The F1 Thread 2012 Season

[BloodAngel]

I'm still not overwhelmingly convinced on McLaren, yes they won but their car fares better in colder conditions whereas RBR and Ferrari have both said they struggle in the cold so we'll have to wait for Hungary to see if they're proper competition. Also I heard on the grapevine that both Ferraris were set up for a wet race yesterday as a high risk gamble because they didn't expect to be competitive anyway. If that is true then that Ferrari is scary quick.

[Danqazmlp]

Yeah, I would put a tenner on Alonso winning the season right now as a long shot. The odds would be fantastic and if they continue like this, it could very well happen.

 

Unfortunately, Hungary is next, which is renowned as a track with little passing opportunities. If red bull can put a car on pole again, they may have another win. Luckily, now he has lost confidence, Vettel may not be that red bull.

[BloodAngel]

For those living in the UK, only 50% of F1 races between 2012 and 2018 will be shown on the BBC, Sky Sports will have all race and qualifying coverage. Can't say I am delighted by this news given I don't have and never will have Sky. Hopefully the BBC wont drop any of the good races, only the ones where no overtaking happens.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/9550930.stm

 

Edit: Looks like this is news to the teams too and potentially a breach of the Concorde Agreement. Bernie is fuelling the flames for F1 breaking away from FOM.

 

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/93455

[DarkDude]

Absolutely terrible decision. I'd rather it be split between BBC and ITV to be honest and I wasn't a huge fan of the ITV's coverage.

 

Given that F1 is the only thing I watch on TV this means there's no point me having a licence any more, saves me some money I guess.

[Rafftank]

Agreed darkdude, absolutely dreadful decision on BBC's part, their coverage of F1 is the best, way better than ITV's and probally will be better than Sky's. Well i'm going to struggle to keep up with F1 from now, I absolutely love F1, onlu thing I really watch on TV, and tbh if I cant see half of the races live, then theres not much bloody point for me, unless I can get my grandparent to record a bunch of the races cuz he has sky, but that is a big hassle for him, and I will not waste my money on terrible sky coverage, when all I want to see is F1, not bloody football - If they come up with a some kind of special package just for motor-racing or something, then I may consider it, but otherwise I think I might just lose interest in F1, which is a shame because I've been a big fan since I was about 9/10 :/

[DarkDude]

They will include in their sky sports package which to get you requires an additional fee and not just having Sky TV. You can get Sky Sports without Sky TV but that gets a hell of a lot (>£20 a month) especially as you'll probably need all the sky sports channels to get full coverage so you'll need to pay even more for that. A complete and utter joke and a huge middle finger to those who've been working so hard to bring us the fantastic coverage we've had on the BBC, feel terrible for everyone there, especially people like Martin Brundle who is now out of a job because of this.

[Rafftank]

Ove £20 a month! What an absolute joke, I will not pay that kind of money for crappy sky coverage ¬¬ I am super disappointed in the people who agreed this deal, taking F1 away from free tv, they're are going to lose a large chunk of their audience, because alot of the people who watch F1 I imagine watch it casually, they aren't big fans who will watch no matter what, and they wont get sky to keep seeing F1, they'll just stop watching. I mean, I'm a massive fan, I get up at all hours to watch the races and will cancel things to see the races live, and I'm contemplating just giving up on seeing the races :/

[BloodAngel]

The BBC didn't really have a huge say in the matter, Bernie priced them out of it. If he was that bothered about it remaining FTA as he's said before he would have lowered the price, but as it happens all he cares about is money. Most people seem to think that the BBC will cover the European races as well as Australia and Brazil. I wouldn't be surprised if Brundle ended up working for Sky, although he has openly criticised the decision along with many others involved in F1.

Jake Humphrey did say that F1 fans should keep things in perspective given the attacks in Norway last week, not really sure why he thought that was relevant to anything but there we go.

 

Interesting fact: The German GP last weekend peaked at 10m viewers which worked out at a 47% audience share. Sky has less than 10m subscribers and even less subscribe to Sky Sports.

 

Oh and it works out at about £480 a year for Sky + Sky Sports apparently, that's £48 a race.

[Rafftank]

Bernie for me is a greedy businessman, he just wants to make as much money as possible, even if it means losing great races (The Australian GP has been under threat due to money woes), and losing the free-licence broadcasting that, as you said bloodangel, can attract up to 10 million viewers per race. That will NOT be sustained under the new deal between SKY and the BBC, with Sky's ridiculous prices and a lack of broadcasting sure to affect the BBC's viewing figures.

It seems as if BBC aren't really to blame for the deal, really we should be thanking them for managing to keep half the races on the BBC, with them commiting to showing highlights of the races on the very same day, which is a small silver lining to Bernie Ecclestones greed, if it is he who has forced the BBC into this detrimental deal.

[DarkDude]

For freeview it appears you need to spend £20 per month for just Sky Sports 1, and of course need a freeview receiver that is compatible.

 

For Sky sports via SkyPlayer (Xbox360 etc.) It appears to cost £15 a month for Basic Sky then another £19 for Sports Pack so £34 a month but I imagine you don't get all the channels available with that. So to be honest you'd be better off getting full sky at that point. Still a huge amount of money.

[Rafftank]

Great so it'll cost me an arm and a leg just to see the other half of the races live, the way I like it :/

 

I dont think theres much in point in watching highlights, I only like seeing it live, plus I like seeing it all the way through, experiencing every single lap in full, not seeing the best bits filled into a 1 hour timeslot later at night when I should be sleeping, this really is a pain in the ass and it isn't gonna go away, with the deal already signed theres not much that can be changed, and there seems to be little opposition from the teams. We can only hope that a clash in the concorde agreement forces something to change, though I'm doubtful of that happening, and after all this I am pretty much sick of Bernie Ecclestone, and reckon it's high time he were out of a job.

[BloodAngel]

I have heard, although not checked it out myself that German TV channel RTL has free live streaming of F1 races so you could watch that, mute it and have Radio 5 Live's commentary. Of course unless you have an internet TV it wont be the same, but better than forking out for Sky.

[Rafftank]

Lets hope that works, would do anything rather than watch it on SKY, and if it's live then the action should match the commentary, because they all see the same screens.

[DarkDude]

I have heard, although not checked it out myself that German TV channel RTL has free live streaming of F1 races so you could watch that, mute it and have Radio 5 Live's commentary. Of course unless you have an internet TV it wont be the same, but better than forking out for Sky.

 

I actually had RTL via satellite back in the ITV days and switched over there whenever ITV had adverts on although there were times when both channels had adverts at the same time. But that's definitely an option. German Commentary is awesome though, I believe the german for pit stop is "Box and stop!" or something similar, although has been a number of years so I could be remembering that wrong.

[OldJoe]

I started following F1 more this year since i've been able to find some decent streams @ BBC (they moved F1 to a pay channel in my country a few years ago). SKY getting F1, ugh. I love BBC's production of F1.

Is there any sport in the UK, which SKY hasn't gotten their hands on?

[BloodAngel]

Wonderful drive by Button there, he really is in a class of his own in conditions like today and he really deserved that win. Nobody else really had a great race except for Di Resta and the Torro Rossos. Would have been interesting to see what would have happened had Alonso gone onto the Soft tyres rather than the Super-Softs at his 3rd stop. Hamilton's spin was stupid and dangerous too, he deserved that penalty. The downside of this race is that Vettel has extended his lead in the Championship to the biggest gap all season...

 

Oh and that's the first time I've actually seen a car literally blow up in a race, hope the marshall is ok.

[Danqazmlp]

Great race by Button. Annoyingly though, i feel overshadowed by the TV deals.

 

I actually have Sky sports at home, but even I think it's terrible. I enjoy the team behind the BBC coverage almost as much as the races themselves, without them it will lose a lot of what draws me to the races. When I'm at university I will not have access to sky sports so will only have highlights. I'm absolutely horrified by the decision. The only good thing is that with how money-grubbing Ecclestone is, once he sees how disastrously low the viewing figures will be for the Sky races, he will come begging back to the BBC. As he knows, the teams get revenue from sponsors, which want high viewing figures, not direct payments from the TV company.

[Danqazmlp]

Double posting.

 

I'm not going to do another rant at modern track building because it is probably getting old now, but unfortunately, one of the few good tracks to be built by Herman Tilke recently, the Istanbul International Circuit in Turkey is going to be dropped next year. Instead of dropping the snorefest of Valencia or the Coma producing Bahrain, we lose the interesting track of the bunch. The reasoning is apparently low ticket sales for each visit there, but you cannot really expect immediate draw of crowds in a region which isn't the wealthiest in the world. I think it had just started to feel like an established track, having a very well known corner 'turn 8' and becoming a welcomed part of the calendar. Unfortunately, it will be no more.

[Rafftank]

Agreed danq, losing turkey is a shame, but this could become an increasing trend; Losing good tracks, for more affordable boring races. Autosport delved into this issue, showing that very few races actually have secure futures, with alot left hanging at the moment, due to increase in costs made by bernie ecclestone with a lack of cuts to keep GP's that cant afford them, with doubts hanging over: Australia, Spain (Barcelona), Canada in a few years, Nurburgring needing cuts and under pressure from "greens", Belgium, Japan somewhat secure but more longterm future is very uncertain, Korea and possibly India depending on how their first race goes.

[Danqazmlp]

If we were to lose even half of those (Especially Canada and Australia) I think we would be at a time when I no longer keep full interest in F1. Already we seem to have nearly as many boring circuits as interesting ones, and the only evidence we have of new tracks is that they will be replaced by ones which have no atmosphere and have nothing more than money thrown at them.

 

I hope that at some point soon, teams have to rebel against Ecclestone due to losing Television viewers, thus losing sponsors and money. I can't see any other thing which would stop his current rampage through F1.

[BloodAngel]

Nick Heidfeld has been dropped by Renault and replaced by Bruno Senna, Kubica really couldn't come back quick enough. I hate Senna, he has a massive ego!

[Danqazmlp]

I don't see why they dropped Heidfeld. He wasn't doing astronomical, but he wasn't doing bad considering the car he was in.

[BloodAngel]

I don't see why they dropped Heidfeld. He wasn't doing astronomical, but he wasn't doing bad considering the car he was in.

 

I suspect it comes down to money as that was the only reason Renault kept Petrov last season even though he wasn't great. Heidfeld is going to start legal action against Renault though.

[Danqazmlp]

I don't blame him. Renault are my favourite team in the paddock at the moment (mostly due to them punching above their weight with Kubica, and Petrov a bit this season) and it is a real shame to see them start acting like the other teams. Lets just hope they don't start going down the Britatorie direction again. (God help us) Petrov has luckily come good this year after a terrible season last year and as you say, he only kept his seat due to money.

 

It doesn't look like Kubica will be back this season but if they were to somehow manage to drop him for next season I would be so angry.

[BloodAngel]

Great first half of the race, shame the second half didn't continue like that. Great drives by Schumacher and Button. Pretty safe to say though with Alonso's 4th place and Hamilton's DNF that the Championship is well and truly over, they may as well give Red Bull and Vettel the trophies now.