Red Bull prepared for F1 life after Newey

F1 Fanatic Round-up

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In the round-up: Red Bull are prepared to continue in F1 as technical director Adrian Newey scales down his involvement in their race car programme.

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Red Bull ‘committed to F1 long-term’ (BBC)

Helmut Marko: “The team was built around Adrian [Newey] but we have a group of really good people and are prepared for the challenge.”

F1 popularity on agenda at key meeting (Autosport)

“The first [discussion point] is titled: ‘Improving the show: how can we make Formula 1 more attractive to our fans?’ And the second is: ‘The rule changes: who is going to take responsibility for educating the public in order to reinforce their information?'”

Haas Hopes F1 Team Will Help Boost His Sales By $1 Billion (Forbes)

“I’m not planning on having any partners in the F1 team. This is kind of a big risk thing and I wouldn’t really want to give anybody expectations that we are going to make money with it but that is the goal. The ultimate goal is to have a successful race team.”

Will Stevens Silverstone Test (Caterham)

“Test Driver and Caterham Racing Academy member Will Stevens will drive the team’s 2014 CT05 F1 car on July 8th at the Silverstone F1 test, taking place after the British Grand Prix.”

Lewis Hamilton on Michael Schumacher: Mercedes driver delighted at ‘amazing’ news that former champion is out of a coma (The Independent)

“I always keep him in my thoughts and prayers and it’s a real positive to hear that there’s some progress.”

Good news? (A Former F1 Doc Writes)

“I cannot but think that if Michael had emerged at all from the minimally conscious state that Sabine so accurately described in April, we’d be told that Michael is leaving for rehab, that he is having problems expressing himself and will work hard to get better. Or that he’s having to learn to walk, read, write, etc all over again. But no, we’re told what we already know, and pretty much told to not ever expect further updates.”

Thank you all so much! (Michael Schumacher)

“We would like to thank all the people who wish Michael well for their positive energies. We are sure they had helped him already.”

Lotus 43 F1 (Lego Ideas)

Vote for this proposal for a new Lego set based on the Lotus-BRM 43 with an H16 engine which Jim Clark used to win the 1966 United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen.

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Comment of the day

Another view on the engine debate from @John-H:

I don’t think this has been talked about too much, but I believe quieter engines might help get more young people to attend the races. For example, I’m now considering getting a ticket for my three-year-old daughter to come and see the racing cars on one of the Silverstone days. I’ve managed to get her interested in racing cars on the TV, but now I can take her to grands prix as she grows up knowing I probably won’t permanently damage her hearing (too much at least).

As I say, not many have talked about the family aspect so I thought it should be raised.
@John-H

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On this day in F1

For the second race in a row in 1989 Ayrton Senna dropped out of a race he had been leading with a techical problem. Another engine failure handed a one-two to Williams, with the Dallara of Andrea de Cesaris third.

The rain-hit race also saw Derek Warwick retire after leading for four laps in his Arrows. Nigel Mansell and Alessandro Nannini disqualified for leaving the pits before the lights had gone green – as seen in this video from the race:

Image © Red Bull/Getty

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Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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65 comments on “Red Bull prepared for F1 life after Newey”

  1. Helmut Marko: “The team was built around Adrian [Newey] but we have a group of really good people and are prepared for the challenge.”

    Will they take the same route as Williams after Newey? Eg. downhill.

    Williams never quite recovered after Newey left. I wonder if RBR will be the same.

    1. OmarR-Pepper (@)
      18th June 2014, 0:43

      @kingshark Williams was strong after Newey with Montoya – Ralf. The tyre war didn’t help them to keep fighting well.

      1. @omarr-pepper
        Good point, Williams was strong in 2001-2003 and would have been much more serious WDC contenders if the had Bridgestone tyres.

        Still, Williams did take a dip after Newey left and it took quite a few years to recover, although obviously Mechachrome engines didn’t help.

        1. “Williams did take a dip after Newey left”

          The immediate dip in 1998/99 was more down to losing Renault & having to use the underpowered Mechachrome. They also lost some of there budget as they were getting Renault engines for free while they were having to pay for the Mechachromes.

      2. @kingshark @omarr-pepper Williams were very happy to have michelin. Johnny Williams always said that Michelin was one of their strenghts, responsible for a better 2001 and a resurgence of the team.

    2. The RedBull funding and factory engine partnership will help keep them there or thereabouts.

      Also, all their development staff will have learned a great deal from working alongside Newey.

    3. how about McLaren way? they didn’t go downhill after Newey leftm right?

    4. I have a hard time believing Newey will be going completely away. Probably will still be available to consult or guide.

      1. Yes, he will do, at least for now. He just won’t be in charge of it all anymore.

    5. No i dont think so because RBR were smart enough to cash Adrian up for life and let him play with boats and space rockets , Adrian will still sign off on designs and send stuff back for redraw should it be “slow”

    6. I don’t think that it is solely a question of whether or not Newey is present – the main advantage that Red Bull’s technical department had in recent years was that they had a strong core team of experienced designers.

      If you look at the technical team, Red Bull have had a consistent line up for several years now. Prodromou, the Head of Aerodynamics (and arguably in some ways was more instrumental than Newey to Red Bull’s success – it’s rumoured that Prodromou, not Newey, was responsible for the exhaust blowing diffuser designs that put Red Bull so far ahead of the pack), has been there since late 2006. Rob Marshall, the Chief Designer, has been there since 2007, as has their Technical Director (Geoff Willis).

      If anything, the bigger worry for Red Bull is not that Newey is stepping back – the bigger concerns will be the loss of the experienced staff that worked beneath him, such as the loss of Prodromou to McLaren or their Head of Vehicle Dynamics to Porsche.
      You can look to Lotus for an extreme example – it wasn’t necessarily the loss of Allison from the team that has hurt them, but his departure was emblematic of a systematic loss of experienced staff from senior positions that is now having a more noticeable impact.

  2. I’ve appreciated Gary Hartstein’s comments about improving the fia, and his explanations about what the nature of these injuries and treatments are has been informative and clear. But I really take issue with shifting into commentary about what Schumacher’s family and management are prepared to say, and the level of detail they’re prepared to go into in these press releases.

    It really is none of our business, and really the family don’t have to say anything to anyone at all, ever. Medical records are secret for a reason. What his fans “would like” or think they “deserve” to hear is totally irrelevant. Gary has already dug himself out of a hole when he went a little to close to the speculative line, but these comments just come across as rude.

    1. Paul (@frankjaeger)
      18th June 2014, 1:58

      I think this everytime I read one of his awful blogs. The guy is an intrusive freak.

    2. @hairs – I agree with what you are saying and yet at the same time I can understand his consternation, to a point. I just don’t think my approach would be the same as his, were I in his position.

      Having some experience with a close family member experiencing brain trauma, I am probably much more informed than the average person. When the average person hears someone is not in a coma any longer they think something much different than what that really means medically. It might be an improvement in the patients condition, but it does not mean they are thriving or even close. I find it a bit misleading to release that bit of news and nothing more, knowing that it could give false hopes to millions of fans around the world. Some have even reacted as if they think he is just fine now.

      On the other hand I also believe the family and their spokesperson are under no obligation to tell the media anything at all. It is human nature to be curious about the condition of someone we care about. That does not mean the public has an inalienable right to know everything. If it was me, I would have probably said even less than they have.

      If I was Hartstein I think my approach would have been more gracious and hopeful while still being informative and honest. Much like his first two articles on this topic were. There is a way to get the truth out while still being kind and respectful. He sounds rather bitter now and has for a while.

      My thoughts are the same now as they have been since hearing about Michael’s injury. My prayers are with him and his family because that is what matters the most. Experience tells me they are in a tough situation, but no one can really tell for sure how things will turn out.

    3. I lost all respect for Hartstein and wished he’d finally follow thru on his promise to stop writing about it. His opinions are not more or less informed than those of people who know how to research such injuries on the internet. What makes it worse for me is that he is a doctor and he should know better that such cases are highly individual and diagnostics without knowing the case mean nothing.

      But his criticism towards the information flow is really the thing that drives me mad – I fully support the family and their decision to not handle the media at all, because it only drains the energy and strength they need in this situation. Their focus is (as it should be) on Michael and not on keeping us informed.

    4. Yes, Hartstein’s blog makes for unpleasant reading. Almost sour grapish after being sacked from his job with the FIA. He seems to be attempting to perpetuate a link to motorsport that is unrequited and anything is fair game in his quest to do so.

      For all he (and we) knows, Michael could be communicating with his family relatively well. A man of his sporting prowess and achievements could be forgiven for thinking “I don’t want the world to see me like this” but that doesn’t mean he isn’t on the mend. If it was me in that hospital and there was a long road to recovery ahead I’d want to pursue that recovery behind closed doors with the support of my family and only emerge when I was happy with my level of progress. This could be what Michael is thinking.

      Anyway, I don’t see why Hartstein begrudges them their privacy. He is in no position to comment but his ego prevents him from staying silent.

      1. I agree with what you folks have said. He seems all along to be absolutely convinced that the lack of announcements, and the content of the few there have been through this terrible ordeal, means things must be worse than the family is letting on, and therefore that is unfair to MS’s fans. Yet certainly around here I have found that people have a realistic perspective on things, have their hopes high but not unrealistically so, and are certainly not complaining about the lack of news. People seem accepting of the difficulty of the situation and respectful that the families wishes are just that…their’s to have.

        It’s like he wants to lead or speak for a group of people who are supposedly outraged at, I don’t know, perhaps having the wool pulled over their eyes or something like that, in his opinion, when I don’t get the sense that such a group exists. Who is in any position or has any right to be outraged at a family decision regarding such a personal and private matter, no matter how public MS’s persona has been in the past? But if such a group exists…to what end? Be selfishly outraged all you want. Wallow in your own negativity at being so hard done by. It will change nothing and the Schumacher family that you would claim to care so much about, doesn’t need that kind of ‘caring’ in their lives.

  3. “The rule changes: who is going to take responsibility for educating the public in order to reinforce their information?’”

    We’re not the ones who need educating, generally. Bernie, on the other hand…

    1. Definitely, Bernie is F1s worst enemy when it comes to publicity. It actually does matter what the media say, even if they spell your name correctly. @hairs

      1. Worst enemy? I don’t know. What I do know is that F1’s meia strategy is horrible for the recruitment of new fans. For me, I got introduced to F1 through casual sunday afternoon zapping back in the late 90’s when F1 was on free to air-television in Sweden. Today, F1 for swedes (along with many other potential fans) F1 is put behind a very expensive pay wall.

        The pay wall is hurting F1 more than other sports because if we look at football, I can get introduced by free to air matches in one league before seeking out the more expensive Premier League och Champions League. In racing, there is no equivalent.

        One great example of how it’s done riht is WEC. Last weekend i found out that Le Mans 24h is streamed legally on THE OFFICIAL FRICKING HOMEPAGE!!! Take that Benie! For the first time viewing I actually watched parts of the race ON MY FRICKING CELL PHONE!!! And boy did I get hooked on it! They’ve got me as a viewer for next year I can guarantee.

        I know, Iknow, F1 is big bucks for TV rights, but what are they worth if no one watches it in 20 years from now?

        1. I agree. I never knew that Le Mans was available from the website until I was looking for more info regarding teams and drivers! I also found radioLemans to be wonderful (until my battery died). I was looking after someone else’s house and could watch on TV or I wouldn’t even have been looking for the info. I will be watching on my own next year.

          F1 is selling itself out of the target market. The casual veiwer doesn’t spend time researching something to understand it. Currently, to understand F1, we need to research the details and information just to understand the technology – how do you think a casual veiwer will understand? When the commentators start on the different engine modes and things, I don’t even get it totally but I am a die-hard fan and try to carry on.

        2. As I’ve said before the online streaming for F1 is a lot more complex than it is for WEC because F1 has far more broadcast contracts & many of them give the broadcaster exclusive rights for there region.

          WEC doesn’t have the same reach as F1, They need the online streams to boost there reach as many country’s don’t show there races live, IN fact many don’t carry WEC coverage at all.
          Its the same with other categories which don’t have good, global TV reach they need to rely on the internet to get people to watch.

          If F1 was to launch an online streaming service it would almost certainly be GeoBlocked in many country’s including the UK because the broadcaster for that region (Sky/BBC in the UK) have brought exclusive rights to F1 TV/internet distribution in the UK region.

        3. OmarR-Pepper (@)
          18th June 2014, 17:36

          @albertc Lemans website rocks!! I watched about 5 hours of the race, and it comes with either French or English comments, plus highlights after every hour and lots of free stuff as wallpapers (real wallpapers, not the crayon-painted wallpapers F1.com offers to us)

        4. @albertc Regarding La Sarthe I hope they’ll provide HTML5 (and hopefully as well WebM, and hopefully as well non-DRM’ed) streams next year – I don’t want to have to use Adobe Flash to watch it….

    2. In the Mercedes-Benz Elite Loge at the Canadian Grand-Prix, which has great view of turns 1 & 2, commonly known as the Senna S, I was asked by a lady who was not attending her first Canadian GP as guest of M-B if the corner had a special name. At least she admitted being a bit embarrassed at not knowing, but it was shocking to me to have to show her the picture of Senna in the programme and say that’s who the corner is named after. My shock deepened when later on, I had to point out to her husband that there was no refueling anymore since years.
      We, the hard core fanatics who visit sites like these on a daily basis and still want more, don’t need educating, but the other 90% of the fans probably do.

    3. Far be it from me to find any agreement with LdM, but some of the ideas he has about a plan of action to get the word out make sense. Inviting all parties in F1 to the table to meet with those outside F1 to find out what is missing and what they can do about, quite frankly, is what FOM should have been doing all along. Instead you have the clownish anachronistic Bernie complaining about his own sport instead of promoting it. As long as he can line his own pockets everything is fine while he chokes every last penny out of the golden goose.

      It seems like the world has turned upside down when LdM has a better plan and ideas than the supposed promoter of F1. It is forward thinking to invite the social media folks and also Google and Apple even if it is rather late in the game. To get the word out and increase the fan base this is what is needed in today’s world. How many people have been saying that around here for how many years? Best wishes to LdM and all of F1 in this meeting to get the ball rolling. I sincerely mean that.

    4. I’d say it would be a HUGE improvement if the FOM would stop actively talking bad about the new things (and doing so without ANY personal experience of them at the track too!) @hairs.

      On top of that, as the commercial partner who is supposed to do its best to make the series stand out as the best way to go for potential sponsors and quality time to follow, watch and visit, FOM should have done ten times more than all the fan videos, Scarbs, Peter Windsor, magazines, Sauber, McLaren, Mercedes and Red Bull insight videos together could amount to.

      Honestly, if that question was serious, it should be taken as an ultimatum to FOM/CVC that unless they start earning their (far too) big share of the pot they should get working on actually promoting the sport to the world.

  4. Gene Haas is no dummy when it come to generating publicity for his machine tool business, he seems to be achieving his goal even before he has spent 1 penny on developing a car or signing a driver.

    1. OmarR-Pepper (@)
      18th June 2014, 0:44

      @hohum you’re right. Every interview he has given recently has the “my tools and machines are bought by F1 teams” motto.

    2. @hohum – Also learning quickly, now saying he does need a European base, likely Britain, as a part of his operation. I think he has a plan.

    3. Put him in charge of promoting F1! He sure seems to be doing the kind of job it needs @hohum

      1. @bascb, yes, the comparison was in my mind also.

    4. I agree that Haas seems to be approaching it the best way possible at present. But by talking about how an F1 team can benefit a side business he underlines a deep, fundamental flaw. Participating in F1 is not profitable. How long can an industry survive when the overall net profit is negative? As long as investors continue to blow money in F1 in order to stoke their ego or to promote their side businesses it can keep stumbling along. But let’s be honest: F1 is a business, and participants have to make a profit. This applies to race promoters, too. In this age of austerity and budget cuts how long are countries going to be willing to use taxpayer money just for the privilege of having an F1 race?

      1. @dc I don’t think your commentary is accurate. Just as Haas expects one of the big aspects of competing in F1 will be brand exposure to his ‘side business’ as you call it, which is actually an entity in the billions or potentially so, and climbing, so too do cities, at least the ones who legitimately fill the seats, benefit with injections of money that way surpass the amounts governments have had to guarantee Bernie.

        F1 and all racing is about sponsorship, and marketing, which is one aspect of a business. Money is set aside to market one’s brand, and if that wasn’t profitable racing would never have been able to maintain itself past privateers willing to dip into their own pockets to go racing for the sheer desire of it and the love of racing cars. Cities that hold F1 races are marketing their cities and countries to the world and attracting tourism.

        Rather, Haas has decided, after years of knowing what the potential of being in F1 could carry for him and his company, that now is the right time to jump in and promote his brand much more globally further than he already has, and it’s fine by him if he has to spend a few hundred million, or maybe even less, to make an extra billion with increased sales from increased business. It’s really business 101. And when the experts in his company determine the impact of being in F1 is no longer profitable they will get out, just as many companies and countries have in the past, only to be replaced, and also only to potentially eventually come back when the time is right again. Like Honda for example, who have come in and out of F1 I think 4 times now since the 60’s, with their pending re-entry with Mac next year.

  5. Completely agree with COTD. Anyone that forced an unwilling child to watch f1 live for multiple years should be ashamed of themselves. With the new engine rules, if your kids don’t like f1, at least there’s significantly less risk of causing permanent hearing damage.

    1. Me too, when they announced Formula E, they said they would target families to come watch it.

      It’s a great way of introducing F1 to younger fans.

  6. Does Haas sell tools like sockets, spanners etc? If so and he’s got a great product (near snap on quality) which is reasonably priced, F1 will do his business a world of good as I’m sure there are millions of people like me who have never heard of Haas tools.

    If his team start winning championships in 5-10 years time and they made a bold claim like “it’s all down to the tools” I’d bet they could easily make the billion they are after

    1. Machine tools generally means manufacturing equipment such as automated lathes, not hand tools.

    2. Todd (@braketurnaccelerate)
      18th June 2014, 2:54

      HAAS Automation produces, what are basically the best CNC mills, lathes, etc. in the business.

      1. Well, not really. We have a HAAS lathe in our factory and it’s far from the best. They are more like ‘el cheapo’ machines. I’m from Basque Country, where machine tools have a long history and the quality difference is notorious. HAAS has been good at marketing and global expansion strategy. It’s actually embarrassing that we bought an american machine having plenty of manufacturers around…

  7. ‘Improving the show: how can we make Formula 1 more attractive to our fans?’

    First thing would be to stop talking about the “show”. Formula 1 is a sport. It’d be nice if the people who ran it remembered that fact.

    1. Daniel (@collettdumbletonhall)
      18th June 2014, 2:24

      Couldn’t agree more.

    2. @colossal-squid I hate to disagree as you should be right, but it is a show too. Like football, rugby, cricket, bicycling, or whatever you watch, F1 ceased to purely be sport the moment big money got involved and races began appearing on television.

      To sustain the huge budgets, high salaries, and televising fees, it needs to be entertaining enough to draw the crowds, both on track and away.

      The way FOM and the FIA are going about trying to improve the show, however, is quite wrong. They have been running the risk of alienating their purist fan base with each attempt to increase overtaking rates and slow down the cars. Honestly, I’m afraid that this meeting will lead to them drawing gimmicky ideas from other series, like punishing success with ballast weight.

      1. oh my God, really haven’t you enjoyed the racing this year?
        the one thing i do agree is weights,
        but everything else has made this years racing the best since sliced bread..

    3. @colossal-squid I’d like to know when the phrase “improving the show” was first used in relation to Formula One. I suspect it was in the early 1990s – it definitely was when the pre-1994 rules changes were introduced.

      1. @keithcollantine I’m surprised that referring to F1 as a show was used that long ago, considering that it seems to me the concept has only really taken off with the powers that control the sport in the past few years.

        To me there’s also a fine line between improving the ‘show’ in a good way, by focusing on presentation, accessibility and marketing, and the current attempts which are to throw gimmicks like DRS and Abu Double at the sport. They don’t improve the ‘show’ all that much but damage F1’s sporting integrity, as @bforth touched on above.

        I wonder 20 years ago which side of the line people were focusing on when talking about ‘improving the show’?

  8. The question is asked “why are people loseing interest in F1″? there are no doubt many different reasons for different folk but for me the 2 most obvious reasons are;

    1. Until this year the technical interest that first attracted me to read about racing on the other side of the world had been lost, the discussion about whether a hole in the floor is a hole or a slot just doesn’t compare with ” why Ferrari have gone for a flat 12 engine” or ” replacing valve springs with compressed air has allowed the engine to exceed 20,000 rpm.”. Every fan out there who has contemplated fitting a sports exhaust, low restriction air filter or up-rated shock-absorbers/dampers on his car/bike has an interest in the technical advancement of engines and suspensions to improve performance, with de-rated and equalised engines, and aerodynamics dominating handling, that interest has not been stimulated by F1 and coupled with the silly gimmicks which spoiled the racing F1 lost its appeall, only the potential of the new engine formula kept me interested. I doubt I will continue to watch F1 once these engines development becomes frozen and their performance identical.

    2. Making F1 expensive and/or difficult to watch/follow, by moving to a pay to view format has an obvious effect on the number of people watching who just can’t justify the expense, and even those who can find ways to watch races will miss some due to different time zones, other events taking precedence etc. and just like watching a mini-series, if you miss a couple of episodes/races and lose track of the plot/standings the question “why bother ?” arises.

    1. Agreed on both points.

      1. come on @hohum the A ring is well and truly sold out miles ahead of normal,
        people are going nuts over the new formula1 cars sliding coming out of corners no team orders this is the best year i have ever seen of Formula1,
        why people are complaining because of sound and can not see the spectacular in front of their eyes is beyond me, deaf people would give everything to hear again yet some are determent to wipe it from there lives.

        1. @lethalnz, You seem to have missed the words; 1. “Until this year”. I agree with your summary of this year but ask the question “how good would it be if all the engines were identical in performance and reliability”? Or how good would it be with last years engines ? Dedicated RBR fans excepted.

    2. Both points ring true there @hohum.

      As for the Austria ring @lethalnz mentions, well yeah, given that its allowed capacity for the weekend is about 70.000 visitors (because of NOISE limitations!), after a decade of not having a race there, its booked out. Lets see how they do next years before saying its a long term success

  9. The first is titled: “Improving the show: how can we make Formula 1 more attractive to our fans?”

    And the second is: “The rule changes: who is going to take responsibility for educating the public in order to reinforce their information?”

    Removing DRS, decent-looking cars, (astro)turf run-off?

  10. “The first [discussion point] is titled: ‘Improving the show: how can we make Formula 1 more attractive to our fans?’ ”

    STAHP DOING THAT!!! F1’s a sport, not a show.

  11. “The first [discussion point] is titled: ‘Improving the show: how can we make Formula 1 more attractive to our fans?’

    Honestly, my answer would be “stop messing around with the rules!” F1 is a complicated enough sport for new casual fans to understand so we shouldn’t be over complicating it with another raft of knew-jerk, sticking plaster solutions. We need a period of stability to see what the racing that the new generation of rules produces is like, the we can assess where we are. I think F1 is in rude health on track at the moment. The racing has, by and large, been great so far this year. Yes Mercedes are dominating, but there are battles all through the field and Mercedes are letting their drivers race. The show is just fine. F1 has bigger problems to address at the moment, like the financial difficulties the majority of the grid are facing.

  12. I agree %100 with COTD by @John H:
    I will take my boys ( and daughters) if they want to go ,

    I also think the post by Brundle on diving/crying should recieve and honorary COTD .

    I love soccer/football but what a bunch of pansies !!!

    In Australia there is state of origin rugby league and its a contest of gladitorial stature. (If such words or contests exist )

  13. That LEGO Lotus is sweet. I had a look on the Lego site, and some other models there are quite nice too, for example this McLaren https://ideas.lego.com/projects/5802

  14. When FIA decided the F1 as Show, the Sport in it died itself there

  15. The agenda on the table for the meeting is exactly where FIA and F1 is going wrong. They are still working on making the sport interesting for existing fans when what is actually required is to bring “new fans” into the sport. Changing the sport to pay per view has drastically reduced the ability of the sport to entice the younger generation into watching the sport. The only people who pay for F1 are those who are already fans. Who among you would pay a lot of money to watch something you don’t know about?
    The prime issue is that. The number of F1 fans are starting to wither and there is no one to replace them with. That is what the FIA and F1 should make their priority.

    1. Chris Cartile (@)
      18th June 2014, 14:57

      There was a time when the Canadian Football league was THE place to play. The stars from the US would come to Canada to play in the CFL. Then a long decline started and we almost saw the collapse of the CFL in the 80’s. One major reason: Greed. It seems that not everyone wanted to watch games live (when it is November in Edmonton it can be REALLY cold), so more people watched on TV. Less people went to the games, but MORE watched on TV. The excellent idea: Let’s blackout local games on TV- then people have to go to the statdium to watch. The result- people stopped watching except for the moniority of hardcore fans (like the ones on this site). Over a few years not only did the stadium crowds dwindle, the tv audience died too. The league nearly collapsed. It has recovered thanks to open tv coverage and a strong broadcaster support. F1 is on the downward part of this trajectory- it treats the casual fan disgracefully. Yes a small monority of fans will pay and watch, but the lion share of the fans will just move onto other things. Accessibility is the absolute first requirement to grow a fanbase. Second would be the “show” that is put on. It is spot on that the pay-per-view model will erode the fanbase, but it is profitable in the short term.

    2. I am lead to believe that the younger generation are totally opposed to paying for any in-home entertainment.

  16. COTD, PLEASE STOP THIS MADNESS!! LOL, but seriously, this HAS been talked about extensively @John-H.

    Yes, you can finally take your infant children to F1 races. Should infant children be at F1 races? The back of the ticket says you are attending a potentially dangerous and fatal event. So, you decide.

    Why people in the past couldn’t bring their young children to races and supply them with protective ear muffs, I do not know.

    My family took me to the 1974 Canadian GP when I was nine months old and they carried me around in a backpack. Did I have ear protection? Am I now suffering from this?

    Thankfully no, and I would not personally take a child below the age of 10 to a motorsports event.

    So, should we all be thankful that with the quieter cars, we can now take children, have conversations, hear tires squealing??

    LUDICROUS.

    My opinion.

    (I was at the Malay GP this year and I also experienced EVERY SINGLE PERSON I TALKED TO HATED THE NEW SOUND!)

    1. I think you make some good points @ibrahim . I’m not expecting babies to attend events to be honest, but just from a personal point of view I would go camping with the little one at Silverstone and I think it would be fun, especially if I’m not worried about having the ear muffs at the ready! I wouldn’t stand next to the catch fencing or anything either but yes I suppose there is risk. That’s life. Every time I drive my car with her in the back there is a risk, but I still do it.

      I also didn’t realise the fact that more families might start attending races had been addressed at length before to be honest, but I guess I was wrong.

      For the record, I miss the sound too, but I understand the compromise. Maybe after hearing in the flesh at Silverstone I won’t be so charitable… Let’s see.

    2. “So, should we all be thankful that with the quieter cars, we can now… have conversations, hear tires squealing??”

      It is somewhat baffling to me that people use the squealing of the tyres as a consolation for the quieter engines. I’ve never heard anyone wanting to hear tyres squealing before this season, and it may just be me but I don’t really find it any consolation at all.

      And referring to having conversations at the event, I have to agree there. It is just my own personal experience from having been to the British Grands Prix since 2008, but I was never bothered by not being able to have a conversation in the middle of the race with who I attended the with due to the V8s. I was so engrossed in the race I didn’t feel the need to talk about it until it was over.

      The only things I like about the quieter engines is that 1) you can hear the crowd at certain events on TV. That really adds to the atmosphere. And 2) I actually like the sound of them (especially Ferrari).

      I’m looking forward to Silverstone this year just to hear these engines after so much discussion. I’ve heard so many points of view I’m not sure what to expect!

  17. I love footage from 1989 (except the end result of course) – that’s my childhood right there!!!!!

  18. F1 is in trouble. Luca is having a huge meeting with teams and sponsors before Monza’s race. I think quietly, internally they are trying to figure out why fans and sponsors are on the decline. If Mclaren have not found a major sponsor that’s a major hitch. F1 has been a sporting event but off late they’re trying to make it a show, bad move and the effect is evident. As for new fans it’s the children who get influenced by parents crazy about motorsport. The percentage of new young fans who follow F1 on their own discovery is small I suspect.

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