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[Makariel]

Racing Point greift Ferrari an: Deshalb wurde Mercedes kopiert

Racing Point könnte in diesem Jahr die Top-Teams ärgern. Die Mercedes-Kopie läuft besser als es die Optimisten im Team erwartet haben. Jetzt träumt Racing Point sogar davon Ferrari anzugreifen.

www.auto-motor-und-sport.de

*German article

Racing Point is quite happy about their pace and think they can challenge Ferrari this year. If that says more about Racing Point or about Ferrari at this point is the real question. So last years Mercedes still faster than most of the field then?

 

[xrnzaaas]

Having Force India realistically challenge Ferrari (and Red Bull) would make this season exciting and I wouldn't mind so much that Mercedes will win another championship.

 

[Mohonky]

Racing Point greift Ferrari an: Deshalb wurde Mercedes kopiert

Racing Point könnte in diesem Jahr die Top-Teams ärgern. Die Mercedes-Kopie läuft besser als es die Optimisten im Team erwartet haben. Jetzt träumt Racing Point sogar davon Ferrari anzugreifen.

www.auto-motor-und-sport.de

*German article

Racing Point is quite happy about their pace and think they can challenge Ferrari this year. If that says more about Racing Point or about Ferrari at this point is the real question. So last years Mercedes still faster than most of the field then?

They wont.

Ferrari havent shown their real pace, noone has really, but Racing Point was only really going well compared to last years standard. Even Toto has said Ferrari has their engines turned down all week (which they can tell by GPS speeds on the straights).

 

[Makariel]

Ferrari havent shown their real pace, [...]

We say that every year about Ferrari

 

[Mohonky]

We say that every year about Ferrari

....and the last two years they've had a serious amount of it.

 

[Nicktendo_]

Drive to Survive season 2 is now on Netflix.

Gunther's f-bombs make a welcome return.

 

[xrnzaaas]

Currently watching Drive to Survive, I really hope there's more to the

Spoiler

Haas - Rich Energy drama

than what was shown in episode 2.

Spoiler

They pretty much pictured Rich Energy as a completely legit company that's done nothing wrong with shitting on Haas and dropping the sponsorship...

 

[YodaBB]

Watched 3 eps so far, few things I found annoying:

• Rich Energy/William Storey made to look like a legit sponsor rather than the scammers they were,
• a lot of Haas/Renault coverage which is kinda dull as they both had a shit season,
• way too much Will Buxton hot takes, seems like he pops up every 5 goddamn minutes, and he never says anything insightful or interesting,
• all the fake commentary, whenever they show car footage if its not team radio its faked.

 

[xrnzaaas]

Watched 3 eps so far, few things I found annoying:

• Rich Energy/William Storey made to look like a legit sponsor rather than the scammers they were,
• a lot of Haas/Renault coverage which is kinda dull as they both had a shit season,
• way too much Will Buxton hot takes, seems like he pops up every 5 goddamn minutes, and he never says anything insightful or interesting,
• all the fake commentary, whenever they show car footage if its not team radio its faked.

The fake commentary is obnoxious. Didn't the first season have only one "fake" commentator? Now there's two of them. :/

 

[YodaBB]

The fake commentary is obnoxious. Didn't the first season have only one "fake" commentator? Now there's two of them. :/

Is there? Sounds like 1 to me, dunno who it is but he's clearly reading lines. Also I think they might be mixing the team radio/footage because sometimes the engine sounds don't match the video. Theres generally too much race footage for me, the reason I watch is for behind the scenes stuff you don't see during the season.

 

[xrnzaaas]

Is there? Sounds like 1 to me, dunno who it is but he's clearly reading lines. Also I think they might be mixing the team radio/footage because sometimes the engine sounds don't match the video. Theres generally too much race footage for me, the reason I watch is for behind the scenes stuff you don't see during the season.

Aside from Crofty (from the official coverage) they have Ben Edwards who I believe records the reactions for the Netflix series and some third guy whose voice I can't recognize. In the first episode they made his voice sound like he's a radio commentator or something like that.

 

[Fox Mulder]

So apparently Force India copied last year's Mercedes and other teams don't like it... as long as Merc didn't give them their plans where's the issue? The cars are for everyone to see and it's not like F1 regulations offer a lot of room to maneuver...

I think it’s brilliant for this year. Racing Point isn’t stupid. The team was able to punch above their weight for years and they’re getting a lot of investment going in now. It makes sense for a midfield team to focus more on 2021 with new regs and a cost cap coming.

 

[YodaBB]

Aside from Crofty (from the official coverage) they have Ben Edwards who I believe records the reactions for the Netflix series and some third guy whose voice I can't recognize. In the first episode they made his voice sound like he's a radio commentator or something like that.

I did a bit of reddit digging and apparently it's some guy called Jack Nicholls...it wasn't only us who found it annoying!

 

[xrnzaaas]

Episode 6 - yep, I cried.

It's a shame they didn't include Charles in this episode as he was very close with Anthoine as well.

 

[Peter303]

After watching Drive to Survive I cannot understand how Grosjean is still driving for Haas. They complained about him in series 1 and again this series. Does he bring money to the team?

 

[Fox Mulder]

After watching Drive to Survive I cannot understand how Grosjean is still driving for Haas. They complained about him in series 1 and again this series. Does he bring money to the team?

he left a seat at Lotus turning into Renault to drive for Haas and brought experience to a start up. They’ve shown loyalty back but all the bullshit was wearing thin. The car being shit last year and the team being completely lost with how to handle it probably helped his job too.

 

[Fox Mulder]

I really hate watching live races with commercial breaks. I’d have to go get F1TV otherwise.

 

[Makariel]

Here in the UK we still have the Sky monopoly

 

[Grieves]

Someone told me that Channel 4 (UK) will be showing a greater percentage on on-track footage this year compared to last year but I can't find anything that backs that up.

In the meantime Ross Brawn saying F1 will not hold a race if a team (ie Ferrari) is prevented to enter the contry due to Coronavirus:

BBC

 

[Scopa]

In the meantime Ross Brawn saying F1 will not hold a race if a team (ie Ferrari) is prevented to enter the contry due to Coronavirus:

Makes sense. There is no F1 without Ferrari.

 

[xrnzaaas]

It's probably going to be a logistic nightmare not only with shipping car parts, but also with personnel. I hope they'll all make it.

 

[Grieves]

I didn't even consider that it will affect Pirelli as well.

No tyres, no racing I guess.

 

[Makariel]

Statement from McLaren Racing

Statement from McLaren Racing

www.mclaren.com

That could become interesting...

 

[Grieves]

The Independent are reporting that F1 viewing numbers have dropped to 70k per race in the UK.

Who knew that putting live races behind a pay wall and reducing the highlights programs on-track action to 50% would be detrimental to the sport.

'Tards.

Independent

 

[Makariel]

The Independent are reporting that F1 viewing numbers have dropped to 70k per race in the UK.

Who knew that putting live races behind a pay wall and reducing the highlights programs on-track action to 50% would be detrimental to the sport.

I'm the kind of person that opens ongoing threads about F1 on gaming forums. Even I find myself not particularly interested in throwing increasing amounts of money at Sky, or having to watch a glorified highlight reel hours after the race finished. The latter with self-imposted media blackouts just to ensure I don't already know that Hamilton won once again. That said, the shortened highlights were a hidden blessing at some particular races last season, where nothing really seemed to happen between laps 2 and 62.

 

[Grieves]

To be honest I thought the coverage last season would kill F1 for me totally, yet here I am waiting for the new season to start.

 

[Nicktendo_]

The Independent are reporting that F1 viewing numbers have dropped to 70k per race in the UK.

Not viewing numbers, streaming numbers.

Each race still gets around 1m live broadcast views. Nevertheless, this is WAY down from when it was FTA on ITV and BBC.

 

[xrnzaaas]

So Bahrain GP will take place behind closed doors... at least it's still happening and it's not a disaster, because the attendance in Bahrain was always low and the GP was more like a hobby for the sheikhs.

Given how fast the virus is spreading in Europe I think we should be more worried about Catalunya and Monza. :/

 

[Fox Mulder]

I doubt many places will agree to hold the race with an empty venue with all the money they’d be losing.

 

[Mohonky]

After watching Drive to Survive I cannot understand how Grosjean is still driving for Haas. They complained about him in series 1 and again this series. Does he bring money to the team?

I actually thought the opposite. I thought watching it it showed exactly why they are keeping him; car development. He was first to speak up that the development was fundamentally wrong and he was right. They cant spend big money on a driver and at the same time they cant put a rookie in the car or the development suffers so at the end of the day Grosjean may not be lighting the points table on fire but he's at least bringing something to the table they really need

 

[Makariel]

The sky sports season pass is available again for £198. Last year it was cheaper to buy individual day passes if one just wanted to watch the races live, but seems the accounting monkeys at Sky have learned from that and raised the prices for day passes to almost £10, such that the annual F1 pass is slightly cheaper. Assuming you want to watch every race this year. If you miss one or two (for example if the Chinese GP simply weren't to happen) you still break even on individual passes.

 

[xrnzaaas]

The sky sports season pass is available again for £198. Last year it was cheaper to buy individual day passes if one just wanted to watch the races live, but seems the accounting monkeys at Sky have learned from that and raised the prices for day passes to almost £10, such that the annual F1 pass is slightly cheaper. Assuming you want to watch every race this year. If you miss one or two (for example if the Chinese GP simply weren't to happen) you still break even on individual passes.

It's risky business considering we can't be certain how many races will be cancelled this year. It's very likely China isn't going to be the only one.

 

[Makariel]

It's risky business considering we can't be certain how many races will be cancelled this year. It's very likely China isn't going to be the only one.

Yes, and let's not even consider the stupid issue that the pass only works in the UK, because corporation decided it makes sense to raise borders on the internet. So if you find ourself out of the country at any GP weekend (work, vacation...) you paid for nothing on those weekends. In 2019 I decided from weekend to weekend if I even bother or just wait for the C4 highlights. And quite frankly: I prefer the commentary on C4 over Sky.

 

[xrnzaaas]

Nice Renault livery, I like the equal combination of yellow and black.

And now with a new main sponsor they can be called Big Dick Energy Double Penetration Renault F1 Team.

 

[Nicktendo_]

Australia GP Is done.

 

[xrnzaaas]

The entire sprinng part of the season should be done.

 

[Makariel]

Bahrain will be fun in front of empty grandstands. They can just have 3 rounds in Bahrain.

 

[Nicktendo_]

Bahrain will be fun in front of empty grandstands. They can just have 3 rounds in Bahrain.

I doubt Bahrain will go ahead either tbh.

 

[Makariel]

I doubt Bahrain will go ahead either tbh.

We will see. At the moment Australian GP is still due to go ahead, with McLaren not going that means bigger chance for Russel to finally score some points

 

[xrnzaaas]

The current situation is worse imo, because a team member was the one who got a positive result, not some spectator or a guest. F1 isn't a sport where a team can send a skeleton crew of 20 people to participate in a race. 100% of the team personnel, media, FIA staff etc. would have to be tested before being allowed to enter Bahrain.

We will see. At the moment Australian GP is still due to go ahead, with McLaren not going that means bigger chance for Russel to finally score some points

The fact they're still discussing this is disgusting, they're not even hiding it's all about the money.

 

[Makariel]

The fact they're still discussing this is disgusting, they're not even hiding it's all about the money.

Of course it's about the money. Red Bull Racing for example makes no secret of the fact that their team is essentially just there to promote an energy drink.

 

[Fox Mulder]

The current situation is worse imo, because a team member was the one who got a positive result, not some spectator or a guest. F1 isn't a sport where a team can send a skeleton crew of 20 people to participate in a race. 100% of the team personnel, media, FIA staff etc. would have to be tested before being allowed to enter Bahrain.


The fact they're still discussing this is disgusting, they're not even hiding it's all about the money.

they already spent the money to have everything sent there and the track prepared. It’s not an easy decision either way but I don’t see it happening now.

Most or maybe the whole season is in danger now too. F1 is a traveling circus that is flying all over the world to affected areas. Most tracks probably aren’t going to run the event with no fans either.

 

[Makariel]

BBC News - Coronavirus: Australian Grand Prix postponed https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/51849163

Not much else so far but seems the season doesn't quite start yet...

 

[Grieves]

Makariel ha you beat me to it by a minute.

 

[Makariel]

Makariel ha you beat me to it by a minute.

 

[xrnzaaas]

they already spent the money to have everything sent there and the track prepared. It’s not an easy decision either way but I don’t see it happening now.

Most or maybe the whole season is in danger now too. F1 is a traveling circus that is flying all over the world to affected areas. Most tracks probably aren’t going to run the event with no fans either.

The entire season is definitely at risk, Vietnam is certain to be postponed, all of Europe is struggling with containing the virus and mass events are being banned. They would have to be very desperate and proceed with ideas of running more than 1 race in countries like Bahrain.

 

[Makariel]

On the official formula 1 website the countdown clock still shows the race weekend to start in 3 hours.

 

[xrnzaaas]

Well it's finally over. Congrats on creating a bigger shitshow than 2005 US GP.

 

[Scopa]

Well, that sucks. It’s a wise move, I suppose, but it sucks all the same.

 

[Makariel]

Some interesting tidbits. The reason why it took so long for the cancellation was that not every team agreed this was the right decision. Apparently the Red Bull teams (RBR and Toro Rosso Alpha Tauri) as well as Racing Point were in favour of moving ahead. The teams absolutely opposed to moving on as if nothing happened were Ferrari, Renault and McLaren, who were clear about not wanting to partake in the race. The rest of the teams seemed to be on the fence. It was only when Toto made up his mind about Mercedes not wanting to race either that there was a clear majority of the teams for cancelling the event.