tomc_mets

Is it really? I read a story in Forbes that said Bernie has grown F1 to greater profits than NFL, FIFA, etc. Does he care what the fannies in the seats think until it translates into loss of interest & thus revenue from broadcasters, sponsors and/or the jet set?
T

Veloce Raptor

Methinks the emperor's clothes are slowly falling off. In addition, Bernie's profits have nothing to do with the success of F1 in general, since he gets his fees from event promoters regardless. Additionally, the vast majority of F1 organizations and teams are private companies. No one but the principals REALLY know about profits or lack thereof...and the NFL is also private, so it is all guesswork.

Now, I could be dead wrong...but NASCAR's fall in revenues is directly proportional to the greater and greater numbers of empty seats we see in televised races.

Tons and tons of empty seats in an F1 race, in Europe, are bad news. When the most exciting part of the race was the first lap accident, and when the cars rarely pass and sound like flatulent UPS trucks, it is apparent many fans are staying home.

Nizer

WEC

Larry Herman

All of the current rule changes have had the opposite effect as they were originally intended. The testing ban has increased costs, not decreased them. The limited supply of motors has increased costs, not decreased them. The attempt to make the cars more energy efficient has increased costs, not decreased them. And this is happening all to the detriment of the quality of racing.

tomc_mets

According to Forbes, biggest revenue source is German broadcaster RTL. Then fees from Aussies and Brits to host GPs.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/csylt/20...-16-2-billion/

I hope you're right, VR. The current incarnation is boring. I can live with a lot of the silly rules and eco-pandering BS, but the lack of action on the track is tiresome. Winning the pole should be an advantage, not a de facto victory...T

PPo

How close is Bernie to looking like, and acting like, an evil super villain??

I call BS that Hamilton was unable to mount a respectful attempt to pressure Rosberg at any point after the 3rd lap. But then again, I was trying really hard not to fall asleep while watching the race so I may have missed something as to the reason why.

To me, it seems like Mercedes has an agreement that after a certain amount of laps, they frown upon wheel-to-wheel racing by teammates. The only chance they give to pass is by faster lap times around pit strategy.

I remain disappointed at the quality of racing in F1... I hope people understand that it has very little to do with the runaway championship, and everything to do with the stupid rules that force teams to run a managed race.

multi21

Bernie Ecclestone says he is struggling to sell a "crap product" to the public in the new era of Formula One.

The F1 boss has said consistently that the current engine regulations are a major reason for the decline in popularity of the sport he has ruled for decades.

"I was talking to some engineers the other day and I told them that I was always pretty good at selling used cars, and I still am," Ecclestone, 84, is quoted in an interview published in French by the AFP news agency. "But I told them they have given me a crap product to sell."

F1 legend Alain Prost said recently that the sport's biggest problem is that the overly complex rules of today were designed by those very same engineers.

"Absolutely. 100 percent," Ecclestone agreed. "If I was running a team, I would not let one of my staff tell me how I should do it."

The problem, however, is that Ecclestone is no longer the benevolent dictator, and F1 rules are devised in consultation and agreement with the teams.

"The problem is (the teams) don't know what they want," Ecclestone said. "They don't have a clue. It's good for them to have dreams, to have their meetings, but if they have ideas, they have to implement them. They talk about customer cars, but when you come to the question of how to do it, there is a problem. So it will never happen."

As far as Ecclestone is concerned, however, the issue of selling F1 to the public is simple.

"All people want is to be entertained," he said. "We are, first and foremost, an entertainment company. But today, when Lewis (Hamilton) starts a race, we already know he will win by 20 seconds."

Finally, Ecclestone played down the risk of an investigation into the governance of Formula One, insisting: "I still have not heard from the European Union."

He says the smallest teams should run their teams better rather than complain

"I had a team for 18 years," said the Briton. "I financed it myself and I didn't expect someone else to give me money. (The small teams) would be in the same situation they are now in Formula One if they were doing anything else. They are not able to manage their companies."



Read more: http://autoweek.com/article/formula-one/bernie-ecclestone-calls-formula-one-crap-product#ixzz3do0c8c2K

CCA

Hum... They were under full course yellow from lap .5 until lap 6. Rosberg did pull a good gap at the restart and I was surpised that Lewis wasn't able to mount a challenge.

multi21

The key word is "PROFITS". This has been discussed in great detail in the past with regard to the business model of Formula One Management. The margins are very high because FOM has very low overhead in terms of capital outlay. F1 receives upwards of $40m per race just to show up and a percentage of the trackside sponsorship. They could care less if 1 ticket is sold, their money is guaranteed just to show up to say nothing of the world wide TV revenue.

Further, FOM has never built an engine, chassis or tire compound EVER. All these very high expenses are paid for directly by the manufactuers and privateers. The teams have threatened to go it alone in the past but none of them trust the others so FOM has worked each team against each other in terms of leverage.

Finally, everyone knows that F1 is a bad product at this particular time but the history of the sport coupled with the contracts in place are carrying it. The writing is on the wall however.... when the Chinese GP has many empty seats, the India GP is gone, the German and French GP are gone and there's several empty seats in the remaining European venues, and the only ones willing to give Bernie $$ are third world dictators and oil sheiks to promote their backward countries, F1 is on the road to being irrelevant quickly.

Nizer

Tend to disagree. Seems more the case that if the pass doesn't take place in the first two laps when tires are cold and drivers are getting up to speed it's not going to happen short of an error, mechanical failure, or pit snafu.

I put majority of that on aero.

paradisenb

Vettel said almost the same thing during the post qualifying news conference regarding Ferrari being close during practice, then Merc turns up the engine for quali and the race. They have maintained their .6 - .7 advantage all season. Ferrari cashed in a few of their chips a couple races ago, but nothing came of it.

I think Merc is playing with the points this season (think Monaco) to try to maintain fan interest. They don't want to be the ones that killed the golden goose.

MotoGP is my favorite racing right now.

PPo

So, the Mercedes is really aero sensitive, or leaves a horribly turbulent wake, or both... and that's why DRS was created... but the 2nd place driver can't seem to get within a second to activate DRS.

So how about everybody gets DRS, except the race leader!!

PPo

Right! See... I was so sleepy I forgot about the yellow. At least Hamilton raced Rosberg in the first few corners, I remember that... or was that in Spa last year?

f8vr993

Get rid of DRS
Make engine stand alone and less dependent on Kers or recovery system which tend to be where lots of unreliability are creating many DNFs.

Make unlimited engine available through out the season and testing too!
What F1 needs are more competitive engine manufactures.
It's becoming a merc spec racing series...

FGL28

The current story from Mercedes and Hamilton is that his clutch went wonky. Considering the circumstances and watching the start several times. I do not think it is not impossible for clutch issues.

Ginger Spice's Husband is calling for an advisor to fix F1.

I am willing to volunteer the Rennlist F1 Brain Trust to go in and fix F1. In return we get lifetime all access passes and appropriate travel and lodging for F1 events. We do not have to fly private 1st class will do.

My passport is current and vaccines are up to date. Who else is in.