Mercedes TV coveragegate

[TAG]

Clearly something is going on, it's not as if Mercedes would mention something if they felt it wasn't the case. Anyone that thinks otherwise and it's being done just because the fans are "bored" is delusional. They did it to Fi in 2012 Bahrain. Bernie is a ruthlessly shrewd little man.

Some statistics I've dug up.

Suzuka 6

Singapore 16
Monza 31
Spa 26

The average TV coverage for Mercedes throughout the year has been about 20% of the TV time.

....................................Malaysian GP Chinese GP Bahrain GP
Amount of time on-screen ....... 20:29..........10:27.........22:08
Percentage of race................ 20.3%..........10.5%.........23.3%

[bauc]

So instead of us watching some duels on the track for position we should watch HAM or ROS leading by 15-20 seconds driving alone at the front? Few shots of course, but that is all....

And this should be some kind of punishment for Mercedes not giving engines to RedBull by Bernie?

C'mon!

[TAG]

I believe you're missing the point.

[SiLo]

I think sometimes its nice to see an onboard of the leader or of other cars. A lot of the time nothing was happening even though there was close racing on track.

[NoDivergence]

You realize Vettel was chasing Rosberg after getting jumped with the undercut, right? We didn't see any of that

[TAG]

Let's put aside the team/driver bias for a minute. There was an actual battle for 2nd place between Vettel and Rosberg. Additionally Hamilton's second pit stop was extremely cropped. The leaded of a GP whenever they come into the pits tends to be shown. Hamilton was shown only after he was driving away.

Simply looking at the numbers should be enough evidence that something changed. It's not "fans being bored" explanation when you look at Monza and Spa coverage since the same thing happened there. F1 is a business first and foremost, a business controlled by Bernie, Bernie right now is in dire straits protecting his business interests. The numbers don't lie.

Let's see what happens in Sochi.

[SiLo]

I think if you're leading the race you should get a sensible amount of coverage, after all, that's kind of a big reason for them trying to be there, to win AND to get their sponsors in the news and on the television.

Maybe Mercedes will tell Rosberg and Hamilton to drive really close to each other to make it look like a fight, so they get lots of coverage, but when in fact, they know what position the drivers will finish in anyway.

[bauc]

You realize Vettel was chasing Rosberg after getting jumped with the undercut, right? We didn't see any of that

Maybe coz we were watching Alosno trying to stay ahead of the cars behind him,and since this was Honda home GP, maybe the director of the TV coverage focused more towards the fights in the midfield and not on the front.

Or maybe its a conspiracy theory against Mercedes

[TAG]

Or maybe its a conspiracy theory against Mercedes

Or you can ignore the clear data because you know better.

[dans79]

Something was definitely fishy, because regardless of who's leading the race we should have heard or seen something like this.
https://vid.me/rIAF/2015-japan-post-rac ... ays-he-was

[bauc]

Or maybe its a conspiracy theory against Mercedes

Or you can ignore the clear data because you know better.

I'm not ignoring the clear data posted above, I'm just saying "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar." - Sigmund Freud

[TAG]

Or maybe its a conspiracy theory against Mercedes

Or you can ignore the clear data because you know better.

I'm not ignoring the clear data posted above, I'm just saying "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar." - Sigmund Freud

You're right; However If I were running the business of Mercedes AMG Petronas, I would have done exactly the same thing Mercedes did. No need to make a public witch hunt out of it, have the discussion, as a matter of fact Lauda flew into London yesterday to have a personal discussion with Bernie. Things are all okay now, bu you best be sure Bernie won't be trying to pass off a turd as a fine Cuban again.

[Cold Fussion]

Is the Japanese race still a race done by the local broadcaster and not FOM?

[bauc]

[/quote]You're right; However If I were running the business of Mercedes AMG Petronas, I would have done exactly the same thing Mercedes did. No need to make a public witch hunt out of it, have the discussion, as a matter of fact Lauda flew into London yesterday to have a personal discussion with Bernie. Things are all okay now, bu you best be sure Bernie won't be trying to pass off a turd as a fine Cuban again.[/quote]

Sure, what Mercedes did is understandable and clearly they what to justify the money invested by the sponsors by giving them brand recognition and TV time, but I really think that it was just a race focus issue instead of some ''punishment'' plan by Berine

[emaren]

I guess that we will not see Sauber or Force India at all in the next few races then, unless they are on fire or in the tyre wall ?