I must admit , I am very surprised at the way Domenicali appears to just have rolled over and let the FIA tickle his tummy . I thought Ben Saladin was supposed to have taken a back seat or fuc**d off somewhere ? Makes me sick .
https://x.com/karunchandhok/status/1750183358368211028?s=48&t=KuOxTFsSBT1glYOvqv4e2Q Craig Slater another one who can get in the bin with that fool David Croft. Just watch this excruciating few seconds of “sports” coverage. This man genuinely, genuinely seems to believe he is funny. And on the same week as we banish Catalunya for Madrid street procession. I am very close to having enough of it, they have sold its soul.
Yes they have definitely sold its soul . For several years now I have hoped to see some back to basics . now with almost what works out at a race every other week , more street circuits not less , it’s just sad . I could go on , but what’s the point
Congratulations to Stake F1 Team Kick-Sauber anyway. They now only have the second worst team name in the history of the sport.
I don’t see this happening because I expect the sport would quickly move to prevent it, but it’s an interesting thought experiment. 2022/23 You’re competing in a sport where, uniquely you own two teams and centrally contract 4 drivers. One of the teams has historically been largely uncompetitive One of your drivers is a potential GOAT and certainly the most effective and focussed winner the sport has seen for 20 years The sport is increasingly placing restrictions aimed at bringing the cars closer together, but allows you to share a number of fundamental performance parts, including the drivers. Following the death of a key figure in the business you hold a strategic review as to your future commitment to the sport which considers disposing of the second team Your main aim is to maximise exposure for your brand and your sponsors You decide to keep the second team You have a long history of finding creative ways to maximise the scope of the rules One of the key challenges of the sport is to design a car that performs across a wide range of conditions, i.e. to find the best compromise 2024 You start to sign sponsors who will advertise across both teams You start to make changes that allow the teams to collaborate as much as the rules permit You talk bullishly about the second team regularly competing at the front 2026? As performance of the grid starts to equalise - to maximise your overall performance you focus each of your teams on designing a car that maximises different ends of the performance spectrum? You allocate your drivers to the cars based on the expected relative performance each weekend? You still need to execute to a high level to win, but if you do, you have a locked in advantage that will take hundreds of millions of dollars and years for your competitors to match?
Absolutely pathetic !!! I hope Karun Chandhok didn`t post that drivel on X because he thought it was funny,for the reason that I had a bit of respect for Karun and think he`s got more intelligence than that. Who is this Craig Slater anyway? I`m glad we don`t get him here in Australia.
This name will have left a bitter taste in the mouths of some fans and is a big step away from Minardi who once operated out of that Faenza factory. Even when when Minardi became Torro Rosso that made some acceptabe sense,but this name now is pure advertising,and it is killing F1.
On that Madrid deal,it`s reported in Spanish media that it`s costing €48 million a year for a 10 year deal,That`s twice what Catalunya were paying. So,after 10 years Madrid will have shelled out almost half a billion euro`s.!!
Ah awesome mate, which part of Aus? Always wanted to visit - must admit some of those spiders are enough to make me **** myself though!! Who delivers the coverage in Aus nowadays- Fox sports? I have to say, I miss those wonderful days of yesteryear where Melbourne opened the season. I used to love the original start times- a beaming afternoon Melbourne sun and the need to either stay up late in the UK (or record on VHS video plus “long play”- remember that?!). I detest Bahrain as a season opener - it’s not the worst newer track but the glitz of a night race wears off fast with so much of it, plus the testing coverage in the week before. It’s all a bit to sterilised isn’t it. Melbourne just felt like the right place to start.
Thanks for an excellent post Top Class. I must agree that I too miss Melbourne as the kick off to a new season. The week would start from about Wednesday onwards with some drivers being interviewed on the local morning TV stations and then by Friday with first practice Fox Sport( as you enquired) had also started coverage.I enjoy seeing the drivers coming in through the gates and passing the crowds who are straining for autographs and selfies with their favorite driver. So,we still get all this air time now,but it`s not the same not being the first,because ,like you I just can`t abide Barhrain,always glad to get that out of the way. I`m now in Bathurst NSW after 19 years of living and working in Sydney and in 1999 I took the wife with me to Melbourne for the season opener and it was a Ferrari victory with Eddie Ervine getting his first win. There`s a suburb of Melboure called Lygon Street and it`s a sort of little Italy,and we went there Sunday night after the race and the locals were well into the celebrations and you couldn`t help but just join in,we had an absolute ball !!!
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/f1-rejects-andretti-entry-door-open-2028-cadillac/10571060/ I know F1 hasn't cared about being a sport for a long time, but this must be the most brazen it's ever been. Liberty Media are a cancer.
if I read the bbc report correctly one of the reasons for rejection ‘F1 said that before that stage, "the need for any new team to take a compulsory power-unit supply, potentially over a period of several seasons, would be damaging to the prestige and standing of the championship". So all the other teams currently using works engines instead of building their own is perfectly fine but a new team have to make their own. If they can’t they are not worthy of joining. It’s really about money and the prize money between 11 teams instead of 10.
They even are working on their own engine for 2028. Apparently a couple of years of practice chassis building wouldn't be useful to F1's other stated aim of ensuring that a new team would be competitive (and it seems you need to be more competitive than half the current teams to merit consideration). Painfully transparent as with all the other cash grab measures of late. Squeezing every penny before the sport loses popularity again and they sell it off.
Utterly ridiculous. Bunch of money grabbing sods. So F1 is a closed shop then? What's the point? No independent could ever enter the sport now. Fast losing patience with this circus.
I’d be really interested to know what “not sufficiently competitive” means. I can see the argument that a team that trundles round solidly in 11th place every weekend isn’t really adding anything to the sport. Did Caterham, Marussia and HRT really add anything? I do appreciate the historical difference vs what we now have and in a way I do see that F1 finds itself in an odd position where it’s simultaneously the top rung of a ladder, but the rungs below don’t have “constructors” they have ”entrants”, such that there’s no structure to work your way up through.
