Regarding the dominance of Red Bull this season and the lack of Jenson, Alonso, Webber and Lewis fighting for the WDC. Will the majority of "part time" F1 fans be put off watching it, just to watch like another "Schumi era" occur? Fast forward to the end of the 2011 season, the gap hasn't closed and he keeps winning, increasing the gap for the WDC until around Singapore or Japan comes around and he ends it there. Lewis and Jenson have been crushed and Sebastian has romped through the rest of the season. The majority would not want to watch it because sebastian has already won, so in the end they will do other things apart from watching f1, like losing weight... and watching crappy tennis and football. Would people bother to watch the 2012 season on the BBC? At a time where they need the numbers to convince the board to keep F1 on the BBC since it costs so much. The average viewing could drop under the 2 million mark and would show to be a waste of money because more people would rather watch Top Gear than see a Red Bull lockout by Vettel for another year. Could this be the time for Sky to get it's dirty claws into a contract after BBC would most likely drop it if Lewis, Paul and Jenson don't start winning everything and beating Vettel to keep the numbers increasing... Thoughts?
The individual races (barring Valencia) have been exciting, the championship has been boring. So we will not get another thrilling championship fight this year but I think the races will continue to thrill.
I can fully understand this article Silver but it will make no difference to me. I am certain there will be plenty of other good races this season, even though - failing some awful mishap - Vettel's second World Championship looks a done deal.
Humphrey keeps trumpeting that viewing figures are on the up despite Vettel's dominance, though whether this would continue through a sustained period of Vettel/Red Bull dominance is questionable. Although this year's titles look to be done deals, there are rule changes for next year and it still remains to be seen what new regs may change from Silverstone onwards; not much if Valencia was anything to go by! F1 fanatics will continue to watch, I'm sure. More casual fans, I suspect, are varied and many watch because it's Sunday afternoon, probably raining and it's fast cars. Jenson and Lewis are both very popular and the British like to see triumph in adversity, so I don't think people will turn off from them. As for Paul Di Resta, who knows yet? But to me he looks like becoming F1's Andy Murray: come on, smile, crack a joke! And anyway, Vettel is very popular here too, I think, just as Schumacher was Anyway, before I ramble further, I suppose that figures would drop off a bit but not so much. But I think reports of F1's demise are greatly exaggerated: we had one bad race, the others this year have been great fun.
I think there is still interest to watch this year as to who will be second out of Button, Hamilton and Alonso
There's still a very good reason to watch - a race is a a race and a good race is fantastic entertainment. The championship is a level of artifice imposed on the races to add a dimension to the racing season, but it's not the only reason to watch F1. I hope the 'casual' viewers feel the same and continue to tune in just to watch exciting races, regardless of what happens in the championship.
All this doom and gloom has arisen because Valencia was such a **** race. Someone on the BBC live text two weeks ago emailed in saying Canada was their first F1 race, imagine if they'd tuned in for the first time two weeks later... Bernie needs to get crap like Valencia off the calendar. As long as it's entertaining it doesn't matter if one guy dominates, Federer didn't damage tennis, Man Utd haven't damaged English football. Vettel won five races before Valencia and people didn't complain the sport was boring. It was the race, not the winner that was the problem.
To concentrate on the possible effect of boring race(s) on BBC decisions we have to remember who would make any fundamental change. The BBC like many corporations has to review where its audience lies, and what its customers want. Should there be enough pressure on spreading the funding to meet the content objectives sadly F1 could indeed become a casualty (no pun intended). Now with 2 more years of contract to run would the Board really be brave enough to cancel at end of existing year and incur significant financial penalty? I doubt it. However, there may be sufficient support to abstain from bidding for further years. In fact it is normal to run the competition for the next contract either 1 or 2 years prior to the current contract ending. This may become a 2 horse race - SKY vs ITV. Neither seem in the interest of long time F1 watchers.
BBC is really the only place for F1, itv too many poorly timed interuptions, Sky?, well, where to begin with sky, if it goes there i'll watch it on the net in arabic rather than give that facist warmongerer a penny.
Excellent comment. I tried to give you 'Rep' Miggins, but once again, I am unable to. I completely agree with you and I will never fall victim to Murdoch's propoganda. (I do not understand this Rep thing at all. For weeks now I have attempted to use it when I've seen a particularly good comment, without being allowed to!)
Channel 4 is reportedly throwing its hat into the ring. What was ITV's rate of commercial breaks? Was it twelve per race or twelve per show (eight per race)?
I still watched all the races I could even a few years ago, when F1 really was dump. If I know a race is on I have to watch. It's as simple as that. Even if the regulations don't get Red Bull this year, they will the next. One driver winning everything is bad for business, as Bernie well knows thanks to Schuey. Although I wouldn't put it past Newey to be able to sneak a jet engine into the RB8, even if there is a rule that says, "No jet engines". It's not a jet engine if the test designed to spot it's a jet engine can not tell if it is a jet engine. I suppose if there is a jet engine in next year's Red Bull many people will praise Vettel's talent even more highly. "Vettel is driving even better than last year. He must have improved again. Hard to imagine that Vettel could have got even better, but it must be so, because this season he is beating the whole field by 15 laps."
F1 is about racing to find out who is the best, in both car and driver. And the best partnership of driver and car deserve to win. It doesn't matter if one team is completely dominant or not, they have earned their place, and the dominance will stop when a better designer/driver comes along, or the teams develop enough to catch up. In short, yes, I will keep watching it, even if Vettel wins every race for the next decade.
