Bernie: We won't be going to Australia for too much longer

yeah, who needs Australia, us, uk? Hell, who needs italy when you think about it?

 

That's just crazy!

USA F1 fans (any left? ) gets up early in the AM to watch Europe, Peter Egan wrote about it in R&T how a club owner in Madison WS opens and hosts viewing parties.....

What's that crazy old man's motivation now???

 

Translation;

"Show me the MONEY !"

 

Yup.

Was there ever any doubt (that money is the issue ?)

What else would it POSSIBLY be ?

 

Bernie needs to change the name to F1 Third World racing.

Anyone up for the Togo Grand Prix? Khazakastan GP?

Maybe he wants more races in more places the average local can't afford to go to. It may make him feel good to fly in in his private helicopter over impoverished slums looking at all the little people.

 

He is continuing his practice of relocating GPs from democracies, where the governments are loath to subsidize billionaires with taxpayer funds, to third world despots who could care less about wasting public funds to subsidize Bernie.

 

I'm of two minds about this.

On the one hand, he's a businessman and if someone will pay him $100 for his product, why should he sell it for $50 just to be the 'nice guy'??? Would anyone here take a lower salary just to be kind to their boss or sell a product for less than market value just because that's what the customer wants?

On the other hand, it is sort of a big F.U. to the fans who built this sport up - the only reason it sells for $20mm (or whatever) to some podunk country is because of the viewership, and he's sort of screwing said viewership by taking away the benefit of the value that they created.

And then there's the future issue. Bernie is 2 steps away from the grave, so he probably doesn't care - but I think it's probably detrimental to the long term value of F1 to have too many races away from the hot spots. We already have Singapore, Malaysia, China, India, Bahrain and a few others I bet I am forgetting, which is around 1/3rd of the races. Why would countries that only make up a small fraction of the benefit of F1 (to the sponsors) be given undue weight in the number of races given? Since probably 98% of people who care about F1 are in Europe and the Americas, shouldn't 98% of the races be there? Maybe give 1 race to the podunk country - or even give them three and call the disparity "an investment in the future of those nations". But when he's whoring out 8 or 10 races to these guys, it gets to be too much.

Not to mention the unobtainable tickets to these races. Price out good seats at Silverstone... if you want to be at the start/finish line grandstand, you better have a few *grand* *per ticket* to spend. That's seriously getting out of reach for most fans.

 

I'm speaking off the cuff here but, night racing? Seems pretty dangerous just so the Brits can watch the race live half way around the world. That is what I like about F1 and their journey around the world......different fans from everywhere get a chance to see it live. You don't need to see every race live.

Maybe they should have night golf or night parachute jumping too....

Does Bernie have a group he runs his ideas by or does he not have an advisory board?

 

Bernie wants an all Middle East/Asia series, apparently. To him, it is ONLY about the money. I long for the days of J-M Balestre...at least we could laugh at him.

Jack.

 

In 5 years, theres going to be a Russian GP, Indian GP, Korean GP, 2 Japanese GPs, Abu Dhabi GP, 2 Spanish GPs, Dubai GP, Mexico GP, and a Chinese GP. Leaving room for an Italian GP, German, English, Spa, and Monaco.

Someone remind me why is Bernie still in charge, because I'd rather not wake up at 3 AM to watch the Kazakhstanian Grand Prix through the streets of Astana.

 

Being in Alaska, I'm -9GMT and I still watched every single race and all but 1 qualifying session in 2007. I'll either watch it live if its at a reasonable time, or I'll use my DVR. I don't really care what time the race is at. Just because I can't watch it live doesn't mean I'm not going to watch it. I honestly wonder how many people actually do not want to watch a race because they can't watch it live? It just seems as though this whole thing is a lame coverup. The real issue is probably that there is another GP that is already willing to pay Bernie more money that he can suck out of Australia.

 

I have a hard time watching if its not live, I saw well over half of them live last year including China at 3AM and then proceeded to wake up everyone when Hamilton beached himself.
I will occasionally download the race (via torrent) to watch it at a later time if I can't watch it live.

 

All of you who say he is axing the Aussie GP for the money are missing the point: It is not that he wants more money from the organizers, he wants a night race. And the organizers aren't willing to give him that. Quite frankly I don't understand why Melbourne couldn't put up some decent street lights. Other cities seem to have no issue with it. Heck, any soccer stadium has floodlights for crissake. And don't call Singapore 3rd world please. It's probably twice as modern as Melbourne ever will be.

Bernie is so rich, he doesn't need to fly over folks in 3rd world countries. He could fly right over NY Timesquare and look at the "impoverished masses" below him.

 

If I went to the airport today and had to get to Singapore, I'd have no idea how to get there. It might be the most technologically advanced city in the world, but its in the middle of nowhere.

 

Ever tried to go to Silverstone or to the French GP or the Belgium GP?

I have and I can attest you they are in the middle of nowhere. To the Singaporian GP you can at least fly to, it has an airport.

 

Your right Mike, two ways of looking at it, I suppose it depend's on how you balance one against the other, on one hand it seems unfair but on the other he made F1 what it is today, he always seems to have the winning/upper hand though..

 

In 24 hours, I could fly to England, go to Silverstone, fly to France go to Magny Cours, and fly to Belgium and go to Spa. To get to Singapore, I would spend that much time in the air, thats what I mean by the "middle of nowhere".

 

F1 is a World Championship, not a Euro cup. That requires fly away races in the other continents. Which is btw why I think Bernie should be more lenient towards Melbourne as Australia is a friggin continent after all. The race is as valuable as the one in Brazil or the Canadian GP, which each represent their respective continents. Europe got enough GPs as it stands, but we also don't want to turn the series into an Asian championship either.

 

2 more in North America would be nice. Whatever happened to the proposed track in Cancun?

 

The same thing that happened to the proposed track in Moscow: Circular folder.

Once I saw the layout of the Cancun GP I had my doubts: It was a mess and hard to figure out what would be racetrack and what not. Also half of it would have been oval racing. It looked like somebody's pipe dream or tequila worm.

 

I concur, as I see it there should be races in US, Canada, England, Germany, Italy, France, Monaco, Belgium, Spain, China, Japan, Singapore or other Asian country, Oz, Brazil and a Middle Eastern.
I'd like to see Africa host one, but I'm not sure if the infrastructure in any of the countries is up to par. I'd think you could consider South Africa as they are hosting the 2010 World Cup, but there would have to be a viable circuit.
I'd certain countries to get 2, like US, Germany, Italy, and Spain where they have two circuits. Instead of having 2 races every year you alternate or something.

 

Kimi+Cancun= A distracted driver who is too hungover to get into the car let alone drive it.

 

They need to bring back the US, at least one race during the season. I would have gone this year if it was in the US, but the Canada dates don't work for me and I refuse to fly all the way over the Atlantic for Silverstone. They aren't helping to build a U.S. crowd by totally ignoring us.

 

Welcome Snipps. Bernie needs to realize that if he can conquer the US market that all the others will fall to him easily. By removing the USGP was a dumb move, hopefully Bernie realizes his mistakes and reinstates it in the near future.