In the round-up: Sebastian Vettel clinched the Race of Champions crown in London.
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Sebastian Vettel crowned Champion of Champions (RoC)
"Vettel saw off nine-time Le Mans 24 Hours winner Tom Kristensen to become Champion of Champions for the first time."
"The BBC have to cut £35million from their sports budget and have told Ecclestone they want to restructure their deal to include highlights only."
The worst time to stop - Kubica (WRC)
"In the last five or six events I have felt more like a mature rally driver. Many things that were scaring me in the past are now normal for me because I went through them more than once."
Felipe Massa: Williams needs to triple development to fight for titles (ESPN)
"I think to fight for the championship we need triple development of the car, from now until the first race."
Rossi firmly focused on F1 return (Crash)
"I feel my chances of being in an F1 seat are the best they've ever been, so there's zero kind of focus going in any other direction."
Sauber wary of Manor and Haas threats (F1i)
"We have Manor coming in with a new (engine) tie-up, and we have a new team coming in which, we learned from the media, has had intensive co-operation with another team, so it's going to be very tough to score a point."
Van Amersfoort Racing denies Adrian Newey joining F3 team (Motorsport)
"Mr. Adrian Newey is not and will not be working for Van Amersfoort Racing in any shape or form."
No contract steers Austin’s F1 off track (Austin American-Statesman)
"In hindsight, however, (Circuit of the Americas chairman Bobby Epstein) conceded that it would have been better had the parties signed a written agreement codifying terms in letters dating back to 2010, in which then-Gov. Rick Perry and then-Comptroller Susan Combs appeared to promise an annual state contribution of $25 million for 10 years, with the understanding that if the event didn’t generate enough taxes, COTA would make up the difference."
SBI declares Vijay Mallya 'wilful defaulter', ED to probe laundering (The Times of India)
"State Bank of India - the largest lender to defunct airline Kingfisher - has declared the carrier, its promoter Mallya and United Breweries Holdings as 'wilful defaulters' after its grievance redressal committee rejected the arguments made by the borrower through its legal representative recently."
"Unfortunately we had to cancel the kart race as we felt we did not have sufficient TecPro to cover the concrete barriers and meet our high safety standards."
Tweets
So @RaceOfChampions cancelled its kart race between the drivers? What a pity, that would have been mega. #F1
— F1 Fanatic (@f1fanatic_co_uk) November 21, 2015
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Comment of the day
Lotus reckons F1’s business model needs fixing and Stephen agrees it is flawed:
One of the problems F1 faces is that while people want to watch it, a lot of people have to pay to watch it, meaning it discourages popularity, meaning it also discourages the amount advertisers are prepared to pay, which is part of a team’s income.
There are other racing series that are free to watch, and a free to watch series will be more accessible to viewers than ones they have to pay to watch, so people will become interested in those other racing series and not F1.
So while there is more TV rights money from a sport supported by Pay TV, the downside is the audiences are smaller, the teams are largely unknown to the public, so names like Hamilton, Rosberg, Vettel, etc, are less well known, the visitors to this website like this one are less, all around are advertisers wanting to pay less, and also the attendances at the race tracks would be less, so cities are less willing to pay hosting rights.
Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
There’s still time to enter this weekend’s Caption Competition – join in here:
From the forum
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On this day in F1
Twelve months ago today Nico Rosberg beat team mate Lewis Hamilton for the championship-deciding Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, while both Red Bull drivers were excluded from qualifying due to a front wing infringement.
Yes (@come-on-kubica)
22nd November 2015, 0:05
It always upsets me seeing Kubica and what could have been. Wouldn’t be surprised if he picked up a world title by now.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
22nd November 2015, 0:12
@come-on-kubica I was about to say the same. It makes me really sad reading about Robert. Everytime there’s some news about him, and his whereabouts, it upsets me because he’d be mixing with the top guys in F1 right now…
Just thinking about what could’ve been… Robert in 2012 with Lotus could’ve been superb for the sport, the fans and the competition.
Yes (@come-on-kubica)
22nd November 2015, 0:25
Yeah, he would have run against Kimi well or even against Alonso in a Ferrari. There’s so much bad luck in Kubica’s career. If BMW didn’t give up with that 2008 car and decide to make that rubbish 09 car, he could already be a world champion. He’s still my favourite driver and I still believe he was the best driver on that very talented 2010 grid.
beneboy (@beneboy)
22nd November 2015, 1:28
Whenever I see him I can’t help but think of how lucky he is to be alive after his huge crash in Canada, that was a genuinely frightening crash to watch.
He may have lost his place in F1, but at least he got there, and got to show us how good he is. Probably earned himself a spot amongst the list of best drivers not to win a WDC too.
Malik (@)
22nd November 2015, 0:48
Vettel has never left RoC without a trophy
I feel that in 2014 Vettel has suffered a lot by Michael accident and that’s why he did not participate in 2014 RoC
celeste (@celeste)
22nd November 2015, 11:34
@malik I think you are right
iFelix (@ifelix)
22nd November 2015, 1:31
Just read a bit to understand what this Race of Champions is about and realised that Schumacher and Vettel won ROC nations 6 times in a row from 2007-2012!
Does anybody know who qualifies to be there on personal or team? Seems that for instance Hamilton or Alonso haven’t took part?
mickey18 (@mickey18)
22nd November 2015, 2:14
It was really good last night, I enjoyed it.
To qualify, you technically should have won a championship in some kind of motorsport discipline, although there are a few that slip under the radar in that regard..
Hamilton and Alonso haven’t taken part. If those two enter with Vettel, then someone has to lose, I don’t think Alonso’s or Hamilton’s ego could take it!
Joking. But I also find Hamilton has a very cynical view on most other forms of motorsport, he has already bluntly stated he has no interest in the WEC etc.
tonde
22nd November 2015, 7:23
Hamilton will only take part if he is allowed to drive his Mercedes .
MarkM
23rd November 2015, 1:55
Or if he had is own specific strategy engineer.
Johannes (@johanness)
22nd November 2015, 8:15
True though. When they’re all racing exactly the same car – they risk exposing themselves.
Congrats to Seb
anon
22nd November 2015, 15:22
Alonso participated in 2001, but has not taken part since. Hamilton did a demo run in an F1 car one year (I think in his early days at McLaren) but has never competed at ROC. It is an invitation event, I am sure both have been asked to take part and so it seems likely that they have declined.
There are a group of drivers who are “regulars” most years, and I can see why the organisers ask them back, they clearly enjoy the event (camaraderie and a fun atmosphere is an important part of the event) and they can be relied upon to take part (they are usually left trying to fill some slots very late on so a reliable core of competitors is valuable when arranging such an event). I think they try to get a balance of well known names, including some who are retired, young up and coming talent, and also some spread across different motorsport disciplines.
Martin
22nd November 2015, 19:32
I believe Hamilton was banned from participating in other forms of Motorsport (including RoC) by his contract with McLaren. No idea what his Mercedes contract is like on that front though
Baron
22nd November 2015, 21:00
That’s nonsense. Button has been a participant several times. Why would McLaren forbid Hamilton from doing it but allow Button to compete?
Martin
23rd November 2015, 11:17
Well one reason could be that Button had more bargaining power when he came into McLaren as a well respected, senior World Champion, than Hamilton had as a junior coming into the team and so could negotiate terms like that. I’m not saying that is definitely what happened (because I don’t know), just that Button being allowed to compete doesn’t necessarily mean Hamilton was.
Regardless of that after actually having a chance to look around on the t’interwebs the only thing I can find regarding it is one forum post
http://www.f1technical.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=10625
So I’m quite happy to say it is nonsense too.
Yeah he’s done some demonstration stuff during his time at McLaren, but I can’t recall him ever doing anything actually competitive.
David-A (@david-a)
22nd November 2015, 22:25
He swapped his car with Tony Stewart when at Mclaren.
sonia luff (@sonia54)
23rd November 2015, 13:40
Hamilton was in negotiations for the 2015 FOC event but obviously for some reason he didn’t take part. Maybe they wouldn’t pay him enough lol
kpcart
22nd November 2015, 3:11
Kubica has 14 stage wins in wrc, and many more 2nd and 3rd places. raikonnen had 1 stage win with a better car and team in the same time.. If kubica had a factory drive, or a privateer volkswagon, he would be winning rallies by now, as he already has the speed of the top drivers, including on gravel, and his consistency has improved remarkably. I really hope he stays in wrc, he can be world champion, and that would be more impressive then a f1 title.
PorscheF1 (@xtwl)
22nd November 2015, 19:38
Just like in F1, you cannot become world champion without Volkswagen.
David-A (@david-a)
22nd November 2015, 20:39
Yeah, okay. If you say so.
kpcart
23rd November 2015, 13:53
don’t be rude, think about it logically, in f1 he was destined to be champion – he was a faster driver then Hamilton and rosberg in junior formulae, in rallying he has had to start all over again, and he is a disabled driver, and rallying is much harder with pace notes then going around the same short track hundreds of times, if he achieves a wrc title it will be more impressive, but obviously not to you, so don’t be rude and let me have my opinion.
David-A (@david-a)
23rd November 2015, 17:21
I suppose you explained yourself better there. I thought you were simply suggesting that winning the WRC is more impressive than winning the F1 championship in a general sense.
However when did he prove to be faster than Hamilton in junior formulae? I’ve seen that claim a couple of times on this site, with nothing to back it up. Hamilton had superior results, winning 3 titles to Kubica’s 1.
Chris (@tophercheese21)
22nd November 2015, 5:37
Anyone know why RoC did not do the Karting race in the end? As was advertised on their website.
That was literally the only reason I was looking forward to it.
Bolide (@mim5)
22nd November 2015, 6:31
safety reasons, something to do with the tecpro barriers
alanore (@alanore)
22nd November 2015, 12:29
Yeah apparently they didn’t have enough techpro to cover all the concrete walls/barriers so it couldn’t go ahead on safety grounds.
markp
22nd November 2015, 22:29
But they drove Ariel Atoms round and they look more dangerous than a kart.
Wesley (@)
22nd November 2015, 22:16
It states in the article above, read it and quit wasting peoples time.
pSynrg (@psynrg)
22nd November 2015, 23:53
:) +1
EF1
23rd November 2015, 1:46
Did you read the roundup above, its written right there???
Alex Brown (@splittimes)
23rd November 2015, 10:56
There was a puddle of oil in the access and exit tunnels about an inch deep from one of the RoC buggies. Also, the kart in was run by Daytona Karts, not RoC. Their previous race used extra barriers to cover the concrete, but it took about 30 mins to set up. They also had a pit fire, and left the skills course covered in petrol, earlier in the day.
ColdFly F1 (@)
22nd November 2015, 7:58
110% is not enough nowadays, though others are redoubling their efforts.
evered7 (@evered7)
22nd November 2015, 9:36
I think they should also not refrain from appealing penalties based on the cost of the appeal/fees for next year :)
Hairs (@hairs)
22nd November 2015, 9:51
I’m not so sure the BBC going to a highlights only deal would be a bad thing. The quality of their non-race coverage has dropped significantly since the first couple of years, the races are becoming less interesting, and the BBC have such high quality editors and producers that the cuts are seamless.
Do I care if the race is a few hours later than the start and I don’t have to watch 30 processional laps where the commentators are struggling to come up with talking points which they’ll then have to rehash in the post race coverage?
Not really.
Michel S. (@hircus)
22nd November 2015, 10:10
Yep, now given a choice I sometimes watch the highlights on iPlayer instead of the full delayed race.
The Beeb could make a lot of additional revenues if they allow non-UK residents to sign up to use iPlayer, IMHO. Sure, maybe not for sports and other events with backward territorial licensing schemes, but at least for their original productions…
RaceProUK (@)
22nd November 2015, 12:40
I’m not sure if they’d be able to do that; given they’re funded by the public rather than by advertising, they’re restricted in ways commercial TV isn’t.
Hairs (@hairs)
23rd November 2015, 12:37
The BBC have a commercial arm, BBC Worldwide, to make money in overseas markets which is quite successful.
Really though media sales as a whole, tv, film, or music is still embarrassingly stuck in the mid 20th century where distribution was based around getting a physical object in the hands of a local insider or person “in the know” who could persuade people to watch it. The idea that a big media company needs to rely on a local to sell into a foreign market is nonsense.
Jules Winfield (@jules-winfield)
22nd November 2015, 13:21
They should just ditch it and let Channel 4 pick up the rights, as they tried to do when the BBC changed to this split deal with Sky.
Alternatively, Bernie could show he is part of the 21st century and introduce live streaming of races over the web for a small subscription fee per month or per race (say $10). Get commentators for all the major languages (say Brundle and Coulthard for the UK) and hey presto! No need for Sky and no fear of adverts during the races like with ITV.
Dan Brown
22nd November 2015, 16:49
You can already pay for the race only with Now TV.
ham
22nd November 2015, 9:54
ROC was fun to watch. Vettel was on it the whole weekend. Congratz to him.
monobe
22nd November 2015, 9:55
I feel like Webber is again shadowed by a German driver’s success. That’s some bad luck.
HK (@me4me)
22nd November 2015, 10:32
Now that he’s champion, he should join ROC next year and team up with Ricciardo!
alo
22nd November 2015, 10:56
Not sure that would do him any good… Or Ricciardo for that matter. Everyone was concerned about Mick Doohan holding him back. He really didn’t.
mickey18 (@mickey18)
22nd November 2015, 10:56
+1
UnitedKingdomRacing (@unitedkingdomracing)
22nd November 2015, 11:20
Exactly! Why is there not a single word in this round-up that Webber has finally become world champion? Where as Vettel only won some kind of fun event.
RaceProUK (@)
22nd November 2015, 12:42
Because that’ll be in the coming motorsport round-up instead.
Andy
22nd November 2015, 13:32
@unitedkingdomracing Because this is an F1 site, so reporting on what F1 drivers do makes sense. It’s not a WEC site. Perhaps there should be wecfanatic.co.uk for that or maybe if you did a google search perhaps there is a site you can discuss it on somewhere?
Stash (@stash)
22nd November 2015, 18:46
Kubica? WRC? “This is an F1 site, so reporting on what F1 drivers do makes sense.” lol Your argument is totally floored. I do not see Kubica on the F1 grid even though I would like to. Good of you Monobe to go out of your way to attempt to put a negative spin on Webber’s success. Subtle but very nasty. Anyone with a brain can see your agenda there. Webbers win in WEC far out classes Vettel’s victory in the “Race Of Champions”. Light years ahead.
Regardless – it is good to see both have deserved success. Congratulations to both.
Looking forward to Keith’s upbeat positive report on Webber’s (and co) victory with great anticipation.
jale
22nd November 2015, 21:57
Good of you to read the intentions of random people over the Internet. Subtle but a very nasty spin from you with your agenda against Vettel. Goes both ways I guess.
DamonW
22nd November 2015, 10:53
I don’t understand the ROC, from what I saw Andy Prioxl was unstoppable in every race, how did he not win it? He beat Vettel when I saw him and was easily the quickest in the event.
anon
22nd November 2015, 20:21
ROC is run over two days, there are two separate events, both events are a knockout competition, best of 3 runs, so win 2 and you are through to the next round.
On Friday, it was the Nations Cup a team event (teams of two) which was won by Priaulx & Plato (Team England 1) who beat Vettel & Hulkenberg (Team Germany) in the final.
On Saturday it was the individual event Champion of Champions, which was won by Vettel who beat Kristiensen in the final, Priaulx was beaten in the quarter finals by Buncombe.
ceng
22nd November 2015, 22:03
I’d say overall Vettel was on it the whole weekend. He was right up there with all the events, Nations Cup, Race of Champions, and Skills Challenge as well. I mean he was very very good at Skills Challenge too. Most drivers (especially F1 drivers tbh) didn’t even manage to finish it properly and he was amazing. Massa also deserves a mention for Skills Challenge too. You can watch them on ROC channel on Youtube.
anon
23rd November 2015, 11:09
@ceng I agree, as you say Seb was strong all weekend in every event, he also won the fastest lap trophy.
ceng
23rd November 2015, 18:53
Fastest lap trophy? What’s that?
sato113 (@sato113)
22nd November 2015, 11:38
call me a cynic but I could see the karting thing as the kind of event that would be cancelled. it always seemed like a bonus add-on that wasn’t really part of the ticket price.
kpcart
22nd November 2015, 16:45
I will call you a cynic and a non paying customer of the event.
janet54321
22nd November 2015, 11:40
Problems with this event – The Olympic Stadium is tucked away in the south east of London, out of reach for millions of fan who’d want to go. (The place was less than 2/3 full). As this is football stadium, surely it would be better to have it at Aston Villa, or maybe some of the NEC buildings, on the main rail and motorway hub.
I was there – (frozen), a heck of a lot of waiting and a bit of padding with bikes and driving on two wheels, for small glimpses for a short time of your heros round the track four times. Binoculars would have been useful. The end was an anti-climax with Kristensen into the barrier first corner. I would have wanted to see more heats, the event full of those drivers on the track.
There was no halfway break for a visit/drink so I nearly missed who I’d come to see. (I was frozen, shivering. Needed some coffee. )
It’s a bit of fun for drivers, little more. BBC – don’t worry, it’s not worth it. It certainly wasn’t worth £92 tix and £48 trains. A day out and went up the Orbit. Next year? Nope.
Go Seb!!! You showed Daniel you could beat him in like for like.
claremcg
22nd November 2015, 12:22
The Olympic Park is East London, not South East, it’s north of the river (sorry for picking at that, I live in Newham, so felt the need to say that), I agree though it is a bit out of the way to get to but I still enjoyed to event, and I don’t think any ROC event has ever had a full stadium on either day, so it’s not too surprising it wasn’t full, although the attendance is improving year on year
uan (@uan)
22nd November 2015, 15:56
Not sure if the ending was anti-climatic (in a way, yes, b/c we wanted to see the whole thing unfold). But in another sense, I think it showed how much both drivers wanted it, including TK, and how he felt he needed to go right to the limit (and just slightly beyond). Especially when you consider how close the first race was between them.
And funny that Seb got to go up against Danny Ric.
Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
22nd November 2015, 16:32
I can’t see the BBC getting out of their agreement without paying a lot to Formula One Group.
The Telegraph quoted Mr Ecclestone as saying “They don’t have a lot of choice because they’ve got a contract with us. They’re there for another three years.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/motorsport/formulaone/12004285/Bernie-Ecclestone-turns-down-BBC-plea-to-renegotiate-F1-contract.html
Philip (@philipgb)
22nd November 2015, 18:49
The BBC coverage has now reached the point where I would sooner struggle through with a dodgy stream from Sky F1 than watch it on the BBC even when it is live.
Firstly the stream quality from the BBC is appalling. I’m on a fast Virgin cable and it will not stream in 720p50hz on race day, I get some ropey washed out SD juddery 25fps. This seems BBC1 and F1 specific as even having a quick look at their current live coverage of the Tennis on BBC2 is high quality -1
They have Eddie Jordan… -1
None of their features or analyses goes anything like as in depth as Sky or even their old level of coverage -1
They don’t have adverts though +1
RaceProUK (@)
22nd November 2015, 19:14
It’s not F1 specific; it happens during Doctor Who too.
Strontium (@strontium)
22nd November 2015, 23:20
I’d consider EJ as a +1 personally, and they definitely aren’t as good as sky but at least they aren’t as sensationalistic.
pSynrg (@psynrg)
22nd November 2015, 23:57
@strontium Eddie Jordan is a total bell-end, like an endlessly embarrassing ‘cool’ ageing uncle…
Sumedh
22nd November 2015, 22:25
Didn’t Ricciardo comment some time back about how he wanted to go up against Sebastian in RoC as he didn’t have a strong car underneath him all season? Well, he got his chance and blew it..
paul
23rd November 2015, 0:16
Hulkenberg was really good at everything he did this year. In ROC, imo he was also the 2nd best F1 driver overall as well. And he did beat Ricciardo too.
AntoineDeParis (@antoine-de-paris)
23rd November 2015, 9:45
Ric’s performance was kinda surprising. Seb beat him by 0.5s, Hulk beat him twice the day after. And yes, Ricciardo was serious about ROC challenge. It turned to be “back to reality” stuff for him.
Alex Brown (@splittimes)
23rd November 2015, 11:16
I actually marshalled turn three at RoC, and acted as observe the skills challenge. I can tell you I didn’t want it to end. Everyone was focused, yet happy, obliging, patient, smiling, joking. You know the phrase ‘rubbing shoulders’? That’s how it felt. Passing Hulkenberg in the corridor, holding a door for Jolyon Palmer, giving Nic Hamilton a nod, talking cars with Chris Evans, beer with Ricciardo… I could go on. I felt VERY fortunate to be involved, as a massive, massive fan.