The Commercial Rights Holder (CRH) draws up the Formula 1 calendar (a point worth mentioning when it comes to Bahrain), and his proposals are approved by the FIA. It is not clear what happens if the FIA objects to the calendar. The CRH has a lot of restrictions on what he can and cannot do. These are laid out in detail in what is believed to be several pages of the Concorde Agreement. These restrictions include a period in the winter when no racing is allowed; and a similar break in August. The CRH must also take into account the geographical distribution of the races so that the championship has a truly global aspect. The teams are committed to taking part in 17 events, but there are mechanisms that allow this to be increased to 20 with their consent, although the three additional events have different status, rights, agreements and restrictions. For example, if there are three extra events there seems to be some stipulation that one of them must be in Europe.
Teams clearly do have some kind of veto when it comes to the distribution of the events, although the details of such restrictions are decidedly unclear. It is believed that the CRH can have a certain number of countries with more than one event apiece but, at the same time, must include a certain number of countries that are listed in the agreement. It is not always possible to include them all but from what we can understand the CRH must have a certain number from the list.
If there are complaints from the teams about the latest calendar we will need to wait and see exactly what the problem is but because all of this is confidential it is hard to explain the pushing and shoving.
But I guess its save to say, that the pushing and shoving is also influenced by and a forebode to the negotiations of a new deal to replace the ending concorde argeement.
The teams want more money, and the easiest way to provide that is to increase the number of events.
Bottom line, this is no good for the fans and the CRH or whoever can do better. I’m thinking about travelling to the Malaysian GP next year at great expense to my self and hearing that the calendar is still not set is just ridiculous. Spending a couple of thousand dollars to go to a race may seem like nothing to Bernie but that’s a hell of a lot of money for me! I love the sport though and will continue to support it, I just wish the people in charge would show more support to the fans.
I hope RShack will chime in on this. I read his reply to me half a dozen over, and i got schooled.
Flippant thought: how about sorting out this acronym soup, Joe? Kinda side bar thing, tag cloud or something like that. Handy ref, cheat sheet, whichever. I’m not bashing your usage, just i have to say i am sometimes overloaded. I invented an entire borscht of bollockronyms for here, and have been trying to live that down for a good while now . . they are essential for equations, but can equally obscure. One of the best reads i ever clutched in my hands was how they sorted the mnemonics for the Apollo guidance computer. Epic thought went into that, so recall and associations would work under duress. Turned out very handy.
I think we’re into a heavy phase of smokes and mirrors. Anyone who tells me there is not a whiff of desperation lurking behind these deals i humbly suggest ought to get out a bit more. No offense intended to anyone. But i am fairly regularly slapped down for mentioning contract expiry, get that in private chat also. How can people ignore the elephant in the room like that, i have no idea. The consistent thing, is i am told “don’t worry, they are big boys, they will sort it out”. Okay, fine, just not buying it, too much guff in the press for me to let that pass. The incorrect assumption is that somehow i am playing Cassandra, and all dire predictions are right one day or another, see short sellers who loose it all whilst waiting for the “inevitable”. But i am not that mean, and definitely do not want bad days for the sport, so those accusations are pure straw man reversed.
Wouldn’t it be great if someone could make public a copy of the Concorde Agreement?
Hi Joe,
Have there been any rumblings regarding the renewed US GP date since the announcement.
A GP down south on the final day of the Chase still seems at odds with the idea of obtaining maximum exposure for the sport.
And yet Bernie still has the gaul to say that FOTA is a waste of time for the teams …but then again he would say that wouldn’t he. Little man, large stones.
sorry for the rant, but had to get it out of me.
Q Why Oh Why are fans going through this. A: F1 teams and in particular Bernie, have no interest in fans, they are now superfluous to requirements, money makes money, end of!
The BBC/Sky deal has caused an understandable reaction from passionate fans who have followed for many years, The contradictions by Bernie Eccleston and BBC have done little to allay fears that fans have been stitched up.
Neither teams, BBC nor broadcasters are willing to provide answers to the fans.
Teams and drivers have continued to avoid the issue, not giving support to the e-petition set up by fans that has 30,000 + signatures.
Bahrain has been on the news again tonight, nothing has changed, yet again we could see a change of dates,I have read your previous post, I feel strongly that F1 should not be involved in the volatile situation. It is a great country to visit but not until all the current problems are resolved for the nationals residing there.
Having been an avid fan for 46 years, I am disillusioned by the ethics that F1 does not need fans.
6 wheeled,
there is indeed a Gaul involved.
(where do these come from? Must be a habit forming thing!)
Bernie was recently quite adamant that he picks the venues.
Karen says ” The teams want more money, and the easiest way to provide that is to increase the number of events.”
There’s a much easier way Karen – sell the whole circus to Uncle Rupe.
Bernie is courting. See JA’s blog.
If there is indeed a stipulation that one of the three extra races must be in europe, what would define the ‘extra’ race as opposed to a non-europe standard race? Is there a stipulation to just how many races must be in europe in a standard 17 race calendar?
Joe?
Karen?
p.s. – new picture, new haircut Joe?
All this how many circuits are raced every year . . Oh, you’ve heard it plenty from me, but i want a core dozen, and the rest up for grabs, If that means more numerically, fine. I just want the cosy deals with tracks which clearly do not add anything, to be busted. I never liked the so called “Istanbul Park”, but what a waste of money. That is really not a good advert. Why should it not come back in rotation once in a while? At least give it a go. On fair terms. They might care for their event a bit more, like that,
If more races works, okay, But not some simplistic thing. It is not a straight multiplier. I don’t know where that idea is coming from.
Karen – that makes sense for everyone except the event holders themselves, since they don’t make any money out of it!
As pointed out earlier, things are not cool yet in Bahrain. Far from it. Nor is Grib either busted or freed. (if he is actually relevant) I can see clearly there is massive incentive to keep those hush for another year. But no-one who really cares about this is doing themselves any favors by perpetuating that fallacy. I think F1 is shackled to a rotting old pile, and must make a fresh dash. I’ve never met anyone who would denigrate BE’s charge to get the sport on a business footing. But that, surely, was then. So much do i want to hear about e.g. the Austin track, or developments over that side, or please a French race, i keep forgetting there is so much housekeeping to be done. I think we are all trying to analyze some sanity out of something which has just lost its way.
Talking of adverts (me, never, honest) so many of the tracks which do not gel have been sold as a huge stretch. I’m just calling the sky blue. But if you want to try a new direction, hold fast to your better ideas first. It’s been a bit tail wags to dog. If there’s a great story in this, it’s been how resilient true fans have been. (succubus to sidetrack corporate intrigue, i fear) Again, last night i tried to explain what i thought to my Chicagoan pal. I ended up making the hand gestures for the three cups. Then he got it. Made me very sad indeed. I hope you don’t think i am going proper maudlin, but what i am trying to avoid is waking up one day and my best wishes for the sport just sounding shrill.
Jesus, who is this guy John (other) John?! I’ve just found this website a few days ago, fantastic Joe by the way, but on literally every blog this guy has left several essays on several subjects. Quite scary :p. Get outside today John, enjoy the sunshine, and get another hobby!!
Yes Amy, and his writing is so all over the place I cannot imagine the real person. Though I can tell you his posts are as good a reading as Joe’s financial breakdowns, both give me a headache!
I only hope other John is as drunk as I am when I usually post.
Michael
@Krystian
It’s 50%, but there are ‘get out clauses’, if for example 50% could not be achieved even through the inclusion of a European GP, or Turkey being seen as a non-flyaway (European) event.
@Jason F
Only 3 (some say 4) races aren’t supported by National or regional governments, these governments pay to hold a race because the return on investment can be huge.
If you look at the research done by ING business consultancy, they found that the average amount of profit (positive economic impact) per event was US$85 million.
BTW FYEO right?
Amy Monroe,
on the case, don’t worry. It’s a nice day, and i have it all free. I don’t do this quite all of the time. I was just stuck waiting on phone calls all night. I’m just some silly anyhow. Hope didn’t manage to put you off! – j
I’ve got a great idea for the race calender.
A race at the best circuit of all time, and a street circuit to boot.
Adelaide.
Now that the East End of that city is no longer a slum Bernsie, the ungrateful FIA or FOTA or whoever can plug some money back in and help put on an event at a track that held the biggest motorsport event ever.
Outside of Indy 500, every year.
Oh, ok, don’t race at an event/circuit that has been bigger than any Le Mans ever was. Go to Melbourne instead. Their casino is alot bigger.
The “Race of the Millennium” truly was that, to this jaded motorsport fan anyways. Made F1 look stoopid. Pity it was killed, thanks GM, and home grown News papers etc.
P.S. I live close to the track and am very lazy.
cyberspacesomewhere,
the only thing i do have a little issue with, is mostly, bit of grog or not, very few would notice, in terms that that is not what goes to my head. I would in private allow a tally of which comments i wrote which made sense, against the beer index. Probably not what you expect. But accepting i jumped the shark, that bit i can do. Obviously very thoroughly. As observed. I remain, however, just a little bit confused no-one called me out on this earlier. I am awful at taking hints, but i didn’t even sense one. Effusiveness is sometimes correlated with caffeine, not sheer social self destruction in the ether. I actually find it very disturbing that being a bit off, or silly, or just a bit emotional about a passion, has to equate with social opprobrium linked arogatory to drink. I am quicker to call myself the fool, when caught for one. Just did not know i was considered one. Plain speak early helps my understanding of things. But i am absolutely not having any personal kind of go at anyone. I actually am completely hopeless at slagging off anyone but myself, and will never be here to engage in that kind of discussion about others. I have no confession to make, save i get over the top in comments. Will rethink, if you like. Will rethink anyway. – j
Forgive me for asking an ‘irrelevant’ question, but how do journalists cope with all this? If teams agree to an extra race, I assume they get a commensurate increase in revenue from the CRH. But journalists – I mean the real ones, who report on races they’ve actually seen – incur plenty of extra costs, have to do lots of extra work, but I don’t see how any of this results in a penny of extra earnings – especially since the new races are in places where a lack of interest and lack of English means few or no new subscribers to, for example, GP+. Are there any mechanisms at all in place to make this viable for the serious press?
While other readers post comments like “you’ve got it so good Joe, I want your job”, I stew on questions like this…
Have to say this Joe, but i actually think the tone of above comments is not nice. I’ve been silly before, and yet it is your blog, and you moderate the comments. I probably have missed something, and obviously commented too much lately. Signal to noise not very good. If i wrote essays, they would not be comments. I don’t really fancy being daubed a drunk, even if a few are fueled that way. (those would usually be the detailed, semi research ones, because i was enjoying my own time to concentrate) and i feel set up. Insofar as you can always say what goes here, what appears here. Your party. I am not coming here to ruin that. Absolute opposite, and mere hint that i would do you down upsets me. What reason? Thought that was obvious. I am happy to call myself stupid, when i am, or call myself out when wrong, which is often, but that is not a broad invitation for broadsides. What i do know, oh so well, is if you disdain yourself, you invite worse criticism, just not of the incisive kind, very often. I am not even pitching that as some kind of effete nicety, a cuddly failure, oh pity me. Right opposite. But i think i have never been on the case of anyone here, let alone you. I cannot play the fool for others amusement, only because i mean illustrate what i think time to time is common human frailty reflected in me. yours – j
John (other John)
I am not getting involved. I click the Publish button if I see nothing abusive. if people wish to comment on your comments then they are entitled to do so.
I like John (Other John)’s comments. It brings something to the table, I think. An added bonus of your blog, in a way. It has in no way any reason to be labelled spam, and quite a lot of his comments I have read have been insightful, into things beyond the F1 world, and entertaining.
John (Other John)?
The man is indeed a legend – more of him please!!
@Karen – I agree with your figures, but that doesn’t mean I think that it is a good business model. I understand about pushing the F1 brand to new countries. I understand that sponsors may be interested in creating new markets, but to go to a race where you can see on TV that a lot (I use the term because any figure I give would be a subjective guess) of seats are empty even at subsidised prices makes no sense to the fans.
I undertstand about teams wanting more money – but it is a show, and if the shows audience becomes alienated by high ticket prices and tracks not even in their own country then interest and eventually revenue will fall. Its a long term view.
Other John, I read your post. Thank you very much. I think.
I wouldn’t complain about the tone of comments too much, otherwise Joe might stop publishing all my drivel. Again.
I have noticed Adelaide has not been added back to the calender yet, slow news day in F1?
Might have to buttonhole a few people on the issue. If a country that hates F1 can have 2 GP’s why can’t Australia?
I’m also starting to think Mr B’s sprinkler idea wasn’t so bad.
Hi everyone, it seems thinness of skin with me is directly correlated with pushing the hours i work, and I’d like to apologise for being sniffy.
I was if anything being oversensitive to comments mentioning alcohol. I have an absurd and dangerous tolerance to that stuff, was always compos end of teenage parties etc, and it has not got me high since i watched a complete set of people i cared for get ruined, to death, by it, even 20 years after they laid off. Because i knew older people, i got warning. Even if not immediate family, that wrecks you emotionally, because who does that to themselves really knows about it. I even once helped pass on, indirectly, a stupidly simple back – of – envelope calculation (that you can do when half gone) which was far more accurate ready reckoning than the UK “units”, to who became the head of the industry body here, and the guy floated it seriously. (by accident, actually, and it was a friend’s invention, who went on to far more interesting things), sadly got no-where. That is because medical completeness is just not well known, and anyone who has drunk “good wine” versus “gut rot” knows that. One of my year did a PhD in liver function, possibly as a result. Just one who got close to the subject.
On the positive side, i do enjoy chilling out with a glass to Joe’s blog, it’s a pleasure – i am a bit literalistic by day, and i enjoy relaxing into another world, through a looking glass. Boozing is pure Russian Roulette. Cirrhosis is silent. You find it too late, and you may have set up the fall, and no tests identify that. I have not once sold a page of advertising to a drink company.
Before that experience, or rather sequence of watching people die, (all of whom become so much more interesting, when faced with it) i was an incredibly intolerant unformed, ill-formed pseudo – intellect. There is an expression “whiskey Priest” for who tells truth only when sozzled. (Greene, The Power And The Glory, to start, please stuff Hemmingway into a “keep locked” pigeon hole) .I just found you do not have to do that day after day to grasp the idea, its values, application, or social dangers. Some drinkers are celebrated, but if you are attached in any way privately to one, you learn the opprobrium, the fear, the disattachment of normal life and that the mass will walk away, even second hand. There is an awful correlation between having scales over your eyes, and social incomprehension. Fear has medical basis. Same with anything else in life. Either “physician heal thyself” or “cast not”, or “mote”, appreciating limits of individual capability is key to survival. Not entirely irrelevant to racing at the limit, but that’s not the angle i want here.
I have however, got some green teas which will knock your head off . .
What i did not expect was how insuccint i would be during first of some busy weeks. My SNR got whitewashed. I could have concatenated many comments into one or two. Should have done so.
Not everyone wants to write under their own name – no point in it when there is a chance to concentrate good thoughts under a thought, not a banner. I am even more keen to have no real name, as i commented more than originally i thought i would. As i felt required to reiterate or clarify, privately, i have no interest to pitch my business under Joe’s auspices. Would never work, anyhow, and i am not trying. (if you think my banter is a pitch, please disabuse yourself of that, the evidence for why is obvious)
But i was not productive lately here, and so am still ashamed. There’s a elongating list of thoughts i should have, and wish to follow up, which are not at all my hubris, arose from comments, even some really hard pointers from months ago i consider were striking, which i dearly want to shoehorn into my research / reading time. A puzzle, if you like.
This comment breaks the House rules, as it is not about F1 at all. Hope i can reprise myself, however.
best to all,
– john
@ Other John: I look forward to reading the comments as much as I look forward to any new post from Joe. Yours have been most informative and I enjoy reading them. A good thing to remember, anything you post out here is fair game. There will always be those who just like to comment on what other people are commenting on, whether or not they actually support your thesis or not. I’ve learned to keep a thick skin, and not take anything personally. It’s not like any of these people will come up to you in the street and confront you. The internet makes a good safe way to remain anonymous and some people say whatever they want without consequences, just because they can. Keep it up.
I should proofread my own comments. “whether or not….or not” made me laugh.
Cyberspacesomewhere
“I have noticed Adelaide has not been added back to the calender yet, slow news day in F1?”
How about “Hold Hamilton as much as we can. Destroy his race as much as we can. C’mon boy.” Rob Smedley. Source=Sidepodcast.com
Everybody loves Formula One
from blue blood aristocrat to blue collar worker,
presidents and politicians like to promote their country.
Why bother bidding for the olympics or football
when it only happens every four years,
just call the man from FOM
and so no need for iocfifa.
F1 tv pictures from Singapore look beautiful
same as Abu Dhabi; simply stunning!
The cars and stars have always been photogenic
and yet alas, some circuits never telegenic
that need to shine like a stone of silver.
The future is digital mapping along with a central language
and storyline that the multi-cultural audience engages with.
Formula One has all the ingredients for this global family audience
as it travels the world promoting sport and peace…
markdartj,
thank you for your nice thoughts. Think i just saw it all this weekend. Just called out a pretty girl, who was sat chatting on her phone, bicycle beside her, on our crossroads. In middle of it. They only dive down that at 60MPH . . . she did move on, (sure, i checked back) but i guess she was deep involved with her boy on the line . .
All that happened, with me commenting here, is Joe led on, or rather showed the way, and i wanted to follow a good example. Nothing is owed to me. I was very taken aback, pleasantly, by someone else writing to me privately, also, that they were encouraged to write because of Joe. That has to be a good thing. It’s my pleasure to comment here, but it is also by acceptance, and what i scribble is not commercially or any other way used for my benefit. That much i made explicit with a rather dull disclaimer in writing to Joe, long while ago. I am here by his permission, and i like the party.
If i could write, i would be on the case of a better Da Ponte interpretation. Giovanni – my book – was after all spurned by his would be father, he was too low, not morganatic, so he kills his to be pater in pique, because he is estopped from his love, and so she ruins him or rather her society does. The most beautiful aria, and exchange, ending in “madamina, il cataglio e questo” is the girl in question seeking out who just knocked her up, despite it all. Anyhow, Te Kanawa rules that song.
got to go, i do prefer watching the racing. – j
markdartj,
FWIW, i am not very anonymous around where i live. I have to keep thinking whether i am nicer in person, or online! But the flip to that is i probably do not need a real name locally, either. I think it is about whether you are identifiable, or not. Thanks for nice words – j
Sorry, it was Edder Moser. But the beginning of that opera is ambiguous. Everyone piles in. Te Kanawa plays a really interesting line, in the play, as older woman intent, uses pregnant orphan as bait, just the twice. Vicious stuff, i and i wouldn’t fancy my chances. Even if i was such a rotter!
There was a reason i got confused between Donna Anna and Donna Elvira (Moser, Te Kanawa), above. Midway, Losey (in the flick i was rushing through to the umpteenth time) paints them both in identical blue rinse headdresses. Presumably, by this later time, Elvira, whose wonderful song is to chase down this man, wreck him, but out of love, is without child. Her overarching mother, could even have set all this up, but in the picture of identical appearances, you have the signal of loss, doubled. Giovanni, beset by impossibility, picks on a local girl, plucking her on her wedding night. (She gives him a kiss, but remains pure, alerted to the travesty all on her own, even if pushy mom drops by . .) He has no chances in high society, to he goes on the rebound, and sings to Zerlina what he wanted to sing to his original girl. You get blindstruck by this, because Masetto, that girl’s betrothed, hits for the fence with a angry song, and all you see is this jerk playing around and taking advantage. But what knocks me, is the musical repetition, how the unknown social actors repeat the same notes, the same love songs, to manipulate. The notes sung to Zerlina, which are false, get sung by the older woman’s admirer, to secure that. Convenient. Having no pure emotion, everyone copies. Donna Anna, walking alone at the moment i tried to point out earlier (she has struck out, run away, at this time) sings of hate from love. Giovanni, on a stroll (also on the run, fear of death) fancies her rotten, before realizing it is her, and so he spurns her. Pure survival. Giovanni gives it up. He goes down, Unlike the rest, he has learned his frailties.
I confess to a personal desire to understand that script better, Was first movie i ever saw, my mum took me. Bit hardcore for a not yet teen. If you don’t think it’s any cop, try taking a date to a performance. I’m still working out why that works! – j
John (other John),
> I hope RShack will chime in on this. I read his reply to me half a
> dozen over, and i got schooled.
Thanks for that.
Am afraid I haven’t much to offer about this matter, except the simple observation that it seems like trying to sort out what goes on in secret within the Vatican, or behind the Kremlin walls (or behind the walls of your choice).
All of which is one of the main problems with F1, whether it be about this issue or some other one. It’s run less like a proper business and more like a fiefdom with Bernie filling the role of the secretive royal in charge.
In America, there long has been some thought that businesses above a certain size should be required to obey the rules of publicly held companies, with the required public disclosures that such status implies. That’s a sentiment with which I agree. (Of course, we should first get back to our earlier tradition of making corporations following the existing laws…)
As for those giving you a hard time, it mainly seems to be one person who made a single comment. If I were you, I’d just ignore it. The internet encourages rude behavior as we have just seen. Take heed of those like myself who enjoy your ramblings. You strike me as an eccentric old friend (which is a high compliment). The price to be paid is the occasional arrow or barb. You won’t get one side without the other, especially on the web which seems to have an implicit single-neuron soundbite norm. Such is life in modern times…
RShack,
i’ve thought about this a while, and had to slap my face not to go off on one about SEC filings regs, (four drafts! and spare too many words) because the similar thing over here, or it’s failing, causes me some problems. I may have unearthed a fraud behind what has caused a vast devaluation of our property, ruining others . . and then i wondered, why the lasers through the window, why the next week were fireworks aimed at the same place . . so i have been very tetchy. Working with authorities is burdensome, tedious, and i need to get cracking on other things. But the slightest chance of a connexion, and my ideas changed, and my nerves jangled
BUT, Amy had a point. Not directly. Just i recognize i reacted like a recalcitrant child. Kind who bites back when scolded. I am very used to defending myself now. But that’s fairly recent. I called BS so many times on patently silly accusations i never responded, policy. There were some very funny rumors about me when i was a teen, as a result. But the thing I have to pay attention to is it’s not my blog, i must not be a distraction. I never bought in to the bolshy retort, but i did go from kid who wouldn’t say boo, to formative adult who likes hardscrabble, dint circumstances. Thing is, F1 is my play, and so i care seriously to keep that clean. Because it’s play, i get a bit far gone sometimes, off the leash. I genuinely appreciate what you wrote. I shall try to be a more mildly eccentric, however, and a little more focused,
yours,
– john