Pirelli can “live with” more than 20 races per year

F1 Fanatic Round-up

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In the round-up: Pirelli say they are content to supply tyres for more than 20 races per year.

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Open article Pirelli open to more races (Crash)

Motorsport director Paul Hembery: “At the end of the day the more races you have the more value you create – ultimately – because you get more visibility. So we’re not against doing more races, it just creates for everybody a practical human problem because people struggle with their natural lives so you might have to double up in some areas and create a duplication of roles, but you live with it.”

Mercedes denies F1 an engine formula (Autosport)

Paddy Lowe: “Our car is very quick. There are other cars running that power unit that aren’t as quick, so it’s a whole system.”

CBI trains guns on IDBI over king size loan to Vijay Mallya (India Today)

“[Vijay Mallya’s] Kingfisher Airlines already owes 7,500 crore [Rupees, £731m] to a consortium of 17 banks, (see accompanying story and box) with the State Bank of India topping the list.”

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Comment of the day

Among the top suggestions for Saturday’s Caption Competition were those from RRRacer007, JayfreeseKnight, Andae23, Brownerboy and Magnificent Geoffrey.

However I selected this one from @Me4me as the winner:

With one of his pockets already empty, Fernandes hold a firm hand on the other.

From the forum

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On this day in F1

Happy birthday to former F1 driver Lucas di Grassi who is 30 today.

Images © Pirelli/Hone, Caterham/LAT

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Keith Collantine
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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29 comments on “Pirelli can “live with” more than 20 races per year”

  1. Thoughts on the horiffic stewart crash? Did he intend to hit him in a state of rage or merely an accident due to.poor visibility?
    Shocking either way.

    1. As terrible and controversial as it is I’m glad it wasn’t added to the news here. It’s not F1, and other race-series’ are what the forums are for. If this bit of news is on the frontpage, then I would be concerned about coming here in the future and having the NASCAR result spoiled on me.

      1. Both were stupid but ultimate responsibility lies with NASCAR and the other governing bodies involved in fostering a culture of unprofessional behavior.

        Their obsession with deliberate collisions and running on the track in the name of “the show”, leaving really stupid dangerous acts go unpunished, was always eventually going to lead to a serious incident. Kevin Ward might have been stupid to run onto the track and Tony Stewart might have been equally stupid to hit the gas but the problem is that clearly neither felt any threat to them, otherwise they wouldn’t have done it. They aren’t innocent but they are both victims.

        This isn’t the 1st time a driver has jumped out his car after a wreck & run onto the track to let the other driver involved know he’s unhappy, Its happened a lot & is even encouraged to some degree. Its also not the 1st time the driver venting his anger has been struck by another car & suffered injury although its the 1st time I recall a driver been killed from it.

        Even today not even a full day after this tragic incident during the Sprint cup race a driver walked onto the track to look the other driver involved in the eye & wave his arms at him as he drove past & Nascar did nothing to discourage it.

        If you allow & encourage a particular type of activity then it will filter down & the younger drivers will believe its acceptable. Its about time Nascar stopped doing everything to encourage confrontation & started clamping down on dangerous behavior so that the young kids who follow there heroes don’t start thinking its acceptable & copying it.

        The ‘Boys have at it’ attitude Nascar has encouraged the past few years has done nothing but lead to more contact, More accidents, Some more severe accidents caused intentionally & a lot more fights & other drama in the pits/paddock between driver & crews & its about time this nonsense stopped.

        Safety & proper driving etiquette should be put before ‘The show’.

        1. So the exact opposite of the FIAs penalty for Fernando giving Mark a lift after the race finished.

        2. I agree with you completely. There is a very barbaric mentality in North America, not just with racing but with other sports as well. Look at Hockey for example, there is probably two fights in every game. Even when there is a serious injury, the league does nothing to deter players from fighting.
          What happened to Ward is extremely sad, and my thoughts are with his family. I am sure that adrenaline had a lot to do in his motivation to single out the driver that hit him, but at the same time I can’t help but think it has a lot to do with North American “culture.”
          I am Canadian, so I hate to admit that my own countrymen, and our American siblings have a love affair with violence, but it is a sad truth.

          1. Fully agree.

      2. Michael Brown
        11th August 2014, 1:30

        There was a short discussion on yesterday’s round-up. This kind of news should be kept in the forums, you’re right, it’s not F1.

      3. News about a fatality in motorsport wouldn’t really be indicative of there being news about NASCAR in general.

        1. True. But that’s one thing I like about F1f – not ‘crossing the steams’. I just wish twitter offered me a way to do that.

          1. I think that’s what lists are for.

      4. Actually the accident wasn’t a NASCAR accident. Only the driver drives in this series but the race was not related.

    2. It was more suicidal rage than murderous rage.

      1. Actually it was all suicidal rage, there was no murderous rage.

    3. @sato113 hard to comment since we know so little about it. Everyone is innocent until proven guilty…

      As far as I know, running on a very slippery track, to the racing line, with fast cars approaching, at night, on dark overalls and helmet isn’t the brightest idea ever.

      American racing tends to have those sort of thing, the fist fights, the anger on track. We’ve seen many and we’ve laughed about it, but ultimately it’s extremely dangerous and shouldn’t happen.

      I hope after this they make a rule stating that anyone in an accident must leave the track inmediately after marshalls arrive. If you want to have an argument, do it after the race.

      It’s such a tragic news, a guy so young. Younger than me in fact. Doing what he loved and he’s not with us anymore. Tragic, and avoidable, whatever the outcome of the investigation shows. It’s sad.

      1. @fer-no65 Yeah, it seems to be a US racing thing. Here’s the same thing in Indycat a few years back:

        http://youtu.be/0ZuejqbX1HU?t=52m33s

    4. That seems has always been a part of the culture of American racing, and frankly I am not one bit surprised by this incident. The guy who died got what he deserved, he implicitly committed suicide. And the authorities, media and advertisers in American racing who did not harshly penalize this sort of behavior, and even condoned it or used it for advertisements are all a part of this culture that led to this.

      It’s also somewhat ironic how the previous day I watched a South Park episode, where the whole episode was about how the kid was not poor and stupid enough to be a successful NASCAR driver.

      1. petebaldwin (@)
        11th August 2014, 16:19

        @mateuss – haha. “I’m gonna drive and I’m gonna go fast and I’m gonna turn to the left sometimes!”

    5. Very sad that this happened.
      It wasn’t very smart to run on the racetrack.
      But what is most shocking is his outfit, a night race, a brown undeground, black car, black racesuit and a black helmet!
      My guess is Tony only saw him very late.
      I think they need to take some lessons from it, one being visibility of the drivers. Some reflective marking on the overalls or something.

      1. @solidg OMG… Okay, I’ll admit that those would be valid points, only if it was not for some other more serious issues, like… I don’t know, people randomly running on the track, on foot, in front of the path of others, while cars are blasting past? (In American racing in general)

  2. Chris (@tophercheese21)
    11th August 2014, 4:20

    Don’t get me wrong, I love having a long F1 calendar. Heck! I wish F1 was on every weekend of the year!

    But I really feel for all the people involved in the operation who have to fly to every race. Anything more than 20 races per year is probably too much. The physical and mental toll from such a long time away from home must be very tough on the teams personnel and their families.

    The F1 ‘season’ is one of the longest sporting seasons in all of sport, spanning from March until late November. Which gives them a little over 3 month of “off season”. Which is almost no time at all, and even then they’re not really taking a break, as they’re all there working away the whole time.

    Yeah, I think 20 races is arguably too much.

    1. Right now — 11 flyaways and 8 “European season” races.

      I would think adding more races close in would be ok, but there are too many flyaways as it is. Unfortunately, that is not where Bernie’s preferred government or oil money lies, Austria being the lone exception of latest adds.

      Too bad there was not a backer to fund empty seats at Istanbul, that is a Tilke track I miss…

    2. There was so far one year that was supposed to have more than 20 races. Now, I guess that my enthusiasm dwindled a bit with Vettel winning more than anyone else recently, but I found myself not even looking forward to many races in the second half of the year when they were almost too many packed in a short period and it was hard to combine a normal family life with that.

      For me it helps when the races are early mornings (somewhere between 6 and 9:30 CET) so I can still enjoy the rest of the day with friend or family. But I do think that 20 is about the limit of what keeps the sport going and not being overkill

    3. Chance Legstrong
      11th August 2014, 9:18

      Oh please – the int’l pro cycling season runs from January through December if you race cross or track – and we don’t get five “power units” (lol) per season! We ARE the power unit!!

  3. I’m not too bothered about having more than 20 races. There has been at least one live thing on which is motorsport that I am interested in since the middle of March. This continues right the way through until the end of November. More F1 rounds would be great, but then you run the risk of other popular series clashing – something which I do not want.

  4. Haha @Me4me, that was genius caption completion. Had a good smile reading at that one. @keithcollantine picked the best one, no competition.

    1. @jeff1s, thanks, glad you enjoyed it! First C.C.-win feels great :)

  5. I wonder if it would be possible for teams and tracks to get the backing of the FIA to do non-championship events again, and bypass FOM. It would probably be a legal nightmare, but it would possibly mean more revenue for both, and races where fans are actually present, better promotion, more visibility for the sport and could help find new audiences. It might even give FOM the kick they need to get their act together with social media, fan-rapport and sustainability of the sport.

    1. @splittimes, fat chance, but a great idea, could be run with the previous years cars driven by the reserve and test drivers, half distance races in conjunction with a GT or Touring car program, extra exposure for the sponsors and some real driving and exposure for the test drivers.

      1. That would be called testing and is illegal

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