Guys and girls, This scripting of results and focus only on cash flow (into Bernie's pocket) has to stop. The only way we can do anything about this is to give F1 a miss, turn that TV/video recorder off and hurt Bernie where he thinks it counts. Come on guys get behind me. I haven't watched a race for nearly 2 years now in protest. We have much more intelligence than what F1 is dishing out. If you've already booked tickets, that is okay because Bernie and Max do not give a toss about the enthusiasts that actually go to the track, it's all about TV. If we could get their audience numbers to collapse we finally might be able to get rid of Bernie and Max, and if we are lucky get somebody like Jean B. back. Seriously Pete ps: I would also like Jean Todt to go, but that is going to be harder ...
Once Bernie gets his money from the channels, he really doesn't care if anyone watches. Bernie won't care until all the channels stop paying for coverage .... and he can't get any other channels to buy in. Then he'll just cut the pay-out to the teams. Heck, McLaren coughed up 100 Mil and still came back. Before Bernie starts to lose income, F1 will already be dead and buried. Turning off one race doesn't send any kind of message to FIA. Look what they did to WRC. They just aren't listening to the fans at all.
Are you talking about Jean Marie Ballestre? Well, that guy made quite controversial moves too. Oh, and had nazi background just like Mosley. P.S: What has to do Jean Todt with this?
I'm not interested in the supposed Nazi side, more the fact that we actually had racing back in Jean's day. History will show he did a much better job than Bernie and Max. Todt has the FIA in his pocket ... that is why he has to go. Pete
I don't think it is scripted but even if it is, it is good entertainment for me just like WWF. I will continue watch it for the entertainment value.
Mmmm... We probably had less controversy with Balestre, but we still had a lot (rememeber Suzuka ´89 and ´90?). I wouldn´t put him as a standard. We need something better. As said above, Todt is not the big man he was. But anyway, I think you´re wrong in this: nobody has Bernie in his pocket, he just follows his own interests.
It's not scripted, it's often great fun, the conflicts and irregularities have always been part of F1, and I will continue watching it faithfully, as I have for the past 31 years. You have strange ideas...
Hi DGS you got the point - I fully agree with you I have watched almost 100 F-1 GPs all over Europe live. My last one was Imola on May 1, 1994 for numerous reasons. And I know many people who stopped travelling as well or - at least - reduced clearly the number of GPs. However, as long as hundreds of millions people around the world watch TV, one cannot impress Bernie or the FIA .... and even we could, they will ignore
It is scripted and I wonder what can be done to still enjoy it. Should we as fans on here say the championship is over after e.g. 15 races? Because we know what follows after is manipulated anyhow. Or would it help to start writing letters to F1 magazines etc? I'm really saddened by the blatant favoritism displayed in Japan. This has got to stop.
The funny thing is that they don´t use to change the final result of the champioship, just add some salt to make it more interesting. So in perspective it´s not such a bad thing anyway...
+1 What really get's me is the fact, that it is now so blatant!! As fans of F1 we are treated as complete moronic suckers, and have to accept it. As from now, until such a time Mosely is removed, irrespective of what team/driver you like, you have got to be a sucker!! if you think the sport is in any way fair. Much as I have tired to look the other way and believe, it is now impossible, I have been slapped in the face just one time to many..
Interesting suggestion to stop watching. My 10 yr old was talking to me this morning about next season, and I told him I may not watch next season, for a variety of reasons. Top of the list is I'm still PO'd about them booting Montreal from the schedule. Pure crap. The rest of the BS is just icing on the crap. Crap cake.
I am leaning towards your position. One would have to assume the the stewards get together before each race, discuss the myriad of possibilities that could occur during the event, and then have a plan for each one. Very unlikely that is possible. There would also have to be the assumption that one or more of the title contenders will make a mistake during the event that will require a penalty. Was Massa's brainfade mistake with Hamilton scripted? Was Hamilton's dive into turn one like an true amatuer scripted? If you are going to suggest that F1 is scripted, then Hamilton and Massa are in on it, along with every other driver on the grid. And team. And sponsor. That is borderline ludicrous. Some retired driver, team owner, official, would have written a tell tale book by now for the profit. Everyone in the sport would have had to have been sworn to secrecy with a threat of death. With the info I have at this point, I am not sure if Bourdais deserved the maximun penalty, but the dumb ass should not have come out of the pits on cold tires on a relatively cool track and try to race another car into the very first turn. Nope, conspiracy theorists, your imaginations are running wild, back off on the Red Bull. The only scripting is what you are creating. I may not agree with every penalty, or evey conclusion that the FIA or F1 have presented, but I will continue to enjoy F1 in the future. P.S. I just thought of an example that would have me agree there is some form of scripting. Alonso would have to find a way to take out Hamilton's McLaren in China.
In protest against Speed TV, my only access to see F1 at the time, I went to the extreme length of unsubscribing from the satelite network as that was the only way to get Speed out of my house (Speed was a part of their regular programming). When I was young my only access to F1 racing was R&T reporting on it. I was always thrilled when ABC would carry Monoco or some US GP race, but over the years all the oversafety BS and yellow flags have taken much of the joy out of it. And, if I am honest, seeing Rubens slow so MS could take the win to gain the Championship broke my heart and those of my entire family. Up until that event, my wife and daughter and often our son if he had time, would watch it with me, even at some of the truly odd hours, it was really that exciting for all of us. After that particular episode I had great trouble getting any of them to watch anymore, in fact it still gets brought up to this day, my family, myself included, all believe Rubens won and had the victory taken away by Ferrari themselves. Over the last few years the circus act appears to have become even more epidemic. Stealing documents, cheating on levels unprecedented in any sport, and the whole world turning a blind eye to all the corruption, I truly have very little interest anymore. Add in the rediculous rules pushed onto it by the liberal left green enviromentals, and its a total and absolute joke. If a time machine existed that would allow me to step back to 1948, I would not be sitting here, I would return to a day when real men raced real cars. And if all this has become to some of you is a car version of WWF, and your happy with it the way it is, I feel very sorry for you. IMHO its become a pretty pathetic sport, and if Ferrari had any integrity left, they would walk away from F1 and go back to thier roots. But to be clear, I have been a F1 motorsports fan since I was old enough to read, since about the early to mid 1960's, a fan for nearly 40 years. And it breaks my heart to see what it has become.
well, honestly ... I understand all your frustration in one or the other way but hey guys, calm your energy and nerves. Accept that YOU can't have such a big influence on how the F-1 circus and the FIA will develope themselves. It's up to YOU to give the GP-circus it's significance. As Julio already said: conflicts and irregularities have always been part of F1 in the past, now and then. If you feel unconfortable, don't mug. Don't buy F-1 tickets, save travelling costs (petrol, hotel, flight ..) and play with your dog or kids instead of watching F1 on TV as a last consequence. Simply as that. To me, the F1 has always been overrated. Don't blame Bernie or the FIA alone, you - the fans - gave the F1 its crazy status. Don't jump into it. reasons why I stopped my interest in F1 end of 1994: (after almost 100 live-GPs) - most (modern) racetracks lost their uique charism even I appreciate safety aspects - I can't see an appropriate rate of what I have to give/pay and what I get out of it at the end - the supporting programme (like the great former F2, the spectacular BMW M1 Procar Series etc ..) is getting poor - the whole atmosphere is getting unpersonal in comparison to what I felt in the 70s and 80s - pilots get nasty and high-headed forgetting that they live from the grace of their fans (Indy car pilots know how it works!) - finally the idotic rules which fly in the face of reason nuff said But - just to be fair - look at other (professional) sports. --- international bicycle race events like the Tour de France are manipulated by an ugly anti-doping policy of racers like Lance Armstrong or Jan Ulrich .. --- football/soccer referees make silly decisions all the time and manipulate results consciously or unconscious, even cameras proofs should be used (like in tennis) --- dressage riders, horse racers and the horse bet industry are manipulated I wouldn't be seen dead in a place like that but millions of people still enjoy football, bicycle racing, athletics ... Most professional sports of all types are infected by commercial interests and its negative effects - the F1 is just one of them Meanwhile - aged 50 and wise - I see it quite releaxed and draw the line whereever I feel the need to do. don't take sport too serious ! greetz Helmut
Interesting. I thought Fuji was the best race of the season. Granted the cameras could have shown a little bit more, but it was nothing that would make me stop watching F1. I can't wait to watch the Chinese GP.
But as per norm we will always have arm chair suckers that will go along with it all, because it suits them and there support of Ferrari by any means fair or foul. One's that hope drivers will crash into Lewis, ones that hope his engine will blow up, ones that say, Oh well Massa got a drive through!!! forgetting the fact that was negated by the fact Lewis had a drive through, as if this hadn't been taken into consideration by the stewards/FIA. Ones that can't see the difference in Massa crashing into the current WDC leader, putting him at the back, then gets awarded a move up the grid for crashing into a car on the outside of a corner. FA cutting corners, same as LH no penality the list goes on, it's a farce and you don't even need half a brain to realize it, but then that explains alot of posts on here. As long as there are no clear cut rules being consistantly applied, and the gravity of the offence not being taken into account to which end even a racing director CW is not sure. How the hell can you say this sport has any crediabilty, unless your thick.
Other than paying for a SpeedTV subscription a couple of years back, I haven't dropped $.05 on anything to do with F1 races so I'll continue to watch when I can. Not bad value I'd be curious to know how their viewership is doing? If it's just increasing with some of the newer markets than you can expect some more of the madness.
Good points Steve. No argument there, although your examples could have been a bit more balanced. A certain crane comes to mind. Nowadays in F1 there are no clear cut rules, and the gravity of offenses is not taken into account. This is a circus. You are entirely right. But then that has been the case since motor racing was invented, so with all due respect, I would suggest that many here are watching the wrong sport. Take it or leave it. Remember good old Ernest Hemingway? He said there were only three sports: Bullfighting, motor racing, and mountainering. None of the three have rules. If you want rules, consistency, and fairness, try watching baseball, bowling, basketball, or what not. But don't ask for fairness in motor racing; Some things are too important to be fair.
I'm going to keep watching, and I'm hoping that Kubica wins as the biggest F You to Bernie. I can't stand Hammy, and Ferrari has been getting help from the FIA which really does tarnish the WDC, so I'd like to see Kubica do what Kimi did last year, win the championship with good, hard, clean driving. Otherwise, it will take a total Hammy meltdown like last year for Massa to win this by more than a point and become a convincing WDC.
LOL pity you editied it, but thanks Julio... Fair point from yourself, the only thing I really liked was watching FA win the last race, and Kubica fighting Kimi, I'm pig sick of the rest of the BS...it has spoilt it!!, and I keep thinking when that pervert Max was busy sorting out his court case fight back with the News of the world. F1 was running sweetly IMO.
I will probably be gone if Max gets his way with the standardized 4 cyl engines and the eco-battery boosters. This whole regulatory thing is starting to get so out of touch with reality that about a 7 year timeout (as in WW2) might be needed, and then a whole new start made like was done in the classic 1950 to 1966 era.
Good points again! OK! I will undo the edit: "Other things that are too important for fairness would be sex, money, health, and life in general."
