TBK-Light.com

Second USGP at New Jersey?
http://adamcooperf1.com/2011/08/03/seco ... ew-jersey/

Tyres:
Belgium - Soft and Medium
Italy - Soft and Medium
Singapore - Super Soft and Soft

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Dan Wheldon | 1978 - 2011

So Pirelli got rid of hard tyres.

Why do they always bring tires that are next to eachother in terms of softness? Why don't the bring super soft and hard? That would be fun!

Gilles Villeneuve? Even though he did one race with McLaren.
Since then? All drivers seemed to had at least one year experience.

The India track was due to be homologated today but has been postponed till September 1

Yeah, and I don't see that changing in the next years either, so I don't any young talented Italian driver getting a Ferrari drive anytime soon.

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I shagged a couple of loose balls for her in warmups.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/93615

If they're so serious about cost-cutting, why didn't they implement the budget cap and why is it not being passed onto the fans? More hypocrisy.

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Dan Wheldon | 1978 - 2011

Parr is a dick.

Parr seems to have lost the plot and has gone into recovery mode since basically saying he didn't care about fans last week.

Cutting costs for F1 makes *no* difference to the BBCs inability to manage it's own money.

Interesting article on Autosport for Subs
http://plus.autosport.com/premium/featu ... -in-sight/

If you don't subscribe, it basically says that whilst you can't take anything away from Vettel, he has been lucky to some extent - the pit stop in Monaco and the troubles of other. Jon Noble says that McLaren's inability to have a consistent challenger has hurt them, for Vettel has been the best RB in all but one event and has pretty much the maximum points possible. Similarly for Alonso, he has taken 92% of his possible points total, but for McLaren, had Hamilton or Button been the top McLaren every race, they'd only be 29 behind Vettel.

Meanwhile, Autosport's weekly poll:
Would you pay to watch Formula 1 on TV?

Yes, I would if there was no legal alternative [ 26 ] **[8.75%]
Yes, I already do [ 33 ] ** [11.11%]
It depends on the price [ 39 ] ** [13.13%]
I might pay to stream some races [ 11 ] ** [3.70%]
I'd watch the races illegally [ 119 ] ** [40.07%]
I wouldn't pay and I'd stop watching F1 [ 69 ] ** [23.23%]

So only 20% pretty much would get or have got Sky.

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Dan Wheldon | 1978 - 2011

Same thing happened here in Finland.

MTV3 bought the expensive rights (when they out-bid Canal+) and made their own ppv-channel for men. Before this happened, about 1 - 2 million people watched F1 in almost every race, which is respective 20 - 40 % of the nation. About half of the people in Finland witnessed Mika Häkkinen taking his first and second title in Suzuka, eventhough it wasn't prime time.

So the F1 went to PPV-channel, and only 150 - 200.000 households got the channel, which meant that the ratings plummed down to 250 - 500.000 viewers. Highlights were shown for free on prime time 6pm on every Sunday. The ratings were around 200 - 300.000, half a million at its best when Räikkönen sealed his title in 2007. Now, since there's no Finns to win (or even to score points) the ratings are around 100 - 200.000, even though the last two seasons have offered much more action on track. So in less than a decade, the ratings dropped down to TENTH of what it was before ppv-channel. Of course we have to remember that during the late 90's and early 00's there were lots of "glory-hunters" watching our fellow countrymen to win a race after race, but back in the day, when scoring points was almost as rare occasion as it is today, the ratings were three times higher than what it is today.

Now tell me, what sports can survive long if it loses suddenly half of it's normal tv ratings? Take a look at Indycar, for example. They've been growing up slowly from their worst days, but the road to back their golden days is bumpy - and quite many questions if they ever make it back.

If Valtteri Bottas gets a seat for next season from a good team and Heikki would be driving for points in every race, it still would take few years to get our ratings even close to a million, a rating which was concidered bellow average just a few years back.

So yeah, good luck for UK (that is, viewers, broadcasters, advertisers, future drivers...) if your broadcast goes to PPV, the ratings won't be the same for anytime soon.

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"Indy doesn't give you a second chance. You have to earn it."

You can't be the pinnacle of motor sport with a 'low cost profile' budget.

No, but if they're making an attempt, don't act pathetically and make it out to be the fans' fault

Meanwhile, Parr wants to cut costs AND have more races
http://www.gpupdate.net/en/f1-news/2657 ... ore-races/

No wonder Williams are fucked.

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Dan Wheldon | 1978 - 2011

Maybe if they want to cut costs they could get rid of the motorhomes?

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Yeaa, how many millions do they cost?

On the other hand they keep the sponsors and the money people happy.

Can't beat a Gazebo.

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Dan Wheldon | 1978 - 2011

But it wasn't low cost? The price is still the same, it's the BBC that can't afford it now, rather than FOM asking for more.

Had the BBC actually had competent accountants this wouldn't be an issue.

I just think they're getting worse value for their money; they'll be spending £25m on 10 races. Jake & co on Sunday made a big emphasis on making the rest of the season as good as possible from a production point of view, which suggests that from 2012 they won't be bothering as much.

Anyway, I agree with you Dave - the BBC needs to sort out its own accounts before it just slashes costs. They send far too many people to events like Glastonbury (about 400) and Wimbledon (10 million commentators and too many journalists).

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Dan Wheldon | 1978 - 2011

Mansell will be the driver steward for Spa and Derek Daly for Monza.

Pretty cool story about a guy from my (now old ) school
http://www3.mercedes-gp.com/en/#/s/news ... -continues

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Dan Wheldon | 1978 - 2011