The F1 2017 Thread

[Death's Head]

Surely rights could be bought back from Sky if the price was right. I've not watched F1 much in recent years but unless it is live I'm even more unlikely to watch.

[Jam-Master Jay]

I've found myself not caring about the race any more. I'm much more interested in seeing the upgrades teams bring to the races and the testing that goes on during the free practice sessions. When the sport goes Sky-only I'll likely stop watching and just read about the technical stuff on the F1Technical forums and Giorgio Piola's analysis.

Can't see the Sky deal being cancelled or ending early unless Sky decide the price isn't worth it but judging by their other sports coverage it's highly unlikely.

[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.

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.

Thanks. I assume someone will pick up a free to air highlights package for 2019 onwards then. The only news story I could find was from last year with channel four saying that they would consider it.

[Errkal]

I hope they do do something about it, I mean I like the Sky coverage but it tend to not bother as odds are the race will be dull and I've wasted 11 quid on a week pass to watch it.

I really liked the BBC coverage and it is a real shame this lot hadn't taken over already as I suspect it would have stayed and the sport would have been better for it!

[floydfreak]

the visor cams are wow

[Return_of_the_STAR]

the visor cams are wow

Wow I wish F1 would occasionally use that camera.

[Victor Mildew]

That's gooseberry fool hot. Also that's exactly how it looks and feels playing a racing game in vr.

[Jam-Master Jay]

I think they trialled a visor cam with Bottas at Monaco 3 or 4 years ago. Annoyingly a lot of things that actually bring something to the broadcast are dropped like the mini-sector times we got in Australia this year only to vanish from then onward. The switch to full hybrid also robbed us of the on-screen KERS deployment graphic.

It looks like Palmer is out of qualifying after the fire in P3. I'm not a fan but I feel a bit bad for the lad, he's under pressure to perform with Sirotkin and perhaps even Kubica ready and it looks like it's going to be another bad weekend for him.

[Victor Mildew]

JlLOLyon PLOLmer

[Mini E]

I've watched 4 laps of the F2 race and I expect there's been more excitement than I expect to see in the entire F1 race tomorrow. Also, the foreign co-commentator is bloody mental. I love him.

[Victor Mildew]

ZZZzzzzzzz

[Kanbei]

Hamilton you strawberry floater

[darksideby182]

Safety car safety car safety car lol

[Victor Mildew]

Vettel driving in to Hamilton from the side!

[darksideby182]

Need to see the Hamilton Vettel taps again lol

[Jam-Master Jay]

These are supposed to be the best drivers in the world. Absolute amateur stuff.

[Kanbei]

Alonso is Charlie Whiting confirmed

[evanswolves]

Red flag, quite fun this race, lol

[captain red dog]

I think Vettel might have deliberately barged Hamilton after their bump. I don't think the initial bump needs a penalty, I think Vettel was just caught unaware.

[evanswolves]

vettel you dirty dirty bastard