I spent rather a lot of time in the airport in Sao Paulo, but that was an advantage in some ways as it was like sitting by a river and watching the F1 world drift past. I had some interesting conversations as a result. The most interesting for me was one with a member of an un-named top team who told me that there is a medical study going on, involving 10 of the crew, to figure out the effects of the F1 calendar on the people who live it.
The problem with this idea is that F1 people live the calendar very differently. Bernie Ecclestone, for example, goes to most of the races, but not all of them. And he travels in a very expensive private jet, so he has much less stress than those who travel in Economy and have to deal with life at the back of the plane, and the privations that come with that. Being an Emirates gold card holder I get upgraded a fair bit and so I see life from both sides of the divide and I have got to tell you that being at the front of the plane is WAY better than being at the back. If you have to pay your own way, you can never justify Business Class or even First Clas because the revenues are not sufficiently large to make it possible to write the travel off against tax. Teams do a lot of that, but then they pull in millions and millions in sponsorship. F1 journalists (alas) do not live at that level.
Anyway, the point is that everyone realises that there are human limits and this particular team is investigating them. Twenty races a year, from March to November is a serious investment, not just in terms of money, but also in physical and mental energy. It will be fascinating to see the results of the study. Bernie is talking of a calendar of 20 races. Ask anyone who has done 19 this year and they will tell that that is enough. Eighteen is OK, but 19 is too much, particularly when the grouping of races is no good. India was fun this year, but if the customs do not improve then it will have to be a stand-alone race every year, and if that happens people will quickly tire of it. Going away for 10 days and doing two races, makes more sense than two five-day trips.
Bernie has been talking about having only five races in Europe. That may be best way to maximise profits, but it is dumb. European audiences are still the biggest and best-informed in the world. The average Chinese viewer might watch a few races each year but he does not know (nor care) about F1. It is just wallpaper in his life.
Ecclestone may be right when he says that Europe is finished as a global power. One of the things that one does see as an F1 reporter is just how far behind Europe is slipping. Lots of people believe that Europe will always remain important because of history, but I am with Bernie on this one. Rome, Athens and Alexandria were once the centre of the world. They are no longer. And London and Paris need to understand that…
F1 would be fine with 18 races, so along as there were six in each time zone. That would mean an Americas timezones with races in Canada, two in the US, one in Mexico and one in Brazil (and perhaps one in Argentina or the Caribbean). That would create enough for a TV deal in the US. There would be six in the European/African time zone and six in Middle East/Asia/Pacific. Africa is unlikely to be ready for a race for years (given the price tag that comes with F1) but Europe can easily find six (and two in Spain is not part of that idea). Six in the Middle East/Asia/Pacific is enough to keep everyone hungry, which is what Mr E likes to do. Hungry people pay more for their food…
Haha, I know what you mean about business class travel, Joe, I once got a surprise upgrade to business class on the 2nd half of a 2-leg flight. After having awful sleep over night in the full economy class (I had chosen a seat in front of that section, when I went to the bathroom I saw how empty it was in the back, everyone was sleeping across 3 or 4 seats), the business class seat was heaven. As I told my friends, I slept like I was in the movie Inception! And it was Emirates as well!
I was wondering about those Bernie quotes and the reasons for them (Bernie not having reasons? Doesn’t fit), and put it down to the concorde agreement negotiations with the teams (number of races) as well as possibly with some tracks in the background (doesn’t fit much with dealing with Austin, but that one might already be done with?).
I must say, that I think the season really is getting too long. Its hard to keep attention for that long and people start feeling they have to spend at least a couple of weekends missing F1, especially with deals like the Sky/BBC sharing scam making it less available.
Rome, Athens and Alexandria are definitely the center of attention these days, although mostly not for the right reasons!
One wonders if perhaps it wouldn’t be advantageous for a couple/few teams to charter an airliner and fly the crews together to avoid the drudgery of cattle class for so many races. Not sure if it’d be financially viable but one would presume it’d be if nothing else, a little more humane.
Ah … slap jeug. Na die 38 rasse hierdie jaar, en waarskynlik meer lug-myl as jy doen, kan net sê dat jy nee meer oefening en minder restaurante ….
RDV
Ek is nie beïndruk nie. Dit is ‘n bekende feit dat jy’ n mal man. Wie anders sou twee enjins in ‘n Volkswagen Beetle en dit teen’ n GT40 ras?
Do you like the new pit complex idea for Interlagos?
As long as they don’t get Populous to design it … wouldn’t want to hide several teams from the paying fans now would we.
Karen,
Yes, I do. It would bring Interlagos into the 21st Century and it would mean that your boss could go back to being rude about Silverstone without there being an obvious example of a place that was way out of kilter with F1 standards. I hope, incidentally, that all the buildings at Buddh International don’t fall down.
The first thing I thought on reading Bernie’s comment is that it really is time he was put out to pasture and someone with their head screwed on was put in charge of F1….
However, another thought I had is why can’t they come up with either another formula or revise the GP2 series to act as an alternative to F1. Something similar to how the IRC compares to the WRC. Cheaper to run, a way for drivers who struggle to get in to F1 to keep active in a top level series and which offers circuits who have slipped out of F1 a chance of top level racing while allowing the F1 circus to evaluate new circuits for the future.
The current GP2 is an ideal way to bring young drivers through the ranks so it would be a shame in some ways to lose this, but then what is the point of F2? Maybe re-jig things so either F2 supports F1 or F2 gets more powerful cars and it’s own series. Really GP2 should have a good turn-over of drivers, should Grosjean really have gone back there after a part season in F1? This alternative series would give the more experiences drivers somewhere to ply their trade while keeping the feeder series fresh and it would also offer top quality motorsport to circuits who have lost their F1 race.
We already have Spa talking about rotating their race, Hockenheim and the Nurnburgring already do. You could have the two Spanish races rotate, bring back a French GP, see the return of San Marino, possibly even have Donnington or Brands in there. It would also give a way to try out various American tracks.
It won’t get the numbers of F1 but it would level things out a bit, keep the circuits, drivers and punters happy and differentiate the lower formulae a bit better.
Thankfully my travel days over, I found this season to be interminably long simply from the fan, spectator standpoint.
I hope you publish whatever study is produced.
Hey Joe thanks for all your hard work this year, it’s been great following you to all the races.
Do you have any idea of the breakdown of how many people in the teams lug it out in economy to the races? How many and who are the lucky ones up the front of the plane?
I guess tat would be McLaren then…
Interesting comments Joe.
I travel quite a bit with my job, so much so that I can usually catch most of the GP live, often doing my hotel deals through AMEX 2 days before I arrive thus saving hundreds (sometimes thousands).
I digress.
You may be on the wrong frequent flyer prog.
Try the Star Alliance card – Swiss or L’hansa I think are the best. Also, use the ’round the world’ tickets. They’re cheap and very flexible. You may even find 1st class is not too expensive. Having said that once you’re on the Han Flyer level or Gold, the upgrades flow pretty quickly, so econ is perfect for all the local races – Euro/US and biz is not too bad for the flyaways. The big benefit though is that re-routing costs only USD50-00 per time, and because you have so many airlines in the Star Alliance prog you can route almost anywhere anytime.
The stupidest trip I did was a day trip from Tokyo to Melbourne for the Oz GP a couple of years ago. Because I couldn’t get a hotel that time (Oz is always the most difficult for some reason) I arranged to arrive in Mel 6-30 Sunday AM and fly out 9-30 Sunday PM for Singapore.
On arrival the immigration guy looked quizically at me assuming I’d come from UK because of my passport, and said – ‘You’ve come from England for the day?’ To which I said ‘Grand Prix’. His face relaxed, he stamped my passport and said, oh yeah, of course sorry mate’.
Like everybody comes down for the day.
Great place though. I’m gonna try to catch some V8′s down there this year.
Interested,
First Class?!? Who is paying your bills?
I left the European airlines because all the schemes were rubbish. I am told that Star Alliance is good but for F1 right now Emirates is still the best. Unless you go west… And we only do that twice a year.
Not to worry – with Bahrain in turmoil, Korea out of money, and no contract for Austin F1 will be down to a comfortable 17 next year. (Hey, you always encourage us to look on the bright side….)
Mark Johnson,
I think 19.
Economic strength is built on manufacturing. Whose idea was this whole “service-based economy” movement? Who does “free-trade” benefit? The Chinese are laughing at the West as they buy up the good bits.
I can certainly understand how 18 might be your limit, and perhaps the limits of the non-driver crews who do most of the work. However, that seems to be an inappropriate basis for determining the appropriate number of races.
The proper way to do it is what any proper biz would do: decide what is needed to serve their customers and then work backwards from that to figure out how. When NASCAR did this, they decided that serving their customers properly exceeded what pit crews could stand. So, they very quietly implemented a system of alternating pit crews. Note that they did this without making a big deal about it, much less having those within the sport whining about how taxing their work was. That was considered poor form.
Not sure what a proper assessment would show, but I’ll bet anything it calls for more than 2 in U.S., assuming they want a large and rabid audience here. Two races is a good start, but not enough to raise F1 above curiosity status, given all the motorsports we have going on here. Personally, I don’t see how F1 can properly serve Europe, the Americas, Asia, and the Etceteras with less than 24 or 25 races. However, I have never seen a proper analysis. All I have seen is the kind of thing we see here: working backwards from the limits of one’s comfort level.
Now, it seems clear to me that doing things properly would put a great deal of weight on you, as you presumably don’t have access to alternating teams of Joe’s who can share the load between them. Not sure what might be done about that except for more sanity in the scheduling to reduce the number of trips (as you mentioned). I certainly wouldn’t want the sport to kill you, but neither would I want it’s supply of races be determined by journalist metabolisms either, no matter how remarkable at least one of those journalists may be. (Sorry.)
RShack,
It is not about the journalists. I was simply trying to illustrate what it does to people. There is also a limit to the number of races that people want to see. Overexposure is just as big an issue. Besides, who are the real customers? Is it the couch potatoes who pay nothing but are counted as fans, or is the people who part with money?
Joe – if the rumours are true it appears the BBC agrees with you and appear to have chosen a weighting of Europe based events. Perhaps to assist with the cost and time of travelling.
I think eighteen races would be enough, too.
I don’t think there will be a choice in 2012 anyways with Bahrain and Texas. We may actually have only seventeen, much to my dismay, because I honestly don’t think Korea will go ahead-they are already too far in the red, and things aren’t looking any better here economically.
Europe is the center of F1 motorsports, but the economic situation there might preclude any chance of profitability for many venues. I think the hosting fees and ticket prices may need to be reduced to entice more spectators.
We’ll just have to wait and see….
6 in US time zone sounds like hell.
The Brazil finale STARTS at 3am in the morning here. Want to watch the build up? 2am-5am. You can’t sleep before hand nor after. We’re in summer and the sun doesn’t go down till late and combined with monday work you can’t skip the sleep and expect to function at work/uni/school.
I watch all races live pretty much (the odd pause and go off to eat and come back during Japan and Australia [home race]), however their are 2 races I didn’t watch live this year and didn’t last year either, infact I never have. Canada and Brazil. It’s too impossible.
Being in Australia, I’m not alone, we are also in a similiar time zone to the east coast of Asia. If F1 has 1/3rd of the races unwatchable to so many people then people wont watch it.
You can’t build F1 on people who it’s been made too hard to watch.
We’ve heard about just the British people complaining that it will cost them some money to watch half the F1 races, and how some will ‘give up on following f1′ beacuse of it. A large minority follow F1 from this side and simply can’t watch it in the early hours of monday morning, that’s not even a money thing, that’s practicality.
Also, I think Bernie’s comment is more along the lines of we can make money outside Europe, not that Europe is falling. And that really isn’t news, it’s why we have 2 Spanish races (Alonso), and why we have new races in Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Korea and China because of money.
For the races to work, the races needs to be at great tracks in contries people actually watch. And that isn’t really going to happen why CVC owns it as they want money.
In my opinion, several things need to be sorted out
- Seaon opener…. I like having it here in Melbourne, but is it practical given the audience? Don’t know about Europe hours
- Season closer…. Brazil. If Brazil ended last years championship with Webber still inthe title hunt (i.e. brazil and AD switch), then I doubt that many would have watched. Australians love sport and watching Australians do well but we do prefer to schedule it aorund BBQ’s and not sleep. e.g. Footy works around lunchtime. The Ashes (Cricket) works all day. the World Cup Cricket no one watched because it was at midnight.
- Have the races in a watchable time zone for all. I know Bernie likes to have the races in prime time for Europe but that doesn’t work well For Asia/Australasia.
And the break up of the races.. something that I doubt will happen soon for money reasons. Namely, that China can bring in more money than Australia, despite Australia packing the stands and China have one man and hs container full of dog and noodles.
I wouldn’t mind 3 in the Americas.. US, Canda and Brazil. Maybe 4, with a 4th in Mexico or lower USA, or Argentine.
Europe needs Monaco, Silverstone, Spa, Germany, France (pref), Spain (if they can find a good track), Hungary and or Austria.
THen there is Japan which pulls crowds, Australia with the crowds again too. Singapore has a buzz.
That brings us up to 14. The final 4-6 should be slotted around into places with excitement form the people and good tracks.
Unfortunately this won happen. Turkey had money, China, Malaysia, Korea, Russia all throw money and Tilke designs his infamous long straight hairpin, long straight hairpin, longest straight on the calender hairpin, slow corners and then longest straight in F1 rubbish that he always does.
And that is why people dont’ like the news tracks, and combined with the low attendance, that is what is hurting F1, while it brings in money as a cash cow for its owners.
Hence why I think it is of the utmost importance that the teams buy back a controlling share in their sport, or the FIA owns the its media rights properly (i.e. not selling to your best mate).
Only then will the sport exist for the sport and not for money. F1 has seemingly limitless supply of opportunities and money right now but soon it will turn and the flow will be against F1 and it will have squandered all it opportunites now with nothing left to last for the winter.
How ironic then that F1 is moving in the middle east where oil has supported those countries for ages, but now with the world moving they have to find new ways to surive financially. Pitty Formula 1 isn’t learning the same lesson.
APASUN…
In case you have not noticed, F1 is doing remarkably well despite a global financial disaster. I think that a lot of industries can learn from F1 (and they are if you look at McLaren Applied Technologies), but I also believe that F1 can learn and get better still.
Excuse me Joe,
I respect the fact that Europe brings history but to go so far to say that only Europeans are well informed about the sport is pretty lame. I live in India and we have 27 million viewers who subscribe to Star Sports from this country and out of these, 80 percent are ambitious youth. I am virtually online everytime and I know how many of these people are informed, how much of technical discussions go on in various FB pages and various forums of F1 wbesites. Yes, there are casual fans as well but hey, India is showing a lot of interest. Please keep that in mind
Krishna Kumar,
It really depends on quality. There are NO full time Indian media in F1, and very few full time F1 media from outside Europe. Have you asked Star Sports how often its commentary team goes to F1 and spends time in the paddock, rather than keeping up with the sport using the work of others on the Internet? As I often say there are an awful lot of websites out there which are making it up as they go along, based on what they purloin from elsewhere. The reality is that there are only a very small group of trained and experienced journalists doing original work in F1. The rest are bottom-feeders. Even some of those who go to the races rely solely on press releases, the Internet and formal group interviews (where only lowest common denominator information is available). The result is that most sources lack understanding of the ins and outs of the characters, structures, realities and so on, because the people are not part of the game. It is nice to hear that the things that people read here on the blog are different from other sources – but there is a reason for that. I may be old-fashioned but I feel out of touch with F1 if I do not go to the tests.
I have been very favourably impressed by the Indian press. There are a lot of smart guys (and girls) but obviously they work for publications that cannot afford to send them around the world and thus they are handicapped in what they can learn. The reason I bang on about this stuff is that eventually the central core of reporters will die out and the sources will disappear. And then the information will cease to flow and the sport will end up being reported by press releases and people making it up at home.
Already there are huge con-jobs going on. There is one very well-known British magazine that has a live feed about each race. The two people who do this are certainly not at the races, and I have not even met them. Another super UK magazine has its main man at just a few races because he does not like travelling much and is allowed to pontificate from home because he has a reputation. So the only reason I mention these things is to try to try to maintain standards, or at least make fans aware that the standards are slipping.
They are now very few GP outside Europe that are worth watching. With only five races in Europe probably the whole season is not worth showing at all for TV channel. F-1 will be soon forgotten by deciders in Europe and replaced by other sports.
May be Europe is no more a superpower, may be F-1 cannot expand anymore like it used to be. The chinese GP is a very good example about the future of the F-1 : more spectators on the track than on TV !
I think the move away from Europe robs F1 of the glamour, passion and cultural sophistication. That was, and always is a lot of F1′s appeal to an International fan like me and might even be the same for a promoter or government.
Surely somewhere like India and it’s emerging engineering industries want to be seen on the same bill and in the same light as developed nations like Germany and Britain, not just other developing nations or ones with oil and cash to burn.
Would a top team like Mclaren fly their whole race crew business class or just the upper level, white collar guys?
Adam,
Just the executives, engineers and PRs.
Europe should have more races. Despite being in India, I went for the Singapore GP rather than the Indian GP as it was closer for me to go to Singapore than Delhi!
Europe is the traditional base for F1 and whenever we have races in North America we are not too found off it as it is late at the night. European races are the best as they are on evenings on a Sunday when you have all the time in the world.
Asian races are ok but then apart from Japan, Australia, Singapore and to an extend Delhi (Early Days) all the other races becoming boring. Turkey, Bahrain and Korea are not needed. China is a snooze fest while Abu Dhabi apart from the pit lane tunnel has failed to live up the hype.
Ideal calender should be like this:
Asia: Japan, Singapore, India, Abu Dhabi (Money Reasons). Australia, Sepang (Been there for sometime now)
Europe: Monaco, Monza, Spa, British, German, French, Hungarian, Spain, European (Germany/England – Alternate)
Americas: NYC, Canada, Brazil, Argentina or Mexico
Africa: Morocco or South Africa
I flew back with three of the teams from Delhi and one could detect that there were stresses in the system. Some of the techs said they couldn’t wait for the break. A lot of them were flying cattle class and even one of the drivers was only business class. I thought he would be First.
@Stephen Hughes
It was called Superleague and before that A1GP and before that The (insert country here) Formula 1 National Championship.
All failed badly in a very, very short period of time.
@joesaward
All buildings fall down
It’s just a question of time-scale
Karen,
Very droll.
I’m quite certain it would be possible to run 20+ races in a season, if more races are held in Europe! Why does everyone complain? Mostly because of too much travel. Well, since most of the teams (and drivers) are based in Europe they want to go home as often as possible. With the current schedule with a lot of races spread out through the world during the whole year, it means a lot of travel. A concentrated schedule, partly like you outlined in the main article, would reduce the need for travel as well as opening up the possibility to go home for the teams between the races in Europe.
Something like this:
March/April: Asia/Pacific opening tour
w12 Australia
w13 Malaysia
w14 Singapore
w15 India
April/May: Early Europe tour
w17 Spain/Barcelona
w18 Monaco
w19 Germany/Hockenheim
w20 France*
June/July: America tour
w22 Brazil
w23 US/Austin*
w24 Mexico*
w25 Canada
w26 US/New Jersey*
July: Summer Europe
w28 UK
w29 Hungary
w30 Russia*
//Summer break
August/September Late Europe tour
w34 Europe
w35 Belgium
w36 Italy
September/October: Middle East
w38 Turkey
w39 Dubai
w40 Bahrain
October: Closing Asia tour
w42 China
w43 Korea
w44 Japan
This would make a total of 25 races. And here I have only used races which are either planned or have been used in recent years. A better scenario IMHO would be to remove Bahrain, Korea, Turkey, China & Valencia (Europe), and replace them with new races in Austria, Netherlands, Portugal, Italy, UK & Germany. Also, I’m not fond of city tracks, but both Singapore & Monaco are unusual enough to be kept even though they aren’t the best tracks.US/NJ is a new track and can be given the benefit of a doubt until we see how the track actually plays out. Even so, there should be (at least) two races in the US.
Let’s toy with that idea:
March/April: Asia/Pacific opening tour
w10 Australia
w11 Malaysia
w12 India
April/May: Early Europe tour
w14 San Marino/Imola*
w15 Spain/Barcelona
w16 Monaco
w17 Germany/Hockenheim
w18 Portugal*
June/July: America tour
w20 Brazil
w21 US/Austin*
w22 Mexico*
w23 Canada
w24 US/New Jersey*
July: Summer Europe
w26 UK/Silverstone
w27 France*
w28 Netherlands
w29 Hungary
w30 Russia*
//Summer break
August/September Late Europe tour
w34 Germany/Nurburgring
w35 Belgium
w36 UK/Donington
w37 Italy/Monza
w38 Austria
September/October: Middle East/Asia closing tour
w40 Dubai
w41 Singapore
w42 Japan
Hakan,
I am sure you are right. I suggest that you try living a life like that and get back to me in a few years.
آه، ولكن هناك طريقة الجنون في بلادي… لعبة جديدة لعام 2012 ، ويبحث في تصميم الشاحنة لسباقات مع ويلسون ، وإذا كان يأتي من خلال رعايته. سوف بديل ثم بين السيارات LMP 900kg، وكيلوغرام 5000 ، شاحنات حصانا 1400 ، في حين الانتهاء من بناء طائرة من طراز فوكر من بلادي متماثلة DVII.. للأسف DAC الفرنسي لا يسمح للتصاعد من رشاشات Spandau، وينتقص قليلا من فائدة.. . بالنسبة لفريق البيتلز، أود من المحكمة أن تأخذ في الاعتبار العديد من الجنح الأخرى
ريكاردو
Kamioia racing soinuak oso interesgarria da. Nahiz eta euskaldunek ez dirudi “racing” hitza. Dela zergatik Epsilon Euskadi huts egin du asmatu dut.
Joe,
Great compilation. You have given us a very matured view about the press work of the various F1 media across the world and I’m impressed. Star sports don’t do stuffs like Beeb does apart from a few races where a certain Malaysian born journo walks through the paddock and gathers info from drivers and teams. My point is, I know guys who have been watching F1 for decades or years like me who just don’t lap up a driver or team overnight but rather try to understand the inside out, guys who subscribe to autosport magazines, those who write race reviews in their personal blogs and even those like me who watch the bbc feed to gather more information. Now, from here, I can safely guarantee you that we don’t rely on the Indian media to feed us news but yes, all opinion related news can be found from anywhere in the net. For details, we listen to beeb, Brundle, EJ, DC gang or we learn through books and debates among ourselves. As I told you, we have a huge social networking group in FB where we at times atleast engage in quality talks.
And I’m in now way disregarding the European press or the circuits. You know better than me on that front and I completely agree what you say but please take a note that we don’t rely on the Indian media AT ALL for inside info from the world of F1.
Perhaps Bernie could satisfy fulfill the need for more races in the Americas’ timezone, the desire of many fans for a maintaining of the number of ‘European’ races, and his own twin loves of creating a political fuss and annoying the BRDC by moving the British GP to a new facility in the Falklands? French race in Guadeloupe?
RShack,
I hope you realize Joe can’t tag team himself
Travel in general: I found one thing or another always was a good reason to change flight times. Maybe i needed to be early, maybe it was actually nice to see somewhere for a day for no reason other than to wander about. Yes, i’d be thinking over work, can’t help that. So it worked out that open tickets for economy (BA) were the same price within a sliver as open business class (don’t know if this is still a tip, but booking BA over the phone is way keener than using their website. Same with Dell, incidentally. Though i am exceptionally charming to the poor people who spend their days dealing with obstreperous public, which might be another tip.) and so that solved that. I had a reason, was allowed some personal time (which otherwise i simply would not get) and could justifiably deduct the expense. My old pal’s bucket shop specialty was getting first for business prices, but not many people have the entire SABRE system memorized. Lots of first class tickets is in my mind a invitation for the tax inspector to get zealous. Oh, that ugly monopoly might be on the way out. First thing AA might sell in Chapter 11. Not had the pleasure, but i have never heard a bad thing about Emirates. Will think about that for next year. Didn’t they meanwhile devalue all the airmiles programme somehow?
Anyhow, thanks Joe, as always, for slugging it out. You lend an epic quality to following the races. Just look after yourself. Reckon Emirates owe you some upgrades already! – j
@Håkan König
A tad unrealistic, don’t you think?
re frequent flyers – fair-do’s
I’m always told that Emirates are good. Flown them a couple of times and never had a prob. Must check their connectivity though.
As to who pays my fares – never in a million years would I discuss this. In fact sometimes, even they don’t know !
joesaward
> RShack,
>
> It is not about the journalists. I was simply trying to illustrate what it does to
> people.
I’m sure it’s taxing to the teams’ crew and to fine people such as yourself. (I used to fly 100K miles per year and never did gain the ability to not be stupid for hours after deplaning… ‘always left me with a head full of cotton candy.)
I’m not suggesting that the crews be worked beyond their limits. Just pointing out that there are workable alternatives. As for the drivers, I’m sure they can handle several more races than can the wrenches, due to their more limited workload. That’s what NASCAR insiders say anyway, based on weekly races over the roughly the same season.
> There is also a limit to the number of races that people want to see.
There seems to be a lot of sentiment along those lines in the various comments here. This amazes me. I am not disagreeing with it, just saying I don’t understand how a fan can say their bored after 18. This is a new and foreign concept to me. I’m ready for another race this coming weekend… and some more after that.
> Overexposure is just as big an issue
I’m sure, but at what point? Who’s to say 18 (or 20 or 22 or 24) is the correct number, and on what basis? What’s needed is some sound rational basis, not just “Oh but we’re weary.”
> Besides, who are the real customers?
> Is it the couch potatoes who pay nothing but are counted as fans, or is the
> people who part with money?
Well, this is an issue with big money sports in general, isn’t it? With megabucks coming from commercial sponsors (and some gov’ts) paying truckloads of money for visibility on TV, who is the customer if not the TV audience that justifies the advertising budgets? If not for that, how would F1 get its $1.25 billion?
The core problem is that F1 historically has been the European championship (with a few expeditions to the colonies) trading on the basis of Paris calling it the “World Championship” which it never really was. For the first half of its existence, it couldn’t really be that, given transportation and telecommunication. Now, however, transportation, telecom, and global distribution of wealth presents F1 with the dubious gift of being able to actually live up to its claim… and that’s proving inconvenient for those involved.
Seems as if a good portion of F1′s traditional fan base would prefer that it continue to be a European championship with a World Championship name. Maybe 9 races in Europe and another nine comprising the modern Grand Tour? Understandable, as are most wishes for the good ole days. We know that won’t happen.
But adequately serving a truly global audience as befits a true World Championship, with a sufficient number of races in each of the various continents… all that with just 18 or 20 races? Do you really believe that is sufficient when you look at it from the outside in rather than from the inside out? (This is a real question, not a rhetorical one.)
Joe,
As good a place as any to thank you for another season of outstanding journalism, valuable insight and enough tips and subtle winks to help me very much down the bookies
Keep up the good work, and drop me a line if you fancy a break and want to send a surrogate to any races next year!
“Bernie is talking of a calendar of 20 races. Ask anyone who has done 19 this year and they will tell that that is enough. Eighteen is OK, but 19 is too much, particularly when the grouping of races is no good.”
To quote Bradley Walsh back before he became respectable: “The mistake you are making here is in thinking you are dealing with someone who gives a F***”
Bernie is not the slightest bit interested in how tired teams are getting and will not be, until it affects him financially. Only when FOTA has the balls to get up say they are not going to do 20 races because it is too much, will Bernie take the slightest bit of notice, even then he will just bribe some teams to undermine FOTA. So basically we will have however many races Bernie wants, until he is replaced.
With DVRs, time zones of races does not matter. Even when the races are in my time zone I’m so used to fast forwarding the commercials i wait to record a bit before watching. As an American fan, most races are live around 6 AM. I’s nice to have an espresso and watch in your undies. I Loved going to the Canadian race this year, and will go again, the Austin thing is embarrassing, I would have chosen to go to Canada over Texas anyway. A race that close to our Thanksgiving holiday time never would have been too well attended. American Football is crazy popular here, there are only 12 games per season, every game is important, and fans never miss a game. with Baseball there are over 100 games, and we only tune in for the important ones. Perhaps less is more.
Thanks Joe for being the most grounded and intelligent reporter in the circus. You treat us like we might be smart too, much obliged. kevin. (a sherman)
@Hakan: Another reason why your dream 25 races won’t happen is because if your car sucks for the first 4 races of the season by the time you get back to base for updates you are already ~100 points down. It should be 2 consecutive weekends with a gap of 1 or 2 weekends in between, with 4 weekends in middle of the season.
Interested
I have to throw in a mention of my old boss Rob Collins here, he was the absolute master of the RTW. He never had less than 3 or 4 open at any one time, usually bought in countries where they were considerably cheaper than in the UK. (SA for instance) with a few added on, up and down, side trips he never needed to buy regular return tickets. He must have saved the company many thousands in air fares. (Mind, it was his company !) He had some eastward and some westward so he could always move in the direction he wanted. A good sense of world geography was needed because airlines tend to check if they are ticketing you in the right sense, clockwise or anti.
I can’t agree with the idea that timezones aren’t relevant with DVRs. I often have to watch the race well after it happened for one reason or another, and even if I’ve succesfully avoided finding out the results (most people have seen the episode of The Likely Lads in question…) it somehow lacks something.
@ Joe,
For sure, F1 is doing well while europe/Americas have a meltdown, HOWEVER, as I stated at the end (and I accept that you probably don’t have time to read the whle of my post), of my post, that I think it (making money in a time of trouble) isn’t because F1 is brilliant regardless or because of brilliant business practices’, INSTEAD, it being because F1 is currently sitting on a demand from the world through its rapid expansion that I don’t think can continue.
Just as the Arab’s oil will go away sometime/be harder to dig up, and the 1st world will move on through green initiatives and the Arab’s are dealing with this through trying to rework thier economies into something that isn’t oil based, F1 needs to do the same. F1 is rapidly moving into Asia and is now is in 4/4 BRIC countries (contracted), they also now ghave races in every part of Asia from Malaysia (south) to the north (Russia), East (Korea and China) to the West (India).
I can’t see F1 in 20 years time having this draw card as countries are being run through quickly and governments will grow tired of it. If we see more Turkey’s, i.e. races that quickly go because of no base and F1 having no connection, then governments aren’t going to want that kind of legacy attached to their governments and parties.
If Korea flops as well, and COTA is ditched because they couldn’t afford 30 million for Bernie in exchange for getting to run a race. (Bernie money logic their!) then people will be wary.
I do’nt think it will continue like this and hence F1 should spend more time being a sport than a busines. No where will going to a new country each year be a positive, it’s getting repetitive and it’s not ‘new’ anymore. It been done every year for the last few.
@Krishna Kumar
As a fellow Indian, can you please let me know what your FB forum is called. I would like to join in the discussions too.
@joesaward – I hope you don’t mind. If Krishna needs my email address, please feel free to give it out to him.
“There is one very well-known British magazine that has a live feed about each race. The two people who do this are certainly not at the races, and I have not even met them. Another super UK magazine has its main man at just a few races because he does not like travelling much and is allowed to pontificate from home because he has a reputation.”
Let me guess. Autosport is the “very well-known British magazine” and the “super UK magazine” is Motor Sport, with the writer in question being Nigel Roebuck?
On the subject of travel Joe, I have a random question. I assume most of the F1 drivers and team bosses travel about in First to all the races. Do the teams book these for the drivers or do they organise their own flights and claim them on expenses? I imagine that there must be a rush when the calendar comes out to secure the First class seats on the most convenient flights?
The problem Bernie has is that by continuing to replace the classic European circuits with newer ones in markets where there isn’t as much interest he’s only going to end up alienating the traditional fanbase of the sport. It’s all very well trying to expand F1 into new areas and it’s quite easy to see the commercial reasons behind that but if you go too far then you’re going to end up alienating the fans (the most important factor in any sport) and then you’ll end up losing out on the business side as well as sponsors/countries aren’t going to want to use a sport that people don’t watch to promote themselves.
I think capping the season at 20/21 races maximum is about right, and is feasible if more of the races are in the European heartland of the sport and the calendar is made more logistically sensible by pairing up events in close proximity to each other.
If you take out some of the deadwood which has crept onto the calendar in recent times then it frees up space on the calendar. China, Bahrain, Korea, one of the Spanish races, Austin (one GP in the US would do) and Malaysia at a push could all go. To live up to the World Championship tag Africa needs a race and I’m sure a deal could be done with South Africa to provide one there. Russia joining in 2014 can replace Turkey as the second Eastern European event, and France has to come back given its status as a classic event, which then leaves you with 17 races.
This leaves another 3 spots or so, which should go to European countries where the sport is popular and where there isn’t a race at the moment. Personally, I would like to see Portugal get a Grand Prix at Portimao, which is a great new circuit and could take over the discarded Spanish race as a second Iberian event. Holland had a race for years and F1 has a large following there and would be well attended (although I’m not sure that Zandvoort is safe enough). The final place I would choose to go is Finland. The country is mad for motorsport, has passionate fans and has produced some of the finest drivers ever and it remains a mystery to me why it has never been given a race. A track would have to be built there to accommodate it but there is no doubt it could be a success if done properly (see Rally Finland for evidence).
Therefore I’d personally go for the following calendar:
Europe: Silverstone, Monaco, Monza, Spa, France, Germany, Spain, Hungary, Russia, Portugal, Holland, Finland
Others: Japan, Australia, Singapore, India, UAE, South Africa, Canada, Brazil, USA
That makes 21 races which represents every continent and provides a good mix of races which appeal to the fans with those which help promote F1 as a global brand. It also makes it more logistical for the teams and media to make it through the year and still keeps the sport true to its roots.
That would be an ideal world. Bernie’s world, however, is sadly very different.
Of course if they want a US round of the championship they could always count the Indy 500 for points like in the 50s…could be interesting so long as it didn’t clash with Monaco.
Hi Joe, This isnt really a comment specifically about this post, but I wasnt sure how to contact you.
I just wanted to say a big Thank You for your insight this season. Your blog is really important to the silent thousands (probably tens of thousands) of us that dont always feel able to make an intelligent comment.
So thanks for 2011 and I hope you enjoy some good downtime over the winter
Stuart
SD
Your proposed schedule makes sense as a European championship with the occasional sightseeing expedition to the colonies. But what’s required is a schedule for a World Championship.