Formula 1 - 2014 Season

[IainF]

My issue with locked down stuff is simple, you make a mistake and you are paying the whole season.

It's an expensive sport, share the earnings more evenly. The teams with the most money is still most likely to win, earn more money and then win again. It's a very tough sport to get into.

Fair point, however the risk of making a mistake is equal across all teams and isn't really a product of having more money so much as making a smart judgement call. Of course that could help the smaller teams as much as hinder them, even the big guys make mistakes in judgement and strategy.

The second point about the money making it hard for teams to get into the sport is also fair, although history proves that money, even in F1 is not always a guarantee of success, look at the amounts Toyota spent with basically no return in results over many years. I would however like to see more of the money seeing its way to the smaller teams as a proportion of the total revenue as compared to the big teams.

My biggest bugbear is having 3rd or even 2nd tier teams sometimes fielding drivers that dont represent the best talent purely because they bring big money with them. You can't help but feel some of the most talented drivers may not ever get the chance to drive in F1 unless they can swing a huge entry fee..

 

[cjo]

The second point about the money making it hard for teams to get into the sport is also fair, although history proves that money, even in F1 is not always a guarantee of success, look at the amounts Toyota spent with basically no return in results over many years. I would however like to see more of the money seeing its way to the smaller teams as a proportion of the total revenue as compared to the big teams.

I think the biggest problem isn't the division between teams but the amount the teams see in total compared to how much goes to Bernie Ecclestone / whichever company he gives the rights to.

 

[-tkf-]

Fair point, however the risk of making a mistake is equal across all teams and isn't really a product of having more money so much as making a smart judgement call. Of course that could help the smaller teams as much as hinder them, even the big guys make mistakes in judgement and strategy.

The second point about the money making it hard for teams to get into the sport is also fair, although history proves that money, even in F1 is not always a guarantee of success, look at the amounts Toyota spent with basically no return in results over many years. I would however like to see more of the money seeing its way to the smaller teams as a proportion of the total revenue as compared to the big teams.

My biggest bugbear is having 3rd or even 2nd tier teams sometimes fielding drivers that dont represent the best talent purely because they bring big money with them. You can't help but feel some of the most talented drivers may not ever get the chance to drive in F1 unless they can swing a huge entry fee..

Toyota paid a high price for wanting to be number one, even the giant budget of Ferrari doesn't guarantee anything. The smaller teams are fighting for their lives every season, and usually goes belly up within a season or 2. A simple system would guarantee a basic money package for the first 12 teams in F1, enough to cover the basic expenses (whatever they are), the money could be subtracted from earnings from the best 6 teams. I am sure there is a way to make it easier for smaller teams to get a foothold. And i for one would love a bigger field with more cars and more midfield action

 

[DieH@rd]

Catheram will most likely miss next 2 races, and Marussia will not race in USA. Small teams are dying. :-/
http://www1.skysports.com/f1/news/1...oth-caterham-and-marussia-will-miss-the-us-gp

 

[DJ12]

As transport is arranged by Bernie, and it's a back to back race with travel already arranged between the us and Brazil it's likely marussia will miss Brazil too

 

[-tkf-]

As transport is arranged by Bernie, and it's a back to back race with travel already arranged between the us and Brazil it's likely marussia will miss Brazil too

Yeah, that is Q1 reduced by 4 cars

 

[Bludd]

Caterham is in total disarray (the team is being run by an administrator from an accounting firm) and Marussia's owner can't pay for it to operate and wants to sell it but is asking too much.

FOM has a contract with the FIA to provide 20 cars, and there are some insane, opaque rules governing third cars which may come into effect if not enough entrants are lodged for 2015.

It is a mess, maybe it is Bernie's gambit to lower the value of F1 so CVC will sell it cheaply to him/his friends.

 

[DieH@rd]

Yeah, that is Q1 reduced by 4 cars

O yeah, will they change the cutoff point in Q1?

 

[Rurouni]

It should be. I think it would be at least 3 but probably 4 will be out in q1. But I have another idea. Why don't they drop the q3 and extend the q2 and q1 time proportionally? Basically eliminate q1 and move q2 and q3 to q1 and q2.

 

[DieH@rd]

FIA has confirmed that because only 18 cars will be on the grid, 4 cars will drop in Q1 and 4 more in Q2.

 

[DieH@rd]

Strong words from Bernie!
http://www1.skysports.com/f1/news/1...y-fourteen-cars-may-be-on-the-f1-grid-in-2015

 

[DieH@rd]

Sky's buildup to the qually has shown serious development of the situation in F1. Three most poorest teams [Lotus, Force India and Sauber] are openly talking that they are discussing to boycott tomorrow's race. They are pissed that big teams are getting vast majority of the money FIA is giving to the teams, plus they don't like current rules that force very expensive engines on teams [$30-35+ million].

Here is the yesterday's team principals pressconf, entire hour was not focused on racing, but on clash of the poor vs ritch.

 

[Billy Idol]

Nice job Nico and Botas!

 

[Billy Idol]

Very good race by Ham.

 

[-tkf-]

Very good race by Ham.

Yeah, he is surely looking more and more like a champion.

Thank god we have the middle pack to provide the racing.

 

[Dave Baumann]

Yeah, he is surely looking more and more like a champion.

He already is a, you mean the.

 

[Phil]

Well, the point difference is at 24 now.

This means that Hamilton can afford a 3rd place in Brazil and still come 2nd [to Nico] in Abu Dhabi to clinch the WDC on the basis of more wins this season (3rd place to Nico winning in Brazil brings the gap down to 14 points and a 2nd place in Abu Dhabi to Nico winning it means they will be level on points, but Hamilton deciding it on number of wins).

It also means that even if Nico were to retire in Brazil, the maximum gap can only be 49 points, which means a reverse DNF for Hamilton despite a 49 point lead and a win by Nico (50 points) will give Nico the WDC. If Hamilton doesn't suffer a DNF, a 10th place finish would be enough to secure the WDC.

If Hamilton wins Brazil while Nico again comes 2nd, the gap will be extended to 31 points, meaning that Hamilton could afford to come 5th to still grab the WDC in Abu Dhabi.

If Hamilton has a DNF in Brazil, while Nico wins - the gap would be down to Nico leading the race by a single point.

 

[DieH@rd]

So we will get the winner at last race. Good.

I'm still hoping for Nico to win.

 

[Dave Baumann]

Strong words from Bernie!
http://www1.skysports.com/f1/news/1...y-fourteen-cars-may-be-on-the-f1-grid-in-2015

Badmouthing the engines, again, is just moving him further into "dinosaur" territory. Later in the weekend he came out saying "yeah, the fault probably is mine" due to the unequal distribution of revenues to the big teams (i.e. Ferrari are still likely to be paid the most this season, despite its position in the championship).

What is interesting is that reports are just surfacing that it was one of the CVC bosses that stepped in to avert the boycott and suggestions they may have to increase the funds to the backmarkers.

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/formula1/29888406

Interesting on two fronts - first this seems to have been the first time someone has crawled out of the woodwork from CVC, and may have some indications as to Bernies grip on things. Second, with the big manufacturers saying they won't revenue share then if the lower teams get more then this may come out of CVC's pockets.

Evidently if the grid falls below 16 cars then the FIA have the right to cancel the current commercial deal and set up a new one. If CVC don't put their hand in their pockets then they stand the chance of losing it all.

 

[-tkf-]

So we will get the winner at last race. Good.

I'm still hoping for Nico to win.

I have no problem with Hamilton taking his second championship, he has been very good the past races. But this season has imho not giving me a very positive impression off him as a person.