Ecclestone, Di Montezemelo and Todt hold meeting to improve F1

You are dead wrong.

We are talking here global TV audience, not just the US.

F1 has the most TV viewers worldwide. Only World Cup Soccer and the Olympics beat F1, but those only run every 4 years.

How Ecclestone turned Formula One into the world's most watched series - Autoweek

This is just one of many articles I could have posted. There are lots of them. Just google "most watched sport" and you'll find F1 time and again.

 

So - 2 races down, which have been economy runs? Which race, or races, have had a number of cars slowing down, short-shifting, etc. to conserve fuel?

From what I've seen and what I've heard on the commentary - neither. The races are not actually, in fact, economy runs. Nobody is running slow to save fuel. In Malaysia, at mid-point in the race they showed fuel used at that point - nobody was over 50%. Everybody had more than half the allocated fuel left to finish the last half of the race (when consumption would be lower anyway due to the lighter weight after fuel burnoff). Nobody slowed down with 3 laps left, 5 laps left, 10 laps left, to save fuel so they could make it to the end.

Face it, Chicken Littles - the sky didn't fall. The 2014 races are not turning out to be economy runs. It's not happening after two races. Time to stop the whining about how F1 is ruined because the races will be economy runs. They're not.

 

Which TBH surprised me. Not that it would have mattered to me too much one way or the other. F1 is so much more than this.

I really don't get the noise fetish.

 

Anyone else see this as possibly a bit bias toward Ferrari? What do all 3 have in common - money from Ferrari.

 

Is that a product of tickets not sold or the person not showing up with their free ticket from a business partner or relation. Like great seats at baseball games, many times empty because the person given the ticket did not show up. The revenue was there, but no fanny in seat. Happens quite a bit.

 

Could be one explanation. Perhaps yoy grandstand/general admission sales would be a better indicator.

 

For those that present the argument that sensory input is not terribly relevant to ticket sales or viewer numbers, it would make for an interesting result if the noise levels were reduced signifigantly in NASCAR, NHRA, etc. I know, neanderthal sanctioning bodies compared to F1, but.................

 

Might not be quite the same: if you remove the sound of those what are you left with? Ancient technology

 

I concur...you are damn right!!!

 

yes...it is bad form by Bernie.

 

F1 wants to show their green-ness? Laughable. Racing is not green period. Get over it. The fans don't want to watch nonpolluting race cars at this point. They want the thrill and exhilleration that F1 is. Bring back open engine formulae. 12 cylinders v. 4 - I'm in! The current formula is plain nuts. In fact the only benefit is that F1 is making Indycar interesting as is the Tudor and Sportscar series.

The obvious greed of FIA, Eccelstone and Co. was the initial blow. Bloated budgets, ridiculous fees, payoffs, etc. This new formula is the death knell. Oppotunities for alternative racing series' are being presented. Maybe F2 or F3 or whatever is downstream is more interesting. I will watch the races just to hate on Vettel and support the rookies, but it doesn't look to be an interesting season at this point.

 

Will the egos of the powers that be:

Allow them to see the problem(s)?
Agree on what to do about it?
Actually do anything significant to make a real difference?

My guess is "no" to each.

 

Funny there are still some here on Fchat who remind me of this..


[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDAmPIq29ro]Animal House - All Is Well! - YouTube[/ame]

 

I agree. Not knowing the fuel level and who is on a two stop or three stop strategy made the sport more interesting. I also miss the "flying lap" when the cars were on fumes just before the stops. And not that I root for disasters, but the fueling rigs added an element of uncertainty to the pit stops.


Today it's a three second stop for tire change and little else.



IMHO

Joe

 

People are voting with their remotes and they will soon vote with fewer tickets sold.

F1 lives on advertising dollars. Reduce the eyeballs and you reduce the money. Reduce the money and F1 dies.

They have to fix this blunder or they are toast.

 

F1 IS DEAD!
Long live Sports Car racing!!!!!!

 

I hate to say this as it hurts...sports car racing in this country is not far behind and nascar will see to that!!

long live that turd they call the Daytona prototype...but I digress.

 

Hate DP's..LOVE WEC, DTM, JAP Super GT....

 

Here here !!!!!!

Gary
Espada
8394
EtypeFHC
887465

 

Here's all you need to know; type 'F1' into twitter and here are the top results....
Looks like I haven't missed a thing
Kevin
Back to vacation; I'll look at the results but won't get up to watch the race
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I did google most watched sports, before I posted actually to make sure. That article you linked has ZERO viewer numbers, just finacial numbers. The only thing i found with viewership numbers is Wikipedia with only 527million throught the season. (EDIT: After searching further this number was correct but is dropping steadily and was only 450million for the 2013 season) FYI the Superbowl(just in america) has over 100million. And thats just one event not including the 10-15 million viewers PER GAME. And I wouldn't even put the NFL in the top 5 worldwide.

Nothing on the first page of google "worlds most watched sport" suggests F1 is most watched. The only thing mentioned numbers wise is single events such as The monaco GP with a claim of 25 million viewers WORLDWIDE. The SuperBowl in America alone is over 5 times that. Those are just for 1 time events.

Branching out to search In terms of seasons F1 is even further down the list once Soccer, Cricket, Boxing, Golf, Tennis etc are factored in.

Actual attendance numbers are even worse compared to other sports.

 

Remove the sound of the cars - and TV viewership of a NASCAR and it the TV broadcast is little changed, its mostly marketing blather from blathering commentators that your ears are treated to if you tune in by TV. If I'm by myself - I often will hit the mute button when watching televised NASCAR for sustained periods.

The seats at the track would be starkly empty though if you muted NASCARS. They run at huge tracks, and its part of the experience to hear them all the way around a 2 mile + course, or anywhere in a parking lot for 200,000+ people.

Since I've never been to a F1 race - the change in F1 sound has very little effect on me, as I'm watching them on broadcasts anyway. I love the aero changes to the cars, and the removale of TC, makes it much more exciting to watch compared to the ten year span of 2002-2012. For me - the sound is not a disaster, its new, its cool. Those that have been to the track - are more likely to be up in arms than the TV only viewers.

What is ridiculous - is saying these changes are "eco friendly" when add electronics and batteries that are mined in a manner oh not so eco friendly. Then you still fly in all your stuff in cargo planes tens of thousands of KM each year...yeah, green...blech. The fuel saved with the cars is nothing compared to the fuel used to put on a F1 race. If they really wanted to be green - they'd run all their races on one track in a row...

 

thats right, nothing to see here, move along.....

there is so little wrong with the new formula that there is no complaining by long standing fans, and there is no need for an emergency meeting of the largest stake holders of the sport, and there is no need at all for a rethink of any of the aspects of the sport......

except these things are happening. call us chicken little if you like, but the formula sucks at the moment and f1 is a business, so it will change to please the crowds or it will die. but i am sure you will be satisfied watching formula e, so just carry on.

 

this is just further evidence of what we all know and what has been fact from the start....without ferrari, f1 can just pack their bags. you do not ignore the opinion of the one team that has been at the table from the start of the show, and always has the greatest percentage of fans in the stands. its a business.

 

What can be fixed for this year - not much

What can be fixed for next year - car looks, minor changes to fuel flow rate, exhaust configuration

What can't be fixed - fundamentals of the V6 architecture, that's locked in for a few years at big $$$$ to change, any reduction is 'green-ness' (PR disaster territory)

Bottom line - they easily make the cars look a million times better, but the sound is what it is.