So Bernie Ecclestoneis is not happy with Indy and the U. S. of A.!

Supply and Demand.
Apparently more Countrys demand F1 than there is a supply of dates for.
Results; Bernie calls the shots.

 

Bernie wants money, and he can get more money elsewhere. Unfortunately that might mean we lose the USGP.

 

Nah, Bernie's just up to his old tricks.

 

When it comes right down to it, it doesn't cost a whole helluva lot more to go see a race in a foreign country, I mean, that's the difference between $3,000 and $4,000 ?

Does anyone remember when we thought Jean-Marie Balestre was TERRIBLE ?

USGP - I can take it or leave it being in Indianapolis.

 

Meh, I really don't care about the F1 race at Indy. Most boring track on the calendar and I rather see a better track elsewhere. The fact that it's in the US does nothing for me. I'm still not going to travel out there. I rather pay a few extra dollars to be on an airplane longer to go to a better track. At the end of the day, most of us will have to get on a plane to watch an F1 race in person. Except for the few that want to drive long distances or live close to Indy.

I don't really get the love people have for the track at Indianapolis. It's nothing more than a museum nowadays because the 500 sucks.

 

Yea money's the issue here for Bernie.

 

Bernie couldn't care less about attendance. It's about fees. From TV and from the track.

The only benefit the USGP has is that there are enough people in the stands that the tickets don't have to cost a year's salary to raise Bernie's pound of flesh.

I wouldn't worry about the USGP getting dropped off the calendar. With the 2008 rules changes, F1 is dead. How many manufacturers will bother with a spec series?

FIA killed WRC, and looks to be doing the same to F1.

 

Seriously? More boring than Imola/Monaco?

 

I found it difficult to fathom the level of apathy the average US citizen has for F1 until very recently, when I was driving a visitor from the US back to the airport.

I'm a car guy, so, naturally, I steered the early part of our conversation to cars. This guy wasn't really a car guy, but he did drive a Jag XK8, which is a foreign (non-US) car and not quite a complete POS and said he really wanted the XKR, so he did know a little something about cars.

While talking about F1, I mentioned Ayrton Senna, and wonder of wonders, he didn't even recognise the name. When I explained the incident at Imola, he immediately likened it to Dale Earnhardt's death much more recently and could talk about that in detail.

So he was hardly ignorant about motor racing in general (he knew the important stuff about NASCAR), just F1. This chap was a well-travelled guy, going to many countries with an F1 following throughout the year, but he remained disinterested. I guess a lot of Americans are like that. The people on this forum are an obvious exception, but they're hardly representative.

Personally, I would rather see F1 go to a venue where local fan interest and pride is great. I know that there are a *lot* of F1 nuts in India and quite a few in Singapore (my country), so it makes me happy that races are being planned in these venues.

The quality of the track and local support are certainly important considerations, but let's face it, Indy is not the most exciting circuit on the calendar (although I still think it's better than Monaco). Besides, it's the only circuit on the map in recent history that gave such serious problems to a tire manufacturer that they withdrew most of the cars and left a farce of a race to be run. I know that was Michelin's fault in the main, but the fact remains that they had no problems with any of the other circuits on the calendar, just Indy, and the fans got the short end of the stick.

So, if Indy has to go in favor of another US venue, or even if the USGP has to be scrapped in its entirety, so be it. F1 is a global sport and it's only right that the chance to host races is rotated through countries with good support and a heavy fanbase.

 

Is there still talk of the Vegas road course?

 

I think if lewis wore stars and stripes on his helmet there would nt be a problem

 

The fans got screwed in '05. That was a bunch of crap. Bernie wants the cash, nothing more. He has been on TV insulting the people of Indy and the U.S. There is an article on the front page of the sports section of the Indy paper today telling F-1 to get out the back jack. This could of been a real success but now it is not and I think the final Indy race is today. We are the #1 market in the world for these fancy cars but nobody connects the dots.

 

Exactly!

 

He had a point when he was pissed that the Indy 500 flags were still up all over town. The city makes too much revenue ($100 million) from this event to be pulling crap like that.

It would be awesome if it went to Vegas, then I could drive the Ferrari to the race. I bet the turnout would be good too because it would be an excuse for people to visit Vegas.

 

Bernie has always been about the money, and he has played the love-hate game with the United States for a long time. Bernie is no different than any other smug, arrogant billionaire--the thing he can't stand the most is being ignored. The US is one of the only countries in the world where he can walk into a tavern and, rather than being revered for who he is would more likely be taunted and pushed around like a rag doll. Bernie thought it important to be in the US because BERNIE wanted to become relevant in our country. Everywhere he goes, he carries with him an air of being above it all. But he doesn't get that response here, and you know it drives him crazy.

 

I suspect that this is the real issue. As much as Bernie may be receiving offers from other countries, the USA is an important market for the constructors and some of their advertisers. If anything, Bernie would move the race to another track in the USA.

 

Let me reply. As for the first point, 50% of the US population lives within 500 miles of Indy. As for the second point, there is no racetrack in the USA that has the facilities of Indy. Teams can stay at the Conrad or Hilton and be in a cosmopolitan atmosphere and an actual racetrack. As for the 500, it is still the most competitive event in the world in terms of action. Pole means squat. You can pass. You can win or lose in a second long pit stop. It has it all.
As for F1 races, there is little competition up front, except second or third place, and the pole and thus the finish can be determined by the teams with an extra splash of fuel. I am tempted to stay home, and all I have to do is drive 40 minutes and pay $60. I have been an F1 fan my entire life, growing up 30 min from Watkins Glen. Now that was a racing venue and those were the days when there was some action. You newbie fans don't even know what racing is all about. Its a shame.

No wonder FANS like NASCAR. The races are a hundred times more entertaining, and yes, even Bernie will admit that! I went kicking and screaming to my first NASCAR event, but I have to admit, it has everything you look for. Drama, heros, villians, excitement and actual RACING. Flavio has been ranting about the lack of excitement in F1 for years. He is right! Its all fanfare, like the Superbowl. Might as well make it in Vegas and let folks walk out on there balcony and watch it. Maybe then it will be a spectator sport of some kind, although most will go back into the casino after the first turn...

 

people would come. Over 400 thousand come to Brickyard 400 and Indy 500. The low turnout is an indictment of the product they are selling. Wake up Bernie....chase the fans or bring them to your events with some racing action.

People complained about the drivers not coming out to wave to the fans...there were no fans of the drivers. People don't even know who the drivers are in F1. Schummacher is the only name that most people know. FA? Almost nobody could name him. Thank the racing gods for Lewis Hamilton, because he will bring the British fans back to the tracks. They are real fans...not some newbie fans in Bahrain.

 

Well, how much other auto racing do they get to watch?

There are dozens of NASCrud races in the US, and only one F1 race. Naturally there will be interest in the local news.

The US doesn't *need* F1 -- it still has a large domestic racing community. Much like Japan and Australia -- and notice that those countries only have one F1 driver each, too.

But despite that, the USGP still pulls some of the largest crowds on the F1 calendar. (It might look sparse, because the stands will hold the entire population of some countries.)

There are over 350 million yanks, in a nation founded on embracing diversity. There ain't no setch animule as a "typical american".

Indy is the only banked turn in F1. Monza used to have one, but it got cut when the race was shortened. Indy has a banked turn with TV camera coverage.

And Bernie cares more about the TV fees (and commercials) than about the fans in the stands.

FIA caused the tire problems with their stupid tire rules. Michelin made it worse by making their tires a little *too* light -- and they did have troubles at other tracks. It just happened to be Indy where the FIA let them go ahead and strike, rather than vary their rules. FIA responded by eliminating the tire competition that caused the tire makers to push the envelope.

But pushing the envelope is where F1 came from.


Indy has more than one race. Bernie isn't the big kid on the block at Indy.

Hey Bernie: Watkin's Glen. You know what they say about New York: If you can make it there, ...

I guess Bernie is going to go looking for a smaller pond, where a minnow looks like a big fish.


Personally, I prefer watching Formula 1 to Indy or Nascar. But it's Bernie that's messing up F1. And is it the tracks that are boring, or F1 racing itself, these days? About the only excitement in most F1 races is when some idjot wanders out onto the track. FIA micromanaging the racing to "make it entertaining" isn't working.

Notice F1 scrambling to find a way to mark the tire compounds --- one that doesn't match what CART does? Pretty soon, F1 will be indistinguishable from any other spec racing series in the US. And who will bother with it, then?

But what probably burns Bernie is that Marlboro can only advertise at one race at Indy .... and it isn't his.

If he doesn't like being reminded of the Indy 500 (which, by the way, used to *be* an F1 race), then why didn't he leave the USGP in September?

So maybe that's the answer: Put the Indy 500 back on the F1 calendar, and expand the "kiss bernies butt" racing elsewhere.

In F1's early days, F1 drivers were *race* drivers, in all sorts of venues. *Those* were great drivers. I wonder how some of today's F1 drivers would fare in different hardware.

Can you picture Ralf in an Indy car? (Shudder)


I should probably look in on Nascar again. I was impressed by Jeff Gordon's performance at the Race of Champions in a rallye car.

Can someone explain why Nascar fans don't like Jeff?

 

Between Bernie's greed and Max's weirdo ideas F1 won't last much longer except in those far flung middle east and asian outposts. I wish the manufacturers had made good on their threat to start their own series.

Jack

 

Yep, a flat in-field and and oval banking = yawn

 

Are you talking about Indy, or the original Monza track?

 

Two huge egos. George and Ecclestone. Ecclestone will not put up with George's BS. George doesn't think he has to put up with anybody. Ecclestone knows he doesn't have to put up with anybody, especially an @sshole like George.

It's not a big money maker for F1.

Some Europeans like to stick it to the US whenever they can.

the logistics are lousy. the weather sucks.

F1 racing has not been promoted well. Used to be on ESPN where lots of americans could see it. Now some of the races are on Fox and the rest on the Speed channel which has limited availabilty (compare this to coverage of NASCAR).

Conclusion: The US will probably lose the F1 Grand Prix.

 

In my opinion, F1 in general isn't fun.

Racing hasn't been since the demise of CanAm (remember those big-block cars) and the day they shortened the Mulsanne Straight at LeMans (250 mph!).

Too many rules and too much micro-management from sanctioning bodies.