Nico Rosberg won the Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos, hanging on to his win after intense pressure from Lewis Hamilton for the last 20 laps of the race. Hamilton had a spin half way through the race and was left to rue what might have been if that had not happened. Thus we have a great showdown set up for Abu Dhabi in two weeks from now. And with Felipe Massa third the Brazilian fans had something to cheer about, although Massa made quiet a meal of it, overcoming a five-second penalty for pitlane speeding and then dropping in at the McLaren team during another stop.
In GP+ this week…
– We take a in-depth look at the problems facing F1
– We look at the demise of Marussia and hope for the best for Caterham
– We talk to Esteban Gutierrez
– We look at the idea of a Chinese F1 team
– We remember Francois Guiter
– We look at the Brabham project
– We look at the career of Earl Howe, a man of many talents
– JS remembers crazy days in Sao Paulo
– DT ponders crowdfunding
– The Hack complains about Eddie Jordan’s shirts
– Peter and Lise Nygaard deliver the photographic goods
GP+ is an electronic magazine. It is published in PDF format so you can download it and keep it forever. It is a magazine that gets right to the heart of the F1 business, telling it as we see it and not pulling punches. It is also the fastest magazine in the sport, a 90-page publication arriving just a few hours after the race. We’re not pretending to be there in the F1 Paddock. We are there at every race and we get to the people that matter. We are also passionate about the history of the sport and love to share it with our readers.
GP+ is also an amazing bargain. You get 22 issues for £29.99, covering the entire 2014 Formula 1 season.
For more information, go to http://www.grandprixplus.com.
joeblogsf1 
Excellent as always. Today’s lesson though; I must not sip tea when reading the mag; I sprayed my keyboard and desk at the following lines on Page 50, where Mike Doodson mentions EJ’s misuse of the English language. I quote:
“Just to make things clear, EJ, there can be no degrees
of ‘vital.’ You know, like ‘dead’ (to describe a previously live creature which is now bereft of life) or possibly even ‘bald’ (referencing a head
on which no hair is growing)”
I wonder to whom MD was referring with the last comment…
“WHEELS WITHIN WHEELS WITHIN WHEELS”. Brilliant. Simply a brilliant analysis. Thank you Joe. To those who don’t know to what I’m referring, for heavens sake, spring for GP+
BTW, I will robustly fend off any insinuations that this post is strategically timed very close to GP+ subscription renewal time. 😉
What seems clear this morning is that unless Lotus, Force India & Sauber, and quite likely Williams too, leave F1 they will just be driven into bankruptcy by BE & CVC & RedBull,Mac,Ferrari & Merc. They and RB2, Toro Rosso, will be the 10 cars left, and each will run 1 car extra for a 15 car Grid. BE & co also seem to expect that Haas is crazy enough to enter this withered F1…maybe he is, but he won’t last a season if he does.
I’ve been expressing the opinion that F1 could not last much longer as it currently is, for a couple of years, but even I didn’t think it would collapse this quickly.
So 2015 will be a wipeout as fans leave in their millions and the BE edifice is dragged down to an extended death. What does Wolff get out of helping Bernie this way, or Horner & RD as well?? Are they all so utterly stupid that they cannot see they are totally destroying the sport that feeds them?? And if Alonso is charmed he will be the last driver to have a multi £ million pound salary before such things go the way of the little teams. Legacy of Bernie? I made myself and a lot of selfish people a whole lot of money and created a supersport which I also destroyed on my way out…..come on Joe, I know your an optimist, but this really is the end mate, it really is.
You underestimate the industry and the fans
I think people underestimate The Bolt!
All I see is Bernie & Co milking F1 to death, and that scene is now here, not some way in the distance.
Force India’s Auditors make known that they think the team is in dire straits, where does that leave their current and future sponsors? Who wants to contract money to an entity that may collapse at any moment. Sauber seem in a critical condition and Lotus have known problems. 6 cars leaving the scene would be a bloodbath, while Bernie says there is no bailout for the non manufacturer teams ( RBR don’t need any help ), and that 3 car teams are the way forward….this is a situation sliding into disaster and underestimating the series participants doesn’t come into it. As to the fans, they have been walking away since last season, this year many races are short of spectators and tv figures have dropped an awful lot. It can’t get better when teams close as those teams have fans that will likely not transfer to other teams but will go elsewhere such as WEC or MotoGP. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a diehard motorsport fan for over 50 years, but this has been coming from a long way off and we could all see it, but the F1 Bubble didn’t want to see it, or talk about it or do anything constructive about it. The Bubble thinks that 3 car teams will sort it and that they can carry on spending like the sport is a nuclear arms race. That can’t happen. The time for profligate spending is over for all of us and F1 hasn’t understood that yet.It should do, but too many people make too much money out of it to believe that it can never end. However, the cash is drying up and with it there has to be a new F1 to fit different times with less cash to splash. To make a salient point, Bernie was reported as saying that the teams at the meeting in Brazil, could not even agree on a date for the next meeting……think of cities burning and leaders fiddling….it’s not a pretty picture.
On what basis do you write that fans are walking away?
Well it is a fact that race attendances are lower, and it is a fact that tv figures are down too. This I have seen in various internet and media reports over the year and over last year. You yourself have noted smaller crowds at a lot of races this year, in your blogs.
Also, and more important, it is the case that many fans are fans of a particular team. When I was growing up Lotus & Colin Chapman were my heroes, with Jimmy Clark, Graham Hill, Jochen Rindt & others such as Mario, Reine Wisell, Dave Walker & the brilliant Emmo…topped off by Ronnie…..after Nige left, I followed to Williams, although I’d always had a soft spot for Frank W and also for Alan Jones. Of course, Gilles interfered in a lot of this! But the basics were that I grew up as a fan of motorsport, but within GP racing, Lotus was were my loyalty was.
These days the same applies for millions of fans. Personally, I don’t have any particular favourites now, although Alonso, Lewis & Seb are drivers I admire an awful lot. And for teams I’d like Ferrari to recover,but I’d really be made up if Team Willy won again.
So, following teams is a big part of F1, and if the teams go, then so will an awful lot of fans, because they will be upset that ” their team ” has died out, and blame the big teams, & Bernie for this. There are other motorsport attractions now as well, with WEC doing well, and MotoGP being pretty thrilling every time out, so there are places for fans to go where they will be welcomed, as F1 doesn’t seem to value the fan base much these days.
I think Force India for example, still has a hardcore of Jordan fans attached to them, and these people would I am sure, be very unhappy to see FI shut down.
So, there it is Joe, just my view, but I reckon it to be a logical one. Even on your blog you are now having longtime fans tell you that they are too fed up to continue following the series. That’s awful in my view, but I do understand why they feel that way. You’re a clever guy and a great writer on the sport, I’ve read your stuff for 30 years I guess. I hope you are not so much apart of the ” bubble ” that you shut yourself off from the way that your readers are seeing things and feeling.
Not many of us mind people being filthy rich, I know I don’t, but I can’t abide the wasted monies in F1, it does nothing for the series, and the greed and waste is causing the series to come apart. As a contributor of yours noted here, it’s going the way CART did, and that was a terrific series that destroyed itself.
I think you will be surprised about TV viewing figures. They are down in placed where there is Pay Per View but doing very well in other markets
How did the German GP look to you this year?
Very thin
Oh well! Maybe some fool will come along and buy the whole thing for a knock down price, lock, stock and barrel and turn it into something decent.
It is entirely possible
I agree. I will end my support of F1 if there are no small teams and they move to three car or customer car teams.
Joe I believe many involved with F1 are too close to the forest to see the trees. As with most empires greed will be it’s ruin.F1 is a mess from this long time fans perspective. It is not a shark tank it is a cesspool with a layer of scum on top.
Why don’t you say what you think…
I always do.
Piranha Club?
According to Mark Hughes there were only c. 50,000 spectators on race day….
The official figures were 130,000 over three days. So if say 50,000 was a low call. It was more than last year.
brilliant e-mag, first time subscriber this year and definately will next year. I remember you on sidepodcast saying that you still keep lap charts – any chance of publishing them in future magazines – they represent a good graphic of the race.
I might discuss the idea with DT!
Or you can use the FIA one.
Another good edition and plenty to read, especially more detail and explanation of the financial affairs since your blog. Agree with the sentiments of Doodson entirely. Could not have said it better, but Doodson is a better writer!
You report that FOM is obligated by its contract with the FIA to provide 20 cars per race. You also report that it must provide 16 cars or else risk its 100 year lease. But if having 16 cars protects the lease, how true can it be that they must provide 20?
Well, if the rules of the sport are confidential it is quite hard for anyone to explain them, isn’t it? There is a stipulation in the bilateral agreements between the teams and FOM (based on the old Concorde Agreements) that the team and FOM will use their best endeavours to get 20 cars and that they will produce third cars if they can. Obviously this is so vague that it is worthless, or the FIA has failed to do anything about it. There is the separate FIA-FOM Umbrella Agreement which seems to be stipulate that 16 cars are required at every race.
Oh, I understand that secret terms play havoc with reporters being able to report. (If the EU is going to ban anything, secret rules should be at the top of their list.)
I was just curious about how much of a “requirement” 20 cars truly is, that’s all. I gather it doesn’t risk Bernie’s empire but rather just triggers some as-yet-unknown set of responses.
What do you think of recent reports that the contracts of Mercedes and Ferrari somehow call for them to provide 3rd cars on a regular basis while other teams’ contracts do not. Does that pass whatever your criteria is for plausibility? Or do you think it’s just more media noise?
Not plausible. Otherwise they would be there now
Anyway the real question here is, who is the blond in the Ferrari?
Also, un-noted was the dismissal of the US Bluewaters appeal, and the promise (by Bluewaters) of it being moved to a more appropriate country. Could a third court appearance (maybe in Jersey) finally nail Bernie as unsuitable? (And then was there not to be a Swiss case?)
Re Delta Topco’ loans, one more to be added to the list:
17July 14: A further loan of $1Bn from Bank of America Merrill Lynch increased the total on loan to $3.8 Bn with the repayment extended to 2021. The $1 Bn was paid out to investors in Delta Topco. Data per Telegraph.
To the old dodger, try Nowtv which gives one a dose of Sky sport for (currently) £10.99 for a week or £6.99 a day. Then use the BBC live commentary online or from radio 5live. I am of course assuming he has broadband and wifi. So then its a tenner if its not on the BBC. But next year is another matter, no FTA, no viewing from me. I understood that FTA was part of the 100year agreement. Bernie has already bent that as far as he can go, any more and it will break. Then it’s goodbye!
Finally on a question of sponsorship, why is the FCA group sponsoring via its Alfa Romeo marque, a series of shorts about Guy Martin a popular English TT Honda rider, speed freak, and multiple record holder who has no nerves? And how is such a “sponsored by” series allowed on the BBC iplayer?
No its on Channel 4 not the BBC
I have to smile at Mattiacci’s praise for Raikkonen at every opportunity – things seem to be pretty bad between Alonso and Ferrari management now don’t you think?
Mattiacci is a discerning perfectionist who hates bs in all its forms. So he and KR do have more than a few things in common. You watch Ferrari climb that mountain in record time 🙂
More to do with Alonso having signed for McLaren I think but I agree it would nice to see Ferrari at the top again. It’ll take a while though. I can’t see Kimi as a long-term prospect, more No2 for a year for Seb. No doubt Joe will know more.