Does anyone watch this any more?
I used to when I was a kid but I haven’t watched a race in over 10 years I’d say.
What about this Max Mosley stuff?
It’s pretty fooking hilarious really.
More revelations today in that fine, upstanding paper:
http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/0604_mosley.shtml
"When Max wasn’t speaking German, he’d adopt a very strangulated 'Allo 'Allo! style German/English which sounded very comical.
“He’d use phrases like, Zey need more of ze punishment I sink.’”
Haven’t watched a race in years myself. The Sunday tradition just isn’t the same without Murray Walker at the mike.
When Jordan were really doing well was the last time I was watching every race but then it got boring with Schumacher dominating it. I really hated Schumacher for what he did to Damon Hill back in 1994. How he kept that world title is a mystery.
must admit my interest in it has dipped a lot in the last few years too. Have gone to a few races (Silverstone, Monza, Spa, Hockenheim) and its a really good week away and the whole atmospere is class. But the dominance of Schimacher, and the more computerised cars and lack on overtaking and incidents has made it more boring. Last year tho i thought it got back on track (to parden the pun). It was a really good season with Alonso, Kimi and hamilton all neck and neck and a superb second half of the season from Kimi winning it out. And with all the spygate and Mclaren incidents off track, it kept things in the media and kept up interest in it. This year looks like Massa could make the step up and keep a consitant season goin and contribute to the drivers championship. Its good to see a bit of unpredictability with drivers tho and that there is no ‘schumacher’ who grinds out wins and just leads a procession to the finishing line.
Kept forgetting to post this, so doing it now while I think of it…
there is a series on ESPN classic on channel 442 on sky, half 9, going through retro Fprmula 1. Its at 1977 now, with Niki Lauda winning the championship. Last night was when James Hunt won after Niki Laudas horrible crash where he suffered really bad burns which has scarred him to this day.
Its mad seeing some of the cars and tracks tho. Tyrells six wheel car driven by Jodi Scheckter, the fans by the side of the track, and running on after, Frank Williams walking but still looking dour as ever, Demontezemelo the charasmatic Ferrari manager, Ecclestone looking young ans enthusiatic, drivers really on the edge and lots of overtaking. Its a class series. I wouldnt have seen much old footage of Formula 1, but have read heaps about it, so its cool seeing things and events that are in folklore.
Why can’t Frank Williams walk anymore? Crash or disease or what?
He was in a car crash in the mid 80’s driving from the grand prix track to airport and suffered spinal injuries and was paralysed as a result. In the next couple of series shown on espn it will have more of Williams, as I think they won their first drivers title in 80 or 81
Formula 1 is fucked.
Formula 1 has been thrown into chaos after eight of its major teams said they are now planning to set up a rival championship for the 2010 season.
The threat by members of the F1 Teams Association (Fota) escalates their row with world motorsport boss Max Mosley over his budget cap proposals.
“The teams have declined to alter their original conditional entries to the 2010 F1 Championship,” said the teams.
“We’ve no alternative than to commence preparation for a new championship.”
Mosley was insistent on introducing a voluntary 40m budget cap for teams to curtail a “financial arms race” in F1.
F1 breakaway would be bad - Sutil
But Fota refused to agree to his conditions, prompting championship leader Brawn GP, Ferrari, McLaren, Renault, Toyota, BMW Sauber, Red Bull Racing and Toro Rosso to take their drastic action.
They announced their decision following a four-hour meeting on Thursday night ahead of this weekend’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
“Since the formation of Fota last September the teams have worked together and sought to engage the FIA and commercial rights holder (Bernie Ecclestone), to develop and improve the sport,” read a Fota statement.
"Unprecedented worldwide financial turmoil has inevitably placed great challenges before the F1 community.
"Fota is proud that it has achieved the most substantial measures to reduce costs in the history of our sport.
606: DEBATE
No doubt Luca, Flavio, Ross etc, can bring a better series on line in double quicktime. Don’t dither - do it now, PLEASE!!!
archerwillpay
"In particular, the manufacturer teams have provided assistance to the independent teams, a number of which would probably not be in the sport today without the Fota initiatives.
"The Fota teams have further agreed upon a substantial voluntary cost reduction that provides a sustainable model for the future.
"Following these efforts, all the teams have confirmed to the FIA and the commercial rights holder that they are willing to commit until the end of 2012.
"The FIA and the commercial rights holder have campaigned to divide Fota.
"The wishes of the majority of the teams are ignored. Furthermore, tens of millions of dollars have been withheld from many teams by the commercial rights holder, going back as far as 2006.
"Despite this, and the uncompromising environment, Fota has genuinely sought compromise.
“It has become clear, however, the teams cannot continue to compromise on the fundamental values of the sport and have declined to alter their original conditional entries to the 2010 world championship.”
Fota added that its championship would put F1 fans first and boast the best drivers and sponsors.
“This series will have transparent governance, one set of regulations, encourage more entrants and listen to the wishes of the fans, including offering lower prices for spectators worldwide, partners and other important stakeholders,” added the statement.
“The major drivers, stars, brands, sponsors, promoters and companies historically associated with the highest level of motorsport will all feature in this new series.”
Former champions Williams and Force India have already committed unconditionally to the FIA’s world championship along with three new entrants - Campos, US F1 and Manor.
The FIA has said there are other would-be newcomers waiting to take the places of those teams that refused to enter unconditionally, although one, Lola, has already withdrawn its application.
The stage is also set for a legal battle, with the FIA saying champions Ferrari and the two Red Bull teams have existing contracts which commit them to the existing championship.
The FIA had set a 19 June deadline for five teams - Brawn, BMW-Sauber, McLaren, Renault and Toyota - to convert their provisional entries into unconditional ones or risk being excluded.
We have a duty to protect F1 - Horner (UK only)
The FIA responded to the teams’ move in a statement on Friday, saying: “We are disappointed but not surprised by Fota’s inability to reach a compromise in the best interests of the sport.”
It claimed that “elements within Fota have sought this outcome throughout the prolonged period of negotiation and have not engaged in the discussions in good faith.”
The statement added: “The deadline for unconditional entries to the 2010 FIA Formula 1 World Championship will expire on Friday evening. The 2010 entry list will be announced on Saturday.”
BBC F1 pundit and former team boss Eddie Jordan said it might ultimately need Mosley to announce he is not seeking another term of office to resolve F1’s civil war.
He told Radio 5 Live: “It’s posturing, but it has become very serious, and heads will roll before this sorts itself out.”
Jordan added there was “absolutely not a chance” that the sport could sustain two rival series next season.
I think Jeremy Clarkson still watches it. Himself and the Peter 2000.
I think they are damn right to set up their own race.
The likes of power diesals, paddle shifts, ABS, rollbars, airbags, syncromesh gearboxes, exhausts, turbos, diffusers and plenty of other things we take for granted in modern cars is all down to the constructors of rally/F1/le mans cars.
Ferrari was a racing house first and always and only sold cars to make money so it coudl keep racing and trying our new things.
Putting a cap on the spending jsut to make it interesting for the public to watch on TV to make money for the TV guys and 1 or 2 uber rich is wrong.
These guys need free reign to spend what they want because it is all about the construction. The money spent on F1 by the likes of Ferrari trickles down to their road cars and then that technology is found in all cars.
The drivers are the toppings and as we see with Brawn it’s all down to the car on the day and not the driver. They are all able to do fantastic times.
In summary, “Formula 1”, just like the top rally/le mans teams need to be allowed to spend their money to progress the future of transport.
Don’t let TV ratings be the measure of what is allowed.
Yours etc,
GSH.
Formula 1 is shit.
Formula one has lost a lot of appeal alright. there are no real characters in it anymore. the likes of hunt, senna, irvine, villeneuve, all mad fookers and prone to do anything. Schumachers dominace, whilst impressive, drove a lot of people away. a typical dour cunt of a German marching to win after win with no excitement or flair about him.
and thus we have a procession of typical drivers after, all who are by the book and technically good drivers, but by the same token, all capable of driving in other cars and performing the same. take Alonso, ina great Renault, wins easily, now at feck all. Button does fook all for ages, now in a great car and is running away with it. Its all about money and sponsorship of drivers that gets them in good cars, not the exceptionally talented. Granted, they are all obviously great, but you need money behind you before you can race, which is shite.
maybe this breakaway is the necessary thing to be done to get it going again.
Indeed.
[quote=“Garda Sean Horgan”]I think they are damn right to set up their own race.
The likes of power diesals, paddle shifts, ABS, rollbars, airbags, syncromesh gearboxes, exhausts, turbos, diffusers and plenty of other things we take for granted in modern cars is all down to the constructors of rally/F1/le mans cars.
Ferrari was a racing house first and always and only sold cars to make money so it coudl keep racing and trying our new things.
Putting a cap on the spending jsut to make it interesting for the public to watch on TV to make money for the TV guys and 1 or 2 uber rich is wrong.
These guys need free reign to spend what they want because it is all about the construction. The money spent on F1 by the likes of Ferrari trickles down to their road cars and then that technology is found in all cars.
The drivers are the toppings and as we see with Brawn it’s all down to the car on the day and not the driver. They are all able to do fantastic times.
In summary, “Formula 1”, just like the top rally/le mans teams need to be allowed to spend their money to progress the future of transport.
Don’t let TV ratings be the measure of what is allowed.
Yours etc,
GSH.[/QUOTE]
like Al said:
“It’s TV, it changed everything, changed the way we think forever. I mean the first time they stopped the game to cut away to some fucking commercial that was the end of it. Because it was our concentration that mattered, not theirs, not some fruitcake selling cereal.”
I’m not usually one for sweeping statements or generalisations but formula one’s clearly for rapists, geeks and kiddie fiddlers.
Filipe Massa is in a coma after a crash today at the hungarian grand prix
Heard he was in a serious crash alright. Wouldn’t be much of a fan of Formula 1 to be honest. Any clips of the accident?
Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds have stepped down from their posts after Renault decided not to dispute allegations that the team ordered former driver Nelson Piquet Junior to crash deliberately at last year’s Singapore grand prix.
Renault are due to appear before a meeting of the FIA world motor sport council on Monday which will convene in Paris to discuss what penalties should be imposed on the team as a result of the race crash.
In a statement Renault said: “The Renault team will not dispute the recent allegations made by the FIA concerning the 2008 Singapore grand prix.” “It also wishes to state that its managing director Flavio Briatore and its executive director of engineering Pat Symonds have left the team. Before attending the hearing before the FIA world motor sport council in Paris on 21 September the team will be making no further comment.”
This has been a fast-moving saga which has run from the first tentative rumblings of speculation, fuelled by the embittered Piquet who was dropped from the team last month, through to the loss of these two leading players, Briatore and Symonds.
Renault now look set to bow their heads and submit whatever punishment the FIA chooses to mete out to them, although the French team’s parent company will be hoping that by shedding these two senior staff members they will successfully have taken the sting out of any penalties. The FIA could equally suspend the team from the world championship, although insiders believe if that were to happen then Renault might withdraw from the sport after the remaining four races of 2009.
The CEO and president of Renault Carlos Ghosn had earlier told L’Equipe that the parent company would not react “in hot blood” to the allegations that were made against the Formula One team. “Above all we don’t want to make a premature judgment one way or the other,” he said.
The FIA had charged Renault with “conspiring with its driver, Nelson Piquet Jnr, to cause a deliberate crash at the 2008 Singapore grand prix with the aim of causing the deployment of the safety car to the advantage of its other driver, Fernando Alonso.”
YouTube footage of Nelson Piquet Jr’s crash in Singapore last year. Following the crash, which took place on a part of the circuit where no cranes were available to lift Piquet’s car over the barriers, the safety car was deployed. Alonso was the only driver to have pitted before the incident, and consequently he emerged in the lead after the rest of the field refuelled after the safety car came out. Alonso went on to take the chequered flag at Formula One’s first night race – his first after rejoining the team following a season with McLaren in 2007 – and at a time when Renault were considering quitting the sport because of the huge expense involved at a time when domestic car markets were struggling.
Here is the transcript.
A transcript of the conversations between Renault team bosses, engineers and driver Nelson Piquet Jr during last year’s Singapore grand prix has been published, adding to the speculation over claims that Piquet was told to crash deliberately in order to aid the chances of his team-mate Fernando Alonso, who went on to win the race.
Yesterday, Renault’s director of engineering, Pat Symonds, was granted immunity in the FIA’s investigation into the incident if he agrees to provide details of the alleged plan.
Now the Times newspaper has published details of the interactions between Symonds, two Renault engineers and, crucially, Flavio Briatore, the team principal, who has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing on behalf of the driver and the team. In the radio communication, Briatore swears repeatedly and says that Piquet is “not a driver” following the now notorious crash, before later asking: “Is Nelson OK?”
“I can tell you now we are not three-stopping,” Symonds is heard to say on the transcript made by the FIA, the sport’s world governing body.
Later Symonds says to an engineer: “Don’t worry about fuel because I’m going to get him [Alonso] out of this traffic earlier than that.”
Piquet says: “What lap are we in, what lap are we in?”
A Renault engineer then reports: “He just asked: ‘What lap are we in?’”
Symonds replies: “Yeah, tell him that he’s about to complete lap eight.”
Symonds insists Piquet is then told something he should know from his pit board, which is shown to him at the end of every lap. “No, just tell him, he is about, he’s just completing, he’s about to complete lap eight.”
Symonds then says: “Right, I’m going to … I think we’re going to stop him just before we catch him [a reference to the Williams driver Kazuki Nakajima, who was ahead of Alonso] and get him out of it, the reason being we’ve still got this worry on the fuel pump. It’s only a couple of laps short. We’re going to be stopping him early and we’re going to go to lap 40.”
An unnamed engineer asks a few minutes later: “Pat, do you still not think that this is a bit too early? We only did six tenths that lap.”
Symonds replies: “No, no it’s going to be all right.”
“OK, OK, understood,” the engineer says.
After Alonso’s pit stop, Symonds says to the engineer: “OK right, you’ve got to push him really bloody hard now. If he [Piquet] doesn’t get past Barrichello, he’s going nowhere, he’s got to get past Barrichello this lap.”
Briatore then gets involved, saying: “Tell him, push.”
Piquet’s race engineer tells his driver: “Nelson, no excuses now, you’ve got to get past Barrichello. You’ve got four clicks straight-line advantage. Come on, you’ve got to push now, you must get past him.”
A short time later, the Times reports, Piquet crashes at turn 17, the place at which the driver claims he was told to crash before the race.
Multiple voices: "Nelson’s off. Fucking hell. Nelson’s had a crash. I would say that would be a red flag. It’s huge [all speaking at the same time] .
Piquet: “Sorry guys. I had a little outing.”
Engineer: “Is he all right, Is he all right?”
Symonds: “Ask him if he’s all right.”
Engineer: “Are you OK? Are you OK?”
Engineer: “Fernando’s just gone past it.”
Engineer: “OK, yellow flag.”
Piquet: “Yeah, I hit my head in the back. I think I’m OK.”
Engineer: “OK, understood.”
Symonds: “Right [inaudible], stop him.”
Engineer: “Safety car, safety car, safety car, safety car. Fernando, safety car, mixture three.”
Symonds: “Tell him to be careful, turn 17 I think it is.”
Engineer: “Fucking hell that was a big shunt.”
Briatore: “Fucking hell … my every fucking disgrace, fucking, he’s not a driver.”
Symonds: “What position is Fernando in?”
Engineer: “Well, we were 20, and we’re first guy to pick the safety car up.”
Symonds: “Yeah, we’re not …”
Engineer: “He will get away past it but he’s got to wait.”
“What position we are now in all this?” asks Briatore.
Symonds replies: “To be honest, I don’t know Flavio. It’s got to have been good for Fernando. But I honestly don’t know where he is.”
Several minutes later, they return to the subject of Piquet and the crash. Engineer: “Where is Nelson? Have you seen him?”
Briatore: “Is he OK, Nelson? Is he OK?”
Alonso: “The pit lane is closed until we arrive?”
Engineer: “He climbed out, mate, and ran across the track.”
Engineer: “Yeah, the pit lane is still closed.”
We have a New Kaiser. Forza Ferrari - Forza Italia 
Formula 1 is fucking great again, cman Seb.