British GP prediction and news thread

I think you are reading too much into this. Many cities around the world have F1 demo runs in the week of the respective nations GP. It's not unique to London.

The UK is full of motorsport fans. In case you didn't notice, there was a huge crowd in London to see the cars. Most of them can't afford to go to the GP, but managed to get a glimpse of F1 for free in the nations capital even though the event was only publicly announced one day before happening (due to security concerns). That's great PR for the sport and brilliant for the fans. More of these events would be a good thing. It's all about making the sport more accessible to people. Social media is on fire about this event with great photos, videos and memories. Great to see.

 

Of course they haven't organised that demo in one week, but the intention was always to use the razzmatazz in London to put pressure on the BRDC as the deadline was approaching.

The BRDC could only trigger the contract cancellation prior to the 2017 GP, after which they were bound to a 5% yearly increase until 2025. That would have bankrupted the club and the track, for sure.

As for Hamilton, he is just like any other celebrity; one way they like having fans around, another day they are fed up with them. I feel sorry for the fans; they are such suckers!!

 

If you think I am reading too much into this, read the news.

The BRDC (Silverstone owners) have cancelled their contract to hold more GP in future at the track.

 

Fair enough. I guess they should stop playing the national anthem for the winner then, at least if you were in charge. I don't understand but respect your opinion.

 

That would be absolutely fine with me.

I am not into that flag waving stuff at all.

Everybody participates for himself, IMO.

 

Lewis has the media spotlight on him pretty much all the time,during and between F1 events there are a lot of other promotional things going on.Not a lot of time for himself.

If he wants to take a break from it for a couple of days to get in a better frame of mind for Silverstone then why not ,if he had decided to go to a wet London surrounded by media etcetc and then screwed up the next race,he would be really kicking himself.

Its his life,he can do what he wants,especially if it is not part of his contractual duties.

He will probably be back to clean up on Sunday.

As for the comments about Mykonos,which i think are bordering on homophobic,he is probably having a very nice time with some extremely hot chick.i have no problem with that.

 

Not sure that I would want to be the only one of the 20 drivers to do anything other than winning the wdc. Lewis achieved that in a negative sense whether the holiday was deserved or not, its an achievement. As for the BRDC they need to be careful that they don't cut off their nose to spite their face because while some may see Britain as the home of Formula 1 I am not sure that other countries care. Perhaps they have a point because $29 million per annum is ridiculous but F1 is a business and it can and will go elsewhere so pay up or put up.

As for this weekend my money is on either of Ricciardo, Bottas or Vettel

 

+1

 

I am sure the BRDC has taken the right decision in getting out of a contract that would be leading to bankruptcy.
Actually, the fees increase by 5% per year, regardless of attendance number, of the economic situation, of the weather, etc... to reach apparently £25M in 2025.
I am sure the BRDC has examined all the parameters and made some forecasts before coming to the conclusion that the present contract was leading the club (and the track) to ruins in the long term.
These days and age, there is no shame in saying "We cannot afford this anymore", and pull away from the deal on time.
Liberty has to do its home work and come with a better proposal; tracks are not making enough money at the gate to be considered as milk cows anymore.
No deal is better than a bad deal.
France didn't have a GP for 8 years and still survived. Germany missed a couple of years too, so Great Britain would be in good company.

 

I seriously doubt he gives a toss whether or not there's a street race in London, but I'm opposed to it so I didn't show up at the promo event either.

 

Liberty may be more agreeable to renegotiating terms than "the dwarf" ever was. At least I hope so.

 

"BRDC chairman John Grant said under the existing deal Silverstone lost £2.8million in 2015 and £4.8m last year."


Motorsport.


No wonder they want to stop the financial haemorrhage!!!

 

Lewis Hamilton snubs F1 fans in London so he could party in Greece
19 of 20 Formula 1 drivers participated in promotional event


Hamilton, who is known for engaging with fans via his various social media accounts, announced the news that he would not be attending the event via a post on Facebook -- the post reading, “To my loving fans, I can’t wait to see you in Silverstone. Until then, I’m away on a two-day break. God Bless you all. Love, Lewis.”

The non-attendance of the British championship contender did not go unnoticed by fans.

Red Bull boss Christian Horner wasted no time in criticizing one of his rivals, saying, “It’s great to be in London for an event like this for the British Grand Prix week. For everyone to see the cars up close, for the drivers to be here -- well most of them. At least Toto (Wolff, Mercedes team principal) is here.”

Wolff did not defend his driver, explaining that Hamilton needed several days off after a tough weekend in Austria -- despite the fact that Formula 1 has the traditional four-week summer break next month, which includes a two-week mandatory shutdown period for all teams.

“Yeah, absolutely (we tried to convince Hamilton to attend),” said Wolff. “It’s great to have you all here and us bringing the cars into London is great. Lewis feels that he is in such a tough championship fight that he decided that he needed the days off after Austria, but you can see him at Silverstone.”


Lewis Hamilton snubs F1 fans in London so he could party in Greece

 

To the average race fans, who likely on the whole are into the race, rather than us maniacs who analyse and reanalyse every facet, I think Elton's no show IS the big story. Here are very people who seem to hang on his every word, believe all his lies, buy all his merchandise, listen to his crap about just being 'the poor boy from the ghetto of stevenage' - yet here they truly see he doesn't give a **** about them or his beginnings. Every other driver made it their business to be at the event, mollycoddled, fed, transported in first class comfort (even fernando had a Honda that managed to drive all the way in) and some of them are regularly despised and booed by British elton fans

General fans don't see the political bs that goes on, they see the opportunity to be around F1 cars, drivers, grid girls and celebs for the day for one of their favourite sports. When their hero can't be bothered to turn up to see them, how many might think twice about supporting him in future? In the post Bas shared, many inferred they would be 'unclicking' from his social media, and we are all told if it ain't internet facebooking, its failed now right?

 

So why are you so bothered if Hamilton fans "unclicked" from his social media, or stopped following him on FB because he didn't show up in London yesterday, since you have been hammering again and again (particularly YOU Daytona) that Hamilton fans weren't real F1 fans !! You should be glad to see the back of them since you despise them so much, no?

Not that I have a dog in this fight, because I don't care about Hamilton, his fans, Facebook or any other nonsense, I am only interested in racing, not the razzmatazz around it. Thanks God, racing will still exist, even if some are only interested in another episode of Kardashian-on-wheels.

But I find it astounding that present or absent, Hamilton gets the tongues waging about nothing. Hamilton staying away from the London demonstration is NOT the big story. The big stories are a) Silverstone getting out of its contract, b) the future of the British GP in the balance, c) the SAUBER-Honda rumours and denials, d) Alonso's future, and other topics related to racing, and not the gossip column.

 

A. It was likely cause if liberty and Sliverstone accepted a new deal it could set for the other tracks to negotiate new deals. It could spell a huge amount of bad pr for liberty and business sense also.
B. Who knows exactly what British gp will host the f1 races it will likely have to be the other tracks like dornington park or brand hatch.
C. Sauber is very rumored and not solid enough until proved by the mouths themselves. And the rest has been talked about for ages.

Hamilton not attending puts him in a spot of incredibly bad pr. You have nearly every driver(excluding him of course) from the current championship and including some former ones attending yet your not coming in what's surely a great event to see your fans up close? Plus many pointed it's for free and it's central London which is an important hub and capital city. So you saying he can't attend to one of the great events in one of the most important cities in the entire world cause he had a holiday??? He's full of it. And he just made fans upset that they can't see him not to mention making his manager and team get a lot of bad pr. Plus he just made himself like an idiot when he posted stuff about parties and not caring of mentioning the show. He just given the opportunity of the people who dislike him a bad image on a plate for them to rant on media. Worse he decided himself deliberately and not think of the consequences of what's happening. So in summary he petty much turned his self image of being a model into him being abrove them that he can't attend an event. At least stop by before going to your holiday, but no.

 

Personally, I want to see the World Drivers Championship, and I am not interested in the PR championship.

 

How many Brits in F1 driving. 2.

The one and most popular decides he's under so much pressure he begs off of this event for his fans to deal with his lack of mental strength as Bottas gets it done and the all other drivers show up. This is huge story and the Brit press are right to cover it.

Connecting with his fans at home one would think should give him strength. Out of respect for their efforts to support him and the money they pay to see him, its the event NOT TO MISS LOL

 

Liberty will have to review its fees scale, or more venues will drop out of the calendar.
It's a fact that the escalating cost of hosting a GP is going through the roof and isn't sustainable in the long term.

I think the BRDC has taken a courageous decision by calling it a day, instead of rushing along and get more debts . That may have saved Silverstone.

Malaysia has taken the same decision, and their race was bankrolled by the government.

I understand that COTA is having financial difficulties too.

Liberty is no different from Bernie, trying to milk the organisers and bleed them dry. I think the format has to change.

What about Liberty renting the tracks at venues it wants to have GPs, and organise the races themselves? Becoming promoter instead of merely championship administrator ? If they want to ripe the benefits, they should take the risks themselves.

 

And in a capital city and is in one of the most important cities in the entire planet. This is an event that is such a place that is very much an important for business and poltics. He shouldn't think of trying to get away when it's a fantastic event for him to be happy I mean it's not like he's going to work hard. He's going to get relaxing time and be the center of the event.

 

True Liberty needs to look though it or Liberty going to be another bad company if they can't fix mistakes or make more mistakes that Benie did.

 

Looking forward to this test - Formula 1 warned not to rush shield head protection ahead of debut - F1 - Autosport

Red Bull boss Christian Horner has warned Formula 1 chiefs not to rush through the introduction of the 'shield' cockpit protection system, ahead of its first public run this weekend.

F1's Strategy Group and the F1 Commission decided earlier this year to prioritise development of the shield concept instead of the original plan for the halo device.

While the halo was run several times on track last year, the shield will make its track debut in practice for the British Grand Prix, on a Ferrari.

The FIA hopes that the shield can be readied in time for 2018, but if not the halo will be introduced instead.

 

Yes, he can live his life as he wants...but then he should start to shut up instead of secluding this drivel about how important his fans are to him...He is the ONLY one not to show up at the promo in front of his home GP where most of the visitors would have liked to see him...
And you are starting to make ridiculous excuses incuding "making a stand against liberty" just like his fanboys and tell us we hate him!
I do not care personally whether he attends or not but according to the reactions from London it seems that a lot of people DO care and maybe some of them start to realize that he actually does not care about anything but himself!!!
As someone said above: this was an immense own goal by Lewis and once again shows that he is not the brightest one...

And only because you have something against the idea of a London GP does have nothing to do with Lewis so why are you mixing the two stories? And when you want to go to the "home of British Motorsport" then go to Donnington as the Silver Arrows were driving there when Silverstone was only mud (although I was told it still is when it rains )

 

But for someone who is always eager to win the PR championship the absence of the London Demo has about the same effect as the bumping into Lewis´car has for Seb in the WDC
It leaves a bad taste...
And just after profiling himself after exactly this incident it is interesting that the "role model for the kids" is showing them that it is great to be egoistic...well done