Post here all non technical related topics about Formula One. This includes race results, discussions, testing analysis etc. TV coverage and other personal questions should be in Off topic chat.
donskar wrote:F1 is like an old, crumbling monarchial line, finally succumbing to back-stabbing politics, corruption and inbreeding. It's time for a change. Overthrow the senile king and his drooling princes and dumb-blond princesses and bring in democracy and intelligent management. And tell the Queen to lay off the stable boy. Or is it the King and the stable boy?
You make it sound like this is all new stuff. These battles have been going on for the best part of half of F1's existence. Don't forget the "FISA/FOCA wars" of the early 80s...
Oh, and democracy is oversold - all too often it just results in other forms of corruption and nepotism. The self-styled "greatest democracy on Earth" is full of "back-stabbing politics, corruption and inbreeding" for example...they can't even add up the votes properly! "To chad or not to chad, that is the question!"
And "intelligent management" is getting very close to oxymoron these days...
Excellent post all around, and yes today's F1 politics/backstabbing/clever rule interpretations are child's play compared to the early 80's. How about the major english teams not showing up in Imola, how about the water cooled brakes and double length rear wings, how about getting your points taken away two races after the fact, how about a major manufacturer forcing a team to use their crappy turbo engine, i could go on....
The major difference between now and then is money, it is not even comparable.
F1 and its fans are sucked dry by MrE and CVC, even our governments gets taken.
This has to stop.
"I spent most of my money on wine and women...I wasted the rest"
And that's a very valid point, however I also see the other side where you think that it's impressive that F1 has been able to carry on so strong and for so long, and for as many faults as you can point out Bernie and his management model have, I also think he's done a very good job of it, so i believe it would be unwise to simply dismiss him as a vulture. Modern F1 and NASCAR are in my opinon the only two big racing series in my mind, please correct me if you think i'm wrong, that have soldiered on for so long and remained strong throughout all seasons.
I prefer to have a series that is kept healthy, with a few individuals getting rich from it, than to have a nice democratic one that fades into the history books.
That's not to say i think things should remain as they are, i think the teams should make a strong case of getting more profits/control etc. but I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss the people that have played a part in that history.
30 years ago Bernie was right there in the middle of it all, so in that sense things haven't changed that much either.
You're right that F1 and Nascar are the two big things within motorsport, but the difference between them is the approach to the fans and spectators, it doesn't set you back a grand to take your kid to a race weekend in Nascar. In F1 it does.
And that is still not enough to satisfy the profiteers, on top of that the government often has to chip in just as much.
Sickening.
"I spent most of my money on wine and women...I wasted the rest"
Yeap, i was talking to a friend a few days ago, she's a lady well in her 50s, not into racing but she was telling me about the time they got on a van for $12 that took them around Charlotte Speedway at 80 mph for a few laps.
But by the same token, do we want that for F1? Formula 1 Cheerios? I don't necessarily think that what works for NASCAR would work for F1, or the other way around, but i do agree there's room for improvement in F1
Just_a_fan wrote:
Oh, and democracy is oversold - all too often it just results in other forms of corruption and nepotism. The self-styled "greatest democracy on Earth" is full of "back-stabbing politics, corruption and inbreeding" for example...they can't even add up the votes properly! "To chad or not to chad, that is the question!"
And "intelligent management" is getting very close to oxymoron these days...
There's a great big difference though with democracy: instead of having one corrupt bastard stealing all the money and telling you what to do, you get several of them. This is progress.
The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. H.P.Lovecraft
Christian Sylt, who with colleague Caroline Reid publishes the annual dissection of F1's finances, said that Delta Topco made revenues of $1.6bn last year, and $5.9bn over the five years. "It's an astonishing return," he said.
I was reading along just fine and then this guys name appears. Chris Sylt I would not trust to do a sweet shops accounts, as he makes 8 from 2+2. Anyone who has read Pitpass will no this guy is a bit of a running joke.
How he is being quoted on the BBC is a bit of a mystery.
