Some of the recent comments on this blog have been a little bit over the top. So, for those who do not know or have forgotten, this is what it says in the “Blog Rules” section.
Joe Saward’s Grand Prix Blog is not a traditional news source. The aim is to amuse and inform about the complex world of Formula 1 motor racing. The blog is run by a professional motorsport journalist with 28 years of experience, the majority of which has been spent in Formula 1.
Joe is not a stay-at-home commentator. He attends all the World Championship Grands Prix, and has done for 23 years. He is accredited as an FIA Formula 1 Permanent Passholder. There are inevitably going to be people who consider that some of the posts are biased for or against a particular team and/or driver. Joe’s opinions are not based on the fact that he is British. He has lived in France for 20 years and is accredited by a Japanese publication.
As a freelance reporter he pays his own expenses. He works for publications all over the world. He occasionally writes material for promotional publications and from time to time acts as a consultant if asked to do so. This does not affect his views as a journalist, except perhaps giving him greater insight into the organisations or people involved.
For the avoidance of all doubt, the word blog derives from the expression “web log”, which is a website maintained by an individual with regular entries on any subject the writer cares to discuss. It is not designed to be an objective news website. Thus one should expect there to be subjective opinions expressed.
People are welcome to comment, but they should always remember that this is a privilege, not a right. Any posts that include unpleasant and abusive language will not be published. Joe has no problems with passionate comments and sensible debate, but remember that you are part of a diverse community and it is necessary to be respectful of others. One can be critical of statements, but try to avoid remarks about people; try to talk about the motorsport world, and skip obscenities, political rhetoric, and anything that might give offence. Joe’s posts will not involve any discussion on religion. Politics may be touched upon when there are discussions about government funding of the sport or where races are held, but will otherwise be avoided.
Joe will also refrain from reporting on the private lives of the F1 racing stars unless it has a direct effect on their on-track performance. We are all entitled to privacy. Formula 1 drivers are not public servants, but – whether they like it or not – they are role models for younger generations and thus inappropriate behaviour may be reported, particularly if it involves hypocrisy. If, for example, a driver is arrested on a drink-driving charge and has taken part in anti-drinking campaigns, this is a matter of public interest and should be reported.
Joe considers elected officials to be public servants, even if they are members of an organisation such as the international automobile federation (FIA). If an individual claims to represent millions of motorists when they are trying to influence governments with their campaigns, they have a responsibility to behave in a manner that is appropriate to that position. When a public servant leaves home, they automatically don the hat of public office. What this office requires is that the public servant puts aside personal values and beliefs and attempts to act according to values and beliefs expected from someone in that position.
The blog will also be used to promote products and events that Joe has created for F1 fans, notably the GP+ e-magazine, the Business of Motorsport e-newsletter and the “Audience with Joe” events which allow fans to ask Joe questions and at the same time to meet other Formula 1 fans.
Correctly re-stated people would be crazy to assume anything else.
Hear hear.
Respect the man, respect the blog.
These are both rare and wonderful things in the mad world of F1.
p.s. Along with DT, the mad man from the north
Well said – it is annoying when people start argue over people opinions. Keep doing what you doing!
Joe,
More power to you. The web is both a powerful tool for intelligent discourse but unfortunately also banal brainless mudslinging. I agree that the tone of many of the Mercedes post comments were abrasive at best. Fanboy drivel that is unobjective or made contrary to the weight of information should be left at the door. It is the reason that the majority of sensible f1 come here to hear your considered opinions free from sensationalist spin.
Please consider this a note of thanks from the vastly silent majority that appreciate this blog
joe,
Many thanks for the F1 insight. The last few weeks have been a long wait – do you actually really need a holiday?? The dry sense of humour and tongue-in-cheek comments at times are great. It’s something I read every morning here in the Blue Mountains NSW. Last GP I attended was at Brands with Derek W in a Toleman-Hart!!!
How can I get a job like yours?
David Turnedge,
Go out and grab it. They don’t give them away…
Joe,
Once again, thank you for your persistence writing this blog in the face of a minority of rather loud commenters who seem to be lacking in a little bit of respect of your opinions, which are very highly valued by the silent majority of us.
FWIW I thought the Mercedes post was yet another insightful piece, which is what keeps me visiting regularly here.
As a recent subscriber of GP+, can I just say thank you for an excellent magazine, which also looks great and reads really well on my iPad. Keep up the great work, because we all really appreciate it!
Well said Joe
Before people click on the ‘post comment’ button, they should think carefully.
It’s strange how many blogs attract poison, especially on the middle class newspapers…(comment is free but facts are sacred)
I always enjoy reading the stream of conciousness from John (the other John).
Nice blog Joe, thanks!
“When a public servant leaves home, they automatically don the hat of public office.”
In actuality, the hat of public office doesn’t completely come off when a public servant goes home. Codes of conduct can and do extend to extra curricular activities and business dealings.
One could say the hat must always be…. on the mind.
Thanks.
Thanks from me for the blog Joe – first place I go every day over my toast and coffee.
Sorry there has been a slight fanboy invasion. I think you would be well within your rights to remove those postings. If they did not get the attention they crave, then they would go somewhere else.
P.S. This GrandPrix+ was a particulaly good issue – I enjoyed DT’s 400 piece. How many glasses had he had before he wrote that?!?!
Thank you.
I can’t say I’ve ever thought Joe’s got an axe to grind on anything. He just says it like it is, in an always informative, insightful and often amusing way..
Keep up the good work Joe!
Like your blog Joe, well said and well written.
With all due respect, I sorta miss the culinary commentary. Perhaps you could have Mr. Michael Winner tag along at one point.
Joe, I was close to writing a reply yesterday that defended what you had written, but cancelled it when I remembered that you have more than enough facts to defend yourself better – which is the reason I read your blog and GP+ in the first place.
You don’t just report on F1, you give good quality and detailed insight as well.
If people don’t like or agree with something you write, they can politely offer their own opinions or just not read it in the future. It was out of order what some people wrote yesterday and for that reason, I’m writing today to offer my support and thanks for the job you do.
Regards,
One of the normally quiet mass!
Joe,
Your blog is refreshing and always interesting. Your musings,opinions and always well informed speculation that sometimes (often?) diverge from traditional reporting add a valuable perspective for those of us on the sidelines. Keep it up and don’t let the bastards get you down!
Patrick,
gotta laugh, you have me – think it’s officially called verbal diarrhea! But i do sometimes look back and think “Did i really write that?”, frown and reckon if it’s just me talking nonsense about my rot it’s true. Those who i more routinely infuriate want to know the secret formula which times my silences, which tend to start with the thought “this (whatever it is) HAS to be bollocks”. Better here than many places in life, i always keep coming back to read others’ comments.
. .
Joe,
i guess putting house rules more prominently, say above the text box for comments, wouldn’t stop anyone much, but maybe it is my browser, yet i’d appreciate a preview function sometimes. For me, not previewing makes sure i am a bit more careful. For me, not previewing makes sure i am a bit more careful. I just checked, in my firefox setup this box does not expand to fit the typed text. I should stop using my paranoid setup for your site, not needed. Oh, now i see it working, in “chrome” so less need of preview.
Not a GP+ thread, but apparently HP are making more supply of their tablets which they’ve ditched as a business. Same screen as the iPad, neato technically by all accounts, and about 120 quid. Tempting, just for GP+.
. .
David Turnedge,
adding to Joe’s response: you make yourself a job like Joe’s. Take some risks, consider that if not everything is blaggable, you get noticed for trying, and the effort alone will make you feel much much better. (you need this feedback) Don’t window shop for your personal life. I still make less than contemporaries got in banks leaving university. (which was shocking sums) and the only time i felt bad about my decisions is when i wasn’t able to share them with people who are now gone from life. There are sadly no books i know of which accurately depict a balance of things how it will go for you with your love / wife / family but having a proper honest go never seems to put you in the doghouse. Can even do wonders . . ! Still, search out Carpetbaggers, with Peppard and Ladd Snr for the archetypical way you might be perceived if you want to shoot for the stars and not keep a grounded view of yourself. It’s a known bias, in literature, that independent men get portrayed as misogynist nasties. (you’ll spend a lot more solitary time, watch out on that case to mind yourself to use it, you probably won’t have had so much downtime since you were a nervous teen) You may have to overcome all of that to get along. I certainly have been yelled at, slapped and all received all sorts of reactions not for public consumption, plenty. But it’s fixable. Particularly if you know in advance you’ll make a fool of yourself. See? Strong but fallible. That caricature’ll get you some female admirers, we be brought up on such stereotypes
Oh, and actual bit of advice for real, if you start on your own path: get fit, really fit. Fix your diet. (and do not cut fatty foods completely, they are important to the nervous system, enjoy your bacon sarnie) You will really need that fitness to start out, not kidding you. Drop coffee for green tea for a start. Pissed off by a bad day or soured deal: run a few K, the endorphins will set you straight. I’m just coming back to this, and have injuries to work around. But i promise you it’s the way to get focussed.
. .
Let not the blog / think tank / hideaway for the conscientiously obsessed, be dulled by rabid “fans”. Keep it going everyone, and let’s try to tear up more analysis of this sport, the brain trust isn’t that poor.
all best to all,
– john
Hearty applause! We really should value what is, I think, the best F1 blog out there. The dissection of the background to the News Corp bid was a tour de force.
Well said Joe, thank you for all your hard work and dedication to the world of F1..
Well said Joe. I come here for intelligent thought and debate not the typical rubbish of forums
I wondered why this post was needed………….then I saw the “politics at Mercedes” entry !!
Keep up the excellent work Joe !
I read the Merc Blog and at that point wondered how much response you would get. I would guess that having been in F1 for 20 years Mr Schumacher has built up quite a large following which may not be the man’s fault (Or is it? As fascinatingly flaw riddled as his impressive career has been you could argue that this may reflect on his followers too?), and therefore a divers group of people who either think first and then reply or have their emotions directly linked to the keyboard.
I am grateful to read your blog and hope that these sometimes rather personal attacks do not deter you!
Glad to read that one of your aims is to amuse. People should remember that and respond, and read, with that in mind. All should remember that F1 is a tad po-faced and a blog like this is just what it needs. So, lets not get all heavy in our replies and assume that when reading articles and replies, there is a strong chance that it might be tongue in cheek.
Oh, yes, I’m seeing the irony in my own reply too. I’m very seriously telling folks to lighten up….
Good for you Joe. There was one in particular after your Spa report that I’d have round-filed. Such folks never say how much experience or credentials they have, just hide behind their anonymity and criticize a blog they are not qualified enough to produce on their own, counting on your good will to publish it anyway.
+1 support. Your blog gets read in the studio most days.
In response to David Hodge, re the 400 GPs piece I wrote in the last GP+, the answer is zero glasses. I don’t drink alcohol after giving it up in 1994. Honesty was the fuel for that one, straight from the heart. Like a teetotal scribe, difficult for some people to understand, perhaps, in today’s F1.
And re David Turnedge’s job enquiry, what Joe omitted to say is that you need talent, knowledge, determination, passion, one hell of a lot of stamina, and an ability to get out there and get it done.
In terms of the amount of sleep you get and the amount of work you do during a GP weekend, it’s no trip to Paris, as Mario would say. But it sure as hell beats working for a living.
Yours, the so-called mad man from the North.
David Tremayne
I, like many others, come here for the intellectual insight that this blog offers, rather than the cheap, “so-and-so feels confident this weekend”, “such-and-such a team vow not to give up” articles that many sites churn out without actually telling you anything.
And people need to remember that this is not a normal news source; this is Joe’s blog with his own opinions, and as such he has every right to put whatever he wants. Do I find seeing the GP+ adverts after every race? Not really. But Joe makes money from them, is proud of them, and whilst not having read any of them myself, I’d guess they are of high quality. So why on earth shouldn’t he promote them!?
Do I necessarily agree with everything that Joe writes? Not all the time. Regarding the Mercedes post, do I really believe that is what happened? No. Is it possible? Unfortunately yes. While I would be disappointed if it were true, I would alas not be shocked. I feel that this is one of the most informative and trustworthy sites out there in terms of F1 news, and although some of it is speculative, everything he writes is plausible and gives me a greater window into the world of Formula 1. Keep up the good work and ignore the moronic idiots who posts stupid comments (not that you need anyone to tell you that)!
David Tremayne,
i took a break before saying this, but it comes out the same way,
. . .
and for anyone who wants to try, expect a decade or two of trying.
being on your own is a bit scarier than taking home a salary. Genuinely, take the “do i want to be looked after test”. Think back to what kid you were. (I surely went against this sensible idea, i am a home boy) Then apply that to who you might want to look after. Now, or later. Can you manage? Do you even know what it costs to fund several people’s retirements? Your kid’s schools? Have you actually paid off the mortgage? Or does the debt go to your kids, one way or . .
Then completely take away, as a test, whoever you think is your anchor. Chances are you are not that talented. Back to drawing board. Take that with a pinch of seeing the sky direct as you try to sleep cold. This is what i meant about getting a few slaps from girls i loved, they got shoved out, just as i might have needed them, and time makes that few chances. Business is lovely, when you are set up with a mate, and deluded only by yourself. But it is a harsh mistress, and nice girls shy from that company. Not insurmountable, nor has it to be dishonest, but it’s a trade. Or a gambit; you can bust that, but better be very good to back it up.
Been there, on the cold glance of a white knuckle, and had to do it again because i was sopped over loosing my friend. Honesty is a bloody great drug.
– john
I’m glad I found your blog!