The F1 2017 Thread

[floydfreak]

When they race on road courses the racing is still good as the tracks they race on are not tarmac'd car parks still have a character about them which alot of the current tracks are lacking.

[Pancake]

They really need to do something in F1 to mix it up.

Why do you think they have major rule changes every few years?

Monaco was very dull, the Indy 500 was definitely better, but F1 is still much better than Indy generally in my opinion. I'm get very tired of the F1 criticism in here, most of it doesn't make any sense!

I have been getting back into BTCC again recently though, that series is getting good again after quite a few years in the doldrums. Still not up to the Super Touring standards obviously.

[BOR]

This race is far more exciting then the Monaco race

Spot on.

I was excited while watching those cars were doing 230 miles an hour. Overtaking and racing side by side at high speed. It's incredible and very adrenaline!

F1 is so boring.

Shame about Alonso and I thought he was brilliantly until that Honda engine did let him down!

Do you watch Indycar regularly Bor? Most oval races are as good as that, it's well worth becoming a regular viewing if you haven't already. Granted the Indy 500 is higher stakes but they don't seem to try any less hard at other circuits.

I'm going to make a concerted effort to continue watching the rest of the season.

Dixon's crash was insane and I can't believe he escaped without injury. Just incredible.

No, the Alonso mania got me into Indy 500 and it was my first time to watch the full race last Sunday.

I could give it a try to watch Indycar and see how it goes.

Anyway, I think Alonso could find another seat at somewhere else next year and if he's got a reliable car. He will be up there with Hamilton and Vettel easily.

[floydfreak]

[jamcc]

Claire Williams: Stroll’s debut similar to Vettel, Raikkonen

[Lotus]

Yeah...no.

“If you look at other drivers that are currently in our sport, the Vettels, the Raikkonens, those guys all had similar starts to their rookie years in Formula One."

[floydfreak]

erm no they didn't

[Return_of_the_STAR]

Well she did refer to them in a plural sense so clearly she's talking about a different vettel and raikkonen, you know the other ones that we've forgotten about like the other Schumacher, Ralph.

[Jam-Master Jay]

Looks like Kubica's been testing the 2012 Lotus with Renault today.

twitter.com/RenaultSportF1/status/872117144632393728

Totalled 115 laps.

[BOR]

Alonso: Win or I leave.

http://m.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/40206808

[floydfreak]

I did say now that he has experienced something other F1 and enjoyed it he will be looking around outside of Mclaren & F1. i think he would do well in Indycar or Sportscars don't blame him for giving Mclaren that ultimatum clearly he is fed up with them

[darksideby182]

Decent race from 4th back and Patrick Stewart on the podium was great.

[evanswolves]

That strawberry floating shoey, do strawberry float off!

[Snowcannon]

Force India strawberry floated up there by not imposing team orders on Perez

[Mini E]

Force India strawberry floated up there by not imposing team orders on Perez

You do wonder if they're reluctant to do this because of the amount of money he brings to the team and they don't want to piss him off. They massively messed up there. Not the worst race. Pity about Verstappen as he could potentially have put some pressure on Hamilton.

[floydfreak]

New Le Mans lap record set
Kamui Kobayashi in Toyota #7 has literally annihilated the Le Mans lap record with a 3:14.791



http://www.dailysportscar.com/2017/06/1 ... ecord.html

[KK]

New owners not happy F1 is going behind a paywall...

Formula One’s new owners believe the UK television rights deal they have inherited from the previous management, led by Bernie Ecclestone, is detrimental to the sport – with coverage entirely behind a paywall from 2019 to 2024

Sean Bratches, the managing director of commercial operations for the Formula One Group, sees free-to-air television as key to the future of the sport but F1 will be shown exclusively on Sky for five years from 2019. On Tuesday the chief executive, Chase Carey, criticised Ecclestone as having a “short-term, deal of the day focus”.

“Free to air is critically important to us,” Bratches said at the FIA conference. “My vision as it relates to media rights is a hybrid of free to air and pay. Our plan is to balance the two but have a prominent, over the year, free-to-air voice. That is important from a fans, sponsors and relevance standpoint. There is the cauldron full of cash on the pay side and on the other side of the scale you have brand and reach.

“My view is a 30-70 model of free-to-air to pay, where you have a number of grands prix to be on free to air and then we can play and toil with the pay side to generate revenue that we can reinvest back into the sport.”

Sky’s coverage began in 2012 when the BBC was still showing 10 races a season, after which year the 2015 Formula One global media report showed a drop of 3.8 million viewers in the UK. It was the sharpest drop during a 17% fall in viewing figures between 2011 and 2015 cited in the same report.

Bratches was aware of the global decline but insisted they could not be renegotiate. “That deal is an agreement that we inherited,” he said. “They are done between adult parties at an arm’s length and my suspicion is that Sky is very happy and we are going to honour and respect the deals that were in place when we arrived.”

Cricket is an example of the issues of losing a sport from free-to-air TV. The 2005 Ashes on Channel Four hit a peak audience of 8.4m compared to the final day of England’s first Test victory against Australia in 2015 which had an audience on Sky of 467,000. The same year the Sport England Active People survey showed a decline of 32% in the number of people aged 16 or older playing cricket at least once a month during the season since 2007.

For Formula One, participation is not the benchmark but catching the fans of the future when they are young is crucial. Most followers will attest that it was in their youth that they formed an affiliation to the sport.

Bratches acknowledged that it would be key to their assessment of future rights deals. “Central to the thesis of our management of this extraordinary property is to serve the F1 fan and we are going to do that with rigour,” he said.

Meanwhile, Sauber have confirmed that they have parted company with team principal Monisha Kaltenborn, the first woman to run a F1 team.

“Longbow Finance SA regrets to announce that, by mutual consent and due to diverging views of the future of the company, Monisha Kaltenborn will leave her positions with the Sauber Group effective immediately,” said a statement. “Her successor will be announced shortly.”

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/ ... ormula-one

The Silverstone GP will air on Pick, a selection of other races and highlights on Sky Sports Mix.

At least they're acknowledging this is bollocks, especially with Sky's ratings declining in what I'm sure will be a permanent way.

[Mini E]

New owners not happy F1 is going behind a paywall...

Formula One’s new owners believe the UK television rights deal they have inherited from the previous management, led by Bernie Ecclestone, is detrimental to the sport – with coverage entirely behind a paywall from 2019 to 2024

Sean Bratches, the managing director of commercial operations for the Formula One Group, sees free-to-air television as key to the future of the sport but F1 will be shown exclusively on Sky for five years from 2019. On Tuesday the chief executive, Chase Carey, criticised Ecclestone as having a “short-term, deal of the day focus”.

“Free to air is critically important to us,” Bratches said at the FIA conference. “My vision as it relates to media rights is a hybrid of free to air and pay. Our plan is to balance the two but have a prominent, over the year, free-to-air voice. That is important from a fans, sponsors and relevance standpoint. There is the cauldron full of cash on the pay side and on the other side of the scale you have brand and reach.

“My view is a 30-70 model of free-to-air to pay, where you have a number of grands prix to be on free to air and then we can play and toil with the pay side to generate revenue that we can reinvest back into the sport.”

Sky’s coverage began in 2012 when the BBC was still showing 10 races a season, after which year the 2015 Formula One global media report showed a drop of 3.8 million viewers in the UK. It was the sharpest drop during a 17% fall in viewing figures between 2011 and 2015 cited in the same report.

Bratches was aware of the global decline but insisted they could not be renegotiate. “That deal is an agreement that we inherited,” he said. “They are done between adult parties at an arm’s length and my suspicion is that Sky is very happy and we are going to honour and respect the deals that were in place when we arrived.”

Cricket is an example of the issues of losing a sport from free-to-air TV. The 2005 Ashes on Channel Four hit a peak audience of 8.4m compared to the final day of England’s first Test victory against Australia in 2015 which had an audience on Sky of 467,000. The same year the Sport England Active People survey showed a decline of 32% in the number of people aged 16 or older playing cricket at least once a month during the season since 2007.

For Formula One, participation is not the benchmark but catching the fans of the future when they are young is crucial. Most followers will attest that it was in their youth that they formed an affiliation to the sport.

Bratches acknowledged that it would be key to their assessment of future rights deals. “Central to the thesis of our management of this extraordinary property is to serve the F1 fan and we are going to do that with rigour,” he said.

Meanwhile, Sauber have confirmed that they have parted company with team principal Monisha Kaltenborn, the first woman to run a F1 team.

“Longbow Finance SA regrets to announce that, by mutual consent and due to diverging views of the future of the company, Monisha Kaltenborn will leave her positions with the Sauber Group effective immediately,” said a statement. “Her successor will be announced shortly.”

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/ ... ormula-one

The Silverstone GP will air on Pick, a selection of other races and highlights on Sky Sports Mix.

At least they're acknowledging this is bollocks, especially with Sky's ratings declining in what I'm sure will be a permanent way.

Such bullshit.

Also - barely mentioned in that story but:

Meanwhile, Sauber have confirmed that they have parted company with team principal Monisha Kaltenborn, the first woman to run a F1 team.

is actually fairly big news.

[Return_of_the_STAR]

How well does the channel four highlight show package do compared to the live race viewing figures? Do people seem prepared to wait or do they just not bother watching as they've found out the result.

[Jam-Master Jay]

How well does the channel four highlight show package do compared to the live race viewing figures? Do people seem prepared to wait or do they just not bother watching as they've found out the result.

For the Chinese GP, the live Sky pulled in an average of 484k viewers and the C4 highlights got 1.52mil. People are prepared to wait but the viewership is definitely trending down overall.

Worldwide the sport has lost 1/3 of its viewers since 2008 according to some reports.