F1 2019 SEASON: NEWS - RUMOURS

Just finished watching Netflix F1 'Drive to Survive'. Must say it was great. Beautiful images, great chats with team principals and drivers. I say chat as it was more open chats than normal interviews. It was nice to see the 'rest' of the teams without the front 2. I think they did a great job as it looked like it was edited at the end of the season, so they could build the tensions as they knew the outcome. I think they had some of the drivers with microphones in their helmets, which was good to hear the drivers reactions. I hadn't noticed how often Grosjean was involved in accidents and just how many driver Max hit during his overtakes. The way it was edited it made him look like he was driving a bumper car not an F1 car. I can't believe he was allowed to get away with it so much. OK so they did show Haas a bit too much but Guenther Steiner made great TV, plus they are trying to get more US viewers so it's understandable. Guenther Steiner was great, you really got the feeling he was dreading making some of the calls about disasters. Plus you could understand why he took every opportunity to ensure the team achieved the most points by what ever means he could. It was all quite interesting to see a bit more behind the scenes.

I would love C4 highlights show to be edited at the end of the race as sometimes doing it live then cutting out the boring bits miss some of the battles going on and the outcomes. If they had access to all the camera footage they could really make a great highlights show with the extra few hrs they have.

 

Guess it depends how much McLaren made from Alonso's "image". I know Mercedes make more from Hamilton than seems reasonable, I can't remember the figure now but it was obscene. You wonder where it comes from, it's a lot of caps!

 

I have a feeling that Alonso's pay is a bit weird as he is a founding owner of Kimoa clothing brand. Kimoa has a multi year deal sponsoring McLaren, so effectively he is giving some of his pay back to McLaren!!!!

 

Possibly supplemented by kimoa and toyota. Also McLaren are backing his FA racing team I believe.

 

Nice little Tax dodge for Alonso , he owns Kimoa .

 

If you have a Sky Entertainment package you can get the F1 Channel for £10 a month if you sign up before 1st April. So I have sold my soul and will at least be able to watch the races. Maybe I'll turn the sound off.

 

Listen to bbc R5 and watch sky.

 

Chase Carey is in the board of Sky UK .

I despair .

 

I pay £10 a month for sky sports mobile tv, so get football etc as well as the F1 Channel.

 

FAO JUST JAZZ ( In Particular ) . .

go to about 8m 50s

 

Interesting.Others who share the thought that Paddy was benefiting from just being there at Merc and as he said, Merc let him go and didn't suffer. They let him go for a reason. Also, interesting insight into the opening up of ideas now Paddy has gone. Maybe it will be a morale boost, as he said, it can't get worse. Going to be interesting to see how the season develops for them now.
P.S. I was offline over the weekend, not far from Swanage, stayed at the RNLI college in Poole. As a sailor, I have to back them.

 

So today is the day we get the plan for 2021. What do you think we will get and how do you think the teams will react?

 

They'll decide to delay until summer.

 

We will get some watered down agreement that favours Ferrari like it always has done.

F1 would be an amazing sport if Ferrari were not dictating it and fair competition and racing was allowed.

I’m pretty sure today will infuriate me like it always has done

 

My guess:
PU stay the same, a bit more aero tweek, a budget cap to be phased in over 5 years, the redistribution of the money to be done as base payment then additional payment based on championship position to be phased in over 5 years.
I wouldn't be surprised to see Merc walk before 2021.

 

I agree with some of what you say but can't see Merc walking. Too much success to date. What is the net cost to Mercedes and is that a fair price for the branding it provides them and extra car sales?

 

I was thinking that if Merc keep winning in 2019 and 2020 then they could have 7 consecutive constructors championships, which I think is a record. So to a certain degree they could start to almost get negative publicity for destroying any competition in F1. A bit like Google becoming too dominant and getting fines from EU for sort of being too good at their job!!!
Plus by 2021 FormulaE, I believe will be more mainstream and may even be racing at traditional tracks with faster speeds as battery technology improves. So Merc may switch their focus to FormulaE!!!!
All guess work but it's fun to speculate

 

Haven't Merc already got a " Customer " team in FE , and have stated that will be the official Merc FE team from 2020 ?

If that is the case , I can see merc going totally to FE from 2021( or perhaps a Bridge season then leaving F1 in 2021 ) , which is why I think it is Crucial we have a set of rules in place to protect the Smaller teams .

 

If you and Jasper are right that won't please Liberty. If the giants leave F1. Can it have the same credibility without the giants, the same stars, top drivers.
I think the sport can survive without the Mercs but it needs the top drivers. If they too go to FE then F1 will lose the fan base. Imagine F1 where Palmer and Maldonado are the top drivers.