I had a most enjoyable time in Trafalgar Square (and its environs) yesterday with the F1 Live event. It was a great success, despite the requirement of total security which meant that it could not be announced more than 24 hours in advance and, for reasons that escape me, the organisers were not allowed to announce the names of the bands playing, presumably to stop the square becoming overcrowded. To be honest I only knoew one of them – The Kaiser Chiefs – as I don’t listen to the radio much and I don’t live in England.
I was around from fairly early in the day and my biggest problem was actually parking as my favourite car park in London (apart from the price) is just off Trafalgar Square and access was somewhat difficult as a result. However, after asking a series of different policemen I discovered that things were complicated buy the fact that there was a state visit in the morning by the King and Queen of Spain and the police from all over the London region had been called in to line the route. There were a different set of road closures to those in the afternoon… I was staying in the area but I could, I suppose have driven out of town and taken a train back in, but it did not seem a sensible use of time. In the end, an act of God intervened and I found an empty parking space above ground, with an easy escape route from the area and having gone through the process of paying by phone I felt comfortable that the money-grabbing Westminster City Council would not be able to charge me. The last time I was in London, they slapped a parking fine on me at 01.19 on a Sunday morning when I was parked in what I believed to be a perfectly legal space. I wrote back to them saying that it was clear that road safety was not their priority at that time of day and any council that employs people to dole out parking fines at that hour is clearing not doing it for any reason other than revenue-generation. I pointed out that there was no indication of the suspension of the parking signs as they claimed and asked them to prove the hour at which the suspension sign had been posted. That one went away…
Anyway, once that was done I could relax and enjoy the show and wandered around the various displays and bumped into lots of F1 people, including the former driver Perry McCarthy, who had turned up to have a look. The Mayor of London was there too and I sneeked into the VIP area and saw that the place was filled with race promoters from all over the world. There were in fact 19 different promoters present with only Australia, Singapore and China not represented. Yes, I know that makes 22 races but I guess the 19th was someone with a project…
After a bit of chit-chat and some Heineken 00 I decided to wander down to the F1 Paddock, which was on a back street next to the Old Scotland Yard, where most of the current F1 mob were hanging out. It must have been a nightmare to organise all of this but the pass situation was a little clumsy, although F1 people being good at workarounds, we all eventually ended up where we wanted to be by subterfuge, knowing the right people or simply being as bold as brass and walking past bemused gate people.
The health and safety people were much in evidence, looking important and shouting into radios and thus it was somewhat amusing when René Arnoux set off in the wrong direction on the course becanse the man from health and safety was busy pointing at a marshal to get them to wave a flag, which René mistook for an instruction to drive that way… Later, bless him, Daniel Ricciardo gave the fans what they wanted, which was noise, tyre smoke and doughnuts, despite everyone having beent old that doughnuts were not allowed. I went to congratulate him and he said that he hadn’t done any doughnuts but had done one of those things with cinnamon on top. Besides, he added, what is the definition of a doughnut. A classic F1 response, delivered with a big Aussie grin. Good man!
I am told that Daniel also provided the humours in the driver briefing when someone asked “Everybody here?” and he replied: “Yep, everyone apart from Lewis”.
This was a bit of a black eye for Hamilton because he really ought to have more nous than to go away from an event for his fans. It is was not a smart thing to do and while one accepts that there was a lot of free will going on from the teams to Liberty Media, there will have to be arrangements made if there are going to be seven or eight of these events each year around the world, which I believe will be happening in the years ahead. The drivers get paid a lot of money and I do not think it is unreasonable for them to give a little bit more back to the sport.
Anyway, the event was a triumph and was great for F1. When I giot back to mt car to sneak away, I found the inevitable parking ticket because Westminster Council is incapable of working its own payment system… Class.
Here are a few pictures I took.
joeblogsf1 
Great show. It’s a shame that Lewis opted out of the event when all of the other drivers made an appearance. It has not gone down to well on social media which was not helped by the fact that on his twitter account he is enjoying partying on holiday instead. I guess that is his choice to make.
Joe do you know if these events are purely optional for teams and drivers to attend?
Yes, at the moment
It’s now going to be a right competition between Hamilton and Vettel as to who gets booed loudest on the podium…
miss your pic, so cute Joe by putting on your best suit !
Long story which I don’t intend to tell here…
Looks good Joe. Shame I couldn’t pop down in the end. Maybe next year.
As a journalist has said, Lewis Hamilton probably didn’t want to waste one of his UK tax days on little people like us.
You’re braver than me, boss. I live less than 40 miles from London but I haven’t dared to drive into the capital for 20 years. That was the day Mark Blundell invited a gang of pressmen to announce his IndyCar plans and the traffic was so awful that I arrived two and a half hours late …
If I could’ve attend, the perspective of possibly going to the National Gallery afterwards and watch the Rousseau’s, Van Gogh’s et al would’ve been the icing on the cake…
Nice pictures Joe
I firmly doubt the magnitude of his colossal PR blunder has sunk in to Lewis yet but it surely will in a couple of days. I can’t even think of a comparable example from another sport of a star athlete making such a mistake.
I think he should be suspended for a race or at least a 10sec stop and go penalty…….its outrageous.!
Its far worse than abusing race officials or running into people under safety car conditions.
Yes, who the hell does he think he is? Lets hope he gets thrown out of F1 permanently for not doing what everyone thinks/feels/wants him to do. Outrageous behavior I agree GaryH. The sheer magnitude of this PR blunder – and lets not forget how important PR is everybody, and how many tenths a lap it can gain you – will go down in history as the day life as we know it changed forever. I haven’t slept in the last 2 nights because of it and I have already cancelled all the orders I had for my new cars, watches and everything else associated with this despicable so called sportsman. I’m going to start watching darts instead.
Yes it looked good on the live FOM stream though I only watched about 15 mins of it, I did catch EJ trying to force Chase Carey into a corner over the future of the British GP. (One always feel slightly anxious for the main presenter, in this case DC) when EJ has a microphone in his hand. (Still perhaps safer than the other Eddie)
However with Silverstone pulling the trigger because of money and the London mayor saying he is interested but the main problem is who is going to pay for it, it highlights fact that the system must change. Whatever Chase Carey says now could easily be changed tomorrow. Sadiq Khan is not likely to be the major when negotiations start for a Docklands GP. Fans of “The Sweeny” will already know the track well, as it featured as the venue for car chases in almost every episode. The indoor sections through warehouses could be kept as a novel new part of a GP circuit with stands inside to get full benefit of the engine noise and exhaust fumes.
The London Live event was obviously well attended, yet enraged many fans who could not, because of the short notice, get to see it. That was always going to be an obvious drawback, however the lack of publicity once the embargo had expired was a mistake. Liberty should have issued a notice to all national tv and press outlets. I found the event only in three of my RSS media feeds. (BBC Sport F1, F1Fanatic and F1Broadcasting blog.) before it happened, and only one more since. The secret publicity event is a new concept in advertising.
Of course the reason for it is still the official MI5 status warning “The current threat level for international terrorism in the UK is SEVERE.” But the response of both the British public and the artistes, in particular Ariana Grand at Manchester and the many others who joined her in the anti-terrorist (up yours!) concert and the Londoners who suffered multiple attacks in the last few months, not to mention the Grenfell fire tragedy have shown something of the Blitz spirit.
We do not know if the security pre event was 100% of if our special operatives foiled any evil plots and likely never will, but the result was great, though one must ask how much it cost in policemen’s overtime. It most certainly was not free publicity.
Joe, I know exactly what you mean about Westminster parking. I tried to do it like you did via a smart phone parking app but it would not accept my registration number (it is an old personalised number that I have had for 30+ years) insisting there was no such number. I then tried via their no help line and again the dimbo on the other end, insisted there was no such number, in spite of the DVLA accepting my £500+ each year to re-tax and my telling him I was standing looking at it. I gave up in the end and put the car in a private car park. As I was going back to my house in France a few days later, I could just see unpaid fines mounting up before the letters were forwarded for me to deal with. To think that these idiots are paid out of the public purse.
Thanks for the blog on the London event. it seems unlike Hamilton not to go, given his sensitivity to PR. Maybe he had a prior engagement that would have been difficult to cancel. Did anyone hand René Arnoux the address for the local Specsavers?
Westminster used to be a haven of simplicity.
Long ago, I guess.
I recall the shock of a Seattle Coffee Co. opening.
And in the drifting snow of Jan 91 finding open a burger stand in the dingy alley through the Starlight Express theater corner, operated by one Mr Atheed who shrugged his car wouldn’t start so had nowhere to go, before trekking across the dunes of drift snow overflowing the fences of the Royal Parks, to Bayswater, and the nearest supply of milk for tea at my mates place.
No mobiles. No Internet. (not till 93, in my regular life) and no transport or people even. Just somehow got in on the only running train before the week was cancelled and government declared that it was not bothering. Nobody else ever much cared for the area, then. But I loved it. And the duck keeper at St. James’ was unmoved by all the shivering of the heavens, never alone in his isolation. I saw not another being from there till my destination. Poor bugger died quietly on the Sunday after they made him retire. I think he went taking with him the place’s soul I miss whenever I since pass through.
No matter what the place is like now, where my old one bed flat is pushing two millions of funny money now, how can Lewis not know the difference between the center of power and a press jolly for the troops? No shots of his thoughtful face against the masonry of parliament? A reference to higher things, authority hopefully more just than that in Paris, while not disregarding massed subjects in wont of his merest recognition?
Sometimes I think that the problem is only there’s too much going on to remember the things that matter. But I think that too many people would have been remiss with this, to ponder in doubtful moments as a fan.
Thanks very much for sharing.
Would be nice to see as many events as you were saying in the following years.
Lots of potential to win new fans in many parts of the world.
I remember John Paul Jabouille driving it in the 1981 British Grand Prix at Brands Hatch. Beautiful looking car, although I think reliability was an issue?
Or even his brother Jean-Pierre (aka JP Jelly-Baby)
Exactly! My mistake
Was worth it just to see and HEAR the MP4/6 although I enjoyed the rest too.
Always thought doh!nutz? looked stupid on TV . . .
But thoroughly enjoyed them IRL – legit smoking in public.
One suggestion to the organisers for future events –
Rudimentary PA system around the ‘circuit’ to keep fans informed whilst waiting.
I don’t know why I read this article yesterday, but I read the Electronic Arts game company is to extract the most from the fans of one of its most popular games, buy more expensive games versions, by making tire smoke free for the immediate customers who want to wait for the first viable product to be released in testing, and it’s unclear but the probably satisfying effect is likely omitted for the normal version customer.
They’re getting sharper and sharper and they are surely not only taking the mick out of kids. Adults in middle age are significantly more likely to get their entertainment from a console than ever before. For my part, if I can get through the applications eventually I’ll be able to write applications for the new Xbox just coming, which is a extraordinary thing to behold in terms of the price of theoretical graphics power. I’m interested in the platform for a publishing purpose. Honest Guv the special edition of the 2017 F1 game (not from EA, oh how you can read such tales of woe from the employees..) has absolutely no bearing on the issue whatsoever!
Was part of the reason for the late announcement just crowd management? When it happened back in 2004 they had to stop the event due to overcrowding I believe?
Are there any good stories from that event Joe?
Terrorism…
It’s somewhat disconcerting that they believe British F1 fans can mobilise themselves at just 24 hours notice, yet also believe that British terrorists can not.
Whilst I agree with the sentiment in “The drivers get paid a lot of money and I do not think it is unreasonable for them to give a little bit more back to the sport”, surely only some of them get paid? Others have to pay …
They all get paid
Lance Stroll ? perhaps its payment in kind by Dad ?
Lol…Lewis couldn’t bother to show up…? Classic.
Seriously joe, why doesn’t the fia make drivers drive under the flag which they have residency? Or the country they actually paid taxes in in the past few years? I would feel a bit better about x wrapping themselves in y flag if they did.
Hamilton must have been busy building his brand.
At least if you were in the Prius you didn’t have to pay the congestion charge … The amusing thing about this event is that London’s authorities absolutely loathe cars and are doing everything they can to discourage anyone from driving in the city.
The hatred for Hamilton is predictable, especially as he’s about to compete in his home GP. It’s a measure of his status in the sport that his absence from this event is the biggest story, certainly in the UK today. I rather like the fact that he’s not a corporate drone and does his own thing. A minority view, I know, but we sure love to tear down the successful in this country.
You do have to pay the congestion charge these days…
I was thinking that F1 missed an opportunity here. Do a statement for the old cars paying the C-Charge, with the hybrids listed but at nil rate.
That would draw attention to how polluting everything else in F1 is.
I think that current model Priuses (if that is the correct plural form) are congestion charge exempt as long as they have 15″ wheels rating them at 70gm CO2. Older models are over the revised current CO2 limit of 75gms that the vultures bought in to boost the coffers. Soon they will have the ULEZ with everything inside the M25 being a no-go area! These are the people who are happy to host road racing?!
Is some old ones a priore? So newly made lot would be just be a Priory? And the 2018 model is a prior c?
If its a car going into a special zone to ease congestion how can its level of emission have anything to do with it? It’s a tax on the motorist, end of story. A smoke belching 30 year old Ford Fiesta takes up the same any nr of space as one of these obscene carbon footprint production “green” cars. So to call it a congestion charge is just the con it is. Trying navigating along say Euston Road (which is the boundary) and you will see just what a failure the system is although great for the coffers.
It was started by an anti Semitist whose stated desire was to grass over all the streets.
We can’t dole out money to layabouts without first taking from people with money.
Yes it was a great event! And I liked that it was covered live via youtube.
I hope next one will be held on Moscow 😉
Heh, that last photo invites a caption competition:
“Look, HE managed to get the other side of the barrier…”
(Not very funny, I’m sure others could do better.)
All good but show us a picture of your parking ticket?
Why?
I’ve just watched the coverage of this event on you tube. It looked brilliant, and more importantly, everyone (and I mean the team members & drivers) seemed to really enjoy it.
and to think they all got up close to the drivers and the cars for free ?, yet you can pay hundreds to go to a race and see them from 200 yards away.
Thank you for the report and photos. I would have loved to attend and the guy I would have been most excited to see is Rene Arnoux!
Thanks for the share Joe, call me proper jealous of the people who could attend this. Looked like a blast and certainly something for the fans. Hope they can create some of that ‘Goodwood’ feeling around the world with F1.
On Lewis Hamilton… Was there a reason given for him not attending? I thought people were rather vicious on the social media/forums about it. Even some of his fans were properly annoyed.
He is on hols apparently
Credit to Ocon for taking a lot of time to take photos with everyone. I missed out on wishing him luck for Silverstone before he was ushered away but everyone really appreciated the effort he made.
Oh Lewis, clearly an amazing driver and by all accounts a great bloke away from the cameras but he sure does like to shoot him self in the foot. Although I hope he doesn’t I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets boo’d at Silverstone if he makes the podium or the on track interview if he makes the top 3 in qualy.
Joe is there any truth to the rumours he didn’t turn up because he had the hump that Toto went to Vettels birthday party to try and sign Vettel up for Mercedes?
No
McEvoy was CERTAIN about Lewis having the hump about not being invited to Vettel’s party. And as we all know, Jonathan would NEVER dress assumptions up as facts, would he?
Wednesday, F1 Live event in London for the fans. Every driver but Lewis shows up.
Thursday, Lewis is quoted in an interview: “I hope my fellow countrymen love me as much as I love my country.”
Needy greedy baby.
Hamilton is becoming so tiresome does he not understand he is just an employee?
Maybe he is not keen on crowds and wanted to avoid being at the centre of a scrum. I wouldn’t blame him. Also remember that some considered the event a security risk and Lewis might even be a target. Just being devil’s advocate here.
Not keen on crowds? That’s beyond laughable considering the nature of his game! He loves crowds loving him, it fuels his over inflated Ego
I fear that the publicity machine would have been thoroughly working only with his gracious attendance.
He’s more then that. Agreed that this was a PR blunder, but who knows how many days he has in the bank to spend in the UK?
Just an employee… yeah right. More like a self-appraising Prima Donna
Why do you waste your energy being rude about A great driver?
Just looking at these and other pictures of the event makes me feel “that looked like fun”. Which is what F1 should be about. I’m also encouraged by the amount of young people there were in the crowds, which in part contradicts the accusation that F1 is now becoming an older mans sport, and also revealing just how much potential there is for F1 to extend its F1 fan base. Credit due to Liberty for putting this forward, and whilst I previously thought an F1 race around London was just a no-no, now I’m beginning to think “maybe….”. There would be a lot of obstacles to overcome, but the sight of F1 cars racing around London with the backdrop of the iconic London skyline with its landmarks is an enticing prospect.
Hey Joe, did you really mean to say that Lewis’s admittedly stupid decision to metaphorically stick two fingers up to his home crowd was a black eye?
Superb Joe thanks as always for a forthright piece. And for coming a snoop at money grabbing councils who provide less can ye for money with each passing day …
Joe – If its any ” Small Source of Comfort ” cities large and small across the globe desperate for cash are using what I feel are parking scams in order to bolster their bank accounts including the likes of Vancouver BC , Lawrence KS , Edgartown ( Martha’s Vineyard ) Aspen CO etc . And yes… I’ve been caught out by more than one myself .
As for the London F1 event . Hmm . Kind of seems to me from yours and others reports that it was a bit of a Kludge verging on a cluster due to the poor timing and organization . And then there’s the lew.i.am debacle . Hmm…
Greetings!
I was highly amused to read the parking part of your story as we used to provide the Paybyphone parking service in Westminster.
Hopefully though, you use our service in France!
Best,
Francis Dupuis VP Global Product PayByPhone
Sent from my iPhone
>
Ahem…
Hello Francis…
Now a fun fact about Limitations Act 1980, is that the time you have runs from the time of discovery of a tort….
I’m kidding. Well not really I sure must have horrid grievances still obliterated by sheer shock, but the fact that memory is long with residents permit holders in those parts makes me feel like I should mention your email address is showing!
One day (may this be long years from now) someone will say Bernie was spinning in his grave. The new F-1 may depress the ex-supremo, but he should come to terms and admit it’s so much nicer to have the drivers and teams closer to us more often, but not always or else we’ll get tired of these good things too fast as well.
I watched just a little bit of the show on youtube, but I saw McLaren’s CEO hanging out on the balcony with leadership for too long. Good for him.
Drivers were not obliged to attend, I assume, but almost all did.
Fans at the British Grand Prix are not obliged to cheer the drivers at the driver parade. I hope they do. For all but one.
90% of those at Trafalgar Square won’t be at Silverstone. He will not get booed at Silverstone. Real fans turn up to races
Now conversely to the lack of publicity for London Live event the news that F1 has done something with snapchat is everywhere. Not that it means much to me.
Looks like a good event. But tell me, which cars did the crowd prefer- old and noisy or new and clever?
Very short sighted of Hamilton bailing on this event in his home capital, especially when the 19 other drivers (plus Arnoux) bothered to rock up, whether under contractual duress or otherwise. He had the moral high ground after Baku and now looks, well..
I guess, if he wins on Sunday he’ll say it was worth not attending.
CP..: There were plenty of other ‘other drivers’ there as well. Nico, Jenson, Mika, Damon, Sir Jackie, … plus the commentators.
I love the Marlboro colours on a McLaren. Awesome!
We were fairly close to where Joe took those pictures. After his run up and down the street, Vettel was standing close by watching the cars with his blonde PR lady, as were a bunch of the drivers. RIC made the loudest doughnuts of all, with one hand held high!
The highlight for us was seeing Kimi stop his car just yards away and climb out. Those scarlet Ferraris are breathtaking!
RIC didn’t do any doughnuts as they were strictly banned by the organisers. He did some “controlled slides” instead…
Please don’t tell me what I saw for myself
@James,
p.s., that was my attempt at a “controlled slide” but it didn’t come off too well…
“The drivers get paid a lot of money and I do not think it is unreasonable for them to give a little bit more back to the sport.”
You are the first to point out that Lewis has done more to promote F1 than any other Champion and certainly more than any of the drivers in F1 right now and the first time he drops the ball you join the gang give him the boot. Disappointing to say the least. I can get that kind of disingenuous appraisal from the tabloids. It was heartening to see the reception he got from the PAYING Silverstone crowds this evening.
How much promotion of F1 does he actually do though? I know he does a lot of promotion of Lewis Hamilton, but not sure how much of that he does for the good of the sport.
I see this trundled out all the time. What is it that he does over and above the other drivers to promote F1? Serious question.
Sounds brilliant Joe, thanks for the report. Was the mysterious new Sauber team owner there wearing fake beard and glasses?
I love that Renault have enough sense of their heritage to get the old teapot out for a run, and with Arnoux too. One of he first F1 drivers I was aware of. It was just all so…French……
I watched it on the Web – looked like a great time was had by all – apart from the music selection, (shrug). I thought Martin was on form being very funny – DC less so. It seems to me that Liberty are beginning to see the issues in F1 and are attempting to correct some of them – one major one being fan engagement. I can’t see any sponsors being upset with the exposure they got in the heart of a capital city – for free!
Dan was highly popular – his what ever he likes to call them – perfect. Lance needs lessons!
The twin seater didn’t work out too well either…
I’m thinking this is the direction the BGP should go if it is looking for massive attention and sponsor activation. Perhaps permanent pit facilities in a disused section of the docklands looping the track around it? I know the traffic nightmares will be mentioned by many but with all your transit – would it really be that bad?
#44 not being there while his teammate and arch rival drove cars and made speeches made him look churlish.
I have to say that though I only watched this event on television, it still looked fantastic and it appeared all that were involved had good fun.
Yes, Daniel Riccardo certainly deserved driver of the day for his display of “power slides” (lol) and I also suspect, despite denials, that Lewis probably now regrets not attending. Maybe next time.
I watched some of the event on TV last night as well, did look a lot of fun I’m interested know what was the picture quality like for you? I was watching via Virgin Media cable (owned by Liberty) and the quality was truly awful with loads of pixilation and sound drop outs.
As a HAM fan missing that just shy of the summer break was possibly the biggest own goal from a PR perspective he could achieve in the run up to his home GP. Dissapointed……
I watched via Youtube on an LG TV’s internet connection. Quality was probably at an above average SD level but the feed did drop several times and there was frequent flashes of pixellation.
As welcome as this kind of event is I can’t help feeling it represents a swansong rather than a new beginning. Liberty needs to sort out how F1 is going to be consumed in the UK after 2018 first because as soon as it goes completely behind the paywall interest is going to fall off a cliff and then events like this one become largely irrelevant.
In answer to your question on picture quality….
Watching on SkyF1 HD it was very hit or miss…. i.e. the quality was good when there was no picture breakup so the Trafalgar Square area was normally good when on main cameras but on the side cameras/car cameras sometimes there was a lot of break up.
I think they were struggling getting a good stable signal. Would be nice to hear from someone who has inside information on this…
> I was watching via Virgin Media cable (owned by Liberty) and the quality was truly awful with loads of pixilation and sound drop outs.
If you check out the F1 Coverage thread in the Broadcasting subforum of Digital Spy, you will find that you’re not alone on that one. What’s puzzling is that (according to one chap with a steerable dish) the satellite uplink from the event to Biggin Hill was flawless, but somewhere in the redistribution chain it seems to have got thoroughly borked.
saw it on YouTube today only (in Aussie) and the picture quality was great
C,mon Lewis, even Kimi made it there. Burn some rubber on the streets and show the fans a good time a la Ricciardo. Wait, this was an F1 event not a Lewis event? Now it all makes sense.
Joe,
Do you know if VJM was in attendance? I saw what looks like his Maybach parked behind the National Gallery.
Cheers
Aj
I didn’t see him
I caught Ron Dennis sneaking out of the ministry of defence after a hard day’s work. He made away to the tube station before i could grab him.
Kind of funny how out of touch with reality some drivers can be. Here we are with an event in Britain to increase fan support, the British GP will be gone at one of the best circuits unless some miracle discussions occur, and the only real British driving star decides to go party up and continue his playboy antics instead of promoting the sport that he is part of. Promotion that may increase fan support and provide extra needed money to keep the very GP that will be cancelled. Amazed someone in Mercedes didn’t put their foot down on him.
Frankly I don’t want either angry boy Vettel or party boy Hamilton to win the championship after these pathetic displays of childishness
Lewis has almost single handly raised the profile of the sport on social media, well before Liberty got involved. Even Bernie recognised that. How many F1 drivers get interviewed on prime time TV like he has? Who says that GP will be cancelled? Just about everything you have written is ill informed.
Let’s be clear though, the Lewis effect is not because he is doing things specifically on behalf of the sport, it’s because he’s partaking in things that please or benefit him personally and he also happens to be connected to F1.
To imply he is tirelessly working away from the track on behalf of motoracing is being overly generous. F1 is just riding the coat tails of his own incredibly successful publicity machine.
Obviously not a fan. Look, does it matter? Do you take the same view on every sportsman or woman? If you do, you’ll become very disappointed, everyone is in it for themselves, more or less, but some give a little back, like Lewis. Let’s take other examples: Vettel, Kimi & Ferrari (to name but three). The former two are invisible off-track (and Kimi 50% on track!) and Ferrari have effectively given two fingers to the media and fans. I agree with your last line, though I suspect you didn’t mean that…..
I thought I was clear and it still reads as I meant it to so I’m not sure how you interpreted my words. I agree with you that Lewis gets by far the lion’s share of media attention away from the track (in the UK at any rate) but what he’s doing – be it fashion shows or making music or cameoing in films – is all for brand Hamilton, not for F1. Even the example of the recent hospital visit was a Cars 3 tie-in so Im sadly not convinced that was particularly altrusitic. I personally don’t like the way he professes his love of England from his Monaco residence. Someone in a reply either here or elsewhere said he still pays all UK taxes which I confess I’m highly dubious about but if there’s any proof out there I won’t hesitate to apologise.
I know this sounds like I’ve got a burning hatred of the man but it’s really nothing as severe as that all. I just feel that everything I see and hear him do is designed to manage my perception of him. Consequently he doesn’t seem real and comes across more like a Made-in-Monaco type character (and we all know how real those shows are).
It was ridiculous not to promote this event at least 72 hours in advance. “Terrorism” is an absurd excuse, irrespective of recent events, and perhaps a sign that even in the post-Bernie era, F1 has an overblown sense of its own importance. There is no reason to believe that the event would have been any greater a target than countless other events or busy areas in the capital that one could mention. And do people defending the claimed justification really think that an attack such as happened at the Palace of Westminster or London Bridge could not have been organised at 24 hours’ notice? (Maybe the organisers thought that by announcing it on Tuesday evening, any potential Islamist terrorists would not have been able to obtain authorisation from their line manager for a day’s leave from work in order to travel to Trafalgar Square. I’m being factious, of course. Tragedy + Time = Humour as Twain said – and no-one has ever settled on a value for Time…)
Many of the people there were accidental visitors such as passing tourists and employees leaving after a day’s work from nearby government offices and commercial businesses, and many more F1 fans would have been unable to attend at such short notice. Poor judgement from all involved. Unless of course, the real reason was to keep numbers down and avoid having to make it a ticketed event, with all the extra costs and effort (such as crowd management) involved – in which case the organisers should have been honest about it.
Incidentally, a friend of mine – who was dressed in a polo shirt, jeans and a old pair of trainers – managed to talk his way through a barrier simply by telling a very young lady in a high-visibility vest that he needed to get to work in a government building nearby. If security is so paramount, one might suggest to the organisers that, next time, they hire a security staff who aren’t so easily played.
Write to the Mayor… Nothing F1 could do about it
Ah yes, our venerable Mayor – who told us little people to “accept terrorism as part and parcel of living in a big city”.
Nice piece of selective quoting there. YA Donald Trump Jr AICMFP.
Same goes for whomever the comment should rightly be aimed at. Anyone hearing such nonsense should give it the short shrift it deserves, with a healthy dose of mockery added on top.
My son, who is growing to be a big F1 fan and has pictures of RIC on his bedroom wall (alongside pictures of the wonderful #93 from MotoGP, including images of him riding his beautiful motorbike…), missed this event because of the ridiculous way it was promoted. Some of his enthusiastic friends too. I was only there because I was in London for other reasons. Are you listening, Messrs. Carey and Khan?
I think you’re wilfully misquoting.
This is what he actually said: “part and parcel of living in a great, global city is you’ve got to be prepared for these things, you’ve got to be vigilant, you’ve got to support the police”
Where does he say that we have to accept terrorism?
Nothing like buying radio advertising?
Ouch. Just need to find out when they towed Lewis’ car to the Park Lane compound so we can get guessing when the ticket will be processed and then we can come back a few times and still not get any joy just paying the fine… Must be how he missed the event…
‘Many of the people there were accidental visitors . . .’
That’s the whole point – it was a promotional event –
Aimed at attracting potential new fans to F1.
It was packed and on that basis was a success.
There were local rumours that it was happening –
at least a week in advance, so easy to plan ahead.
Having been too close to a IRA blast, in 90 I think it was, and my window only cracking from the bomb in neighbouring Ambrosden Avenue, no less than the target a retired “hanging judge” my upstairs neighbour, and hence I have thought about the experience as technically sheer luck of incompetence that spared my life, and the damage that would have torn apart my body as I sat down with my late tea that night in my living room, the bomb itself amazingly contained by the foyer of the actual building attacked, all I can think of saying is the emotion of it stayed with me even though extensive memory losses in recent years. The very last thing I would risk is a crowd, and the jewel of national champions in the bosom of the world’s most vital democracy, and losing life to carelessness is unspeakable in any way of considering the idea. I have repeatedly reminded people in conversation the response to the Southwark attack saw men shot dead cold in eight minutes. Not without reason do Chinook helicopters with suspension and gyro platforms I think I spotted, overfly near me, along the Thames so often. Lament as I do, true dangers to our nation state by the date with impossibility Brexit wrought of our future, and insist we must do infinitely better as a civil society, those eight minutes former a necessary reassurance that I would not forgo.
Thank so much for this report Joe, looks like a really cool event and the pictures are great!
Is that Johnny Herbert waving a Union Jack?
Im aware that the event was not promoted earlier as a security measure but I actually think a ‘pop up’ style event is terrific. It has a spontaneous, fun feel to it. And even if your bummed out that you couldn’t make it, well it’s still good marketing from Liberty because people want to be there, maybe next time folks keep your ears peeled…
Yes, it is JH
The opprobrium apparently visited upon Hamilton by motor racing fans was remarkable. Sometimes it seems to me that to be a motor racing fan you need to have the memory of a goldfish. It was just three months ago, on the clagged-in Friday of the Shanghai race, that Hamilton alone figured out that the absence of activity was not what the spectators paid their money for and crossed the track to the grandstand and proceeded to chuck signed Mercedes hats up to the fans. All this while the other 19 drivers were hunkered down in their respective garages.
Hamilton decided to do that all by himself did he Gary?!
He wasn’t asked to do it at all then?
He has advisors and pr people to come up with good ideas for him so he can stay ‘focussed.’
jamesk… Splitting. Hairs. I think you know what I meant.
Short memories indeed!
When you suddenly need a emoji of a fish blowing bubbles…
I can understand a degree of the criticism aimed at Lewis, but most of it is grossly disproportionate in the circumstances. Lewis has consistently been the best ambassador for the sport, since his phenomenal first season. In the last few years Ricciardo has been similarly impressive, assisted by his incredibly likeable persona and relaxed manner.
Certain less than reputable parts of the F1 media are incredibly quick to criticise Lewis at every opportunity. Normally that’s mainly tabloid style Internet sites, but in the Drivers press conference it was ridiculous how many hacks repeatedly referenced Lewis not attending this event, after he’d clearly stated he’d said all he wanted to and needed to say about such a relatively trivial matter.
If events such as the live F1 London thing work to further promote the sport, I guess that’s good. Personally what I saw on TV looked pretty boring. I’m sure I’d have enjoyed getting up close to the cars and drivers, had I been lucky enough to find a decent space on the crowded pavements. However on TV it got boring quickly, with occasional moments of levity such as Stroll’s inability to do any controlled sliding.
With luck Lewis will ace this race weekend, and answer his critics with a decent win – hopefully then such trivialities will never be referenced again!
I had a great time at the event, as we left a group of American tourist’s behind were chatting, and they were saying how great it was to stumble across this, and how they didn’t even really know what F1 was, but they’re gonna give a race a try.
I doubt they were the only ones who went to think that, I don’t see how the event can be judged as anything other than a success.
Agreed Gary, I don’t remember any negative press fir the other 19 in Shanghai. It seems to me that the opprobrium was predominantly from the media, certainly generated by it by the likes of Jake whatever his surname – the football chap. Casual observers in the main. Paying fans at Silverstone seem to have a more realistic reaction.
The “Media” is very fickle and can, by itself, form opinion, I notice the Hamilton haters are in full cry again. But why was his hospital visit last week kept a secret by the “Media” a pre-release showing of Cars 3 for the kids at the Chelsea and Westminster hospital. I have only seen it in one place.
I cannot say I heard about it, which indicates that the PR people involved are not very good…
LH is a complicated one, isn’t he?
On the one hand he does the Instagram show-everything-in-your-life showbiz lifestyle, then he goes and spends an afternoon with some kids and doesn’t mention it. The only people who have publicised it at all are the hospital, who have the photos on their website.
Perhaps he doesn’t want to be seen to profit from charitable/social work? In any event, the children in the hospital thought the visit was brilliant, and in the end, that’s all that matters.
Unless it was really not done for PR. But there is a picture on Lewis’s Instagram feed and a writeup on the Hospital’s Facebook page. Just Google “Cars 3 for the kids at the Chelsea and Westminster hospital”
Having seen the event on TV and relatively compact nature of the demo area I am more convinced than ever that Cardiff, Liverpool, Manchester, Glasgow, Newcastle etc. could all host something similar.
Yes I know that they are not global destinations like London but hey that means a higher percentage of UK fans, as opposed to random tourists could see the event.
Given the teams were using older demo cars its not such a big burden on the race teams so actually having the event further away from the core GP venue could actually be a good thing.
For the future I wonder if all F1 teams will become contracted as part of entering the FIA F1 world championship to supply a promotion “test team” for demonstration runs around the world. Just a thought….
Surely the fact they are using older cars makes it more work for the teams? The current car is run on average every fortnight, hence presumably is the most familiar vehicle for the mechanics and engineers required to run it.
However the various different vintages of car all run at the same time, was by far the most interesting element of the event. I’d love them to come to my home town up north, but it seems a bit far fetched to expect such busy people to add in a tour of the UK to their already busy schedules!
Good point Gary, unwise decision by Ham not to attend but he probably does not deserve all the flak that has been directed at him.
Is F1 taking lessons from the WEC? I’m thinking of the scrutineering at Le Mans that takes place in the town square in front of thousands. Perhaps one day it would be nice to think that we only have to pay £40 for a weekend pass to the Grand Prix that will allow access to the paddock and all areas of track (including the viewing balcony in The Wing above the pit lane and drivers walking to/from the hospitality tents) – those who go to the WEC event at Silverstone will know what I’m talking about. We bumped into Jackie Stewart and Mark Webber last year – what chance of doing that at the GP?
What are the chances that Lewis’ decision not to attend is a challenge to the powers that be following the Vettel incident? “If you’re not going to punish Vettel for a an on-track incident, I dare you to punish ME for an off-track one.”
I’m surprised Hamilton not attending is apparently, to some, such a huge issue.
So he didn’t attend this one event. The needs and standards of marketing companies are not the standard to measure yourself. This leads to Ron Dennis/Jackie Stewart style bending their needs to corporate objectives.
Not everyone is constantly doing promotions. Attendance wasn’t mandatory. Lewis does quite a lot of promotion like many other drivers, save perhaps Kimi and Sebastien who, for example, have no social media presence at the moment.
Thankfully we don’t see widespread condemnation of both Kimi and Seb for not bothering with social media (at least that I’m aware of).
It’s their prerogative not to be on Social Media to engage their F1 fanbase. We’re in modern times and we need to recognize diversity, even in marketing. Some drivers won’t do all the events. Some will. Some will participate in social media, some won’t. This uproar is absolute nonsense. If we can recognize the concerns of the marketers to such a massive degree we should be able to recognize the concerns of the drivers and others.