F1 considering success ballast

[Sevach]

They sure are trying hard to get me to turn off the tv...

Keep it up guys you are almost there!!!!

[FrukostScones]

they keep my blood boiling... arrgh!

[wesley123]

It levels the playing field and gives others the ability to win

Levels the playing field? What a load of tosh on FIA's part.

I thought we all wanted a closer field?

Any team can level the field by doing a better job.

Not really. Resources.

The nature of F1 is to design and build the best car and get the best driver you can to drive it.

And it still is and still will be. I would say that the best team would also be capable to work around the disadvantage these rules change. I'd say the best driver would also be able to extract the most of a heavier car.

The best team wins, the rest don't.

And I thought we all agreed that this was quite boring(general opinion seems to be the case, even though most of the won championships have been one where that team was much quicker than the rest.)?

If the FIA want to improve audience figures they should stop the stupid rules changes mid season, the stupid post race penalties. They should encourage drivers from new markets - perhaps sponsor some young drivers in these new markets so that the locals at these races have someone to cheer for.

Audience is changing. Those who were watching in the 70s arent watching it anymore. Generations has changed, and these generations all have a smartphone or tablet on which they would love to (maybe even pay for it) watch F1. They certainly would prefer it above using the TV though. F1 is ran by old guys who cannot cope with the change anymore, they simply do not comprehend it anymore and thus will stick to a current model.

The FIA and Bernie are just hoping to extract the last few golden.eggs from the goose before walking away. They aren't interested in a goose breeding programme to maintain golden eggs in the future.

And can you blame them? Bernie saw a business opportunity and he went for it, he got very rich of it in the process and even the teams got more dough from the exposure Bernie created for F1.

[strad]

Frankly enough, this is one of the better ideas they have come up with.

It levels the playing field and gives others the ability to win

It's not their job to level the field or give others a chance to win.
It's up to the teams to pull themselves up to level and fight to win.

[GitanesBlondes]

Forcing a quasi-socialist agenda on F1 to try and make it more exciting is how we ended up in 2014 with a litany of asinine ideas from locked engines, to narrow-track cars, to anything-but-green-hybrid systems, and numerous pay drivers that combined, have less talent than Alain Prost.

[acosmichippo]

I find it humorous that the catalyst for this meeting was poor attendance in Germany. As if the reason Germans didn't go to the German GP was they didn't want to see the German championship leading driver in a German team with a German engine win too easily.

F1 is plenty exciting as is. You want better viewership and higher attendance? Make it more accessible, you idiots. I am sitting here in the US just waiting for an opportunity to hand over my credit card info to get HD coverage quality on par with SKY or BBC through the internet. Until that happens, I'll continue to torrent, and you'll never see a dime of my money.

[xpensive]

The whole idea with this "Popularity working group" is a sign of desperation as well as an admission of guilt if you ask me,
while bringing back a fossil like Flavio to spearhead it only adds to the picture that things in F1 has gone terribly wrong.

The cars look wrong, sound wrong and the fuel conservation ambitions are simply confusing to the TV-audience;
"Aha, they can't drive flat out because they lose fuel and tires, so this is racing, what's on the other channel?"

The idea that people interested in Formula 1 was ever PC is a terrible misconception.

[GitanesBlondes]

The whole idea with this "Popularity working group" is a sign of desperation as well as an admission of guilt if you ask me,
while bringing back a fossil like Flavio to spearhead it only adds to the picture that things in F1 has gone terribly wrong.

The cars look wrong, sound wrong and the fuel conservation ambitions are simply confusing to the TV-audience;
"Aha, they can't drive flat out because they lose fuel and tires, so this is racing, what's on the other channel?"

The idea that people interested in Formula 1 was ever PC is a terrible misconception.

I rewatched Suzuka 1999 this morning. Sure he had the benefit of those beryllium-infused Mercedes V10's, but Mika Hakkinen, there was a driver who was a gem to watch when he was driving on the limit. People have become so obsessed with the idea of overtaking as the only way racing can be possibly enjoyable, that their narrow-minded field of vision has prevented them realizing how nice it can be to watch cars just flat-out running around a race circuit. No bullsh*t or fuel economy runs, just the driver doing everything he can to push the car to its absolute maximum with a great sounding engine.

[Chuckjr]

Audience is changing. Those who were watching in the 70s arent watching it anymore. Generations has changed, and these generations all have a smartphone or tablet on which they would love to (maybe even pay for it) watch F1. They certainly would prefer it above using the TV though. F1 is ran by old guys who cannot cope with the change anymore, they simply do not comprehend it anymore and thus will stick to a current model.

I think your onto something there wesley.

You're spot on that kids -the becoming audience for any sport/entertainment show (depending on which side of the bed you wake)- have the attention span of a nat. This follow the leader racing that's been the defining expression of F1 for some time now will not cut it for those guys. I think things like these decisions being thrust into the sport/show, are the exact "old guys" you described trying to desperately save this sinking ship. They intend to do the right thing, but they are too old to be young and too desperate to be wise. While trying to be hip to the need, they offend the seasoned watchers and dissatisfy the younger gens.

Bernie and a host of others are too powerful to care, to old to listen, and to greedy to be sensical. They are their own worst enemy. My dad's a fairly powerful guy in his circle of influence and I'm watching this exact same thing happen in his world. He's Bernie's age and it's often eye popping to see the similarities at times.

Anyway, tho I've not really any opinion to any of these changes the FIA has made as of late (it's like watching a sit com in many ways), it will be interesting to see if they actually sink this once titanic, or just piss away the 60's-80's guys to build a next generation audience which actually prefers a simulacrum.

[Moxie]

This is Rod Sterling. Imagine a world where top ranked drivers compete with each other to avoid winning; where second place is the most coveted position on the podium. A world where disgraced cheaters are advisors for the development of the sporting regulations. Suddenly you realize you are in.......

The Twilight Zone

[acosmichippo]

This is Rod Sterling. Imagine a world where top ranked drivers compete with each other to avoid winning; where second place is the most coveted position on the podium. A world where disgraced cheaters are advisors for the development of the sporting regulations. Suddenly you realize you are in.......

The Twilight Zone

to be fair, second place (through tenth) would probably be ballasted as well, in a descending fashion. It would be unlikely a driver/team would sacrifice sure points to reduce ballast slightly for the next race.

It is still an awful, awful idea, though.


It also occurs to me that this would reduce amazing drives through the field like Hamilton's in Germany last week. We are treated to these multiple times every season with a top driver falling out of position at one point or another. This ballast plan would make it even more difficult for them to to make their way through, so it does have drawbacks even beyond being artificial.

[xpensive]

To my mind, the FIA's most serious mistake was to remake F1 into quasi-endurance racing, there is already a series for that.

[Just_a_fan]

The whole "one team winning all the time is boring" could be solved quit easily if Bernie just let the punters watch stuff from the various cameras on the cars. There are lots of battle going on through the field but we never get to see them because all we are allowed to watch is what is shown by the TV company/FOM.

If I could decide to watch e.g. Alonso and Vettel fighting it out for 5th place then I might not care about the guy leading from light to flag every race. I'd certainly be more likely to spend time and money watching races.

No gimmicks required - just let us watch as we wish.

[SectorOne]

You're spot on that kids -the becoming audience for any sport/entertainment show (depending on which side of the bed you wake)- have the attention span of a nat.

I disagree with the attention spat.
Lots of young people sit through football games where nothing happens for 90 minutes.

What has changed is young people stopped watching TV because it can´t compete with the internet.
It is an inferior and old system of entertainment just like radio which also is a dying breed.

It cannot compete with a system that lets you do what you want or feel. TV/Radio works in the exact opposite way.

[CBeck113]

The whole "one team winning all the time is boring" could be solved quit easily if Bernie just let the punters watch stuff from the various cameras on the cars. There are lots of battle going on through the field but we never get to see them because all we are allowed to watch is what is shown by the TV company/FOM.

If I could decide to watch e.g. Alonso and Vettel fighting it out for 5th place then I might not care about the guy leading from light to flag every race. I'd certainly be more likely to spend time and money watching races.

No gimmicks required - just let us watch as we wish.

I'd say forcing the teams to play with a more open hand, while not locking any regulations during the season, would avoid the domination we have this year. This way, the poor teams can copy the work of the rich teams, and since they will be late to the game they won't endanger the rich teams' position at the top of the points, but will be able to keep up a bit more closely, without spending as much money as the big ones. Maybe even go as far as to have all technical questions to Charlie W. be open for all to see - teams, fans, etc. The rich teams can continue to innovate, while the poor teams scavenge the best ideas a few weeks later.