Formula One - 2018

Keith Tanner said:

Well, maybe we'd get back up to a full grid again at least. And if the lower teams have more money, maybe we'd get some closer racing.

Not that close racing has historically been a big thing in F1, honestly. Even Can-Am was just a parade most of the time, and it's viewed as the pinnacle of minimal regulation racing. But I'm all for more cars.

And tighter dancing among those on the 'FLOOR'.......I'm so tired of the 'pit lane two step'

BarryNorman said:

Funny that Ferrari just brought back Alfa Romeo. After threatening to leave F1 for not being treated (paid) well enough. And the old school saying install Bernie and let him pay them.  I say new owners new deal. And Ferrari would stay (and not start up Formula One by Fiat) if Lamborghini was brought back. 

They see this as giving them even more leverage, the Alfa Sauber deal is only until the end of 2020 which is when their current commitment and the rules expire.  They see this as being able to say 'Give me more toys in my pram or I'll throw my toys and Alfa's toys out and go off in a whiney huff'

Keith Tanner said:

Ferrari can't leave F1. It's too much a part of the brand, and they're a brand far more than they're a car manufacturer. Bernie always blinked when they played chicken, I don't know if Liberty will or not.

I agree, they've played chicken little too many times.  It's predictable that every time a new rule comes they cry 'we'll quit'  The only difference here is Sergio Marchionne (or 'the sweater guy' as he is derisively called on Ferrarichat) is and always has been a numbers guy.  Luca di Montezemolo for all his faults was a car guy through and through.  While I don't believe they'll quite anymore than last time, I'd say the chances of it happening are higher with Sweater guy than in the past.  If they did they'd probably be fine for a few years and keep selling more and more purses to doctors and surgeons.  Eventually though it would catch up to them and their identity would suffer.

Keith Tanner said:

Well, maybe we'd get back up to a full grid again at least. And if the lower teams have more money, maybe we'd get some closer racing.

 

Maybe I'm too much of an anorak (British roots showing there) but I would love to see us go back to 26 cars on the grid.  I always loved the Zakspeed's, Euro Bruns', Osella's, AGS's etc.   I loved that struggle to get on the back of the grid.  The young drivers coming from F3 and F3000 wheeling and dealing for a place in an underfunded no hope team desperate to get a shot at F1.  It also was a proving ground not just for young drivers, but designers, Engineers, Mechanics etc.  Often the battles for the lower places are just as tight or tighter than at the front of the grid.  

I was talking to a friend about this last night who is a big open-wheel racing fan. He heard the deal didn't involve a lot of money on ABC's end and suspects this may be a precursor to subscription web-streaming.

In reply to Adrian_Thompson :

Personally, I can't take the whining every time something doesn't break their way and in a way I'd be glad to see them go, but how much of the Grand Prix ticket buying public only follow the Ferraris like this guy:

They've got what seems on the surface to be a pretty good GT customer car business going in several different series in Europe and in the US, plus they could take advantage of the slight vacuum in LMP1 right now to try to invest their F1 dollars into something that would be "more road-car relevant".  The whole road-car business may have once been there only to subsidize the passion for racing, but my cynical outlook on life says that in the days of the multi-national conglomerate you're not going to look past any bottom-line numbers for something as childish as "passion".  Admittedly, I am not their demographic so I'm probably not qualified to say, but I suspect if they cut out of F1 with plenty of press about how it's not really the pinnacle of engineering any more and other such spin, then sunk 50% of that money into expanding GT customer-car development, it would neutralize the hit on their brand identity and perhaps enhance it.

I guess I want it both ways -- I want Ferrari to leave, but all their fans to stay and another powerhouse manufacturer to take their place as a constructor.  It's a fantasy world, but it's MY fantasy world, damnit!

My thought was that Ferrari wouldn't want to be seen as giving up their place in F1 to Lamborghini. Who could bring back Bugatti, Bentley or even Porsche to the paddock. Also, to add to the show, the team's were allowed three car/drivers in qualifying with only the two fastest making the show. Rossi could try and qualify a Ferrari for example. (Thoughts) 

Adrian_Thompson said:

Given that Wehrlein has been replaced by LeClrec at Sauber I'd love to see him land a seat at Williams.  While it would be a wonderful tear jerker of a story for Robert Kubica to come back, once that story has played out he's still a 32 year old at 90% capacity rather than a promising 23 year old who recently won the DTM champ who normally outscored Ericsson this year in the frankly awful Sauber.   

I also think that Wehrlein deserved a seat. I was really hoping he would end up at Force India but Esteban Ocon has shown himself to be the better. The only other spot is Williams. Based on some of the F1 coverage of him off track there seems to be some issues with him getting along with either the sponsors, press corps, team politics, or personnel cultures. Not sure what it is, as he seems a pleasant guy but he get almost zero press time once Monisha Kaltenborn was fired. 

Gutierrez and Kvvyat seemed to have the same issues. Their attitudes were put on camera but Wehrlein....IDK why they are having a hard time placing him into a good car. 

Looks like we get the Sky feed in the US this year:  https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/f1-broadcast-television-espn-abc-sky-1004720/amp/

That's not the worst news I've heard! Sky is a close second to Channel 4 on my list of favorites. Now if they can do it without a commercial break every 90 seconds, it'll be a good reason to watch locally, so to speak.

In reply to Keith Tanner : I just wonder if ABC/ESPN are going to play it live or chop it up into a 1/2 of coverage. Perhaps the liming streaming will be the best opition.

You have to wonder though how much longer we will get free broadcasts.  Much of Europe only gets highlights, with everything else on a pay service.  

As to Ferrari, there is always Formula E.  A couple of years ago I thought of it as a second rate series, now I think all the money is headed there in a few years, leaving F1 up in the air for many manufacturers.

racerdave600 said:

You have to wonder though how much longer we will get free broadcasts.  Much of Europe only gets highlights, with everything else on a pay service.  

Going to PPV would probably kill whatever market growth F1 is seeing in the US.

I suspect what's going to happen is that we'll get about 2/3 of the Sky broadcast, with random 5 minute chunks missing during commercial breaks.

codrus said:

racerdave600 said:

You have to wonder though how much longer we will get free broadcasts.  Much of Europe only gets highlights, with everything else on a pay service.  

 

Going to PPV would probably kill whatever market growth F1 is seeing in the US.

 

I suspect what's going to happen is that we'll get about 2/3 of the Sky broadcast, with random 5 minute chunks missing during commercial breaks.

 

Or we'll get it on a delay and the whole thing will be 30-60 minutes longer so they can fit in commercial breaks.  I think the best we can hope for is the side-by-side thing where the race audio is muted during commercials, but you can still see the video.  I could live with that, actually.

The Sky coverage has normal commercial breaks during the pre and post race shows.  They do not cut for commercials during the race itself.  TSN in Canada will generally show a fairly long first stint of the race, then cut away for commercial breaks during the broadcast, which is a bit of a pain, but as long as they don't do it during a pit stop sequence, its not too bad.  If it were a series where something happened at a time other than during quali or the start, it would be worse.

I think the current Sky coverage is second only to the old days with James Hunt and Murray Walker.

Yeah, it'll probably be just like the TSN service which is acceptable. I still have an aggressive Pavlovian response to hearing that NBC bass line when they line up to go to commercial, then delay coming back to the program so they can show a commercial for F1 on NBC.

I'm not old enough to have watched with Hunt or Walker in his prime, but I do like the Channel 4 team for pre-race and David Coulthard for in-race commentary.

Have any of the cars tested yet?

aussiesmg said:

Have any of the cars tested yet?

 

2018 cars on a near freezing track this week. As I thought the halo doesn't really change the looks of the car too much. They are there that is all. I like all but the Force India color scheme, I prefer the one they used last year over this one. I am curious if Renault will give first wins to Sainz and Hulk. 

I am excited to see Alonso mid pack battles this year. I guess my homework is trying to figure out how the new television supplier will work for my local cable before Australia.

I am rooting for Torro Rosso this year just because of the Honda redemption. So far reliability seems to be good for all runners after just one and half days of running. 

Well, Now that we are back on the nose of a car again, I'll be interesting to see what they do for the USGP this year.

We had a pretty interesting meet and greet with the Caterham team when we were their technology partners. You could meet the drivers and they did a Q&A with the engineering team which was pretty cool.

I hope Zak Brown brings the McLaren team up to Round Rock for something similar prior to the USGP this year. 

I'm not going to comment on the looks of the halo because it's there for the right reasons, but at least people have something to complain about other than the noise now

I do like the fact that McLaren has committed to orange. Looks like they learned from the pink Force Indias last year, it's good to have your car stand out on camera instead of just being black and silver with little accents.

Keith Tanner said:

I'm not going to comment on the looks of the halo because it's there for the right reasons, but at least people have something to complain about other than the noise now

I was going to say....  Those multi-element front wings are a lot uglier than the halo, IMO.

I love the contrast of the orange (sorry 'Papaya') and the black floor.  It really shows the tightly sculpted Coke bottle shape.

I always thought F1 cars had an anti- coke bottle shape.

I am excited to see how this year goes for McLaren.

I have a friend who moved from working in Mercedes F1 KERS systems to McLaren F1 last year, he's really excited about the new cars.

In reply to Keith Tanner :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khA67-r5lSQ