty seats!!!

FOX ought to show races that get fans!!!

 

F1 has become a bore (zzzzzzzzzzzzz) and you can blame management. F1 little or no passing, driver and fan relationship is nil.

 

It's not just the new tracks that are down on ticket sales. Take a look here at Monaco... Click here. I never thought there was current market for F1 in these countries, the races were simply propped up by Gov subsidies rather than interest and people ready and willing to put their money down year after year. While I applaud the two geezers wanting to grow F1 I think simply allowing broadcast rights at a reasonable cost in those territories to allow the entire season to be viewed would have been a better approach. Get the public hooked first then when there's a solid fan base allow them to petition for a race. Not the other way around. If the petition doesn't have enough weight behind it don't run the race. IMO you could even allow the fans to choose the season by having them choose which 18 tracks they'd want to see races on via online voting and by ranking their favorite tracks when voting. That way if China really wants a race they can prove it by getting the vote out.

 

I certainly don't think this season is a boring one. Yea Brawn are showing their heels but the fight behind them, and sometimes with them, has had me locked into the TV almost every race. Qualifying is just unbelievable. All the teams are SO close this year in performance it's ridiculous. The problem IMO isn't the show on the track it's the price of the ticket to get in to see it. But, with the huge amount of debt F1 has to pay they've got to get their pound of flesh from the organizers, who in turn try to cut it out of the fans. It all just winds up as a big bloody mess.

 

I traveled from Canada to Turkey for this race. And I can confirm that my friend and I spent the entire day in stunned amazement of the utter lack of fans at this event. Even for a Friday, the attendance was ridiculous. When we arrived in the morning, there were more staff than fans, and the "F1 Village" is little more than a shirt shop and coke dispenser. Red Bull didn't even show up with their exhibit.

I love F1, and I don't regret coming at all, but it really p155es me off that North America lost their races, and Istanbul has one with no fan support. There is absolutely NO comparison between Istanbul and Montreal. You wouldn't even know there's an F1 race in town here. And ironically, this weekend would have been the Montreal race weekend. I miss Crescent St.

Oh, and the traffic to/from the circuit. You have to see it to believe it. Makes me miss the 10 min subway ride in Montreal.

That said, hoping for some surprises in Quali tomorrow. And we'll certainly have our pick of seats for the race.

BTW, you can probably easily see me. My friend and I are sitting in Grandstand 8 (final turn) with about 6 other people. I'll be wearing red

Mark

 

Jack you are correct.

F1 has its roots in Europe, ventured out to North America and Japan. Successful most of those markets. F1 should stay in those markets. Jack, Bernie gets paid big dollars by the promoting entity to allow an F1 race to be held on their circuit. The government of many of these countries were willing to help pay for the event. Sadly, there aren't too many such countries or wealthy individuals in the Western world. So its all about Bernie maximizing his return on F1 for himself all the time minimizing its value. He should have been more cooperative with Indianapolis and Montreal.

I might understand one race in Asia in addition to Japan, but not Abu Dahbi, Singapore, Malaysia, Bahrain, China. Yes, sure growing capitalist markets, but still not so much F1 markets.

 

Kind of ironic that Turkey thought hosting an F1 race would make them appear more European while Bernie was making F1 more Asian.
AFAIK Bernie makes nothing off of seat sales. His money is from the organizers and from TV. Those bucks are in his pocket already but knowing him he's "reinventing"
F1 to suit the new world order. We can hope that this means a return to the traditional European fan base. A move that would also favor the old line FOTA teams.

 

They discussed it this morning. Bernie leases the Turkish facility and then promotes the event. So in this case, he's the one whose money is on the line. I don't know how many events have the same arrangement, but I'd bet Bernie's master plan saw him capturing 'local' profit in addition to his commercial gains, which would play into his selection of events that make it onto the schedule. And this is an example of where he got too greedy, because he made enough out of the commercial rights and sanctioning fees. Going for the trifecta in a zero fan base locale like Turkey is burning him. I wonder if he'll buy out the contract.

 

Thanks, I didn't know that.

 

Well then wouldn't you think the old fools bashing each other over the heads with mallets, should instead start addressing this lack of attendance at the races.

All this of track BS will make fans shun the sport. Maybe not the die hard's, just good paying folk, sick of the confusing state of affairs.

 

FOX is showing the race on Sunday here in Texas at 2 pm - STUPID ...... thank goodness for justin.tv and live timing - prime time on Sunday afternoon when all the kids are out of school and families are beginning vacations - dumb

Carol

 

If fans quit watching things will change as advertisers will pull out.

 

take a flight to Paris and join us at the LeMans 24 Hour next week - no lack of spectators there well in excess of 200,000!! you'll get to see lots of Ferraris racing there, grid is 55 cars - the "Village" is awesome!! Fantastic technology;big name drivers; pits are open Friday; driver parade in the towne centre Friday evening; 24 hours non-stop race fix!

Carol

 

I'm not terribly surprised. It is about time, that moron Bernie (not really Max' fault) realizes, that his newbie countries might pay for the race, but don't have the fanbase to back it up.

I posted this some time ago: The Turkish GP is on very thin ice and will likely be cancelled after next year. All the more reason for me to go there next year, while it still exists. Because knowing Bernie, he'll just move it to some even more far away country like Nigeria or Sri Lanka.

 

Kazatstan. Already hired Tillke. McLaren are advisors. Hamilton hired as future spokesman.

 

Any extra space in your luggage?

 

20k at Turkey. smallest crowd at the Indy USGP was, IIRC, around 110k. smooth move, Bernie & Max.

 

Yes, their brilliance is staggering....most impressive though is Max.