Hamilton concerned poor starts will cost him title

34 comments on “Hamilton concerned poor starts will cost him title”

1. 

   Strontium (@strontium)
   16th September 2016, 0:08

   Disagree with COTD in saying the prize should be completely equal. Then there’s no actual reward for doing well, and it means that doing well won’t make way for teams to do even better in the future with the additional prize money. But it should definitely be a lot more even. Differences should be noticeable but not huge, and should be given purely based on finishing position, not historic / brand position.
   1. 

      Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
      16th September 2016, 3:52

      I guess f1 shouldn’t abide the rules of existence, that’s what fans are saying. Bernie has made it clear that he intends not to see f1 teams making of f1 a living, that’s not healthy for the sport, on the other hand if you’re good you should be rewarded. Ferrari should indeed earn something for their role in f1 apart from the prize money, again the fans don’t want to see reality in f1, Ferrari is an intrinsic part of f1 at all levels, Ferrari’s presence goes beyond the history the brand or the present, Ferrari is the only impartial team in f1, without f1, all f1 teams would be effectively english, a closed off championship is not a world championship. Considering that Ferrari isn’t winning for the sake of it, this is not Wec, thankfully you can’t buy the championship yet, Bernie has done his best for that not to happen, to see F1 overpowered by it’s manufacturers. The lobbying is poisonous you can blame RB and Merc, but it’s the rules that need to stop them from doing anything for success. The last veto was the perfect instance to illustrate that sometimes Ferrari works for the benefit of the fans, it was a great Bernie/Ferrari good/bad cop display, all to ensure the rule to enforce supply of f1 engines would pass.
   2. 

      Optimaximal (@optimaximal)
      16th September 2016, 9:37

      @strontium I don’t think the nuance of what the COTD is saying was lost – F1 needs an equal ‘base’ payment that means everyone, from Mercedes to Manor, can be assured that majority of next years core budget is there if they compete in every stage of the championship.
      This is what Bernie deliberately doesn’t do because he feels it in stills a level of fear in the teams, which originally worked to make them try harder, but given the lead times in F1 development, it just means the teams have to sell out to vulture capital.
   3. 

      Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
      16th September 2016, 10:24

      The “historic” payment is really an illusion. While Ferrari did enter in the F1 GP world in 1950, one could argue they ceased to exist after 1988 because Fiat took control of Ferrari after Enzo died. The team should have been renamed “Fiat” after that. Williams (joined in 1978) have raced under the same ownership longer, so they should receive the historic payment, not Ferrari.
      1. 

         Robbie (@robbie)
         16th September 2016, 12:52

         @drycrust I think you are splitting hairs. Even if they changed the name to Fiat, that wouldn’t have changed the fact that they were still Ferrari and still making and selling Ferraris and racing under that brand. Ferrari is the most recognized brand globally. Can that be said of Williams? Does the fact that RBR have rebranded their Renault PU to Tag have people fooled into thinking they aren’t running a Renault unit?
2. 

   ADD (@addimaf1)
   16th September 2016, 0:40

   Its not prize money that should be equal its TV money I believe, please someone correct me if I’m wrong I’m not sure. But right now F1 teams get two payments from the FOM TV money and prize money. How much each gets depends on their position in the championship as well as the historical payments which I think is TV money. A great way to fix this is to give F1 teams an equal share of the TV money, all the teams not just the top ten, but keep prize money similar so the higher in the constructors the more money a team receives, like the football premier league. There was a great graphic that came out a couple of years ago which showed how it all worked at the moment.
   1. 

      frood19 (@frood19)
      16th September 2016, 0:52

      tv money should certainly be more equitably distributed. the old concorde agreements which solely favoured ferrari left a bad taste in the mouth, but i can see why you might conceive of a way of a rewarding their value to the sport. however, when redbull gets a similar bonus, it just smacks of desperation. we should remember that 10 years ago, the teams got a lower cut of the tv money from bernie. but it was shared out in a less lopsided way – obviously that was a dark and slippery path to go down because it will be very difficult to renege or even reverse the existing agreements with ferrari, redbull, et al.
3. 

   Tristan
   16th September 2016, 1:02

   I think it’s pretty clear that F1 drivers just don’t get games. Fair enough too, they’ve dedicated their life to a physical pursuit. But Alonso laughing about how he’s 35 so of course he doesn’t play racing games (paraphrased) a couple of weeks ago and now these comments by Button just makes me feel like they’re completely out of touch…

   There’s more to life (for most people) than just motor racing lads… Someone should tap them on the shoulder and tell them whether they like it or not games are a pretty popular form of entertainment these days, and if they want to win more fans outright insulting them may not be the best way to go about it.
   1. 

      Robbie (@robbie)
      16th September 2016, 13:10

      @Tristan I agree with Button’s assessment of Pokemon. Very weird, not for me, I don’t get it. I’m sure millions feel the same way when they see a crowd of people all walking in the same direction, staring at their phones, looking like zombies, actually walking into traffic, actually needing to be reminded to exercise caution.

      I think you are being harsh to JB. He is not advocating being immobile instead, after all, he is a triathlete. He is advocating that if something like Pokemon can be this big surely there’s more F1 can do. There’s so much more enthralling to F1 than there is to Pokemon. That said sure there would be players that would disagree. But Button is not trying to convert game players to F1 fans…just saying that surely there’s more F1 can do to grab more audience, whether they like Pokemon, horse racing, poker, hockey, or any of the hundreds and hundreds of other sports and hobbies and activities that at least many of us can understand.
   2. 

      HeyLookAtThat
      22nd September 2016, 23:12

      To be fair, I don’t think it’s an ‘F1 driver’ thing, but an individual thing. I’ve seen plenty of instances of F1 drivers (of all ages) who relax by playing video games. Personally, I like that they’re being truthful. It’s better than hearing Alonso say ‘oh yeah… I love Call of Duty’, when he hasn’t even played it. It means he’s an individual, who’s entitled to have an opinion, instead of pandering to over-sensitive fans.
4. 

   MtlRacer (@mtlracer)
   16th September 2016, 2:38

   Liberty Media stock was at $22 the day of the announcement and has risen to $27. Buying F1 is already working out for them.
   1. 

      BasCB (@bascb)
      16th September 2016, 6:42

      good point @mtlracer!
5. 

   Machiel
   16th September 2016, 3:10

   It would be interesting to see an analysis of how F1 and Motogp compare in terms of ticket prices. Especially for the venues that both championships currently share. (Barcelona, COTA, Red Bull Ring, Sepang, and Silverstone.)
6. 

   Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
   16th September 2016, 3:38

   Button’s words on f1’s public appeal are true, you don’t earn anything on pokemon but to watch F1 is ultra expensive, not to mention going to a race weekend.
   1. 

      Tristan
      16th September 2016, 6:11

      To say that you don’t earn anything on Pokemon isn’t even correct, virtual goods have a proven and quantifiable value (on many levels; social, economic, personal). His original hashtag of #idontgetit was fair enough, but to go one to call it horrifying and imply people are better off spending their time immobile and staring at a screen or paying through the teeth to catch a glimpse of cars going very fast for a few seconds every couple minutes or so.

      I have serious trouble agreeing with that.
      1. 

         Tristan
         16th September 2016, 6:32

         The whole discussion did lead me to an interesting game idea though. A Formula 1 mobile app trading card game. Where you can collect cards of cars, drivers, team principles, locations, media personalities, even ones from past era’s. The virtual cards could include interesting statistics, information, even videos from Formula 1s extensive media library or maybe even be used to form ones own “dream team” which could be used to do battle against others.

         While at actual races you could have an increased chance to gain “shiny” versions of the cards or there could be QR code’s to scan around the track that give you different things in game. I’m pretty sure something like that would rise up the ranks of the app store charts pretty quick with official licensing.

         There’s just two ways to go about things I think, despise and belittle a concept you don’t understand. Or embrace and support it to learn how the concept can be leveraged.
         1. 

            BasCB (@bascb)
            16th September 2016, 6:49

            I think that is more or less what Button was trying to point out Tristan – F1 is missing a trick because it doesn’t use all the interesting things it COULD offer in some form that appeals to at least a part of the millions who play mobile games.
   2. 

      petebaldwin (@)
      16th September 2016, 9:36

      Someone who gets to race an F1 car will undoubtedly think F1 is more interesting than Pokémon…. Someone who can’t afford to go to any races, has never raced a car, can’t afford pay TV and has grown up with modern-day F1 would most likely disagree with that though!

      We’re talking about two completely different things here. One that is designed for kids and one that is designed to exclude kids!
      1. 

         BasCB (@bascb)
         16th September 2016, 12:56

         but imagine if you could try nad “catch” an F1 car during the race with a new app (putting your own virtual car over a lower res version of the live feed and letting you try to pass or something). That might be fun @petebaldwin :-)
   3. 

      Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
      16th September 2016, 10:07

      F1 now has a new owner, so maybe things will change. The fundamental point though, is what you’ve stated: cost! It arguably costs nothing to download the Pokemon app and to get involved in that world, but it costs you money to watch an entire race (or at least it does if you want to stay legal) and to be involved in its world. I’ve just looked on Youtube and I can’t see an entire race there (okay, it was a very quick glance, but if I can’t see it, then how could a novice!)! How pathetic! How much does it cost to load an entire race a few days after it has run onto a server somewhere so people can watch it for free? I shouldn’t actually have to look at Youtube, it should be on F1.com, but they don’t have entire races available to view on line either.
      So there you go: Pokemon is more popular because it wants to be popular, F1 is far less popular because it wants to be far less popular.
      1. 

         BasCB (@bascb)
         16th September 2016, 13:03

         Ok, Pokemon is still quite popular. But it’s numbers have gone down far steeper than F1 in the last month too @drycrust.

         For example I think F1 could do a boatload of stuff with mobile games etc using some FOM footage and a game element in it to pull in people, that is the point Button is making. There is a huge depth of content, story and imagery in F1, surely not less than in “pokemon” or “farmville” or “angrybirds”, the trick is to USE it to reach customers, get them interested, make a few games, make a movie, put someone on a show (good job IndyCar with Newgarden) etc.

         And then see to it that a percentage of those put money in too (through the various ways), possibly including maybe public viewing spots in subtop markets – something that never took off because of the exhorbitant cost and often crazy view times when nothing is open.
7. 

   mfreire
   16th September 2016, 3:58

   I don’t think F1 is going back to Long Beach anytime soon, unless:

   A.: They get the city officials to run a second race on the same streets in October or November before or after Mexico and switch Austin to March and make it the first race of the year, OR:
   B.: They find another place in the Los Angeles area to have a race (California Speedway, or another street circuit).

   The best thing about Los Angeles is that the weather there is very pleasant- it’s a lot like the Costa del Sol in Spain, thanks to the desert that surrounds the city.

   And also- I do not agree with the COTD in that prize money should be distributed equally- teams should get a specific amount based on how many points they scored in a season.
8. 

   Captain Pie (@captainpie)
   16th September 2016, 8:08

   Well played Kobayashi, Macau is a good choice! One often forgotten about in F1 circles.
9. 

   Craig Woollard (@craig-o)
   16th September 2016, 8:09

   Both Hamilton and Rosberg has had six standing starts to get right this season so far. Hamilton has led after the first corner from just one, Rosberg three.

   I’m not questioning Mercedes’ ability to start races, but I am still baffled as to why pole position seems to almost be a bogey for a driver than beneficial this season.
   1. 

      BasCB (@bascb)
      16th September 2016, 9:00

      I guess starting at the front makes it either “just maintaining position” or dropping back like Rosberg in Germany or Hamilton last race @craig-o.

      The fickly clutch seems to be one of the few weaknesses (others are their tendency risk overheating softer tyres in warm weather and off course the issues that caused all those engine issues this year.)
10. 

    ColdFly F1 (@)
    16th September 2016, 8:18

    We like to bash F1 (guilty your honour!), and complain about everything. But it is not always as bad as it seems.

    people who haven’t seen it before they might well think that it is rubbish because of the amount of inequality and lack of competition in the sport

    There is more ‘inequality and lack of competition’ in the 100m sprint/dash. There were 22 runners who finished the semi’s in RIO: most (all but 3) were over 1% slower than Bolt; 75% would have been lapped if the race was over 65laps (of 1.5m each); Bolt (like HAM) did not even try hard – included a picture moment – and most likely had an average start (again like HAM).
    1. 

       F1Fan
       16th September 2016, 22:47

       I don’t think for a moment track and field can be compared to motor racing. The former has an athlete to his/her limits to achieve victory, whereas the latter is integrally tied with cars/bikes. It’s a massive swing on balance from one category to another, even more so when we’re talking about non-spec series.
11. 

    petebaldwin (@)
    16th September 2016, 9:28

    I love how Hamilton is moaning that his car could cost him the title when in reality, his car has already won him 2 titles and has given him a 50% chance of winning this one!
    1. 

       Understeer (@abdelilah)
       16th September 2016, 10:06

       @petebaldwin It’s a bit unfair that all the hard word is lost during the start phase due to clutch problem, that’s what he means.
       I wonder why Mercedes didn’t find a software trick like benetton did on Schumacher’s car, no one will even notice ? Are Ferrari doing the same with their car too ? who knows.
       1. 

          sunny stivala
          16th September 2016, 17:09

          he needs to practice race starts some more to get his right foot and hand fingertips sensitivity up to F1 race standard.
          1. 

             Understeer (@abdelilah)
             16th September 2016, 21:43

             I don’t think it’s a practice matter, Rosberg had the same issue in Germany, and it’s rather a random problem.
12. 

    Martin
    16th September 2016, 11:52

    “I love how Hamilton is moaning that his car could cost him the title”

    He isn’t

    “his car has already won him 2 titles”

    If that was the case why isn’t Rosberg a WDC?
    1. 

       Drg
       16th September 2016, 15:00

       Nicely put :)
13. 

    hyoko
    17th September 2016, 8:06

    Learn to start properly and stop complaining, laddie

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