What do you think ? Bernie Ecclestone should cancel the final three races of the F1 season | Autoweek
What I would LOVE is one last race where every driver randomly goes into any other car than their own and then they race. That would be a blast to see. Call it an exhibition but it would be tremendous fun to see Hamilton in a Manor or Massa in a Mercedes.
I can understand that it would be more exciting to have everything in doubt until the last race, but it's just not realistic - and cancelling the remaining races is certainly not an option. Contracts are in place for the full programme of races and people will certainly already have bought tickets for Mexico, and perhaps also the other two races. Many thought double points for the final race was dubious, and why should any one race be worth twice as much as the others? Unless they can come up with some arrangement that retains the excitement until the end but is universally seen to be fair, we'll have to live with what we have.
On the basis that the championsips have already been decided they could have cancelled the whole of this and the last season in advance.
Cancel the last 3 races because the championship has already been decided? What a daft idea!! Think about the organisers who did bid with FOM and have a contract to host a GP in their countries; will they get compensation? What about the people who have booked holidays or made travel arrangements to attend these GPs, will they also get refunds and compensation? Will the teams mechanics be put on long holidays or laid off until next year? Apart from these considerations, the championship hasn't been fully decided yet, and drivers and teams can still score points to improve their ranking.
Who?? Mike Pryson looks like he could do with less doughnuts... Some years it just goes that way..... The contrarian view, to me, is that the gloves can come off, and I would not be suprised to see Nico drive over Hamilton's head, if he could, smashing it like a watermelon....
Someone at Autoweek doesn't understand mutimillion dollar contracts...... Understandable, I suppose...
+1 These last few races will determine the distribution of many millions of $. Sure, the championship is decided, but there's still plenty going on behind. I'll still be watching! Nope! (IMESHO!) As noted, this is serious business, not some kind of artificial game show. The others should doff their caps (or toss them around! ) & do a better job. Cheers, Ian
Me too. There is the next race at Mexico on a revamped track to look forward to. Obviously anyone who would like to curtail the season is not a fan of motor racing. Although I moan like mad about the state of the championship, I don't like the winter break. I cannot imagine F1 being "amputated" of its last GPs, there would be no credibility left!
(From: Bernie Ecclestone should cancel the final three races of the F1 season | Autoweek ): "To me, its like playing the Super Bowl, crowning a champion and then watching three more weeks of the regular season - three more weeks of watching my beloved Detroit Lions lose." I'm not quite sure how that analogy is supposed to work! - How can you have had the Super Bowl with three weeks of the regular season still to be played? But if we stick with the American Football theme, once teams know they're not going to be in the play-offs and are out of the running for the Super Bowl, does their season end then and there? - No, they still have to play out their remaining games. And what about the games themselves? If there is a game being played where it's the 4th quarter and the score is, let's say, 41-3, with two minutes to play, do the officials decide: "This game is over already so let's not bother playing the last two minutes" and end the game early? They know that there's no way the losing team are going to score 38 points in the remaining two minutes but they still play out the last two minutes because that is the full duration of the game, even if there is nothing left to play for. What the author of this article seems to be completely oblivious to is the fact that the F1 season isn't just about the WDC & WCC Champions, it's also about where the teams finish up in the championship, which can have a massive effect on the money they receive from this season. (And here's the thing about Sauber and Force India's bid to have equal payouts in F1: Were that in place, then there'd be nothing left for any of the teams to race competitively for in the last three races!). The remaining races are also a golden opportunity for the teams to make preparations for the 2016 season, to try new ideas and concepts and to give reserve drivers some F1 experience in free practice one. And why should F1 fans in Mexico, Brazil and Abu Dhabi be denied the chance to see their favourite sport and drivers just because the championships have been decided? With less pressure on the drivers now, the racing may well be even better! Frankly, this whole article is not that well thought out in reality! "Sorry, F1. As for the last three races of the season, I think I'll pass."? - Sorry Mike Pryson but you obviously don't understand everything that's involved with F1, and F1 will not miss you for the last three races!
Aside from the legal and financial issues, I can see it. The World Series is 7 games. If one team wins the first 4, do we play the next 3 anyway? Think of the revenue lost of 3 World Series games? These next 3 races are merely exhibitions. Unfortunately, there are people in and out of the cars risking their lives to put on a meaningless "show". There is no "sport" in the next 3 races as there's no point to winning. Just being there is enough. F1 is not really a sport. It's a TV reality show. If it were a sport, it would stop as soon as someone had won.
WRONG! As I've already posted, there's a lot of championship prize money still at stake over the last three races for the mid-field teams!
1 Mercedes 574 2 Ferrari 374 3 Williams 220 4 Red Bull Racing 150 5 Force India 102 6 Lotus 70 7 Toro Rosso 63 8 Sauber 36 9 McLaren 27 10 Marussia 0 Ferrari can't catch Merc Williams cant catch Ferrari Red Bull needs some 1st place and some podiums to catch Williams Realistically...Toro Rosso and Lotus are the only 2 fighting for position. With basically the top 6-8 spots being the same teams, its almost impossible for Lotus to catch Force India.
I suppose cancelling the last 3 GPs could be seen as "cost cutting" ? But I am wondering what the sponsors would say about that!
With three races left, the points available are: 1st: 75 pts. 2nd: 54 pts. 3rd: 45 pts. 4th: 36 pts. 5th: 30 pts. 6th: 24 pts. 7th: 18 pts. 8th: 12 pts. 9th: 6 pts. 10th: 3 pts. Realistic or not, mathematically there is still a lot to be played for when it comes to the mid-field teams. To declare the last three races as being completely pointless and a waste of everyone's time is simply wrong!
+1 The archetypal "wanker" as we used to say. A fat clueless idiot it seems! But, I guess the old adage that "the only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about" applies - He's certainly got our attention.....
You have the analogy wrong..... When the Mets or the Royals or whatever team meets their magic number to clinch a playoff spot with say 10 games left in the season, do they stop the season? No, they play out the rest of their games. F1 does not have a playoff system, they only have the season.....and it gets played out. The writer of this article is either trolling or is so out of touch with how Formula 1 works and how the distribution of season revenues works that he should not be writing for an automotive magazine. Dumber than dirt....
